PDO
School Newsletter
17th November 2022
Dear Parents
Another great week!
On Sunday morning, the children were still buzzing from the quiz night, and some of the successful quizzers were keen to claim their class prizes. Thank you to all who made this such an eventful evening.
Omani National Day was celebrated in style at PDO School, with a whole day of learning based on our host country. The activities were planned by our Omani colleagues, who were keen to teach the children about some of the culture and traditions that are important to them. It was lovely to see so many of you enjoying the activities, and we hope that you had a wonderful and memorable experience.
In order to view the Class Pages for more detailed information about your child's learning this week and any class notices, please click the link here .
Year 3 - STOPS
The children in Year 3 have started their weekly STOPS (Sequenced Teaching of Problem Solving) lessons. Through these lessons, the children will be taught about 8 different problem solving strategies. The first strategy that they learnt about was 'Act it Out' which involves physically acting out the situation presented in a problem to help the children to better understand it.
For the problem below, Year 3 used a grid and coloured cubes to represent the fruits. They had a lot of fun and showed great resilience to keep trying until they found a solution.
Leader for Maths - Ms Liz
Science
Year 5 - Forces
Year 5 have just started their new science unit - Forces. In the first lesson the children learnt about the effects of gravity. They carried out an investigation in order to find out if the weight of an object affects the speed at which it falls. Many of the children predicted that the heavier bottles would fall faster - they were surprised to find out that all of the bottles took the same amount of time to fall (all were within 1/10 of a second of each other).
Mr Joe
MPSL Success
This week we hosted the MPSL South league benchball tournament. Which included BSM, Al Sahwa and the Mighty PDO Scorpions. With 40 girls from Year 4-6 taking part it was great for our teams to gain further experience of playing competitive sport in a fun and friendly environment. We had a great crowd turn out and the atmosphere was fantastic as our skilled teams put together some super performances. Two of our under 9 and one of our Under 11's Teams made it through to the finals. Resulting in the following overall results.
U9 Scorpions - Champions
U9 Green team - 2nd Place
U11 Scorpions - 2nd Place
U11 Year 5'S - 3rd Place
Well done to all of those who took part. Next Sunday is the boys turn and we will update you on their progress next week.
PE Team
Year 6 - Educational Visit
It has been a very eventful week in Year 6. On Sunday, the children visited the Oman National Museum as part of their IPC Topic 'Beautiful Oman'. They saw lots of incredible artefacts including these mysterious, 2000-year-old triliths found in the Al Wusta Governorate.
Leader for Phase 3 - Mr Neil
IMG_2584.JPGScreenshot 2022-11-15 170428a.jpgThursday Informal Concert Performances to Parents
I am very pleased to announce that in a few weeks time, we will be recommencing the Thursdays Informal Concert series. As last year, performances will begin at 7.40am but this time, there will be no social distancing and parents will be able to watch the performance live in school instead of waiting for a recorded video later on in the day. Concerts will take place in the Learning Souk, as and when ensembles are ready and the series will begin with two choir performances. Each concert will last around 20 minutes.
December 1st: Christmas Performance Choir
December 8th: The full PDO School Choir
However, as we do not wish to interrupt the flow of traffic into the carpark at that time, I will be looking into arranging off campus parking or encouraging parents to take advantage of the cooler but wonderful morning temperatures.
Further details will follow over the coming weeks.
Mr Gary gruston@pdoschool.com
Al Mouj Marathon
Mr. Butch, Miss Dawn and Mr. Neil participated in the Half Marathon (21.1km) event at Al Mouj last Friday. The weather conditions made for a tough race but some personal best times were achieved thanks to the straight, flat route, and of course, a fair amount of training! Congratulations to everyone who took part in all of the races over the course of the weekend.
PTA Voting
Thank you to all of the parents who volunteered to join the PTA committee and to all of the families who voted for the candidates. Approximately 24% of school families voted. Thank you also to the school staff who volunteered to join as school staff members of the PTA .
The results of the voting, will be reviewed at the School Board, which will take place in December. The final decision on who will become PTA members will be decided at this meeting. Successful candudates will then be notified and called to a meeting to sign the Terms of Reference, Confidentiality Declaration and Conflict of Interest forms. Once these are complete, the first PTA meeting, for this academic year will be arranged by the Head teacher and the Chair of the PTA.
Parent Membership Voting Results:
24% of families voted for parent representatives
Number of votes for Sehrush Siddique to be an Ordinary Member of the PTA 9
Number of votes for Amanda Reimsnyder to be an Ordinary Member of the PTA 11
Number of votes for Ume Umara Aamir to be an Ordinary Member of the PTA 2
Number of votes for Patrycja Ryba to be an Ordinary Member of the PTA 13
Number of votes for Sheila Borbajo to chair the PTA 15
Number of votes for Edward Graham to chair the PTA 23
Number of votes for Louise Bolton to be the Secretary of the PTA 18
Number of votes for Magda Bednara to be the Secretary of the PTA 15
Number of votes for Anshupriya Agarwal to be the Treasurer of the PTA 32
Staff Membership Voting Results:
75% of the school staff voted for Teachers and LSA representatives
Number of votes for Kirsty McDonagh to be a PTA Member 24
Number of votes for Mohsin Shabir to be a PTA Member 26
Number of votes for Nabiha Juma Al Ghadani to be a PTA Member 11
Number of votes for Farida Rashid Alzakwanito be a PTA Member 4
Number of votes for Haifa Al-Hadhrami to be a PTA Member 9
Number of votes for Marwa Marhoon Al Hashli to be a PTA Member 8
Dates for your Diary:
The Grand Hormuz, Tuesday December 6th (Years 4 to 6)
Park Inn Hotel, Monday December 12th (Years 4 to 6)
Parental Concerns:
At PDO School we acknowledge that, from time to time, parents may wish to express concerns about specific aspects of their child’s education. We are always happy to investigate and respond to these concerns. Please note that, for the Class Teachers, it is important that even informal discussions take place outside of their teaching time.
What do I do if I have a concern?
Please make the Class Teacher your first point of contact if your concern is not successfully resolved, please contact the school via notices@pdoschool.com to make an appointment with the Headteacher, Cheryl Fox, or the Deputy Headteacher, Ms. Kath Morgan.
Mr. Hamed, our School Manager, is also happy to listen to any parental concerns that have not been resolved successfully.
Wishing you a pleasant weekend
Cheryl Fox
Headteacher
cfox@pdoschool.com kmorgan@pdoschool.com nurse@pdoschool.com