PDO 

School  Newsletter

  2nd February 2023

Dear Parents,

This week we have welcomed parents into school for our Family Learning Days. Thank you for all the positive comments and appreciation for the work our teachers do.

On Wednesday, we had a visit from Mr Henk Van Hout, Head of Shell Education, he spent a good deal of time visiting classrooms, talking to children about their work and sharing their learning.

Please take some time to view the Class Pages for more detailed information about your child's learning this week and any class notices,  here . 


Phase 1 Family Learning Days

Phase One have loved having their family members visiting the school this week. We hope you enjoyed this taster and experienced a range of learning activities. Families had the chance to participate in a Maths or English session. Interactive maths lessons using bar modeling and tens frames were used throughout the phase and some Year Two parents even learned about Tuffy ‘The Killer Cat’ and his mischievous antics!


Art Projects

From Early Years to Year 6, the children are exploring lots of different media in Art. Creating large scale collaborative projects as well as individual pieces of artwork, the children are learning to experiment with a variety of techniques, developing a range of new skills.

Personal Learning Goals - Being a Collaborator!

Our children are using their personal learning goals at home as well as at school.  Mr Mistry, parent of Ved in Y4A, shared a photo of Ved being collaborative when completing a Lego project.  Well done, Ved and thank you for sharing!

Year 6 - Camping Trip


Year 6 had the most fantastic time on their camping trip. Many of the children were away from their families for the first time and adapted amazingly well - we are extremely proud of them.


On the first day, the children took part in team building activities and orienteering games, using GPS devices and solving riddles. That evening, they sat under the stars watching a movie with a warming hot chocolate. The second day saw the start of the amazing activities with children enjoying BMX biking, bushcraft and raft building. In the evening, they toasted marshmallows and sang songs around the campfire. The final morning gave the children the opportunity to complete their third activity before a final treat of pizza for lunch.   


All of the activities gave the children many opportunities to develop their personal learning goals, learn a range of new skills and bond with their peers. 


The children loved the experience and were an absolute credit to their school and their families.

Science

Year 2 have just started their new topic 'Uses of Everyday Materials'. In the first session the children sorted a variety of common materials into groups based on the material that they are made from. The children will use these groups in the following session to then separate the materials according to their properties.

Something to Try at Home!

Year 4 are studying the digestive system. Here is a great experiment that you can try at home.

Place a couple of crackers or a piece of bread into a zip seal sandwich bag. The bag will act as the stomach. Pour a small amount of orange juice or cola into the bag to act as the powerful stomach acids or digestive juices. Leave the contents for 2 to 3 minutes and watch what happens.

Snip off the corner off your zip seal food bag and place a stocking or sock over the hole. Squeeze the food from the ‘stomach’ through the ‘intestines’, cut a small hole in the end of the stocking or sock to let the waste come out.

Orange Juice

 

Crackers

Reading for pleasure

PDO School are dedicated to ensuring that all children develop a love of reading for pleasure, as well as becoming confident readers and speakers themselves.  We understand the importance of creating positive and supportive parent partnerships and thank you for your continued support.

How does the School support families reading at home?

·       Children receive weekly levelled home readers from their class teachers. We urge you to use the Reading Log as a two-way communication tool between families and the teachers.

·       We are immensely proud of our Library facilities.  Undoubtedly, the timetabled weekly library slots are a whole-school favourite. Children choose 2-3 books weekly, depending on their age.

How can I support my child’s reading journey at home?

·       Role models – Share your own experience of books, magazines, newspapers or even discuss the daily news. Children will want to follow your example.

·       Establish a regular time to read at home. Avoid reading becoming a punishment or chore. Try to make this time enjoyable and natural without the pressure of striving for perfection.


Miss Amy - Leader for English


Take the chance to read a few pages on the way to football practise.

Reading while on a picnic

Remember to read cook books and ingredient labels.

Take the opportunity to grab a book while prepping for the day ahead.

Parent homework survey

You are kindly requested to complete the school survey below by 2 pm, 16th February.

PDO School Photographs

PDO School has invited a professional photography company, Lensman, lensmanschools.com to come to PDO School on Tuesday 14th, Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th March to take school photographs.


Please let us know if you would be interested in ordering photographs by completing the form below.


There will be three different styles of photographs available:


Class and individual photographs will be taken during the school day. Family photographs of all of your children who attend PDO School will be taken after 2pm during the school week. 


We will issue a timetable for the class photographs in the coming weeks.


PDO School Photograph Survey

Lensman will provide us with a link for you to review the different photography options that are available to you and for you to make payments to them directly. The orders will be sent to PDO School and we will arrange for parents to collect them when we receive them. 


PDO School PTA 

It is with great collective excitement that we can announce that the PDO School PTA is up and running, and we have many ideas and events in the planning stages. We welcome thoughts and ideas from the community and will soon be running regular coffee mornings to encourage any ideas to be shared.

In our meeting on the 18th of January we were pleased to receive proposals from PDO School staff members to fund two new school initiatives. The first initiative is to renew the equipment and games in the playground, which the PTA Committee was happy to unanimously support. The second initiative, from the PE Department, is to help fund swimming development. 

A message from Mr Scott: “We have many keen swimmers at PDO School and have witnessed some great improvement in overall performance in swimming. To support this we will be introducing a series of PDO School Colour Swims aimed to support development swimmers. The events focus on individual progress and achievement with swimmers being awarded coloured ribbons depending on their times. We would love PTAs support to help purchase ribbons, swim caps and decor to initiate and promote the events” 


The fundraising proceeds from our PTA events will help get these initiatives, and others, going.

Ed Graham PTA Committee Chairman

PTA Fundraiser Quiz Night - Wednesday 8th February

Following on from the great success of the Year 6 quiz night, the PTA is pleased to invite you to attend the PTA Quiz Night Fundraiser on the 8th February from 5.30-7.00pm. Teams will have the chance to win great prizes for both adults and children, more opportunities to win prizes in the charity raffle and refreshments will be available from the tuck shop, so remember the pocket money! 

Tickets are available to buy from reception, 10 OMR for a team of 6. It promises to be a fun event. We hope to see you there.


PDO School PTA Committee

 Family Learning Days

Thank you to the parents who have attended the first week of family learning days with pupils and shared in their learning experience in either Maths or English. If you have signed up to attend next week, please check the day and time of your session in advance.

Leaving Oman 

We request that parents who have plans to move away from Oman, to please provide us with the details as soon as possible by emailing Ms Cheryl, cfox@pdoschool.com or Ms Kath, kmorgan@pdoschool.com .  This will allow us time to prepare the Transfer Certificate and other documents your child may require for their application to a new school, as well as to be able to give your child a traditional school farewell.  


Dates for your Diary:









Wishing everyone a pleasant weekend

Cheryl Fox

 Headteacher


cfox@pdoschool.com       kmorgan@pdoschool.com                                     nurse@pdoschool.com

Parental Concerns:

 

At PDO School we acknowledge that, from time to time, parents may wish to express concerns about specific aspects of their child’s education. We are always happy to investigate and respond to these concerns. Please note that, for the Class Teachers, it is important that even informal discussions take place outside of their teaching time. 

What do I do if I have a concern?

Please make the Class Teacher your first point of contact if your concern is not successfully resolved, please contact the school via notices@pdoschool.com to make an appointment with the Headteacher, Cheryl Fox,  or the Deputy Headteacher, Ms. Kath Morgan.

Mr. Hamed, our School Manager, is also happy to listen to any parental concerns that have not been resolved successfully.