From the Principal

Dear Families,

Congratulations to staff at Danceworld and Galilee who have worked tirelessly to prepare the students for our upcoming concert; Galilee on Broadway. Many thanks also to Carlo Martello for coordinating with Danceworld, Wendy Dalton for organising ticketing and Paul Mapley for coordinating the set-up of the new Basketball Stadium for the concert. It has been a great team effort! Tickets went on sale this week and they are selling fast. Please refer to information in the Dojo or in this Newsletter about how to purchase tickets.

2022 Deputy Principal Conference
A fortnight ago, Amy and Carlo gathered with the Deputy Principals from the Southern Region in Healesville for a Deputy Principal Conference. The focus for the 2022 conference was Positive Psychology presented by Danielle Jacobs and Faith Formation with Andrew Chinn. These conferences are so important in building our knowledge and capacity to lead our community. Wellbeing continues to be a major focus as outlined in our School Improvement Plan and Annual Action Plan. Having the opportunity to meet with colleagues and learn about other schools' practices is also very important.

Prep 2023 Orientation
Last Thursday, we held one of our orientation sessions with approximately 52 children visiting us. My sincere thanks to Holly Evans and Brighid Fahy for the organisation and incredible care that went into the orientation session. The next whole group orientation session is scheduled for Tuesday 8th November at 9am. We currently have 52 children in our 2023 Prep cohort - 3 classes with 17 or 18 students in each.

Staffing for 2023
As is customary each year we will have a change over of some staff moving into the new year.

We would like to thank:

Cassandra Gleeson who has been teaching at Galilee for the past seven years,
Sammy Bamford who has been teaching at Galilee for the past five years,
Sheridan McAuliffe who has been teaching at Galilee for the past three and a half years,
Amanda Readon who has been teaching at Galilee for the past two years,
Kingsley Hill who has been at Galilee for the past two years,
Laura Mason who has been teaching at Galilee for the past four years.

The above staff all started at Galilee as Graduate Teachers. We couldn’t be more proud of the development that they have made while at Galilee and the contribution they have each made to students and their learning.

Cassandra has taken up a position at St. Joseph’s in Elsternwick, Sammy has taken up a position at St. Joan of Arc in Brighton, Sheridan has taken up a position at St. Paul’s in Bentleigh, Amanda has taken up a position at St. Columbus in Elwood, Kingsley has taken up an opportunity outside of teaching and Laura Mason has taken up a position at St. Peter’s in Bentleigh East. We wish them all the best and will farewell them at the end of the year.

We are pleased to announce a number of staff who will be joining us in 2023.

Mr. Richard Harding will be joining us from Stella Maris in Point Cook. He has over 10 years experience in a range of Catholic Schools around Melbourne,
Mr. Alex Pensini will be joining us from St. Augustine’s in Perth where he has been for the past four years,
Ms.Rebecca McCormack will be joining our staffing team in 2023. She comes to us from St. Joseph's in Ireland where she has been teaching for five years,
Mr. Seb Greene will be joining us as a Physical Education Teacher in 2023. He comes to us from Wyndham Primary School with 3+ years experience teaching PE,
Paddy Edwards will be joining us in 2023, he comes from St Andrews in Clayton South with 8+ years of experience.

We wish the staff who are leaving us all the best and we look forward to welcoming the staff who are joining us in 2023.

School Advisory Council
In this week’s Bulletin, parents can access documents regarding our School Advisory Council (SAC). Please send in the Expression of Interest form by 10th November if you would like to be considered for the SAC.

School Masterplan
Over the previous six months, we have been seeking additional funds from the major parties to complete our Building Masterplan. We have been endeavouring to get a pledge from both parties prior to the upcoming state election. Our local member Martin Foley (Labor Party) will be retiring from politics. Nina Taylor will be contesting our seat at the next election. Lauren Sherson will also be contesting the seat for the Liberal Party. Both parties have acknowledged the need for a further grant to Galilee. Daniel Andrews recently pledged a large grant to a local state school in our neighbourhood. Local state schools have received a significantly higher amount of money from the state government over the last eight years in the seat of Albert Park. At this stage, neither party has committed funds to our school but we are still hopeful of gaining their support and getting a fair deal for students at our Catholic school.

