Dear Parents and Guardians,

We have had a very exciting and busy start to the term with lots of great things happening in our school community. 

We hosted an incursion which was run by engineering students from University of Melbourne where students learnt all about clean water and filtration and experimented with different materials to create their own water filtration system. All students were engaged throughout this exciting learning experience. 

For the last two weeks we had AFL Victoria running football clinics for our students. The coaches from AFL Victoria did a fantastic job teaching new skills through fun and interesting lessons and activities. Each time I observed the lessons, all I saw were smiles on students' faces and everyone joining in.

We have been very lucky to have Denis Huffer assisting Bec Stobie during PE lessons for the last three weeks. Denis is an expert in teaching athletics and brings many years experience of high quality athletics training to our school. Denis has been helping Bec teach a range of athletics sports and skills.

As you are hopefully aware that St Mary’s is a Child Safe School, meaning that our whole community works together to prioritise the safety of our children. There has recently been a change to the Child Safe Standards that help us to keep children safe in our school. We are in the process of updating our school procedures and policies to match these new standards and these will be reflected on our school website and throughout our school. If you have any questions about these new standards or anything to do with child safety please don’t hesitate to contact me.

We keep all those families and staff that are affected by illness at the moment in our prayers. It has been a very difficult time for a lot of families and staff and we hope that with a little more sunshine and warmth comes a break from these continued illnesses.

Kind regards,

Julian Blackford

22nd July ~ Indyanna Hunt

Congratulations to Indyanna who competed at the Sale Eisteddfod in April this year.  Indy won 1st place for Song and Dance trio singing 'Name in Lights' and 2nd place for her Character Solo.  She also won 6 first places for all the Troupe dances with Leaps & Bounds & under troupe section.

Indyanna also competed in the East Gippsland Performing Arts Eisteddfod and the Morwell Festival of Dance during the school holidays.  Indy competed against children's dance schools across the Gippsland and Cardinia Shires.  Indyanna won two 3rd places for Hiphop Solo and honourable mention for Contemporary Solos.  She also won 1st and 2nd places for her Trio Song and Dance and Character entries, as well as mulitiple places for all her toupe dances.

Indy has demonstrated how hard work and practice can pay off when you put your mind to something.  Indy's perserverance has enabled her to reach her potential and succeed at something she loves to do.

Well done Indyanna!!

29th July ~ Olivia Nicolaci

Congratulations to Olivia Nicolaci who has played in her first basketball grand final.  Olivia has perservered and not given up to improve herself and her skills.  She worked extremely hard with her team mates and they won.

She is also very proud of herself for finishing the cross country.  Olivia didn't think she would be able to but with determination and grit she dug deep to cross the finish line.

Olivia has a never give up attitude to always improve and get better at all challenges that come her way.  I'm sure Olivia will go a long way in life with this mind set.

Well done Olivia!!

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 saw the return of Hooptime!  Grade 5/6 participated in Sale against other local schools.  Our girls and boys both competed with enthusiasm and determination.  The day was a lot of fun with both teams representing our school in true spirit.

TERM 3 - Monday 11th July - Friday 16th September

TERM 4 - Monday 3rd October - Tuesday 20th December

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   9:30am

Thursday      9:30am

Friday          9:30am

Saturday      9:30am