ENewsletter

Tuesday May 6th 2025

Letter from the Principal, Kelli Johnston

Dear Families

This Sunday 11th May we take the opportunity to celebrate and give thanks to our wonderful Mums, Nannas, Grandmas, special people and all that they bring to our lives. Wishing all Mothers a wonderful Mother’s Day. May your day be surrounded by those you hold dearest to your hearts.

"God, Father of all, we thank you for the gift of motherhood. We ask for your grace and blessing to be upon all mothers, grandmothers, and motherlike figures in our lives. May they be filled with love, joy, and strength. May they be guided by your wisdom as they nurture and care for their children. We pray for their health, happiness, and well-being. Through your Son, Jesus Christ, we pray."

"Hail Mary, full of grace, the Lord is with thee. Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus. Holy Mary, Mother of God, pray for us sinners now and at the hour of our death. Amen."

Mother's Day Stall

Today our students excitedly purchased gifts in preparation for Mother’s Day on Sunday. This year we were exceptionally blessed to share the creative talents of a number of our beautiful mums through their handmade gifts. We thank Reeda Raydan, Kathy Nguyen, Siobhan van Bergeijk and Sheree Ulrich-Field for their many hours of work in creating beautiful gifts. We thank our amazing P & F team for their work in preparing and selecting additional gifts for our students to have such an amazing selection to choose from. Last but by no means least, thank you to our Dads who set up and led our Mother’s Day Stall. Thank you to Andrew Davies, Donavon Hendricks, Steve Fairbrother, Tim Grimshaw, Lionel Croning and Dirk Pinder for overseeing this year’s Mother’s Day Stall. Such a wonderful sense of SJB community at work.

We still have a lovely array of some hand made items. If any students would like to purchase another gift, just bring $5 cash into the office and you can select an additional present of your choice.

Mother's Day Afternoon Tea & Classroom Activity

We look forward to our SJB Mums, Nannas & special people coming together this Friday from 1:30pm for afternoon tea followed by a special Mother’s Day family activity in classrooms at 2:30pm. We ask our Mums to move to allocated classrooms for 2:30pm to complete a family Mother’s Day activity.

Term 2 Closure Dates

Families are asked to note in their calendars Friday 6th June as a School Closure Day followed by Monday 9th June as the King’s Birthday public holiday.

Election Day BBQ and Cake Stall - Saturday May 3rd

Thank you to all members of our SJB community who participated in Saturday’s BBQ and Bake Stall. From the baking of goods, setting up & packing up, assisting in a shift, cooking on the day and being part of our SJB community the day was an enormous success. The weather was perfect and to top it all off our morning coincided with a 2026 Open Morning.

We had a wonderful selection of baked goods on sale as well as our sausage sizzle.

The day was a huge success with baked goods being snapped up, along with the sale of over 450 sausages!! What a wonderful outcome.

Congratulations and thank you to all for your efforts. Our day saw fundraising of $1,492.87. Funds raised will go towards the purchasing of two small sheds on the lower area to house sand pit toys and sports equipment. Thank you to all.

First Eucharist Family Evening and Commitment Masses

It was wonderful to see our Year 4 families gather last Wednesday evening for this year’s First Eucharist Family Evening. Our families and First Eucharist candidates participated in a wonderful faith formation evening led by Mrs Marialisa Mandarino (REL) and the Year 3/4 team. This is an exciting time as our candidates prepare to receive their First Eucharist.

It was also wonderful to see our families at the First Eucharist Commitment Masses throughout the weekend. The SJB Parish thoroughly enjoys the opportunity to celebrate and connect with our candidates.

We thank Father Thomas for his ongoing support of our students as they prepare for their First Eucharist.

Eucharist Family Evening

Commitment Masses

First Aid Update

Families will have received an outline via Operoo last week in relation to the school’s approach to First Aid notifications. In the event that a student has presented to First Aid for a minor incident families will receive notification of this via email at the end of each day. In the event that a moderate or severe injury has occurred families will be contacted via phone as well as receive an email.

🐔 Welcome to Our New Feathered Friends! 🐔

We’re thrilled to welcome six new chickens to our school community! Our growing flock includes:

2 Australorps – sleek, black-feathered and calm - one called Tracey, the other Darles Chickens
2 Red Hampshires – full of personality and curiosity - one called Violet, the other Rosie.
2 ISA Browns – friendly and known for being excellent layers - one called Nugget, the other Fluffy (the chickens were named by a vote from students and staff).

