Dear School Community Members,

We had a number of families contact us following last week’s newsletter regarding managing their child’s screen time. As a follow up from Susan McLean’s keynote address on ‘Understanding Screen Addiction’, Susan highly recommends co-creating a “Device Agreement” with your children. There are many examples of ‘Device Agreements’ online that families can utilise. Some common aspects of an effective ‘Device Agreement’ are:

Devices and technology are not permitted in bedrooms or the bathroom
Acknowledge that parental controls will be used when needed
Always be kind, polite and respectful when online
Share with me/us what you’re doing online

The key to developing a ‘Device Agreement’ for your home is co-creating it with your children. Please see below an example of a possible agreement.

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 Peer Mediators at our assembly on Monday. We congratulate these students.

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

Date: Tuesday, 4th 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.

An invitation has been sent via Compass and Seesaw.

We hope to see you all here!

Annual Implementation Plan: Like every school in the state, we have developed our school improvement plan that outlines our key areas the school will focus on to maximise student learning and wellbeing outcomes. The plan aligns with our strategic intent of improving student achievement, wellbeing and engagement. Our key improvement strategies for this year will be:

Wellbeing: Develop consistency in using Tier 1 strategies, including Wellbeing Conferences, to support and enhance the wellbeing, resilience and inclusion of all students.
Curriculum and Assessment: Continue to develop and implement a viable curriculum, with agreed assessment and data driven practices.
Numeracy: Implement and embed the Mano Maths approach to improve Numeracy outcomes for all students.
English: Develop and implement an agreed approach to teaching English to improve Literacy outcomes for all students.

As a staff team, we are committed to achieving the targets against our improvement plan and have begun work on each of these areas. I look forward to providing our families with regular updates on our progress and achievements.

Child Safe Standards: Manifold Heights Primary School is committed to the safety and wellbeing of all children and young people. This is the primary focus of our care and decision-making. Manifold Heights Primary School has zero tolerance for child abuse. We are committed to providing a child safe environment where children and young people are safe and feel safe, and their voices are heard about decisions that affect their lives. Particular attention will be paid to the cultural safety of Aboriginal children and children from culturally and/or linguistically diverse backgrounds, as well as the safety of children with a disability. Every person involved in Manifold Heights Primary School has a responsibility to understand the important and specific role they play individually and collectively to ensure that the wellbeing and safety of all children and young people is at the forefront of all they do and every decision they make. Stay tuned for regular updates on our commitment to the Child Safe Standards.

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

Christian Smith