School Vision

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

This prayer is chosen to acknowledge ANZAC Day:

Grant all servicepersons who sacrificed health and life for the good of all, 

the gift of your deep peace. 

May we who inherit the freedom for which they fought become instruments of your peace in our homes, workplaces and world. 

We ask this prayer through Christ our Lord.

Amen

Dear Parents & Carers,

Welcome to the first newsletter of Term 2. I hope you all enjoyed your long weekend and were able to spend time with your family and loved ones.

Busy Bee

On Saturday 4 May, we will be holding a Busy Bee to finish the Kindy/Pre-Primary Playground and to spruce up a few other areas of the school:

• Compact sand in Sensory Path
• Lay rocks/stones in Sensory Path
• Spread pinebark in Kindy/Pre-Primary Playground and Nature Play Area
• Clean out main storage shed – dispose of unneeded paint tins
• Clear grass from around stepping stones in small grass area
• Paint Family Fence Pickets white

The day will start at 8:30am. Please RSVP by phoning the school or emailing susan.milton@cewa.edu.au. Families are welcome to join us anytime up until 12pm. If these times do not suit, and you are keen to help, please contact the school so that we lock you in to complete one of the tasks at a different time/day. There will be a sausage sizzle available at 12pm for our hard-working volunteers.

Garage Sale

On Saturday 4 May, St Matthew’s will be holding a Garage Sale. Some of the Items available for purchase are:

School desks – $5.00
Library books and resources – $2.00 – $5.00

If you are interested in these items, but cannot attend on the 4th, please contact the school and we will happily set up a separate viewing time for you.

WA Assistance State Government Letter

As parents were informed last term, the Premier, Hon Roger Cook MLA, and the Minister for Education, Hon Dr Tony Buti MLA, announced the WA Student Assistance Payment on 17 March 2024. This State Government initiative offers a cost-of-living payment for every student in Western Australia to provide financial relief and assist families with their children’s schooling. The new WA Student Assistance Payment will provide parents and carers with a $250 payment for each secondary student, and $150 for each primary school student or kindergartener. A letter explaining this initiative has been uploaded to the school app.

Parents will need a valid WA Student Number (WASN) to be eligible for the payment. For our senior students, this can be found on NAPLAN reports. For all other students, please email admin@matthews.wa.edu.au and include the full name of your child/ren.

Sacramental program

For those students who are Catholic and receiving either the Sacraments of First Reconciliation. First Holy Communion or Confirmation this year, please see the Sacraments Schedule with key dates and times that has been uploaded to the School App (uploaded March 20).
To enrol your child to receive any of these Sacraments, please complete the online form via: https://forms.office.com/r/rPuTnERRtr

The Sacraments are Parish-based events, although St Matthew’s School assists in the preparation of candidates. The commitments are a diocesan requirement, for both students and parents, if they wish to receive the Sacraments.

Mothers’ Day Morning Tea

The MiniVinnies students and the P&F invite all of our female role-models to attend a Morning Tea on Friday 10 May, following the Friday morning Assembly. This is an opportunity to thank you for all of the amazing things that you do to love and support our students.

Book Fair

St Matthew’s Book Fair will run from Monday 6 June to Tuesday 11 June. This is our main Library Fundraiser for the year:
Thursday 6 June 2024 8:30- 9:30am; 2:45 – 3:15pm
Friday 7 June 2024 8:30 – 9:30am; 2:45 – 3:15pm
Monday 10 June 2024 8:30 – 9:30am; 2:45 – 3:15pm
Tuesday 11 June 2024 8:30 – 9:30am; 2:45 – 3:15pm

A Walk Through Disney Musical Showcase

This term in Music and Drama, students from Pre-Primary to Year 6 are preparing for our upcoming showcase, ‘A Walk Through Disneyland’. Students are learning and studying the lyrics to chosen songs, as well as practicing the choreography. They are creating props, costumes and backdrops to make our show come alive!

Two performances will be held on 13 June at 11am and 6pm at the Narrogin Town Hall. Tickets will be free, however, there will be a limited number offered to each family for the evening performance. This is to ensure that all of our parents are able to attend. Information about booking tickets will be uploaded to the school app in the next couple of weeks.

Play Cafe

The first Play Cafe for 2024 will be held on Thursday, 16 May, 8:30 – 10:30 am in our Kindy.
Play Cafe is for children under 5 years old. Parents stay to enjoy the company and assist with supervision. Claire Graham will be running these sessions each Thursday for 6 weeks.
As there are numerous families that have indicated that they would like to attend, it is very important that parents contact the school to secure the places for their child/ren.

Assemblies

Class performance assemblies will commence this term:

Term 2
Wk 6 24 May Yr 3 Assembly

Term 3
Wk 4 9 August Yr 5 Assembly
Wk 6 23 August Yr 1 Assembly
Wk 8 6 Sept. PP Assembly

Term 4
Wk 2 18 October Yr 6 Assembly
Wk 4 1 November Yr 2 Assembly
Wk 6 15 November Yr 4 Assembly

MJR Posters

This term, all students from Year 1 to Year 6 will have the opportunity to design a Making Jesus Real-inspired Poster. The most effective of these will be chosen to be printed onto metal-plate and displayed within the school. Congratulations to Peyton (Yr 2), Bree (Yr 5) and Amarah (Yr 4) for their wonderful posters.

