School Vision
St Matthew’s School empowers children to embrace life-long learning and grow and develop as God intends.
My Jesus,
I believe that You are present in the
Most Holy Sacrament. I love You above all things,
and I desire to receive You into my soul.
I believe it because you have said it
and Im ready to give my life to
maintain this truth.
Amen
Dear Parents & Carers,
It has been a very busy few weeks at St Matthew’s! And it’s only going to get busier as we prepare for our up-incoming athletics carnivals and whole school musical, Alice in Wonderland, Jnr. To help us all keep organised, I will ensure to keep the school app calendar up-to-date and continue to SMS parents when new items are uploaded to the app. If families are experiencing any difficulty using the app, please contact myself, or Mark Tenney, and we will be happy to help rectify the problem.
Book Week
On Tuesday, 25 August, St Matthew’s will be celebrating Book Week by holding a whole school dress-up day. Children are invited to dress as their favourite book character. Parents are welcome to join us for our parade at 9:00 am. It is worth coming if not only to see the teachers in their creative outfits!
Tickets for Alice in Wonderland, Jnr
We have all been crossing our fingers that Phase 5 of the WA COVID-19 Roadmap would be introduced before our whole school musical on September 17 and 18. Unfortunately, we now know that this is not going to happen and therefore, have had to accept that there will need to be reduced seating at this event. We have been informed by Rob Powell, Senior Environmental Health Officer, that the occupancy rate for the Narrogin Town Hall is limited to 100 persons. In order to ensure that all parents are able to enjoy the show, we will only be offering 3 tickets to each family. On Monday 31 August, a letter will be sent home with the oldest school child in each family. This letter will ask parents to indicate which of the three performances they would prefer to attend – Thursday 17 September 11:00am, Friday 18 September 11:00am or Friday September 18 6:00pm. The Leadership Team will allocate seating based on this information. Naturally we will try to accommodate all preferences, however, it must be noted that some families may not receive their first preference.
We have also organised the recording of the show. DVDs will be able to be purchased through the school at a cost of $25.00 each. Order forms will be sent home prior to the performances.
Athletic Carnivals Next Week
The St Matthew’s School Faction Athletics Carnivals will be held on Tuesday 1 September (at school) and Thursday 3 September (at Thomas Hogg Oval on Bannister Street, Narrogin). Each child from Year One to Six will be given a programme of events, highlighted with the events he/she is in. If your child is in events 1 – 28, please be aware that he/she will need to wear his/her sports uniform on Tuesday, 1 September as these events will take place then. It is essential that we are informed if your child is unable to attend either of the carnival days. Please return the slip from the carnival note sent out via the app and emailed earlier today.
Parental assistance on the day is essential for the carnival to run smoothly. If you would like to help, please contact Linda Kilpatrick (linda.kilpatrick@cewa.edu.au). We will need helpers for both Jumps and Throws on 1 September and the main events on 3 September.
Athletics Carnival Lunch Orders
Today all families will receive 2 lunch order forms – the first one is for Tuesday 1 September (fundraising for the Year 6 end of year excursion ); the second is for Thursday 3 September (P&F fundraiser). Please note, neither of these lunch orders are being supplied by Narrogin Primary School and therefore, can not be placed online via QuickCliq. Both order forms and correct money must be forwarded to school by Friday 28 September, as explained on the order forms.
Congratulations Gibney!!
Gibney has earnt themselves the major award by receiving Golden Slips for good choices at school. This Friday 28 August, all Gibney students from Pre-Primary to Year 6 are invited to wear free-dress for the day. They will also enjoy ½ an icey pole. Looking at the point totals, it will not be long before McFall and Phelan students will be able to enjoy their own reward day.
Principal Focus – Read Read Read
This week we are celebrating Book Week. Book Week began in 1945 and is an Australia-wide celebration of the amazing authors and illustrators which bring stories to life. Many of us would remember the joy of being read to as a child. Not only is this a beautiful, peaceful time to enjoy with your children, but, as the most beloved children’s author Mem Fox explains, it is a vitally important gift that we can give our children:
Research around the world has proved that children who are read to regularly are better able to learn to read easily, happily and quickly. Listening to beloved stories again and again is a step on the road to literacy that cannot be ignored, no matter how gifted children might be, or how disadvantaged; no matter what grade a child is in, or how young or old; no matter which language children speak; no matter when they start school; no matter which country or city or town or suburb they live in; no matter how far behind they are in their schooling.
Reading aloud cultivates the essential enchanting engagement with books, stories, rhymes and songs that every child has to experience before the formal teaching of reading can begin. The books that children listen to provide the best possible words in the best possible places. They teach children the language they will need.
Learning language—learning how to speak—is the most important pre-reading skill of all. Learning how to talk clearly, with a wide, interesting vocabulary is far more important than anything else in preparing children to learn to read—much more important than learning the letters of the alphabet or letter/sound relationships. Put simply, children who can’t talk can’t learn to read. We have to teach them to talk first, and reading aloud to them is the best way of doing it.
Click here to read the rest of this interesting article.
I invite all parents to take some time this week to enjoy a story with their kids.
Enjoy!
Susan Milton
