St Matthew's Catholic Primary School

Parish Priest: Fr Florentino (Boy) Galdo

School Principal: Mr Bob Brown

Deputy Principal: Mrs Carmela D’Amato

RE Leader: Mrs Helen Howden

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

School Phone: 0393595423 

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

I think winter has come early this year with the temperatures being well below average for this time of the year. I am really pleased to see so many of our students wearing our School Jackets and beanies (see photos below). They look great and are super warm at the same time. I know Almoza has a number in stock so put your order in and make sure your children stay dry, warm and happy.

PLEASE NOTE: This Friday 21st of May will be a pupil free day so there will be no school for all students on that day.  As I stated in our previous newsletter the Staff will be working diligently on the processes and policies of our 4 Yearly Review.                                     

YEAR 3 & 4 RECONCILIATIONS

Tonight culminates the last of the Year 3 & 4 Sacraments of Reconciliation with Grade 3 B receiving the sacrament for the very first time. Each of the Sacramental celebrations have been very reverent and meaningful as I am sure this evening will also be. Many Thanks to our Teachers, Miss Jessica Choueiri, Mrs Teresa Pieri, Mrs Christine Pileggi, Mrs Katherine Vago, Mrs Helen Howden (Religious Education Leader) and Mr John Kavanagh for preparing the children so thoroughly. Thank you also to Father Boy for celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Mr Michael Travers for leading the music and to  Mrs Jackie Fleischmann , Mrs Carmela D’Amato, Mrs Katrina White, Mrs Rina Carfi, Mrs Silvia Gauci, Mrs Angela Webber and Miss Caitlin Di Pasquale for their support and attendance.

Finally I would like to thank the parents of the students in Grades 3 & 4 for their support, participation and also for choosing a catholic education for their children. Well done everyone on a wonderful team effort.

200 YEARS OF CATHOLIC EDUCATION

You may have noticed the small banner just at the start of the drop off zone in William Street making us aware that this year we are celebrating 200 years of Catholic Education in Australia. We, along with all Catholic schools in Australia, will be celebrating this occasion next Monday at 11:40am by having a whole school Mass at St Matthew’s.

Unfortunately because we have 300+ students and almost 50 staff we are unable to allow Parents to attend. I am sorry we cannot allow this, but these are the restrictions still in place for places of worship, such as churches.

Last Wednesday we were very fortunate to receive an outdoor piano. This was acquired from Pianos Recycled, a company that provides old restored piano for schools. We are very grateful to Mike and Sandra for making us aware of this opportunity. We only had to pay transportation here and the tuning of the piano which was minimal. The idea behind having the piano outside is to expose more children to piano playing and the wonderful music it provides.

At Recess and lunchtime it will be available for our students to play on. There are two Grade 6 students Ivy and Daniel who are very competent at playing the piano and who will, when Mr Travers is available, allow students to have a short play on the Piano, There is also a mystery student in Grade 4 who has taught himself how to play off the Internet, very impressive. Please see the photos below (Right to Left) with Stefania, Tyler tinkling the ivories and Matilda, Cecil, Alessia & Valantina.

LAST WEEK’S ASSEMBLY:

 Last Friday Grade 5A gave the whole school a tribute to all our Mums. They spoke about and acted out all the Hats that our Mums wear daily – Our Mums are Drivers, Maids, Teachers, Policewomen, Chefs and Doctors. Many thanks and well done to Rafeef, Issak, Molly, Emmauella and Jack for their great reading of the Hats and to the rest of 5A for their acting performance. Thank you also to Mr B and Mrs Pengelly for preparing the students.

Please Note: We are now allowing limited parents to attend our fortnightly assemblies. The parents are only those of the Grade that are performing at that specific fortnightly assembly and as number are not too big also parents of those students receiving Classroom awards. Please remember the seating is set up for social distancing between families.                                                                                          

ENROLMENTS FOR 2022 ARE STILL OPEN 

Yes enrolments are still open for Students in Years Prep to 6 for 2022. If you have a younger child/children who are turning 5 years old before April 30th 2022 then they are eligible to commence at St Matthew’s next year. Please come in and get an enrolment pack. Also if you know of any family members, family friends or neighbours that are interested please let them know that enrolments will be closing by the end of this term and they need to get their enrolment forms in as soon as possible.

If anyone missed any of our guided tours on our Open Days last term then please ring the School Office on 9359 5423 between business hours 8:30am – 4:30pm to arrange a suitable time for a personal guided tour of the school.

At the end of this week we are halfway through Term 2. The term is flying by.Stay warm and dry and make the most of this cold and wet weather.

Yours sincerely,

Bob Brown

(Principal)

 2021 TERM DATES

TERM 2   Monday 19th April           -        Friday 25th June

TERM 3   Monday 12th July           -          Friday 17th September

TERM 4   Monday 4th October       -        Friday 17th December

Parent Classroom Helpers

Thank you to the parents who came to the Parent Helpers Course last Monday. They along with other parents have volunteered and offered their time to assist in the Junior classrooms during the Literacy block.

If you missed out and haven’t been able to attend the previous training session then please ring Mrs Rina Carfi (Literacy Leader) on the school phone number 9359 5423.