Book Wish Box

At St Matthew’s we want to encourage our students to read every day. To help with this, we are going to introduce a Book Wish Box in the Sr Mary Library. Students are invited to fill in a slip to let us know if there are any particular books, authors, series or subjects that they would like us to add to our library shelves.

Enrichment 

At St Matthew’s we are dedicated to providing opportunities for our students to develop their gifts and talents. Children are chosen to take part in these activities/events based on their aptitude and personal interests.  The following lists some of the Enrichment opportunities for this semester:

• Monday Enrichment – Miss Montgomery will work with a selection of students from middle to senior primary on short-term projects, investigations and/or competitions. These will focus on different academic areas, such as Maths, Science, Literacy and Digital Technologies. The first of these groups will commence in Week 5. Parents of selected students will receive information via email.
• Year 3 Enrichment Challenges – selected students will have the opportunity to discover and look more deeply into some subject areas in a weekly enrichment class. We aim to maximise the learning and extend children through open-ended tasks and extension in challenging ways. We will incorporate a number of learning areas in these tasks from Maths and English to Digital Technologies and Science. The empahsis will be on higher order thinking and enable the students to progress beyond standard curriculum to take risks, build knowledge and learn new skills in a flexible, engaging way.
• Tech-Deck Skate Park – A selection of Year 5 students are using found materials to design and make a Tech Deck Skate Park. Students have had to define the challenge, collaborate and test ideas to create a suitable structure to display at Narrogin Show.
• Beebots – selected Year 5 students were given the task of programming Beebots –  robots that can travel from one checkpoint to another. Initially, the students experimented with planning and sequencing the Beebots to tackle minor challenges. However, the challenge soon became more competitive as they raced against each other to the midpoint, earning points as they went. With the ability to retain a sequence of up to 40 commands, move in 15cm increments, and turn 90 degrees left or right, the Beebots provide an excellent platform for the students to create algorithms and sharpen their problem-solving skills.
• Choir – 5 students from our choir were selected to represent our school at the Combined Schools ANZAC Service on Wednesday.
• A Walk Through Disney Musical Showcase – Year 5 and Year 6 students have been given the opportunity to audition for extended roles in the Showcase. 
• Sports Carnivals – students who demonstrate particular sporting skills are selected to represent St Matthew’s at Interschool Carnivals such as the WA Great Southern West Coast Fever Primary School Cup.
• MJR Posters

Uniforms

In Terms 2 and 3, our senior students (Yrs 4 – 6) wear the school tie with their formal uniform on Mondays and Wednesdays. This is compulsory. Children who forget to wear a tie will be provided one for the day and parents will be informed.

Please also ensure that your child is abiding by all of our uniform requirements, including jewellery, socks and shoes. Please ensure formal uniform shoes are entirely black – no logos, emblems, coloured laces or different colours visible. These shoes should be leather or leather-look.

Congratulations Year 3 –  Our Champion Fundraisers

Last term, students brought home small collection boxes to fill, and then combine into their class boxes at the end of the term. The funds raised by Catholic schools all across Australia directly impact the lives of those in our world in dire need. This year, St Matthew’s raised a total of $621.25.

To help encourage our students to be generous and committed to helping others, we offered a prize for the class that raised the most. Congratulations, Year 3 who successfully raised $236.60 for Caritas. This Wednesday, 1 May, the Year 3s will get an extra 10 minutes play time and are allowed to wear free dress.

SMS

Often we will send out SMS to remind parents of important dates or events. It is very important to note that parents are unable to reply to these messages via the SMS- we do not receive these responses. The school can be contacted via admin@matthews.wa.edu.au or by phone 9853 9500.

Teaching Vacancies for Semester 2, 2024

We will unfortunately be farewelling Miss Meka McCormack at the end of this term. This means we have  vacancies for a Music/Performing Arts Teacher (2 days a week), a Science/STEM Teacher (2 days a week) and a Yr 3 Teacher (1 day a week.) Please see the link below for more details.

Teaching Positions Semester 2 2024

Important Dates

• Sat 4/05 School Busy Bee and Garage Sale 8:30am
• Wed 8/05 Youth Mental Wellbeing Festival – Yr 6 attending
• Thurs 9/05 Ascension of Jesus Whole School Mass 9:30am
• Sun19/05 Combined Sacrament Commitment Mass 9:30am
• Thurs 30/05 First Holy Communion Parent/Child Workshop 3:30pm
• Fri 31/05 Pupil-Free Day
• Mon 3/06 WA Day Public Holiday
• Fri 7/06 Interschool Cross Country Selected students Yrs 4 – 6
• Sun 16/06 First Holy Communion
• Thurs 20/06 Interschool Winter Carnival Yrs 4 – 6
• Fri 28/06 Last Day Term 2
• Tues 16 July First Day Term 3