This week we held the Annual General Meeting of our Parents & Friends Association. 

In the past, one of the major roles of school P&F Associations was to raise funds to support the needs of the school. In more recent times, with all of us becoming increasingly time poor, many P&F’s have moved away from a pure fundraising model by introducing a P&F levy. At St Matthews, this levy is itemised on your school fees as a voluntary annual contribution of $50.00. Applying this levy enables the small group of parents actively involved in our P&F to allocate funds specifically to areas that directly benefit your children. It also means that parents are not regularly asked to be involved in fundraising activities such as fetes and food stalls. 

The funds generated by the P&F levy can support student-led spending initiatives as well as the purchase of other items that improve student experiences at school. Each year we strive to find out what particular things students would like us to invest in that will make their life at school a little better and then we work with the P&F committee to fund those initiatives. The levy also supports the purchase of important resources that fall outside of our annual school budget. Examples of resources that the P&F has funded in recent years include cool, filtered bubblers, additional seating for students, CO2 dragster equipment and much, much more. The levy also covers the cost of glue and tissues for primary students each year, so parents don’t have to worry about purchasing and sending those items to school.

Our Parents & Friends Association also does an amazing job of organising events designed to connect families to each other and to the school. This Sunday, for example, they have organised a P&F Family Picnic Day at Lazy Oak. Details about this event have been emailed to families. It will be a wonderful opportunity for families to connect with one another in a relaxed, enjoyable environment. Even if you can just come along for a short time, it would be great to see you there. 

The following parents have been elected to the 2023 P&F Executive Committee at this weeks AGM:

President - Jacqueline Cooke

Vice President - Jillian Lee

Secretary - Bec Quilty

Treasurer - Annette Halpin

Executive Committee -

• Bek George
• Jennifer Walter
• Adelle Minahan
• Mick Dunn

If you would like any more information about the great work being done by our Parents & Friends Association, I am sure any of these wonderful people would be happy to speak with you.

God bless.

Angela Myles

Executive Principal 

Gulgong Eisteddfod

St Matthews will this year be participating in the The 42nd Gulgong Prince of Wales Eisteddfod in the Verse Speaking section. The dates for our competition will be during Week 5 of Term 2, 25th & 26th May. As a dress rehearsal, all classes involved will present at an Infants or Primary assembly the week prior, and at this time all families will be invited to attend. We hope this supports those families unable to attend in Gulgong. If any parents would like their child not to participate in the Gulgong Eisteddfod, please inform the office or speak with your child’s class teacher. The Eisteddfod is a great experience for our students and we hope to have all students represent St Matthews with pride and enthusiasm.

Parent Teacher Interviews

Parent Teacher Interviews for Infants and Primary students will be conducted from Tuesday 28th to Thursday 30th March (Week 9). These interviews provide an opportunity to discuss your child’s progress with their teacher and to set goals for the remainder of the year. In Years 3-6 we request that the student attends the interview with their parents/guardians if possible

Bookings can be made via the Compass Portal from Monday 20th March at 9.00am. The portal will close at 9.00pm on Sunday 26th March. Each interview is 12 minutes in duration and will take place in your child’s classroom.

Buddy Reading

This week our students started the day on Wednesday with our Buddy program. This has previously been successful and a tradition we’ve supported for a number of years by joining our Infants, Primary and Secondary students together in small groups for a 20 minute wellbeing activity that can be anything from reading together or creating friendship bracelets. With our Secondary students now unavailable, we intend to continue this activity each Week 7 with a focus on building relationships across the school and supporting a positive community culture.

Justin Yeo

Head of Campus - Primary

Project Compassion  

Every summer seems to get a little longer and a little hotter. We have all become conscious of issues surrounding water. Either there seems to be too much, as during last year’s summer floods or when the sea levels rise in the Pacific. Other times, there seems to be too little water as when the rivers in our country run low or members of God’s family around the world experience drought. Caritas Australia, through Project Compassion, has been responding to the dire needs of places such as Ethiopia and Somalia where a cruel drought, compounded by a shortage of grain from Ukraine, has led to dire consequences. Today’s readings may well cause us to reflect on the current state of God’s creation. 

We pray that all people will have just access to the necessities of life, especially water. May we, in our support for Project Compassion this Lent, do all we can to become a source of hope for those who thirst. Amen.

Priscilla's story | Project Compassion 2023

https://fundraise.projectcompassion.org.au/st-matthews 

Altar Serving has started in our Parish as of last week. Thank you to all those who have offered their assistance in this very important ministry. 

If your child is in Year 4 and above and would like to join, please ask them to speak with me at school. 

Romero Feast Day: Friday 24th March 

A reminder that the Romero Feast Day will be coming up next Friday the 24th March.  More information will be shared with the Romero House Students.  

