School Vision

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

This prayer was chosen to acknowledge St Matthew:

God of mercy,
you chose a tax collector, Saint Matthew,
to share the dignity of the apostles.
By his example and prayers
help us to follow Christ
and remain faithful in your service.
Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son,
who lives and reigns with you
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, for ever and ever.
Amen.

Dear Parents & Carers,

Welcome to the last newsletter for Term 3, 2024. As we head towards our holidays, I want to thank all of our beautiful families for their support this term. It has been a busy time as we provide our talented students with many opportunities to develop and showcase their gifts and talents.

School Photos Wednesday 18 September

Please ensure students are dressed in their full formal uniform for school photos on 18 September:

• Formal school jumper
• Ties for Years 4 to 6
• Shoulder length hair (and longer) needs to be tied back using simple, plain hair ties, scrunchies, head bands or ribbons colour matched to hair colour or to colours in the formal uniform.
• Grey socks for boys; navy blue socks or tights for girls.
• Black formal shoes or fully black sneakers. No emblems or white soles.
• No nail polish or extra jewellery items.

Class Photos/Portraits:

Every Student will have their photo taken, whether they are purchasing photos or not.
We will be using 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 office will have a copy to quote back to you.
The expiry date for online ordering is Wednesday 25th of September 2024. Any orders received after this date will incur a S30.00 archive fee.
Spare order envelopes (green) will be available at the school office if you prefer to pay with cash.

Specialty Group Photos:
After photo day, a link will be sent to the school for distribution to parents whose child/children is/are in the specialty group photos.

Family Photos:
Envelopes can be obtained from the school office.
Family photos are taken before school.
Please ensure that your family envelope and payment are handed to the Photographers on photo day.
If you do not have the correct money, we will provide any change needed when photos are delivered to school.
Family photos cannot be ordered online.
Once school has received photos, family photos will remain at the school office for parents to collect.

Please Note:
Late orders can be placed via the website www.mspreorders.com.au
Individual and Family Photos are not available to view online for Students’ Security.
If for any reason you need to contact MSP regarding your child’s photos, you will be asked to provide your child’s Shootkey.

Mr Muto and Miss Rutter News

With sadness, I must inform our school community that Mr Antonio Muto and Miss Bri Rutter will be leaving us at the end of the year.

Mr Muto will be taking on the role of Assistant Principal at Our Lady of Mercy Primary School in Girraween. As many of you are aware, Mr Muto has been very generously travelling back and forth from Perth every weekend to be able to work with us. He will now be able to spend more time with his beautiful family.

Miss Rutter will be heading to sunny Karratha to begin married life and share her skills with the Pilbara schools.

On behalf of the St Matthew’s School community, I sincerely thank Antonio and Bri for their commitment to our school. Although staff, parents and students will greatly miss them, we appreciate that this is the next adventure for them and wish them all the best for the future.
We will take the opportunity to farewell Antonio and Bri before the end of the school year.

St Matthew’s Feast Day Talent Show 19 September

This year will be acknowledging our feast day on the 19 September, due to the actual day falling in the school holidays. One of the ways we will celebrate as a community is by holding a talent show. Students will audition for their peers during their Performing Arts lessons this week. Two acts from each class will be chosen to perform for the school community. Parents will be informed via email and SMS if their talented children are selected. Parents are welcome to join us from 1:30pm in the Sr Isobel School Hall on the 19th.

Kindy Enrolments

I have commenced conducting Kindy interviews for 2025. These interviews give families an opportunity to learn about our Kindy curriculum and school procedures. More importantly, it provides us with an opportunity to welcome new families into our community. If you know of any families ready to send their little people to Kindy, please encourage them to pop into the Office to pick up an enrolment pack.

Play Cafe Term 4

Too Many Treats!

We are becoming increasingly concerned about the amount of sugary foods children are bringing to school. At St Matthew’s, we try to promote healthy food choices. Unfortunately, some children are repeatedly bringing large bags of lollies, or packets of gum, to share with their classmates. Please be informed that large bags of lollies will be confiscated by staff and parents will be asked to collect these personally from the Leadership Team. All forms of gum are not allowed at school.

Uniform Focus – Socks

We ask our parents to please support us in ensuring that their child/ren wear the correct school uniform. At present, there are many students wearing the incorrect socks to school. Please remember:

• Girls wear plain navy blue socks or navy blue tights with their formal uniform
• Boys wear plain grey socks with their formal uniform
• All students wear plain white socks with their sports uniform
• Socks are to have no logos or decoration
• Cut-away or anklet socks are not allowed.

Students who repeatedly wear the incorrect socks, may be issued with a new pair and parents may be billed for the cost of the socks. The Uniform Shop is open during school hours and parents are welcome to purchase items in person or by phone.

Important Dates

• St Matthew’s Feast Day Celebrations & Talent Show   19 September
• Last Day Term 3 20 September
• Pupil Free Day 7 October
• First Day Term 4 8 October
• Interschool Jumps & Throws 9 October
• Interschool Athletics Carnival 10 October

All important dates can be viewed on the St Matthew’s app calendar.

Take care,

Susan Milton