11/04/2024
PUBLISHED
We hope the Easter long weekend is a joyous and restful one for all of our Giant Steps families. And may all our Melbourne families have a safe and wonderful term break.
Please enjoy this week’s edition of Footnotes!
THE FOOTNOTES TEAM
SYDNEY NEWS
KEY DATES
FOR YOUR DIARY
- 6 APR | DRAG BINGO
- 10 APR | ORDER OF ST. JOHN LUNCHEON
- 15 JUN | LUMINOUS GALA
SCHOOL TERMS
TERM ONE 2024
- MON 29 – WED 31 JAN | STAFF PD DayS
- THU 1 FEB | STUDENTS RETURN
- FRI 12 APR | TERM 1 ENDS
TERM TWO 2024
- MON 29 APR | STAFF PD DAY
- TUE 30 APR | STUDENTS RETURN
- FRI 5 JUL | TERM 2 ENDS
TERM THREE 2024
- MON 22 JUL | STAFF PD Day
- TUE 23 JUL | STUDENTS RETURN
- FRI 27 SEP | TERM 3 ENDS
TERM FOUR 2024
- MON 14 OCT | STAFF & STUDENTS RETURN
- FRI 20 DEC | TERM 4 ENDS
TERM ONE 2025
- DDD 00 MMM | STAFF PD DayS
- DDD 00 MMM | STUDENTS RETURN
- DDD 00 MMM | TERM 1 ENDS
Dear Parents,
Over the last few weeks, Goal College has been coming out on Wednesday mornings to run fun and engaging sports clinics with some of our students. The group has a coach and a number of secondary students who are motivated to teach foundational skills. They are wonderful at providing activities catering to all our students and have been focusing on soccer skills.
This semester, we welcome four final-year music therapy students on placement. All the placement students are studying at Western Sydney University, bringing various musical experiences and skill backgrounds. We have Lianne, Abbey, and Timothy in Primary and William in Secondary. Thank you to the music team for mentoring these budding music therapists and providing them with invaluable experience.
Read More
This week, we remembered our beautiful Benita, who passed away two years ago. We welcomed Benita’s parents for an afternoon tea next to Benta’s garden. Benita’s parents again thanked the Giant Step community for the support and celebrated the joy she had attending school.
Congratulations to CJ Morello on ‘Come Together’, a fantastic hairdressing event this week, and Niels Mosegard for the next-level fitness fundraiser on the weekend.
I hope everyone has a lovely weekend.
Andrew
MELBOURNE NEWS
KEY DATES
FOR YOUR DIARY
- 28 APR | AUSTRALIA 108 STAIR CHALLENGE
- 24 MAY | MAYDAY CHARITY LUNCH
- 1 JUNE | THE GIANT STEPS SOCIAL
SCHOOL TERMS
TERM ONE 2024
- WED 24 & THU 25 JAN | STAFF PD Days
- MON 29 JAN | STUDENTS RETURN
- THU 28 MAR | TERM 1 ENDS
TERM TWO 2024
- MON 15 APR | STAFF & STUDENTS RETURN
- MON 20 MAY | STAFF PD DAY
- FRI 28 JUN | TERM 2 ENDS
TERM THREE 2024
- MON 25 JUL | STAFF & STUDENTS RETURN
- FRI 16 AUG | STAFF PD DAY
- FRI 20 SEP | TERM 3 ENDS
TERM FOUR 2023
- MON 7 OCT | STAFF & STUDENTS RETURN
- MON 4 NOV | STAFF PD DAY
- WED 18 DEC | TERM 4 ENDS
TERM ONE 2025
- DDD 00 MMM | STAFF PD DayS
- DDD 00 MMM | STUDENTS RETURN
- DDD 00 MMM | TERM 1 ENDS
Dear Parents,
Term 1 has been a term of creativity and flexibility, yet our community has taken it in their stride; staff have risen to the challenges and, with their can-do attitude, have supported students to continue to engage in learning and seize new opportunities. Thank you to parents who have partnered with us and adapted to the many changes in drop-off and pick-up arrangements and program adjustments. I’m sure you’ll agree that arrivals and departures are much smoother, which positively impacts the start and finish of the school day.
