Dear School Community Members,

As a dad, I regularly reflect on my parenting and consider how I can continue to grow and support my children in the best possible way. Part of this reflection involves engaging with the insights and expertise of professionals in the fields of parenting and family relationships.

One such expert is Cathy Quinn, a respected educator and specialist in parenting and parent engagement. Cathy offers many practical strategies to help parents nurture a love of learning in their children. She suggests that parents can make a significant difference by:

• Demonstrating that learning is valued and modelling the behaviours of successful learners.

• Encouraging children to develop positive attitudes towards learning, helping them remain motivated, curious, and engaged.

• Supporting the development of strong work habits, including persistence, planning, and organisation, so they can become confident and independent learners.

• Encouraging children to seek help when needed and reassuring them that asking questions is an important part of learning.

• Establishing healthy family routines that promote wellbeing and learning, such as regular bedtimes, consistent exercise, early family dinners (between 5:30 pm and 6:30 pm), dedicated reading time, and regular school attendance.

These simple yet powerful practices can help create a home environment where children feel supported, confident, and inspired to learn.

Education Support Week:

Next week we will be celebrating, acknowledging and thanking our Education Support (ES) staff for everything they do for our school. We have twenty-eight ES staff at Mano – this includes our office and administration staff, our integration staff, our Librarian, our grounds and maintenance staff and our Chaplain. Each and everyone of these staff members are integral in maximising outcomes for our 482 students. Next Thursday, our students and staff will make this a special time for each of our ES staff members through a special morning tea and a card. I encourage families to thank and acknowledge all that our ES staff do for our community.

Junior School Council — Term 2 Fundraiser:

I am incredibly proud of our Junior School Council (JSC) for organising such a thoughtful and creative fundraiser for Term 2. On Friday, June 19 (Week 9), we will be holding Anything But a Schoolbag Day, where students are invited to come to school in casual dress and carry their belongings in anything except a school bag — think washing baskets, suitcases, buckets, wagons, and more!

Beyond the fun and creativity, this event carries a meaningful message. The JSC has chosen to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis Australia, inspired by the theme "You never know what someone else might be carrying." It is a beautiful reminder to practise empathy and kindness, recognising that people — including those living with MS — often face challenges that aren't always visible to others.

Students wishing to participate are asked to bring a gold coin donation on the day, or families are welcome to donate online via the link shared in today’s newsletter.

I have no doubt our students will bring wonderful imagination and big hearts to this day.

Well done, Junior School Council — you should all be very proud!

Mano's 100-Year Celebration – The Excitement is Building!:

The excitement is certainly building as we continue preparations for Mano's 100-Year Celebration! This significant milestone provides a wonderful opportunity for our school community to come together, celebrate our rich history, honour those who have contributed to our success, and create lasting memories for future generations.

Planning is well underway, and we are looking forward to sharing more details about the celebrations in the coming months. To help keep our community informed and engaged, we are promoting the event through our social media platforms, Facebook Manifold Heights Primary School and Instagram @manifoldheightsps . We encourage all members of our school community, past and present, to follow our pages and share our posts to help spread the word far and wide.

As we prepare for this historic occasion, we are also inviting local businesses and organisations to partner with us as event sponsors. Sponsorship provides a valuable opportunity for businesses to support a significant community event while gaining exposure to a broad audience connected to our school and local area.

Please see the letter included in this week's newsletter for detailed information regarding sponsorship opportunities and how businesses can become involved in supporting this special celebration.

We look forward to working together to make Mano's 100-Year Celebration a truly memorable event for our entire community.

School Improvement Plan:

Recently, our Leadership Team undertook a ‘pulse check’ on our School Improvement Plan. I am pleased to report that each of our four Key Improvement Strategies are in good shape. Over the coming month, I will share an update on the progress of each aspect of our School Improvement Plan.

Key Improvement Strategy 2 – Maths:

Develop and implement a daily review and number fluency routine to strengthen retention and confidence to improve mathematical outcomes for all students.

Leader/s: Mrs McLeod

Achievements:

Inducting new and returning staff on the Mano Maths Model
All students introduced to the Mano Problem Solving toolkit
Embedding the Launch, Explore, Summarise model across all classrooms
Consolidation of all students engaging in a maths ‘fluency’ session (5mins) each day
PL sessions for teachers on ‘fluency’
Developing the capacity of teachers and resources on Maths ‘Daily Review’

Current Work:

Mrs McLeod coaching individual teachers on their ‘daily fluency’ program
Analysing recent maths data to inform school, cohort and class foci
Support new teachers to Mano with the implementation of Launch Explore Summarise lessons

Student Reports and Parent/Teacher Discussions:

As many of you will be aware, our Student Reports and our Parent/Teacher Conferences are fast approaching.

Student Reports

Our Student Reports will be available via Compass on Friday, 19th June at 4:00pm.

Families can request a ‘paper copy’ from the Office if required – please contact our office team if you would like a ‘paper copy’.

Parent/Teacher Discussions

Our Parent/Teacher Conferences will be held on Thursday, 25th June from 2.00pm until 7.40pm. Families are able to secure a booking for their Parent/Teacher Discussion via Compass.

A reminder that students will be dismissed at 1.30pm on this day.

Pupil Free Day – tomorrow (Friday, 5th June): A reminder that our next Pupil Free Day is tomorrow. This day is dedicated to our staff formalising their assessments of all students and compiling their student Reports. Care is available on this day through VillageOHSC. Please visit their website to ‘book’ care for this day.

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

Christian Smith