School Vision

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

 We thank you Lord, for this term.

For the challenges, the successes, and the mistakes from which we have learnt.

Be with us as we spend our time with family and friends.

Give us strength and courage to do what is right; to be witnesses of our faith.

Help us to be a practical Christian these holidays, to appreciate what others do for us, to give time and effort to help others, to be peacemakers in our family.

Keep us safe in our activities; give us good rest and good fun.

Bring us back refreshed and ready for a new term.

We thank you for our classmates, teachers, parents and a community that cares for us.

May we always be conscious of you in our lives.

Amen

Dear Parents & Carers,

As we move into this last week of Term 2, and I would like to thank all of the parents who have volunteered their time over this semester to help us in any way. Whether you have donated your time to work at P&F fundraisers, sporting events, reading rosters, School Advisory Council, Busy Bee or even just attended assemblies, I sincerely thank you for supporting our school to provide the best opportunities for our beautiful students.

Mr Tenney’s News

On Friday, our school community was informed that Mr Mark Tenney will be leaving us at the end of the year to take on the role as Principal of Sacred Heart School, Mundaring. 

On behalf of the St Matthew’s School community, I sincerely thank Mark for his leadership in our school over the past six years. Although he will be greatly missed by staff, parents and students, we appreciate that this is the next adventure for him and his beautiful family, and wish him all the best at his new school. 

We will take the opportunity to farewell Mark and Caryn before the end of the school year.

100 Days of School Dress Up Day 28 July

Several of our classes have been counting the days we have been at school this year in order to celebrate 100 days. The goal of this is to acknowledge the reading, writing, and, most importantly, maths skills they have learned so far this year. 

On Friday 28 July, we will celebrate this milestone by inviting our students and staff to dress up as if they are 100 years old! There will be an extra play prize for the best-dressed class. This is intended to be a fun event and parents are discouraged from buying any expensive items or costumes.

Semester 1 Reports

Semester One reports will be available to parents from 27 June.  These reports will be available online through the Seqta Engage Website. It is very important that parents have a password to access this site. Please contact Mark Tenney (mark.tenney@cewa.edu.au) should you require a new password, or if you have any difficulties logging into this site.

Test Books

Teachers will send student Test Books home on Friday 23 June. In most cases, teachers will have added a minimum of one test from Literacy, Numeracy and/or Religious Education to the Test Book each fortnight. The Test Books are asked to be returned to school on Monday 26 June.

Chicken Coop Update

Thanks to the generosity of the Narrogin Agricultural College, and in particular, Mr Mitchell Wray (Deputy Principal), Mr Mark Batt (Construction) and the Year 12 Construction students, our chicken coop is well on its way to being completed. Mitch Wray informed us that to date it has been an excellent project for the Year 12 students to be involved in. They completed a site visit, measured and marked out, researched designs and materials, designed and costed different options, then constructed the most popular design. The plan is to complete the frame works at the College then put together onsite at St Matt’s and clad with tin. I can not wait to see the final product!!

P&F Quiz Night

My Long Service Leave 

I am currently on leave until I return at the beginning of next term. Whilst I am away, Mr Mark Tenney will be Acting Principal.

Principal Focus – Your Child’s Digital World

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 unsavory question. I suggest exploring Taming the Technology by the eSafety Commissioner to help walk parents through the many facets of esafety options.

Wishing everyone a safe and happy break!

Susan Milton

Principal