School Vision

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

This Advent season we repent, we wait, and we prepare to celebrate Christ’s coming in history, in our lives today, and at the end of time. May God be with us as we celebrate the season with joy!

God of Love,  

Your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us. He is a sign of your love.

Help us walk in that love during the weeks of Advent,as we wait and prepare for his coming.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior.

  Amen.  

Dear Parents & Carers,

Another very busy week at St Matthew’s. Lots and lots to celebrate!

Mary Poppins Congratulations

I hope everyone who attended our two performances of Mary Poppins Jnr enjoyed it as much as we all did. We are so lucky to have so many talented students and dedicated staff members. And thanks to the generosity of the audience members, we were able to raise nearly $460 in donations. The money raised has been evenly divided between Divine You and BlazeAid. Both of these charities provide assistance to our local community and we are very pleased to be able to support them.

Congratulations to Mrs Kilpatrick

Linda signed up for the inaugural Great Southern Stage Run nearly 12 months ago. On Day 1 she ran 69km; Day 2 80km and day 3 57km. Starting on the tree top walk at Walpole, Linda followed the Bibbulmun track to the coast, along magical untouched beaches, high ridge lines, sandy 4wd drive tracks, river crossings and forrests. They had unimaginable weather including hail storms, 45km winds, torrential rain and a little bit of sunshine. She managed to come away with 1st place solo female, winning her a free entry into Everest 135 Ultra marathon in 2024. Amazing! We are all so proud..

Congratulations to Mr and Mrs Tenney

It is with great joy that we welcome Juliet Terese Tenney to the St Matthew’s community. Just beautiful! 

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 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 in the next couple of weeks.

Save The Date ACM & Sundowner 

The Annual Community Meeting for 2022 will be held on 9 February 2023 at 5:30pm in the Sr Mary Library. At this meeting, our P&F and School Board will present their reports, and the academic data for the 2022 school year will be shared. We would like to invite all of our families to not only join us for this important meeting, but also invite for a BYO everything family picnic/sundowner.

Nominations for P&F 

I would like to remind everyone of the opportunity for parents to nominate to be part of the P&F executive committee. This is a unique opportunity to be more actively involved with your child’s school life. I encourage all of our parents to consider volunteering to take an active role in our P&F by nominating themselves prior to the ACM. The nomination form is available from the office or can be emailed to parents upon request.

Should you require any more information, please do not hesitate to contact the school, or any of the current executive members. 

Nominations for School Advisory Council

Parents are also invited to nominate for the 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. We encourage parents with the following skills to nominate:

• Finance
• Administration
• Construction & Building
• Community knowledge
• Multicultural
• Education knowledge
• Pastoral care

It is imperative that members act in line with CEWA’s Code of Conduct, as well as act honestly, diligently, confidentially and carefully in relation to all matters. It is essential that Advisory Council  members  have  the  capacity  to  work  cooperatively  and  constructively  with the principal. 

The nomination form is available from the office or can be emailed to parents upon request.

Should you require any more information, please do not hesitate to contact the school, or any of the current members. 

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

Hats

As the weather warms up, it is even more important that every child has a school hat. We have noticed that many of our students are wearing hats that are broken or torn. Over the next week, teachers will be contacting parents to let them know if their child’s school hat needs replacing due to wear and tear.

Christmas Dress-Up Day

On Tuesday 6 December, children are invited to wear their most festive Christmas attire as a fundraiser for the purchase of a Defibrillator Machine for St Matthew’s Parish. If all children contribute a gold coin donation. we will be able to provide this important life-saving device for our community.

Staffing 2023

The following table outlines the staffing arrangements for 2023. It is important to note that, although this is correct at the time of printing, changes may still occur over the Christmas break.

I would also like to acknowledge Mrs Claire Graham and Mrs Colleen Quartermaine who will be taking extended leave in 2023.

Pixie Post

It’s that time of year again!! Our beautiful Pre-Primaries invite all students to post a Christmas card via Pixie Post. It is important to remember that the pixies will only deliver cards that do not contain any lollies or candy canes. All cards must also be clearly labelled with the recipient’s name and year level. The Pixie Post letter box is located outside the Pre-Primary classroom door.

Class Transition

On Tuesday 6 December, our students will be visiting their new teachers for 2023. Teachers will have an opportunity to introduce themselves and outline the special features of their year level.

Peter Scott Literacy Award

In 2018, Mr Peter Scott, a former student at St Matthew’s, provided a generous donation towards enhancing Literacy in our school. This donation enabled us to purchase new books for our school library, introduce a literacy intervention programme and fund the Peter Scott Literacy Award until 2028.

This year, all students in Years 1- 6 completed a narrative on the topic of ‘Bubbles’. Teachers then nominated the top 4-5 stories from each class. The following students have been shortlisted for this award:

Winners of the Peter Scott Literacy Award will be announced at the 9:00am assembly on Friday 2 December.

Last Assembly for 2022 Friday December 2

During this last assembly, we will be proud to award the best and most improved reader in each class Year 1 to Year 6. We will also award the student who has achieved the greatest growth and the best overall achievement in Maths in Year 5 and Year 6. Individual parents will be notified if their child will be receiving one of these accolades.

