St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

We look forward to providing our families with the opportunity to attend a webinar led by Carley McGauran.  Families will be familiar with Carley through her Prep transition sessions in 2023 & 2024.  This session is designed to support you in the most helpful way when your children experience big feelings.

In this session Carley will cover:

• How to be an emotional coach

• The brain and emotional development

• Understanding meltdowns and how to manage them

• Let’s talk anger, anxiety and sadness

• Tips for encouraging self regulation

• Recognising when big feelings may be a concern

Managing Big Feelings

Presenter: Carley McGauran

Date: Thursday 6th March 

Time: 7.30pm (75 min)

Register to attend live (and access replay)

bit.ly/bigfeelings2025

A big week for our Preps as they now commence Wednesdays at school.  We look forward to having our newest members of SJB with us on a full time basis.

It was wonderful to see our Prep families attend an informative evening with our Prep team. Our students' learning journey is most enriched when we have strong partnerships between home and school. It was wonderful to see our families value this partnership and attend the evening to gain an understanding of a typical day in Prep and the Prep curriculum.

It was terrific to see the wonderful sense of community amongst our Prep families. We thank Maxine (Isaac’s mum) and Rovie (Henri’s mum) for offering to be the contact people for a Prep family evening. We wish everyone a fabulous gathering.

Congratulations to all of our students who participated in Friday’s District Swimming Carnival. Our Year 3-6 students won the SSV Small School Division at Friday’s District Swimming. This is an outstanding achievement and one that our students should be incredibly proud of achieving.

Even more impressive was the feedback received from supervising staff from other schools who commented on the exceptional manners our students demonstrated. Congratulations everyone, we are incredibly proud of you.

Congratulations to our swimming squad that competed so well at the District swimming event last Friday at Belgrave Pool. 

We had 25 students in total representing our school. The students not only performed well in the pool, but were so well mannered that I had one of the parent timers tell me our students were so polite whether they won or lost their events. 

We had some special results including our 11 Girls (Jenna, Ruby, Amelia R and Olivia B) and 12/13 Girls relay team ( Sophia A, Scarlett, Thaaruni and Anneliese) winning through to the Division swimming events to be held at Croydon Pool on Monday March 17th. Individuals to qualify were Mya C (9/10 Free) and Jenna G (11 free and Butterfly), Henry W (12/13 Free and Backstroke).

Our students were so fantastic on the day and supportive of their teammates that we were awarded the best performed small school. 

John Mitchell

Last Tuesday I received the exciting news that I was going to Little Charlie's, the Kinder across the road from school, for a visit. Three of us: Benji,Sophia and I were chosen. I was pumped and I helped 4 to 5 kids plant a flower to take home and show their parents. Some kids were shy at first,while others had all the courage in the world. They were well mannered and one of the kids, Harry, said “Thank you for helping me plant a flower!” I was touched and amazed by his sentence! When we got back to school we had Icy poles! What a great experience we had at Little Charlies!

Teague

Last week we went to Nido’s childcare centre. In the morning Mr der Kinderen and Mrs Decorado collected us from our classrooms and we dragged the trolley carrying the pots and plants to Nido’s. When we arrived Mr der Kinderen read a story to the children called A Better Place about bugs finding the perfect home. After that, we took the kids outside where they put on their gloves, picked their colour pot and planted their flower into their pot, to take home to share with their family. 

Adam, Flynn & Izzy

Our Term 1 working bee will be on Saturday 15th March from 1:30pm - 4:00pm and we would love as many helpers as possible.  

Our focus for this day (weather permitting) will be the lower playground.

Below is a list of jobs that we hope to complete on the day.

• Spreading mulch in the playground
• Spreading new stones along the dry creek bed
• Oiling the wooden playground equipment
• Adding new sand to the sandpit
• Weeding the tyre/slide areas and along the creek bed
• Trimming some lower branches on the trees  (small branches)
• Removing the ivy off the fence near Selman Ave

Please look out for an Operoo notification that will be sent out tomorrow asking if you are able to assist us on the day.

This week we welcome Ms Karen Jebb, Principal of Emmaus College along with past students of St John the Baptist School to meet with our Year 4 and 5 students.  Our students will have the opportunity to gain an insight into secondary school from Karen and past students. This is a great way to support students in their transition to secondary school.

