Dear Parents & Carers,

A warm welcome back to another year at Parramatta East PS. A special welcome to all our new families that have joined us this year. We trust that everyone had an enjoyable and restful holiday and have settled back into the school routine.

Due to fluctuating numbers we have had to maintain a ‘holding pattern’ to determine our classes.  I’m pleased to say that we have been able to form our classes effective Monday, 17^th February, 2025 with some slight changes.

As part of this we will have four composite classes. 

In primary schools, classes are organised in a variety of ways. Composite classes are one such type that may be used within schools as part of the class planning for a school year. Composite classes are commonly found in all schools, yet this structure can be quite different to a parent’s expectation for class structures because of their own experience of schooling.

All classes within a school will include a range of ages and ability. From Kindergarten, children can be enrolled at any age between 4 ½ years and 6 years of age, a difference of 18 months. Such an age range continues throughout schooling regardless of the class structure. Classes which include two or more year levels have traditionally been called composite classes. In recent times, these classes have also been labelled stage-based, multi-age or family classes.

There are two reasons why composite classes will be formed instead of, or in addition to, parallel/straight classes:

Administrative - the NSW Department of Education’s (DoE’s) state-wide school staffing formula is applied to a school’s enrolment data, informing a school as to how many staff will be appointed to that school. Students in Years K-2 attract a higher “staffing allocation” than Years 3- 6 classes. This enables schools to keep classes smaller in the K-2 classes. According to the number of students in each year group, classes will be formed to maintain the smaller class sizes whilst also meeting, not exceeding, the staffing allocation provided by the DoE.

Educational - classes are formed on the basis of educational rationale which include social, emotional and academic needs of students, teaching styles which best suit each child and the types of programs available within a school for different learning needs.

At Parramatta East Public School we take into account both of these reasons when forming our composite classes.

Below is a list of our staff and class names for 2025.

Executive Staff

Principal: Justine Miller

Deputy Principal: Julianne Smith

Rel. Deputy Principal (Wednesday)/ APCI: Will Carr

Rel. APCI: Shalona Goundar (Wednesday)

Assistant Principal (Kindergarten): Simone Gronau

Assistant Principal (Stage 1): Irena Kraljevic

Assistant Principal (Stage 2): Leah Andrews

Assistant Principal (Stage 3): Matthew Teasdale

Class Teachers

K/1 Gilbanung: Simone Gronau (AP), Suzanne Humble (Thursday)

K Gunalung: Maryanne Abouchanab

K Burudyara: Suzanne Humble (Monday), Juolin Baird (Tues-Friday)

K Gunyagunya: Helen Moraitis

1 Burra: Eleanor Lewis

1 Gula: Mirabelle Youssef

1/2 Gudugulung: Irena Kraljevic (AP), Suzanne Humble (Friday) 

2 Bubug: Mani Malik

2 Gunggung: Dean Willis

3 Warin: Samanth Palmer

3 Dingoo: Leah Adams

3/4 Murawung: Leah Andrews (AP), Jeremy Yeo (Thursday)

4 Wombady: Andrew Kim

4/5 Windradyne:  Matthew Teasdale (AP), Jeremy Yeo (Tuesday)

5 Baludarri: Shalona Goundar (Rel AP C & I), Jeremy Yeo (Wednesday)

5 Goolagong: Ciara Timoney

6 Freeman:  Kirrilly Dabinett (Mon-Thursday), Jeremy Yeo (Friday)

6 Pemulwuy: Zachary Gee

Specialist Teachers

Johanna Urzua

Taran Harvey

Helen Mostris

Kate Kovac

Anjulie Allan

Jennifer Petersen

Kallie Smith

Alex Lai

Emma Benson

Jillian Devine 

SASS Staff

School Administrative Manager: Tracey Jacka

School Administrative Officers:

Rebecca Giddy

Kelly Crawley

School Learning Support Officers:

Catherine Saddik

Dalia Maroun

Leanne Bohannon

Narelle Giddy

Macy Leong

Ali Oliver

Chantal Adams-Ayoub

General Assistants:

Greg Roy

School Psychologists: Lini Lomov (Thursday)

Stephanie OHare (Monday)

Each year the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) is sat by students in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Students will participate in tests for writing, reading, conventions of language (spelling, grammar and punctuation) and numeracy.

NAPLAN 2025 will take place from Wednesday 12 March to Monday 24 March.

The Testing Dates at PEPS Are:

Wednesday 12th March

Year 3 & Year 5 Writing (9:30-10:30am)

Thursday 13th March

Year 3 & Year 5 Reading (11:45am-12:45pm)

Friday 14th March

Year 3 & Year 5 Language Conventions (9:30-10:30am)

Monday 17th March

Year 3 & Year 5 Numeracy (9:30-10:30am)

For stduents who are absent on the date of the assessment, catch-up testing will occur once they have arrived back at school.

NAPLAN is just one part of our school’s learning assessment program. The tests assess literacy and numeracy skills your child is already learning at school, so the best preparation is their everyday classroom learning. Our school will also undertake activities to help students become familiar with the types of questions and tools available in the online tests.

The public demonstration site (https://www.nap.edu.au/online-assessment/publicdemonstration-site) is available for you to see the format of the online tests.

Further information about NAPLAN is available on the NESA website (https://www.nsw.gov.au/education-and-training/nesa/naplan) and the NAP website (https://www.nap.edu.au/naplan/for-parents-carers). If you have any questions about NAPLAN, please contact the school office.

For any families intending to apply for entry into a Selective High School for Year 7 2026 or Opportunity Class for Year 5 2026, please see below the application guides and timelines for those applications.

If you have further questions about this process, please contact Mr Teasdale for Selective High School inquiries and Miss Andrews for Opportunity Class inquiries.

To register your application, click below.

Welcome to 2025. It has been a fun week in 1/2 Gudugulung getting to know each other. We have had some laughs and have enjoyed hearing about each other's summer holidays. We had some rainy afternoons which prevented us from going outside for sport. Luckily Mrs Kraljevic has some pool noodles and we have learnt a new sport called Cardio drumming to music. Here are some pictures of our class in action. We are all looking forward to a great year of learning together. 

It has been a busy and exciting start to the year in 3/4 Murawung!

The perfect opportunity to begin our writing came on 10 February, when just after recess the storm rolled over. We watched as the buildings in Parramatta's CBD disappeared and reappeared, the rain was swept sideways by the strong winds, trees swayed and lightning flashes quickly appeared in the sky. This was an exciting moment as our model text in writing is set in a storm also. 

We have welcomed Roary (the lion) in our room, who has joined us for our learning across all subjects. Roary, Samson and Edward (the emu) sat with our class as they completed some of their learning. 

Dear families,

It its important to remember that road rules and parking guides are in place to increase the safety of all road users including vulnerable pedestrians and accommodate the various needs of residents, school communities and local business. Motorists are required to always park and drive legally.

To encourage safe road user behaviour around schools, Transport for NSW have created new School safety fact sheets that offer families advice on:

• Holding your child's hand
• Walking safely together to and from school
• Children’s and supervised crossings
• Driving and parking safely near schools
• 40km/h school zones
• Driving safely near school buses
• Keeping your child safe in and out of vehicles
• Keeping your child safe when driving to and from school
• Wearing helmets and riding safely
• Helping your child around buses
• Seatbelt safety on the bus - primary students

The fact sheets can be downloaded from the Centre for Road Safety website Safety around schools | Transport for NSW section.