Chats
Conversations within Mana between educators, teams, or families. Chats keep everyone connected, responsive, and engaged, supporting collaboration and quick communication.
Coach Sue
Mana’s practice and pedagogy coach and thought partner. Coach Sue offers guidance, tips, and encouragement, helping educators build confidence and skill in their practice. She’s always available to answer questions, prompt reflection, and support documentation.
Community Update
A message or announcement shared with all families in your service, used for celebrations, important news, or centre-wide reflections. Community Updates help build connection, transparency, and a sense of belonging for everyone.
Daily Diary
A record of a day’s activities, routines, and highlights, shared with families to keep them informed and connected to their child’s experiences. Daily Diaries are quick to create and help build strong home-centre partnerships.
Group
A group or room. Groups help educators manage observations, plans, and updates for multiple children, making it easier to document and support learning at both individual and group levels.
Guided
A step-by-step experience with Coach Sue in Mana that gently leads educators through processes like planning, documenting, or reflecting. Guided content offers prompts, examples, and support, helping educators build confidence and consistency while still allowing for personal style and flexibility.
Jotting
A quick, flexible note capturing a moment of learning or observation. Jottings are fast and informal—perfect for recording spontaneous insights or experiences that can later be expanded into a Learning Story or Reflection. It does not use AI.
Journey
A period of time that captures a child’s learning and development in Mana. Journeys represent either the full cycle of planning or an individual learning plan. They bring together observations, reflections, and outcomes to give educators and families a holistic, ongoing view of growth.
Key Child
A child for whom an educator takes primary responsibility—observing, documenting, and supporting their learning Journey. Key Child relationships ensure every child receives consistent, meaningful attention and care.
Key Educator
The educator assigned to a Key Child, responsible for developing deep knowledge of the child’s learning and progress, and for building strong, trusting partnerships with their family.
Key Group
A small group of children for whom a particular educator takes primary responsibility. The Key Group model ensures that every child is well known, closely observed, and consistently supported. By working with their Key Group, educators can build stronger relationships with children and families, provide tailored documentation, and contribute meaningfully to each child’s Journey while still collaborating as part of the wider team.
Learning Story
A narrative record of a child’s learning, combining description, interpretation, and links to learning frameworks. Learning Stories are shared with families and the teaching team to highlight progress, celebrate achievements, and make learning visible. Mana supports you to write these in your own voice, with as much or as little support as you need.
Letter
A personalised communication written for a child or family. Letters may celebrate milestones, share updates, or strengthen the home-centre partnership in a warm, individual way.
Magic Moments
Special highlights in a child’s Journey—unique, memorable experiences that showcase joy, curiosity, and growth. A Magic Moment is created every 3 days for the family based on learning shared by educators. Treasured by families and children- they help make learning visible and meaningful and support families to engage more meaningfully in their child's learning.
Manager
An educator with leadership or administrative access in Mana. Managers oversee team activity, guide curriculum implementation, and support consistent, high-quality practice across the service.
Member
Any staff user of Mana, with access to contribute, document, or view content depending on their role and permissions. Members are valued contributors to the team’s shared work.
Personal
A private space in Mana for educators to draft, reflect, or keep notes not yet ready to share. Personal entries support your own professional growth and preparation, giving you a safe place to experiment and develop your practice.
Plan
An intentional outline of experiences, activities, or strategies designed to support children’s learning. Plans can be individual or group-based, always linking back to frameworks, goals, and the unique needs of each child.
Reflection
A thoughtful analysis of practice, experiences, or outcomes. Reflections help educators deepen their understanding, improve quality, and connect learning back to the planning cycle. Mana encourages regular reflection as part of everyday practice.
Spontaneous Moments
Unplanned, everyday experiences where learning naturally emerges. Mana makes it easy to quickly capture these moments so they can be recognised, celebrated, and built upon in future planning.
Stages
Stages of the cycle of planning or individual learning plan. Stages help educators and families see progress over time and across different learning contexts, making growth visible and manageable.
Summative Assessment
A holistic overview of a child’s learning over a set period (e.g., a term or year). Summative Assessments bring together observations, stories, and reflections to show growth, strengths, and next steps, supporting transitions and planning.
Team
A centre or team of educators using Mana in your service.