PDO 

School  Newsletter

  25th April 2024

Dear Parents,

What a delight to see so many parents supporting the Book Week parade yesterday! If only we could bottle the emotion of the day, it was such a positive uplifting experience for all, the smiling proud faces of all parents were such a joy to see. Thanks to all the parents who supported with the costumes; some very innovative creations. 

The whole focus of the week is to engage children with books and authors; Literacy in all its formats is so key to all of us in our everyday lives, more so now than ever, given the social media landscape that exists. We all play a role in ensuring our children are empowered and that they are discerning about texts in everyday life and how this impacts them as individuals. Our book week helps to promote and develop reading for all of our children in preparation for adulthood.

Thanks to our Book Week team that provided so many exciting experiences for all children this week.


August 2024- Staffing

We are currently working on our teaching teams for next year, one of our key review targets is.

Transparency in Recruitment and offering of Middle Leader positions 

As highlighted before the holidays we have interviewed for several Middle Leader positions in the school. These are key positions in the school, as these roles drive the plans for the school in curriculum and assessment. 

When a Senior Leadership team arrive in a school they often inherit several legacy actions, one of these is usually the leadership structure. Over this year Claire and I have analysed where the school needs to develop in the future. 

See Below our new Middle Leaders for 2024

·        Mile Post Leaders (4 roles) -  MP3 Neil, MP2 Amy, MP1 Arlene,  EY Emma

·        Additional Needs - Anre

·        ECA/ Community - Scott

·        Pastoral/Staff+ Pupils - Leanne

·        Reading and Writing - Dawn

·        Maths - Liz ( STEM)

·        IC (IEYC/IPC) - New Staff Member (IPC), + Nivine ( IEYC)

·        Phonics - Julie-Ann

·        Assessment, Reporting, Tracking - New Staff Member

We have also listened to our parents and for next academic year we have provided two teachers who will drive and support the STEM ( Science, Technology, Engineering, Maths) curriculum in school. This will still be part of the IPC, but we will have teachers who are non class based ensuring that the subject is high profile across the school.


We have also recruited four new staff who we are planning to arrive for August 2024. We have recruited 3 experienced teachers plus 1 senior leader, who all individually have 20 + years in education.  They have all worked in IPC/ IEYC schools and are confident with our school curriculum.


Classes August 2024

We are currently looking at our classes for next year, our intention is to mix all the classes in each year group for next academic year and the teachers are working on this now. We are asking children about their friendships, and along with several other categories, we will place the children in new classes for next year.  

As a learning focused school, we always ensure that we place children in a class where they will be able to flourish. All our teachers know your children extremely well, we have very small classes and these are key to our teaching staff having a strong connection with students. Our teachers will spend significant time allocating classes and they will ensure that each child has at least one friend; given our small year groups it is likely that they will have more than one friend. Each child will be discussed as an individual to ensure that they are in a class where they are able to grow and develop both academically and socially. 

Our Year Groups will all be the same sizes (2/3 classes) apart from the current Y5  (Moving to Y6) who will move from 3 classes to 2; our projections for Y6 next September currently stand at 35 students, therefore one class of 17 and one of 18. Classes of 12 or 13 are not productive from a collaborative perspective and given the ages of the children we want to ensure that children are able to connect and collaborate in teams.


HSSE

Sign in book- can we please ask all the parents who enter the school to use the signing in book at the reception in school.


We had an issue this morning with the traffic lights outside school . We have held a meeting with HSSE / Road Safety Team and PDO Security.

The traffic lights remained on red for a prolonged period of time, this is caused by the vehicle at the front of the line not activating a sensor that will change the traffic  lights. The vehicles must drive up to the white line and this will activate the sensor, HSSE will look at adding additional signs to advise on the above issue.


Tim Robinson

Headteacher

Early Years

Pre-Nursery

We are delighted to announce a new class in Early Years due to the recent increase in children who have recently turned 3.  The Owl Class will be taught by Miss Emma, who is excited to return to Early Years.  The week, the children have enjoyed exploring their new classroom and getting to know their new teacher.

Book Week 

Book Week in Early Years was a week to remember! We had a blast designing and decorating t-shirts, getting lost in stories with friends from different grades, and being treated to exciting tales by our wonderful parent readers. The highlight, you ask? Dressing up in our favourite book costumes, of course! As if that wasn't enough fun, we embarked on a journey through the learning souk, exploring all its diverse centers. From start to finish, it was a week filled with laughter, learning, and unforgettable memories.

Milepost 1

Year 1 were lucky enough to have a special visitor, Fiona come and read a couple of wonderful stories,Smiley Shark and Toot and Poodle.


The children sat back and drifted into their own magical place where they imagined being one of the characters of the story. After the stories, they had a wonderfully creative session in drawing their own illustrations. 


Year 2 have enjoyed Book Week so far and the students have discovered new types of books that they can read and different ways to enjoy stories! They loved the Book parade and pretending to be campers in the reading tents!

Milepost 2

We are excited to share a glimpse of the fantastic activities Milepost 2 students enjoyed during Book Week. 