The chickens are settling in beautifully. They’ve been understandably a little shy at first, but we expect that as they get used to their new surroundings—and all of us!—they’ll become more confident and friendly.

While we don’t expect eggs until around August, there’s already lots of excitement in the air! All students are currently voting for their favourite names, and we’ll reveal the winning names very soon.

Families are warmly invited to come and observe the chickens before and after school—they love visitors (especially calm ones!). A big thank you to all the families who volunteered their time to help set up the coop and prepare for the chickens’ arrival—we couldn’t have done it without you!

Throughout the term, a student roster will help maintain the coop during the school week, and we’ll also have a fantastic group of volunteer families caring for the chickens on weekends and during school holidays.

We’re looking forward to this exciting new addition to our sustainability and learning programs—stay tuned for updates from the coop!

SJB Cross Country

The SJB Cross Country will be held on Thursday 8th May from 12:30pm at Kings Park in Ferntree Gully. Students in Years 3-6 will be competing for their house colour and also to gain a place to run at the District Cross Country event on Friday 23rd May.

Families are asked to complete the Operoo form to provide permission for their child to participate and be aware of the requirements for the morning.

We warmly welcome parents who are able to assist on the day.

Inform & Empower

Over the next two weeks students will participate in their live termly cyber safety through Inform and Empower. Families will be able to see the focus for each level in the outline provided below.

Chess Club - Congratulations

Congratulations to the following students for their efforts in Chess in Term 1.

1st Place Fairest & Best - Mya C

2nd Place Silver Grasshopper Badge - Fletcher B

3rd Place Bronze Grasshopper Badge - Judd P

Kelly Sports Clinics

Link to register - https://kellysports.com.au/kelly_events/view/37290

Second Hand Uniform

The Second Hand Uniform Shop will be open on Wednesday afternoons from 2:45pm. Families may purchase second hand items for $5 per item.

Families donating items are asked to ensure that items are delivered washed and good condition.

Inquiries in regards to second hand items may be sent to -uniform@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au

Wishing everyone a great week ahead.

Kelli Johnston

Term 2 Dates

Term 2

May

6th - Inform & Empower Year 1-4 session

8th - St Joseph's College Lighthouse Program

9th - Mother's Day afternoon tea in the hall

9th - Mother's Day Family Art Activity in classrooms at 2.30pm

11th - Mother's Day

12th - Kelly Sports Clinics Years 3-6

13th - Inform & Empower Years 5/6

14th - Prep Level Mass @ 9.15am - Families welcome to attend

14th - School Advisory Council

15th - St Joseph's College Lighthouse Program

16th - Assembly @ 2:45pm - 3/4KS presenting

22nd - St Joseph's College Lighthouse Program

23rd - District Cross Country - Years 3-6 Crystal Brook Park

26th - National Sorry Day Prayer Service @ 9.00am

29th - St Joseph's College Lighthouse Program

30th - Assembly @ 2:45pm - 1/2B presenting

31st - Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary

June

2nd - Parents and Friends Meeting - 7.00pm

3rd - Division Cross Country

5th - District Winter Sports

6th - School Closure Day

9th - King's Birthday Holiday

12th - Regional Cross Country

12th - St Joseph's Lighthouse Expo

12th - Review Dialogue and Engagement

13th - St John's First Aid Course Yr 3-6 students

16th - First Eucharist Reflection Day

20th - Assembly 2:45pm - 1/2JM presenting

22nd - Sacrament of First Eucharist @ 11am

24th - St John the Baptist Feast Day

27th - SJB Family Camping Weekend

27th - St Joseph's & Mater Christi College Taster Days - Year 4 students

Uniform Shop

Its been a busy couple of weeks in the 2nd Hand Uniform shop, but I hope to have a stocklist completed this week. If you have any official SJB uniform items that your children no longer need, please consider donating them to the 2nd Hand Uniform shop. We are running low on size 8s and 10s in particular. Donations can be left at the office at a time that is convenient to you.

Canteen News

Open on Wednesdays & Fridays

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.

Canteen Roster - Term 2

Friday May 9th

Brianna Lawson

Amy Chan

Emma Jenkins

Friday May 16th

Cassandra Croning

Nelson Serrao

Friday May 23rd

Anna Kristof

Rients Huitema

St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter