St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

Thank you to our wonderful Parents and Friends Committee and school community for all of the generous donations that created such an inviting and delicious cake stall.  It was great to see the contributions of the community being purchased by shoppers, along with a sense of fun and school connectedness. Such a wonderful achievement in raising $1375.00. 

Thank you to one and all.

We thank all families for their presence and participation at Wednesday’s Eucharist Family Evening.  Our home/school/parish partnership was clearly evident with such a terrific attendance by so many families.  We thank all families for supporting their children in their faith journey.  Deacon Peter’s faith and life connection between McDonald’s Happy Meals and Eucharist as a Holy meal certainly resonated with the students. It was quite ironic to see some Happy Meal boxes during the evening!!

We wish all First Eucharist candidates well as they continue their preparation for the sacrament.

There was a buzz of excitement last week as we celebrated the opening of the new playground.  The students are thoroughly enjoying the new playground.  There is so much for the students to enjoy and learn from this well considered and designed space. We look forward to seeing the students continue to enjoy their new play space.

We encourage all families with a child commencing Prep in 2024 to complete their enrolment forms as soon as possible. 

Enrolment acceptance letters will be sent home in the first week of June with interviews in early July.

This Friday the Year 3-6 students will participate in a school based Cross Country event at Kings Park, Upper Ferntree Gully between 11:30am - 1:10pm. 

The Year 3/4 students will participate in a 2km course and the Year 5/6 students will participate in a 3km course.  Students finishing in the top 8 to 10 places will then have the opportunity to participate in this year’s District Cross Country event.

Families are required to provide permission for their child to participate through Operoo.  

Mr Mitchell is seeking volunteers to assist with checkpoints around the course. If you are able to assist on the day please contact Mr Mitchell. A friendly reminder all volunteers require a current WWCC

Parent/teacher/student interviews will be held on Tuesday 20th June and Wednesday 21st June.  We encourage all students to attend interviews with their families. The focus of interviews is to celebrate the hard work students have undertaken throughout the semester, as well as the growth they have made as a result of their hard work. Families will be able to book their interview times through SOBS in the coming weeks.

Interviews will be held between: 

     Tuesday 20th June 3:30-6:00pm

     Wednesday 21st June 2:00-7:00pm

Families will notice that this semester there has been a slight change to interview time frames. This change is required to assist with meeting Time in Lieu requirements that will come in with the new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement. Interview time slots will change from 20 minute blocks to 15 minute blocks.

The Term 2 Working Bee is scheduled for Saturday 20th May.  We welcome families to join us for the afternoon between 1:30-4:00pm.  We have a number of jobs both indoors and outdoors to complete throughout the afternoon.

Some of the tasks to be completed include: 

• Shelving in switchboard room 

• Clearing space of junk in room

• Art supplies from cupboards to art room

• Hall - movement of high jump mats - tidy area

• Rubbish clean up

• Weeding in garden beds

• Clearing of leaves and debris from gutters

• Clearing garden near Parish Hall

We ask that families attending please respond either by completing the form below or emailing office@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au confirming the number that will be in attendance.

At the commencement of the term we congratulated Jo Stoica on her appointment to MACS as a Learning Diversity Consultant.  After 21 years of service Jo will conclude her full time role at St John’s this coming Friday. We are excited to announce that Jo will remain with us at St John’s for one day a week to support the Learning Diversity role for the remainder of the year.

We wish Jo every success in her new role and are thrilled to have her with us on Fridays.

Thank you to all families for their support in ensuring students are dressed in full winter uniform.  The students look outstanding in their winter uniform.

As a parent of a child/ren in a Catholic primary in the Archdiocese of Melbourne, you are invited to share your voice to contribute to the Digital Ambition Plan for Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools (MACS). Your views are critical to ensure that technology reflects the needs of students and school communities into the future.

Technology is changing at a rapid pace and the plan needs to reflect the changes as well as stay true to the direction of Catholic education. 

Please open the attached document to register for the online event or scan the QR Code to read the draft plan and complete the survey.

The Year 5/6 participated in a basketball program with the Phoenix Soar on Monday 15th May.  The students will participate in weekly sessions over the next 4 weeks.  We thank the Albisser-Bennett family for their support with the program.

As we head into the winter months we will no doubt experience COVID as part of the cold and flu season.  As a Catholic school we are required to work within the Catholic Education Commission of Victoria guidelines.  The last guidelines were updated in February of this year. Information that families should be aware of include the following:

• Students (or their parents) should also report a positive result to their school.

• Students who report a positive result are recommended to isolate for a minimum of 5 days and not attend school until their symptoms have resolved.

• The Department of Health recommends that masks should be worn by a person who is a close contact of someone who has tested positive for COVID-19 when leaving home. 

• Additionally, the Department of Health recommends that masks should be worn by a person who has COVID-19 for at least 7 days after a positive test when they need to leave home. 

• Rapid Antigen Test are available for all Victorians from Council sites. People can get 2 free packs (10 tests) for themselves and 2 free packs (10 tests) for each of their household members.

Term 2

Wishing  everyone a fabulous week ahead.

Kelli Johnston

Parents who attended the recent Parent Information and Classroom Helper sessions, and those unable to attend on the day, have requested a copy of the slides used during the session. Please refer below.

Thank you again to all the bakers, packers and stall workers. Our Cake Stall was a great success and a wonderful chance to showcase our little school’s talented community. 

Our Performing Arts Club are excited to be attending their first performance at Ferntree Gully Library's Biggest Morning Tea on Thursday May 25th.

If anyone would like to attend to support the students, you are most welcome to join us and support the Cancer Council.

Sue Cahill

Performing Arts Teacher

May

17th     School Advisory Council Meeting

19th     Year 3-6 Cross Country

20th    Term 2 Working Bee

22nd    Lighthouse Program - St Joseph's College & Year 6 boys

24th     National Simultaneous Storytime

26th     District Cross Country

28th     Pentecost Sunday

29th     Lighthouse Program - St Joseph's College & Year 6 boys

June

2nd     First Friday Mass - Year 5/6

5th     First Eucharist Reflection Day

6th     Division Cross Country

8th     St Joseph's Lighthouse Program Presentation Evening

12th     King's Birthday Holiday - School Closed

13th     Regional Cross Country

16th     Reports emailed to families

17th     First Eucharist - 3.00pm Mass

19th     P&F Meeting

20th     Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

21st    Parent/Teacher/Student Interviews

23rd    Feast of St John the Baptist Celebration Day

23rd    Term 2 concludes

Canteen orders can be placed via www.flexischools.com.au

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