St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

 Loving God,  

Our creator, our saviour, our companion,  bless this journey of a new school year that we undertake today.  

Refresh our hearts and renew our spirits as we embrace the beautiful ministry you have called us to.  

We welcome those who are new to this community and ask that you strengthen them to share the wonderful gifts you have given them. 

 Lord, make our hearts pure as we prepare for the return of the new school year,  and may you guide them to return with open hearts and minds eager to learn. 

 We ask this in Your name, 

 Amen 

Welcome to the 2026 school year.  We hope that all families enjoyed wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations, as well as a terrific holiday period. The January break provided us with amazing summer weather. The break was an opportunity to enjoy terrific days in all that Melbourne and Victoria have to see and explore, as well as opportunities to gather with friends and family. We hope that all our families have enjoyed a safe period of rest, rejuvenation and are ready for an exciting 2026.

As a staff we officially commenced the school year today. We spent an engaging and productive morning working with Chris Daicos.  Chris is a highly skilled and sought after consultant who provides professional learning workshops and individual coaching in the private and public sectors. We were most fortunate to work with Chris to unpack our SJB School Improvement and Annual Action Plans with a focus on teamwork and building a professional learning community.

Whilst the first day of the school year was today, the staff have been onsite and/or working from home busily planning and preparing for the return of students. We thank all staff for their dedication and hard work in ensuring a smooth and wonderful start to the school year. We thank our families for making bookings for the beginning of the year Learning Interviews and for your support with ensuring students will be punctual to their interviews.

This year we welcome the return of our dedicated and committed St John the Baptist staff who are well known to the parish and school communities.  We also warmly welcome Mrs Jill Palermo to the role of Numeracy Leader and Prep teacher, as well as Miss Elyse Harvie to the role of LSO. Jill is an expert teacher who brings a wealth of leadership experience across all areas of curriculum and Elyse is currently studying teaching and brings experience both locally and from abroad to SJB. We are very excited as our SJB team brings a wonderful mix of experience, expertise, deep pedagogical knowledge, passion and dedication as a group of educators. We look forward to continuing to collaborate, learn and grow together to consolidate our shared beliefs and understandings and continue to provide our students with the best educational experiences.

We are looking forward to welcoming back our school community as a whole this Friday 30th January. It is always great to see how students have grown and changed over their break, as well as sharing in the excitement of getting to know their teacher and settling in with new classmates. We always look forward to welcoming our Preps and settling them in as our newest members of our St John’s community.  We wish everyone a fabulous start to the school year and look forward to working in partnership with our families and community, as we work together to create an environment for our students to thrive and flourish. 

We warmly invite families to join us for a cuppa and re-connections from 8:45am on Friday 30th January in the school hall.  We thank our amazing P & F team for catering for our morning cuppa. This is a great opportunity to reconnect with our families and welcome our new families to the SJB community. We hope to see you there.

We invite all families to join us for the Beginning of School Year mass to be celebrated on Thursday 12th February, at 9:15am. The Beginning of School Year mass is a wonderful opportunity to come together as a community of faith to commence a new year. 

In 2025 Father Thomas’ role increased as he now oversees the parishes of Belgrave, Gembrook, Monbulk and Emerald along with St John the Baptist. To assist Father Thomas in overseeing the five parishes Father Peter Nguyen has been appointed as Assistant Priest. We warmly welcome Father Peter to SJB. As a school we look forward to continuing our strong parish and school partnership. We offer Father Thomas and Father Peter our support and look forward to working with them throughout the year.

This year we celebrate 90 years of parish and school operation and partnership at St John the Baptist. We warmly welcome all families to join us for Mass on Sunday 1st February at 10:30am for a special mass celebrating 90 years. Further celebrations will be planned during the year as we look forward to celebrating this wonderful milestone.

Over the holiday period Operoo closed its application.  As a school we are most fortunate to have nForma offer an application with very similar functionality.  We ask that all families install the nForma app to receive permission forms and communication in the same format that Operoo previously shared. 

Moving to nForma is supporting the school to streamline applications and provide a central portal. SJB now uses nForma for reporting, first aid, the roll, communication, permission forms and more.

