School Vision

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

Heavenly Father,

our hearts are moved by the effects of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria.

The grief felt by families who have lost loved ones, or await news of loved ones, is unimaginable.

We turn to you, God of all comfort, and ask that you be close to people in the days ahead and that they might know your peace that surpasses all understanding.

Amen

Dear Parents & Carers,

It was so lovely to see so many of our wonderful families come together at the Annual Community Meeting and Family Picnic last Thursday evening. We truly value the partnership between home and school, and the attendance at events such as these ensure that we work together to build a strong and loving community.

P&F First Meeting Monday 20 February 6pm

Over the last year representatives from Catholic School Parents Western Australia (CSPWA), P&F Associations, the Catholic Primary Principals’ Association, the Catholic Secondary Principals’ Association and the Catholic Education Office have considered how to best structure and support the incredible work undertaken by P&Fs in our schools.

On 2 September 2022, the Catholic Education Commission of Western Australia approved a single model of operation for P&Fs in CEWA schools. This will see the P&F operate as a committee of the Catholic school, governed by consistent Terms of Reference and common financial practices. A copy of these Terms of Reference will be put out through the school app and be available at the first P&F meeting on Monday 20 February at 6pm. Babysitting is available – please contact school should this be required.

P&F Committee Members

All parents of enrolled students at the school are considered general members of the P&F. Friends are persons affiliated with the school community who do not have children enrolled at the school and who are identified as associate members. The P&F is led by a volunteer group of parents, each of whom are elected to office bearer positions. These people are identified as P&F Committee members. At Thursday’s P&F Annual Community Meeting, we announced the P&F Committee members for 2023:

President: Mrs Zeta O’Rourke​

Vice President: Mrs Kylie Turton​

Secretary: ​Vacant

Treasurer: Mrs Alex Wray​

At this stage, no parent has nominated for the position of secretary, however, if you are able to fill this position, please contact Zeta, Kylie, Alex or the office –  I know you will be welcomed with open arms.

School Advisory Council

The Advisory Council assists in the planning of present and future strategy of the Catholic school and brings the voice of the community into the school, playing an important role in building relationships with key stakeholders across the Catholic school community. Membership of the Advisory Council, where possible, will reflect the diversity of the school community. The inclusion of different voices, experiences and perspectives that support the Catholic ethos of the school will enable all groups found in the school community to be represented on the Advisory Council. At Thursday’s School Advisory Committee Annual Community Meeting, we announced the members for 2023:

Jodie George
Keith Guest
Joseph Nyemba
Claire Coffey
Mark Sewell
Mitchell Wray (newly elected for 2023)

I know you join with me in thanking both the P&F and the School Advisory Council members who willingly give up their time to help make the crucial decisions that affect the future of our beautiful school. 

Thank you Michelle and Claire

We have been so fortunate at St Matthew’s to have had many dedicated parents over the years. It is with sadness that we must farewell two such individuals this year. Mrs Michelle Batt and Mrs Claire Shepherd have been integral members of both the P&F and the School Board in different capacities for many years. I would personally like to thank them for all their support and kindness and wish them well in their future endeavours.

Parent Information Sessions

Every year our class teachers invite our parents to information sessions in Term One. These important sessions are designed to introduce our families to what is special about each year level and what to expect throughout the year. I would strongly recommend that at least one parent attend each relevant meeting.

Busy Bee 25 March 8:30am

On Saturday 25 March, we are asking our families to support our school by attending our annual Busy Bee. Some of the jobs that need completing are the transporting and spreading of sand and pinebark; removing, planting and repotting plants; preparing the site for the chicken coop; pressure cleaning the centenary pavers and generally tidying up the grounds.
If you are able to donate your time and hard-working hands for any period of time from 8:30am to 12:30pm on Saturday 25 March, please email susan.milton@cewa.edu.au, or just turn up on the day. Children are naturally welcome to come and help, or just to play! A sausage sizzle will be available for all our hard-working heroes.

Garage Sale 25 March 8:30am

To help raise funds for our new chicken coop and sustainability projects, St Matthew’s will be holding a Garage Sale on 25 March. Along with parent donations, the school will be selling a variety of school resources and furniture items. A list of items will be popped on the school Facebook page prior to the sale.

We would love our families to support this undertaking by donating good quality items to be sold. Items can be dropped off to the Undercover Area from Monday 20 March. In the meantime, photos of items can be emailed to susan.milton@cewa.edu.au. Or simply attend the garage sale and take home a bargain!

EAL/D Parent Meetings 21 March 2:15pm and 5:30pm

Do you speak an additional language?
Are you from a non-English speaking background?
Is your family new to Australia?
Do you want to know more about our multicultural/multilingual school?

St Matthew’s School is holding two English as an Additional Language (EAL/D) Parent Information sessions on 21 March – 2:15pm and 5:30pm.

Please come along to find out more about:

• Why a second language is a wonderful thing
• What LBOTE & EAL/D means?
• How St Matthew’s is supporting LBOTE students and families
• How parents can support their children
• Reporting for EAL/D Students
• Share your thoughts & Ideas on creating an inclusive community

Date: Tuesday 21 March
Time: 2:15pm and 5:30pm
Place: Sr Mary Library
Presenter: Mrs Adele Maartens (EAL/D Co-ordinator)

All families welcome!

For more information, or to register your attendance, please email susan.milton@cewa.edu.au

Mary Poppins – purchasing recording

Thanks to the generosity of our P&F, families will be able to purchase a recording of the evening performance of last year’s whole-school musical, Mary Poppins on a USB for $15.00 a copy. This is heavily subsidized price to ensure that all our beautiful families can have a keepsake of this amazing performance. More information regarding this will come out through the app very soon.

Calling All Dads

The School Advisory Council is very interested in developing projects or events that will encourage our amazing fathers and father-figures to be more engaged with the school. We would love to hear from you if you would like to be involved in this initiative or have any information or ideas that you would like to share by emailing susan.milton@cewa.edu.au

Principal KINDNESS award

On Monday mornings, I present the Principal’s Award for Kindness. Children are able to nominate each other for this award during the week. This week, the award went to Mia M (Yr 4) for helping a classmate with their Mental Maths work.

Principal Focus – Parenting Pods

We have all heard the saying “it takes a village to raise a child”. I would love to think our little “village” of St Matthew’s plays an integral role in helping guide and support our parents as they undertake the incredibly difficult and rewarding task of raising confident, happy, productive children. To help in this endeavour, I would like to draw attention to some podcasts that I have personally found very informative and entertaining:

How Other Dads Dad with Hamish Blake – Podcast
Hamish Blake chats with other dads he really admires about their approach to dadding, and in the process hopefully learn a little, steal some of their hard earned wisdom and help us all dad a tiny bit better.

Parental as Anything with Maggie Dent – Podcast
One of Australia’s favourite parenting authors and educators Maggie Dent gives you tips and answers to your real-world parenting dilemmas – screen time, tantrums, building resilience, homework, and more. Parental As Anything is a common sense, relatable, practical guide on raising kids of all ages today.

I will finish with the link to the Triple P Parenting Program. Triple P is the parenting program that helps make raising kids easier. It gives you tips and ideas to help raise happy and confident kids; see more of the behaviours you like and less of the ones you don’t; and have better relationships with your family. There are lots of different ways of accessing this program, including online.

Happy parenting,

Susan Milton