The construction site is taking shape now, and our new building is very real; these are truly exciting times for Giant Steps. I will be meeting the McCorkell Project Team in the school holidays to discuss the plans for Term 2 so that we can plan accordingly. We are optimistic there will be a little less disruption.
Read More
Today, we farewelled Kade, one of our Melbourne Storm educators who has stepped into a coaching role at Melbourne Storm while balancing his sports science studies. Staff came together to thank him for his contribution and connection and wish him success in the future.
To end the term, we have some lovely baby news. Jedda has had a beautiful baby girl, Poppy. Jedda shared:
‘Poppy was a considerate sister and waited until the day after her brother’s birthday to start knocking at the door to come and join the family, arriving in the early hours of March 11. While she arrived wearing quite the frown, Ari has been giving her many tickles and she’s been warming up to this new life. We are all smitten with her, enjoying the newborn cuddles and are looking forward to introducing her to our Giant Steps family.’
Many congratulations, Jedda, Chris and big brother Ari.
As space in school has reduced, our Kew Hebrew Congregation friends have invited us to use their board room for Mental Health Clinics and meetings and the foyer as a breakaway staffroom. We are extremely grateful for this additional space, which allows us to spread out a little and appreciate quieter times.
We have some very exciting fundraising events on the horizon: the Australia 108 Stair Challenge on Sunday April 28, the MayDay Charity Luncheon on Friday May 24 and the Giant Steps Social on Saturday June 1. Tickets for the Giant Steps Social are now on sale and we would love to see our families and wider community there for what is set to be a truly memorable evening. The Stair Climb is just around the corner, and we need participant numbers to increase. Please help us promote the event and share with your network.
Thank you to the Giant Steps Melbourne Team. Have a well-deserved rest and take the time to relax and blow away the dust!
Have a lovely school holiday, and remember, students return on Monday, 15 April.
Have a lovely Easter and term break.
Davina
CORPORATE SPONSORSHIPS
Week 2: Make your networks work!
As mentioned last week, we want to give you more information about corporate sponsorship and the many ways that you can get involved. The ultimate goal is not only to generate funds necessary to help safeguard the future of Giant Steps but also to raise awareness, inspire change, and promote inclusion.
So how can you help?
If we can harness the collective power of the networks and relationships many of you have across all businesses, big and small, then we can make a real difference to Giant Steps. Harnessing that power of the network starts with identifying who in your network could make a difference to Giant Steps. That difference can take many forms – it may be that a particular individual wants to hear more about Giant Steps, it may be that a particular individual can introduce you to someone else in their organisation who is interested in hearing more, or it may be that the individual knows of someone in another organisation who wants to hear more. Only some leads need to generate a donation – as mentioned last week; our mission is to raise funds but to also raise awareness, spread our stories and help our Giant Steps Spirit roar.
If we all start by focusing on the “who” in our network, then we are off to a great start.
As a collective, if any Giant Steps family can identify 1 potential individual/business who may make a difference to Giant Steps, then across Sydney and Melbourne that will generate several leads! And just because you identify the individual/business, it does not mean you need to contact them (if you are not comfortable doing so). There is a team here to help, but more on that in the weeks to come.
2024 Luminous Gala Update
Luminous Gala
Saturday, 15 June
We’re less than 100 days away from hosting the 29th Annual Giant Steps Gala. This year’s theme is luminous and we’re excited to light up the night in celebration of Giant Steps.
Corporate Sponsors
We want to acknowledge and thank our corporate partners:
Quay Business Services – Gold Sponsor, Addisons, AIPX, Bega, BWS, Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology, Harris Page & Associates.
Tickets Sold
Tickets sold: 63
Goal: 1000
Please visit our Luminous Gala website to purchase tickets and click the link below to download the corporate sponsorship packages.
