St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

Last week as a community we enjoyed gathering for the First Eucharist Family evening and commitment masses. Our First Eucharist candidates were exceptional in the manner in which they participated during the evening and across the weekend.

We now look forward to supporting our students in their faith journey at the upcoming First Eucharist Reflection Day and Sacrament.

First Eucharist Reflection Day - Monday 31st August

Sacrament of First Eucharist - Sunday 13th September, 3pm

This year the Children's Book Council of Australia's (CBCA) Book Week Theme is Symphony of Stories. This wonderful image has been specially created for Book Week by author, illustrator and composer, Matt Ottley.  This year students can get into the spirit of Book Week and love of reading and dress up. On Friday 28th August we will be having a whole school book week dress up day with a parade in the hall.   

After the parade parents are welcome to stay for a cuppa and chat in the hall.  We look forward to celebrating a love of reading at SJB.

We have been asked if it is possible to provide some flexibility in the timing of working bees so that families that are unable to make the set date can also contribute at a different time.

Many of our Term 3 and 4 working bee tasks are weather dependent so this is an opportunity for families to complete tasks on days and times that suit them best.  

We are very grateful for the many parents who have so generously given of their time and expertise to assist us with many maintenance tasks.  This has allowed for significant savings that we have been able to redirect  to activities, incursions and resources for your children.

All materials will be purchased and supplied by the school.  Your participation will still count towards receiving the $100 refund on your maintenance levy for attendance at two working bees. 

Below is the current job list which I will update each week.  If there is any task that you think you may like to sign up for please contact Ursula DeCorrado at 

udecorrado@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au

Many thanks for your continued support and community spirit,

Ursula DeCorrado

Job Examples

This year’s Dads and Kids camping weekend at Gilwell Park has been scheduled for two nights away due to popular request. Further details will be shared in the near future.

Dads mark the date in your calendar and save the date for a terrific weekend with your children and SJB community

A significant and formal way in which we engage and gather data is through MACSSIS, the Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools – School Improvement Surveys.

MACSSIS is a set of surveys that have been built specifically for Catholic schools in Melbourne by the Learning Services team at MACS, in partnership with researchers at Learning First and in wide consultation with principals in our schools.

MACSSIS surveys will be emailed home to all  families and the portal will be open on Monday 31st August.  We ask that you look out for an email from ORIMA research which will contain the link to access the survey.  Your login details will be sent in a separate email from our school.

Our community’s opinions are critical to understanding how our school is performing – MACSSIS is a key data source so please take the time to complete the survey so that the thoughts and opinions of our whole school community can be used in guiding the ongoing work to improve our school.

If you would like more information, please contact the school.

Families who complete this year’s MACSSIS survey may send a screenshot of their completed survey to go in the running to win a $50 Cinema voucher. Please email your screenshot to office@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au to be in the running to win.

We thoroughly enjoyed meeting our Prep 2027 families and students last week. It was wonderful to meet our families and future students. We look forward to welcoming our new Preps to St John’s later in the year during our transition sessions. This is an exciting time as we prepare for our Preps to join us at SJB.

Our school community recently welcomed the 'Living with Wildlife' incursion, bringing conservation straight to our classrooms. Students across multiple year levels are exploring how we can care for native animals in suburban areas.

Our senior students rolled up their sleeves for some hands-on building projects:

Grade 5/6 students constructed cozy possum dreys to provide safe tree shelters.

Grade 3/4 students built intricate insect hotels to support local pollinators.The wildlife learning journey is not over yet. This coming Friday, our Prep and Grade 1/2 students will participate in their very own interactive wildlife sessions. We look forward to seeing our youngest learners discover how to protect our local environment.

As part of National Tree Day, our school community came together to plant a beautiful selection of indigenous plants along the retaining wall near the kiss and drop zone. A special thank you to the students who volunteered their playtimes to help with planting—your effort and enthusiasm made this project possible!

