Dear Parents and Carers

We have had a good response to our two Open Days during the past week with many visitors taking tours of the school, led by our Year Six students.

We are now approaching the half way point of the Enrolment Period and as such I would like to remind our current families that it is important to submit your application before Friday 28^th May. I would be grateful if you could pass this message onto anyone who is considering enrolling their child into our 2022 cohort at St Matthew’s.

The enrolment application link is included for your convenience: https://cg.catholic.edu.au/parents/enrolment/

After School Collection

I would like to re-emphasize our after school collection procedures to ensure the safety of your children. It is crucial that you do not ask your child to meet you in the school or church car parks, these are busy areas with many moving vehicles and are not safe for children.

Can I suggest that our Drive Though Pick Up is a safe, relatively quick option which will allow your children to be fully supervised whilst they await collection. Many parents also choose to collect younger children from the main gate at the entrance to the Junior Playground.  Alternatively some parents ask their child to wait with the Drive Through children while they park and collect their children.

The collection of children has been a challenge at every school at which I have taught. The one common theme at each school was that it must be a safe environment for children. The alternative, and its consequences does not bear thinking about……

NAPLAN

After a one year COVID enforced lay off, NAPLAN testing for Years Three and Five resumed this week. Whilst I appreciate that NAPLAN receives mixed reviews in the mainstream media, from a school perspective the value of NAPLAN is that it is an opportunity to collect data on the progress of individual students as well as identifying areas of strength and weakness across our school. We find tracking the growth of children from Years Three to Five particularly valuable.

Thankyou

I would like to thank, our your behalf, the group of parents who spent Friday morning organising the Mother’s Day Gift Shop in our School Hall. This act of kindness is very much appreciated by our community especially our children who love selecting a gift for their mum.

May God bless you and your families

Graham Pollard

Principal