Students encouraged families to fly a 'Thank You Fireys' balloon from their letterbox, fence or business window on February 28, the last official day of summer in Australia, to let local fire fighters know just how much their dedication, hard work and tireless efforts in protecting lives, homes and communities throughout the year is appreciated.

The College created a special display in Gallery 304 to pay its respects to the local effort of CFA volunteers, while year sevens hung red balloons across the front of the school to spread the message of support and to promote awareness of the official Red Balloon Day on Saturday.

Students also passed on the balloons to St Mary's and Ararat 800 Primary School students to spread the message.

As part of Red Balloon Day, the College's VCAL group is also undertaking a project to create a book of reflections and stories of local people's experiences of bushfires.

Members of the community are invited to pass on their stories or volunteer to be interviewed by the VCAL students and photos will also be appreciated.

The objective for the class is to create a blog containing people's stories and then produce a book that will be shared with the local community.

Anyone who would like to be a part of the project should contact the Marian VCAL students at MarianVCAL@gmail.com.