School Vision
St Matthew’s School empowers children to embrace life-long learning and grow and develop as God intends.
Prayer to St. Matthew
God of mercy, You chose a tax collector, St. Matthew, to share the dignity of the apostles.
By his example and prayers, help us to follow Christ and remain faithful in Your service.
We ask this through Our Lord Jesus Christ, Your Son, Who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, forever and ever.
Amen.
Dear Parents & Carers,
As we commence our final week for Term 3, I am sure everyone would agree that we have had a very successful term. As a community, I feel we should be very proud of what we have achieved. It has been fantastic to see how each and every student was given an opportunity to contribute in some way. Although it is easy to focus on the talented individuals who took centre stage so beautifully, we must also remember all the students who contributed in other ways, such as making props, designing posters and programmes, making costumes, assisting staff backstage, choreographing dances, helping with music and even taking photos. Without all of us working together, none of this would have been possible.
Happy St Matthew’s Day!
Today, 21st September is the feast day of St Matthew. Our school has been proudly named for St Matthew since the early 1960’s. We recognise the importance of our students knowing the history of not only our patron saint, but all of our Christian heroes. By learning about the inspirational lives of these devoted Christians, children can be inspired to live a Christ-centred life. To celebrate our Feast day, we started the day with a whole school Mass led by Father Jay and our 2020 Confirmation candidates. This was followed by an afternoon of St Matthew themed quizzes, colouring-in competitions, scavenger hunts, icey poles and class games.
DVD Orders
DVDs of Alice in Wonderland Jnr are able to be purchased online at a cost of $25.00 each. Information concerning this can be found on the school Connected app, or by contacting the school. All orders need to be placed by Friday 23 October.
A Message From Our Local Ranger
New parking lines have been painted on Fathom street. These lines clearly indicate the areas that are no parking/no standing zones. We have been informed that any vehicle that is found to be stopped in the no parking area, will be photographed by the Ranger and a fine will be issued through the mail. This includes parking/stopping on the Glyde St and Fathom St corner. Please remember to treat our staff with kindness and respect should they approach you to move your car – we are just trying to prevent you from receiving a parking ticket!
I would also like to remind our parents that parking in the Senior Citizens car park is not allowed.
I would advise all parents to park in the empty block on Glyde Street.
Good Luck, Good Bye & God Bless Mrs Marjoram
It is with great sadness that we farewell Mrs Marjoram this week. Ashleigh has been teaching at St Matthew’s for three years, and, as an ex-St Matthew’s student, has been a loved and important member of the St Matthew’s community for much of her life. We wish her all the very best with her new adventures and hope that we will receive many photos of her new baby girl.
Peter Scott Awards
In 2018, St Matthew’s School celebrated 100 years of Catholic Education. Mr Peter Scott, a former student at St Matthew’s, provided a generous donation to enhance Literacy in our school. This donation enabled us to fund the Peter Scott Literacy Award for the next nine years. The prizes are as follows:
| First | Second | Third | |
| Year 1 | $20.00 | $15.00 | $10.00 |
| Year 2 | $20.00 | $15.00 | $10.00 |
| Year 3 | $35.00 | $25.00 | $15.00 |
| Year 4 | $35.00 | $25.00 | $15.00 |
| Year 5 | $50.00 | $35.00 | $20.00 |
| Year 6 | $50.00 | $35.00 | $20.00 |
This year, all students in Years 1- 6 completed a narrative on the topic ‘Lost’. The following students have been short-listed, with the winners being announced at Friday’s assembly, 9:00am, 25 September. Naturally, all parents are invited to attend.
