School Vision
St Matthew’s School empowers children to embrace life-long learning, and grow and develop as God intends.
Lord God,
At the beginning of this new term, teach us to be your hands and feet where we are.
At the beginning of this new term, teach us to love as you love us.
At the beginning of this new term, teach us to pray for those in need.
Amen
Dear Parents & Carers,
Welcome to Term 3! I am very glad to say we have had a positive start to this very chilly term. Children have come back happy to see their friends and excited to learn new things. We have also welcomed 8 new children to our St Matthew’s school community. The students have excitedly welcomed our new friends and it has been lovely to see how proudly they have shown off their school.
100 Days of School Dress Up Day 28 July
This Friday 28 July , we will be celebrating 100 days of school. Students and staff are invited to dress up as if they are 100 years old! We will have a parade of the elderly at 9:00am. This will run for approximately 15 minutes. 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.
Don’t Forget to Download Semester Reports
Semester One reports were made available to parents on 27 June through the Seqta Engage Website. It is extremely important that parents print or download these reports, as they do not stay on the system indefinitely. Once a child is no longer enrolled at St Matthew’s, their reports are no longer available online. This includes our Year 6 graduates.
P&F Quiz Night – 11 Sleeps To Go
Uniform Reminders
Thank you to all of our parents who ensure their children wear the correct uniform to school each day. Here are some important reminders:
Pre-Primary students:
- Wear the school sports uniform every day. This is the navy unisex sports shorts or navy tracksuit pants; red polo shirt; sports jacket or jumper with logo; school hat; sports shoes (conservative colours preferred) and plain white sports socks
- No long-sleeved garments are to be worn under the short-sleeved school shirts
- No leggings are to be worn; only school uniform items are permitted
Years 1 to 6 students:
- No long-sleeved garments are to be worn under the short-sleeved school shirts
- No leggings are to be worn; only school uniform items are permitted
- Sports jacket is only allowed to be worn on sport uniform days
- Students from Year 4 to Year 6 must wear a tie on Mondays and Wednesdays with their formal uniform this term.
Jewellery
- No bangles, bracelets, necklaces or rings are allowed; however, a small chain with Christian medallion or Cross/Crucifix is acceptable.
- Students may wear a small, plain, inexpensive watch; no smartwatches are allowed.
- Small, plain metal earring studs/sleepers. A stud containing a small birthstone is also acceptable.
When a child is unable to wear the correct uniform, a parent/carer is asked to inform the class teacher on that day (phone, email, written note, in person) explaining the reason for the deviation and the period for which this will occur. Parents/carers are also asked to provide ‘replacement’ uniform items in colours and styles as close as possible to the original item.
If a child wears inappropriate jewellery to school, the item/s will be required to be removed and will be sent home with the child.
Cultural Celebrations
Once again, I would like to thank the parents and community members who have generously given up their time to help us plan inspiring cultural learning activities for our students this term.
| Week/Date | Focus Culture |
|---|---|
| Wk 2 24/07 | Oceanian |
| Wk 4 7/08 | Asian |
| Wk 8 4/09 | African |
| Wk 10 21/09 | Cultural Celebration |
Here is a list of some of the planned activities for the coming weeks. Please be aware that all classes will not get to do all activities due to the nature of the activities and time constraints.
- Wednesday 26/07 – Danielle van Rooyen is coming in to talk to the Year 1’s, 2’s and 4’s about Maori culture. Amongst other things, the students will learn the musical Maori Stick Game.
- Monday 7/08 – Kindy, Pre-Primaries and Year 3 students will be learning about farming in the Philippines and painting papier mache Carabao (water buffalo). The Year 4 and Year 5 students will experience Filipino dancing and marching.
- Parents are making PowerPoints on different cultures for classes to view.
- Word walls are going up around the school; I will continue to add to these as the weeks go by.
If you are interested in contributing your time or expertise, or would like to share any ideas, please email susan.milton@cewa.edu.au.
Family Challenge
Last year, during NAIDOC Week, students were introduced to the picture book “When Pop Was a Boy”. This book is a compilation of Narrogin Primary School and Narrogin KindiLink students’ artistic responses to stories and life experiences told by Narrogin Elder Basil Kickett.