They explored diverse literary genres through a 'book tasting' session and got creative with book-themed t-shirt designs. In a unique book camping experience, students relaxed into a cozy space and enjoyed some quiet time reading their favourite stories. The highlight of the week was our Book Day Parade! From Wonka to the Addams Family, every student brought their favourite characters to life with pride. Additionally, they each crafted enchanting short stories about a magical door for Story Jumper, showcasing their endless imagination.


We are immensely proud of our Milepost 2 stars for their love of literature and creativity!

Milepost 3 - Book Week

Book week has been a huge success in Milepost 3. The children have enjoyed creating characters based on objects in a mystery bag, used their computing lessons to write a setting description and, of course, dressed as their favourite book character or word. Spending time in the book cafe gave the children the opportunity to sample a range of different texts, with many students finding a new book to whet their appetite for reading. 

Celebrating Diversity 

For her World Book Day costume, Lilia chose to come as the word 'dyslexia'. Lilia gave a wonderful presentation to Milepost 3 about what it is like to have dyslexia and how her brain processes things differently to others. We found out about the many famous people who also have dyslexia including Albert Einstein and Tom Holland - who knew that Spiderman has dyslexia?!

Well done Lilia for a fantastic presentation which helped others to understand the importance of diversity! Everyone is very proud of you.

Art: Create from Waste

This term, we have been utilising the abundant supply of recycled materials collected in Term 1 to create some 3D sculptures. The children have been using a variety of materials and equipment to create coral from waste. 

The aim of this project is to raise awareness of the impact that plastics have on our planet - particularly in the ocean. We hope to raise awareness and encourage people to think about how they can reduce their use of single use plastic.

To work alongside our end of year exhibition, the children are encouraged to produce a piece of writing, helping to promote the cause. This could be a poem, a persuasive poster, a short story, a factual report or a piece of text of their choice. These pieces of writing should explain the issues while focusing on HOPE - explaining what can we do to help.

Eshal from Year 4 has produced a fantastic poem demonstrating the issues at hand while giving the read hope for the future. Well done, Eshal! Thank you for your contribution! 

If you would like to send me your children's work, please email me at jyork@pdoschool.com. For hard copies, children can bring these to their Art lessons.

Non-uniform day

To celebrate the end of Book Week, children are invited to attend school tomorrow, Thursday 25th April wearing their own clothes along with their personalised book character t-shirt. Children loved collaborating during the start of Book Week with an assembly, followed by an activity designing a t-shirt inspired by their favourite characters.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone wearing their personalised t-shirts tomorrow.

Book Week Photos

Check out your child's Seesaw to catch up on all the happenings during the week. 

PDO School Book Week Video 


PDO School Book Swap 

Kindness Squad has been asked to take charge of a new and exciting initiative at PDO School which was launched by the wonderful Book Week Committee. It is the 'Leave a Book, Take a Book' scheme that you may have already heard about. 


This week, the children all brought in a book to swap with their milepost but we didn’t want this to end when Book Week was over. 


Therefore, we have set up a permanent location in school where you can bring in books that you would like to donate and also get the opportunity to pick up a book of your choice to take home. 


Kindness Squad wanted to be involved because book swapping fits in with our Kindness Squad goals. 


1) Being kind to the Earth by promoting sustainability. Instead of buying new books, we are reusing the books. 

2)We are also promoting a sense of community by sharing books between ourselves.

3) Sharing is caring which is what Kindness Squad is all about. 


Location:

The shelves where you can exchange books are located in the Learning Souk near Mr Ram’s desk. There is another unit set up at the entrance of the school for adults. 


Kindness Squad members will be there at break times from 9:30 - 9:45 and at lunchtimes from 11:30 - 11:45 to assist with your book swaps. We will start this next week!


As a further incentive for you to continue with the book swap drive we have come up with a reward scheme. Every time you donate a book, you will get a stamp and once you have donated 10 books you will receive a mystery prize!


We look forward to seeing you with your books soon! 


Happy Swapping!


Kindness Squad

PTA News 

What’s Popping in the PTA

Transforming Spaces: Our dedication to enhancing the educational experience continues.  We’re delighted to announce the transformation of a classroom in the EY building into a Parent and Teacher Resource Room.

What to Expect: This newly established resource haven is designed to serve as a hub for collaboration, learning, and support.  From educational materials and teaching aids to community information, the room will offer a wealth of resources tailored to meet the diverse needs of our school community.

How You Can Get Involved: As we continue to develop and expand this initiative, we invite you to be a part of this transformative journey.  Whether you have ideas for resources, are interested in volunteering your time, or simply want to learn more about how you can contribute, we welcome your involvement and input.  Email us at ptapdoschool@gmail.com or WhatsApp 7750-8633

Stay Connected: Please take a moment to complete this brief survey to help us plan for the year ahead.  Your responses are invaluable in ensuring that our programs and events align with your preferences and priorities.  

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc80VvBtphlcp032R8bl4_gpMDupR-PMBqhwtH5cxBQa4XxEg/viewform?usp=sf_link


Dates for your Diary

Wishing you a pleasant weekend,

The PDO School Team