School Vision

St Matthew’s School empowers children to embrace life-long learning, and grow and develop as God intends.

Lord, give us new strength so that we can build places of belonging: 

To create a community for all to share their gifts, 

To know that each of us is loved, 

To help us to see the light of Christ in all that we serve.

 Let us remember that each of us is loved, 

each of us is willed and each of us is necessary.

 Dear Parents & Carers,

BusyBee and Garage Sale

A massive thank you to all of the families who contributed their time and/or resources to the BusyBee and Garage Sale on Saturday. Thanks to this amazing support, we were able to tidy our veggie gardens, refill our sandpit and prune the Pre-Primary and Centenary gardens. We were also able to successfully run our Garage Sale which raised over $300 for our Sustainability Projects, including our new chook pen. Any unsold items will be donated to charity.

Parent Teacher Meetings

Each year, St Matthew’s School offers parents the opportunity to meet with their student’s class teachers to discuss their academic progress, share learning examples, and celebrate growth. 

Class teachers will be available in Weeks 9 and 10 of Term 1, and bookings can be made through the following link: https://sobs.com.au/pt3/parent.php?schoolid=1317

If you are unable to meet with your child’s class teacher during the available times, please email the class teacher directly to arrange an alternate time.

 Please email Mr Tenney (mark.tenney@cewa.edu.au) if you have any technical issues.

Stations of the Cross 

As part of our Holy Week reflections next week, the upper primary classes will lead the school in the Stations of the Cross on Thursday 6 April. This will take place at 2:00pm. We encourage all of our parents to come and share this important service with us. Seating will be available for parents.

Combined Schools ANZAC Day service

On Thursday 6 April, Years 3 to Year 5 students will attend the Combined Schools ANZAC Day service. This is an important time to reflect on the men and women of the armed forces and the sacrifices they have made so that we can enjoy lives of freedom. A sincere thank you to Mriss McCormack for preparing our Year 6 student representatives for this service.

Teacher Education

This term, we have had teachers attend the following Professional Development opportunities to ensure that we stay up-to-date with new learning initiatives, behaviour engagement techniques and safety protocals : 

• EAL/D  – Mrs Maartens & Mrs Grieve 
• Religious Education Leadership – Mr Muto 
• Autism Professional Learning – Miss Grznic, Mrs Annear, Miss English, Miss Sutton, Sr Sahaya, Ms Bloxham  
• Maths Inquiry & Extension – majority of staff 
• Promoting Literacy Development (PLD) training – Miss Rutter 
• Early Career Teachers – Miss Sutton, Miss McCormack 
• Work Health & Safety – Mrs Milton 
• Literacy Statement and Spelling Prog, Analysis – all class teachers 
• Gatekeeper Suicide Prevention training  – Mrs Milton & Mrs Keppel 
• STEM Inquiry Learning – Mrs Dyke 

MSP School Photos

On Wednesday 5 April every student will have their photo taken, whether they are purchasing photos or not.

The school has chosen to use the online ordering system. Your child has been given an online ordering instruction slip and a unique student Shootkey.

Log onto www.msp.com.au and follow the prompts to place your order.

If you lose your Shootkey, the school reception will have a copy to quote back to you. The expiry date for online ordering is Wednesday 12 April 2023. Any orders received after this date will incur a $30 archive fee .

Specialty Group Photos:

Specialty Group Photos will be available for purchase after the main photo day packs are delivered to the school. Orders will be open for 4 weeks and ordering slips will be included in the students’ photo pack.

Family Photos:

Envelopes can be obtained from Administration. Family Photos are taken each morning before school. Please ensure that your family envelope and payment are handed to the photographers on Photo Day.

Family photos cannot be ordered online.

Once your school has received photos, Family Photos will remain at Reception for parents to collect.

Please Note:

Late orders can be placed via our website www.mspwa.com.au

Individual and Family Photos are not available to view online for students’ security.

lf for any reason you need to contact MSP regarding your child’s photos you will be asked to provide your child’s Shootkey.