Semester Two Report

Semester Two Reports will go live on the Seqta Engage website on Tuesday 13 December. In order to access these reports, you will need to login to Seqta Engage. If you are new to St Matthew’s School, or have never used Seqta Engage before, you will receive an email asking you to set up a user name and password. For all other users, it is important that St Matthew’s has a current email address, and that you remember your Seqta Engage user name and password. It would be appreciated if all parents could login to Seqta Engage prior to 6 December to ensure that everyone is able to access the website. –

https://matthews.coneqt-p.cathednet.wa.edu.au/

Please contact Mark Tenney (mark.tenney@cewa.edu.au) should you require a new password, or if you have any difficulties logging into this site.

Kindy Concert Wednesday November 30

The Kindy Christmas Concert is Wednesday 30 November at 6.00pm. We would like to have all the children dropped off at the Kindy by 5.45pm so we can dress them into their costumes and get organised. While we are preparing the children, you are welcome to go and find a seat in the Sr Isabel Hall and wait for our little stars to arrive. The children will present their play and then sing a couple of Christmas carols. This will be followed by the presentation of their Kindy certificates. They will also receive their work sample books and a gift from the Kindy. We hope you can stay for a picnic or barbecue dinner with your family on the grass area outside the Sr Isabel Hall. A barbecue will be available for those wishing to use it. It will be a lovely way to celebrate the end of our Kindy year.

St Matthew’s Christmas Tree

Every year, St Matthew’s collects non-perishable foods for those in need. This year we have been informed that there are many families that are in need of our help. The food items can be placed in the tubs under the Christmas Tree in the Undercover Area. I encourage all families to help us spread happiness this Christmas.

Principal Focus – Celebrating Advent

This is such a wonderful time of year! But it can also be so busy that it is easy to focus on the shopping and wrapping, and forget to enjoy this special time of waiting. The Blessed Catholic Mom website has some beautiful ideas on how we can keep Christ in Christmas this year:

Did you realize when you arrived at church for Mass on the Sunday of the first week of Advent that it was Advent already? Sometimes the season of Advent slips up on me, even when I try to plan ahead. If you are looking for some easy and meaningful weekly Advent ideas for Catholic families, look no further. You can use these ideas for your family or for just yourself. Either way, they are to help you have a more meaningful Advent season.

Advent ideas for each week of Advent
During Advent, we have the opportunity to take time to prepare our hearts for God’s Incarnation-God made man in the infant Jesus. These simple Advent activities can help us to focus more on Jesus and our faith as we prepare to celebrate Christ’s birth on Christmas.
Note: even though these ideas are listed under particular weeks, feel free to do them during any week of Advent or use them to spark an idea of something different that you want to do instead.

Week 1 of Advent-Pray
One way to prepare our hearts to welcome Jesus is to pray more often. Think of what prayer(s) you would like to add to this week or to each day of the week.
For example, if you do not pray them often already, you can pray the Rosary or Divine Mercy Chaplet during the week.
If you are looking for something to pray each day, perhaps you can pray the Memorare or spend quiet time with God each day. You may also enjoy reading a chapter in the Bible each day or reading the Mass readings each day.
Think about what you want to do, what time you have to do it, make a plan, and then do what you planned to add more prayer to your week.

Week 2 of Advent-Act of Kindness
What is an act of kindness that you can do this week for someone else?
Perhaps you can call someone who is lonely, drop a care package off at a convalescent home or our local police station, or take a meal to someone who is ill.
You could drop a secret Santa gift off at someone’s front door as a surprise or mail a fun card to a friend.
You could make your family’s favorite meal or a special dessert as a surprise. (You know-the one you don’t often make but the one they are always so happy to see.) You could be a secret Santa to your husband and kids, too.
The possibilities are endless. When we do an act of kindness for someone else, we step outside of ourselves and focus on someone else. Showing love and kindness to others are what Jesus asks us to do. We are closer to His heart when we show love and kindness to others, especially when we do not expect anything in return.

Week 3 of Advent-Sacrifice
What sacrifice can you offer to God this week?
Perhaps you can give something up, like coffee or a favorite TV show this week. It may be helpful to add something meaningful to a time slot we now have open since we have given up something. Perhaps you could pray, read your Bible, or spend extra fun time with your family.
Instead of giving something up, maybe you want to add a sacrifice, like doing something you really would rather not, but you know it will help another person. Filling up the gas tank in the family car even when it is your husband’s turn to do it is one idea.
Another idea is a sacrifice of words-do not say anything negative this week about anyone (yourself included) or anything. Challenge yourself to say only positive things (nice positive things, not sarcastic ones ) or nothing at all.

Week 4 of Advent-Praise
Praise to God is part of who we are as Catholics. The Mass is a prayer of praise. God is the creator of all the universe and the creator of each of us. How can you praise Him more this week?
Perhaps you can say thank you to Him as you take a walk and see the beauty of nature around you. Maybe you can spend time in quiet prayer praising God for Who He is and for His blessings to you. If you like to sing, singing praise and worship songs is a wonderful way to praise God.

Week 3 and 4 of Advent-the O Antiphons
The O Antiphons are daily antiphons (they are very short prayers) to be prayed each day from December 17-23. There is a different short prayer for each day as we approach Christmas Eve, the eve of our Savior’s birth, to remind us of Jesus as the fulfillment of the promise of the Old Testament. The O Antiphons repeat the call “come” to our Lord.

Praying the O Antiphons each day from the 17th to the 23rd is a nice way to help us prepare for celebrating Jesus’ birth. They are very short. It would be easy to incorporate them into your daily family prayers.

Happy Advent,

Susan Milton