NEWSLETTER

TERM 1 WEEK 18

30.01.2020

Welcome to our first newsletter for 2020. This newsletter is available on our website. Please click here

for details under ABOUT US and then in the folder SCHOOL NEWS. You will now be able to check dates, photos and other details about our school at your convenience.

Welcome to our newest students and staff

In December we welcomed Elyas Khairol from Malaysia to KG 2. This year KG2 was very lucky to receive

another new enrolment with Joseph (Yousef) Middleton joining us after the Winter break. Both

students have begun to settle into their new routines at PVPS and have doubled the numbers in this KG class!

We are very excited to be able to welcome Ms Lisa Lulis to our staff this year as our new music

teacher. Lisa will be taking all classes each week, with the KG and Gr 1 students participating in two

sessions over a Monday and a Wednesday, while the Grades 2/3 students enjoy a longer lesson once a

week.

Announcements:

IB Candidacy: On January 10th we were contacted by the IBO to inform us that PVPS is now officially a

candidate school. “Paradise Valley Private School is a candidate school for the Primary Years

Programme (PYP). This school is pursuing authorization as an IB World School. IB World Schools share a

common philosophy- a commitment to high quality, challenging, international education- that we

believe is important for our students."

We are now advertising this on our new sign on the front gate which allows visitors to identify the main

entrance to our campus as well as reinforcing that we are providing an IB International Standard of Education to all our students.

The Primary Years Program (PYP) AT PVPS

As Term 1 draws to a close our KG students are completing their third UOI under the global PYP theme

HOW THE WORLD WORKS. Our elementary students have moved onto their third unit of inquiry under

the PYP theme WHERE WE ARE IN PLACE AND TIME. Below is a snapshot of their current focus of inquiry.

Parent corner

At PVPS our vision is “to provide an excellent, holistic and inclusive learning environment where children

can maximize their full potential to discover the genius within themselves, enabling them to become

caring and responsible global citizens.”

As an IB PYP candidate school our staff and students have a continued focus on developing the ten

Learner Profile Attributes that underpin our teaching and learning as well as affecting our policies, procedures and behavioral expectations.

With each Unit of Inquiry (UOI) the students undertake, there are two or three Learner Profile Attributes

that are specifically focused on throughout the study. Our hope is that by the end of our first year as an

IB candidate school that our staff and students will be able to recognise these attributes in themselves

and others. We’d love it if our parents could also start to use the language of our Learner Profile, so we

are going to unpack each one in our fortnightly school newsletters. You may recognise some of these already from the conversations you have with your children after school.

PVPS staff profile of the week

Jennifer Goddard

About me:

My name is Mrs Jennifer (Jenny) and I live here in Muscat with my husband and two children, who are

aged 6 and 4. I was born in France and this is the 10th country I have lived in. I have travelled here with

my husband who currently works for the Omani Army in Haima. I have worked as an Occupational

therapist for 13 years and I love my job. I myself have some sensory sensitivities (the staff will be able to

inform you of these), so I can relate to a lot of the children in our school. I love travelling, trying new foods and being by the sea.

Quick question round:

Who is your biggest role model in life?

Queen Victoria – for being a strong independent woman of her time, she was open minded, enjoyed

embracing other cultures and was a pioneer in developing many industries. She also enjoyed her

holidays!

What really makes you angry?

People parking in the child bays in a car park with no children.

What motivates you to work hard?

Seeing the children develop their skills and become independent around the school.

What do most people not know about you?

I am a black belt in karate and used to be an instructor.

Significant dates:

January 30: Inaugural Sports Carnival

February 6: End of Semester 1 & distribution of reports

9: Beginning of Semester 2.

10: Parent Teacher Interviews (KG = 1:00pm-4:30pm, Grades 1-3 = 1:00pm–4:30pm)

24: Omani Teachers Day (celebrated amongst all PVPS staff – nannies, teachers therapists, nurse etc)

March 22-26: Spring Break

New Sandpit

The new sandpit is proving very popular with most students. Lessons on sharing and playing cooperatively are being learnt as student must take turns and borrow sand toys from one another.

Some candid photos from playground and classroom

Sports Carnival 2020

Today we completed our first PVPC Sports Carnival. There were a range of competitive and

participatory activities that challenged our students to strive to reach their individual goals in each event or encouraged collaboration to ensure collective group success.

The events included:

• Bucket ball

• Basket ball

• Football

• Hoola Hoops

• Race

• Throw ring over the cone

• Bowling

• Hop-scotch

• Balloon between legs

Congratulations to Ms Ankita and Ms Maryhan who coordinated our inaugural sports carnival for 2020!

As you can see by the photo evidence there was a lot of fun had by students, teachers and parents!