Complete guide to prepare for the year

A little preparation goes a long way. We hear it all the time from centres using Mana. Once everything is set up properly and the team understands how to use it, the time savings are huge.

Educators tell us they feel more confident, less stressed, and genuinely excited about planning again. That's the experience we want for you too.

This guide walks you through the key areas to review and reset so you can head into the new year feeling confident and in control.

Review the sections below with your team to agree what needs to carry forward and what needs to change.

This section is all about closing off last year and creating a clean starting point.

Review current Journeys with your team and complete those that are ready to finish. On Journeys, open a child’s menu and select Current journey to review their existing work. Follow the completion guide below when the Journey is ready.

For a full guide see: How to close a journey

You can do this yourself or ask your team to do it for their key rooms. Follow the Program completion guide to close off Programs that are ready to finish.

For a full guide see: How to complete a curriculum

Open Settings → Allocations & Access and review which educators are allocated to each child. Update allocations to match the team’s responsibilities for the new year.

Keep the handover clear before removing an educator’s allocation. When Restricted educator access is on, allocations affect which children an educator can see. Avoid clearing every allocation as a routine reset.

Your service can use Manage child allocations centrally for manager-led assignments. Where educators can choose their own key children, they use Add to key children or Remove from key children in the child’s menu on Journeys.

For the current allocation steps, see View the key educators assigned to children.

Review each child’s current Rooms before the new term. On Journeys, open the child’s three-dot menu, select Profile, then Manage Rooms. Add the new Room and review the effect before removing an old Room.

Removing a child from a Room can affect where their open plans appear in the Room’s Program. Read the confirmation before continuing.

For the complete steps, see How do I create a room/group and add children?.

Use the dashboard to check which children or Rooms need attention. Review any missing allocations, Rooms or Journeys with the team; the aim is to check coverage for the new year.

Check the relevant child or Room before changing its setup.

For a full guide see: How to navigate the home dashboard

Review who is joining, leaving or changing roles. Use the team-member guide below to make the appropriate membership changes.

For a full guide see: How to update team members

On Journeys, use Search children to review the child list. Use Inactive for children who have left, and Add child for new children after checking they are not already in Mana. See How do I delete or inactivate a child’s profile? before changing a status.

For a full guide see: How to update children

Now that you have a clean slate, it's time to get everything ready for the new year.

Open Settings → Allocations & Access to manage child and Room allocations. Child allocations identify educators’ responsibility for individual children; Room allocations cover educators’ work with a Room. Check both so the team has clear coverage.

For full guides see: How to set up key children | How to set up key groups

In the Team Learning section, update the writing style, philosophy, framework, and coaching level as needed for your centre.

For a full guide see: How to customise your Mana

In the Team features > Journeys section, set up the stages for your journeys, default views, and any other customisations before your team begins new cycles of planning.

You can also toggle on or off other features like Families and Grow. Contact the Mana team if you'd like more information about these features.

For a full guide see: How to customise journey stages

When the team’s allocations and settings are ready, use the Journey getting-started guide to begin new Journeys as needed. Check for existing work before adding another Journey.

You can reach out to our team anytime by emailing [email protected] or using the ? icon in the app if you get stuck or have questions along the way.