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11th February 2026
11th February 2026
Dear Parents
Dear Parents
As an ICA school (IPC and IEYC) an International focus is a key part of our curriculum. I think now is a good time to re-visit and offer if required some support on how you can develop these skills at home.
We are fortunate that our school serves as a microcosm of this global reality. Our pupils are already operating within a diverse cohort, learning to negotiate, collaborate and lead across cultural lines. However, the school environment is only one half of the equation. To truly embed this mindset, it must be reinforced by the values and conversations held at home.
The Professional Case for a Global Outlook
The Professional Case for a Global Outlook
Our children as adults will likely work in teams where the "common ground" isn't a shared upbringing, but a shared objective. Success in these settings requires more than just tolerance; it requires cultural agility. This means being able to decode different communication styles, understand varying approaches to hierarchy and appreciate the historical contexts that drive modern decision-making.
Actionable Support at Home
Actionable Support at Home
For parents looking to support this development, I suggest a focus on three practical areas:
Critical Inquiry: Encourage your children to look beyond the "what" of global events and interrogate the "why." When discussing international news, challenge them to consider how the same event might be perceived in a different part of the world. This builds the habit of perspective-shifting.
Media Diversification: Ensure your child’s information diet isn't mono-cultural. Exposure to international news, translated literature, or global cinema provides a necessary counter-balance to the "echo chamber" effect of social media algorithms. As a parent you need to be aware of how algorithms are impacting on your children. As a side note here, many countries are now considering limiting exposure to social media for under 16s.
Intellectual Humility: Model the idea that our way of doing things is a version of the truth, not the definitive one. When a child encounters a different cultural practice, the goal should be an objective understanding of its logic rather than a subjective judgment of its value.
The Long View
The Long View
By fostering a high degree of cultural intelligence now, we ensure they have the adaptability required for a complex, multi-polar future.
Academic excellence is the baseline; global fluency is the differentiator.
Good luck on your continuing journey.
Tim Robinson
Tim Robinson
Headteacher
Headteacher
Celebrating Best Practices in Early Years
Celebrating Best Practices in Early Years
We were delighted to welcome visitors from two sectors of the Ministry of Education: the Ministry of Private Schools, represented by Miss Thuraya bint Saif bin Ali Al Maamari, Head of Early Childhood Education Programs and Curriculum and members of the Ministry of Early Childhood Education, along with a representative from Student Affairs.
This visit reflects our commitment to maintaining a high standard of education through the International Curriculum Association (ICA). We would like to thank Miss Laura James, Head of Inclusion and Play-Based Learning and Early Years Lead and Miss Alexandra Johnson, Global Outreach and Development Manager from ICA, for their support.
The visit highlighted how we implement learning through play and how the IEYC is integrated across the curriculum, linking subjects such as Maths and Literacy in meaningful and engaging ways.
Thursday Morning Informal Concert - 12th February
Thursday Morning Informal Concert - 12th February
This Thursday morning at 7.40 until 8.00, our PDO Choir and Ukulele Group will be performing for children and parents in the Learning Souk.
Can all children participating arrive by 7.20 to prepare for the performance. If you need to, siblings of those performing (Year 1 to Year 6 only) can also enter the school early and we will supervise them until it is time to go to class.
All parents are welcome and we would like as many as possible to come and enjoy the performances.
Mr Gary gruston@pdoschool.com
BSM Music Collaboration Event - Friday 13th February.
BSM Music Collaboration Event - Friday 13th February.
This Friday 13th February is the BSM Music Collaboration event. For those parents who have signed up their children, you should have received an email with the details for the day. If for some reason you have not received the email, click on the link below.
BSM Music Collaboration Event Details
Please arrive promptly and don't forget that there is a performance to parents at 12.30pm.
Mr Gary gruston@pdoschool.com
Milepost 1 Singing Performance
Milepost 1 Singing Performance
This coming Sunday (15th February) at 1.30pm, sees the second Milepost 1 singing concert in the Learning Souk.
After the success of the concert in November, the children have been very keen to perform once more. Regardless of whether you have children in Milepost 1, ALL parents are welcome to come and watch (and maybe participate a little too!)
Mr Gary gruston@pdoschool.com
Our PLG Journey: Together as a Learning Community
Our PLG Journey: Together as a Learning Community
We are excited to continue sharing our Personal Goals Padlet platform in our weekly newsletter to celebrate achievements together as a wider community.
We kindly ask for your support in capturing moments when your child demonstrates any of the Personal Learning Goals - whether at home, in the park, during outdoor play or in daily routines. For example, if your child shows collaboration while playing outside, you may upload one photo and select the appropriate Personal Goal folder (e.g., “Collaboration”).
Families are welcome to share one photo per week if they wish, highlighting a Personal Goal your child has demonstrated.
Please click on the Padlet link below to share your child’s achievement with our community. This is a wonderful opportunity for children to celebrate their out-of-school achievements and for us to reinforce that their Personal Learning Goals are transferable skills beyond the classroom.
Thank you for supporting the celebration of children’s achievements.
The IC Team
Early Years
Early Years
For our Busy Builders Exit Point, the children chose their favourite place to play and their favourite thing to do — stacking, building and creating with blocks and tools from the toolbox. It was a joyful celebration of their learning, filled with confidence, collaboration and lots of busy hands.
Milepost 1
Milepost 1
This week in Milepost 1, children in Year 2 are investigating multiplication and division strategies!
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Our Year 2 learners have been busy exploring multiplication and division through hands on concrete resources and supportive pictorial representations. Using objects, drawings and repeated addition and subtraction, the children discovered that multiplication is simply repeated addition, while division can be thought of as repeated subtraction. They were particularly intrigued to find that odd numbers cannot be divided equally by even numbers as they excitedly explained, “there is always some left out!” These rich investigations are helping pupils embed strong conceptual understanding while building confidence in their problem solving skills.
Milepost 2
Milepost 2
This week in Milepost 2, Year 3 have developing their geographical knowledge and understanding of island formation.
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The children explored this through a range of practical and engaging activities. They created their own artificial islands, sequenced pictures to show the stages of coral island formation and watched short videos about volcanic island formation.
Over the next week, the children will apply the map skills they have been developing to design their own island. They will use symbols, keys and grid references to present their ideas clearly and accurately. This will give them the opportunity to combine their geographical knowledge of island formation with their understanding of how maps communicate information.
Milepost 3
Milepost 3
This week in Milepost 3, Year 5 visited Oman Aquarium to investigate their Big Question, do zoos and aquariums protect endangered species ?
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Year 5 had a wonderful experience learning about the important rehabilitation work carried out at the Oman Aquarium, in particular the rescuing and protection of sea turtles. We also had the opportunity to consolidate our knowledge of food webs, identifying consumers, producers and apex predators within different underwater habitats. It was fantastic to hear lots of lively discussion surrounding our IPC unit Existing, Endangered, Extinct.
Sports Day Week (1966-2026)
Sports Day Week (1966-2026)
Last week, students from Early Years to Year 6 took part in our Sports Day Week, celebrating sportsmanship, resilience, teamwork, and encouragement. Throughout the week, students supported one another, showed positive attitudes, and enjoyed being active together, alongside a fun parent challenge.
Congratulations to our house team winners:
Year 1–2–3: Water House
Year 4–5–6: Fire House
Overall House Team Winner: Wind House
The PE Team would like to thank all staff and parents for their fantastic support in making this memorable week a success for our students.
Congratulations to our Learners of the Week!
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.
Wishing you a pleasant weekend,
Wishing you a pleasant weekend,
The PDO School Team
The PDO School Team
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