As we commence school for 2026 all students are now required to transition to navy shorts, pants and socks. The move to navy across the board has been an 18 month transition from mid 2024. Students are now required to have fully transitioned to the change in items.

Students are to wear their regular school uniform on days where they do not have a PE or sport lessons, this includes black school shoes. Sports uniform and runners are to be worn strictly on days when students have PE and sport lessons only. Level Newsletters will outline the day/s in which children are able to wear sports uniform.

Uniform purchasing can be made at Beleza uniforms in Boronia or through the SJB Second Hand Uniform shop.  Families may enquire at the office in regard to second hand uniform purchases. 

In the coming weeks the SJB Second Hand Uniform shop will commence.  The second hand uniform shop will provide the opportunity for families to purchase school uniform items that are in good condition.

In 2026 the 2nd Hand Uniform Shop will be open on Tuesday afternoons, at the usual time of 2:45pm - 3:15pm. For families new to the school, the 2nd Hand Uniform Shop is located in the meeting room to the left of the Office. Thank you to the families who donated items at the end of last year to help re-stock the shelves. I will publish a stock list in the coming weeks. All items $5.00 - cash only.  

Janice

Prep

Mrs Karen Joustra

Mrs Chantelle Santamaria (M-T)/Mrs Jill Palermo(W-F)

Year 1/2

Mrs Emily Johnston

Mrs Michelle Bearder

Mrs Gisella Koroknai/Mrs Christine Barcham - Thurs

Year 3/4

Mrs Tracey Ryan (M-Th)/Mrs Renee Armstrong (F)

Mr Wayne Daniell (M-Th)/Mrs Marialisa Mandarino (F)

Mrs Amanda Heidenrijk (M-W)/ Mr Christian der Kinderen (Th-F)

Year 5/6

Miss Melissa Davey

Mrs Lisa Giuliano (M-Th)/Mr John Mitchell (F)

Mrs Brylie Johnson (M-T) & Mrs Susan Smith (W-F)

Specialist Staff

LOTE Italian - Mrs Marialisa Mandarino

Physical Education - Mr John Mitchell

Performing Arts - Mrs Sue Cahill

Visual Arts - Mrs Renee Armstrong

ICT Technician - Scott Baur

Learning Support Staff

Mrs Anita Arslanian

Mrs Angela Cavarra

Miss Danielle Cooke

Mrs Sue Davey

Miss Elyse Harvie

Mr Brodie Jacobs

Miss Sophie Ryan

Maintenance Officer

Mr John O’Halloran

Canteen Officer

Mrs Tracey Walker

Religious Education Leader - Mrs Marialisa Mandarino

Sustainability Leader - Mr Christian der Kinderen

Numeracy Leader - Mrs Jill Palermo

E-Learning Leader - Mr Wayne Daniell

Social Media Leader - Mrs Lisa Giuliano

Learning Diversity Leader - Mrs Franca Paduano

Mental Health & Wellbeing Leader - Mrs Brylie Johnson

Administration Staff - Mrs Cynthia Schouten - Mon-Wed

              - Mrs Andrea Hayman - Tues, Thurs, Fri

Deputy Principal/Learning & Teaching/Literacy Leader - Mrs Ursula DeCorrado

Principal - Mrs Kelli Johnston

In 2025 the Year 5 students of St John the Baptist were provided with the opportunity to apply for leadership positions.  We congratulate all students who applied for a leadership role as applying for such a position is a significant step that takes great courage.

We invite families to join us on Friday 6th February at 2:30pm for our Year 6 Leadership Assembly. 

The Year 6 students will be presented with their Year 6 jackets and badges on Friday afternoon.

School assemblies will be held throughout the school year. Assemblies will be held on Friday afternoons at 2:45pm in the school hall.  Each class will have the opportunity to lead the school in assembly and share their learning throughout the year.  We welcome families to join us at St John’s for school assemblies.

Prep rest days: A friendly reminder that the following Wednesdays are ‘Rest Days’ for our Preps. Wednesday 4th February, Wednesday 11th February, Wednesday 18th February and Wednesday 25th February.

Our Preps will commence full time at school from Monday 2nd March.

