PDO 

School  Newsletter

  20th September 2023

Dear Parents,

A warm welcome to Claire Richmond our new Deputy Headteacher, Claire arrived this week with her family. Claire will be supporting across the school and will initially be working in the Early Years part of the school. 

 We will be sending our invitations next week to all parents for the PTC events in mid October please look out for these and please sign up for this event. This will be a conversation about how your child has settled into school.

A reminder that school is closed for students next week on the Wednesday and Thursday.

If you identify any HSSE issues on the way to school can we please request that you contact the email below. If you do not receive a response then please contact the school and we will support and follow up.

FMHelpDesk@pdo.co.om 

Tim Robinson

Headteacher

Early Years

Let's Play!

"Play is the highest form of research" 

Albert Einstein

During continuous provision, children choose their own ways to play and learn, this self-directed play fosters independence, creativity and problem solving skills and is essential for their development. 


What are we learning when we play?

Developing imagination

Role play-developing social skills

Cooperation and independence

Creativity

Milepost 1

Year One has been reading 'Pumpkin Soup' by Helen Cooper. This week, we planted our own pumpkin seeds. Children then used 'bossy verbs' and time connectives to write a set of instructions. We were impressed by their independence and willingness to try new writing techniques. Children took turns during each stage and communicated well. We then conducted a simple investigation to see which seeds would germinate first - the planted pots or the seeds we placed in damp tissue in a closed container. 

Milepost 2

In Year 3 the children have been learning about the time periods within the Mesozoic Era. In groups, they were assigned to research dinosaurs during the Triassic, Jurassic or Cretaceous period. They then chose a dinosaur they were interested in and researched it further. Year 3 practised the skill of using a range of sources, finding and choosing relevant information and making notes. Once the research was complete, the children turned their notes into sentences and created digital fact files about their dinosaurs. They used their communication skills to present their fact files to the rest of the class. Finally, they created a quiz for the other children in the class to complete in order to check if their fact file had been informative. 

Milepost 3

IPC - Global Warming

This week the children in Year 5 have been working in small groups using their communication and collaboration skills to find out the effect of global warming on the planet. They analysed global data graphs that have been collected over time. The graphs showed the change in temperature, sea level and polar ice coverage.

The children then used their findings to predict the outcomes of five different scenarios in which the cause had multiple knock-on effects on the environment. 

Finally, the groups brainstormed ways in which we as individuals and as a population can help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, global warming and pollution.

French

Learning a new language is not just about learning new words and phrases, but also about learning new skills that can also be transferred between subjects,  to help us to become better independent learners. Milepost 3 have been learning how to become language detectives this week in French, in order to develop their reading skills. They were given a text, all in French, which they had to read and understand in order to match different countries and regions to the corresponding flag. In order to be successful, they needed to use the context, their prior knowledge as well as identifying cognates and near cognates to help them to understand and translate a text. The children also used their personal goals to work collaboratively and be good communicators in order to justify and explain their thinking to each other.

Swimming

It has been great to have our classes swimming again. With our lessons supported by the Britswim team, we are very fortunate to have ratios similar to that of private lessons outside of school and we look forward to building on all the progress made last year. 

I have received a few concerns regarding children leaving swimming with wet hair and returning to class. Whilst we know that the shorter hair dries quicker some of our pupils with longer hair can take much longer. For these pupils, we would recommend sourcing a good quality swim cap. A properly fitted swim cap can keep hair completely dry to prevent this issue. We would recommend a silicone material which is slightly thicker, less prone to tearing and can provide a tighter fit for longer hair.  It is also important that pupils practice fitting these at home prior to lessons. Whilst we can assist it would be more beneficial for pupils to fit their own. 

If you have any queries or questions please let the P.E. team know. 

Aquathlon

This week, our Aquathlon squad took part in some early morning training in preparation for their competitions this year. 

PDO School are the reigning champions at U9 and U11 age groups from last year and we are looking forward to challenging for the titles again this time. 

The team took part in a short indoor run followed by some short fast swim sets. They all worked incredibly hard and it was great to see them back in action. 

No training next week due to the holiday - We will resume Wednesday 4th October at 7.15am. 

Great start everyone! 

Seesaw                     

We are very excited to announce that on Sunday 24th September we will be launching Seesaw.

Seesaw is our new school communication application. It will replace the class pages and will provide an opportunity for students and teachers to share learning with you, it will also be used as a messaging service and will enable you and teachers to engage in dialogue. As with all new systems, we will experience a few glitches, however the end result will be an enhanced communication system for our school.

If you haven't already completed the Seesaw consent from please click here. 

On Sunday, look in your child's school bag for a printed invite and follow the instructions to connect.

Steps to Get Connected


FAQs

•What can families see? 

Families can view the work posted in their own student’s journal. Families do not see the work of anyone else in the class. 

• How many family members can connect to a student? 

10 Family members can connect to each student. 

• Already Have an Account? 

If you’ve used Seesaw before or have more than one child using Seesaw, follow these steps: 

Smartphone: Sign in to your account in the Seesaw app and scan the QR code or 

On the computer: Sign in at https://app.seesaw.me  Click on your profile icon( I'm a family member), click “+Add Child’s Journal” button, then scan the QR code.

Out of School Achievements

Congratulations to Sissi in Year 6 who recently passed her Step 1 Vocal Exam, with distinction. She chose to sing 'Let it Be' by the Beatles and 'A Thousand Miles' by Vanessa Carlton for her exam pieces. Well done Sissi!

Dates for your Diary

Wishing you a pleasant weekend,

The PDO School Team