2023 Project Compassion Appeal

During the season of Lent, we are encouraged to think of those who are less fortunate than us. Project Compassion boxes were sent home and families and kids were encouraged to donate to Caritas. We request that these are returned to school by  the end of term to add to our combined efforts as a school to help people both here in Australia and overseas in extreme poverty and support charitable programs seeking to make a difference. Please give generously.

Test Books

Test books will go home to families on Friday 31 March. These provide parents with an insight into their child’s achievements in English, Maths and Religious Education this term. Please be aware that the Test Books contain only a small sample of the assessments teachers complete.

Please ensure Test Books are returned to class teachers on Monday 3 April.

Interschool Swimming Carnival

The Interschool Swimming Carnival team will travel to Williams to compete this Friday. We are all sure they will represent our school wonderfully, both in sportsmanship and talent in the water. We require St Matthew’s parents to assist on the day. If you can help, please contact Mr Antonio at school.

Term 2 Commences Wednesday 26 April

Please be aware that the final day of Term 1 is Thursday 6 April (Friday 7 April is Good Friday Public Holiday). Students return to school on Wednesday 26 April due to Monday 24 April being a Pupil Free Day and Tuesday 25 April being ANZAC Day Public Holiday.

Principal Focus – We’re in this Together

This week, parents are invited to have a meeting with their child’s teacher. This is an important part of our assessment and parent engagement plans. We are very committed to ensuring that our parents stay informed of their child’s progress, both academically and socially. The following further explains the principles behind this:

Parents and families are children’s first teachers and they continue to help their children to learn and thrive throughout the school years. When their family’s love and support is combined with the expert knowledge of teachers, it can have a significant and lasting impact:
• Children can be more likely to enjoy learning and be motivated to do well.
• Children can have better relationships with other children, improved behaviour and greater confidence.
• Children can do better at school and are more likely to graduate and go on to college, TAFE or university.
• Children can be less likely to miss days at school.”
Extract from the Parent Fact Sheet, ACT Government, Education Directorate

Please ensure you have accessed the SOBS link and booked in your meeting time.

We’re in this together,

Susan Milton

School Vision

St Matthew’s School empowers children to embrace life-long learning, and grow and develop as God intends.

Invite Us Deeper

Almighty and ever living God,

you invite us deeper into your world, your people, your Lent.

May this time be one of outward focus;

seeking you in those we often ignore.

Help us live a Lent focused on freedom, generosity, and encounter.

Give us hearts hungry to serve you

and those who need what we have to give.

 Dear Parents & Carers,

Over the last couple of weeks, there have been many opportunities for our parents to connect with the school, both formally and informally. I would like to thank all of our parents who have supported us by attending these events. These opportunities help us to work together for the benefit of the children in our care.

LENT – a special time of year

Last Wednesday marked the beginning of Lent, the 40 day period in the Church calendar that begins on Ash Wednesday and finishes on Holy Thursday. This is a special time of year for prayer, penance, sacrifice, and good works. Traditionally, people would give up something for Lent, usually a favourite food or perhaps a pleasurable activity. There’s nothing wrong with suggesting that children give something up for Lent, as long as they understand why they’re doing it and do it in the right spirit. So it’s important to explain that giving something up for Lent can help us focus on God and that depriving ourselves of something we like gives us an appreciation for all we have. It’s also a good idea to have the children do something positive related to what they’re giving up. For instance, if they’ve given up chocolate for Lent, then they could take the money they would have spent on the chocolate and put it in a jar to be used for an organisation which helps children in need. If they’ve decided to give up watching television one day a week, then they could use the time they would have spent watching TV helping someone or praying.

Busy Bee 25 March 8:30am

On Saturday 25 March, we are asking our families to support our school by attending our annual Busy Bee. Some of the jobs that need completing are the transporting and spreading of sand and pinebark; removing, planting and repotting plants; preparing the site for the chicken coop; pressure cleaning the centenary pavers and generally tidying up the grounds.

