Dear Parents and Carers,
Today we have started to celebrate the coming Easter Season with the Easter Bonnet Parade and drawing of our Easter Raffle. The children did an amazing job with their bonnets. Congratulations to those students who were winners today both in the parade and the raffle.
I would like to acknowledge the wonderful donations from the Heartland Support Services. You may recall that Heartland donated money and some prizes for our Christmas raffle last year. Jeff from Heartland, has again arranged a significant donation of items for our Easter raffle as well as the prizes for the Bonnet Parade. There were so many wonderful items that the P & F have put many away for the Christmas Raffle later this year. On your behalf I thank Jeff and his team at Heartland.
Our preparation for Easter continues tomorrow with our visit from Andrew Chinn. Andrew will be here all day working with the students in each year level. He will join us at our Non-Eucharistic Liturgy at 12.40pm and then finish with a whole school Holy Week Remembrance performance in the hall at 2.15pm. We will open the hall at 2.00pm for any parents wishing to join us.
Term 1 finishes tomorrow at 3.15pm. School returns on Monday April 15th.
NAPLAN
Congratulations and well done to our Year 3 and year 5 students who have completed the 2024 NAPLAN testing.
2025 Enrolments
Enrolments for 2025 are now open. Today I completed the second of our four scheduled school tours. We have had 12 interested families do a tour over the last 2 days. If you have a child due to start school next year please come in to the office to collect an enrolment pack. If you know of anyone who is planning on enrolling their child/ren at St. Matthew’s please share the following information regarding school tours.
Tours will be taking place on:
Tuesday April 16th and Wednesday April 17th at 9am - meet in the school office.
Parents' and Friends' Association
I would like to thank the members of the P & F who organised the raffle today. Corinna Makdesi, Marcia Conci and Nadia Greco are the only members of our P & F so far this year. We are still hoping for more members to join. We will notify you of when the next meeting is.
Over the past 2 years the P & F fundraising efforts have gone towards purchasing our new drinking taps and the outdoor furniture in the courtyard behind the junior building. Our goal for 2024 is to raise funds for the following:
- A sensory garden for the children to enjoy
- Pads and new netting for our soccer goals
- To replace the last of our old drinking taps outside the Year 4 entrance
In order to raise these funds the P & F have planned many activities, however, we may not be able to hold these activities if we do not have enough volunteers to help. Our next event will be the Mothers' Day Stall, to be held on Friday May 10th.
SOME FINAL REMINDERS FOR THIS TERM
Year 6 Camp
The Year 6 students will be attending their camp at Camp Weekaway from Monday April 15th (first day of Term 2) to Wednesday April 17th. I remind all Year 6 students and their parents to be ready for camp and to be at school on time on April 15th.
Family Holidays
I understand that there are times when families plan to take a holiday and that this often will occur during school terms. If you are planning a holiday that requires your child to miss school you will need to contact me in the first instance and then you are responsible for completing the absentee form on Audiri.
Child Safety
The safety of all students at St. Matthew’s is of paramount importance to me and the entire staff. It is for this reason that we are vigilant when on yard duty. We do not allow the students to speak to ANYONE through the fence or gates. I ask that you support the staff by not speaking to the children through the fence. If you need to get a message to your child please contact the office and Almoza or Natalie will make sure that they get the message.
We have recently had many issues with the children who play soccer. They are playing roughly and they have been too competitive, causing many disagreements and complaints. The teachers have been working with the children to ensure that everyone is getting along whilst playing, however, it is becoming increasingly difficult to keep up with all of the issues. Some teachers have chosen to ban their class from playing for a period of time.
Some Term 2 Information
To commemorate ANZAC Day we will have a service on Wednesday APRIL 24th at 3pm in the courtyard (outside the Year 3 and Year 4 classrooms) The gates will open at 2.55pm to allow parents to come in and join the students for the service.
As we finish this first term, I would like to congratulate the students and staff on a very successful term. We have accomplished a lot and worked well together.
I wish all families and our wonderful staff a happy and holy Easter. May the spirit of the risen Lord be with you all through the holiday period. I look forward to seeing you all again on Monday April 15th.
Take care,
Rachael
