Dear School Community Members,

Recently we have been supporting some students and their families managing the use of screen time and the appropriate use of the opportunities available online. With this in mind, I encourage all families to invest time into setting their children up for success in relation to their use of their device, screen time and online opportunities.

Last year I attended a conference where the keynote presentation was delivered by Susan McLean. Susan has spent the last 22 years sharing her stories, knowledge and expertise to keep kids cyber safe. Below is my learning from Susan’s session that may assist families when working with their children in managing screen time:

By the age of 11, the majority of boys have had multiple exposures to Pornographic images and clips
YouTube is one of the most popular platforms for primary age children and 90% of 9 year old children have had exposure to ‘inappropriate’ material on YouTube
The internet minute – it is staggering to see the snapshot of what happens on the internet in a minute. See link:

https://www.socialmediatoday.com/news/what-happens-on-the-internet-every-minute-2023-version-infographic/702631/

Primary aged children don’t know life without technology or a ‘device’ free world
Devices and technology are here to stay so adults need to learn to embrace ‘it’ with a balance
Families are advised to develop their technology (device) agreements underpinned by the 3 R’s – Respect, Responsibility and Reputation
Primary aged children should never be allowed to take their device into their bedroom or bathroom
Families are often not aware of the impact technology and devices have on their children’s quality of sleep – quality sleep is the only time our body and mind ‘repair’
52% of requests for nude photos comes from someone they don’t know
If kids perceive you don’t like technology, they will never come to you when they have a problem online
Kids will make mistakes on technology – don’t ignore these mistakes, but education and forgiveness is the best response
“Parents need to parent” – it is OK to insist our children have a balance with socialisation by providing opportunities to “play at the original Playstation”

Next week we will share some possible Technology agreements for families to consider.

Lunch with School Captains:

Last Friday, Miss Chapman and I had the privilege to have lunch with our school captains at Iberia in Shannon Ave. Our school captains shared their aspirations and goals for 2024 as the student leaders of the school. These included providing our senior students with the opportunity to engage in a first aid course and raising funds to install ‘buddy benches’ (meeting places in the school for students to connect with other students). Our 2024 School Captains are and will continue to be wonderful ambassadors for our school.

Student Leadership:

Our student leaders have continued to display and demonstrate the high standards we expect from our leaders. We announced our Class Ambassadors and Positive Behaviour and Wellbeing Ambassadors at our assembly on Monday. We congratulate these students.

Please see below a copy of our entire student leadership team.

Meet and Greet Parent-Teacher Conferences:

Thank you to our families for engaging in our Meet and Greet Parent-Teacher Conferences yesterday afternoon. These conferences have certainly provided our teachers with important information that they will utilise to maximise the learning and wellbeing of our students. Sharing information between home and school has many benefits. We encourage families to utilise Seesaw to continue the communication with your child’s teacher.

Prep 2025 Enrolment Enquiries are Now Open:

If you have a child starting Prep in 2025, please contact the Office via email with the following details:

Child Name
Child Date of Birth
Name of Current Kinder
Parent Name
Sibling Name

Email: manifold.heights.ps@education.vic.gov.au

Att: Prep 2025 Enrolment Enquiry

Mano Family Picnic:

As communicated recently, our annual Mano Picnic is:

Date: Wednesday, 6th March

Time: 4:45pm – 6:30pm

Venue: Basketball/Netball Courts, Manifold Heights PS

Our Mano Family Picnic will enable families to connect with their child’s teachers in a less formal setting, and further embed the wonderful community spirit at Mano.

An invitation has been sent via Compass.

We hope to see you all here!

Parent Opinion Survey - 2023:

Our 2023 Parent Opinion Survey results arrived last week and the feedback validates that the high majority of our school is in great shape. In almost all variables, our results indicated our families are more satisfied than most other schools. Below is a snapshot of our results:

Variable	2023	Similar Schools	State	Variable	2023	Similar Schools	State
School Communication	88%	80%	82%	High Expectations for Success	88%	84%	86%
Promoting Positive Behaviour	89%	84%	85%	No Experiencing Bullying	71%	65%	64%
General School Improvement	75%	70%	75%	Student Agency and Voice	76%	74%	77%
Physical Environment	86%	78%	83%	Student Connectedness	89%	88%	88%
School Pride and Confidence	86%	81%	83%	Teacher Communication	69%	67%	72%

School Council:

Our School Council met on Monday night (19th February) for our first meeting of 2024. The Council play an important role in the school’s governance and oversee the formulation of policies, plans for facilities and infrastructure, scrutiny of finance, and the long term vision and direction of the school. Below is a list of the key agenda items:

The results of our Parent Opinion Survey was shared and discussed. This included highlighting the celebrations and the opportunities for improvement
Our 2024 Annual Implementation Plan was tabled, discussed and endorsed
Our Parents and Friends committee shared their events calendar with School Council. Each event was endorsed.
Grade 4 Camp was discussed and approved
School Council elections – outline of process

Each of our School Councillors are deeply committed and invested in our school. Please contact them if you have any feedback or concerns (please visit our school website and select tab, ‘About Us’, ‘Our School Council’, ‘School Council Members Profiles’).

Thank you for supporting our school and have a great week.

Christian Smith

Year 7 2025