Dear Parents and Carers,

The team at Parramatta East PS have the needs of every student at our school at the forefront of their minds every day that they turn up to work. This is not just limited to our teaching staff, but also our support staff, admin staff, our General Assistants, School Counsellor and more.

As part of the New South Wales Department of Education we operate under a Charter of Dignity and Respect. Equally as important is the School Community Charter which we take very seriously. I have attached the School Community Charter to this message.

Being a parent myself, I understand that instinctively, we want to protect our children and believe everything that they tell us. I also know as both an educator and a parent, that our children do not always tell us the full story of something that may have happened for a multitude of reasons.

If your child comes home from school and recounts something that has happened during the school day that concerns you, could I ask that you either ring or email the school asking for a meeting with the classroom teacher in the first instance, at a mutually convenient time, to address any concerns that you may have. If you are for any reason not satisfied with the response, the appropriate action is that you then ask for a meeting with the Assistant Principal of that grade, then onto the Deputy Principal and then the Principal.

Please remember that there are always two sides to every story.

I need to say categorically, that speaking to staff members in a way that contravenes the School Community Charter will not be tolerated. As such, some parents and carers may find that a meeting or telephone conversation is cut short and reconvened at a later date when this charter can be adhered to by all parties concerned.

Today I had a conversation with a parent from our school who was very concerned about the safety of students alighting from vehicles on the traffic side of the road with their parents.

This parent has had children at Parramatta East PS for 11 years and was so concerned about the multiple times she had seen these close calls, that she wanted to offer her services, voluntarily, to walk around the perimeter of the school talking to students and parents about safety.

Whilst I appreciated her concern, and I must say that I share the same concerns, I declined her offer and we finished our conversation with both of us saying that we hoped that Parramatta East PS didn't make it to the media for the wrong reasons of a child being hit by a car because the appropriate cautions were not adhered to when their parents/carers dropped them off or picked them up from school.

Can I implore you, please, to adhere to the basic safety rules when dropping off and picking up your children. Like the parent I spoke to today, I have seen and been advised of so many close calls, that I truly believe it will only be a matter of time before there is a very serious accident involving one of our students and a car outside our school.

Whilst I am on the topic of safety, can I please ask you to speak to your children regarding the riding of bikes and scooters inside the school grounds. We had a situation last week where a child was injured, albeit accidentally, by a child riding a scooter inside the school grounds. Under no circumstances are students to ride a bike or scooter on school grounds, whether accompanied by a parent or not. Should your child be caught riding their bikes or scooters on the school grounds they will be banned from doing so for an extended period of time.

Dear Parents and Carers,

This year, instead of our usual Parent-Teacher interview format, we are conducting Parent-Teacher-Student goal setting interviews. These interviews invite students into the conversation about their learning and allow them to share with parents their learning achievements and goals.

How are Goal Setting Interviews different to Parent-Teacher interviews?

Goal setting interviews involve the student in the discussion about their growth/progress as a learner. The student can provide information to clarify what they have learnt, what the next steps are in their learning and what progress they are making towards this.

Why Goal Setting Interviews?

Goal Setting Interviews provide a student voice to discussions about performance and progress. They place the student at the heart of the assessment and reporting process. We believe this new format allows us to strengthen the home-school partnership and allows children to see their parents and teacher working together for them.

How do Goal Setting Interviews work?

The teacher facilitates and guides the student/parent through the process. Throughout the interview, parents and the teacher are encouraged to ask questions, provide feedback and encouragement to the student, share their thoughts and ideas on what is being presented and discuss what goals or targets they think are appropriate.

In short, goal setting interviews provide a forum for teachers, students and parents to acknowledge student progress and achievement. They are a valuable avenue for involving parents and students in the learning process. The goal setting interview has benefits for teachers, parents, students and the school.

When are the Goal Setting Interviews happening?

The Goal Setting Interviews will occur on the following afternoons/evenings.

Sessions are 15-minutes long and run back-to-back. For this reason, please ensure you arrive on time.

How should I prepare for the Goal Setting Interview?

Attached to this message you will find a goal setting reflection form (Your child will also get a paper copy of this note). We ask parents to help their children to reflect on their learning and consider what their strengths are and in which areas they would like to develop this year. We ask that these forms are returned to the classroom teacher by Wednesday 27^th March. The teacher will bring this along to the interview to help direct the discussion and goal setting.

How to book

How do I book in?

