Dear families,

Next week we are having a day of celebration for Saint Mary of the Cross Mackillop. On Friday, we will be beginning with a whole school Mass at 11:30am followed by assembly at 12:30pm. Following this we will have a BBQ lunch together at 1pm. This is a fundraising event for Catholic Mission. Catholic Mission is an organisation that works around the world, giving help and hope for children and families in need https://www.catholicmission.org.au/. We invite families to all of these events throughout the day to come together and celebrate as a community. An order form for the BBQ was sent home on Thursday, please return these to assist with catering numbers.

Last Thursday we had a very special visit and presentation from Bruce and Denise from the Daniel Morcombe Foundation. We were extremely lucky to have this visit to our school and it connected very well to our own child safe culture at St Mary’s. Bruce and Denise had very simple and practical messages to help keep children safe and I encourage you to look on their website and discuss these messages with your children. https://danielmorcombe.com.au/keeping-kids-safe-resources/   

On Friday 9th of September at 7pm our Parents and Friends Committee is holding our Saint Mary's Soirée. This is a major fundraising event for our school and I encourage all parents, if you can, to purchase tickets and come along and enjoy an evening of celebrating and fundraising. All funds raised by our P&F team go toward purchasing important items for our school that would not be possible without their help. https://www.trybooking.com/events/landing?eid=945567& 

I hope that all our families enjoy a safe and happy weekend with some sunshine.

Kind regards,

Julian Blackford 

19th August ~ Skylar Kaur

Congratulations to Skylar who challenged herself to get out of her comfort zone and try something new.  Skylar tried rock climbing.  She was extremely brave doing something new and very fearless trying an extreme sport.  Skylar showed when you summon all your courage you can achieve things which may surprise you.  This can open a whole new world for you.

Well done Skylar!!

26th August ~ Willow Parer

Congratulations to Willow who has shown great determination and resilience when learning to ride her bike with no training wheels.  Even though Willow was scared to try and ride her bike with no training wheels, she was brave and kept practising.  Willow has shown how hard work and persistance can be rewarded.  Her grit and determination to not give up are great qualities for anyone to have.

Well done Willow!!

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.

Students, teachers and parents welcomed child safety ambassadors Bruce and Denise Morcombe last Thursday.  Bruce and Denise, from the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, delivered a presentation on how children can keep themselves safe, both in the real wold and online.

Everyone learned about the importance of having a safety network, creating a "Family Password", and listening to body clues - feelings of nervousness or discomfort - when confronted with dangerous situations.

Students were also taught how to respond to people who made them feel unsafe, by standing firm and saying "No! My body belongs to me!"

The three key messages from the presentation were Recognise, React and Report.

To learn more about the Daniel Morcombe Foundation, please visit https://danielmorcombe.com.au/keeping-kids-safe-resources/ 

What a fantastic turn out for Book Week Dress Up on Monday.  It was great to see family and friends support the children and stay for the parade.  The costumes were all fantastic!

Today grade 1/2 walked to the Maffra Library to be audience members for a 30 minute production to celebrate Book Week.  Local performers Steve Dwyer and Meleesa Eldred incorporated shortlisted titles from Book week into their performance.

Today saw 33 students compete at Sale in the Heyfield and District Athletics carnival.  Mrs Stobie is very proud of all students efforts and behaviour!  More details will follow in the next newsletter.  Well done to all students.  Special thanks to Kelly Murphy, Lauren Gately and Connie Dwyer for helping with events. Thank you to all parents for their assistance and encouragement.

Thank you to everyone who supported our Street Stall today.  We were fortunate with the sun shining & thankful for the local community supporting our school.  Today's Street Stall and raffle raised $720.  Thank you to our wonderful P&F committee for enabling today to happen.

We are in need of butter containers for the art room!!  Could you please send any empty butter containers to the art room.  Thank you.

TERM 3 - Monday 11th July - Friday 16th September (2:20pm finish)

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