Messages

Dear Families,

Thank you to our wonderful Galilee community for understanding our COVID safety restrictions, protocols and procedures over the past twelve months. The level of patience, flexibility and adaptability shown within our community has blown us away. 

From the start of this term we have been able to embrace a ‘new normal’ with the further easing of restrictions within the school setting. It is for this reason that we have been allowed to sing again for the first time in over a year and we have had parents attend our Cross Country Sporting Event for the first time since early 2020. From next week we will be welcoming parents back onsite for our Mother's Day Morning Tea and we will be welcoming all parents and guardians back into our classrooms with the re-introduction of Open Mornings.  We are very excited that we are able to re-introduce community events back into our school calendar. 

Thank you for your support over the past twelve months. We hope to see you on-site at one of our events in the very near future.

ANZAC Day

On Wednesday afternoon we gathered as a school community to celebrate ANZAC Day. Our SRC leaders led us in a beautiful ceremony. Trent Bekis, a parent within the school with an Army and Police background spoke to us about the ANZAC's, a life of service and the sacrifice our service men and women make. We thank Sarah O'Bryan for making our beautiful school wreath. All classes presented a wreath that they had made during the ceremony. We thank Charlotte Biggs, Simon Millar and Classroom teachers for organising the ceremony, preparing the students and marking this special occasion.

Farewell Fr. John

On Monday we hosted Fr John with the staff to recognise his contribution over the last 18 months. Fr John has been a consistent visitor to the classrooms and formed excellent relationships with everyone. On Wednesday, he received cards and a present. We gave him a book which is one of my favourites: Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. 

Brighid Fahy is going on Maternity Leave

We wish Brighid and her family every blessing in the coming weeks as they prepare for the arrival of their newest family member. We will miss Brighid at Galilee while she is on Maternity Leave. We hope to hear about the safe arrival of Brighid's baby soon and share a picture or two with you.

Punctuality to School

At Galilee our expectation is that pupils are in their classrooms by 8.50am. Therefore, those students who enter the school grounds after 8.50am are deemed late and must sign in at the office before going to class. 

Lack of punctuality affects learning and behaviour, not only of the pupil who is late, but it has an impact on all other learners. The teacher is often required to recap on missing learning for those who arrive late and this reduces learning time for the rest of the class. We understand parking can be difficult but please try to ensure your child is at school before 8.50am each morning.

Wellbeing 

Sleep Time

By understanding that sleep is as important as the air you breathe to build your best possible self, you will be able to develop routines to ensure you sleep deeply. These include turning off your phone and TV an hour before bed, reading, doing breathing exercises, and generally feeling calm. The light from screens affects your sleep hormone, melatonin, making falling asleep difficult, so avoid them before bed. You need 9 hours of sleep nightly to grow well. 

Open Mornings

We are very excited to announce that Open Morning will return starting next Friday 7th May, between 8.35am and 8.40am. 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 that students have been doing.

During Open Mornings your child/ren can show you around their classroom and show you the work that they have 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 or through the front office. 

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

Principal's Dinner

Last week I attended a dinner recognising principalship, hosted by Archbishop Peter Comensoli. It was a wonderful occasion to recognise the current and retiring principals. Principalship is a role of service to a school and local community. It is at times demanding with a large workload. However, at other times it is rewarding to watch the growth in students and teachers, and connectedness of parents. I was a Head of Primary in W.A. for two years and currently in my eleventh year as a principal in Victoria.  Any role that carries responsibility requires the individual to develop strategies and support mechanisms to cope and thrive. I personally focus on encouraging the leadership capabilities of others in the school (students, staff & parents) which leads to a more collaborative and shared approach. 

In the photos below you will see: Archbishop Peter; Cathy Ferrari, Principal at St Mary's East St Kilda;  Pat Berlingeri, Principal at St Finbar's East Brighton and Nigel Rodrigues, Acting Principal at Trinity in Richmond. All of us have intertwined careers. Both Pat and Cathy are former Deputy Principals of mine and Nigel is a former Deputy of Pat's. I'm very proud of their progress and I will continue to empower our students, staff and parents at Galilee.

Building Works

These are photos of the footings; concrete will be poured shortly.

Cross Country

Today our Year 3-6 students attended the Galilee Cross Country. It was wonderful to see them push themselves around the very long course. We clearly have some very talented long distance runners among us.  We are extremely proud of the way our Year 3-6 students represented Galilee while they were at Murphy's reserve. It was wonderful to see parents cheering us on, this is the first sporting event we have been able to welcome parents to attend as spectators in over a year. We thank Mr. Hill, the sports team and staff for organising a wonderful event and we thank that parents who assisted on the day. 

