PDO 

School  Newsletter

  11th October 2023

Dear Parents,

A  busy week ahead with a number of events taking place after school, please ensure you refer to the calendar below to check all the details of upcoming events. 

Can we please request that all parents turn off their car engines when they collect children from school. We are receiving reports of cars left running while parents collect children, your support is appreciated.

We had a busy Parent Connect meeting on Monday, we responded to 65 questions during the session, we are currently collating our responses and we will distribute these next week, thanks to all the parents who submitted the questions and thanks to the Parent Connect Team for supporting the process.

We are currently engaging with a UK provider who will provide road safety/ cycling training. We are still working on the details of the visit but are hopeful that all students can be engaged in the process.  As a school we want to encourage healthy lifestyles in all our children, cycling to school is one example of this. However, we want to ensure that students are trained and are safe to travel around the camp. We would hope in the future that more children will take the option to cycle to school. We will send more details in the future.

Tim Robinson

Headteacher

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A letter from our PTA chair: 

On behalf of the PDO School PTA, it is my pleasure to welcome you to our wonderful community! The PTA strives to make the school year as fun, educational, and productive as possible, and we are very excited about what we have planned for the 2023-2024 school year! Our purpose is to positively impact the lives of our children by bringing parents, teachers, and the community together to support our children’s educational success. Our primary objective as a PTA is to provide our school with student-focused events and initiatives that will ultimately benefit the entire school.

The PTA would like to extend an invitation to all parents to our next PTA Committee Meeting on Sunday, November 5th at 4:30p.m. This will give everyone a chance to see how the PTA works, what our plans are for this year, how we help to assist teachers in their initiatives and so much more.

In addition to attending events like the recent PTA Coffee Morning, one of the other ways YOU can make this the best year for your family and our community is by volunteering with the PTA! Volunteering will have a direct effect on the culture of our school and your student’s experience. It enables you to stay connected, know what is happening, meet other families, build rapport, and share ideas and experiences.

You can volunteer as much or as little as you would like or are able, finding a perfect balance that is right for you.

If you would like to be added to the PTA Volunteer WhatsApp group or having any questions, please email ptapdoschool@gmail.com


Look forward to hearing from you!

Maylee Hyde

PTA Chair

Early Years

IEYC Learning Strand 4:  Healthy Living and Physical Well-being

As part of our 'This is Me' IEYC Unit, Reception children have been learning all about health and self-care.  We started with hand washing and children dipped their hands in glitter, which represented germs and followed  steps to wash their hands thoroughly.  Children learnt about the importance of brushing their teeth and practised on the large set of classroom teeth.  They brought their toothbrushes and toothpaste to school and demonstrated their technique. Finally, children learnt all about bedtime routines through the story 'Tigers Love to Say Goodnight'.

Milepost 1

 In Milepost One, the students are working on their communication and collaboration skills.  In English, the they are finding out about imperative verbs and how we use them in instructions.  The children then worked together in groups to follow the instructions to make a Wolf bookmark.  

During the class feedback, some of the students realised that it is important that instructions are clear and easy to follow.  The class will then write instructions next week for each other to make jam sandwiches!

Milepost 2

In Year 3, as part of their learning in the IPC unit 'Footprints from the Past', the children have been developing their knowledge and understanding of the properties of different rocks. They have also investigated the durability and permeability of rock samples, including chalk, slate and granite. Next, they will develop their knowledge of the rock cycle...through the use of chocolate!

Milepost 3

After the success of last year's event, Year 6 will be again hosting a Charity Quiz Night. This year, all monies raised will be going to support the victims of the recent flooding in Libya.  There will be lots of great prizes to be won on the night so bring your friends and family along for what will be a great event for a great cause. Tickets are available now at reception priced at 2 OMR for adults and 1 OMR for children.

To raise awareness of the cause and the event, children are invited to wear their own clothes to school tomorrow (Thursday 12th October) with 1 OMR being the suggested donation towards the charity. 

MPSL SUCCESS

On Tuesday all of our Year 6 Scorpions took part in the first MPSL tournament of the year - Skittleball. It is a fast-paced game that is a crossover between dodgeball and ten-pin bowling (we use a lighter ball). It is a very inclusive game that is a great test of agility and hand-eye coordination. 

Our teams played incredibly well displaying honesty when going out and a great sporting attitude when they shook hands and congratulated all of the other teams at the end. In addition to this, our girls were unbeaten throughout the tournament finishing as champions and our boys finished in 3rd place in some very close and competitive games.

Well done Scorpians!

Next up: 

PDO Colour swim @ PDO - 16th October

MPSL Girls Benchball @ PDO  - 31st October

MPSL Boys Football @BSM organised by PDO - 8th November

INTERHOUSE 

Next week all pupils from years 1-6 will take part in a skittleball-based game which is conditioned depending on the age group as part of interhouse week. Each pupil will represent their team to compete for the first inter-house victory of the year!

Don't forget your kit!!!

Recycling Drive

We are happy to announce that our big recycling drive has begun. This week we will be collecting plastic bottles. These can be brought to school on Sunday morning. Please ensure that the bottles have been cleaned as they will be used for art projects later on in the year. Please see the poster below for more information.

Thank you for your cooperation. We hope to make a big change and would love for you to be part of it.

plastic bottles.pdf

Competition Time!

The children have an exciting opportunity to create a logo for this year's International Market Day. 

They can create a hand drawn logo using one of these templates or they can create a logo digitally. Please also find the specifications and submission instructions on this link. 

The children will learn all about this competition during their Thursday assembly, when they can ask as many questions they need. 

Please note that the deadline for submissions is on 9th November.

Dates for your Diary

Wishing you a pleasant weekend,

The PDO School Team