School News

Student Reports – Pre-Primary to Year 6

Teachers have been busy assessing and reporting for Semester Two. Reports will be available to parents via the school portal (SEQTA Engage) on Tuesday 10th December. The Semester Two Report will provide you with an assessment of your child’s progress and development across all subject areas. If you have any concerns about your child’s progress, please make an appointment to speak with your teacher. To access your child’s report, it is imperative that we have your current email address and you know your SEQTA Engage password. If you need to update any of this information, please advise the front office.

Jumps & Throws Interschool Athletics

The Interschool athletics kicked off on Wednesday, at Thomas Hogg Oval, with students competing in the 800m race, distance throws and long jump events. All participants gave their best efforts and managed to build up a good score tally for St Matthew’s School against some very tough competition. We are all looking forward to Friday’s events. Congratulations to Bryce Pauley and Emma Graham who are the captains of our Interschool Athletics team.

Linda Kilpatrick
Physical Education Specialist

Year One Letters to Santa

On Tuesday, the Year 1 Class went to the post office to post our letters to Santa! While we were there, we saw the big red mail box. We asked interesting questions about mail and learnt about addresses and postcodes! It was a lovely walk.

Ashleigh Evans
Year One Teacher

Enrolments 2020

The planning process for enrolments received for 2020 (Pre-primary to Year Six) has now commenced. If you are not returning to St Matthew’s in 2020, can you please email this information to: admin@matthews.wa.edu.au Please note, it is not a requirement for advice regarding the current year six students. Your attention to this matter, at your earliest convenience, will be appreciated.

Annual General Community Meeting 2019

Our Annual Community Meeting takes place at 6.30pm on Tuesday 26 November in the school library. At this meeting our P&F and School Board will present their reports and staffing for the 2020 school year will be announced. The School Board meets each month and their main tasks are overseeing the financial management, capital development and maintenance of our school. The P&F also meets each month and their tasks include fundraising, organisation of social events and a forum for discussion. There is no general business discussed at the AGM meetings and hospitality is provided after the meeting. Involvement in either the School Board or P & F is a wonderful way in which parents can actively contribute to the school as both groups focus on providing the very best for our students.

Why Is Reading Important?

Evidence suggests that children who read for enjoyment every day not only perform better in reading tests than those who don’t, but also develop a broader vocabulary, increased general knowledge and a better understanding of other cultures.

In fact, there’s evidence to suggest that reading for pleasure is more likely to determine whether a child does well at school than their social or economic background.

What difference could I make as a parent?

The short answer is: a lot!

Parents are by far the most important educators in a child’s life and it’s never too young for a child to start, even if you’re only reading with your child for a few minutes a day. Before they’re born, babies learn to recognise their parents’ voices. Reading to your baby from the time they’re born gives them the comfort of your voice and increases their exposure to language.

Building vocabulary and understanding

Learning to read is about listening and understanding as well as working out print. Through hearing stories, children are exposed to a rich and wide vocabulary. This helps them build their own vocabulary and improve their understanding when they listen, which is vital as they start to read. It’s important for them to understand how stories work as well. Even if your child doesn’t understand every word, they’ll hear new sounds, words and phrases which they can then try out, copying what they have heard.

As children start to learn to read at school, you can play an important role in helping to keep them interested in books, finding out what interests them and helping them to find books that will be engaging and fun for them. Give time to helping them practise reading the books they will bring home from school.