School Vision

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

Dear Parents/Guardians

Hello and welcome to the first newsletter for 2020, and my first newsletter as Principal of this beautiful school. I feel truly blessed that I have been fortunate enough to continue my career surrounded by such a supportive community. Thank you to all of the families who have personally expressed words of congratulations and best wishes – I even received some beautiful flowers and champagne from our visiting priest, Father Wally!

Newsletter Day

As you were informed last week, we have changed our newsletter day this year to every second Monday. It will continue to be distributed electronically through the School App and School website.

Office Changes

Over the holidays, our hard-working office staff have spent many, many hours changing our administration computer system. We are now, along with a growing number of Western Australian Catholic schools, using the Administration of Schools system (AoS). This system promises to bring best-practice consistency to the operation of our schools. As many of you would be aware, when new software is adopted, technical difficulties often occur. Although we will endeavour to keep these to a minimum, we request your patience and understanding during this period of transition.

I would like to thank the amazing Mrs Jen Darcy for the professionalism, enthusiasm and good humour she has demonstrated during what has often been long hours of data input. Without her, we would all be lost!

Parent/Teacher Meetings – Week 2

Parent Teacher Meetings provide an opportunity to meet your class teacher and to outline class routines, organization and policies. Communication between home and school is vital in providing the highest quality education for each student. These meetings will be held in your child’s classroom and have been staggered to provide parents with the opportunity to attend more than one meeting should they require. It is an expectation that every family is represented at these meetings. 

The timetable for parent meetings is as follows:

Please consider whether you would be interested in being a Class Representative. Two parents will be required for each classroom.

St Matthew’s Waste Footprint

St Matthew’s staff are committed to making changes and choices that will reduce our waste footprint. These initiatives include electronic notes and newsletters, recycling, reusing scrap paper and promoting no waste lunch boxes. We are also exploring ways of introducing compost bins and/or worm farms. All of these initiatives will help us to educate our students about the importance of waste reduction. On this note, we regularly have bags of heavily shredded paper available from the Office. The paper is great for nesting boxes, guinea pig hutches, compost bins and chicken coops. Please feel free to pop in at any time and see if there are any bags available.

Contact Details

In an effort to keep paper notes to a minimum, St Matthew’s staff will often send SMSes and/or emails to parents. It is very important that we have a current mobile phone number and email address for each family. If you did not receive any SMSes and/or emails last week, it is essential that you check your contact details with the Office staff to ensure that you do not miss out on important information.

Notes Home

Last week a variety of notes/forms were sent home to help us prepare for the year ahead. Please check your child/ren’s bags for:

• Fees – white envelope
• Welcome Pack (includes parking map, Canteen Menus, Photograph/Video Permission form, Agreement to abide by Digital Devices Policy, Responsible Use of ICTs Agreement,  Leaflet explaining the CONNECTED App)
• Swimming enrolment (Yrs 3 – 6)

We would greatly appreciate it if parents/guardians could return all signed forms ASAP.

Electronic Calendar and CONNECTED App

Last week, the term planner for Term One was sent home. Although this is an important communication tool, I am pleased to announce that parents are now also able to access an electronic calendar through the school App. This means, as the inevitable changes to the term planner occur, we will be able to alter the calendar to ensure that this is kept up-to-date. To access the calendar, click “Important Dates”. The App is also a quick and easy method to send through absentee notes (click E-Forms).

Information on how to download the App was included in the Welcome Pack that went home last Friday. Please do not hesitate to contact the Leadership Team should you have any difficulties with this.

Pre-Kindy

St Matthew’s School Pre-Kindy has commenced for 2020. This is a child-focused program where educators support each child’s development of self-worth, dignity and respect, for themselves and others. Our program encourages children to experience the joy and wonder of the natural world that God created, as they develop to their full potential intellectually, physically, emotionally and socially. This program operates at our school as part of an education course and is only available to children who have turned three years of age.

Term:               Operates during School Terms
Sessions:       Fridays
Time:               9am – 11.30am
Please contact the Office should you require any more information or an enrolment pack.

Best wishes for the week ahead,

Susan Milton
Principal