Principal's Message

Dear Galilee Parents & Carers, 

Last week we recognised, remembered and witnessed some amazing feats of mankind. On July 11 Richard Branson was able to achieve a lifelong dream of being on board the successful Virgin Galactic commercial flight that flew to the edge of space. On 20 July we commemorated the American astronauts Neil Armstrong (1930-2012) and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin (1930-) who became the first humans ever to land on the moon. 

On Wednesday 21 July, Jeff Bezos successfully completed his 10 minute flight into space. Last Friday we celebrated the opening of the long awaited for 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games. What do each of these accomplishments have in common? Men and women, who were / are determined to see their dreams come true through grit and perseverance. 

"I've wanted to go to space since I was a kid, and I want to hopefully enable hundreds of thousands of other people over the next 100 years to be able to go to space," (Sir Richard) 

“What we need to do is always lean into the future; when the world changes around you and when it changes against you - what used to be a tail wind is now a head wind - you have to lean into that and figure out what to do because complaining isn't a strategy.” (Jeff Bezos) 

During this pandemic time we can become overwhelmed by the many changes that have been forced upon us and that take us out of our routine lives. However we can also approach the pandemic with the same attitude and mindset that our olympians, explorers and entrepreneurs demonstrate in their successes and failures. 

We can demonstrate to our children how we can be resilient during lockdown and discuss with them, that while we may have been forced to take on or let go of certain habits or routines, this may not be such a bad thing and in fact may be something that we would like to continue once the restrictions are relaxed. We can remind our children that to be successful at acquiring a new skill or knowledge, for instance during remote learning, we must practice and rehearse that skill many times and this includes experiencing many many failures. 

Consider how many years of space exploration have been invested into each and every Moon or Mars landing or journey into space by NASA or Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson. 

It is clear from the interactions that the staff are having with parents and students via phone calls and Zoom meetings that parents, you really are doing such a great job of maintaining your children’s resilience and building their capacity to take on the challenges that they seem to be presented with on a daily basis. 

Congratulations and thank you for the strong partnership that you are maintaining with the school during this challenging time. A time that calls on so much resilience, strength and courage. 

Attendance 

It is a mandatory requirement that teachers record daily attendance of students. During Remote Learning, teachers are monitoring the students engagement with their Learning Plans and their work submission on Seesaw and Google Classroom so that they can validate students' attendance. If your child is sick or unable to complete class work on a particular day, please inform the class teacher so that their attendance can be correctly recorded as an absence. If the teacher’s notice that your child has not engaged in the learning they will be in touch to inquire as to the reason for this and to offer support if needed. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you would like any support.

Amadeus Music Program for Galilee in 2022

In spite of the pandemic, Galilee is already making great plans for a wonderful innovation in our school’s Creative Arts program to begin next year.

We are very excited about this great music learning opportunity which is called the “Amadeus Music Program”.

What will be involved?

The Amadeus Music Education Program will consist of three elements:

1. Classroom Music: Kindergarten to Year 6 lessons led by our specialist music teacher using a newly developed Music Program (developed by Sydney Catholic Schools);
2. Ensemble Rehearsal: Years 3 to 6 instrumental ensemble lessons led by a specialist tutor; and
3. Small Group Tuition: Years 3 to 6 instruments tuition in groups of 5-8 students led by a specialist tutor.

Students in Years 3 to 6 will each be provided with an orchestral instrument. Instruments that will be available include – violin, viola, cello, flute, clarinet, saxophone, trumpet, trombone, baritone and tuba – isn’t that amazing!

Employment processes are currently taking place to obtain the services of specialist musicians for the tutoring of the specific instruments and then teaching students how to perform as a group in either “strings” or “concert” ensembles.

What are the benefits of music education?

Decades of research demonstrates that learning an instrument and playing in a musical ensemble strengthens neural pathways in the brain and can:

• Significantly improve student academic success in areas including language development, abstract thinking and problem solving.
• Significantly improve short and long-term memory, attention, self-discipline and coordination.
• Strengthen and increase self-development, self-achievement and intrinsic motivation.
• Strengthen and increase confidence, communication and creative skills and improve emotional wellbeing.

We will be providing you with regular updates over the coming months about this exciting and innovative program to begin next year with special relevance to all Years 3 to 6 students.

ACARA Student Background Data Collection (SBD)

Information: The Australian Government and the NSW State Government provide significant financial support for the education of students in our school system. This financial support is based on data Sydney Catholic Schools provide to the government through:

• The Australian Government Department of Education, Skills & Employment (AGDESE) Non-Government Schools census (August Census)
• Nationally Consistent Collection of Data for Students with Disability and the adjustments they receive (NCCD)
• Student & Parent Background data collected from schools and provided to the Australian Curriculum & Reporting Authority (ACARA)
• Student Residential Address and Other Information Collection (February).

For further information on the collection of student background data please visit the ACARA website.

Collection process: Sydney Catholic Schools is required to collect the following information from families on behalf of ACARA:

• Student’s date of birth, sex, Indigenous status and language excluding student name (students are identified only by a ‘unique’ student identification number).
• Parent/Guardian’s language, education level and occupation level excluding parent/guardian name.

Schools are required to provide the Standard Collection Notice on the SCS Privacy Policy webpage to all families in our schools, informing them of the 2021 Student Background Data Collection.

Parent/Carer Action: Parents/carers are not required to do anything except ensure their details recorded with the school are up-to-date and correct, thank you. If parents/carers do have concerns or queries regarding the collection, please contact the Principal.

ICAS Reminder

A reminder to all students in Years 2-6 who have enrolled in ICAS for 2021. The sitting dates are below. The ICAS tests will be administered, at school, using an online testing platform. Please be aware that all tests have a restricted sitting window. This means that students who are absent on the day of their ICAS test, may be unable to sit the test when they return to school. If you have any questions or queries, please feel free to contact Elyse in the office. 

We would like to get some feedback about how remote learning has been going for you this week. This will help the teachers to plan the learning for the next week. 

Please take the time to complete thisshortRemote Learning Survey Form Feedback Week 3 by Friday 30 July - for each of your children at Galilee. 

Your responses will assist staff to improve the way in which Remote Learning can better meet the needs of your family.

Regards

Anna Novak

Principal