Dear families,

Today, we have the special opportunity to celebrate World Teachers’ Day, a moment dedicated to honouring the incredible work our educators do every day. I want to take this chance to express my heartfelt gratitude for our dedicated teachers at St Mary’s.

Our teachers are not just instructors; they are mentors, role models, and guides who inspire our students to reach their full potential. Their commitment to fostering a love of learning, encouraging curiosity, and nurturing the unique gifts of each child is truly remarkable. They go above and beyond, creating engaging lessons and providing support that helps our students thrive both academically and personally.

As Pope Francis beautifully said, “Teaching is a work of heart.” This sentiment embodies the essence of our educators who pour their hearts into every lesson and interaction.

As we celebrate World Teachers’ Day, I encourage you to take a moment to thank and appreciate the teachers in our community. A simple note, a kind word, or a small gesture can mean so much to those who dedicate themselves to the education and well-being of our children.

Please enjoy 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 weekly 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.

18/10/2024

Patrick Butcher

Freddie Moyle

Frankie Forsyth

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.

Emotional literacy

Working on our emotional literacy gives us opportunities to develop our ability to understand and express different emotions. When we improve our emotional literacy, we can work towards recognising our own feelings and our ability to manage them. This allows us to cope with different life situations, such as managing conflict, making friends, coping in difficult situations, and being resilient when dealing with change.

Whole Family Activity:

Feelings Charades

• Gather together as a family, this might be around the dinner table, lounge room, or around the fire outside.
• Take turns to act out a feeling or emotion. Use your face and body language to act this out, For example: Make an angry face and stamp your feet or
• Other family members need to guess the feeling/emotion.
• After someone has guessed the feeling/emotion, have family members discuss a time they have felt this way before and why. If it was a negative emotion, how did they overcome it?

Family Habit Builder:

Around the dinner table, ask everyone to share a feeling they felt during that day. Discuss how they dealt with that feeling and then discuss and share strategies you could use when faced with particular feelings.

For mental health resources and support information, visit The Resilience Project’s Support Page.

If you have any questions regarding the program please reach out.

Thanks

Charmaine 

Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader

St. Mary's Maffra 

TERM 3

OCTOBER

NOVEMBER

DECEMBER

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

TERM 4

7th October - 18th 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: (during Winter presbytery)

Wednesday to Saturday  9:30am

The Maffra Fire Brigade are seeking juniors aged between 11-16 for this upcoming running season. This is the competition side of the brigade, but is also a lot of fun. The kids will get to learn new skills that can later be converted into fire fighting skills, if they wish to volunteer. It’s a good opportunity to meet new friends from around Victoria at local competitions, while also keeping fit and competing against other towns.

Trainings are free and will be run on Mondays and Thursdays from 4pm to 5:30pm. There may be a small fee for state and interstate competitions. Trainings will be held @ Boisdale Street near Maffra High School.

Training will kickstart on Monday the 28th October.

If you’re interested in finding out more information or wish to bring the kids along, please call or text Brent on 0476 192 825, or email bm.mckenzie28@gmail.com

We look forward to hearing back from some keen people wanting to join.