St John the Baptist Ferntree Gully Newsletter

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. Patrick preached and converted all of Ireland for 40 years. He worked many miracles and wrote of his love for God in Confessions. One of the reasons we wear green on St. Patrick's Day is because of Ireland's nickname, The Emerald Isle. The green stripe in the Irish flag also played a role.

Good luck to all students competing in the Regional Swimming Competition this Friday. It is a wonderful achievement to make it through to regionals. Enjoy every moment of the day and know that we are exceptionally proud of you all.

Preparations are underway for the St John the Baptist Athletics Day at Knox Athletics Track (Bunjil Way, Knoxfield). The Year 3-6 students will be at the track for the full day and the Prep-2 students will be at the track from approximately 10am - 1:30pm.  Mr Mitchell is currently working with students to prepare for a day of fun. We invite families to join us for a day of colour and fun!!

Parents who are available to assist on Athletics Day are asked to email Mr John Mitchell to inform him of their availability.

John’s email address is - jmitchell@sjferntreegully.catholic.edu.au

As in all industries Professional Learning is important, as this provides new learning, new insights, learning from others, along with reenergising and revitalising, which nurtures us to work towards improvement and excellence.

This Tuesday and Wednesday Jo Stoica, Kathryn Forbes, Ursula De Corrado and myself will attend two days of Professional Learning with a number of MACS Schools working on how to use data to inform and direct school improvement outcomes. The days will be led by Bradley Geise an international educational consultant who specialises in using Data for Continuous School Improvement.  

We look forward to two days of learning as a team and implementing our learning at St John’s.

We are very excited to partner with Marty and Carly McGauran from Inform and Empower. Marty is a qualified teacher and educational consultant in the area of ICT and Digital Learning. His sister, Carly is a psychologist with over 20 years experience working with children, adolescents and adults.  Marty and Carly work together to provide insightful, practical and engaging presentations to support students and families in navigating the digital world that our children are growing up in.

Partnering with Inform and Empower will provide our students with the opportunity to participate in termly live streamed incursions that align with the curriculum, are developmentally appropriate for children and aligned with eSafety’s Best Practice Framework for Online Safety Education

NAPLAN continues this week for students in Years 3 and 5.

The National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is an annual national assessment for all students in Years 3, 5, 7, and 9, and is the only nationwide assessment that all Australian children undertake.

It’s a measure to see whether or not young Australians are developing the literacy and numeracy skills that provide the critical foundation for other learning, and for their productive and rewarding participation in the community.

The NAPLAN assessment period will commence Wednesday 15th March and conclude Monday 27th March. The Year 3 and 5 students will commence their NAPLAN program with Writing, followed by Reading, Conventions of Language and then conclude with Numeracy.

We wish all students the best as they undertake the NAPLAN assessments.  We know that all students will try their very best in each of the NAPLAN assessments. Good luck everyone, we know you will be terrific.

As we approach the end of the term families will receive communication from Jo Stoica - Learning Diversity Leader, in relation to making time for a PSG meeting.  PSGs are an opportunity to review and reflect on the goals set in student Personalised Learning Plans for the term, to celebrate student growth and set goals for Term 2.

At St John the Baptist School we strongly value the partnerships developed at PSG Meetings dedicating time and the release of teachers through CRT employment to run such meetings.

We thank everyone involved for their commitment and partnership in supporting our students in their learning journeys.

Thank you to Matt Cann for supporting the school with solving a water leak problem. We greatly appreciate Matt’s time and expertise in finding a solution to the problem.

Would you like to know more about how to help your child/ren with their reading and writing development? Are you interested in being a classroom helper?

We warmly welcome all parents to join one of the Literacy information/parent helper sessions.

Session 1: 9:00am

Session 2: 2:15pm

Click here for link to - Natural Lemon Vinegar Cleaner

The inaugural Dymocks Beyond Words Creative Writing Competition is being held.  This competition is designed for primary and high school-aged children and aims to promote creative writing and recognise the efforts of young writers. This is a unique opportunity for all Australian wordsmiths to be recognised, with judging criteria assessing both the technical writing of the student as well as storytelling (artistic merit of the writer's idea). Dymocks believe in the power of reading and writing to inspire and transform lives. They are passionate about nurturing the next generation of writers and helping them unleash their creativity and potential.

With a prize pool of $15,500, this competition is the largest prize pool for a youth writing competition in Australia! The prize pool is funded by Dymocks Books and Dymocks Tutoring with a first place prize of $5,000 and second place prize of $2,000. Additional prize categories include: Shortlisted: $500 to 8 shortlist candidates First Nations Prize: $1,000 EALD Prize: $1,000 Regional Prize: $1,000Greater Western Sydney Prize: $1,000Youth Winner: $500 for an under 13 winner

So, encourage your young storyteller to get started today.

To find out more - Click here!

March

22nd     School Advisory Council - 7pm start

25th     Parish Trivia Night

27th     Athletics Day

30th    Sacrament of Reconciliation

April

2nd     Daylight Savings Finishes

3rd    Assembly 3/4G

6th     Holy Week Prayer Service

6th    Term 1 concludes at 2.00pm

24th     School Closure Day - Faith in Education Focus

25th     ANZAC Day - School Closure

26th     Term 2 commences

26th     P&F Meeting at 7.00pm

May

1st    Inform and Empower Year 1/2 Online lesson

2nd     School Photos - Full Winter Uniform

2nd     Inform and Empower Year 3/4 Online lesson

4th     Parent Information & Helper session - 9.00am & 2.15pm

5th     First Friday Mass

8th     Inform and Empower Year 5/6 Online lesson

8th     Assembly 3/4D

9th    Mother's Day Stall

10th    First Eucharist Family Evening

Canteen orders can be placed via www.flexischools.com.au

Orders must be placed no later than 7.30am on the Wednesday or Friday.