Messages

Live Love Learn

Dear Families,

We have had another very busy week at Galilee. It has been wonderful to have our Year 6 students back onsite after their week away in Canberra. Our Year 3 and 5 students have been involved in NAPLAN this week and tomorrow we have 48 students who will represent Galilee at the Dendy Cross Country in Clayton.

Last Friday we held our first Open Morning of the year and we celebrated Mother's Day at Galilee. We welcomed many families back into our school building for the first time in a long time. You could tell that many of our students had an extra spring in their step as they welcomed their families into their learning spaces.

We are extremely excited to welcome our families back to events and into our classrooms at Open Mornings each Friday.

Parent/Teacher Relationship

There has been much research into the importance of developing a relationship with your child’s teacher which can be incredibly beneficial; to parents, to teachers and of course, to children. According to the American Federation of Teachers, communication between families and schools is not just beneficial, it’s necessary for children’s success.

Research shows that the more parents and teachers share information the better equipped both will be to help children achieve. When teachers and parents communicate on a regular basis children are more motivated to learn, attend school regularly, have a good attitude about school and behave better. Teachers, in turn, have a better understanding of students and parents tend to have a more positive view of teachers. Everybody benefits.

So you are encouraged to attend school whenever possible and work on a positive and open relationship with your child's teacher.

School Fees

A reminder to any family paying monthly or tri-annually, the next payment is due by May 25.

Thankyou to families for their prompt payment of fees. Since the implementation of a new policy late last year we have seen a higher percentage of school fees being paid on time.

Wellbeing

Firm and Respectful

By learning how to speak firmly and respectfully, when you need to get your message across clearly to others, you will be able to keep your state of wellbeing healthy. To speak this way: say what concerns you, how you feel and what you want to happen. Think of risky situations that might happen, and make up firm and respectful statements to practise using should you need to. Too often people speak in an angry way which is not usually necessary or effective.

NAPLAN

On Tuesday our Year 3 and 5 students began NAPLAN assessments. The Year 3 students participated in a pen and paper based Writing NAPLAN and online Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy NAPLAN assessments. The Year 5 students participated in online Writing, Reading, Language Conventions and Numeracy. We congratulate the students for their efforts.

Any child who has been absent during the week, will be able to makeup tests missed on Friday.

NAPLAN

There has been a lot of publicity this week around the implementation of NAPLAN and the impact upon students. Some children do suffer anxiety due to the more formal style of this testing while others see it as 'just another test'. Politicians justify the test by stating that it provides much needed information for teachers and parents. In reality, teachers conduct assessments each week that provide more detailed and relevant data that informs personalised learning for the students.

NAPLAN does show you how your child is performing against other students, at least during this week. This information is sought by some parents but not required by teachers as we recognise that all students develop at different rates to one another. One benefit of NAPLAN is that it does provide whole school data that can show areas that we may need to provide more focus. Over the last four years we have focused on: Reading, Spelling and now Writing/STEM. However, we collect so much data that we are able to gather this information outside of NAPLAN.

Participation in NAPLAN is a requirement however, each year a small amount of parents choose to withdraw their children for various reasons.

At Galilee, we will continue to participate in NAPLAN while it is compulsory and the data, together with our own, will be used to improve student learning.

Term Overviews

Please see our Term Overviews below. They will give you information about the learning opportunities that students will be involved in this term. If you have any questions regarding the Overview please speak to your child's classroom teacher.

Specialist Classes.pdf

Term 2 Overviews are also on our Website. Click here to view them.

National Simultaneous Storytime

National Simultaneous Storytime (NSS) is held annually by the Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA). Every year a picture book, written and illustrated by an Australian author and illustrator, is read simultaneously in libraries, schools, pre-schools, childcare centres, family homes, bookshops and many other places around the country. This year NSS takes place on Wednesday 19 May 2021 at 11:00am from the International Space Station.

Students can come and join me at 11am on Wednesday 19th May to listen to the book, Give me some Space! which will be read by astronauts from the International Space Station.

Miss Cox

About The Book

"Una dreams of a life in Space. Life on Earth is just so so-so. But how will she get there? And will she complete her mission to discover life in Space? And did she remember to feed Neil the goldfish?"

Written and Illustrated by Philip Bunting.

Dendy Cross Country

The bus will leave Galilee at 8.30am and return around 1pm. Students attending will need plenty of water and a snack but will be back around 1pm in time for lunch. It will be a cold day so pack them warm clothes and a rain jacket for when they're not running.

We encourage our students to do their best and represent our school proudly.

Uniform

SECOND HAND UNIFORM

While we do not have a second hand uniform shop onsite at Galilee, there is a Facebook page called Galilee Regional Catholic Uniform Swap whereparents can exchange pieces of clothing.

A reminder that all students should now be in the Winter Uniform.