After a period of long service leave we look forward to welcoming our Tuckshop Co-ordinator Mrs Tracey Walker back to SJB at the commencement of Week 7.  The first tuckshop day for Term 1 is Wednesday 12th March.  Tracey will be seeking community members who are able to assist her in the tuckshop.  Should you wish to assist in the tuckshop please contact the office.

Welcome back Tracey. We are thrilled to have you back.

With Mothers Day soon approaching our P&F team are busy ordering some lovely gifts that will be available for purchase during our Mother’s Day Stall Day. In the past some parents have shared their talents and contributed gifts that are handmade. These gifts have always been fantastic to see and of high quality. 

We are putting the call out to the community if anyone would like to showcase their talents by contributing any handmade items such as toys, candles, chocolates, jewellery, bath salts or any other little gift ideas.

We would love the chance to recognise the talents of our community whilst contributing to a wonderful day. If you are interested in contributing please email the office at

office@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au by Friday 14th March. Your details will then be passed on to the P & F Mother’s Day Stall team.

After the ongoing success of the SJB Dads and Kids camping weekend each year our terrific P & F have secured a SJB family weekend at Warburton Holiday Park. Warburton Holiday Park provides a variety of camping options to suit all families. Please see the flyer for details for the family weekend.  When booking, families are asked to mention they are part of the SJB Family Weekend. This will assist the park team with an understanding of the size of the group to expect. Families can check out the Warburton Holiday Park at: https://warburtonholidaypark.com.au/ 

Bookings can be made at: https://bookings12.rmscloud.com/Search/Index/8802/1/?Y=1

We wish all participating families a wonderful weekend away.

Today, our school community came together to take part in School's Clean Up Australia Day, showing our commitment to caring for our environment. Students and staff worked hard to clean up our school grounds and surrounding areas, learning the importance of reducing waste and protecting nature.

A huge thank you to all students for participating—your efforts make a real difference! Let’s continue to keep our school and community clean, green, and beautiful. 

We cannot emphasise strongly enough for families to please respect that the Parish Car Park on Forest Road is not a drop off and pick up zone for school families. We are most concerned about the safety of our community after recent near misses where cars have not only used the car park but have also driven in quite quickly. For the safety of all in our community please use Kiss & Go or park on either Forest Road or Selman Avenue and walk into school.

Students who are walking or riding are asked to walk along the Church entry side of the Church building rather than through the Parish car park to ensure the safety of all.

In the coming weeks our Year 3 and Year 5 students will participate in the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) 

The NAPLAN assessment tasks consist of the following assessment tasks:

• Reading

• Writing

• Conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation)

• Numeracy

NAPLAN is one aspect of St John the Baptist’s assessment and data collection used to monitor student progress and growth.  NAPLAN data is used in conjunction with school based data, student work samples and anecdotal records. All of this information is reflected upon in the planning of learning and teaching, as well as assessment and reporting.

We ask families to support our students as they prepare to undertake NAPLAN by encouraging them to give it their best.  This is all we ask of any of our students when entering all tasks.

Wishing all our students and families a wonderful week.

Kelli Johnston

March

4th - Shrove Tuesday

5th - 9 :15am Ash Wednesday Mass - Lent Begins

6th - Accelerate Action International Women's Day Breakfast @ Mater Christi

6th - Emmaus College Principal visit to SJB - Year 4 & 5 students

6th - Open Day No. 1

7th - School Closure Day

10th - Labour Day - School Closed

12th - Open Day No. 2

12th - Tuck shop commences for 2025

12th - NAPLAN commences

12th - Division Swimming

15th - Working Bee 1.30-4.00pm - Amended Date

17th - P & F Meeting -  SJB Staffroom at 7pm

21st - Regional Swimming

21st - St Patrick’s Day  Schools Mass

24th - SJB Athletics Day

25th - Open Day No. 3

26th - Sacrament of Reconciliation - 5.00pm

26th - School Advisory Council Meeting at 7.00pm

April

3rd - SJB School Photos

4th - Holy Week Prayer Services

4th - Term 1 concludes at 2.00pm

Canteen orders can be placed via http://www.flexischools.com.au

Orders must be placed no later than 7.30am on the Wednesday or Friday.