27th November 2024

Dear Parents

As a school we continually promote the importance of reading; since the start of this year we have purchased over 10,000 books. (Please see the article below highlighting our new book collections.)

Regular reading offers numerous benefits for children, significantly enhancing their educational journey and future prospects. Engaging in consistent reading activities improves language skills, expands vocabulary, and strengthens comprehension abilities, laying a solid foundation for academic success. Children who develop a love for reading often exhibit increased concentration, critical thinking, and creativity, which are essential for effective learning across all subjects. As parents we all need to be good role models in encouraging reading at home; parents can be excellent role models and reading in front of your children can impact positively on their motivation to read.

Beyond academics, fostering a passion for reading enriches children's lives by broadening their understanding of diverse cultures and perspectives, promoting empathy and social awareness. This exposure to various narratives and ideas encourages open-mindedness and adaptability, traits valuable in personal development and future career opportunities. As parents we need to encourage children to read books from different cultures; experiment by making bold book choices with your child.

A report by BookTrust highlights that reading in the early years brings profound and wide-ranging benefits to children that can have a lifelong positive impact.

We know that if children experience early shared reading they are more likely to continue to read as they grow up. Reading for pleasure in the early years has four times more powerful impact on a child’s progress across the curriculum at age 16 than parental education or socioeconomic status.

In summary, encouraging regular reading not only boosts children's enjoyment and success in education but also significantly improves their long-term life chances by equipping them with essential skills and a broader worldview. Hopefully, our recent additions to school reading books will enhance all of these opportunities further.

Happy Reading !

Tim Robinson

Headteacher

School Board Parent Representative

Dear Parents,

Hope you all are doing good. First of all, I want to express my sincere gratitude for entrusting me with the responsibility of representing you on the PDO School Board. I fully recognize the trust you have placed in me, and I am committed to do my best to represent your collective voices at the School Board and beyond! I would also like to take this opportunity to reach out to all the parents who may not know me personally yet.

I know, the future of the school is on everyone’s mind. Thanks to the fantastic support from an active parent community, engagements have been initiated to highlight our concerns and take parent’s views into consideration for the decision-making. I met some of the parents at these meetings and have heard (and feel) the concerns raised related to the ongoing school review.

As part of my role, I am committed to improving the channels of communication so that parents feel more informed and empowered to make decisions that benefit their kids and families.

If you have any other concerns, please feel free to reach out to me using contact details below.

Looking forward to connecting with you all. Once again, thank you for your support, and we will keep this dialogue going!

Regards

Divya Reddy

schoolboardparent@pdoschool.com

PDO Email (UPA3) - Divya.Reddy@pdo.co.om

Home Reading Books

We are excited to launch our new home reading books to Y1-Y6 this week! They have been written by top authors, contain fantastic illustrations and are designed to match every child to the right book. There is a range of fiction and non-fiction, including short stories, novels, anthologies, classics and comics to name a few. Each book contains instructions to support parents when reading with their child. These books use a new levelling system which means that your child will be bringing home a book which may have a different number or colour band. We hope these books enrich the reading experience for you and your child.

Sip and Swap

Full details are within the sign up form.

Parent Maths Passport Workshop 11_11_24 (1).pdf

Maths Passport Information

Thank you to everyone who attended the Maths Passport Parent Workshop. Please find the information slideshow here.

If you have any questions regarding the Maths Passport, please speak directly to your child's class teacher.

Learning Portal Makeover

Help! Our Learning Portal lacks 'swag'. This is the front door to the internet for the children in school and so we are asking them to use their design skills to give it some flair. The Learning Portal can be found at https://bit.ly/pdoschool .

Maths Learning Portal

In order to further support the children's learning the Maths Learning Portal page has been updated. Children can access their Maths Passport target cards with links to appropriate games. In addition to this, there are hundreds of links to games suitable for each year group that are aligned with the National Curriculum targets. The link to the Maths Learning Portal page is HERE.

Making Learning Active

Thank you to the many children and parents who added to our 'See, Think, Wonder' and 'See, Think, Me, We' displays in the school entrances last week. It was fantastic to see such a high level of engagement. These form part of a school-wide focus on an active approach to learning which saw all staff taking part in an energetic, and at times noisy, training session this week.

Music News

As well as the different units that the children learn about in Music, we are busy practising for The Grand Hormuz Hotel and the Winter Concert. Many of the children from the various clubs that we offer will be able to perform in the Winter Concert. Parents will also have a chance to join in during the Concert!

The Music Department also started some informal concerts this term, where children are able to perform in front of others during a Thursday lunchtime. It has been a great success and is a lovely way of having children perform in a relaxed environment. This term Y5s and Y6s have had a chance to perform to their peers and the audience has been very kind and listened well to the performers. We have had singers, pianists, guitarists and all sorts of musical endeavours.

Next term I will have one more informal lunchtime concert for the Y5s and Y6s. Y3s and Y4s will get a chance to perform in February. They need to be able to practise at home and the idea is that they share their best piece.

Important dates for you Diaries:

Cantamus Choir performance is on Wednesday 11th December at The Grand Hormuz Hotel at 4:45 pm.

Winter Concert is on Wednesday 18th December at 1:00 pm.

Exciting Delivery!

An exciting delivery last week brought us brand new resources from 'Early Excellence' in the UK. These resources are for our Mile Post One children.