Silent Auction
Prizes received: 8
Goal: 250 prizes
As a guide, can every family please source 3 – 4 auction items valued at over $150 each (total value of donated prizes $1,000 +) OR make a tax-deductible donation to BSB 082 443 Account No. 491677752 Ref. your surname/AUC and we will use the donated funds to obtain suitable prizes.
Please click this link to log your auction prizes before delivering to Giant Steps. If you have any questions, please contact Giant Steps’ Event Facilitator, Shaminie Chandra – shaminie.chandra@giantsteps.net.au.
Read More
Lucky Dip
The lucky dip is very popular and sells out on the night. Guests pay and then receive a mystery prize that is of higher value.
Goal:
– 130 lucky dip prizes of $20 value
– 375 prizes of $50 value
– 130 prizes of $100 value
Prized collected:
$20 prizes = 15
$50 = 10
$100 = 3
As a guide, can every family please source 5+ lucky dip prizes valued between $20 – $150 each (total value of donated prizes $200 +) OR make a tax-deductible donation to BSB 082 443 Account No. 491677752 Ref. your surname/LD and we will use the donated funds to obtain suitable prizes in bulk.
Enter lucky dip prize donations via the Gala website.
Gala Tip
One tip for sourcing silent auction prizes is to cash in Coles and Woolworths Flybuys and Everyday Rewards and donate items to the auction!
Download our Luminous Gala e-invite, sponsorship information sheet, and check-list below. Feel free to also reach out to any fundraising team member if you have any questions or need any help. We look forward to celebrating with you on June 15th!
FUNDRAISING
Australia 108 Stair Climb
Sunday, 28 April
We have just 4 weeks to go until we tackle Australia’s Biggest Stair Climb!
We currently have just over 400 participants, and we want this to increase to 800 by event day. We really need our community to come together to help us market this event! Please reach out to your network, share our social media posts, and distribute posters at your workplace, your child’s school, or your local café and shops. If you have any contacts in the media world that you think may be able to help us, please reach out to Kat Hender in Fundraising.
We are so excited to see our incredible community come together for this fun event. We just need some help to make it even bigger than last year! If you have any ideas, please let us know!
FUNDRAISING | SYDNEY
Drag Bingo
Saturday, 6 April
Drag Bingo tickets are selling fast! Make sure you get yours before they sell out. The theme for next weekend’s night of nights is all things Barbie, so come dressed to impress and prepare for a unique game of bingo hosted by the dazzling Miss Penny Tration.
Tickets are $60, and a pre-ordered set dinner is $25.
Please note that this is an adult-only event.
Charity Luncheon
Wednesday, 10 April
Giant Steps family, the Carollos, and the Sovereign Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem Knights of Malta will be hosting Giant Steps families and staff at a Charity Luncheon on Wednesday, 10 April.
All proceeds from this wonderful annual lunch at Aqua Luna Waterfront Dining in Drummoyne will support Giant Steps. Thank you to everyone involved in this special meal and gathering!
Read More
Thank you
Come Together
Congratulations to Giant Steps family, the Morellos, and everyone involved in making Come Together a huge success! This was a Giant Steps first, and we are thankful for all the support from industry experts and attendees.
“On Monday, the hair and beauty industry’s biggest names came together for an incredible day of hair-based education from FIVE world-class stylists.
Come Together raised more than $20,000 and the day had many highlights, but maybe none more memorable than when our daughter Ada (who is a Giant Steps student along with big brother Maddox) shared the stage with none other than Freda Rossidis, who had just returned from performing shows in Paris and Milan Fashion weeks, for the entire audience to sing her “Happy Birthday”. A great day was had by all, and we can’t wait to start working on next year’s Come Together.” – CJ Morello
Bruce Ward Training Charity Event
Thank you to Giant Steps parent Niels Mosegaard and Bruce Ward for organising this sweat-inducing charity event to support Giant Steps! It looked and sounded like an exhausting but equally rewarding workout that lived up to the “fitter, faster, stronger” mantra.
Over $1,500 was raised for Giant Steps and none of this would’ve been possible wihtout the amazing efforts of the Mosegaard family.
“We rolled up at 8am sharp on Saturday to smash out some outdoor exercises to get the blood pumping.
