St Matthew’s Primary School

Dear Parents and Carers

Our end of term became a lot busier when we were notified late last week that we need to relocate our junior classes in preparation for Stage Two building works to begin. The plan is to commence preliminary work so as to enable asbestos removal and demolition to begin while the children are on holidays.

From next week children in the following classes will be relocated:

Kindergarten Music Room (demountable building in Junior Playground)
Kindergarten School Hall
Year One M Library
Year One B Library
Year Three vacant classroom in Stage One
Learning Support will be moved to the stage in the School Hall.

Library, Creative Arts and Music will be delivered in existing classrooms or in the new learning spaces.

As one parent correctly commented, this will be a period of some pain which will result in an enormous gain for our school.

Staffing
Last week our Japanese teacher, Mrs Anne Hodgson told me that she intends to retire at the end of this term. This will bring to an end a long and distinguished career in Catholic Education, the final years of which have been dedicated to the teaching of a second language.

Anne’s teaching of Japanese has also included a significant term at St Monica’s Evatt where she commenced teaching as a classroom teacher some forty years ago.

On behalf of our community, I would like to thank Anne for her extraordinary service to our school and System. Her talents will be sorely missed.

The position of Language Teacher has been advertised. If you are aware of anyone who has teaching qualifications and is proficient in a second language, please encourage them to apply.

Anniversary Wall
I am delighted to announce that our 50^th Anniversary wall was constructed on Monday. The wall is located at the bottom of the path which leads from the carpark to the Church. We felt that this was a most appropriate location be because it symbolises the strong connection between the school and parish.

I would like to thank Veronica Tekinder and Matthew Inder who arranged for the laying of bricks.

Thankyou also to Liesl Taylor who organised much of the administration around this initiative.

I think you will agree it looks fabulous.

May God bless you and your families this week.

Graham Pollard
Principal

Since Term 3 of 2022, the St Matthew’s Leadership Team in conjunction with the teachers have been working on changes to our current Behaviour Management Policy. We would like to share some key points about our new policy with you over the next few weeks.

When designing our new model, there were some key considerations that we saw as vital. These were:

We know that academics need to be in order to ensure that behavioural issues are not occurring because a child does not have adequate access to the curriculum.
We wanted to see the behaviour focus on what we do want - not, what we do not want.
Where possible, teachers would only attend to the desired behaviours.
All staff explicitly teach and model the behaviours we expect.
High levels of student connectedness to the school. This incorporates the use of inclusive language and giving the students at St Matthew’s a real, and deep sense of belonging.
A flowchart of agreed consequences

“The largest major factor protecting young people from emotional distress, drug abuse, and violence - other than the closeness they were able to achieve within their families - was ‘perceived school connectedness.”

Protecting Adolescents From Harm 1997.
A National Longitudinal Study on Adolescent Health.

At St Matthew’s, we value the relationships between teachers, students, and the wider community. Grounded in experiences of relationships and community, students at St Matthew’s learn to understand their own behaviour and its impact on others, and they develop the skills needed for resolving conflict and building healthy relationships.

At St Matthew’s:

all staff model Gospel values
each teacher develops a positive classroom tone, based on the teachings of Christ.
every student and teacher has the right to feel safe and be safe
students are responsible for their own behaviour.
students respect themselves and others.
students are considerate, cooperative and courteous towards others.

Our New School Rules
The school rules revolve around four basic premises of:

Lead - we lead by caring for ourselves, for others and for our environment.

Listen - we listen to and follow instructions.

Learn - We allow teachers to teach and students to learn.

Safety - we keep our hands, feet, and objects to ourselves.

Next week, we will share more on specific strategies that support our students, an agreed flowchart on behavioural consequences and our awards and incentives for students at St Matthew's.

Rachel Powell
rachel.powell@cg.catholic.edu.au
Curriculum Coordinator

Please note the below times for the book fair:

Wednesday June 21: 3pm-7pm

Thursday June 22: 8:30am-8:50am

: 3pm-5pm

Friday June 23: 8:30am-8:50am

: 3pm-3:30pm

Monday June 26: 8:30am-8:50am

: 3pm-3:30pm

Tuesday June 27: 8:30am-8:50am

: 3pm-3:30pm

Happy birthday wishes to Livinia W, Joseph L, Gio P, Isabella K, Coby O, Rosary L, Zachary G, Layal R, Isla B, James M, Talin P, Hannah P, Maya M, Ruby G, who recently celebrated birthdays.