I thought this was such a beautiful idea, that this year I would like to invite our school families to produce their own version of this book based on their family’s history. The books could be inspired by any family member who would like to share their childhood stories. We would love to share these books with our community on our St Matthew’s Open Day on 21 September.
More information about this family challenge will come out via the school app in the next couple of weeks.
St Matthew’s Feast Day 21 September
Every year we celebrate our Feast day in September. This year we would like to invite our families to bring in cultural dishes to share with the community for afternoon tea. Parents would need to supply a list of ingredients with each dish to ensure we protect our students and staff with food allergies. Families would only need to supply a small plate of cultural delights to share.
More information about this cultural afternoon tea will come out via the school app in the next couple of weeks.
Book Week
St Matthew’s will be celebrating Book Week from Monday 21 August to Friday 25 August (Wk 6). The theme for this year is “Read, Grow, Inspire‘’.
On Tuesday, 22 August, we will be celebrating by holding a whole school dress-up day. Children are invited to dress as their favourite book characters. Children are asked to please bring along the book or a printout of the cover page to help our secret judges choose several award winners. This year’s prizes are:
Best dressed
Most creative
Best group/family
Best character
Parents are most welcome to join us for our parade at 9:00 am in the Sr Isabel Hall. You can even dress up if you like!
Kindy Enrolments
I will commence conducting Kindy interviews for 2024 in Week 7 of this term. 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
Play Café has proved to be very successful last term with about 14 children attending most sessions. Due to the positive response, we will continue this next term from Week 4 to Week 8 this term.
Important Dates
- P&F Meeting 24 July
- 100 Days Dress Up 28 July
- Combined School One Big Voice Practice 31 July
- Parliamentary Education Incursion 1 August
- RE Assessment Yrs 3 & 5 2 August
- P&F Quiz Night 4 August
- Assumption of Mary Whole School Mass 15 August
- One Big Voice 18 August
- Book Week Dress Up 22 August
- Faction Jumps & Throws 29 August
- Faction Athletics Carnival 31 August
- STEM Showcase Yrs 3 & 4 14 Sept
- St Matthew’s Feast Day/ Open Day 21 Sept
Principal Focus – Making Jesus Real
On the first day of Term 3, our staff attended a Professional Learning opportunity on the Make Jesus Real (MJR) philosophy we implement here at St Matthew’s. We were very fortunate to have Amie Meyers, Assistant Principal of Our Lady of the Cape School in Dunsborough, visit us. She shared with us how her school has used this education resource to develop values that include respect, honesty and trustworthiness, understanding, tolerance, and inclusion. She explained how by focusing on the Gospel values of compassion, justice, humility and forgiveness, students are encouraged to do their best, treat others fairly, be responsible for their actions, follow principles of moral and ethical conduct, and stand up for others against bullying. It is about bringing the Catholic faith to life for students by showing them how to live it every day. We give them the tools they need to feel the Spirit of Jesus each day and to find the God moments that are always happening around us. The idea of bringing Jesus from 2,000 years ago into the here and now of today is very relevant.
Using MJR as the tool, we will continue to promote to our students that their own attitude and positive approach to life can have a direct impact on their school and community. Hopefully, your child/ren will come home sharing some of these MJR-inspiring quotes:
- If it is to be, it is up to me!
- Be a giver, not a taker
- Be a winner and a grinner, not a moaner and a groaner
- Positive thinking brings about a positive attitude
- GTS – Greet Treat Speak to people
- BIY – Believe in Yourself
MJR philosophies will continue to be introduced, encouraged and taught in the following ways:
- Monday Morning Prayer and Line-Up – with the help of students, we focus on one MJR value each week and explore what this looks like in our school
- Principal Award given out on Monday mornings – students are encouraged to nominate children to receive this award for displaying MJR values
- Classroom activities
- Wednesday Afternoon Groups – students from Year 1 to Year 6 are divided into 4 groups to focus on the connection between MJR and our school motto of Concern for Self, Others, Environment and Relationship with God.
- Year 6 “Gotcha” MJR Award given out at assemblies
Please feel free to chat to your child’s class room teacher should you want to learn more about this resource.
Stay happy,
Susan Milton
Principal
