Dear parents and carers,

Welcome back to Term 2! I trust you all had a safe and enjoyable school holiday break. There are plenty of things to look forward to this term, so please take some time to check the calendar and ensure any relevant dates are in your diaries!

Happy Mother's Day

Our students at PEPS are fortunate to have such wonderful mothers, gradmothers, aunts and mother-figures in their lives. This weekend we hope that the kids make all of the mums feel appreciated - perhaps with a breakfast in bed, a bit of 'mum-time', or a surprise or two from the PEPS Mother's Day stall!

From the PEPS staff, we wish you all a very happy Mother's Day. Thank you for all the work you do in raising such fine young children!

Cross Country

Due to the ongoing wet weather, our 3-6 cross country carnival has been postponed to next week. At this stage, we aim to have our 3-6 cross country races on Tuesday 14th May and our K-2 cross country races on Wednesday 15th May. Parents are welcome to come along and cheer on their child!

PEPS Cookbook

Our dedicated P&C have had the wonderful idea to put together a PEPS Cookbook with recipes from our community. The aim is to have 75 recipes for 75 years of PEPS. We would love for you to consider a recipe that you may be able to contribute to the cookbook - it doesn't have to be anything fancy! More info about this can be found in the P&C news later in this newsletter.

75th Birthday Celebration

Last week all students received a note with some details about our 75th birthday celebrations later this year. In order for events like these to be successful, it takes the efforts of many volunteers! We will be sending out more information about the 75th birthday celebration in the coming weeks and months, including opportunities to be involved. At this stage, it would be a great idea to block out the date Friday 20th September so that you can bring the family to join in the fun!

Lost Property

We are now in that time of year where jumpers are necessary in the mornings but often taken off throughout the day as the weather warms up or children run about. Every year at the start of Term 2 we notice a mountain of misplaced jumpers arrive in lost property. If a lost jumper has a name clearly written on it, the jumper is returned to the student. However, many jumpers are either unlabelled or the label is so worn that it can not be read. Please take a moment this week to check that all of your child's belongings are labelled, especially items that are easily misplaced such as jumpers and hats.

Kindergarten 2025 - Enrol Now!

We are now accepting enrolments for Kindergarten 2025. We ask that you enrol your child/ren ASAP as the Department of Education require our anticipated enrolment numbers and so we can continue to plan for our transition to Kindy program which will occur later this year.

If you know of any friends or community members that live in our catchment area and are looking to enrol their child/ren in Kindergarten 2025 at Parramatta East PS please pass this information onto them. We look forward to welcoming you and your child/ren to Parramatta East Public School for Kindergarten 2025.

Please check our boundaries for in area enrolments for Parramatta East PS by entering your home address into NSW Public School finder. See the link below

 https://my.education.nsw.gov.au/school-finder

Please see the link below for the enrolment policy from the Department of Education.

https://education.nsw.gov.au/content/dam/main-education/public-schools/going-to-a-public-school/media/documents/changes-to-the-enrolment-policy-for-parents.pdf​

I look forward to another exciting term at PEPS!

Kind Regards,

Justine Miller

Opportunity classes are just one of the ways that NSW Department of Education support our high potential and gifted students. The classes are offered in Years 5 and 6, with parents/carers applying when their child is in Year 4. Opportunity classes provide an environment where students can learn and make friends with classmates of similar ability. This can benefit students’ academic progress and wellbeing. Opportunity classes are not zoned.

Opportunity Class Placement Test Applications for opportunity class placement are considered on the results of the Opportunity Class Placement Test. Students who wish to be considered for placement are required to sit the Opportunity Class Placement Test on Thursday 1 August 2024.

How to apply

• Parents/carers apply online between Thursday 4 April and Monday 20 May 2024 at: education.nsw.gov.au/oc
• You must use your own email address and not one belonging to your child.
• You must submit only one application for each child.
• Late applications are not usually accepted. If you do not have internet access you can apply at a public library or at your child’s school. If you have a disability that prevents you from using a computer, you can contact the Selective Education Unit for assistance after 4 April 2024.

Parents/carers apply online between Thursday 4 April and Monday 20 May 2024 at: education.nsw.gov.au/oc  

Our P&C Meeting for June will be held via Microsoft Teams on Monday 20th May at 7:00pm. We hope to see lots of new faces!