We are using Microsoft Bookings to book interviews this year. Click the link below to book in a time with your child's teacher.  https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/ParramattaEastPublicSchool1@schoolsnsw.
 onmicrosoft.com/bookings/

1. Choose your child's class from the list (Click 'Show more services' if you can't see your child's class at first)

1. Select the date you wish to book for. This will bring up the March calendar by default, so you will need to click the right arrow to get to April.
    
2. Select a time slot that works for you.
   
   
3. Fill out your information in the contact form. NOTE: The attending parent's name goes in the 'First and Last Name' box. If there are two parents attending, write both names (e.g. 'John and Jane Smith'). Your child's name can be entered in the 'Child's Name' box at the bottom.
   

Don't forget to press Book!!

Easter

Just over a week to go until the Easter Raffle is drawn at the Easter Hat Parade.  Make sure you purchase your tickets to be in the running to win one of the hampers on offer.  Ticket purchases will close on Monday 25 March 2024.  Please make sure that you have put your child’s name and class on the form and on any payments made.

We are still collecting Easter egg donations so if you are wanting to contribute, please do so by Monday 25 March 2024.

Please note that the Easter Bun orders closed on Friday 15 March 2024 and orders received after this date will not be processed.

Community Cookbook

Thank you to all the parents who attended the P&C’s Community Cookbook discussion.  The discussion was extremely positive and great progress was made.  We will shortly be launching the Cookbook idea to the community and will be looking for student and the wider community input.  Keep a look out for the notices.

As always please feel free to reach out to the P&C at ppe.pandc@gmail.com

On Thursday 14 March we headed off down to Netball Central in Sydney Olympic Park to have our last combined choir rehearsal of over 600 students ready for our performance at night.

We had a daytime rehearsal going through all our songs, and then moved down to the Ken Rosewall Arena where were in the second top row ready to perform. We listen to the tracks for the music through earbuds on radios so we can hear when the musicians are playing and hear our conductor talking to us. We also had some torches and light up sticks to use, and some choralography of torch and hand movements to learn. One of our favourite items was learning Auslan for the song Firefly to sing along with the featured Signing Choir.

We were so excited to perform at night and see the songs, dances and lights all come together for a fantastic show. We also loved being the audience for a bit watching the marching band, circus performers and drama groups. Some of us saw the high school students performing in the principal choir and as featured vocalists and were amazed at their talents and skills.

Thank you so much to our parents and carers for getting us to and from our big rehearsals at Sydney Olympic Park, Mrs Adams and Miss Lewis for their twice-weekly lunchtime rehearsals and to our family for coming to see us perform. We had a ball and you couldn't wipe the smiles off our faces all night!

Year 6 Choir students

On Wednesday 6th March, students from Parramatta East Public School were lucky enough to attend the Zone Swimming Carnival at Merrylands Pools. We were one of the many schools in the Parramatta / Merrylands PSSA Zone who had some strong competitors ready to take on the water on a nice warm day! Students from our school participated in a number of races with some talented swimmers in every race for their age group. It was lovely to have almost all parents of the swimmers who attended, come and watch the students participate and cheer them on.
Congratulations to Aria Gross who has made it to the next level and will attend the Regional Swimming Carnival at Sydney Olympic Park next Thursday 28th March. We wish you all the best and look forward to hearing how you went!

We hope that more Parramatta East Public School students can join us at the Zone Swimming Carnival next year - brush up your strokes ready for next year!

The eels of 1 Burra have been swimming along this term learning about a variety of strategies we can use to combine (add) and separate (subtract) quantities.

We have called these our mathematical 'tools' and draw them from our 'toolbox' when solving problems.
We have looked at using lots of visual models like tens frames (a saw), drawing (a pencil), a number line (a screwdriver), symbols for a number sentence (a hammer) as well as using objects to model our thinking (bolts) and explaining how this would be used in the real world ( a drill).

We have enjoyed adding these tools to our toolbox, and becoming proficient at showing our thinking in multiple ways. Have a look at the photos of how we have solved some problems of quantities below

Miss Lewis and the eels of 1 Burra

K Red have been busy reading many books during Term 1. As part of our writing unit, students are required to say a full sentence that is relevant to the book we are reading for the week. One book we have read and ties in well with Harmony Day was "All Are Welcome" by Alexandra Penfold and Suzanne Kaufman. Students had to tell the teacher how they make someone feel welcome and draw some pictures related to this idea.