We have a number of students who recorded times that will allow them to go onto the next level. They will complete in the Dendy Cross Country against students from local schools. We wish them all the best as they prepare for their next long distance run.

Parent's Morning Cuppa

Our Parent's Morning Cuppa is returning tomorrow, Friday 30th April from 8.35am - 9.30am. It would be great if you could join us for a cuppa in the hall.

All parents will need to sign in via QR code in the hall as per COVID safe procedures.  

Mother's Day

Our much loved Annual Mother’s Day Morning Tea will be held on Friday 7th May. This is an opportunity for our school community to recognise the amazing role the mothers / significant women play in the lives of our children.

School gates will open at 8.20am in the morning to allow as many of our mothers the opportunity to share a morning tea or coffee.

A Mother’s Day Liturgy will follow at 9:30am in SSPP Church.

Due to density limits, please RSVP for the morning tea via Operoo.

Eucharist Family Faith Night 

The Eucharist Family Faith Night was very well attended last Tuesday evening on the 27th of April. The families engaged in the activities, enjoying their learning about this very important sacrament of initiation in the Catholic faith. Many thanks to Fr. Gary, Sue Kidd, Dorothy Hall, Carlo Martello and Colleen Giles for their contributions and preparations to make this night such a great success!

We look forward to a successful collaboration with the families, school and the parishes when preparing the students for the sacrament of First Eucharist. 

Helen Rochecouste

REL

Transition to Winter Uniform

As the weather is starting to cool down we have noticed that many of our students have started to make the transition to the winter school uniform. 

We originally published that we would require all students to make the transition to the winter uniform by Monday 3rd  May, however we have been made aware that some of our students have not been able to purchase the new winter tunic. If you are waiting to purchase the new winter tunic we will allow you to continue wearing the summer uniform or the sports uniform on cold days for the next two week.  All other students will be required to wear full winter uniform starting on Monday 3rd May.

We have been informed that the new winter tunic will be available on Tuesday 4th May. We ask that you arrange to purchase the uniform between Tuesday 4th May and Saturday 15th May. On Monday 17th May we will require all students to be in full winter uniform. 

Dads of Galilee Catch-up

Book Club

Issue 3 of Scholastic book Club is out now.

Orders can be made via the Loop app until Thursday 6th May

Winter Sports Student Recounts

Craft Club

We had 46 children from Prep to Year 5 in craft club today. We made fish by tracing our hands.

Parent's Battle of The Bands

Parent's Battle of The Bands #3 - Thursday, 27th May - The Prince Bandroom, St Kilda.

Tickets are now on sale at the following link: https://princebandroom.oztix.com.au/outlet/event/211e3233-a675-4064-b779-49baf40474c2?utm_source=PrinceBandroom&utm_medium=Website

If booking, make sure you obtain the tickets through the The P.O.G.S (Galilee PS) band, as all proceeds will be redistributed back to the school pro-rata of parents’ attendance / number of tickets sold by each school. 

Funds raised are used to expand the musical education programs and improve facilities for participating schools & help further our children's musical education. 

Our Parents Band The P.O.G.S. is participating with 6 other local primary schools including St. Kilda Primary, Elwood Primary, Port Melbourne Primary, Gardenvale Primary, St Kilda Park Primary & Ripponlea Primary.

It is a great social night with the wider local school communities.  

See you there!

RE Incursion

The Catholic singer/songwriter Andrew Chinn visited Galilee last Friday for an incursion. All the students enjoyed singing songs about Jesus and stories from the Bible. The Galilee staff had a wonderful time too! This was a wonderful time to celebrate the risen Jesus during this time of Easter, being back at school in Term Two and being able to sing again! 

Scripture of the Week

Sacramental Dates 2021

Eucharist

StsPP - Sunday, 6 June 2:00pm

OLMC - Wednesday, 2 June 7:00pm

Confirmation

StsPP- Thursday 19 August 7.00pm

OLMC - Wednesday 18 August 7.00pm

I will be away for the next two days due to a sickness in my family. Next week I will be on Year 6 Camp to Canberra. I will return to school on Friday 7th May for our Mother's day.

I will remain in regular contact with the Deputy Principals and other school staff throughout this time.