St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

We warmly welcome families to join us for a number of events on the last day of term.  Please see the outline of the day below:

Holy Week Prayer Reflections: Our Year 5/6 students will lead us in Holy Week Prayer Reflections on Thursday around the school.  Families are welcome to join either of our Holy Week prayer reflections. The Holy Week Prayer services will be as outlined below:

9:00am 5/6SJ - Prep level, 9:45am 5/6D - Year 1/2 level and 10:30am 5/6GM - Year 3/4 level

Easter Bonnet Parade & Easter Raffle: We look forward to celebrating our junior students as they display their Easter Bonnets. This year’s Easter Raffle will also be drawn at this time. We will gather outside the administration building in the undercover area. 

SJB Easter Egg Raffle

Our fabulous P & F Team has been busy preparing this year’s Easter Raffle. We have a number of amazing prizes to be won.

We thank Brianna Paxton and Jessica Pfeiffer for organising this year’s Easter Raffle.

A huge thank you to the Guinane family who have most generously purchased the gift of a large Chess and Checkers set for the outdoor chess/checkers board.  In the coming weeks we will explore storage options to ensure these items are safely kept. We look forward to further enhancing our students play experience with these most generous gifts.

Jacqui Bell an ultra marathon runner. She was only 24 when she became the youngest person to complete an ultra marathon on all seven continents, finishing her final race in September 2019.  She achieved this challenge by jogging 250km in desert conditions. Jacqui has raised 30 thousand dollars for white cloud foundation while running her ultra marathons. She spoke about never limiting yourself because you have no idea what your body can do. Her speech made us realise we should never give up on things that matter to us. She started to run at 14 when her dad dropped her at the tennis court and left her there. She began running after her father would not pick her up because they were fed up with the temper tantrums she was having when she didn’t win. When she got older she suffered from some anxiety and depression because she thought of the bad things she had done in the past. 

Adrian Beck is an Author. When he was young he was a very quiet kid.  He loves to read books and he played soccer for  most of his childhood, later moving to footy.  His team made it all the way to the grand final and on the training before the game his coach told him there was a very important spot for him next to the cameraman.  But he watched what he did and that made him decide to write books. He writes books with a funny story to get kids to enjoy books and help them to read if they're struggling.  It was a really good opportunity to meet him and hear him speak about his passion for writing. He has many different books.

Catherine laga’aia is Moana in the live action movie. She inspired us to believe in what you care about and never give up. She said as long as you're trying your hardest then you're doing enough.  When she was on set she accidentally punched Dwayne Johnson in the face. She is 19 years old and just finished high school but missed her graduation due to being overseas filming.

The halogen leadership day was a great experience.  It taught us to believe in ourselves and never give up when things get hard. From this day it taught us that we could potentially be like one of these amazing people.

A big THANK YOU to all those who were able to help out with our Snip & Sip Tuesdays in Term 1, especially:

• Robyn Lawson

• Fiona Lewis

• Brooke Wagstaff

• Hayley Smith

• Sara Giangiulio

• Lana Nunis

• Alicia Fus

Thanks to the time and effort of our volunteers, we have made an INCREDIBLE start to creating resources for our new daily Maths Mental Strategies program.   Classes have already begun to use these resources, and our staff and students are very grateful for all the work of our hardworking volunteers.

We still have many resources to prepare, therefore our Snip & Sip Tuesdays will continue in Term 2.

Please join us for our “Snip & Sip” sessions running each Tuesday morning next term.

→ When: Tuesdays - 8:45am – 10:30am  (Drop in anytime — any time you can give is greatly appreciated!)

→ Where: SJB Office Meeting Room

Alternatively, if you are unavailable on Tuesdays and would still like to help out in some way, please feel free to contact Jill Palermo.  (jpalermo@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au) 

Tomorrow we have our SJB School Photos. All students are to wear full school summer uniform. This includes wearing black school shoes. Students are not to wear their sports uniform. Students are to have their hair tied back for their class photos, however should students wish to have their hair down for their individual photo, this is fine. Once the individual photo has been taken students are required to tie back their hair again.

Classes who have PE on Wednesday may change into their runners after their school photos.