At the conclusion of each day when students will be dismissed by their class teachers, students are to meet their designated family member who they are going home with, move to the car park for Kiss and Go or move to OHSC. Once the bell for the end of the day has been signaled families may enter the school buildings to collect students and/or touch base with their child’s teacher should this be required.

Families are welcome to continue to socialise after school on the oval. When moving to the oval students are required to be accompanied by their family members and safely moved across the car park to the oval. The Ga-Ga pit is strictly closed after school and is not open for student access. 

Swimming squad training is scheduled to commence Tuesday 10th February at St Joseph’s Secondary College.  The dates for squad swimming are Tuesday 10th, 17th, 24th February and the 3rd and 10th  March from 7:45am - 8:30am. Additional dates may become available should student engagement remain high. Further information about swimming squad will be communicated by our PE teacher Mr John Mitchell in the coming days.

We are pleased to offer families a Community Webinar with Carley McGauran with a focus on Managing Big Feelings.  Carley is an experienced psychologist and mother of three. Carley is exceptional in sharing how we can support our children and each other. For those who have seen one of Carley’s presentations you will know first hand the benefits of her sessions. 

We look forward to welcoming our school community to our 2026 Twilight on the Green on Friday February 6th. 

Venue: - SJB School Oval

Time:- 5.30-8.30pm

Kelly Sports and coffee van on site.

Further information to come.

Wishing all our students and families and wonderful year ahead at St John's.

Kelli Johnston

January 2026

28th - Preps students commence 1:30pm finish

28th - Year 1-6 Learning Interviews

29th - Prep students 1:30pm finish

29th - Year  1-6 Learning Interviews

30th - Welcome back morning cuppa - hall

30th - Prep - Year 6 students onsite

February

2nd - P & F Meeting - SJB Staffroom at 7pm

4th - Prep Rest Day

6th - School Assembly Year 6 Leadership presentation - School Hall 2:30pm

6th - Twilight on the Green - 5:30 - 8:30pm

10th - Term 1 Level Newsletters shared with families

10th - Swimming Squad St Joseph’s Secondary College 7:45am - 8:30am (Year 3-6)

10th - Meet & Greet Meetings - 3:30 - 6:00pm

11th - MACS Board of Directors AGM at SJB

11th-  Prep Rest Day

11th - Meet and Greet - 3:30-5:30pm

12th - Beginning of School Year Mass - 9:15am

12th - Reconciliation Family Evening - 7pm

14th - First Reconciliation Commitment Mass

15th - First Reconciliation Commitment Mass

17th - Swimming Squad St Joseph’s Secondary College 7:45am - 8:30am (Year 3-6)

17th - Shrove Tuesday

18th - Ash Wednesday - Lent begins

18th - Ash Wednesday Mass - 9:15am

18th - Prep Rest Day

18th - Year 5/6 Camp to Portsea

18th - School Advisory Council Meeting

20th - Year 5/6 Camp returns from Portsea

24th - Swimming Squad St Joseph’s Secondary College 7:45am - 8:30am

24th - Prep Information Evening

25th - Prep Rest Day

27th - District Swimming

March

2nd - Preps commence Fulltime 

3rd - Swimming Squad St Joseph’s Secondary College 7:45am - 8:30am (Year 3-6)

3rd - Carley McGauran Managing Big Feelings online session @ 7:30pm

6th - School Closure Day

9th - Labour Day - School Closed

10th - Swimming Squad St Joseph’s Secondary College 7:45am - 8:30am (Year 3-6)

10th - Division Swimming

11th - Open Day #1 - Tours @ 9am, 10am, 4pm & 5pm

11th - NAPLAN commences

12th - Division Swimming

14th - Term 1 Working Bee

16th - P & F Meeting -  SJB Staffroom at 7pm

17th - Open Day #2 - Tours @ 9am, 10am, 4pm & 5pm

19th - MACS School Advisory Council dinner

20th - Harmony Day celebration

20th - St Patrick’s Day Schools Mass

27th - SJB Family Weekend away @ Warburton

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.

Friday January 30th

CLOSED

Morning Tea

Friday February 6th

Nelson Serrao

Cassie Croning

Friday February 13th

Amy Chan

Kellie Brooks