News From Mr Smith

Dear School Community Members,

Welcome back to school and the final term of the year! We hope you all had a fantastic holiday and managed some quality time with your family and loved ones. Term 4 is an eleven week term! While we have much to look forward to throughout the term, we are committed to continuing to engage our students in a range of diverse learning experiences and we will continue to set high expectations in regard to their learning and behaviour all the way up to Friday, 20th December. Our staff will continue to prioritise the wellbeing of our students, and I encourage families to continue regular routines with their children, such as bed times, and a regular Home Reading program so that our students are well placed to manage the complexity and fatigue that can set in during term 4.

It has been a wonderful start to term 4, with all students eagerly catching up with friends and beginning new curriculum topics. Term 4 promises to be another fulfilling and rewarding time at Mano. Transition sessions, excursions, Year 6 Graduation ceremony, swimming programs and Bike Education for our Grade 4 and Grade 5 students will support the formal learning in classrooms.

Please keep an ‘eye’ on the calendar of events in our newsletter to keep abreast all that is happening.

Swimming Program: I am thrilled to inform our families that our Grade 3 and Grade 4 Swimming program has been an overwhelming success. Our students have made wonderful progress. In their daily lessons, students have been focusing on developing their understanding of water safety, building their confidence around the water and practicing vital early swimming skills. The students have represented Mano exceptionally - demonstrating our 3 school values of respect, responsibility and safety during the lessons. We thank our families for your continued support towards the swimming program. I also acknowledge Mr Quinlan and our staff for their dedication in coordinating a highly effective program. We look forward to the Junior swimming program next week.

Dyslexia Awareness Week: This week is Dyslexia Awareness week. Dyslexia Awareness week promotes a future where all people with Dyslexia are acknowledged through:

• early identification
• understanding and inclusion
• supported with evidence based teaching
• access to assistive technology and reasonable accommodations
• empowered with equal access to the curriculum and opportunity.

At Mano, to raise awareness of Dyslexia, we encourage families to explore the Dyslexia Awareness website and explore the information available. This will help nurture an inclusive culture within our community.

Transition Program: Preparing our students for their transition into their next grade level is a high priority for our school. With this in mind, each student will engage in a comprehensive transition program to set them up for a successful 2025. Our transition program for all students, including our 2025 Prep students, began yesterday (Wednesday 9th October). 

Key Transition Dates:

Buildings and Grounds: You may have noticed that our school grounds are looking great! Our garden beds have been rejuvenated, the paths free of leaves, playground areas tidied, and weeds removed. Thank you to Tony Stefanovski for his work in completing this over the school holidays. Tony is our Grounds Officer who is employed one day per week to ensure our school continues to look great.

Nude Food: With our continued promotion of Nude Food, I encourage our families to continue to consider this when packing lunches. Nude food is food that is not wrapped in foil, plastic or commercial packaging. Our Positive Behaviour and Wellbeing Ambassadors eloquently articulated the immense benefits of ‘nude food’ and their passion for educating our community on protecting our beautiful environment. I ask all families to consider this message and provide nude food in your children’s lunch box. 

Class Placements for 2025: Our leadership team have begun planning for 2025. This includes discussing the class structure and reviewing the process utilised to allocate each student to a class for 2025. The process used to develop classes will be comprehensive, detailed and transparent. Our Leadership Team and teachers are best placed to manage the development of class groups. With this in mind, we will not be formally inviting parent written requests for 2025 class placements, as this has previously become impossible to satisfy competing requests. Parents who would like to talk to Narelle Geary or myself about their child’s placement for 2025 can do so by making an appointment through the School Office.

Due to the likely movement of teachers, along with other staff complexities, we will not be accepting families requesting a specific teacher.

Pupil Free Days – Term 4: Please note the Pupil Free day and Public Holiday for Term 4:

• Wednesday, 23rd October: Geelong Cup Public Holiday (no school)
• Friday, 22nd November: Curriculum Day: focus on Assessment and Reporting (pupil free day)

VillageOSHC will provide care options and should be contacted directly for bookings.

Finally, congratulations to all the Brisbane Lions supporters within the Mano community!

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

Christian Smith