Dear families,

Today some of our students in Grade 3 celebrated the Sacrament of Reconciliation. We are thrilled to extend our congratulations to these students, this significant milestone marks a moment of spiritual growth and renewal in their lives.

Reconciliation, often referred to as confession, is an essential sacrament in the Catholic Church. It provides Catholics with the opportunity to reflect on their actions, seek forgiveness for their shortcomings, and restore their relationship with God. This sacrament emphasises the importance of self-examination, accountability, and the grace of forgiveness, helping individuals to grow in their faith and character.

Although there were some children in Grade 3 that celebrated Reconciliation, all students in Grade 3-4 learn about the Sacrament throughout the time of preparation. As part of Religious Education lessons students learn the importance of saying sorry for when you have made mistakes and that we can do better in the future. Students also learn the power of forgiveness and how it opens us up to build stronger relationships.

I would also like to take a moment to express our gratitude to the dedicated teachers and Mrs. Burgiel for their commitment and hard work in preparing the children for this important milestone. Your guidance and support have played a pivotal role in helping these students understand the significance of Reconciliation and preparing them for today to feel confident and comfortable.

Please have a great weekend with your families.

Kind regards,

Julian

Congratulations and well done to all students who were nominated this fortnight for their wonderful choices in the classroom or on the playground.  This is a fortnightly award and all nominted children should be very proud of themselves.  

Congratulations to the following students who were drawn out of a box of nominees for this fortnights Positive Behaviour Awards.  St Mary's have introduced this reward system to acknowledge the wonderful behaviour of students who regonise our school values of Respect, Act and Learn.

21/2/2025

Marlow Elston

Thomas Daly

Owen Crutchfield

To celebrate student's achievements, we will be presenting children with Star Of The Week awards.  This is a self nominated award of something a student is proud of.  It could be something academic, sports related, or a personal achievement. Have you learnt to ride a bike?  Won 1st place in a dance competition?  Read a book by yourself?  Anything that makes you proud!

Forms can be found on the link below.

Today, thirteen of our Grade 3 students were involved in the Sacrament of Reconciliation. The students have been involved in some workshops leading up to this sacrament with Mrs Burgiel and their parents, where they have been discussing what it means to undertake sacraments in the church, what reconciliation means, and how it feels to forgive and be forgiven.  The students have all participated in this process with respectful and thoughtful attitudes and we congratulate them all on their completion of this sacrament.

Well done to Marnie Bagguley, Marlowe Elston, Ellie Wilkinson, Harper Herbstreit, Henry Horsford, Coco Matthews, Gorjie Murphy, Madelaine Nicolaci, Max Osborn, Willow Parer, Charlie Rawson, Oaklee Orchard, Amber Bagguley.  

On Wednesday 26^th and Thursday 27^th March the 3/4 students attended camp at Forest Lodge Camp. It was a fantastic few days where the students participated in many activities that challenged them, built team work skills, fostered friendships and saw the students have a lot of fun! They displayed excellent behaviour, and all the teachers were very impressed with the respectful, encouraging and helpful way the students displayed while on camp.

On Wednesday we drove up to Forest lodge camp near Yarram. When we got there we were greeted by the owners. Mel talked about the rules and how everything goes. After that we had our food then went outside to go to our activities in our groups.  We did the giant swing, flying fox, rope course, mud run and archery.

After dinner, we played some games and then went for a night walk when it got dark. After that, we watched a movie in our PJ’s and sleeping bags. The next morning we continued rotating through the activities before packing up and heading home. 

We had the best fun and came home dirty and tired!

Thanks to our teachers and helpers and the people who let us have such a great time!! 

By Lexi Lawless

A HUGE congratulations and thank you to all the volunteers that assisted over this term creating our winning float!

St Mary's won the 'Best School Float' and 'Best Overall Float' at this year's Mardi Gras. We couldn't have done it without the help of our wonderful and talented Parents and Friends committee.

The time, effort and dedication the committee put in designing, creating, decorating and bringing together the float was amazing and we are beyond thankful to all the families for their continued support - how lucky our school is to have such talented and generous families!

Special mention to Julia & Adam Vardy, Maggie & Beau Allman, Kirsten & Joe Teese, Kelly & Chris Murphy, Tanya & Daniel Murphy, Clarissa & Shaun Bates, Megan & Michael Roberts and Bec Stobie and their families who gave up numerous hours of time to help.

Also, a big thank you to T&S Lasergrading and Craig Hunt for giving up his time and driving us on the night.  To FOMO, for discounts on balloons and The Paint Rig for their donations of paint - these things don't happen without the support of businesses and our community and we are grateful to everyone who helped get our float completed.

Lastly, a MASSIVE thank you and congratulations to all the St Mary's students and families.  What an awesome school community we have and we couldn't have asked for a better turn out of students to fill our wonderful float.  Your costumes added the last and important touches to our float and your enthusiasm, behaviour, cheering, waving and singing was so great.

- Bree Burgiel

Although last Friday was a little wet, it was great to see so many students take part in National Ride 2 School Day.

Well done to everyone who conquered the rain and still rode, walked or scooted to school.  It was great seeing so many smiling faces from students, siblings and parents!  Well done everyone.

School Photos 2025 – St Mary’s Primary School

Annual school photos will be taken at St Mary’s Primary School on Tuesday April 1st, 2025.  Students are required to wear full summer uniform (includes new or old uniform).

We welcome our school community to our annual Easter Bonnet Parade held on our basketball court.  This will be on the last day of term, Friday 4th April.  Our students will parade around the court and show off creations they have made at home.  Please note, students do not make their bonnets at school.

TERM 1

APRIL

TERM 1

APRIL

MAY

JUNE

JULY

**  Please go to our school website for the full year of calendar dates.

WEEKEND MASSES

Heyfield:

Saturday    6:00pm

Maffra:

Sunday    9:00am 

Cowwarr:

1st and 3rd Sunday   11:00am

Newry:

2nd and 4th Sunday  11:00am

Dargo:

5th Sunday   12:00noon

WEEKDAY MASSES

Heyfield:

Tuesday      9:30am

Maffra:

Wednesday, Friday & Saturday  9:30am

Thursday     5:30pm