Dear Families,

Tomorrow is International Women's Day. The theme this year is Invest in Woman: Accelerate Progress. Investing in women and championing gender equality turbocharges a future where everyone in society can thrive, creating a world of boundless opportunity and empowerment for all. At Galilee we are proud to employ, educate, work with and support inspirational women who certainly accelerate progress within our school community.

Galilee School Advisory Council

Galilee, like all Catholic Schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, is under the guidance of Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS). MACS has been established by Archbishop Peter A Comensoli to be responsible for the governance and operation of approximately 300 Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne. MACS governs and supports these schools to continue the mission of Catholic education and equip students with the knowledge, skills and hope to live meaningful lives and enrich the world around them.

School Advisory Councils (SAC) are an essential component of governing and operating MACS schools. They provide an advisory forum for consultation and participation for parents/guardians/carers and a chance to be involved in the school.

The SAC advises the principal on important matters, such as; strategic direction of the school, Religious Education program, curriculum, school resources, improvements in the school, Annual Report to the School Community and family partnerships. The SAC provides support to the principal and school leadership team in their decision-making process. This partnership is instrumental in ensuring that our students have access to the very best education.

At Galilee, we have always valued the support and advice offered by members of the SAC.

This year, our SAC remains unchanged. We would like to thank Carlo Pizzini in his role as Chair of the SAC for the second year. We would also like to thank Eleanor Magrath, Mark Shaw, Dominique Barker, Allan Menagh, Bernard Mandile and staff: Carmen Carnovale and Richard Harding for their professionalism and support of Simon Millar and myself as we lead the school with an improvement agenda.

2024 SAC Priorities

At our first meeting this year the SAC met to discuss 2024 SAC priorities. The identified priorities are based on a SWOT annalysis that a sample of students, parents and staff completed last year. These priorities will form a large part of the work that the SAC engages in this year.

Priority 1 - Communication and Marketing at Galilee

This priority reflects a deliberate response to feedback we have recieved around effective communication at Galilee. Communication at Galilee informs current and prospective staff, parents and families of our commitment to:

-The school’s strategic priorities

-Outstanding learning and teaching

-Building and engaging our very active and invovled community – parents, alumnae, students, staff and beyond

-Implementing and evaluating the school’s key marketing activities - including branding, website, publications, social media and major community events – maintaining and attracting students, families and staff who best-fit the Galilee Catholic ethos

We understand from feedback that we can improve in the area of communication and marketing and this will be a priority for the SAC in 2024.

Priority 2 - Master Plan

In 2022, the new building at Galilee was completed with state of the art learning spaces including STEM room, Maker Spaces, a rooftop playground and a competition sized basketball stadium. It enhanced what we could offer our students and community. With the new building at Galilee now complete, we believe it is time to review and refresh our Galilee Master Plan to ensure that we continue to take a strategic approach to re-developing and refurbishing the infrastructure at Galilee.

This year the SAC will work on renewing and refreshing our master plan so that we continue to strive for excellence in our learning and teaching environments.

Priority 3 - Basketball at Galilee

This priority is based on feedback we have recieved around enhancing basketball at Galilee. We understand that basketball is very important to our students and families. We also know we have a sensational basketball facility that our students and community can access. We want to make sure that we are providing our students and community with the best solution to enhancing basketball and accessing our basketball facilities.

This year the SAC will work on possible solutions to enhancing basketball at Galilee to benefit our students and community.

Priority 4 - School Policies

As the governor and operator of Catholic schools in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS) is responsible for developing and formulating policies that ensure schools are aligned with the vision, mission and strategic direction of Catholic education. The SAC will review new and revised policies throughout the year.

Fundraising in 2024

Fundraising at Galilee allows the school to spend beyond our budget to enhance what we can offer our students.

In 2024, we have again developed a fundraising plan with consultation from the Galilee Parents Association (GPA) and School Advisory Council (SAC). This year the school will be consolidating our fundraising efforts. The two areas that have been identified for the GPA to fundraise for are; a Wellbeing Hub and classroom iPads. These two areas have been identified because they are a need within a school. The school already has a budget allocated but the fundrasing efforts will enhance what we can offer students in these to areas. We thank Nat, Jodie and the entire GPA who continually give so much of their time and energy to put on spectacular events that help to raise funds for our school. Funds that go towards improving and enhancing our school beyond our budget.

Fundraising is also a large part of our school’s Catholic Identity and the school’s commitment to Catholic Social Teaching, where we do what we can to support those around us.

In 2024, the school’s social justice fundraising efforts will go towards three main causes; Caritas during Lent, the Royal Children’s Hospital and supporting the Parish outreach intiatives. Any gold coin donations from casual clothes days or additional activities, as well as food and clothes drives, will be attributed to either one of these causes. Each event this year will explicitly name the cause that donations will go towards.

The Wellbeing Hub at Galilee

This year at Galilee, we have established a Student Wellbeing Hub, led by our two new Wellbeing Leaders, Paddy Edwards and Julie Ferguson. The Wellbeing Hub is underpinned by the Australian Student Wellbeing Framework (ASWF) which aims to ensure that all Australian schools are safe, supportive and respectful teaching and learning communities that promote student wellbeing.

In recent years, there has been a growing body of evidence demonstrating the crucial role of student wellbeing in supporting our childrens’ successes during their school life. The National Scientific Council on the Developing Child (2004, 2007) highlights how “neural circuits connected with emotion regulation are highly interactive with those associated executive functions involving attention, working memory, inhibitory control, and cognitive flexibility.”

Through provision of this space for our students, we aspire for them to embrace effective emotional regulation strategies that empower them to navigate life's inevitable highs and lows, enabling them to actively engage and flourish as lifelong learners.

Earlier this term we visited St. Jude's Langwarrin, to see their well established Student Wellbeing Hub. Here are some photos of what we saw and what we hope we can achieve at Galilee.

Education in Faith