Join the meeting using this link: https://teams.microsoft.com/l/meetup-join/19%3ameeting_MmNhNmNkZGUtZWY0MS00YzJiLWI4NmMtZmMyZGY2N2NkOGM1%40thread.v2/0?context=%7b%22Tid%22%3a%2205a0e69a-418a-47c1-9c25-9387261bf991%22%2c%22Oid%22%3a%2204b20302-f089-4f79-901f-38fb82a4c8eb%22%7d

Cookbook

A reminder to the school community that submissions are being accepted for both the recipes for inclusion in the cookbook and designs for the cover art. The P&C are hoping to get 75 recipes from across the school community for the 75 year anniversary cookbook.  Thank you to the members of the community that have sent through their recipes so far. 

If you are experiencing any difficulties using the template form for your recipe, please simply send through photos of the recipe and the recipe can be formatted for you. If you have a recipe but no image, we would still love for you to submit just the recipe!

Submissions and any questions can be sent to pepscookbook@gmail.com

See previous notice below for more details

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On the back of the exciting news that the school has announced regarding the 75^th Birthday Celebrations to be held at the school, the P&C are organising the release of a School Community Cookbook to commemorate the occasion and to acknowledge and celebrate the wonderful cultural diversity that we have at the school.

The P&C is looking for the school community to get involved in this amazing cookbook project. 

WAYS TO GET INVOLVED

1. Contribute a recipe for inclusion in the cookbook.

The cookbook will be separated into Entrees, Mains, Desserts, Snacks.  We are seeking a variety of recipes to represent the school’s cultural diversity.

Attached is the recipe template form.  Should you wish to contribute a recipe for inclusion in the Cookbook, please complete the form and send the completed form and photographs to pepscookbook@gmail.com. To assist in the formatting of the cookbook, recipes submitted in the template form are more likely to be included in the final book. The template has been emailed to all parents today, Tuesday 9^th April.

Recipes need to be submitted by Friday 17 May 2024.

Whilst we hope to include all recipes in the Cookbook, logistically this may not be possible, and some recipes may not make the final copy of the Cookbook.

2. Contribute towards the cover design for the Cookbook

Each student at the school is welcome to submit a design or image, no larger than A4 size, to feature on the cover of the Cookbook.  The image or design is to relate to any of the following themes: food, family, friends, culture, or PEPS.

The image or design must be text-free and can be a free-drawn image, designed on the computer or be a photographic image.

Submissions can be emailed to pepscookbook@gmail.com and must be received by Friday 17 May 2024.

3. Purchase a Cookbook

Whether you wish to buy one for your family, or purchase them as gifts, show your support for the school community and have a keepsake for this special event.

Further details on how to pre-order your copy of the Cookbook, along with the price, will be circulated in Term 2, so keep an eye out.

Should you have any questions regarding this project, please contact the Cookbook Committee at pepscookbook@gmail.com.

From the PEPS P&C

The students of 2Bubug have been using their mathematical skills to draw and identify the features of 2D shapes. During class, they explored Tangram puzzles and then used their knowledge of shapes to combine and create captivating pictures and patterns with geometric pieces. The students visualised and planned their designs, making strategic decisions about which shapes to use and how to arrange them to achieve their desired outcome. Take a look at the pictures of their fabulous creations.

Our students in Stage 2 who are part of the New Arrivals Program have been learning about Australian foods, animals and cities by studying the book "Possum Magic" by Mem Fox. They have also been teaching each other about foods, animals and cities from their countries of birth through investigating information reports and rewriting the story of "Possum Magic" to include food and places from around the world. We celebrated the end of Term 1 with a food feast, tasting Australian foods such as ANZAC biscuits, lamingtons, pavlova and Vegemite sandwiches. Everyone gave a thumbs up for ANZAC biscuits...but Vegemite received thumbs down! It is certainly an acquired taste! Students also brought food from India and Saudi Arabia to share with the group, learning about how to eat food with cutlery or with hands and enjoying different flavoured cuisines. It was a wonderful way to develop mutual intercultural understanding while improving English skills, which are crucial in the first 12 months of a student's arrival in an Australian school

5 Baludarri have had a fantastic start to the term. For writing this term we have started diving deep into the world of informative texts. We have explored the quality texts The First Scientists and How to Make a Bird to introduce the topic of informative texts. To delve deeper into these texts students have investigated Indigenous engineering such as fish traps and bush ovens. To understand the importance of clear instructions students followed along in creating their own birds through drawing and making origami birds. As the term continues, 5 Baludarri will aim to create a game and an informative text in the form of a set of instructions for the game. We’re excited to see the informative masterpieces our students will create as they continue to make progress in this writing unit.