Principal's Report
Swimming Carnival
Well done to all the students for their efforts at the Swimming carnival last Friday. It was fantastic to see them cheering on their peers and supporting each other. Thank you to all the volunteers who helped on the day, either supervising in the stands or helping around the pool deck. Your assistance was much appreciated. A big thank you to Holly Burke, Sammy Bamford and Laura Mason for organising a seamless carnival.
Master Plan/School Building Update
After a number of years in the making, including consultation with students, staff and parents earlier this year, a Master Plan has been finalised for the School, which outlines staged improvements proposed to be undertaken at Galilee in the future, as and when funding becomes available. The first project identified in the Master Plan is the development of a new building containing a multi-purpose hall, performing arts and new learning spaces proposed to be located broadly where the prep building is currently. The multi-purpose hall is proposed to include a full size basketball court and custom designed performing arts space in addition to new bathroom facilities at ground level with lift access to additional multi-purposes spaces, a visual arts space, contemporary classrooms, bathrooms and an associated roof top play space at the upper levels.
As a result of the work done by the School over the past few years, funding commitments provided by the State Government were secured earlier this year enabling Galilee to be in a position financially to proceed with this first stage of the Master Plan. As a result, architects have commenced the preparation of architectural concept plans to facilitate its development.
Once the architects’ concept plans have been suitably resolved, the School we will host another information night to explain the plans and also outline how student safety and classroom accommodation will be managed once we get to the construction phase of the project – noting that this is still some time away, with timing dependent upon a range of factors including how long the necessary approvals take for the building. The earliest we envisage development could start is sometime in the second half of 2020 but we will keep the School community updated once likely timing becomes clearer.
Obviously the safety and well-being of the students during the construction period and limiting disruption to the students’ learning will be of paramount importance. The School is working with the architects and Catholic Education Melbourne on how these matters will be addressed as part of a management plan that will be implemented during the construction period. This is a truly exciting project for Galilee and will provide the opportunity for significantly improved and expanded play space for the children at recess and lunchtimes, as well as contemporary sporting, performing arts and learning spaces. We look forward to presenting the plans to the School community in the new year.
Confirmation
Congratulations to the Year 6 students who received the Sacrament of Confirmation last Friday and Sunday.
Galilee 25th Birthday Celebration
Yesterday we celebrated Galilee's 25th birthday. Galilee is an amalgamation of four Catholic Primary Schools in 1994: Sts Peter and Paul South Melbourne; Sacred Heart St Kilda; St Joseph's Port Melbourne and Our Lady of Mount Carmel Middle Park. Our community celebrated with a 90s style dress up day. The students paraded around the Basketball Court in the morning, participated in a variety of fun activities, enjoyed a sausage sizzle for lunch and welcomed back the first Principal of Galilee, Rosemary Williamson in the afternoon. We thank Tegan Stuart (past pupil), for sharing her memories of the commencement of Galilee, Fr John for his blessing prayer for the future and to TheirCare for providing the sausage sizzle for the students. The students were also given a special keyring memento for this special occasion.
The celebrations continued into the evening in the Maguire Hall for all families (parents only) from 7pm with Brighid Fahy as host. Food and drinks were provided and we welcomed Labor Minister Martin Foley, past principal Rosemary Williamson, longstanding staff members Mal Orr, Julianne Price and Carlo Martello talked about the history of Galilee. Thank you to the DOGS Band for providing the entertainment, Pieno di Grazia (Maria Capuano) for kindly donating the food, all parents who volunteered to assist and a huge thank you to Tegan Stuart, Brighid Fahy, Mal Orr, Carmen Carnovale, Wendy Dalton and Simon Millar for organising the events of the day.
Staffing
On Monday 2 December, we farewell Fr Dean Mathieson at 8:50am on the Basketball Court. Parents are invited to a special morning tea for Fr Dean in the staffroom.
This year we farewell the following staff who have decided to move on to other adventures. Joss Coaley has been at Galilee since 2015 and will move to Our Lady Help of Christians in East Brunswick. He will be the eLearning teacher and leader.
Sandra Carlei has been a Learning Support Officer this year and has decided to pursue her previous career in exercise science and to further study.
Maree Santamaria has been at Galilee since 2017 as a Learning Support Officer and will be working at a special school closer to home.
Tanya Borg has been our Occupational Therapist this year and has accepted a full time position at Parade College closer to home.
Holly Burke will be taking 12 months leave to work at a school on Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory.
We sincerely thank these staff members for their hard work and contributions to Galilee throughout their time. We wish them all the very best for the future.
In 2020, we welcome classroom teachers, Dorothy Hall who is currently working at Galilee as a Learning Support Officer, David McLeish, currently working at Clairvaux Catholic School Belmont and Sheridan McAuliffe currently working at Galilee as PE teacher. Kingsley Hill will join us as PE teacher and is currently working in the role at Knox Park Primary School. Bianca Trewhella will join us as a Learning Support Officer and is currently in the role at St Thomas Primary School Drysdale.
Colleen Giles will be taking on a different role next year. She will be releasing four different teachers over four days, in leadership roles.
A full list of 2020 Staffing will be published in next week's bulletin.
Dance Classes
We have purchased a brand new sound system for the school. Most of the funding for this came from Jackie Scott's Tuesday dance classes. She kindly donated her time and fees to the school. Thank you to Jackie for your thoughtful and generous donation.
Galilee Carols
On Wednesday 4th December Galilee have their annual Carols event from 5-7pm.
The Year One Parents are organising a BBQ, however, you can also BYO a picnic. We encourage families to come and support our community and the students as each class has been learning a carol for the night.
Please see below the running order for the evening:
Item 1: Year 6B & 6F
Item 2: 2B
Item 3: 5B
Item 4: 1C
Item 5: 5R
Item 6: 3M
Item 7: Ballet performance by the Galilee Dancers
Item 8: 1F
Item 9: 2C
Item 10: 3L
Item 11: 4C
Item 12: Prep B, Prep E, Prep S
Item 13: 4G
Item 14: Jazz performance by the Galilee Dancers
Item 15 and beyond: Fun Christmas Carols - whole community.
Leadership speeches
Good luck to the Year 5 students who will be presenting their leadership speeches next Monday to Year 3-6. Student leadership for 2020 will be announced on Wednesday 11 December.
Student Success
Brothers Lachlan (Year 5) and Flynn (Year 2) have both made it into the Under 12s Melbourne Tigers Basketball Team. The boys had try outs in October for 4 weeks. They are looking forward to the challenge and building on their skills.
2020 Testing Days
All students will begin on Friday 31st January 2020. Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th January will be testing days. Families will need to book in a time on the PTO site (coming soon) for a time slot on one of the days. Students do NOT need to come both days. Time slots will be for 45 minute sessions. More information will be available soon.
Semester 2 Reports
Semester 2 Reports will be emailed to families on Friday 13th December.
Simon Millar
(Principal of Galilee)