St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

On Friday the SJB staff engaged in a day of professional learning focused on the MACS Vision for Instruction and SJB school expectations.  

The day focused on the MACS Vision for Instruction with emphasis on How Students Learn, the model of Cognition and the Implications for Instruction.  When revisiting the SJB school expectations staff reflected on routines and the explicit teaching of routines to set students up for success. The reflection of the SJB school expectations and routines was further enhanced by reflecting on the ACER student wellbeing data from SJB students in Years 3-6.

We thank Mrs Ursula DeCorrado for planning and preparing a most professional and engaging day of learning for the staff.  SJB is most fortunate to have Ursula’s professional expertise leading and guiding our staff.

At St John the Baptist we strongly value our partnerships with our families and the importance of open communication.  To continue our strong partnerships we have introduced an Optional Parent Teacher Interview in Term 3. The Optional Parent Teacher Interviews may be booked by families or requested by your child’s class teacher, should they feel that it is important to meet with you.

Interviews will be able to be booked through our new booking system - School Interviews site. 

Families are reminded that should you have a PSG for your child that this takes the place of the Parent/Teacher Interview.

We are seeking to employ a part-time cleaner here at St John the Baptist. The successful applicant must be well motivated to work for the Church and ideally possess a strong commitment to its practices and values.

 Tasks and Responsibility

·         Perform routine cleaning tasks: Clean Parish Church, office and Parish Community Centre by performing duties such as dusting and        vacuuming, cleaning toilet facilities.

·         Work within the Australian hygiene standards and Guidelines

·         Maintain professional & respectful working relationship with Parish Priest and Staff

·         Communicate well with Parish Priest and Staff

·         Working with Children Check – Mandatory, Police Check (new Check required) Valid Driver License

Please send your expression of interest to the attention of 

Fr Thomas, office@stjohnthebaptist.net.au

Exciting times ahead as our Year 3-6 students prepare to participate in the District Athletics Carnival to be held in Ringwood on Wednesday 4th September. Families are requested to respond to the Operoo form to assist with confirmation of numbers on the day.

A number of additional practice sessions have been scheduled by Mr Mitchell.  Students wishing to attend these are most welcome. We ask that you confirm your attendance through Operoo.

We look forward to a fun day of athletics competition. We know that our students will represent themselves and SJB school in an exemplary manner.  Good luck everyone!!

A significant and formal way in which we engage and gather data is through MACSSIS, the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys.

MACSSIS is a set of surveys that have been built specifically for Catholic schools in Melbourne by the Learning Services team at MACS, in partnership with researchers at Learning First and in wide consultation with principals in our schools.

MACSSIS surveys will be emailed home this week to 70 randomly selected families.  We ask that you look out for an email from ORIMA research which will contain the link to access the survey.  Your login details will be sent in a separate email from our school.

Our community’s opinions are critical to understanding how our school is performing – MACSSIS is a key data source so please take the time to complete the survey so that the thoughts and opinions of our whole school community can be used in guiding the ongoing work to improve our school.

If you would like more information, please contact the school.

To celebrate the end of another terrific term of learning and work we have scheduled Friday 20th September as Footy Day. The children will be able to wear their footy colours to school as part of the day of celebration, as long as they wear Yellow and Black!!  The students can come in their footy colours for the day and we look forward to a fun day of activities, as well as a special Footy Day lunch.  Further information will be shared in the near future.

This October our Year 3/4 students will attend an overnight camp at Phillip Island. The camp will be held early in Term 4 with the students departing on Thursday 24th October and returning on Friday 25th October. 

This is an exciting time for our students as they prepare for camp.

Families will soon receive an Operoo form to complete in preparation for camp.

We have made inquiries with Gilwell Park in regard to booking this year’s SJB Dads and Kids camping weekend.  At this stage we are proposing the weekend after the Melbourne Cup weekend - Saturday 9th & Sunday 10th November. We would love to have a few dads who would be happy to collaborate to co-ordinate the event for this year. It would be great to have some existing SJB Dads along with new SJB Dads to co-ordinate the event.

If you would be interested in assisting in the co-ordination of this year’s SJB Dad’s & Kids camping weekend please email either Ursula DeCorrado or myself at udecorrado@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au or kjohnston@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au 

A reminder that outstanding fees for the 2024 school year are due tomorrow Wednesday August 21st.

Pre-paid composite fees for 2025 will be distributed in Term 4.

In the event you are currently experiencing financial difficulties, please contact Kelli Johnston (kjohnston@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au or 9758 1013), to make a mutually convenient time to discuss options moving forward.

Should you need to contact the office via email for any reason, please use the following email address – office@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au. This email is monitored each day whereas the direct emails to Cynthia and Andi may only be checked on the part-time days they work.

https://www.eticks.com.au/whats-on/329-st-john-the-baptist-ps-presents-pirates-of-the-curry-bean/bookings

https://encorevideography.com.au/w/store/#!/St-John-the-Baptist-Ferntree-Gully-August-23rd-2024/p/582933820/category=0

Recently, our Mini Vinnies Social Justice Team met to discuss the next steps in the SVDP Winter Appeal. There is much enthusiasm now to collect TOILETRIES for those in need. Please consider donating an item from the list below and sending it to school with your child. Each classroom has been allocated a collection box to fill and we hope to pass on these desperately needed donations to Peter and Teresa Finn of the Ferntree Gully Conference. 

You will notice that I have allocated  different categories of toiletries to each class. This is so we may gain a broad selection of items which we hope to package for individuals and families in need. 

However, if you wish to donate an item from another category, please feel free to do so. Simply place it in your child’s classroom donation box. 

Any donation will be gratefully received.

TOILETRIES NEEDED: 

Marialisa Mandarino

Faith in Education Leader

Wishing everyone a fabulous Week 6.

Kelli Johnston

August

23rd - SJB Production - Pirates of the Curry Bean

26th - Confirmation Reflection Day

27th - Father's Day Stall

29th - Sacrament of Confirmation

30th - Father's Day Breakfast at 7.30am

September

1st - Father’s Day

2nd - MACSSIS Surveys Open

2nd - Prep visit to Ferntree Gully Library

4th-  District Athletics

4th - School Advisory Council

5th - Level Mass - Year 1/2

6th - Assembly 3/4HM

12th - R U OK Day?

13th - Division Athletics

13th - Assembly 1/2D

20th - Footy Day

20th - Term 3 Concludes @ 2pm

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.