If you are able to donate your time and hard-working hands for any period of time from 8:30am to 12:30pm on Saturday 25 March, please email susan.milton@cewa.edu.au, or just turn up on the day. Children are naturally welcome to come and help, or just to play! A sausage sizzle will be available for all our hard-working heroes.

Garage Sale 25 March 8:30am

To help raise funds for our new chicken coop and sustainability projects, St Matthew’s will be holding a Garage Sale on 25 March. Along with parent donations, the school will be selling a variety of school resources and furniture items. A list of items will be popped on the school Facebook page prior to the sale.

We would love our families to support this undertaking by:

• Donating good quality items to be sold. Items can be dropped off to the Undercover Area from Monday 13 March. In the meantime, photos of items can be emailed to susan.milton@cewa.edu.au.

Or simply attending the garage sale and taking home a bargain!

Chicken Pen SOS

We need some clever, clever people to help design and build our chicken pen.

Can you help????

We need some handy and talented parents to manage this masterpiece. Ideally, we would like to prepare the site and start planning during our Busy Bee on March 25, however, we are happy to fit in with other people’s work schedules.

If you think you can help, either by donating materials, designing the run, building the structure or building the laying boxes, please email susan.milton@cewa.edu.au or speak with your classroom teacher.

Mary Poppins – purchasing recording

Thanks to the generosity of our P&F, families are now able to purchase a recording of the evening performance of last year’s whole-school musical, Mary Poppins on a USB for $15.00 a copy. This is heavily subsidized price to ensure that all our beautiful families can have a keepsake of this amazing performance. 

They’ve Arrived! New Sports Jacket Now Available

Families are now able to purchase a new sports tracksuit. This consists of a blue and red jacket and matching tracksuit pants. The new items are a more modern design, more durable, more cost-effective and available through a reliable supplier.​

The current tracksuit jumper and pants will be phased out. Parents will still be able to purchase this item until stocks are depleted. Some discount on this item will be available. Students will be able to continue to wear these items until the end of 2023.​

Narrogin Festival of Soccer

On the 18 March, Narrogin will host the Festival of Soccer. Free Junior clinics for school-aged students commences at 11am. This is followed by a series of matches. Our wonderful P&F will be there selling food and drinks to the players and spectators. If you are able to help out on the day, please contact Zeta O’Rouke, or your P&F rep.

Principal KINDNESS award

On Monday mornings, I present the Principal’s Award for Kindness. Children are able to nominate each other for this award during the week. Last week, the award went to Bodeen (Yr 4) for being a kind, positive and helpful team member. This week the award has gone to Bramuel (Yr 6) for helping his classmates to learn new games in a positive and supportive way. Congratulations boys!

Principal Focus –  Happy Families With a Little Help

Last newsletter, I introduced a few podcasts and websites that I have personally found really helpful, in both my role as a parent and as a teacher. This week, I would like to add two more to the list.

The first is The Fathering Project’s Fathering Channel :  “The Fathering Project was founded in 2013, by Professor Bruce Robinson in Western Australia, with the aim of supporting fathers, and father figures, to be the best parent they can be so their children can thrive.” This website covers many topics including Real Dad Stories, Father-child bonding and Discipline. There are webinars, podcasts and even cooking classes.

The second online resource I would like to share is Dr Justin Coulson’s (PhD) Happy Families. Dr Coulson explains, “My goal is for parents, teachers, and those who work with children to see them for the precious humans they are; to connect with them in meaningful ways; and to guide those children to become strong, caring, whole adults.” I would particularly recommend the third episode, “Things Every Child Should Hear Every Day”:

The words we say have enormous impact on our children. All too often we get preoccupied and distracted, and struggle to talk with our children in the loving way they need. It’s one thing to eliminate the negative, but we need to know what to replace it with. What are the five things our children need to hear from us every day?

* Thank you

* I’m sorry

* You tried so hard

* I love you

* What do you think?

If you have any favourite podcasts, websites or parenting books that you would like to share, email them to susan.milton@cewa.edu.au. We are all in this journey together, and there is no harm getting a little help along the way.

Thank you,

Susan Milton