Dear Parents and Guardians,

Our Galen community has been deeply saddened by the sudden and untimely death of Emma Woodhead, a Year 10 student at Galen.

Emma passed away at home overnight last Friday. While the cause of death is as yet unconfirmed it is known that Emma had a history of epilepsy. A formal finding will be made in the following days.

We have been able to gather on two occasions as a Galen community since we received this sad news. Once on Sunday in the Max Fletcher Auditorium which was attended by around 90 people, a mixture of students, staff and parents.

The second gathering was as a whole school on Tuesday morning when over 1,000 people, mainly students and staff, gathered in the stadium for a liturgy to mark Emma’s passing.

The Galen Wellbeing Team of Kate Meehan, Luke Ahrens, Lisa Power and Therese Rodway has been available for students and staff and will continue so for the next week.

The auditorium has been set aside as a quiet place of reflection for this time.

Our thoughts and prayers are with Emma’s family, especially her mother, Leisa,  and step-father Jonathan, siblings Molly, Frazer and Jess, and grandparents, Julie and Paul.

May she rest in the peace of Christ.

Bernard Neal
Principal