School Vision
St Matthew’s School empowers children to embrace life-long learning and grow and develop as God intends.
Dear God,
Thank you for looking after our school.
Thank you that you love each and every one of us here.
Help us to learn, play and share together,
So that the wonderful world that you have made
Becomes more beautiful every day.
www.lords-prayer-words.com
Dear Parents and Guardians,
This morning, I am happy to say, we recorded our highest attendance this term. It is at times like this that I feel so lucky that I do the morning duty. I am able to welcome all of the children, hear about their weekend highs and lows, and watch them as they race each other across the oval. It is also such a pleasure to see them interact positively with each other. This morning, I watched a Year 4 girl help a Year 3 boy on crutches. She carried his bag to class and even walked slowly so that he could keep up with her. Lovely. I know that not all children get along all of the time, but it is moments like this, that make me proud to say that I am part of the St Matthew’s community.
Attendance
On Friday, new information concerning school attendance went home to families via email and the school app. It is important that all parents read this information in its entirety, however, here are some of the important points:
- All students are required to attend school from 18 May unless they are unwell, have a medical referral to learn from home or live with a family member who is medically vulnerable.
- Students may continue to learn from home if they are immune-compromised or are otherwise considered at-risk medically
- Parents who plan to keep their child home to continue learning remotely are to seek medical advice and will be required to provide medical evidence to the school.
- Students approved to learn from home will continue to be supported in their learning.
- Assemblies, interschool activities and school-based extracurricular activities will not recommence until further advice is received from the Department of Health.
Play Café
St Matthew’s School is considering starting a Play Café one morning per week for 0 to 4-year-olds. Play Café is a place for parents & kids to come and relax, have fun, learn and socialise in a safe and secure area. Parents are free to enjoy time on their own or with friends as they supervise their child in the different play areas. There will be different weekly themes and activities that support children’s learning and development.
In order to ascertain if this is feasible and/or desirable, we are now taking expressions of interest. We encourage you sharing this form with friends and family as St Matthew’s Play Café would be available for all families within our region.
Play Cafe Expression of Interest
Winter Uniform
Thank you for the patience demonstrated in placing orders for winter uniform items. We hope that the majority of students have been able to purchase all the required pieces, including ties and appropriate socks. With this being the case, we would now appreciate parental support in ensuring that children wear the correct uniform on the correct days. If this is not possible for any reason, please send in an explanation via a handwritten note or email to the class teacher.
Kiss and Drop
A big thank you to all of the families for making the adjustments to pickups and drop-offs. Although Mrs Marjoram has become very good at identifying family cars, we are not all as good as her! To me, a big white car is a big white car! So to help ensure that Kiss and Drop is safe and smooth, families should have received a name plate for their cars on Friday. Please secure these to your passenger sun visor as soon as possible.
Term Planner
With all of the event cancellations and postponements that occurred last term, we have decided not to issue a Term Planner this term. We will continue to put any relevant dates on the app calendar and issue reminders via school app, sms and newsletter.
Pupil Free Day
Some families may have been aware of a proposed Pupil-Free Day for 2 June. Due to the soft return to school, and many families only just reestablishing work and home routines, we have decided to cancel this day. We will hopefully reschedule this day for later in the year. We apologise if this causes any inconvenience.
Principal Focus – Being Waste Wise
One of St Matthew’s School’s priorities for 2020 is to establish more initiatives that focus upon sustainability. The School Curriculum and Standards Authority (SCSA) explains the relevance of these undertakings: :
Across the Western Australian Curriculum, sustainability will allow all young Australians to develop the knowledge, skills, values and world views necessary for them to act in ways that contribute to more sustainable patterns of living. It will enable individuals and communities to reflect on ways of interpreting and engaging with the world. (https://k10outline.scsa.wa.edu.au/home/teaching/curriculum-browser/science-v8/overview/cross-curriculum-priorities)
Mrs D’Alton and Mr Tenney have been working very hard to help St Matthew’s establish improved waste wise initiatives. Thanks to their hard work, St Matthew’s has acquired a Waste Wise School’s grant to help establish a compost system:
Students can take part in ‘action learning’ through collecting and composting their lunch scraps at school. Composting at school helps students to learn about the carbon cycle and provides them with practical hands-on skills with achievable, observable outcomes. (https://www.wasteauthority.wa.gov.au/wws/program/view/wws-composting)
During this term, all classrooms will be issued with a compost bin to collect the students’ food waste. These bins will then be emptied into a large compost tumbler. The final product will be used on our flourishing garden. Ideally, we would love to get to a point that our waste wise initiatives will not only help teach our students important sustainability messages, but will also raise money for charities and provide free produce to those who need it.
Take care,
Susan Milton
Principal
