A warm welcome to our parents, students and staff at St Matthew’s Primary School for 2024. A special acknowledgement to our Kinder class and new families to our school this year. 

At St Matthew’s, we aim to nurture the growth of our students’ minds and hearts. We are able to do this by modelling our actions from Jesus, which aligns with our school motto of ‘Listen, Learn and Lead’. We focus on these values through our rules, expectations and culture. 

The Archbishop declared the liturgical year to be the year of the Holy Spirit, allowing us to embrace our connection with God through His spirit. In line with this, our theme at school this year will be ‘Encountering the Power of the Holy Spirit’. We will explore what the Holy Spirit is and how we can use the Spirit to enhance our lives.

The chosen scripture for our theme comes from Acts 1:8; ‘When the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power’. Throughout the bible, there are references to this power, which comes in the form of gifts to enrich our lives and help us to follow Jesus’ mission. Each term, we will focus on a different gift: Understanding, Wisdom, Right Judgement, and Courage. 

Our Welcome Back Prayer Celebration will be held tomorrow, 9 February, at 9.00 am and will begin the exploration of the gift of understanding. We hope you can join us. 

We would also like to share how the Holy Spirit has touched our students' lives. Over the holidays, one of our Year 3 students celebrated his Baptism in his family's country Parish. We wish him and his family all the best on his new spiritual journey.

I am looking forward to the year ahead with the opportunity to meet and connect with our wonderful community here at St Matthew’s.