17th September 2025

Dear Parents

Thank you so much for attending our first parent-teacher consultations this week. It was wonderful to see so many of you and begin building a strong foundation for your child's success this year.

The partnership between home and school is crucial for a child’s development and learning. When we work together, we create a supportive and consistent environment that helps students thrive academically, socially and emotionally. Your involvement is one of the most significant factors in your child's success.

Here are a few ways you can support your child's learning journey at home:

Create a routine: Establish a consistent schedule for home learning, reading and bedtime. A predictable routine helps children feel secure and prepared for the day ahead.
Encourage reading: Reading for pleasure is a powerful tool. Set aside time each day for your child to read, whether it's a book, a comic or an online article. Discussing what they read can boost their comprehension skills and also acting as a good role model by picking up a book and reading in front of your child shares a positive message.
Communicate with us: Please don't hesitate to connect with your child's class teacher if you have questions or concerns. We are always here to listen and work with you. The best relationships are built on open and frequent communication.
Show interest in their school day: Ask specific questions about what they learned, who they played with, or what they found challenging. This shows you value their school experience and encourages them to share more.

And finally the most important one.

Celebrate their efforts: Acknowledge their hard work and progress, not just their final outcomes. Praising effort builds resilience and a growth mindset, teaching them that persistence and hard work are more important than perfection. Share your learning story and how you have learnt from mistakes in the past.

We look forward to continuing this important partnership with you.

Tim Robinson

Headteacher

Early Years

Our Early Years children have started exciting specialist lessons this term: Swimming and PE with Miss Iveth and Music with Mr. Gary. An inspiring start to a term full of discovery!

In Swimming, children are gaining confidence in the water, learning essential safety skills, exploring new movements and developing coordination, strength and water awareness while having fun and building resilience. In Music, they are discovering instruments, experimenting with rhythm and expressing their creativity. These lessons spark curiosity, inspire creativity and support a love for learning, helping children grow in confidence, skills and joy each week.

Milepost 1

We have enjoyed a super thoughtful week...

We have really enjoyed exploring stories about The Colour Monster this week. We have linked our thinking to his adventures at school and at the doctor's surgery. Artful thinking, shape thinking, STEM thinking and musical thinking have all played a huge part in our exciting week! Superstar thinkers both independently and collaboratively!

Milepost 2

Can you escape before the Mad Mathematician traps your class in Maths class forever? That was the challenge facing Year 4 this week as they dove into the world of Roman numerals.

The children found it fascinating to explore the rules and patterns behind this ancient number system. To put their new knowledge to the test, they took part in an exciting escape-room style code-breaking challenge. Working collaboratively and showing great thinking skills, the children solved tricky clues, cracked codes and successfully passed through four challenging levels in order to escape. It was a fun and memorable way to bring Roman numerals to life!

Milepost 3

This week in Milepost 3, we focus on English. The children are really enjoying using their class texts for inspiration, and linking their writing to their IPC topics.

Both Year 5 and Year 6 have been getting creative with descriptive writing this week. The children have been focusing on using determiners, adjectives, nouns, and prepositional phrases to build expanded noun phrases. Year 5 put their skills into practice by describing the facilities on the RMS Queen Mary, while Year 6 used ambitious vocabulary to craft vivid setting descriptions inspired by 'Skellig'.

Student Council

Following the recent Student Council elections, we are delighted to introduce the newly elected Student Councilors for the 2025–2026 school year at PDO School! Congratulations to all our student leaders – we can’t wait to see the positive impact you will make.

Y2 - Hana and Maja

Y3 - Sarah and Matias

Y4 - Alexandria and Ahmed

Y5 - Ridham and Jan

Y6 - Sebastien, Maeve and Imani

Thank you to ALL of the children who ran in the elections. We value your voice too and look forward to our upcoming projects together as a school community.

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