St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

Welcome to the 2023 school year.  We hope that all families enjoyed wonderful Christmas and New Year celebrations, as well as a terrific holiday period. For those who were travelling to be reunited with loved ones after extended periods of time without seeing each other, we hope that your time together was greatly enjoyed.  It was terrific to once again be able to enjoy time with family and friends in more ‘normal’ circumstances.

As a staff we officially commenced the school year on Friday 27th January. Whilst the first day of the school year was Friday, many of 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.

This year we welcome the return of a number of dedicated and committed St John the Baptist staff who are well known to the parish and school communities.  We also welcome new staff members to the St John the Baptist community.  We warmly welcome Karen Joustra - 1/2J, John Mitchell - Physical Education & 1/2J, Wayne Daniell - 3/4D and Melissa Davey - 1/2D. We also welcome Andrea Hayman - in the role of Administration Finance  who commenced with St John’s in Term 4 2022.  We have a wonderful mix of staff with experience, new learnings and expertise in education.  All of this makes for exciting opportunities to collaborate, learn and grow with and from each other, whilst always ensuring that best practice is in place for our students.

In 2023 Ursula De Corrado returns to her role of Deputy Principal, Learning and Teaching Leader and Literacy Leader. Jo Stoica will continue to lead in the area of Learning Diversity.  We thank Ursula and Jo for all of their outstanding work throughout 2022. As Principal of St John the Baptist, I am excited to work in partnership with Ursula, Jo, the staff, parish and school communities to continue building on such a wonderful and vibrant faith community.

It was wonderful to meet many members of the school community on Monday as everyone entered school for the first day of the year. My thanks to all members of our school community for extending such a warm welcome to the staff and myself. I am looking forward to working with the staff, parents, students and Father Thomas in continuing to build on the wonderful community already in place at St John the Baptist. I must say, I know exactly how our Preps felt on their first day!! A mixture of nervous excitement and anticipation of what is to come as we start our new journey at school.  I look forward to learning and growing with our students and community as we create the next chapter at St John the Baptist School.

We invite all families to join us for the Beginning of School Year mass to be celebrated on Friday 10th February, at 11:00am.

In 2022 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. 

Congratulations to our 36 Preps who commenced their first day of school yesterday.  You were outstanding!!  Starting school is a big step. It is completely normal to feel a little overwhelmed and nervous on your first day - I know how you all felt!!  We wish you all the best for a wonderful start to school at St John’s and look forward to seeing you grow, flourish and shine throughout your seven years.

Prep rest days: A friendly reminder that the following Wednesdays are ‘Rest Days’ for our Preps. Wednesday 1st February, Wednesday 8th February and Wednesday 15th February.

Our Preps will commence full time at school from Monday 20th February

It was terrific to be able to welcome new families to the St John’s community and to get to meet some of our current families at Monday’s Parent Cuppa session in the hall.  I look forward to getting to know our parent community as the year progresses.  Home/school partnerships play a pivotal role in vibrant school communities.  

A big thank you to our Parents and Friends committee in extending a warm welcome and preparing the morning cuppa.  

School assemblies will be held throughout the school year. Assemblies will be held on Monday afternoons at 2:30pm 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.

The first assembly of the school year will be held on Monday 6th February.  We look forward to presenting our Year 6 students with their Year 6 jackets at this assembly.

The St John’s teacher Meet and Greet will be held on Tuesday 7th and Wednesday 8th February between 3:30-6:00 pm each night.  This is an opportunity for parents to meet with their child’s teacher to share insights into their child and commence our home/school partnership for the year. Each level will send home a discussion starter sheet for families to complete together and bring to the Meet and Greet session. We highly recommend students attending the meet and greet as this is a great way to model open communication between home and school to students.  Additionally, it provides students with an opportunity and voice to communicate what they are hoping to achieve throughout their school year. 

Parents are able to book their Meet and Greet time via our booking system SOBS - https://sobs.com.au/pt3/parent.php?schoolid=655

The bookings will open tomorrow, Wednesday February 1st at 9.30am.

The Year 5/6 Camp to Camp Rumbug in Foster is fast approaching. Our Year 5/6 students will depart for camp on Monday 13th February and return to school on Wednesday 15th February.

We ask that families please respond promptly to camp correspondence to assist staff with planning and preparation.

Further details in regard to camp will be communicated to families in the coming days.

Swimming squad training is scheduled to commence Monday 6th February at St Joseph’s Secondary College.  The dates for swimming squad are Monday 6th, Monday 13th and Monday 20th February from 8:00am - 8:30am.  Communication regarding the swimming squad has been distributed to interested students in Years 3-6 by our PE teacher Mr John Mitchell in the coming days.

Families requiring uniform items can either order items through the school online portal - www.flexischools.com.au or download the app (see below).

For families wishing to try uniform items or purchase from the uniform shop the shop will be open on Monday mornings from 8:30am and Friday afternoons from 2:30pm. 

Skoolbag app is a simple and effective way to communicate school information with families.

As a school we will use the Skoolbag app to communicate reminders and events occurring throughout the school.

We ask that families install the Skoolbag app on their phones and then add St John the Baptist School. Information on how to add the Skoolbag app and St John the Baptist School can be found below.

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

January

27th      Staff commence 2023 school year

30th      Students commence 2023 school year

30th      Prep students 1pm finish

31st      Prep students 1pm finish

February

2nd     Preps full days

6th      Swimming Squad St Joseph’s Secondary College 8:00am - 9:00am

6th      School Assembly - School Hall 2:30pm

7th      Meet and Greet - 3:30-6:00pm

8th      Meet and Greet - 3:30-6:00pm

8th      Prep Rest Day

10th      Beginning of School Year Mass 11:00am

10th      Twilight on the Green 5:30pm

13th      Swimming Squad St Joseph’s Secondary College 8:00am - 9:00am

13th      Year 5/6 Camp Rumbug

15th      Year 5/6s return from camp

15th      Prep Rest Day

20th      Swimming Squad St Joseph’s Secondary College 8:00am - 9:00am

20th      Preps full time at school

20th      School Assembly - School Hall 2:30pm

21st      Shrove Tuesday

22nd      Ash Wednesday Mass 9:15am

24th      School Athletics Day - Knox Athletics Track

Please note the first day orders will be taken in the Canteen this year is Wednesday February 15th.  Orders can be placed via www.flexischools.com.au

Come along to the Mountain Gate Tennis Club Community Day on Sunday 12 February from 9am to 1pm at Reta Matthews Reserve, FTG. Lots of free activities on and off the courts including a small animal farm, jumping castle, face painting, serving speed radar, sausage sizzle, prizes and hourly give-aways. Meet our new coach James (0447 943 842), have a hit and watch our emergency services teams battle it out on court at 12pm. Any enquiries, contact Brendan on 0418 506 073.