Dear Parents,

As we approach the final days of the school year we have so much to be thankful for.  We have successfully moved back into school following remote learning in a new environment.  On Wednesday night we celebrated the graduation of our Grade Six students.  It was a wonderful night where the students together with their parents attended Mass and had dinner back at the school.  Thanks to the senior teachers who organised the evening and well done to each of the children.

Included in this newsletter is a full staffing list for 2021.  Next week all children moving into the following year's grade will come together to talk about 2021.  We are looking forward to hopefully having a full year at school in our new learning areas.  Our learning PODS have been designed for point of need teaching.  This is the most important responsibility of the teacher.  The teacher creates the conditions for success.  This includes how collaborative learning is effective with noise in the room, the use of furniture and space and the types of group work that stimulates the student.  This together with technology is easily linked and administered in flexible spacing.  This has been a learning process for all staff.  It has been measured and involved hours of learning over the last four years when the concept was introduced.  Teachers who have been employed at St Mary's in recent times have applied with the experience of working in such an environment.  One of the great benefits I have seen is the smile on the children's faces who have adjusted to the space and enjoy the freedom to move with their learning and have the assistance of more than teacher and teacher aide during the day.

We aspire for our children to work independently and have high self-esteem and positive social interactions.  Our staff is confident this will be evident within our building refurbishment.  To gauge the feelings of the children I encourage parents to talk about the experiences thus far at home.  I think you will find the children talking positively about the spaces. 

Next week we will take the opportunity to say goodbye to the Grade Six children as well as three families where children are moving to other schools.  We also give thanks and good luck to Kate Donald who moves to Catholic College Sale in a full time capacity.

Have a great weekend.

Jason.

Staffing 2020:

Principal:  Jason Slattery

Senior Leadership Positions

Deputy Principal/Curriculum Co-Ordinator:  Liz Coleman

Religious Education Leader:  Dianne Austin

Curriculum/Learning: Tara Battista

Administration:  Kylie Bennett, Sacha Hennig

Art Teacher:  Ness Power

LOTE (Japanese) Teacher:  Jess Uldrich

Integration/Teacher Aides: Kathryn Bennett, Kris Bradley, Linda Allman, Sacha Hennig, Tracy Christensen, Shona Osborn, Lindie Anderson and Gerard Bennett.

Library Assistant:  Jenny Robson

Graduation 2020

Our Grade 6 children together with family and staff had a memorable evening with Mass and dinner on Wednesday.  This year the families ventured back to school for an el fresco dining experience complete with a food truck.  It was a lovely, relaxed occasion for the Year 6 families to come together to celebrate the end of their primary schooling.

We wish them well next year in secondary school and also thank Mrs Austin, Mrs Stobie and Mrs Donald for the preparation and effort they displayed on a most successful night.

Thank you to all our leaving families:

Michelle and Peter Boulton

Melissa and Wayne Felmingham

Heather and David Ross

Tracey and Leigh Tappenden

Bree and Adrian Burgiel

Tania and Mark Coleman

Mel and Andrew Dunsmuir

Fay and Luke Goldsmith

Nicole and Todd Proud

Leonie and Chris Regan

Michelle and Jeremy Dyer

Shae and Martin Garoni

Mel and Cameron Smyth

Congratulations to our 2020 Award Winners:

St Mary of the Cross MacKillop Citizenship Award - Ben Dunsmuir

Catholic Women's League Award - Jacob Munro

Sportsmanship Award - Asher Higgins

Jenny Smart Arts Award - Francis Dwyer

To celebrate the end of year, St Mary's will have a Christmas themed casual day on our last day of school - Wednesday 16th December. You could wear red or green. You could wear a Christmas hat or antlers! Please bring a gold coin for donation.  All monies donated will go to 'A Better Life For Foster Kids'.

As many schools were unable to attend swimming lessons this year due to covid, we feel this would be a wonderful opportunity for our whole community. We would love to see a good turn out this year and help our children to learn to stay safe around water.

TERM 1 - Thursday  28th January - Thursday 1st April

(students return Monday 1st February)

TERM 2 - Monday 19th April - Friday 25th June

TERM 3 - Monday 12th July - Friday 17th September

TERM 4 - Monday 4th October - Friday 17th December

St Mary's School takes pride in its official uniform.  It has been established over many years and is recognised as an economical and practical code of dress.  Parents are required that the full uniform is worn at all times. 

The school uniform identifies students as members of the St. Mary's School Community.  The children are encouraged to wear their uniform with pride and behave in a manner, which reflects creditably on themselves, their families and their school.

Stobies Land and Surf, Maffra, will be stocking St Mary's uniform.  They have asked for you to visit them as soon as you are able so they can ensure your order will arrive before the 2021 school year.  

Please remember St Mary's has a 'No Hat - No Play' policy.  All children must wear hats in term 1 and 4.  If they do not have a hat they will have to spend recess or lunchtime under the shade of the gazebo.  When children return to school in 2021, please ensure they bring their hats.

Low relief paper sculpture. Students created these after viewing a paper sculpture artist, Jen Stark.

My Story Works.  These are a personal story they choose to create after looking at indigenous art and how symbols can represent happenings, places and people.

Optical Art.  The intention for this piece was to create an optical illusion after viewing the Op Artist Bridget Riley.

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   12:00pm

WEEKDAY MASSES

Heyfield:

Tuesday      9:30am

Maffra:

Wednesday   9:30am

Thursday      9:30am

Friday          9:30am

Dear Maffra and Heyfield-Cowwarr parishioners, greetings!
A few matters:
1. I'm in no doubt that by now you would have heard the news of
Fr. Young's peaceful death on 7 December at mid-afternoon.
Funeral arrangements have been
made. Requiem Mass will be
celebrated at 11:00am on
Monday 14 December at St.
Mary's Church, Maffra by our
Bishop Greg Bennet and
concelebrated by several clergy
of our diocese and Fr. Young’s
classmates and friends from the
Archdiocese of Melbourne.
Family and friends of Fr. Young
will be present at the requiem
Mass.
I am sure that all of you would
love to go to his requiem Mass. Due
to the ongoing restrictions still in place on numbers permitted in
the church, I am offering you an opportunity to farewell Fr. Young
at a Vigil Mass to be celebrated at St. Mary's on Sunday 13
December at 6:00pm. The first 90 people will go in and the rest
may stay outdoors. All are required to register. Thanks.
2. From this Sunday, we will move to QR code registration. All
you have to do is to scan the QR code and provide your first name
and phone number. A person with a smartphone may do the same
for another without a smart phone. If you do not have a
smartphone, we shall keep your details as we have been doing -
registering your details on a paper.
In order to avail the 2sqaure meter per person rule, we must
implement electronic record keeping, such as a QR code. It has
been put in place and it will be explained to you at the weekend
Mass.

School Photos are still online and available to order for 2020

On photo day all students received a flyer which includes a code unique to them.

You will require this 2020 code to register online and view your photos.

If you registered earlier this year, you will be able to log back into your account to view your images.

If you have not yet registered, please go to order.arphotos.com.au and enter your unique code to complete your order.

If you have misplaced your registration code or are unsure if you have registered, please contact the Arthur Reed Photos customer service team directly on 5243 4390 or customerservice@arphotos.com.au

Please note that you will need to register online with your 2020 photo code to gain access to this year’s images.

All photo packages are currently being sent home in, so please ensure that you enter the correct details and nominated shipping address upon checkout.

If you require any assistance ordering your photos, please contact Arthur Reed Photos directly on 5243 4390 or email customerservice@arphotos.com.au