Dear Families,

The two major themes this week at Galilee have been diversity and inclusion. This week we have paid particular attention to helping students of all ages, all genders and all cultural backgrounds find inspiration and courage from diverse role models within our community. At Galilee, we believe that teaching children to actively question and openly challenge stereotypes and bias is important because it helps forge a more inclusive world. For this reason we we took time out of our normal routine to celebrate Galilee's cultural diversity during Harmony Day.

Please note that the above video has been created by the student Digital Learning Leaders (Jett, Luke & Lewis).

Harmony Day aims to engage people to participate in their community, respect cultural and religious diversity and foster sense of belonging for everyone.

Diversity is one of the things that makes Australia and Galilee a great place to be. It was wonderful to see our school yard filled with students, teachers and parents proudly wearing traditional outfits from their cultural background. It was also wonderful to see students dressed in orange, the official Harmony Day colour. On the day families, students and teachers shared stories about their cultural traditions and some shared stories about how their family came to call Australia home. Students participated in a Harmony Day parade, various activities in their classroom and a Harmony Day Assembly. The message of Harmony Day this year was 'everyone belongs' and this message rings true for us at Galilee, as we are a community where everyone belongs.

Galilee is a vibrant and multicultural community — from the oldest continuous culture of our first Australians to the cultures of our newest arrivals from around the world. Our cultural diversity is one of our greatest strengths and it makes our school a great place to be.

Multicultural Australia is an integral part of our national identity as well as our school identity. All people who migrate to Australia bring with them some of their own cultural traditions, as well as taking on many new traditions. Collectively, these traditions have enriched our nation and our school. We believe that it is important for our students to celebrate cultural traditions from around the world and explore how they have enriched Australia and our school community.

The day would not have been possible without a team of dedicated parents and staff who worked together to prepare events and activities that students were involved in. We particularly thank Mr. Martello, Meegan (Mum to Isabella in Year 5) and Nicole (Alexis in Year 1).

We encourage you to look out for an article in the local Leader Newspaper about Harmony Day at Galilee. The Leader Newspaper interviewed Mr. Martello and took pictures of some of the students on the day. We hope to be featured in the next issue.

There was another important celebration that occurred this week: International Woman's Day.

International Women's Day is a global day celebrating the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. The day also marks a call to action for accelerating gender parity.

International Women's Day has been observed since the early 1900's - a time of great expansion and turbulence in the industrialized world. International Women's Day is a collective day of global celebration and a call for gender parity.

At Galilee we are fortunate to have inspirational women in our community who are wonderful role models to all of our students.

We have many inspirational women on staff at Galilee including the Deputy Principals Amy Burns and Danielle Gerecke. It is clear that our female staff are passionate about sharing their skills and understandings to ensure that they are educating the whole child - academically, spiritually, emotionally and physically. It is evident that they all hold a firm belief that all students, no matter their gender, need to be given equal access to achieve and succeed and they empower our students to do just that. It is encouraging to watch all of our staff supporting students to question and challenge stereotypes and explore ways that they can help to create a more inclusive world.

We also have inspirational mothers and female guardians in our community who model the dispositions of; strength, persistence, understanding, empathy, flexible and creative thinking, reflection and innovation. The mothers and guardians in our community are strong women who remain open to continuous learning; continually striving to be the best that they can be. We are fortunate to have many female parents, guardians and grandparents who are able to help in the classrooms, assist with school events and share their skills and understandings with the students in a variety of ways. This gives our students the opportunity to learn from and with wonderful female role models.

At Galilee we believe we provide our students with opportunities and roles modes to help learn about and from a diverse range of role models. We believe that this will assist them to shape a more inclusive world.

Staffing

This week we are excited to announce the employment of a new Learning Support Officer, Sharon Cameron. Sharon will begin at Galilee from Week 8 and work 5 days a week (Monday to Friday). She currently works at the Southern Autistic School in Bentleigh and brings extensive experience and qualifications. She will be predominantly working with students with funding.

The Lion King Jr

This week auditions have been held and I've been fortunate to be a part of the process (I alternate on the panel with Mrs Ferris). An extraordinary amount (seventy) of students have registered to audition for our upcoming musical. The courage and confidence shown by the students has been inspiring. The auditions will continue next week and I congratulate Miss Carnovale for her professional and consistent approach to the auditions.

Year 5 Parent Representative

There is currently no Parent Rep for Year 5. All other year levels have been assigned reps for 2018. Parent Reps have been sent the contact details of their year level (subject to permission given on Caremonkey). If you are interested in being the rep for your Year 5 class, please email Brighid Fahy at bfahy@gsmelbournesth.catholic.edu.au

Star of the Sea 2020

Previously Galilee has not been a feeder school for STAR with our girls having very limited opportunities to attend.

Over the past two years we have had many meetings with staff from Catholic Education and presented reasons in the hope that we would become a feeder school for STAR. We have been hoping to increase the options for our girls attending secondary school as well as attending schools such as PCW, Firbank, Loretto & Albert Park College.

I would like acknowledge two members of the School Education Board who have assisted me with the process: Donna McMaster (Chairperson) & Vivian Gard (previous member).

We have been given initial feedback in response to our proposal and are still awaiting confirmation but we are confident that Galilee will become a feeder school for STAR from 2020 (current Year 5). While we are awaiting confirmation, if you are considering STAR for your daughter, you are encouraged to complete an enrollment and attend a school tour.

Please refer to more information sent from the Registrar and forwarded to Year 5 families in an email.

You are encouraged to consider all options in choosing the best secondary school for your daughter but be aware that Catholic secondary colleges begin enrollment procedures in 2018 for 2020.

Goodluck with your decision.

Open Day

On Wednesday March 14 we have our first Open Day for prospective new families to Galilee. Currently we are meeting Prep Sibling Enrollments and letters of offer will be sent out in the next two weeks. Early next term interviews will be held with non-siblings for the remaining places. The interest in Galilee is at unprecedented levels with an anticipated increase of about 150% over the last 12 months. Thankyou to our families who are spreading positive messages about Galilee in the local community.

Simon Millar, Amy Burns & Danielle Gerecke

Local Connections

Local Community

Photography