Investing in your children's education is important to us, and these significant additions will enhance our teaching, improve our classroom environments, and support continuous provision. We can’t wait to unpack them and watch the children enjoy using them!

Early Years

The Animal Rescuers adventure was an exciting unit filled with learning and teamwork. During our Exit Point, parents and children came together to make explorer hats, build boats to save penguins and dig up hidden camels. They matched animal skins to the right animals and searched for creatures hiding along the corridor.

Thank you to the parents for your fantastic support and for helping make this experience so memorable for the children.

Our journey as Animal Rescuers began in the jungle, moved into an exciting safari, ventured into the polar regions, and ended in the desert.

We explored Sustainable Development Goal 8 by learning about caring for animals everywhere, promoting sustainable development and understanding the importance of protecting wildlife. In the polar adventure, we discussed global warming and how it affects Arctic habitats. During the desert exploration, we compared Oman’s desert to others around the world and discovered animals that live in these environments.

A special highlight was the visit from Muscat Veterinary Centre, where the children met Scruffy the dog and learned more about caring for animals in their everyday lives.

This adventure encouraged the children to think about global challenges and develop an understanding of how small actions can make a big difference.

What a journey it has been!

Milepost 1

Last week, Milepost 1 enjoyed the Oman National Day celebrations.

The students reflected on the celebration this week by writing recounts of the day and discussing their favourite parts of the day.

Some children loved the assembly with the drummers and the music. Other children really enjoyed the parade with the parents and thought it was fun to share the celebrations with their parents.

The fashion show was a huge hit with lots of the children designing their own clothes. Henna was popular and some of the children loved the intricate details.

Most children though, felt that the whole day was just wonderful and loved all of the activities.

MP1 want to say a huge thank you to all of the Omani staff for making the day so special!

Milepost 2

Year 4 enjoyed a trip to Sidab Women's Project as part of our 'Beautiful Oman' IPC unit.

We had the wonderful opportunity to visit a sustainable local initiative based in our host country, the Sultanate of Oman. We are learning about the food of Oman and participated in a cooking demonstration on how to make traditional omani bread. A highlight was tasting a "Khubs ma jibnan ma patata oman" (bread with cheese and chips oman). A first for many! Ms. Sumaiya and Ms. Fatema helped us prepare for this trip by teaching us basic greetings in Arabic. We are beginning to develop an understanding of the similarities and differences between our host and heritage countries.

Milepost 3

Beautiful Oman! Children in Year 6 enjoyed a visit to the National Museum in Muttrah for the Entry Point to their Beautiful Oman IPC unit.

Year 6 will be exploring the economy of Oman in their Beautiful Oman unit. To gain an insight into the history of the Omani economy, they visited the National Museum in Muttrah. In the Martitime History Gallery, the children enjoyed a talk from the Museum's education team about Oman's proud history of sea travel. The children also explored the history of Aflaj and their impact on agriculture in Oman. Finally, the Land of Frankincense gallery gave the children the opporunity to explore a range of ancient artifacts from perfumes to axes. It was a wonderful educational visit and gave the children a good understanding of Oman's economic history.

Congratulations to our Learners of the Week

So many wonderful achievements to celebrate this week!

Congratulations to our Learners of the Week from last week!

(There was no newsletter last week.)

Fantastic achievements all round - congratulations!

World Nursery Rhyme Week - Poetry Week

We were treated to a spectacular show of performance poetry by Reception, Milepost 1 and Milepost 3 children last week. MilePost 2 welcomed parent volunteers to read poems from their heritage country. It was great to see International Mindedness in action during our student performances including poems in mother tongue such as Spanish, Turkish and Dutch. Children applied a range of techniques to really engage their audience and performed with confidence and enjoyment. Videos can be viewed here.

Toddler Hut

This week at Toddler Hut, the children had fun exploring playdough, using tools and their hands to mold and create. They also brought their imaginations to life by setting up a pretend grocery store, taking on roles like shoppers and cashiers in a playful and creative storyline. It was wonderful to see their creativity and teamwork shine!

Staff News!

We are so proud of Ms Kawthar, our Learning Support Assistant, for completing her Level 1 Teaching Assistant qualification through Learn Direct. This is a fantastic achievement—well done, Ms. Kawthar!

At PDO School, we value staff development because it helps us provide the best learning opportunities for our children. Ms. Kawthar’s hard work and dedication show how important lifelong learning is for all of us.

Congratulations again, Ms. Kawthar!

Medical Notice

Dear Parents,

We have observed several cases of viral infections circulating within our school community. As a precautionary measure, we kindly request that if your child is feeling unwell, please keep them at home to prevent the potential spread of the infection.

If your child displays symptoms of illness , we advise you to attend the clinic and get the necessary medical attention.

Please be reminded that if your child has a fever, they should be fever free and without antipyretics medications at least 24 hours before returning to school.

The children should not be brought to school if they have vomiting or diarrhea. They should not return until 48 hours after the diarrhea and vomiting have stopped.

The health and well-being of our students and staff are of utmost importance, and we appreciate your cooperation in helping us to maintain a safe and healthy environment within the school.

Nurse Munira

Parent Calendar

The Parent Calendar can also be found on the Parent Portal.

Wishing you a pleasant weekend,

The PDO School Team

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