St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

As we move into Week 4 all students should have their hats for recess times. The initial period of grace for not having a hat has now passed. All students are now required to be wearing their wide brimmed hat at recess times. In the event that students do not have their hat there will be a No hat, No play policy.

A friendly reminder that clearly labelling your child’s hat will certainly assist in identifying lost property.

On Thursday 19th October twelve students from St John the Baptist competed at the Eastern Metropolitan Regional carnival. 

In an amazing performance Lorelei C has qualified for the 12/13 yo 100m and 200m event. We congratulate Lorelei on this achievement. She is now in the top 16 runners in the whole State of Victoria for her age group. Enjoy the experience Lorelei!! The State event is on Wednesday 1st November at Lakeside Stadium Albert Park

Other individual results were:

Poppy B 9/10 G Long Jump - 9th  100m- 16th. 

Max F  9/10 200m- 16th (improved .34 sec)

Matilda H 11G 1500m- 13th time 6.28

Ellie H 11 Girls Long Jump 5th- 3.58cm (improved 11cm on previous event) 100m 4th - 14.55

Zaylen L 9/10 Boys 11th out of 16. 

The relay teams results were 9/10 girls (Nishala A, Zara D, Jenna G and Poppy B) 11th/16 . They came 6th in their heat. 

12/13 Girls (Ruby L, Lorelei C, Ria G, Alxys L) 8th /14. They came 4th in their heat. 

Book List 2024 - Yr 3, 4, 5 and 6

Families of students who will be in Years 3-6 in 2024 are now able to access 2024 Book lists via Lilydale Books - see link above.  Students in Year Prep - 2 will have their stationery delivered to school prior to the commencement of next year.

We ask families to please note that books are specific to each year level. Each booklist will have specific dotted third books that are different and specific to each year level. We ask families to check that they have the correct books outlined on the list for their child/ren.

OPTIONAL COMPUTER MOUSE - if your child prefers using a computer mouse with their Chromebook in the classroom, we ask that you kindly provide one of their own to ensure their comfort and productivity.

Linewize digital safety and wellbeing monitoring has now commenced at St John the Baptist. As a school we are able to monitor the safety and wellbeing of our students through their digital searches. The aim of implementing Linewize is to provide the highest level of support to our students whilst teaching our students how to be safe and responsible digital citizens.

Through Linewize, staff will be able to provide or block access to sites, monitor student online activity and gain an understanding of student online behaviour. 

Linewize provides a wealth of resources to support learning and teaching of how to be a digitally safe and responsible citizen, as well as, a range of information for families on how to support their child/ren as digital citizens. We will certainly share this with families over time.

We ask all families to be aware that if your child signs into personal devices using their school Gmail account, that unless your child signs out, any future searches will come through the Linewize account. It is most important that students sign out of their account after using.

Below is an example of student monitoring through Linewize.

The level of monitoring provided to staff through Linewize varies. Whilst class teachers have a high level of access to student monitoring, Ursula DeCorrado and myself have the highest level of monitoring as administrators.  Where there are significant concerns of student searches Ursula and myself receive red flag notifications. This allows us to have supportive conversations with students and families in regard to student searches.

Families are most welcome to be in touch with Shari Correlje (ICT Leader), Ursula DeCorrado or myself should you require further information. Additionally, families are encouraged to look at the Linewize website for further information.

Over the coming weeks our Year 5 students will prepare to apply for leadership positions for the 2024 school year. We look forward to hearing students share their visions for leadership at SJB in 2024. Selecting to put yourself forward as a leader requires great courage. We congratulate all students who show the courage to apply for a leadership role for next year. Being selected as a leader is a privilege, with such a privilege comes great responsibility.  We look forward to seeing our students shine as leaders and leading our school through example. 

Good luck everyone!!

Wishing everyone a fabulous week ahead.

Kelli Johnston

Recently, Elyssa (past SJB student) and Vincente came to visit our classroom. They talked about World Youth Day! World Youth Day is a day where we all come together in one country and do activities together. They told us about the things they did on their trips and we were all so amazed! 

Elyssa went to Spain and Vincente went to Portugal. They told us about their trips and even showed us photos. Before all of this, we played a really fun game. The rules were, one of our team members was blindfolded and the rest had to guide them through a maze using our words while the rest of the grade were yelling distractions! This was so fun but hard. This exercise built trust and simulated what it was like going to one of these countries on the program. 

At the end, Elyssa and Vincente handed out flyers for us to join the youth group. St John the Baptist is starting our own Youth Group, spread the word and keep an eye out for further details. 

October

25th School Advisory Council Meeting

26th Prep Transition Session No. 2

27th World Teachers Day

30th P-2 Swimming

30th Assembly Prep B

November

1st All Saints Day

3rd Prep Transition No. 3 - Social & Uniform purchasing

3rd First Friday Mass - Year 5/6

6th School Closure - Assessment and Reporting

7th Melbourne Cup Day - School Closure

10th Remembrance Day Prayer Service

11th Kids and Dads weekend Gilwell Park

20th School Closure Day - Staff PL

28th Education Board and Parents & Friends Thank you evening

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.

Renewal Program

Brochure