PDO
School Newsletter
18th October 2023
Dear Parents,
As we approach the half term holiday I would like to acknowledge the commitment shown by our whole community since the start of August. All the school staff have embraced and implemented significant change in the first half term, this has been challenging; we are making progress in several areas. Thanks to all the parents who continue to support the school through the PTA and Parent Connect, again we are making significant progress and plans in several areas. All of these contributions create a more robust learning environment for our children; our children will also now be involved in the school development through our student council. Many thanks to you all, I hope that you all have a well deserved break.
One of the many procedural changes will start next term. In response to parent feedback and our own analysis of the school day, we have redesigned the school timetable. This will provide several positive outcomes from a learning perspective, one key element will be an extended lunchtime; this will give children and staff the opportunity to have more time to eat. As a parent you will see some timetable changes and these will be communicated over Seesaw. Many thanks to the team that have made these logistical changes over the last 2 weeks.
From the start of next term school communication will be through Seesaw, we will not be sending school newsletters by email.
The Parent Connect minutes were circulated yesterday to our whole community, we responded to 65 questions submitted by parents.
Tim Robinson
Headteacher
Early Years: This is Me! Exit Point Breakfast
Children in Early Years shared their learning from their 'This is Me!' unit with parents today. It was a wonderful opportunity for parents to see the children in their classroom environment and to learn about similarities and differences in breakfasts around the world. Thanks to parents for their support in preparing the breakfast and attending the event.
Milepost 1
Year 2 have been busy learning the features of writing instructions. Children wrote a set of instructions about 'How To Make A Jam Sandwich'. Their partner then had to follow the instructions to make the sandwich. They soon realised the importance of writing in chronological order and being clear and concise! Afterwards, children used the Personal Learning Goals of respect and communication to give constructive feedback.
Year 1 have been exploring the continuous provision in the corridor. They have allowed their curiosity to lead their learning and have absolutely cherished the autonomy to be able to choose what they want to focus on.
Milepost 2
Year 4
This week Year 4 have revisited their learning about HOT and COLD colours in preparation for creating a volcanic masterpiece. To choose an appropriate medium for our artwork we practised using chalk pastels, oil pastels, watercolours and colouring pencils. We investigated how easy it was to apply the colour, mix colours and blend. As a class, we discussed which mediums we found the easiest / hardest and gave reasons.
Watch this space for some fantastic volcano masterpieces in the future.
Milepost 3
Year 6
This week, we have been researching ancient Greek pottery. Amazingly, there are pots that have survived for over 3000 years! These pots are a great source of information as to what life was like in ancient Greece. Through studying the depictions, we were able to learn about the ancient Greek Olympic Games and noticed that many of the sports pracitsed then, can still be found in the modern Olympic Games. We then made our own designs which depicted Gods, myths or sports and used a range of media to create our very own Greek vases which will be on display for all to view once complete.
Fund Raising for Libya
We are proud to announce that, through 'Own Clothes Days', Charity Quiz Night ticket sales and donations, we have raised an incredible:
417.600 OMR
Thank you for all your support. The Charity Quiz Night has been postponed and will be rescheduled, please keep hold of your tickets as all tickets will be honoured.
Student Council
Thank you to all the children who showed an interest in joining the Student Council this week. We had an overwhelming response and were inundated with approximately 100 enthusiastic applicants eager to make PDO School an even better learning environment!
Due to such a high level of interest, it has been decided that the most democratic way to decide who joins the Student Council is to hold class elections the first week back after the half term holidays. Children will need to prepare and give a short presentation to their class explaining why they are interested in the role, what Personal Learning Goals they have shown and any ideas they have.
Ms Naomi, Miss Nivine and Ms Hayley
On Monday we hosted our first PDO colour swim event. Royal Flight, AGS and Cheltenham School Muscat joined us at this event. The colour swim has been designed to place an emphasis on swim progress. It is not about who wins the race. All swimmers develop at different ages and over the years we have found swimmers become discouraged by not winning races despite improving times. The aim is for swimmers to race against themselves with awards given to all.
Our swimmers performed incredibly well and many walked away with desire and determination to be even faster next time.
A big thank you to the PDO PTA for supporting the start up of this event and all of our helpers and supporters on the day. We hope to have many more of these events throughout the year and internal events for everyone to get involved.
INTERHOUSE SKITTLEBALL
This week has been our first Inter-house tournament of the year... Skittleball.
It has been action-packed with lots of fun and determination demonstrated by each of the houses. Each house has hopes of winning the first trophy of the year and getting an early lead, with the sights on being the end of year champions.
At the time of print the final results are still undecided with Year 6 still to play. Results will be revealed on Thursday. Well done to everyone who took part and represented their house with pride and passion.
Outside achievements
Last weekend was a big few days of sport with many of our pupils involved in various events across Muscat and beyond.
Muscat Unity Cup
Last weekend Connor, Jassas, Max, Rory, Faris, Amir, Uros, and Imad represented their football club playing for MFA at the Muscat International Unity Cup! Some of these players represented the MFA U9 Blue team and played amazingly, with each of them scoring (at least once) to take them to the Gold Final! Despite not taking home the trophy, they did take home an exciting, fun, memorable experience and should be very proud of themselves. Well done to all of the boys who took part!!
Swimming
Also last weekend Sissi and Diana competed in the Nautilus Sohar Swim Cup 2023 which took place at Sultan Qaboos Sport Complex.
Sissi swam 100m Breast and achieved a PB in 100m Free in 1.36.95 finishing in 6th Place.
Diana also got a PB in both of her races. She swam 50m Free and with a time of 42.29. In 100m Back she was in 4th Place with her time 1.47.09.
It was the busiest swim event they ever attended so far and a great experience. Excellent progress girls.
Badminton
This week we also celebrate some Badminton success for the first time. Aahanya in year 4E successfully took part in a Badminton Competition in India. In the under 9 age category she made it all the way to the finals finishing 2nd overall. A fantastic achievement that we are very proud to hear about. Well done Aahanya.
Recycling Drive
Thank you to everyone who brought in plastic bottles this week! It has been a great success so far!
This week we will be collecting a variety of plastic items e.g. containers, cutlery, egg boxes, etc.
These can be brought to school on Sunday morning. Please ensure that items have been cleaned (if necessary) 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.
Beach Clean Up
PDO School and PTA would like you to take part in a beach clean up on 4th November. As part of PDO School's new green initiative, all students, parents and friends are invited to join.
For more details, check out our poster.
Dates for your Diary
22nd October - 26th October - Half Term Holiday
31st October - Early Years IEYC Parent meeting @ 1 pm
31st October - MPSL Girls Benchball @ PDO
1st November - Y2-Y6 - Parents Curriculum and Coffee Morning @ 8:30 am
4th November - Beach Clean Up Event
6th December - Festive Songs Grand Hormuz @ 4pm
7th December - Last day of Term 1 After School Clubs
11th December - Winter Concert
12th December - Festive Songs at PDO Club @ 4pm
19th December - Last day of Term 1
7th January - First day of Term 2