Dear Parents and Carers

We have had a good response to our two Open Days during the past week with many visitors taking tours of the school, led by our Year Six students.

We are now approaching the half way point of the Enrolment Period and as such I would like to remind our current families that it is important to submit your application before Friday 28^th May. I would be grateful if you could pass this message onto anyone who is considering enrolling their child into our 2022 cohort at St Matthew’s.

The enrolment application link is included for your convenience: https://cg.catholic.edu.au/parents/enrolment/

After School Collection

I would like to re-emphasize our after school collection procedures to ensure the safety of your children. It is crucial that you do not ask your child to meet you in the school or church car parks, these are busy areas with many moving vehicles and are not safe for children.

Can I suggest that our Drive Though Pick Up is a safe, relatively quick option which will allow your children to be fully supervised whilst they await collection. Many parents also choose to collect younger children from the main gate at the entrance to the Junior Playground.  Alternatively some parents ask their child to wait with the Drive Through children while they park and collect their children.

The collection of children has been a challenge at every school at which I have taught. The one common theme at each school was that it must be a safe environment for children. The alternative, and its consequences does not bear thinking about……

NAPLAN

After a one year COVID enforced lay off, NAPLAN testing for Years Three and Five resumed this week. Whilst I appreciate that NAPLAN receives mixed reviews in the mainstream media, from a school perspective the value of NAPLAN is that it is an opportunity to collect data on the progress of individual students as well as identifying areas of strength and weakness across our school. We find tracking the growth of children from Years Three to Five particularly valuable.

Thankyou

I would like to thank, our your behalf, the group of parents who spent Friday morning organising the Mother’s Day Gift Shop in our School Hall. This act of kindness is very much appreciated by our community especially our children who love selecting a gift for their mum.

May God bless you and your families

Graham Pollard

Principal

Through the Window

On Friday of Week 3, I had the chance to walk past many ‘windows’, as I observed every student in the school participating in our second Exhibition Celebration. Each student had the opportunity to present their inquiry journey to their peers, with two-or-three artefacts to show in their individual ‘exhibition spaces’. These artefacts included artworks, posters, informative texts, and digital presentations.

Our Year 6 students wandered the exhibits with their Kindergarten buddies, gently explaining as they went. Students walked from classroom to classroom with carefully prepared questions recorded on post-it notes for exhibitors to answer. Exhibitors engaged their visitors with interesting facts, and also with calls to action. It was noisy, students and teachers were excited, and the pride on students’ (and teachers’!) faces was obvious. This event was another roaring success, and evidence of the benefits of inquiry learning! These benefits include the development of engaged, confident, competent learners who have increased initiative, self-direction and empathy.

As the adults wandered through the exhibits, we listened carefully to students as they answered one of three questions that we posed:

• Now that you know what you know, how will you make the world a better place?
• How will you apply this learning to your life in the future?
• How can humans apply these understandings to make the world a better or safer place?

These questions are important for students to consider, because inquiry is not about one-off projects completed in five lessons. At St Matthew’s, it is about living out our vision of a Christ-centred school in the Catholic tradition where students learn to engage fully with society and serve their communities as people of action and hope.

We sincerely hope and pray that parents will be able to join us for our next Exhibition Celebration in Term 4.

 

Petra Cole

Assistant Principal

Petra.Cole@cg.catholic.edu.au

 

The Feast of the Ascension (Mark 16:15-20)

This weekend we celebrate the Feast of the Ascension, when Jesus was taken to heaven on the fortieth day after Easter.

If we were to read this passage literally, we would believe that to be a Christian one had to be able to perform exorcisms, speak in tongues, handle snakes, drink poison and heal by touch. If this were literally true, I guess there wouldn’t be too many Christians around today! Rather, the purpose of the passage is that Jesus sends his followers out ‘to the whole world’ to continue his ministry. It is the ‘whole world’ to which they are sent; not just their cosy little corner of the world but the whole world. It’s what Christian people for the last 2,000 years have been called to do: continue Jesus’ ministry to the whole world. It’s what each and every one of us is called to do today: ‘proclaim the Good News to all creation’. That doesn’t mean standing on street corners with a Bible in our hands but it means proclaiming the Good News through our everyday actions and by being open and honest about our faith. It means treating all people as Jesus would.

Francis of Assisi is credited with saying, ‘Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary, use words!’ In every interaction we have we say so much about who we are, what we think of the other person and what we believe – even without opening our mouth. Our actions and attitudes proclaim our beliefs more powerfully than our words ever do. If we claim to be concerned about justice and yet behave unjustly then it is our actions, not our words, that will be heard! When we are called to ‘proclaim the Good News’ we are called to do this first and foremost in action. (reflection from Greg Sunter)

This week as a family, discuss how your actions reflect what you believe. Are there certain situations that you find harder than others to 'walk the talk'. Share with your children these struggles and how you face them so they to can undertsand their own development of faith and truly living the way of the gospels, treating people like Jesus would.

CONFIRMATION

Thank you to those familes who have completed the registration process on QkR! as well as filled out the google doc in regards to which Mass your child will receive the Sacrmament of Confirmation. A reminder that the second set of commitment masses are coming up next weekend at 6pm on Saturday 22nd May and 8.30am Sunday 23rd May. The home program also needs to be completed at this time. 

A white card will be emailed to families to fill in with your child's Saint and Sponsor details as well as other information needed for the Sacrament at the end of this week. This card needs to be completed and returned via email to sharee.thomas@cg.catholic.edu.au no later than Friday 4th June. If you would prefer to hand write this informaiton, please email me and I will send home a 'hardcopy' of the form with your child. 

Have a great week!

Happy birthday wishes to Liam C, Millicent F, Chidiamara O, Nicholas M, Senudi G, Abigail B, Tristan D, Jarrah W, Skylar G, Zara M, Piper F, Esa J, Archer P and Gabriela P, who recently celebrated birthdays.

Term 2 School fees have been sent home via email.  Fees are due by week 5 unless payment is being made by instalments. 

Please contact the front office if you haven’t received your fees or you have any questions.

 

Financial hardship during the covid-19 Pandemic

Catholic Education acknowledges the unprecedented economic impact on many families.  If you have been financially impacted or have any concerns around fees, please contact Mr Pollard directly, so that arrangements can be made.