Congratulations to our Year 3 students who received the Sacrament of Reconciliation last Wednesday 25th March. 

We thank Fr Peter, Marialisa Mandarino (Religious Education Leader), the Grade 3/4 team and our staff for their support of the children throughout the evening. 

Furthermore, we thank our families for your support of your children in the preparation for Reconciliation.  Preparing students to receive sacraments requires a strong home, school and parish partnership.  We are most grateful to our families for your ongoing support.

Today a number of our students competed in the Regional Swimming  competition at Aquanation in Ringwood. We are extremely proud of all students who made it to the Regional competition. We hope that you thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to participate. A big thank you to all families who supported today our students today with driving and cheering on our SJB students.

ANZAC Day this year is in the first week of Term 2. Families wishing to purchase ANZAC Day badges or wrist bands may purchase these items from the office.

As parents, many of us know the feeling that raising children was never meant to be done alone. It truly takes a village — yet in our busy lives, that sense of village can sometimes feel missing. As one of the parents in our school community, I would love to help create a small space where families can connect, support one another, and build that sense of village together. From this idea, The Village Circle was born. The Village Circle will simply be a relaxed and welcoming gathering for parents from our school community. It’s a chance to chat, share experiences, make new friendships, and support each other through the beautiful and sometimes challenging journey of raising children. Young children are warmly welcome to come along and play while we connect. There’s no pressure, no expectations — just an opportunity to build a stronger sense of community and support among the families in our school. If this sounds like something you’d enjoy being part of, I’d love for you to join me (and my daughter Elora-4yrs) for a cuppa on Fridays. Because parenting is easier, and far more joyful, when we do it together.

Time - 9:00am – 10:00am

Where - St John the Baptist School Hall

We are most fortunate to partner with Marty and Carley McGauran from Inform and Empower to provide families with an online session focusing on ‘Raising Kids in a Digital World’. Marty and Carley provide valuable insights into the digital world that children are navigating. They provide families with an understanding of the current digital climate, along with how to educate, support and raise conversations and awareness with children.

With a wealth of knowledge and experience as an E learning educator and psychologist leading the evening, this is a session that is most beneficial to all families. Navigating the digital world in partnership as home and school provides our students with education and support they need to become digitally responsible citizens.

It was terrific to hear that our families all enjoyed a wonderful weekend of camping at Warburton. The annual SJB Family Camping weekend is a terrific way to get to know each other and enjoy a sense of community.

A big thank you to the Davies, Amey and Brady families for their work in organising the weekend.

We are excited to share that Barry Plant Boronia is once again running their Easter Colouring competition. This competition is open to children 12 years and under, with 3 prizes to be won that will be drawn out of a hat!

1st Prize: Nintendo Switch Lite

2nd Prize: $100 Toymate Voucher

3rd Prize: Easter Egg Hamper

The artwork can be dropped into our office at 69 Boronia Road, Boronia, via email or at any of our Open for Inspections. We also invite you to The Basin Music Festival (March 20th-22nd) where we will have a Barry Plant Marquee set up at The Basin Triangle with art tables dedicated to those who want to enter the Easter Colouring Competition.

Please find attached the Easter Colouring sheet

Good luck everyone!!

Wishing everyone a safe and happy Easter and school holiday period. We look forward to welcoming our community back for Term 2 on Monday 20th April.

Happy Easter everyone!!

Kelli Johnston

March

31st - Regional Swimming

April

1st - School Photos - Summer Uniform

1st - SAC Meeting

2nd - Holy Week Stations of the Cross

2nd - Easter Raffle draw

2nd - Term 1 concludes @ 2pm

Term 2

April

20th - Term 2 commences

23rd - St Joseph's Lighthouse Program

23rd - Confirmation Family Evening @ 7pm

24th - ANZAC Day Prayer Service

27th - St Joseph's Lighthouse Program

27th - Parents and Friends Meeting @ 7pm

30th - Term 2 Level Newsletters shared

30th - St Joseph's Lighthouse Program

Janice

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

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

Wednesday April 1st

Hot Cross Bun Day (no normal canteen)

Friday April 3rd

Closed

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