St Matthew’s School Narrogin

St Matthew’s School Narrogin

School Vision

 

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

 

O Glorious St. Matthew,
in your Gospel you portray Jesus
as the longed-for Messiah
who fulfilled the Prophets
of the Old Covenant and
as the Lawgiver who founded
a Church of the New Covenant.
Obtain for us the grace to see
Jesus living in His Church and
to follow His teaching in our lives
on Earth so that we may live forever
with Him in heaven.
Amen.

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

 

Welcome to Week 10! During this last week of the term, we have Interschool Jumps and Throws on Tuesday and our St Matthew’s Day Feast Day Celebrations on Friday. More details about both of these special events can be found below.

 

Interschool Athletic Carnivals

The Interschool Jumps and Throws competition will be held tomorrow at Thomas Hogg oval. An email was sent to all parents of the selected competitors last week informing them of the requirements for this day. 

The second half of the Interschool Athletics Carnival will be held on 20 October (Week 2, Term 4) also  at Thomas Hog Oval. Information regarding this day will go home soon, once again by email and sms.

Parental assistance on the day is essential for these carnivals to run smoothly.  If you would like to help, please contact Linda Kilpatrick (linda.kilpatrick@cewa.edu.au). We will need helpers for both Jumps and Throws on 21 September and the main events on 20 October. 

 

St Matthew’s Feast Day Celebrations 24 September

Children have eagerly been preparing items for our St Matthew’s Feast Day celebrations on Friday 24th September. The day’s events will be:

  • 9:30am Whole School Mass at St Matthew’s Parish 
  • 11:15am St Matthew’s Got Talent – an opportunity for our Pre-Primary to Year 6 students to showcase their wonderful gifts and talents. Students may want to dance, sing, play an instrument, tell jokes, perform magic tricks, or show off any other exciting talent they have. Each class will hold their own auditions, and the best two performances from each class will go through to the grand final performance on Friday 24th of September. More information regarding this will come out through the school app soon.
  •  2:20pm School Band performance – the Band has been working hard all year to create an exciting repertoire of songs and they would love to present them as part of our school celebrations for St Matthew’s Day. The concert will begin at 2:20pm in the Sr Isabel Hall.  

All parents and community members are very welcome to join us for any or all of these events.

Please remember that students can wear their favourite Sports Colours on this day for a gold coin donation. The money raised will go to Wheelchairs For Kids.

 

Congratulations Mr Tenney and Mrs Graham!

Thanks to an initiative introduced by Mr Tenney and Mrs Graham last term, St Matthew’s School has been awarded a prestigious QCE (Quality Catholic Education) Award for its community connection between Kindy and Karinya Nursing Home (Old People’s Home for 4 Year olds). This award celebrates the amazing initiatives across WA Catholic Schools with category winners receiving $4000 for their school as well as a promotional video promoting the initiative. We are all very proud of our Kindy friends and I know you join with me in offering Mr Tenney and Mrs Graham a huge congratulations on this achievement.

 

Principal Focus – Home Alone and Online

In this modern world, it is becoming more and more common for our kids to spend time at home alone, or with their older siblings, during the school holidays. The raisingchildren.net.au website, explains:

There’s no home alone law in Australia that says how old your child must be before he can be at home by himself.

You’re the best judge of when your child is ready to be left at home alone. It’s not just about your child’s age – her maturity is also important. For example, you might feel confident leaving a 12-year-old who’s very responsible, but quite worried about a 15-year-old who takes a lot of risks.

Here are some questions you can ask yourself to decide about leaving your child home alone:

  • Does my child usually make sensible decisions?
  • Can my child stay alone for a while without being worried or frightened?
  • Would my child be able to cope in an emergency, like a fire?
  • How safe is our home and neighbourhood?
  • Does my child know important information, like phone numbers?
  • Can my child follow the house rules, whether I’m there or not?
  • Does my child feel confident about being left alone?
  • How long will I be away?

If you decide your child is mature enough to be left at home, I feel it is very important to consider what he/she will be doing whilst unsupervised. With the different array of technology available in many homes, I feel it is important to consider what protections you have put in place to ensure your child/children do not put themselves at risk through their online choices. The Australian Government has produced some excellent online material to help parents stay informed about online safety. esafety parents explores many topics including cyber bullying, online pornography, grooming and online gaming. When considering how to keep your child safe online, it is important to:

Stay involved in your child’s digital world

  • Keep up-to-date with the sites, apps and online chat services they are using, and explore them together. 
  • Consider whether you are comfortable with the content of these sites and the potential for contact with others, including adults.
  • If you are concerned they are visiting sites they have not told you about, talk to them about your concern. As a backup, you could look at your child’s internet browsing history — but this should be a last resort. The aim is to establish trust and open dialogue.
  • Try to be aware of who they socialise with in the real world and who they know only in the virtual world. 

Build an open trusting relationship

  • Keep communication open and calm so they know they can come to you when someone is asking them to do something that does not feel right.
  • They especially need to feel comfortable about telling you if they have done something they regret and someone is pressuring them as a result.

Help your child to protect their privacy

  • Guide your child to use their privacy settings on social media sites to restrict their online information to known friends only. Advice on privacy settings is available in the eSafety Guide.
  • Encourage them to use only a first name or nickname to identify themselves in online chat and on social media, and never to disclose their phone number, address or school.
  • Explain that they should not send photographs of themselves that clearly show their identity. 
  • For younger children, ask them not to post or text images or videos without your permission.
  • Explore our guide to privacy for parents and carers.

 

As we head towards holidays, it may be time to have another look at the technology in your home. It is important to remember that children are as naturally curious in the online world, as they are in the physical world. Just as a child finds it hard to resist punching a button or turning over a rock, so they are just as likely to click on a colourful link, or answer an unsavoury question.  I suggest exploring Taming the Technology by the eSafety Commissioner to help walk parents through the many facets of esafety options.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Susan Milton

Principal

 

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