Principal News – Term 2, Week 6 | St Matthew's School, Narrogin

Dear Parents & Caregivers,

As we pass the halfway mark of Term 2, our students have not slowed in displaying their love for learning and life.

Karinya Kindy Visit
Inspired by the hit TV show, Old people’s home for 4-year old’s, Karinya residents visited our Kindy class today to spend time with our students. The residents participated in a variety of activities, engaging the littlest members of our community. The benefits for both parties were enormous and include improvements in mental, physical, and social wellbeing

Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease
As you may be aware, there are currently cases of Hand, Foot, and Mouth Disease (HFMD) circulating in the Narrogin community. HFMD is a mild viral infection that can be spread when a person touches the mucus or saliva of an infected person. Please see the info sheet attached to this newsletter for further information. At St Matthew’s, we have increased our hand-washing stations for our junior classes and every child is required to sanitise their hands before recess and lunch each day. Since the COVID outbreak last year, we have also increased the professional cleaning, and all play equipment is sprayed with sanitiser each day.

Uniform
Our student focus for the past week has been uniform. While this can be a contentious issue, it is important to remember why we have a uniform in the first place.

Uniform connects and unites us together as a school community. Our students should feel proud that they are part of the St Matt’s family, and the uniform is a way of showing that, just like a sports team.
There is also evidence showing that wearing a school uniform reduces incidents of bullying.
Lastly, individuality and creativity (at this age) should not come from how someone dresses or colours their hair, but from who they are inside, their gifts, talents, personality. Having a common uniform shifts the focus from the outside physical appearance to each student’s uniqueness from within.

Please find attached an outline of the uniform policy, as well as an amendment introduced this year regarding black leather sport shoes with the formal uniform. As always, please feel free to contact me regarding any clarification of this.

Earlier this term, parents were informed of a change in the Uniform Policy regarding shoes:

With the formal uniform, there are 2 options for shoes:

Option 1. The traditional school show (picture below)

Option 2: Black leather sports shoe (pictured below), not mesh or lace.

Please be aware that the laces must be black and that no other colour embellishments are permitted. Black leather sports shoes may be also worn with the sports uniform.

Year 2 Excursion – National Simultaneous Storytime

Regional Optminds Day – Katanning
An opportunity has arisen for students in our Enrichment Program. The Enrichment Program has operated at St Matthew’s for the past 4 years, and is aimed at fostering students’ creativity, problem-solving, and collaboration skills. It is for students who think ‘outside the box’ and don’t necessarily always gel with standard class teaching. The day will be for students in Years 4, 5 and 6 who are a part of the Enrichment Program and will involve a variety of open-ended problem-solving tasks designed to encourage imagination, innovation and originality. The day will be facilitated by Kathy Boyatzsis, the WA Director of Optiminds Competition, at St Patrick’s Katanning.

Assembly Awards

Congratulations to Delilah, Pia, Charlie, Dan, Luca, Ethan, Aadhya, Mantej, Aticia, Clancy and Aishvie.