We ran, we lifted, we planked, and we particularly focused on a large number of lunges in the name of Giant Steps!” – Niels
FUNDRAISING | MELBOURNE
May Day Charity Luncheon
Friday, 24 May
In some very exciting news, we have secured our guest speaker for the May Day Charity Luncheon… Joel Selwood will be joining us for this event and will be interviewed by the wonderful Sarah Jones!
We are aiming to raise $100,000 from this event and where GSM can really add value is through the silent auction. Our goal is to offer 60 items, currently we have 15 so we really need your help to secure prizes! If we could ask our incredible community to reach out to their networks for auction prizes.
This luncheon is open to anyone who would like to attend; tickets are $175 each and can be purchased here.
The Giant Steps Social
Saturday, 1 June
Tickets are now available for the 2024 Giant Steps Social!
We can’t wait to celebrate the Giant Steps Melbourne community with you all. Please forward the invitation to friends, family, colleagues, supporters and anyone you may feel could attend or support.
We also have a Partnerships Package if this may be of interest to you or your contacts.
Many thanks,
The Giant Steps Social Team
To purchase tickets, click here.
To view the Partnerships Package, click here.
See More Events
Run Melbourne
Sunday, 21 July
A huge shoutout to Carly Marcs, who is taking on Run Melbourne this year. Not only is she putting together some pretty impressive practise runs, but she has also already raised a whopping $9,475!!
CLASS UPDATES | SYDNEY
Warandah
This term, Warandah class had the wonderful opportunity to go horse riding.
The boys wore safety helmets and belts to prepare for the ride. The wonderful RDA volunteers helped our boys greet the gentle giants and give them soft pats. It has been a great experience getting to sit high up on the horses and trotting around the arena in various formations.
The Warandah boys are fast becoming good friends with the horses and look forward to the outing every week.
CLASS UPDATES | MELBOURNE
Diamond
Diamond class has had a great term! We can’t believe how quickly it has flown by. Well done to all of our students for their flexibility with construction works and their dedication and enthusiasm for learning. Wishing everyone in the community a happy and safe couple of weeks. See you next term.
Sapphire
Sapphire class has been all smiles! We have all our students back feeling happy and healthy, and we couldn’t be more excited. It has been so lovely to have all our students back. We have been practising signing in our Morning Meeting booklets, practising our sound of the week and tasting sour spray in Becoming Me! Students will experience some new facial expressions after tasting it. To celebrate Easter, Sapphire made some Easter egg brownies YUM. Wishing everyone a happy and safe holiday, we’ll see you all next term!
GREENHOUSE
Sydney
The Greenhouse continues to thrive with our warm autumn days, and planning is under way for our winter planting. We are ordering plenty of seeds and look forward to a great winter crop. The participants are great at keeping the garden watered each day and helping out with potting and planting. It’s also been great to see our young people participating in “garden to plate”, and cooking some vegetables on the BBQ.
Last week I attended the Hunters Hill, Ryde & Lane Cove Councils’ Seniors Festival with the Greenhouse Project’s Rob Frazer and Estelle and Barry Lewis. We were there to promote the greenhouse project and recruit new volunteers.
On Saturday, 6 April, we will have our next market day. We will be having a big succulent sale, as well as our usual goods of plants, veggies, and herbs. Participants have been busy making soaps and candles to sell at the marker, and Estelle’s lovely jams will also be on offer.
We’d love to see you at the market. Please pop by if you are free.
COMMUNITY UPDATES
Holiday Program – Sydney
Monday, 15 – Friday, 19 April
We are excited to announce that the holiday program will be returning in the first week of the April school holidays, Monday 15 – Friday 19 April. The holiday program does not replicate a school day. It is focused on the kids having fun and getting offsite as much as possible.
The number of days we will be able to offer each student will be dependent on the interest we receive from families and staff. NDIS rates will be charged for a 9am-3pm day.
If you are interested in your child attending the program for any of the days, please email holidayprogram@giantsteps.net.au by Friday 29th March.