LONG SOCKS

PSW no longer sell striped long navy socks. If students wear shorts instead of pants in winter, they can wear plain navy knee length or crew socks.

Open Mornings

Open Mornings will take place on each Friday morning between 8.35am and 8.45am. It is a fantastic opportunity to visit classrooms and see the amazing work your child has been doing.

Classroom teachers will be in the room but will be busy preparing for the day ahead. Please know that you are able to say hello to the teachers but that you will need to make an appointment to speak to the Classroom Teacher to talk about a student's progress, how they are going in class or anything else that would require a more in depth conversation. Appointments can be made by contacting teachers on DOJO but please give them 24 hours to respond.

We hope to see lots of you in the classrooms on Friday's in Term 2.

Mother’s Day Luncheon

On Friday 7th May, 100 of our Galilee Community Mums (and a few staff) gathered at the Middle Park Hotel to celebrate Mother’s Day.

The Luncheon was a brilliant success thanks to the organisation of our Parent Committee; mainly Anastasia, Danielle and Peta as well as other committee members, Rosaria and Jean.

We had a range of fabulous raffle and door prizes donated by the community including;

Middle Park Hotel Voucher

Wheelhouse Pottery vouchers x2

Intimo bra fitting and styling package (Helen Di Natale)

Thalia Serum (Rebecca Gorgilli)

Arizona Living Plant and Pot (Jean McGann)

Pizzini Wine Pack x 4 (Pizzini Family)

Bilson Hairdressing vouchers x2

Pizzini Prosecco Magnums x 3 (Pizzini Family)

Your Crystal water Bottle

Magic March Makes Earrings x 3 (Audrey Lim)

Insulated Wine Bag

Sweet Bench Chocolate Heart

We also had delicious cupcakes for each attendee donated by Jodie Agosta of Cupcake Occasion, beautiful flower arrangements on each table donated by Sarah O’Bryan of Little Twig Flowers, Arbonne samples for attendees donated by Nicole England and Rodan and Fields samples for attendees donated by Cecilia Todd.

We also thank our guest speaker, Michelle Loader (mother of Lily and Ruby Boyd) who captured the attention of the room with her inspiring speech about her Nine Lessons in Nine Years.

It was so lovely seeing so many of our community together, laughing, enjoying the company of others and sharing a meal together.

Well done and thank you to all involved, we can’t wait for next year!

Carmen Carnovale

Student Free Closure Days at Galilee 2021

Due to the snap lock down earlier this year we have made some changes to our Closure Days that have been advertised in the school newsletter since February. The closure days that are student free at Galilee for the remainder of 2021 are:

Tuesday June 15th (extending Queen's Birthday Public Holiday)

August 27

November 1

November 26

Canberra Camp - Government Contribution

Students from our school have recently undertaken an education tour of the national capital. Students had the opportunity to participate in a variety of educational programs with a focus on Australia’s history, culture, heritage and democracy.

The Australian Government recognises the importance of all young Australians being able to visit the national capital as part of their Civics and Citizenship education. To assist families in meeting the cost of the excursion the Australian Government is contributing funding of $45 per student under the Parliament and Civics Education Rebate program towards those costs. The rebate is paid directly to the school upon completion of the excursion.

The National Dinosaur Museum

On the 6th of May during our Year 6 camp we went to the National Dinosaur Museum.

We saw many species of dinosaurs and their relatives. It was amazing, interesting and educational.

We were given a tour from Dave who was hilarious and gave out cool facts about dinosaurs. Throughout the tour we were traveling through time from the Triassic (251.902 million years ago), Jurassic (201.3 million years ago) and the Cretaceous (145.5 million years ago). Each and every species we saw in each room were from the specific time they were alive. Many of the Year sixes were amazed by the facts Dave said to us about the different species of dinosaurs and other ancient reptiles.

After the tour we were all tired so we headed back to our cabins, had dinner and we had a good night’s sleep.

By Aiden C

Galilee Growers Club

Here are some photos of our keen gardeners who had their first meeting with Paul and Charlie brainstorming lots of ideas.

Italian Day

Italian Day is coming up in Week 6, Wednesday 26th May.

Titled, ‘That’s Amore’. A day filled with everything we love about Italy.

The children will be able to dress up in the Italian colours or anything they love that represents Italy.

An envelope to order pizza and gelato has been sent home with students and is due back tomorrow. It is not compulsory and students can bring their own lunch or order a lunch order. They will need a healthy snack as usual.

Get your costumes ready for a day of fun. Divertiamoci!

Golf Update

Each week, all students are improving in their golf abilities. Our Friday sessions have become the highlight of our week.

Direct Action on Saving the Environment

This week, Galilee installed easy-to-use, water-saving taps in both the girl's and boy's toilets. Not only are these taps easier to use, especially for younger students, they automatically turn off and will save water.