STEM Excursion for select Year 3 and 4 students next Wednesday at Scienceworks
Select students from Year 3 and 4 will be immersed in a day-long STEM design challenge at Scienceworks next Wednesday. The design challenge will use a human-centered approach to “design a better world”. They will also explore Scienceworks exhibits, meet experts in science, design, health and technology. Students will get hands-on with the technology materials to begin making and tinkering and prototyping physical solutions to real problems. We thank Dave McLeish and Amy Burns for organising this exciting opportunity for the students. We can’t wait to hear all about it when they return back to school.

Student Leadership at Galilee
We have many opportunities for our students to lead at Galilee. The past fortnight has been a wonderful example of active student leadership at Galilee.

Last Friday, our Social Justice Leaders organised and facilitated a very successful Socktober Day at Galilee. Students were encouraged to wear their favourite socks to school and donate money to Catholic Missions. The leaders organised posters that were put up around the school, spoke to their class about the day and presented at Assembly.

Student Representative Council have been meeting with Mr. Martello on a regular basis this year and have worked on a wide range of initiatives. They are currently working on updating the school playground rules, now that we have lots of new play spaces. At the meetings they are asked to bring the ideas of their classmates and share it with everyone on the SRC. Their ideas and suggestions are listened to, and are often actioned by the group. We look forward to hearing from the SRC soon with a new set of Playground Rules.

Our current Year 5 students are in the process of applying for 2023 Year 6 Student Leadership Roles. The students have been seeking referees from staff as part of the application process, they have written incredible letters explaining why they should be considered for the role and they will present speeches to students and staff next week. We wish them all the best and look forward to working with them in 2023.

Year 5 & 6 Basketball at Recess
At recess Mr. Booth and the Year 6 students have been organising and running fun, informal basketball competitions. Students have divided themselves into mixed teams and they are playing 8min games in a round-robin style competition. It is wonderful to see our Year 5 and 6 students displaying exceptional sportsmanship as they compete against each other. We thank Mr. Booth for volunteering his time to referee games during his scheduled breaks.

Swimming Carnival Next Friday
Our swimming carnival will be held at MSAC on Friday 11th November.

On the day, students are to wear their bathers under their sports uniform to school. They can wear a t-shirt that is the colour of their house team. They will need to bring along a towel, underwear, a pair of thongs (not compulsory), their Galilee swimming caps and a plastic bag/wet-bag. They will also need to bring along their recess, lunch, water bottle and plenty of snacks that can be eaten between events. Please ensure each item inside their backpack (clothing, towel etc.) is clearly labeled. Students must wear their school hat on the day and we encourage them to apply sunscreen the morning of the swimming carnival and pack it in their bag so that they can re-apply throughout the day.

Information for Students in Year 3-6
Students in Year 3 - 6 will compete in the 50m Freestyle, Breaststroke, Backstroke and Butterfly.

The MSAC pool we are using is a 50m pool that will be divided into two 25m pools.

Year 3-6 will be swimming in a depth of 1.3m and will swim 2 X 25m laps. Please discuss with your child the events in which they will swim and pool depths prior to the carnival so that they are well prepared for the day. Students will be organised into heats on the day.

The school has formatted all of the events on the day of the carnival to ensure all students, irrespective of their swimming ability, get to represent their House. Our leading swimmers will be given the opportunity to represent the school at the Dendy Swimming Carnival in 2023.

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

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

Information for students in Prep - Year 2
Prep, Year One and Year 2 students will participate in a series of fun races/activities such as, noodles and kickboard races.

The MSAC pool we are using is a 50m pool that will be divided into two 25m pools. Prep, Year 1 and Year 2 will be in a depth of 80 - 90cm. Swimmers of all abilities will be accommodated throughout the day. The school has formatted all of the events on the day of the carnival to ensure all students, irrespective of their swimming ability, get to represent their House.

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 1:30pm and students will return to school before 2pm.

I wish you every blessing in the coming week,

Simon Millar