Self control is an essential that we all need to learn if we are ever going to be happy.

There was a little boy (or it could have been a little girl) who had a bad temper and flew off the handle whenever he didn’t get his own way. His sister was scared of him. His parents worried that whatever they did they would set him off. His friends started to avoid him.

 One day, his father gave him a bag of nails and a hammer and took him out to the wooden fence. He said, “Every time you lose your temper, you have to hammer a nail into the fence.” On the first day, he hammered 40 nails! But, gradually, the number of nails he hammered began to dwindle. He was beginning to discover it was easier to hold his temper than to drive those nails into the hard wood.

 One day, he didn’t lose his temper at all. He proudly told his dad who suggested that from now on, every day he held his temper he should pull out one of the nails.  

When the last nail was gone he showed his dad who said, “You have done well but look at the holes in the fence. The fence will always be damaged. When you say and do things in anger, they leave a mark. You can say something cruel and apologise but the scar will remain, just like these nail holes. Even when you say you are sorry, the wound stays.”

What is the best way to deal with our anger? Sometimes, anger is a good thing and drives us to take action against injustice, unfairness and bullying. We can say to ourselves, “I feel angry about this and I am going to do something positive to help stop it.” That’s good anger.

But anger is often aggressive and nasty, hurting other people by hitting them, putting them down or being mean. That is the kind of anger that leaves lasting scars. That kind of anger also hurts the person who feels it.

What makes you angry? What do you do about it? Do you lash out? Do you let your anger simmer? We all need to learn to recognise our anger and to use it to make the world a fairer, nicer, better place. And to make ourselves fairer, nicer, better people.

 As Nelson Mandela said: "No one is born hating another person because of the colour of their skin or their background or their religion. People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love. For love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

A team from the Archdiocesan pastoral agency, CatholicLIFE, will be coming to McAuley on Monday evening 25th November from 6:00pm to 7:30pm to present the My Body, My Life puberty and personal development program to McAuley Yr 5 & 6 students and their parents.  

The topic of puberty is traditionally covered in the Year 5 and 6 school curriculum. This practice is now prescribed in the Australian Curriculum guidelines. As a Catholic school, we are committed to involving parents in this very important aspect of your child's development.

The program is pitched at a level appropriate for 10 - 12 year olds and consistent with a Catholic understanding of the dignity of every human person and the dignity of human sexuality.

Children must be accompanied to the evening session by their parent or guardian. Both or either parents are very welcome to attend, and it’s great if a parent of the same gender can be present as they have been through the changes themselves. Boys and girls will be separated for this presentation so if you have both a boy and a girl in this age group, a parent or guardian will need to be present with each child.

We look forward to seeing many of you on Monday 25th. 

McAuley’s Primary SRC have had a busy year in 2019. However, before they finish in their leadership role, they would like to repair and improve the quality of their cricket nets. The SRC have recognised that the nets are a wonderful asset to the playground, but they have identified some areas that need attention.

The nets need to have the wire fence repaired in some places so the ball doesn’t ‘escape’. They would also like to extend the concrete by about a metre to increase the length of the pitch.

The SRC are willing to have a raffle to raise funds for the materials, however they would like some supportive parents to take on the ‘Cricket Net Project’ so that their goal can be achieved. If you would like to support our very active and enthusiastic SRC could you contact the SRC coordinator, Miss Mason for more information.

Another successful Orientation day was held on Wednesday when the class of Kindergarten 2020 visited our school for their second taste of big school. Their third and final Orientation Day will be next Thursday 14th November. 

Year 7's will enjoy their second and final Orientation day this Friday 8th November on our Secondary Campus. 

What happens to water when poured into different surfaces??? Make sure you ask your child for the answer!

Year 8 have been enjoying growing and harvesting beautiful vegetables in Agriculture. This week, they cooked delicious cannelloni in Food Technology with their produce. 

Yummo - great job by Jake and Mack!

Kindergarten got into the Melbourne Cup spirit on Tuesday with the children all given a 'horse' to ride! Lucky Kayla Peacock was grinning from ear to ear after her convincing win!

A lovely visit to our senior friends this week! Year 1B brought lots of love to beautiful Blakeney Lodge residents.

We hope you enjoy our photo gallery. 

Congratulations Zoe, Flynn and Elizabeth on your great work last Term. The students received their Certificates at our Primary Assembly last Friday. Keep up the great effort!

The Songs for Sam Scholarship aims to encourage and inspire people to pursue an interest they are passionate about. The scholarship is worth up to $1000 and is focused on benefiting young people from our area who are aged 15-25 years.

Online applications for 2019 close at midnight on Wednesday 20th November. Applicants will require a written reference as part of their application & must show how they can give back to the community.

The committee have awarded the scholarship for a wide variety of interests over recent years - many of them being McAuley students:

2014 Jaimee McQuellin - to attend horse clinics to support her passion for Riding for Disabled

2015 Jack Bundy - to attend an electronic production course in Sydney

2016 Piper Duck - selected in the 2017 Australian Junior Country Basketball Cup

Zara Burgess Photography – business cards, timeline and profile design of social media accounts, a professional watermark and an exhibition of work.

2017 Zac Maher - talented at drawing, digital art and design - attended a holiday course

2018 Maddison Hibbert - talented classical guitarist - to assist in cost of travel to Wagga tuition, Dominic Erbacher - travelled to Peru to work with children in need - to assist with travel costs