Dear Parents and Carers

With just over two weeks of the school year left, our Year 6 students are experiencing one of the most exciting times of their lives – the transition from being a primary school student to being a high school student. Likewise, many of our families have children in preschool who are transitioning to Kindergarten. I think these students are taking to heart the words of Socrates: The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new. I know that our Year 6 students are ready to embrace this new adventure with a positive outlook and grateful hearts, and we’re hopeful they take this and learn from it as they experience transitions throughout their lives — big and small, planned and unplanned.

Some of the challenges of transitioning to a new school, or even transitioning to a new year level, include adapting to a new environment, making new friends and meeting new teachers. Our school understands that relationships are central to the success of any student's transition. To start this process, we’ll have a Meet the Teacher session on Wednesday of Week 10 from 2pm. Students in Years 1 - 6 will have a chance to meet their teacher, get to know each other, and get a little bit excited about what they’re going to achieve in 2023.

Catholic School Parents Australia has developed an excellent resource for parents and carers. This toolkit, 'Gearing Up for Parent Engagement in Student Learning', is designed to assist families make the transition into Primary and Secondary school a great experience for children and young people. The toolkit includes modules on transitions for both Primary and Secondary students. Parents and families are children’s first teachers and they continue to help their children to learn and thrive throughout the school years. When a family’s love and support is combined with the expert knowledge of teachers, it can have a significant and lasting impact.

Grandparents’ and Grandfriends’ Day Picnic 25 November
Grandparents’ and Grandfriends’ Day Picnic was a wonderful and joyful celebration of our beautiful community! We welcomed our families to picnic with us and enjoy the beautiful sunshine. Thank you to all our grandparents and grandfriends who donated books to our library on the day. Through your generosity, we have many new books to add to our collection.

Staff Development Day 16 December
A reminder that a pupil-free, staff development day has been set for Friday 16 December. This day will allow our staff to be involved in professional learning and planning to improve our curriculum delivery and our implementation of the Catalyst teaching and learning approach that will benefit all the students at St Matthew's in 2023. Students should not come to school on that day.

COVID-19 Smart Measures

NSW and ACT Health recently advised that they are starting to see a rise in COVID-19 transmissions within the community, with a peak of cases expected in early December. COVID-smart measures continue to be in place and are vital in allowing us to keep our school operational while prioritising student and staff wellbeing.

These measures include:

• staying home if unwell and/or showing any symptoms
• mask-wearing strongly encouraged, particularly when indoors and/or when physical distancing is not possible, and on public transport
• using rapid antigen tests (RATs) when showing symptoms or exposed to COVID-19
• encouraging all students, staff, and families to keep up-to-date with their vaccinations, including COVID-19 booster shots if eligible

We thank you for your cooperation and willingness to assist us with these measures.

May God bless all of our families this week.

Petra Cole
Principal (Acting)