Dear School Community Members,

Reading, Reading, Reading: By now all students should be into the habit of regularly engaging in a home-reading program (both independently and being read to). As parents, we have the opportunity to project and model the importance of reading onto our children. Professor Anne Bayetto, from Flinders University in South Australia, highlighted students who read:

Less than 1 minute per day will read 8000 words a year

4.6 minutes per day will read 282 000 words a year

20 minutes per day will read 1.8 million words a year

How can they ever catch up? Our role, as teachers, is to provide the explicit reading strategies that children require to be successful readers. As parents/carers, your job is to give the opportunity for them to practise these skills. We expect all students are engaged in a regular home-reading program.

Prep – Grade 2

At least 10 minutes per night (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs and Sun)
Reading log completed, including signed by parent/guardian, by each Friday morning

Grade 3 – Grade 4

20 minutes per night (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs and Sun)
Reading log completed, including signed by parent/guardian, by each Friday morning

Grade 5 – Grade 6

20 minutes per night (Mon, Tues, Wed, Thurs and Sun)
Submit reading log via SeeSaw, including signed by parent/guardian, by each Friday morning

Each student has a Reading Log that tracks their home reading program. Please contact your child’s teacher if you require support to facilitate the home-reading program for your child.

Meet and Greet Parent-Teacher Discussions:

Our Meet and Greet Parent-Teacher Discussions are fast approaching:

Date: Wednesday, 18th February

Time: 2:00pm until 7:40pm

Venue: Classrooms, Manifold Heights PS

We have 64% of our families booked for their child’s conference – we strongly encourage every family to engage in these discussions. Bookings close off at 4:00pm on Monday afternoon.

A reminder that these discussions are designed for parents and guardians to personally meet their child’s classroom teacher and provide any information that will support the learning of your child.

Please note:

Students will be dismissed at 1:30pm on this day (Wednesday, 18th February)
After School Care will commence at 1:30pm on this day – bookings can be made with Village OHSC

Welcome to our new students:

On Tuesday, Mrs Geary, Mrs Forsyth and I met with our six new students (from Grade 1 – Grade 6) for a morning tea. This was an opportunity for us to formally welcome our new students, check in on their transition to Mano and offer further support as they acclimatise to a new school. I was filled with a sense of pride when the common theme among our new students was the kindness that had been afforded to them since their commencement at Mano. Congratulations to our new students on their successful transition to Mano and I thank our students and staff for the care, consideration and time that has been provided to these students.

Student Leadership – Maggie Johnson (Gr 6):

We wish Maggie all the very best with her stall at the Mano Market on Saturday. Maggie has purchased a stall at the Mano Market to raise funds for breast cancer. Maggie will be selling scrunchies, and other goods made from the materials from her late Grandmother. If attending on Saturday, please consider supporting Maggie.

Lunch Time Clubs at Mano:

We are pleased to formally launch our Lunch Time Clubs for 2026. Included in this newsletter is a schedule of the clubs and a small blurb to assist families and students to determine their participation in these clubs. Our clubs commenced on Monday.

Congratulations to our student leaders and Mrs Forsyth for their coordination of these lunch time clubs.

How Full is Your Bucket:

Over the last two weeks, I visited all classes to congratulate them on their successful start to the school year. Part of this visit included reading a book titled, ‘How Full is Your Bucket?’ The message in this book is the core to a happy and vibrant school community. The ‘filling buckets’ concept is a guide to daily happiness for kids. I encourage you to discuss ‘filling buckets’ with your child. An online version of the book is available on YouTube:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWe6Z3zFwoA

NAPLAN:

As most of you are aware, NAPLAN (National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy) is a national assessment conducted across Australia for all Yr 3, Yr 5, Yr 7 and Yr 9 students every year. It provides families and schools an indication of where a child is placed in reading, writing and numeracy. Along with a host of other information, the results enable schools and teachers to use the outcomes to inform their practice. To minimise anxiety of students, along with providing students with the support to maximise their result in NAPLAN, all Yr 3 and Yr 5 students have begun preparing for NAPLAN to avoid the preparation being crammed into the week prior. Our Yr 3 and Yr 5 students will partake in whole class, small group and individual activities in this time so that they are proficient, comfortable and aware of ‘testing’ conditions.

Mano Family Picnic: As communicated recently, our annual Mano Picnic is:

Date: Tuesday, 3rd March

Time: 4:45pm – 6:30pm

Venue: Oval, 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.

We hope to see you all here!

Key Dates in February/March

Wednesday, 18th February Meet and Greet Parent-Teacher Conferences
Tuesday, 3rd March Mano Family Picnic

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

Christian Smith

CSEF