These plants are not only a wonderful addition to our school grounds but also support local biodiversity and sustainability. To help them thrive, we kindly ask all families to work together to ensure they are protected from being trampled before and after school. Small steps like walking carefully, avoiding the planted area, and encouraging siblings or friends to do the same will make a big difference.

Let’s nurture these plants so they can grow strong and contribute to a greener future for our school community!

Thank you for your support! 

Christian der Kinderen

Currently, all Catholic schools are working through planning and budgeting activities for 2027 to ensure we are well placed to support our staff, students and school communities in the coming year. This includes looking at how we can accommodate the changes likely to flow from a new Enterprise Bargaining Agreement (EBA) with school staff. 

We recognise the significant financial pressures many households are facing, and we are making a conscious effort to ensure these costs are not passed on through significant fee increases. 

We will continue to keep our parent community informed throughout this process. As always, our focus remains on maintaining strong school communities and continuing to deliver a high-quality Catholic education for every student.

Families are welcome to reach out should you need at any time. 

Email: kjohnston@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au 

It was so wonderful to visit every class last week and teach the first Zones of Regulation lesson. The students were fantastic and engaged so well with the learning! 

As mentioned in last week’s newsletter, attached are the Zones Bridge Letters, which summarise each lesson and provide simple activities and conversation starters to continue the learning at home. 

In our first lesson, students explored regulation and why it is important. They learned that we regulate our bodies every day, such as eating when we are hungry or putting on a jacket when we are cold. Students were also introduced to interoception noticing the signals and sensations within our bodies which helps us recognise and manage our emotions, feelings and behaviours.

Attached is a Regulation Charades activity from the Bridge Letter that you might like to try at home with your child. You can also learn more about The Zones of Regulation here:

https://zonesofregulation.com/how-it-works/

If you or someone in your family is experiencing mental health concerns, please refer to the attached Mental Health Services infographic for information about available support services.

If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch.

Kind regards,

Mrs Brylie Johnson

Mental Health and Wellbeing Leader 

bjohnson@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au         © 2024 The Zones of Regulation, Inc.

The 2nd hand uniform shop is open Tuesdays, 2:45 pm to 3:15 pm. All items are $5, cash only. A recent stock list is attached. We’d love donations of clean, official SJB uniform, particularly sizes 8+. These can be left at the office at a time that is convenient for you.

Wishing everyone a fabulous week ahead.

Kelli Johnston

August

12th - Assumption of Mary Prayer Service at 8.50am

12th - Inform & Empower Cyber Safety session Year 3/4

12th - Inform & Empower Cyber Safety session Year 5/6

14th - Living with Wildlife Incursion

14th - Assembly @ 2:45pm - 3/4DM presenting

15th - Feast of the Assumption

17th - School Closure Day

22nd - Book Week

27th - Prep & Year 1/2 Level Mass @ 9:15am

28th - Assembly @ 2:45pm - 5/6SJ presenting (rescheduled for October 16th)

31st - First Eucharist Reflection Day

September

1st - Father's Day Stall

2nd - SAC Meeting @ 7pm

4th - Father's Day breakfast

4th - PSGs

6th - Father's Day

7th - Prep - Year 2 Swimming commences for one full week

7th - Prep - Year 2 Spelling - daily for the week

7th - PSGs

9th - Swimming - full clothing day

10th - R U OK Day - prayer service

10th - Year 3/4 Camp

11th - Year 3/4 Camp returns

13th - First Eucharist Sacrament @ 3pm

15th - PSGs

16th - Optional Parent Teacher Interviews

16th - Division Athletics

18th - Footy Day

18th - Term 3 Concludes @ 2pm

Orders are to be placed via Flexischools - www.flexischools.com.au

Friday August 14th

Mandy McEwan

Friday August 21st

Mark Molan

Wade Palmer

Friday August 28th 

Mel Price

Jess Carmichael