PDO
School Newsletter
15th December 2022
Dear Parents
We have come to the end of the first term and what a busy time it has been. From the family learning days at the start of the year, the visit from the Dental School, Meet the Teacher, Parent Teacher Consultations, sports tournaments, IPC Exit Points, Family Quiz night, National Day, Tree Lighting Ceremony, RAHRC Choral Event, informal concerts and Winter Cafe... just to mention a few! That however did not stop our very energetic teachers from attending a fun sports event, yesterday, and what a competitive group they proved to be. I am very much looking forward to the new term and all the exciting things we have planned.
I hope you have a very relaxing holiday and I wish you all the very best for the New Year.
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 .
Winter Café
Thank you to the Year 3&4 families who joined us for the Winter Cafe on Tuesday morning and a special thank you to the school choir for performing. There was an array of beautiful artwork on display and a great opportunity for families to share in the talents of their children.
The quiz sheet was also greatly recieved and the scores are currently been collated and will be shared with the winner in due course.
Thank you for those who completed the feedback form, it seems you thoroughly enjoyed the morning!
Click here to view photographs from the event.
Miss Eimear, Leader for Phase 2
IMG_0089.jpgIMG_0095.jpgIMG_6175.MOVPDO School Christmas Performance Choir
PDO Boat Club and The Park Inn
It has been another very busy week for this choir with two more performances outside school. On Thursday 8th December, the choir performed to parents and members at PDO Boat club. Over 60 children from Year 3 to Year 6 participated in front of a large and enthusiastic audience.
On Monday 12 December, it was off to the Park Inn Al Khuwair for the final performance. This is the first time that PDO Christmas Choir has performed at the hotel and as always with these events, the children were extremely well looked after by the hotel.
The past two weeks have been very busy for these children with also being involved in performances with the full PDO Choir. They have demonstrated an enormous amount of commitment over the past few weeks and should be very proud of themselves and their performances.
However, their work isn’t done just yet, with the choir leading the end of year singing assembly.
Thank you to the parents and teachers who came along to support.
Well done everyone for your effort this term.
Mr Gary, Leader for Music
IMG_6174.JPGSwimming
To celebrate the final swim lesson of 2022 our classes took part in fun pool games. Our swimmers have been working extremely hard this term with many already receiving their next level swimming certificates which they where awarded in assembly last week. We would like to thank Britswim for their help and support of our programme and look forward to even more progress next term.
Swimming will commence the second week back - January 9th 2023.
P.E. Learning Goals
This week following the rainfall, our pool was out of use on Monday so we took the opportunity to practise some penalty challenges in response to England's, Brazil's, Netherlands and Japan's recent exit from the World cup. We spoke about our learning goals and what they mean in these situations. Highlighting the importance of being resilient, empathetic and respectful. Our pupils understood that it's okay to make mistakes and they can be made at the highest level and that mistakes are learning opportunities created when we are being challenged with challenges providing growth. It was a perfect message following recent events and our pupils demonstrated a great understanding of how important these qualities are in sport.
Interhouse Games
This week marked the end of our invasion games unit of work. All year groups took part in games to compete against each other to find our overall house champions. Our year 1's & 2's battled it out playing Capture the flag demonstrating excellent understanding of attacking and defending. Year 3 & 4 had very closely fought game of benchball and our year 5 & 6 challenged each other at basketball. It was incredibly close across all age groups and games however, when we combined all 3 phases, the final standings are as follows.
Champions:
red House
Runners Up:
Green and yellow House
Fourth Place:
Blue House
Well done to everyone who took part!
Miss Iveth and Mr Scott
Year 6 Champions
Year 4 Champions
Year 1 Joint Champions
Year 2 Champions
Year 3 Champions
Cycle Safety
Miss Cheryl and Miss Kath were happy to meet with Iain Watford who is in charge of Cycle Safety on PDO Camp to discuss how best the school can support cycling and road safety around PDO Camp. One of the ways that all parents can support cycling safety is providing a bike helmet for their child to wear.
The majority of our children do wear a cycling safety helmet when they come to school, however it has been noted this week that 7 children arrived at school on one day this week, either on a scooter or their bike, and were observed not to be wearing a bike helmet. Whilst it is not Omani law to wear a bike helmet , PDO School strongly advises that all children on a scooter or bike, wear a bike helmet.
If you would like to read more about bike helmets, please read this article from The Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents , which provides much useful information about the best cycle helmet for your child and how to use the helmets effectively.
Staff Games
Our staff took part after school in some mixed games this week to celebrate the end of a long and busy term. The games quickly became very competitive, not mentioning any names. We will have some announcements next term for our parents to also take part in some sports against our pupils and even each other which we are looking forward to sharing with you.
Miss Iveth and Mr Scott
Shoebox / Books of Love Campaign
Thank you so much to the parents, children & staff that have contributed to the Shoebox/Books of love. They will certainly bring a smile to those children who are less fortunate than our own.
Miss Emma Year 1 Teacher
Kindness Collection for OIG Workers
PDO School was very pleased to present a gift to our OIG workers, here at school, as a token of our appreciation for the great job that they do.
Out of School Achievements
Miss Iveth participated in a Duathlon (Run,Bike,Run) event at Barcelo Mussanah Resort in Muscat, last Saturday. Miss Iveth was the only female competitor. She achieved her goal of a new personal best time. Well done!
Congratulations also to Miss Abeer who graduated with a Master's Degree in Business Administration from the University of Bedfordshire. Well done!
Year 1 - Year 6 Parent Guest Library Readers
Next term, we would like to introduce Stories from around the World to our students.
If you would like to read a short story or poem from your home country, or any other country, to your Year 1 - Year 6 child's class, during their Library Time, this term, please follow the link below. We would aim for the story to take no longer than 10 minutes to read to the class.
You are welcome to bring a cherished book with you, however, we have a wide range of stories and puppets in the library if you would prefer to use some of our resources.
Miss Zoe
Leaving Oman
We request that parents who have plans to move away from Oman, to please provide us with the details as soon as possible by emailing Ms Cheryl, cfox@pdoschool.com or Ms Kath, kmorgan@pdoschool.com . This will allow us time to prepare the Transfer Certificate and other documents your child may require for their application to a new school, as well as to be able to give your child a traditional school farewell.
Dates for your Diary:
First day of school, Term 2 , Tuesday 3rd January
FS2 Parent Reading and Phonics Meeting, Thursday 5th January @ 1:15 - 1:45 pm
School Swimming will recommence Monday 9th January
Biscuit decorating and refreshments morning (Early Years Parents), Thursday 12th January @ 11 am - 12 noon (change of day)
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 everyone a restful winter break
Cheryl Fox
Headteacher
cfox@pdoschool.com kmorgan@pdoschool.com nurse@pdoschool.com