Year One
In a Dark Forrest written by Gianni
The Best Robber written by Jackson
Sheldon and the Sheep written by Lloyd
The Lost Girl written by Mia
The Lost Boy written by Mitchell
Year Two
The Lost Magic Jewel written by Aadhya
The Lost Powers written by Elisha
Lost in a Video Game written by Hamish
The Haunted House written by Tatoa
Lost in a Dungeon written by Uzoma
Year Three
Abominable Snowman written by Noah
Lost in a Dream written by Pia
Forever written by Samantha
Enchanted World written by Sierra
Year Four
The Girl with All the Popularity written by Charlotte
Lost in the Woods written by Isla Maartens
Lost in Space written by Ved
Tragedy at the Barn written by Miley
Lost in the Snow by Ifeoma
Year Five
Confidence written by Bella
Lost in a Fairy Tale written by Zoe
Lost Then Found written by Nicole
Lost in High School written by Maleah Westphal
Down Goes The Jet written by Pippa
Year Six
The Lost Kids in the Lost Valley written by Maddison
The Lost Pyramid written by Jasleen
The City of Lost written by Chase
Never Underestimate Mother Nature written by Archie
Lost Wolf written by Kaylib
Play Cafe News
It has been so wonderful to see the beautiful little people enjoying our Friday morning Play Cafe. This Friday will be the last session for this term. The same format will continue in Term 4; however, Mrs Caryn Tenney will be teaching Kindy, so Mrs Meredith Beckwith with be facilitating. Please feel free to invite non-St Matthew’s families to join us next term.
beacon – Cybersafety Educational App
With funding from Bankwest, the Telethon Kids Institute has developed a cyber safety educational app designed to keep parents and carers up to date with trusted, tailored information to help them teach their children to interact safely online. The Beacon app is the result of a decade of WA research on children’s technology use, cyber safety, and parent behaviour.
The app aims to provide parents and carers with knowledge and skills to help children thrive in a digital world by building their capacity to support children to use digital technology in a positive way. The App delivers reliable information backed by research and behavioural science, as well as ideas, strategies, and personalised support.
CEWA, through our Child Safe Framework, is committed to modelling healthy, respectful relationships for our students both in the physical and online environments. The “Beacon: Cyber Safety” App is available to download now for both iOS and Android.
Important Dates
All of St Matthew’s important dates for next term can be accessed through the “Important Dates” tab on the school app. This is updated regularly. Some important dates worth noting are:
- 12 October First day Term 4
- 13 – 15 October Year 6 Camp
- 20 October Interschool Jumps & Throws
- 23 October Interschool Athletics Carnival
- 1 November Confirmation
- 24 November Annual Community Meeting
- 27 November Cricket Carnival
- 11 December Last Day for students
Principal Focus – Let’s Cook!
Thank you to all of the families who have contributed recipes to the St Matthew’s P&F Cook Book. The committee has been working very hard to put all the yummy recipes together and this should be ready for purchase next term. In the meantime, I encourage all of our families to take some time these school holidays to cook with your kids. As raisingchildren.net.au explains:
As well as being fun, cooking with your child:
- gives you the chance to introduce him/her to fresh, healthy food
- helps him/her learn about how different foods look and where they come from
- helps him/her learn about family traditions, recipes and foods
- helps build his/her maths skills – for example, when he/she measures liquid in a jug
- helps build his/her vocabulary – for example, when you read a recipe together.
Cooking with your children can most important assist them to develop healthy eating habits because they are more likely to try healthy food that they have helped to cook. We have all heard the saying “you are what you eat”. This is particularly true for children. The Healthy Eating Advisory Service explains that:
… fuelling children with the appropriate foods helps support their growth and development. But there is a growing body of research showing that what children eat can affect not only their physical health but also their mood, mental health and learning.
The research suggests that eating a healthy and nutritious diet can improve mental health, enhance cognitive skills like concentration and memory and improve academic performance.
Children should be eating plenty of nutritious, minimally processed foods from the five food groups:
- fruit
- vegetables and legumes/beans
- grains (cereal foods)
- lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, tofu, nuts and seeds, and legumes/beans
- milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or their alternatives
Consuming too many nutritionally-poor foods and drinks that are high in added fats, sugars and salt, such as lollies, chips and fried foods has been connected to emotional and behavioural problems in children and adolescents. In fact, young people that have the unhealthiest diets are nearly 80% more likely to have depression than those with the healthiest diets.
If you have any concerns about your child’s diet, or would like more information concerning nutrition, please do not hesitate to contact the school nurse via your classroom teacher.
Eat well,
Susan Milton
