12th November 2025

Dear Parents

A successful Poetry Week and wonderful Exit Points in Y6 and Y4

This week, we have had an inspiring Poetry Week and our Year 6 and Year 4 (Thursday) students reached the culmination of their current learning units with their Exit Points. These events provide a meaningful way for students to showcase their learning journey and share their knowledge, skills and understanding with the wider community, especially their families.

The Power of Parental Engagement

A key highlight of both the Poetry Week events and the Exit Points was the high level of parental engagement. It was wonderful to see so many of you involved! And thanks to all the parents who read poetry in school. (We also look forward to welcoming our Early Years parents into school tomorrow).

Why is this so important?

Seeing parents involved in these school activities sends an incredibly strong and unified message to the children: (I know this is not always possible with work commitments)

"My education is important." When you dedicate your time to attend school events, you are visibly prioritising your child's learning.
"We are a team." This joint effort shows the student that the key adults in their life (parents/guardians and teachers) are working together to support them.
"I am supported." The simple act of attending can boost a child’s confidence and sense of belonging.

The Positive Impact on Students

The presence of parents during these milestone events has a positive impact on students, both academically and emotionally:

Increased Motivation and Self-Esteem: When children see their parents taking an active interest in their school life, their self-worth is validated. They feel more motivated to succeed knowing their efforts are being recognised and celebrated by the most important people in their lives.
Reinforced Learning: Discussions about the Exit Point or Poetry Week activity at home further reinforce the concepts learned in class, helping to solidify their understanding and recall.
A Stronger Home-School Connection: Your involvement helps to build a stronger partnership between home and school, which is crucial for addressing any challenges and ensuring your child thrives.

Thank you once again for your incredible support. We look forward to continuing this vital partnership throughout the school year!

Tim Robinson

Headteacher

Poetry Week

This week, we celebrated Poetry Week and World Nursery Rhyme Week, fostering a love of poetry and exploring forms such as calligrams, haikus and free verse.

The week began with an assembly featuring teachers reciting poems, a flash mob performance of our version of ‘The Sound Collector’ by Roger McGough and an overview of the week's activities. Children enjoyed online workshops with published poet Joshua Seigal, heard parents and staff share their favourite poems and began to write their own poems. In Early Years, children practised nursery rhymes ahead of the ‘Nursery Rhyme Olympics’ on Thursday. Next week, pupils will compile their poems and illustrations into both physical and digital anthologies. We can’t wait to share their creativity with everyone!

National Day Celebrations! Thursday 20th December

Our Oman National Day celebrations will take place next Thursday 20th December in school.

We invite children to wear clothes in the Omani Flag colours or traditional Omani clothing.

The team have been organising a wonderful day to help celebrate Oman National Day for the children and community.

As part of our celebrations we would like to invite parents to our school field to enjoy the atmosphere as our children are led around the school field by an Omani Band! Further details will follow, however we invite parents to walk up to the field from 0800hrs. The parade by the children will begin at approximately 0815 - halwa and coffee are provided for parents to enjoy while awaiting the parade!

Save the Date – Year 6 & PTA Community Quiz Night! Tuesday 2nd December

Mark your calendars – Our 4th Annual Year 6 & PTA Quiz Night is coming on Tuesday 2nd December! 5pm - 7pm!

We’re excited to announce that our Year 6 students, alongside the PTA, will again be running a Community Quiz Night on Tuesday 2nd December! This promises to be a fantastic evening of fun, teamwork and friendly competition for students, parents and staff alike.

The event is designed to bring our school community together while giving our Year 6 pupils the opportunity to develop their leadership and organisational skills. More details about team sign-ups and timings will be shared soon — but for now, please mark the date in your diaries and get ready to put your general knowledge to the test!

We look forward to seeing as many families as possible join us for this lively and memorable evening. Entirely optional but team colours or team themed dress is encouraged.

Year 2 Music

Year 2 children have been developing their instrumental and note reading skills this term. Since the beginning of the year, children have working on rhythm, notation, recorder and now glockenspiel.

Both classes have improved significantly during the term and I look forward to some excellent class performances over the coming weeks.

Early Years

We had such a wonderful week celebrating World Nursery Rhyme Week! The children loved painting their favourite characters, making crafts, and drawing with chalk. A big thank-you to our parents and teachers for joining in the singing — it made the week extra special!

Milepost 1

Children in Years 1 and 2 have been enjoying their weekly singing sessions with Mr Gary. We are learning new songs and actions and are looking forward to a parent performance later in the term. Our choir is sounding great. Thank you to Mr Gary for all his help.

Year 2 went on a fabulous trip to Oman Aquarium where Mr. Abdullah shared lots of interesting facts about creatures living in Oman. Our Beautiful Oman unit of learning is off to a flying start!

Milepost 2

This week in our IPC Active Planet unit, Year 4 became Earthquake Experts! We built our very own seismographs to measure pretend tremors and learn how real scientists track earthquakes.

Using cups, string, and markers, we watched our machines wiggle and draw lines as we shook the tables. It was messy, fun, and full of discovery. We learned new words like “epicenter” and “magnitude”. Now we know how the Earth moves and how to record it like real geologists!

Milepost 3

This week, Year 6 hosted their Exit Point for the unit ‘The Great, The Bold and The Brave’.

Parents took part in a Knowledge Harvest, explored their children’s VLE (Padlet) projects and enjoyed interactive activities across the classrooms. Highlights included a lively Kahoot quiz, creating miniature sandals containing reflections on how Ancient Greece has influenced their home, host, or heritage countries and designing Greek vases with family names written in Ancient Greek. The event concluded with a reflective Nearpod session. Thank you to all the parents who joined this wonderful celebration of learning!

PTA Update

The PTA are busily working with our Year 6 team to organise our wonderful Community Quiz Night - thank you to all involved.

This follows a recent PTA meeting. Click here for the minutes.

Congratulations to our Learners of the Week!

A huge congratulations to our newest Learners of the Week! This award recognises the incredible effort they put into their learning and the excellent ways they are putting their personal goals into practice. It's fantastic to see them growing and becoming such dedicated and confident learners.

PDO School Newsletter