PDO

School Newsletter

4th September 2024

Dear Parents,

It's been wonderful to see our children engaged in their learning and such positivity displayed across our school.

Our new LSAs have also settled in very well and are already making positive contributions. Please see attached later in the newsletter the pen portraits of all our new LSAs, as you can see we have LSAs who all have backgrounds in education, this has helped them to quickly adapt to the demands of joining PDO school.

PTA ( AGM) Postponed

We have postponed this meeting to provide the opportunity for several of our new families to become involved, we still have new families arriving and we want to ensure that we involve as many families as possible in school life. We will update you with the date of the meeting. All the positions for the PTA are to be elected; if you are interested in supporting the school and you are interested in any of these roles ( Chair, Vice Chair, Treasurer or Secretary) then please contact a member of the School Leadership Team via email. If we have several parents interested then we will need to hold an election. We will keep you updated on the election process in the coming weeks.

School Gate ( Traffic)

Several parents have raised the issue of the school gate opening time. We have now moved the opening time to 7.35am. Can we please request that parents do not start trying to enter the school before 7.35am, this creates a traffic jam in and around camp. Please try to arrange your arrival time from 7.35am to 7.40am. Children should also not arrive before 7.35am if walking/cycling.

Coffee Morning

Many thanks to all the parents who attended the coffee morning this morning, positive to see so many new parents joining our school community. During the session we shared a QR code asking parents 3 questions, many only answered the first (perhaps not realising there were 2 more) please take a moment to answer these questions, your feedback is important to us: https://www.menti.com/alfjy9sjsti3

School Newsletters and Communication

We are in the process of currently reviewing all our communication in school, we want to ensure that the right messages are conveyed, we also do not want parents drowning in communication. We want the learning focused issues to be key, learning is our core business and most of our communication should revolve around learning. We aim to change the presentation of the newsletter in the coming weeks, this will enable you to scroll to the key features.

Tim Robinson

Headteacher

Early Years

In our classrooms, we love seeing how children take charge of their own learning through continuous provision. Recently, they have been choosing activities that interest them, like constructing using maths blocks to build towers and bridges or feeding and caring for baby dolls in the role-play area.

By selecting these tasks, children are learning to make decisions, try out new ideas and solve problems in their own way. It's wonderful to see them become more confident and engaged each day as they explore numbers, shapes and imaginative play.

We are excited to see their unique discoveries and hear their stories as they continue their learning adventures!

Milepost 1 - If You're Happy And You Know It!

This week, our Year 1 students began their journey on our, If You're Happy and You Know It, IPC unit. They will be learning about being mindful and looking after each other's wellbeing, learning about different feelings and how to deal with them. During our entry-point, we talked about what calm spaces mean to each of us and visited Ms Bushra in our very special 'Milepost One Sensory Room'. Finally, we made our own mindful calm jars, which we have in our classroom for when we need them. It has been a wonderful start to the term with such a lovely unit to welcome the students into Year 1!

Milepost 2

This week in Year 3, the children have been focusing on developing their empathetic communication skills. Developing empathy is crucial for providing kind and constructive feedback to their peers, which also helps them grow as reflective learners. In this lesson, the children were tasked with drawing a beetle and then seeking feedback from a classmate. This exercise allowed them to discover what aspects of their drawing were strong and where they could improve, fostering both their artistic skills and their ability to give and receive feedback thoughtfully.

Milepost 3 - Brainwave: Metacognition

In Year 6, children have being 'thinking about thinking'. This IPC unit has encouraged children to think about how they learn and what helps them to learn when they are struggling. We have also delved into the concept of a growth mindset and affirmations that can be used to support this. The children have taken time to reflect on their personal strengths and areas in which they could further develop. There was also the opportunity for children to set themselves a target for the year by responding to these 4 prompts:

What is your goal?

What is the purpose of your goal?

What small steps can you take?

What are the obstacles?

This task gave the children further opportunity to reflect on their learning and develop a manageable strategy for reaching their desired goal. The children are aiming for some fantastic targets and we look forward to supporting them to reach their goals.

STEM

Our new STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Maths) lessons have begun. All the children were very enthusiastic and there was a definite 'buzz' in the STEM lab.

The children from Years 1-6 have had a 'buildtastic' week constructing towers and bridges from LEGO and paper with different parameters. They have been learning about which shapes are strong and how to support wider / taller structures. Everyone used many of the Personal Learning Goals and collaborated to construct their amazing structures.

Choose-days are here and the excitement has been growing! But where did they come from? They came from a response to student and parent surveys, PASS assessments and growing research. Our wellbeing directly affects our achievements in other areas of our lives: emotional & physical health, academic achievement, creativity, relationships, happiness and future prospects (to name a few!). Importantly, we have developed this programme to align with our holistic International Curriculum, fundamentally to enable our students to achieve their 'Health & Wellbeing' and 'Personal Learning' goals. We gave the students autonomy on how they wanted to achieve these goals and brainstormed with our teachers to create inspiring Choose-day activities. From this week onwards, students will be able to choose what they wear and what do on Choose-day afternoons to further increase responsibility, motivation, wellbeing and personal development. We will also use this time to celebrate their successes. We look forward to keeping you informed in our weekly newsletter and via Seesaw.

