Dear Parents and Carers

Unfortunately the weather has foiled our plans for tomorrow’s Athletics carnival. Hopefully you received an email yesterday advising that the carnival has now been postponed until early next term. Children should come dressed in their normal Friday uniform. The good news is that our parent helpers have made themselves available to cook a sausage sizzle for lunch tomorrow, so there is no need to pack lunch.

Rostrum Public Speaking
It was lovely to see the resumption of the Rostrum Public Speaking competition this year after a COVID enforced layoff last year. This is one of the longest running competitions in ACT Primary schools, having been staged for over forty years. I am guessing that many of our parents may have actually competed in this competition when they attended school.

St Matthew’s has a proud history of representation at the ACT Rostrum Final. Two years ago a Year Six student progressed to this level, which is an outstanding effort when you consider that the competition attracts entries from well over one hundred schools across Canberra and district.

This year our school finalists were: Ava McKee, Sienna Freestone, Lola Reardon, Tijana Susic, Marianna Rositano, Zara Munoz, Thomas Fitzpatrick, Piper Freestone, Lydia Casey, Sara Venkat, Abagail McKune and Scarlett Sticpewich.

Special congratulations to Scarlett who was selected as the St Matthew’s representative in a closely contested school final. Scarlett will represent our school at the Regional Final at Hawker Primary on 15 July.

Parent Teacher Interviews

I am hoping that most parents have now had an opportunity to register for an interview at next week’s Parent Teacher meetings. Communication regarding these meetings was forwarded home via your family email address last Friday, bookings via the link close tomorrow afternoon.

In an effort to remain COVID compliant (and keep parents warm) we have decided to hold interviews in the teachers’ classrooms. Please enter via our Front Office and check in on the CNBR App. It is crucial that parents who have made back-to-back interviews for their children move quickly between classrooms in order to remain on time. The teacher’s name and class is displayed above the classroom door (see accompanying picture) to assist you in finding the classrooms.

May God bless you and your families

Graham Pollard

Principal