St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

We welcome all members of the school community to join us for assembly at 2:10pm Wednesday 13th December to celebrate the many wonderful contributions generously made by Mrs Deborah Butler and Mrs Kathryn Forbes. Deborah and Kathryn are both much loved members of the SJB community who we farewell at the end of the 2023 school year. We invite our school community to join us in celebrating Deborah and Kathryn’s contributions and in saying farewell.

The Semester 2 student reports will be distributed on Friday 8th December. Student reports are one of the valuable links between school and home to allow you to gain an insight of how your child is progressing with their learning at St John the Baptist.

The reports will be accessible from the Friday 8th December at 4.00pm

The online portal has many advantages which include:

-    Accessible on multiple devices

-    Environmentally friendlier than printed reports

If you have trouble accessing your child’s report you are encouraged to contact Mrs Shari Correlje for assistance

scorrelje@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au

In 2024 SJB will be commencing a Second Hand Uniform Shop. We thank Janice Stiglich (Amelia & Hannah's Mum) for her work in co-ordinating the Second Hand Uniform Shop.

The Second Hand Uniform Shop will open at 2:45pm every Tuesday for families to purchase 2nd hand uniform items. Additionally families will be able to email the Second Hand Uniform Shop at uniform@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au to request items. 

To promote a sense of community, sustainability and an opportunity to support each other, all items will be sold at $5.00 each.

When contributing items to the Second Hand Uniform Shop, families are requested to ensure all items are St John the Baptist formal uniform items, washed and clean, provide items that are free from holes and in a condition that they would dress their children in. Families may drop their items into the office. Items will be collected and then placed in the uniform shop.  

Canteen for 2023 will conclude this Wednesday 6th December. The canteen will then close for the year to allow for cleaning and preparation for the holiday period.

All students will have the option of a free Zooper Dooper for our final day of Canteen on Wednesday 6th December.

We thank Mrs Tracey Walker and all volunteers throughout the year for their support and work in preparing lunches each week.  We are most fortunate to have an incredible team of people working together to provide lunches each week.

Exciting times ahead as students prepare to meet their classmates and teachers for the 2024 school year.  Where possible we will have new staff available to meet their classes.  We ask families to understand that this may not always be possible due to the nature of busy times in all schools at this time of year.

The ‘Move Up’ days for this year will be Wednesday 13th December 9:15am and Friday 15th December for Morning Tea.

On behalf of the St John the Baptist School and community we would like to thank the many parents who have dedicated their time and supported both the School Advisory Council and Parents and Friends Committee throughout 2023. Your support is greatly appreciated. We look forward to another terrific year in 2024.

On Thursday 30th November we completed our St John the Baptist PS swimming carnival. The 3/4 level competed first and the excitement was clear from the first race. All students who swam performed admirably and many of the events were hotly contested. Students were able to select as many of the swimming strokes as they could ie: freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly along with the famous novelty relays - the ball retrieval and the crocodile rescue events. Rules appeared flexible with the novelty events and much fun was had by all.

Thankyou to the parents that assisted in judging, ribbon presenting and walking the students to and back to the venue. 

Thankyou to Aquatic Achievers for being so accommodating and most of all, to the students that swam in the events. 

If your child enjoyed the day please encourage them to trial for our Swim Squad which will commence training in the first one to two weeks back at school in 2024. Look out for an Operoo declaring your child’s interest for the St John’s Swim Squad 2024 which will be sent out soon. 

The St John the Baptist PS Swimming Carnival House Sport OVERALL results were: 

1st- Yellow 336

2nd Blue  239

3rd Red 234

4th  Green 135 

Results split Year 3/ 4 Yellow 197  Blue 158 Red 97 Green 82

5/ 6 - Blue 164 Yellow 139 Red 137 Green 53

John Mitchell

PE Teacher

Thank you to families that have paid or are continuing to pay their school fees.  Term four is almost over and we would appreciate the finalising of any outstanding monies.

Please contact the Office if you are unable to finalise your fee account to discuss options available to help you meet your fee commitment.

office@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au or 9758 1013.

The students in our School Christmas Choir are very excited to be performing at the FTG Library tonight.

They are invited to wear their favourite Christmas outfit and arrive at the library no later than 5.45pm to commence singing at 6.00pm.

We anticipate the session of Christmas songs and Christmas storytime to last for about 30 - 45 minutes.

Looking forward to seeing you next Tuesday.

Sue Cahill

Performing Arts

We thank Bec and Simon Russell for their willingness to once again share their expertise with the SJB community for the annual Twilight on the Green. The 2024 Twilight on the Green will be held on Friday 9th February on the oval.  Families may bring picnics, snacks or take away to have for dinner on the oval. To ensure a Child Safe environment this is strictly an alcohol free event.

Time: 5:30pm

Cost: $10 per family

Wishing everyone a terrific week ahead. 

Kelli Johnston

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.

Please note - the last day for Canteen this year is tomorrow Wednesday December 6th.  Canteen will not operate on Fri 8th, Wed 13th nor Fri 15th.