Dear School Community Members,

April is Autism Acceptance month. Autism Acceptance Month is celebrated throughout April, starting with World Autism Awareness Day on Wednesday 2nd April, aiming to raise awareness, foster acceptance, and promote inclusion for autistic individuals and their families.

We have students at our school with Autism and I, along with all Mano staff, are committed to supporting these students to lead a fulfilling and successful time at primary school and beyond. From time to time, our Autistic students are on the receiving end of inappropriate behaviour that often leads to anxiety and stress. Likewise, occasionally our Autistic students display some actions or behaviours that may be considered challenging.

I have noticed that some of our students have very little understanding of what Autism is and how it impacts upon their classmates ability to interact with others. Along with other support, we help these students by providing some information on what Autism is. The information below may assist families when discussing what Autism is so that we, as a community, are inclusive and supportive of each other.

Autism Spectrum Disorder, commonly known as ASD, affects how people communicate and interact with others. It affects how they make sense of the world. Autism is a developmental condition that typically lasts throughout a person’s lifetime. People with ASD experience difficulties with communication, social interaction and restricted/repetitive interests and behaviours. These difficulties are often accompanied by behavioural challenges and sensory issues. Autism is reported to occur in all racial, ethnic and socio economic groups across the world. Autism is almost five times more common in boys (1 in 42) than among girls (1 in 189).

Manifold Heights Primary School is proud to be an inclusive environment where diversity is excepted, valued and respected, and we will continue to promote acceptance and understanding of all students.

Grade 5 and 6 Community Action Day: This term, our Grade 5 and 6 students undertook the Inquiry topic of ‘How can we improve our Community?’. Students were able to identify a need at Mano and plan the steps involved to act on a project of choice. Students audited the school’s facilities and developed an Action Plan to make an improvement to Mano.

This culminated in a Mano Community Action Day on Tuesday (23rd March), with all students engaged in an authentic action. Some of the projects included:

Improving the Community Garden/School Gardens
New nets for the soccer goals, netball and basketball rings
New sand for the sand pit, long jump pit, cubby house and Gaga Pit
Mulch for the garden beds around the school
Planting trees around the new Grade 3 Building
Improving the Grade 5/6 Hub – art work, displays, organising the library and indoor plants

Thank you to our wonderful families who got involved and supported students to work on their projects. I also acknowledge our Grade 5 and 6 staff for their leadership of this wonderful authentic learning unit.

Grade 4 Camp to Anglesea: Our Grade 4 Learning Community will head off to Camp on Wednesday where they will partake in some fantastic activities. Activities at the Coastal Forest Lodge include body boarding, taking care of the animals who reside at the camp, yabbying and multiple team building activities. Thank you to our Grade 4 teachers for planning this experience and opportunity for our students. I also acknowledge and thank our parent volunteers who are attending camp for their support of the Grade 4 Camp.

Term 1 Social Service Activity: Following Mano tradition, our Junior School Council (JSC) invite our community to partake in a Social Service activity each term.

A Social Service activity is where our JSC identify a charity they would like the Mano community to support.

We are pleased to inform you that our Term 1 Social Service activity has been finalised by our JSC:

Date: Friday, 4th April

Charity: Good Friday Appeal (Royal Children’s Hospital)

Theme: Dress in casual clothes with a splash of your identified Learning Community colour

Donation: Gold coin

Students and staff are invited to come to school wearing a splash of their identified colour.

Nude Food: Nude Food is a food that comes to school without disposable packaging (such as extra plastic bags, paper bags, wrappings or cling wrap). Nude food has many benefits – this includes:

Reduces a family’s’ environmental footprint
Nude food is generally healthy food
Nude food educates children about how their actions can impact the environment and their health
Reduces Mano’s environmental footprint
Reduces the litter within our school grounds

At Mano, we have many students who have lunch boxes at school full of healthy food with little to no wrappers. In recent weeks, the litter within our school grounds has increased.

With this in mind, we encourage families to support our commitment to reduce our environmental ‘footprint’ and pack ‘Nude Food’ for your child. Thank you for your support of the Nude Food program.

End of Term Arrangements: Next Friday is the last day of Term 1. Please note, students will be dismissed from school at 2:30pm next Thursday. After School Care will commence at 2:30pm.

Thank you for supporting our school and I hope the Easter Bunny finds you all!

Christian Smith

Grade 6 News