News From Mr Smith

Dear School Community Members,

50 Questions to Ask Kids! 

Recently, I spoke with a parent about research highlighting the significant benefits of regular conversations between parents/guardians and their children. These discussions—about learning, play, friendships, dreams, emotions, creativity, and more—play an important role in supporting children’s development and wellbeing. However, our conversation also touched on a concerning trend: research suggests that the frequency of these meaningful family conversations is declining. With this in mind, I’ve attached a poster titled “50 Questions to Ask Your Child” to help spark these valuable interactions. I encourage families to use some of these prompts to build regular conversation into daily routines—whether at the dinner table, during bedtime, or even while driving. Small, consistent moments of connection can make a big difference.

School Review – Wednesday, 13th May and Thursday, 14th May: 

Mano will be undertaking its School Review on Wednesday, 13 May and Thursday, 14 May. As part of the Department of Education’s four-year improvement cycle, all schools participate in a review every four years. This process provides an important opportunity for our school to reflect on achievements, identify areas for growth, and plan for continued success. 

The review will be conducted by a panel of experienced educators who will work closely with school leaders, staff, students, and the wider community. The panel will consider a range of evidence, including student outcomes, classroom practices, and feedback from families, to develop a comprehensive understanding of the school’s performance.

I, along with our staff and School Council, welcome this review as a valuable opportunity to celebrate Mano’s many strengths while exploring ways to further enhance student learning and wellbeing.

Community input is an important part of the review process. Families will be invited to share their perspectives by attending a discussion with the review panel. Further information regarding the date and time of this session will be shared in the coming days.

Please stay tuned for more details.

Education Week: 

Like all schools across Victoria, Mano is celebrating Education Week in the week of Monday, 18th May.

This year’s Education Week theme is, ‘Showcase your School’, which will highlight what is great about Mano. Our activities throughout the week will be aligned to this theme.

Events include:

• Education Week launch at assembly:         Monday, 18th May 9:05am
• School Tours for Prospective Families:      Tuesday, 19th May 9:30am 

                                                                                            Wednesday, 20th May 12noon

• Open afternoon for current families:           Wednesday, 20th May 2:35pm

   

We warmly encourage all families to join us at any of the activities throughout the week. Further information will be provided over the coming week from our Education Week committee.

Student Learning and Student Voice: 

In the coming weeks, we will be conducting a survey to find out what our students think of our school. The ‘Attitudes to School’ survey is an annual survey for students in Years 4, 5 and 6. The survey is conducted by the Department of Education and is designed to assist schools in gaining an understanding of students’ perceptions and experience of school. Our school will use the survey results to plan programs and activities to improve your child’s experience at school. All responses are anonymous. The survey will take approx. 30 minutes to complete and will be conducted during class time. The results will be reported back to the school community at the end of July.

Annual Implementation Plan 2026 - Wellbeing: 

Student wellbeing remains a key priority at our school. Our data continues to highlight the positive impact of our current wellbeing programs and approach, and in 2026 we will build on this success by further strengthening our whole-school focus on health and wellbeing.

Led by Mrs Forsyth and the Wellbeing School Improvement Team, we will continue to implement our Health and Wellbeing model, with a particular focus on Wellbeing Conferences for all students. These conferences mirror the structure of our Numeracy, Reading and Writing conferences, providing students with regular opportunities to reflect and set goals. Using insights from the PERMAH (Wellbeing) Survey, teachers will meet with students to discuss their wellbeing and support them in setting meaningful goals to enhance their overall sense of wellbeing. We look forward to sharing updates on this important work throughout the year. We also acknowledge and thank Mrs Forsyth for her ongoing leadership, dedication and passion in this area.

Staff Professional Learning – Spelling Mastery: 

At Tuesday afternoon’s staff professional learning session, teachers focused on our Years 3–6 spelling approach, Spelling Mastery. Led by Mr Seeckts, staff revisited key elements of the program and reflected on ways to further strengthen and refine our whole-school approach to spelling.

This work supports our ongoing commitment to ensuring every student has access to high-quality instruction, with consistent practices across the school.

Supervision: 

As a staff, we are committed to our ‘Duty of Care’ and ‘Yard Duty and Supervision’ policies (can be found on our website) to maximise the safety of our students.  A friendly reminder that our grounds are supervised by school staff from 8:50am until 3:40pm. Outside of these hours, supervision cannot be guaranteed and our Duty of Care policy is not applicable. Families of students who are on school grounds outside of these hours need to contact our Outside of Hours School Care provider,  VilliageOHSC. 

Sunsmart: 

As per our Sun Protection Policy, students and staff are required to wear their sun protective hat from 15th August until 30th April. With this in mind, students and staff are no longer required to wear their sun protective hat until 15th August. Students and staff may choose to continue wearing their sun protective hat at recess and lunch time.

School Pride: 

As the cold weather will begin to set in and students begin to wear winter items of the School Uniform, I remind families of our Student Dress Code policy that is available from the school website. Recently, we have had to remind students of the correct uniform. This includes non-Mano jumpers and hoodies are not to be worn to school and for safety and health reasons, students with shoulder length or longer hair must be tied back. I ask families to support us by reinforcing this with their children.

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

Christian Smith