Dear School Community Members,

Mano is a great place to be!

On Tuesday, I attended the ‘Chill’n with Kevin’ session with Cyndee and 25 excited Prep to Grade 4 students. The atmosphere and vibe was incredibly inviting, warm, safe and inclusive. Students were enjoying their cup of warm milo, chatting and playing a range of indoor games. The theme of the session was ‘R U OK’. Students expressed to me how valuable the experience is to ‘chill with Kevin’ and Cyndee. Comments included, “this is one of my favourite times at school”, “I like getting to school a little bit earlier to hang out with Cyndee and my friends”, and “the milo warms my tummy”.

Mano is a great place to be!

Reading, Reading, Reaching: Home-Reading Program: Earlier in the year I shared an article by Professor Anne Bayetto on the significance of all children developing an effective and regular home-reading routine. By now, all students should be into the habit of reading regularly (both independently and being read to). As parents and families, 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

Recently, our staff conducted a ‘health check’ of our home-reading program across the school. On average, 88% of students have an embedded home-reading program in place. The expected amount of minutes per week is:

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

We are committed to assisting the 12% of students (or approx. 55 students) who have not developed a regular home-reading program. Our teachers will be in contact with families of students who do not have an embedded home-reading program.

Reading 20 minutes per day provides children with a massive advantage when compared to children who read 5 minutes or less a day! 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, our role is to give the opportunity for our children to practise these skills. We expect all students are engaged in a regular home-reading program.

Curriculum Day: Last Friday, our staff engaged in a full day of professional learning. Led by our Inclusion Outreach Coach, Sue Angelovski, our ES Classroom staff participated in learning focussed on inclusion, challenging behaviours and support strategies for diverse learners. Under the guidance of our Assistant Principal, Mrs Geary, our teachers begun the process of auditing aspects of our curriculum and developing some new Inquiry units of work. An incredibly productive day was had by both groups of staff.

Mano Lunch Time Clubs: Our Lunch Time Clubs program is in full swing! Our Lunch Time Clubs are designed to provide our students with purposeful and supervised activities at Lunch Time. Our students decided on the clubs through a whole school vote and have been very well attended this term. 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.

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

Christian Smith

Year 7 2025