School Vision

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

Monday – Holy Week Prayer
Matthew 21:10-17; John 12:1-8

Lord God,
Six days before his death, your son sat with Lazarus,
Whom he had raised from the dead,
And ate dinner with his friends.

Once again, your gospel tells us, Martha served,
And Mary knelt at Jesus’ feet
To anoint them with costly perfume.
The disciple who was about to betray him
Said that it was a waste.

He didn’t care about the poor, really –
He just wanted to fill his own pockets
And make Mary feel ashamed.

Lord God,
Often we cannot discern what is best:
When to pour out costly perfume for your sake,
Even if the world thinks it a waste.

When to be busy serving,
Or when to rest at your Son’s feet and learn.
Give us ears to hear you and eyes to see.
For the sake of your Son, Jesus Christ.

Amen.

Dear Parents and Guardians,

As you can all imagine, this has been a very quiet week at St Matthew’s. I admit there was a definite sense of sadness when I locked the doors on Friday afternoon, not knowing when I will be able to reopen them to welcome all of our beautiful students back to their classrooms. However, I have also experienced many moments of pride and joy this week. It all started with the making of our now world famous “Lost in the Woods” video. I obviously want to thank all of our over-acting staff for their contributions, and especially Mr Tenney who acted, produced and directed this masterpiece.  I would also like to thank all of the families who posted positive comments or shared it with friends and extended family. I hope you all enjoyed watching it as much as we enjoyed making it. Maybe we can do an encore performance when we are all given the go ahead to return to school. Any song suggestions?

Home Education Packs

Our amazing staff have been working very hard to ensure that Home Education Packs are ready to be picked up by parents on Monday, 27 April.  It is very important to understand the following:

• Teachers are ensuring they are balancing the curriculum, including all learning areas
• The daily routine that teachers are preparing will include approximate time durations, recess, lunch, outside play, free time for creative play etc. Parents are welcome to balance the day as their circumstances allow. For example, it might be easier to complete some activities in the afternoon after 3pm; this is perfectly fine.
• It is very important that parents contact Mark Tenney on 0448772879 during school hours should you require any assistance with accessing set online materials or using Seesaw.
• The first 2 week Home Education Pack will be ready to be picked up from school on Monday 27 April from your child’s classroom. Please do not bring your child with you. Only enter classrooms through the external glass doors and please ensure there are only two people in any room, at any one time. Be aware that classroom teachers will not be onsite at this time.
• If teachers supply a folder or container for packs, please bring these in so work can be swapped over.
• More information regarding pack pick up will be provided closer to the first pick up date.

If you are unable to collect the packs, please contact the Office (via email or phone) immediately so that these can be posted out over the holidays.

The pick up/drop off dates are as follows:

Teacher Contact

Hopefully over the last few weeks you have had regular contact with your child’s class teacher either through Seesaw, by phone or by email. During this home schooling period, it is vitally important that parents, teachers and students stay in regular contact to ensure that everyone is travelling okay, and that expectations are understood and outcomes are achieved.

This Thursday, 9 April, is officially the last day of Term One. Although, as stated, teacher/student communication is extremely important, I request that families refrain from contacting teachers over the school holidays. If you require any additional information, or have any questions regarding the Home Education process for Term 2, please contact me directly at susan.milton@cewa.edu.au. I assure you that I will continue to monitor my emails closely and will respond within 48 hours. Teachers will be able to be contacted again from Tuesday 28 April.

Principal Focus – Keep Moving

I know that for many of us our school holiday plans have had to be cancelled or drastically altered. Granted we can no longer take trips to the beach or go camping with friends and family; however, I thought I might focus on how lucky we are to live in the country. Unlike many city families, most of us do not need to rely on public parks and playgrounds to access enough space for a family game of cricket or to walk the dog. Many of us have access to bushland, paddocks or acreages. Those living closer to town centres may be able to visit Foxes Lair, Dryandra, the old golf course, or similar public open spaces. Last week, Mrs Kilpatrick provided all families with a letter emphasising the connection between physical activity and learning:

With so much emphasis being placed on on-line learning, I would like to remind you to make sure your children are being active. There are so many ways this can be done and I will continue to send ideas out to our school community. Don’t just put aside a 30 minute block during the day. Lots of frequent activity will not only keep them physically and mentally healthy – it will also help their brains to learn.

Even our Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, focused on the importance of regular outdoor exercise by including this in the list of acceptable partner activities. With this in mind, I encourage you to keep our little people moving. Before we know it, the weather will change and outside might not look so appealing. Naturally, I am not suggesting that you ignore Government directives on social distancing; however, I am inviting you to find inventive and satisfying ways to enjoy the outdoors safely whilst promoting physical and mental health for you and your family.

Keep moving,

Susan Milton

Principal