St Matthew's Catholic Primary School

Parish Priest: Fr Florentino (Boy) Galdo

School Principal: Mr Bob Brown

Acting Deputy/RE Leader: Mrs Helen Howden

School Email: principal@smfawknernth.catholic.edu.au

School Phone: 0393595423 

St Matthew's Primary School is committed to creating an environment where the safety, wellbeing, and participation of all children within our care is paramount. 

Hello to Students, Parents, Staff and Friends of St Matthew’s,

Please take note of these very important notices:

·         THERE IS NO SCHOOL FOR PREPS TOMORROW. THEY ARE FULL TIME STARTING NEXT WEEK.

·         SCHOOL FINISHES AT 1:00PM TOMORROW FOR YEARS 1-6 FOR PARENT/TEACHER CONVERSATIONS ONLINE OR VIA PHONE..

·         THE COMMENCEMENT OF PARENT/ TEACHER CONVERSATIONS BEGIN AT 1:30PM

RAPID ANTIGEN TESTS

As you are aware the second lot of Rapid Antigen Tests (RATs) came home with each student again last week. If your child hasn’t been at school then please call in and pick up your pack, one per child.

This week all students should have been tested on Monday morning before coming to school. For the remainder of this week please test your child/children on Wednesday morning before coming to school and Monday and Wednesday of next week, hopefully our final week of testing. If your child tests NEGATIVE you DO NOT have to contact school. If your child tests POSITIVE then  YOU DO CONTACT school.

My sincere thanks to those diligent parents who have been testing their children. We have had a low amount of positive cases and hopefully it remains that way..

ENROLMENTS FOR 2023

Some families have been asking about when to enrol their children for 2023. We open enrolments in Catholic Education Week, which always has St Patrick’s Feast day in it. We also have tours during that week both during the day and evening as well.

They will be on Tuesday 15th March @ 9:30am & 7:00pm and

Thursday 17th March @9:30am & 7:00pm

If one of these times suits you then please ring the office on 9359 5423 to book yourself in.

Also if families are unable to attend tours at this time we can arrange other times which suit both prospective parents and the school.

PREP WELCOME MASS (6PM) AND BBQ (7PM) WILL BE ON SATURDAY 2ND APRIL ALL GOING WELL.

NO CANTEEN THIS FRIDAY 18th and NEXT FRIDAY 25th

Once again let us hope and pray that the Government is correct in their prediction that by the end of February we will be past the worst of Omicron. Take care, stay safe and stay well everyone.

Welcome Back once again.

Yours Sincerely,

Bob Brown

 Principal

Dear Lord,

As we begin this new school year, we gather once again as your community of believers.

We thank you for the energy and the spirit that you renewed in us through the summer months.

We thank you for the time to enjoy our family and friends and to reflect on what is important in our lives.

Let this year be marked by enthusiasm and love so that, with the inspiration of your Spirit, we may continue to grow in our faith.

Help us to fulfil Your hope for us with honest intentions and works of faith.

Let us be gentle with ourselves and bring laughter, joy and love to others.

We ask this in Your name,

 Amen 

PROJECT COMPASSION BOXES

This week your child will have brought home a Project Compassion Box.  These are usually handed out at the beginning of Lent which begins this year on March the 2nd.  Easter will fall in the second week of the school holidays.

Though we are beginning a little earlier we ask you to put some small change in the boxes until the last week of the term and return them to the school office.

The donations go directly to Caritas Australia, the Catholic Agency for International Aid and Development, to work with local communities around the world to help reduce poverty, hunger, oppression and injustice.

We encourage you to put your compassion into action a little earlier than the beginning of Lend by supporting the Project Compassion – Each child will receive a Project Compassion Box or you may wish to donate directly to https://lent.caritas.org.au/donate

God Bless

Mrs Helen Howden

hhowden@smfawknernth.catholic.edu.au

At the beginning of every year you often find that the classroom teacher has been replaced by a CRT (Casual Relief Teacher). During this time, your classroom teacher is taking out individual students for an intensive interview session one on one. This is done one on one as there are fewer distractions and we can have the child’s full attention.

We test for many things – currently from P-2 we are undertaking the English Online Interview – A true and tried testing program that has been utilized in Victorian Government schools for many years. This is the first year that Catholic Schools in Victoria have been provided access to this and here at St Matthew’s we have taken this on board.

The other testing we are undertaking from P-2 is the Mathematics Online Interview, which like the English Online Interview has been used by Government Schools for many years. Once again, the teachers are released so that they can individually provide that one on one with each child.

All this testing provides not only exceptional data on where your child is at but in particular it allows the teachers to highlight and differentiate their teaching to be exactly what the child and the group of children need.

At the same time, when classroom teachers are spending one on one time with your child they can easily pick up some interesting learning styles but more importantly develop a relationship with them that allows them to continue to work together throughout the rest of the year. 

What a great start to the year we have had. The whole school community have been working on school routines and expectations to ensure a smooth transition in our new classrooms, with new friends and new teachers.

Family school partnerships are extremely important for the smooth transition and ongoing, positive school relationships. It is important that you maintain communications with your child’s teacher to support their wellbeing.

Below are some pictures of start of the year from around the school.