Welcome to our new LSAs

Haifa Alhashani - Pre Nursery

Before joining PDO School, Haifa worked as an ESL teacher at St Andrew's College Language School, St Albert Primary School and Royston Primary School in the UK.

She obtained her qualifications at the University of Glasgow and holds a Bachelor of Arts in Education and TESOL.

Most recently Haifa worked at Maple Bear Preschool and brings with her a sound understanding of teaching our younger learners.

Haifa will be working in Pre Nursery this year alongside Ms Dagmo.

Entisar Al Balushi - Reception M

Entisar has a wealth of Early Childhood experience and has worked as an Early Childhood practitioner at the Child Care Center at Sultan Qaboos University and Horizon Kids International Nursery in Oman.

She holds a Bachelor in Early Childhood Education from the College of Education at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU), Oman as well as a Professional Diploma in Kindergarten from the International Arees University in Lebanon.

Entisar will be working in Reception alongside Mr Mohsin this year.

Marya Al Salmi - Year 1 J

Marya holds a Bachelor of Education in English Language that she obtained from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman. Her experience includes working as a Global teacher at Aiesec in Malaysia and Vietnam, as a Project Manager at AdeebKids and as a Course Lead at Kid Lead.

Marya has done additional training to continue her professional development and worked as a teacher in the Language Center at Sultan Qaboos University as well as at the American and British Academy.

Marya will be working in Year 1 J this year alongside Ms Julie Ann.

Maryam Al Jazmi - Year 3 M

Maryam obtained her degree at Nottingham Trent University in the UK and holds a BA (Hons) in Education Studies and Special & Inclusive Education. She has worked as an SEN teacher at APTCOO school in Mansfield, UK and closer to home as a director at Basmat Tifel Nursery in Oman. More recently she worked as a Learning Difficulties teacher at Al Shomoukh International School as well as a SEN specialist at Al Wafa Rehabilitation Center in Oman.

Maryam will be joining Ms Maalia in Year 3 M this year.

Fatema Al Balushi - Year 4 A

Fatema holds a Bachelor’s degree in English Language Studies at Sohar University & Postgraduate Professional Diploma in Teaching English at Al Ain University.

She has worked as an Arabic as an Additional Language teacher at Royal Grammar School, and as an English teacher at both Private and public schools in Oman.

Fatema will be working in Year 4 this year alongside Ms Amy.

Sumaiya Al Wahaibi - Year 4 E

Sumaiya obtained a Bachelor of Chemical Engineering at the University of Technology and Applied Sciences. She has served as a lab chemist at RAY International company and managed resources as a resources line head at National Construction Line company overseeing projects in construction.

More recently she turned her attention to education and worked as a Teacher at Wahat Al Hajer School, providing educational support and fostering a positive learning environment.

Sumaiya will be working in Year 4 alongside Ms Eimear.

Awatif Al Jabri - Year 5 and 6

Awatif holds a Ph.D. in Physics that she obtained from Sultan Qaboos University. She has been involved in education on various levels including working with the Ministry of Education in Oman to develop the scientific curricula. She has also been involved with the review of scientific papers and working as a research assistant at Sultan Qaboos University.

Awatif has published six scientific journal articles and has been a part of scientific conferences in the USA and Germany.

Awatif will be working alongside the Year 5 and 6 teachers but with her love for science will also help develop the STEM learning in school.

Farah Al Ojaili - Year 5 and 6

Farah holds a Masters Degree in Translation Studies from Sultan Qaboos University in Oman.

Over the last two years, she has worked as an English Language Lecturer in Oman. Prior to that, Farah taught Arabic for Non-native speakers at the British School in Salalah.

Farah brings with her a love for language and is eager to share this with the children in Year 5 and Year 6.

Toddler Hut

PDO School Medical Information

Could you please complete the link below if your child/ren have had any change to their medical circumstances over the summer break so that we can ensure that our records are up to date and that we can support you.

Student Medical Information Update

Nut Free School

We would like to remind you that PDO School is nut free. Therefore, please do not include any peanuts, tree nuts, or nut products in snack boxes, lunches, birthday treats, or any food brought to school. Please check any cereal bars carefully to ensure they do not contain nuts.

Thank you for your support.

Medication

If your child is on any medication, please ensure that all medication are labelled clearly with the child's name, dose and time to be taken. It should be transported to the school by an adult and handed directly to the School Nurse. Please do not allow your child to carry his or her medication.

Nurse Munira

nurse@pdoschool.com

Student's vaccination