School Vision
St Matthew’s School empowers children to embrace life-long learning, and grow and develop as God intends.
Eternal Rest – All Souls Day
Eternal rest grant to them, O Lord, and
let perpetual light shine upon them. May the souls of the faithful
departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.
Amen.
Dear Parents & Carers,
One of the true pleasures of my new position is the freedom to be able to visit classrooms throughout the day. I especially enjoy being able to pop into the early years’ classrooms and watch the children play and discover together. This week, I am particularly lucky as I will be conducting the Kindy interviews for next year. I am genuinely looking forward to chatting with both new and current families about our wonderful Kindy and Pre-Primary programmes. I am so proud of what we are able to achieve at St Matthew’s, and thoroughly enjoy showing new faces around our beautiful school.
Annual Community Meeting
We would like to invite all of our parents to attend the St Matthew’s ACM on Tuesday 24 November. At this meeting, our P&F and School Board will present their reports, and the staffing for the 2021 school year will be announced.
P&F Nominations
At the ACM, there will be an opportunity for parents to nominate to be part of the P&F executive committee. A big thank you to Tarli Cooper, Carmel McKenzie, Kelly Forrest and Mel Noakes who will be stepping down this year. Thank you for your enthusiasm and commitment; your dedication to our school is greatly appreciated.
Being part of the St Matthew’s P&F Committee is a unique opportunity to be more actively involved with your child’s school life. I encourage all of our parents to consider volunteering to take an active role in our P&F by nominating themselves prior to the ACM. Should you require any more information, please do not hesitate to contact the school, or any of the current executive members. I think everyone would agree that It would be very sad for St Matthew’s students if the P&F was unable to continue in 2021.
NAIDOC Week – November 9 – 13
The NAIDOC 2020 theme – Always Was, Always Will Be. – recognises and celebrates that First Nations people have occupied and cared for this continent for over 65,000 years. NAIDOC 2020 invites all Australians to embrace the ancient history of this country. At St Matthew’s we are specifically looking at how Aboriginal peoples have been connected to the land and plants for food, health and healing for thousands of generations. During Term One 2021, St Matthew’s will establish a native garden to continue our learning about sustainable ecosystems.
Principal Focus – Play Time
As I said in my opening statement, I am very proud of our Kindy and Pre-Primary programmes. At St Matthew’s, we ensure that we provide opportunities for our students to play in both structured and unstructured environments. Our wonderful teachers provide different materials and experiences which allow children to explore and manipulate the world around them. In Maggie Dent’s Blog “Why we need to prioritise play” she emphasizes the importance of providing our little people with opportunities to play with other children from an early age. She explains how it is through these early play experiences that children learn to socialise with others and this has a significant impact on their social and emotional health.
This year, we introduced Play Cafe to provide additional play opportunities for our youngest community members. I am proud to say that on Friday, we welcomed 4 new families into our play family. To ensure that we continue to provide a successful experience in 2021, we would love some feedback from past and future Play Cafe families. If you have attended Play Cafe this year, or intend to attend in 2021, please click on this link to fill in a very quick survey.
Play nice and often,
Susan Milton
Principal
Interschool Carnivals
Congratulations to all of the students who are representing St Matthew’s at the Interschool Athletics Carnival on Tuesday and Friday of this week. Both days commence at 9.30am at Thomas Hogg Oval. Students will be travelling by bus, leaving St Matthew’s School at approximately 9:00am. The children will be returning to school by bus at the conclusion of each carnival. On the appropriate day/s, children will need to wear their red sport shirts, school sports shorts, hats, bring their recess food, lunch, sunscreen and a good supply of water. If you are able to assist us on either day, please contact Linda Kilpatrick as soon as possible. Your help is greatly appreciated.
DVD Orders
DVDs of Alice in Wonderland Jnr are still 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.
Crazy Socks for Socktober
On 27 October, children are invited to wear their craziest socks to support Catholic Mission’s Socktober fundraiser. Socktober invites schools to engage with mission in an holistic way within the head, heart, hands model: encouraging a learning mind, an open heart and hands for action. This year, children will learn about life in Cambodia and other developing countries, and be encouraged to take concrete action by supplying a gold coin donation.
Term Planners and Overviews
A paper copy of the Term Planner will go out to families this week. I would encourage all families, however, to regularly access the calendar on the school app to keep up-to-date with cancellations and additions.
Each individual classroom term letter and overview will go out via the school app by Friday.
P&F Meeting
Our first P&F meeting for this term will be held at 6pm in the Sr Mary Library. Babysitting is available. It would be wonderful to see as many parents as possible represented at this meeting.
P&F Recipe Book Fundraiser
This fantastic collection of family favourite recipes would make an excellent Christmas present! Additional Pre-order forms are available from the front office. Books will be available for pick up and purchase from November 9. Each book costs $15.00.
Mini-Vinnies’ Charity Concert
Once again, the amazing Sr Sahaya is organising a concert to support Mini-Vinnies. All past and present Mini-Vinnies’ members are invited to register their performance from now until November 20. The concert will be held at the Thorton Theatre at 3:00pm on 5 December. Feel free to contact Sr Sahaya on 9881 2031, (or through the school) to register or if you require any more information. Everyone is welcome to attend; a gold coin donation would be appreciated.
Principal Focus – Positivity is Key
Earlier this year, parents indicated to me that they would like some information concerning positive parenting. I am currently exploring options to hold an information session at St Matthew’s; however, in the meantime, I encourage parents to visit the Triple P (Positive Parenting Program) website. This program is “regarded as one of the world’s most effective parenting programs. In fact, the United Nations ranks Triple P as the number one parenting program in the world, based on the amount of research and evidence behind the program.” The website goes on to explain how parents can access this award-winning program online because “Triple P has been shown to help reduce kids’ and teens’ problem behaviour and also reduce children’s emotional problems. The evidence also shows it helps parents feel more confident, less stressed, less angry and less depressed. And that’s positive!”
Click here for more information
Stay positive,
Susan Milton