Ross McKeown

Leader of Mission

Parents and Caregivers Online Seminar

Primary and Infants Cross Country

This week, Primary and Infants students completed their cross country races. The day started with Years 3 - 6 running their races with some impressive determination and lots of team spirit. The morning concluded as usual with the the Primary students cheering on Kindergarten, Year 1 and Year 2 as they ran their races. It was great to see the students supporting and cheering each other on. Well done to all the students on giving it their best and congratulations to those students who have qualified to run at the Diocesan Cross Country carnival in Coolah.

Diocesan Winter Sports Trials

Last week, a number of students took part in the Diocesan Winter Sports Trials for Netball, Soccer and Rugby League. Well done to all the students on representing St Matthews with pride and putting in their very best effort. Particular congratulations to the following students who were selected to represent the Diocese at the Polding Trials in Tamworth next month.

Soccer: Raffaele, Arthur, Marcus, Josh and Ollie

Under 11's Rugby League: Angus and Ryder

Under 12's Rugby League: Diezel and Bill

Primary Diocesan Swimming

Last Wednesday, a number of dedicated St Matthews swimmers participated in the Bathurst Diocesan Carnival. Blessed with beautiful weather, the day was an exciting and successful one with eleven of the St Matthews team progressing through to the Polding Championship.

We congratulate and wish the best of luck to the following students; Jock, Ruben, Diezel, Marni, Harrison, William, Artie, Angus, Lucas, Gus and Jameson who will be competing at Homebush on the 30th of March.

And a special congratulations to Angus on being awarded Junior Boys Age Champion!

Adam Coughlan

Primary Sport Coordinator

In Visual Arts, Year 2 students have been learning about portraiture and the diverse ways to capture the personality and story of the sitter (the person having their portrait painted). The Young Archie Competition held by the Art Gallery of NSW provided inspiration for this focus, with all students creating a portrait of someone who is special to them. Exploration of portraiture early this term included religious icons, past winning entries of the Young Archie competition and a visit to the Mudgee Arts Precinct. Students had the opportunity to view the portraiture of local artists and their subjects. Students undertook a gallery walk and were able to explore the mediums used, alongside the varied art forms. They experimented with different techniques used to draw personal features, in a drawing workshop led by Andrew from MAP.

The process of art creation has been enjoyed by the students and teachers.

Last week, the artwork of sixteen students was selected by a guest judge to be entered in the 2023 Young Archie Competition.

Congratulations to the following students: Blake Skinner, Josie McLean, Amelia Minahan, Addison Organ, Lincoln Croake, Indie Fitzgerald, Benjamin O’Brien, Connor O’Reilly, Thomas Witheriff, Cameron Raines, Frank O’Neill-Nakata, Elkie Bartlett, Archer Ridsdale, Imogen Newbigging, Amelia-Rose Prasad and Alfie Lee.

Alex, William, Axel, Mac, Mae and Billie with their portraits.

Kate Harris

Infants Coordinator

This term, Year 4 have been learning about landscapes and rainforests with a focus on the Blue Mountains. On Friday, we set off to Scenic World where we rode on the Skyway across the Jamieson Valley and took a train ride on the world’s steepest railway in the world. The boardwalk took us through the rainforest where we learnt more about the native flora and fauna.

Year 4 Teachers

Beginning this week, students from Year 3-6 will have the opportunity to become part of the St Matthews Creative Arts Club in 2023. This will be held each Wednesday from 8:30am to 9:00am in the Music room. Students will be asked to commit to the group and rehearse for school and special event performances. The focus for Semester 1 will be on PERCUSSION which will change to DRAMA for Semester 2. Students who are able to commit to the club and be at school for an 8:30am start, will need to meet me outside the music room each Wednesday.

Mr John Freebody

Club Coordinator

Flexischools

Flexischools is the preferred method to order from the canteens at both Primary and Secondary.

Remember all orders need to be placed before 9.00am. If you have any issues when ordering, please call the Parent Help Line Number - 1300 361 769 - 8am - Noon daily. Alternatively, any Canteen queries should be put through the school office 6372 1742. Calls and messages to the canteen mobile will not be responded to.

The Primary Canteen is excited to be offering Birthday Buckets and Classroom Cupcakes, available for order via the Flexischools app. Please note these items must be ordered a week in advance.

Last week, Year 6 student Kalahni helped out in the canteen at Break 2. He was not rostered to help, but gave up his lunch break to assist. 

Kalahni comes every day and asks if he can help. He is always polite and has such a positive and happy attitude.

Kalahni was very excited to assist with preparing our much loved choc chip cookies for baking in the oven for Friday's lunch orders. Thank you, Kalahni!

The uniform shop is open:

Tuesday: 8.30am - 4.30pm
Thursday: 8.30am - 4.30pm