Dear Families,

The Leadership Team of Galilee are happy to announce that in 2021, Galilee will be trialing an increase to three Prep classes. This is a change from our current model of two Prep classes. The three Prep classes will be capped at a maximum of 19 students, and in 2022 will transition into two regular size Year One classes. We will consider this model recurring in future years if deemed successful and affordable, ensuring our youngest students are provided with a solid foundation to their education.

Some of the reasons behind this change are:

Prep Transition 2020-2021

As with many changes this year due to COVID-19, the Transition for 2021 Preps has been greatly affected. Onsite transitions have not been possible due to Government and Catholic Education Melbourne restrictions. Sessions were moved to online, which made transition to Prep very different for our youngest students. We are hopeful that our new approach will ease the children into the school environment with additional teacher support in their first year of schooling.

Greater support

In their first year of formal schooling, children require additional support in many areas - personal, social, emotional and academic. Skills in these areas are usually developed in a kindergarten environment to increase children’s school-readiness. This year, many children have not had regular access to a kinder year. Having three smaller class sizes allows us to address these needs more effectively to ensure that our Prep children are well-prepared for the following years of their primary education.

Classroom support

Reducing our Prep class sizes with lower student to teacher ratios means that additional support can be allocated to children in other year levels. This is essential as a result of the COVID impact in 2020. Classroom support through our Learning Support Officers, Therapists and formal intervention programmes will be much more available to other year levels of the school in 2021.

On Monday we welcomed our 2021 Preps onsite. We will continue onsite weekly transition sessions with our new Preps from next Wednesday.

Camps

On Tuesday, we received some exciting news that school camps could proceed for the remainder of 2020.

The updated CEM School Operations Guide (10/11/2020) now states that:

School camps, including to attend remote campuses, can resume across Victoria for all schools. There are no restrictions on travel between metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. Camp facilities can only be used

by a single school at any one time until the Last Step of the Roadmap is reached, at which time multiple schools will be able to attend a facility if there is no mixing between school groups.

Our original booking for the Year 5 camp was from November 17- 20. Although it’s short notice, we have decided in the interests of the students to proceed with the camp.

We have updated the camp schedule considering these guidelines and venue availability:

Year 2 Sleepover unable to be scheduled
Year 3 Zoo Snooze Camp not open for bookings in 2020 but alternative celebration was held onsite
Year 5 Merricks Lodge Camp modified to 3 full days from November Tuesday 17- Thursday 19

Thank you to the staff (Helen Rochecouste, Dorothy Hall, Jack Sandow, Simon Millar splitting time with Carlo Martello) for their enthusiasm in wanting to provide this opportunity for our students, despite

the enormous amount of work and preparation required with limited time.

Wellbeing

Resilient Attitudes

By being positive about and hopeful for the future, you will give yourself opportunities to think flexibly, show empathy for others and build respectful relationships. Resilient attitudes are when you look life in the eye, not give into yourself when things get hard, control your emotions and impulses yourself and show that you want to continue to build your best possible self. There are no easy ways to any place worth going.

Building Presentations by Clarke Hopkins Clarke

On Thursday 26th November, Clarke Hopkins Clarke, the architectural firm that has designed our new building, will present plans to the school community, students, parents and staff.

2.30pm: Student Presentation

3.30pm: Staff Presentation

4.30pm: Parent Presentation (Zoom)

A Zoom link will be sent to parents closer to the date and a recording published on DOJO for parents unable to attend.

Basketball Court 2021

Due to the building works, basketball/netball team training sessions can not be held at Galilee during 2021.

School Photos

A reminder that school photos will take place next Wednesday 18 November. Students must wear their full Summer Uniform on the day. If your child has PE, they can bring their runners in a separate bag.

If you already ordered a pack back in Term 1, you do not need to do anything. Families who need to order photos can do so on the School Photographer website www.theschoolphotographer.com.au using the code X3053PC39G.

Envelopes for sibling photos will be sent home next week. You can also order sibling orders online using the above code. If you have any questions regarding ordering of photos, please contact The School Photographer on 1300 795 850 or enquiries@theschoolphotographer.com.au

Please note that due to Camp, Year 5 students and their Sibling photos will have their photo taken on Tuesday 24 November.

Swimming Carnival

What: Swimming Carnival

Where: MSAC

When: Friday 20th of November

Time: 10am - 2pm

Who: All students

What to Bring: Bathers, towel, goggles, swimming cap, plenty of snacks and water, plastic bag, hat, sunscreen and a small bag for all items. Please ensure everything is named.

We are very excited to be able to have our swimming carnival at MSAC next Friday 20th November 2020.

An Operoo form (previously CareMonkey) has been sent out to parents for permission and includes details of the day.

Unfortunately, there are still some restrictions on spectators/visitors, therefore no parent spectators will be allowed in the stands and we will be operating with a reduced number of selected parent helpers.

Years 3-6 will bus to MSAC leaving school by 9.15am ready for a 10am start to the races.

Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 students will be bussed to MSAC from 10.15am for a staggered race start.

The carnival will finish at approximately 2pm and students will return to school before 2:30pm.

Maths Week

Next week is Maths Week at Galilee. A fun week has been planned by Miss Coome and the Maths Team.

Monday: The Maths Show online incursion

Tuesday: Maths Writing Day (winners receive a prize)

Wednesday: Teacher choice Maths tasks

Thursday: Maths stations led by Year 6 students

There will also be a Family Maths Challenge set with prizes to be won.

Due to activities planned for Maths Week, there are changes to the PE timetable next week.

Tuesday - Year 6, 3M, 1B, 1C

Wednesday - Year 2, Year 5, Prep M, 4F

Thursday - Prep S, 1S, 3L, 4M

Year 3 Sacrament of Reconciliation

The remainder of the Year Three’s made their First Reconciliation at school last Tuesday. It was a beautiful day and the students were really well prepared by their teachers and families. We are very grateful to Father John and Father Hugh who celebrated this sacrament with the students.

The Sacrament of Eucharist

Hello Parents and Caregivers,

Please be advised that First Eucharist will need to be postponed to Tuesday November 24th as Father Hugh is unavailable due to a medical appointment.

The First Eucharist will take place in Learning Street at 9:45am so any students wearing their special clothes can wear them to school and then change into their school uniforms at recess. Other than this, we ask the students to please wear their full school uniforms for this occasion.

A group photo will be posted on Dojo.

Please contact your child's teacher or Helen Rochecouste if you have any questions.

Scripture of the Week

Simon Millar

Principal of Galilee

Galilee Bulletin

Issue 32 · 12 Nov 2020

In this issue