Dear School Community Members,

I continue to be amazed by the wonderful start to the school year! During my visits to each classroom, I have observed and experienced the clear class agreements and the rich cultures developing within each room that will maximise the learning and wellbeing across the school. Classes are completing their ‘Starting Right’ program and will begin engaging in the ‘formal’ curriculum from Monday. As part of the ‘Starting Right’ program, our teachers and students are investing time in discussing, practising and working on achieving the high expectations, the routines and rich cultures that are required to allow all students to thrive throughout the year. This will set our students and classrooms up for success in 2024.

Mano is a great place to be!

Meet and Greet Parent-Teacher Conferences:

Information regarding our Meet and Greet Parent-Teacher Conferences were sent to all families via Compass yesterday. Fostering a partnership between ‘Home’ and ‘School’ is a high priority for us – with this in mind, we strongly encourage all families to log in to Compass this afternoon from 4.30pm to book.

Date: Wednesday, 21st February

Time: 2:00pm until 7:40pm

Venue: Classrooms, Manifold Heights PS

These discussions are an opportunity for you to personally meet your child’s classroom teacher and provide any information that will support the learning of your child. The focus will be on parents/guardians providing teachers with information, the transition into their new class and any concerns.

Please note:

Students will be dismissed at 1:30pm on this day (Wednesday, 21st February)
After School Care will commence at 1:30pm on this day – bookings can be made with Village OHSC

https://manifold-vic.compass.education/

It’s not Okay to be away!

Our school has higher than normal absence rates when compared to the ‘State’ and ‘Similar Schools’. On average, our students had almost 20 days absent in 2023. As a result of this data, we have begun exploring ‘why’ and ‘how’ we can improve. This exploration will include developing an Action Plan to address our higher absent rates. Part of this Action Plan will include promoting regular attendance through our newsletter and Compass.

Regular attendance at school plays a vital role for students to achieve their academic potential, as well as setting up a wonderful foundation for their social and emotional development. We hope the table below highlights the importance of regular attendance to school.

How many days will your child miss this semester?

0-6 This is within the normal range. The child can take advantage of the teaching and learning opportunities available to them.

7 – 10 This attendance rate is below average. A child with this attendance rate could miss over one year of schooling between Prep and Year 10.

11- 20 This is a poor attendance rate. A child with this attendance rate could miss up to two years of schooling between Prep and Year 10.

To miss two years of school between Prep and Year 10 places significant risk on any student. It goes without saying that regular absenteeism from school won’t do your child any favours. Allowing your child to skip days simply because they “don’t feel like going to school” should not be an option.

Our school provides support and strategies for families to assist in maintaining regular school attendance. We encourage any family to contact Mrs Geary (Prep – Gr 2) or Mr Smith (Gr 3 – Gr 6) to discuss their child’s attendance at school.

Staff Professional Learning – Introducing new Assessment Tools

Our staff forum this week focussed on our teachers exploring two new assessment tools. Mrs Geary trained our staff in the administration of the DIBELS reading assessment. DIBELS (Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills) is a research based assessment that measures how students are performing in the key areas of learning to read. The critical skills necessary for successful beginning reading include: phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. The DIBELS assessment measures students on four of these five critical skills, which are often referred to as the “Big Ideas” of reading. Staff will use the data from these assessments to monitor each child over the year and plan learning activities to help students make further progress in reading. Teachers will begin administrating the DIBELS reading assessment over the next month with all students from Prep to Year 6. Led by Mrs Forsyth, staff also explored the PERMAH survey. The PERMAH survey is a tool that measures the current wellbeing of students across the PERMAH (Positive Emotions, Engagement, Relationships, Meaning, Accomplishment & Health) pillars. Using the survey data, students will be supported by their teachers to care for their wellbeing using evidence-based tools and practises. This will further support and build students wellbeing literacy and resilience through our whole-school SEL program.

Mano Family BBQ – save the date!

The annual Family Picnic is a tradition at Mano that serves many purposes. We are delighted to share with you that we have begun planning this event for:

Date: Wednesday, 6th March

Time: 4:45pm – 6:30pm

Venue: Basketball/Netball Courts, 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.

A formal invitation will be provided in the coming week – we hope to see you all here!

School Council Vacancies

As of Thursday, 8th February, we are calling for nominations to the Manifold Heights PS School Council. Although a formal body, the School Council is an enjoyable way of being involved in our school’s overall direction, vision and policy development.

The constituting order of Manifold Heights Primary School confirms the composition of Council as being:

9 elected parents/carers
5 Department of Education employees including the Principal
1 community member

This year our retiring members include, Terry Gillard, Emma Byers, Madhu Subramaniam, and Sarah Francis, along with staff member Tom Fleming. Members retire at the end of their term (2 years), however, they are welcome to nominate for membership again if eligible (e.g. have children here or still work at the school). Many thanks again to our retiring School Council members who have completed their two year term on Council.

We currently have the following vacancies to be filled:

- Four 2 year elected parent positions

- One 2 year elected Department of Education position

We welcome your nomination – if you are interested in nominating, please see the information provided via Compass or collect a nomination form from the office.

Safety and Parking

The safety of our students and community members is of the highest priority. With this in mind, a friendly reminder to families that the staff carpark is for staff only. As some students utilise the Staff Carpark as they come to and from school, we aim to minimise moving vehicles during these times in the Staff Carpark. Please note: drivers with an appropriate permit displayed in their vehicle are permitted to park in the All Accessible parking bays in the Staff Carpark.

Annual privacy reminder for our school community

Our school collects and uses student and parent personal information for standard school functions or where permitted by law, as stated in the Schools’ Privacy Policy and the Schools’ Privacy Collection Notice. Our Photographing, Filming and Recording Students Policy (available from our website), describes how we collect and use photographs, video and recordings of students. The policy also explains when parent consent is required and how it can be provided and withdrawn. We ask parents to also review the guidance we provide on how we use Google Workspace for Education safely at the school and what parents can do to further protect their child’s information. If after reviewing the guidance, you have any questions or concerns regarding your child using Google Workspace for Education, please contact the school.

Key Dates in February/March

Wednesday, 21st February Meet and Greet Parent-Teacher Discussions
Wednesday, 6th March Mano Picnic

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

Christian Smith

Acknowledgement of Country