Friday 10th December
Happy Friday!
What a week it has been! Hopefully, you all received our whole school letter yesterday with further updates regarding the ongoing response to Covid19 and how that impacts on the school. Please do ask us any questions that you have, we will always endeavour to provide you with an answer.
The children only have four days left of this term (the staff have five) and they can hardly contain their excitement about the approach of Christmas Day. Our mischievous elves continue to cause mischief and mayhem! They now have their own house outside of my office, complete with beds! The children were very concerned about some photographs that appeared next to one elf - Mr Priest was in a trolley; Miss Walters was stealing an Advent Calendar and I was asleep on the sofa with my shoes on (I was promptly reminded by one child that I had broken my own rule as we are not allowed to put our shoes on the sofa).
Where it has been safe to do so, some of our performances have gone ahead this week. I was completely out of practice for the first performance and forgot many of my own lines! For subsequent performances I have written them down.
Year three shared their learning about the Romans through dance, poetry and actions. There was a lot of shouting and stamping of feet. I will remember not to get on the wrong side of year 3. Pear class also had the opportunity to share their learning about the Victorians. Unfortunately, year six were not able to share their learning live but will do so virtually.
Our reception and year one children have performed their Christmas plays. They certainly bought us some much needed festive cheer. For many of our youngest children this was the first time they had performed on the stage in front of an audience and they did really well.
Thank you to the audience in all of these events. You have understood the need to keep your masks on throughout the performance and adhered to all our other expectations. This really does help to make the performances enjoyable for all. We constantly have to risk assess whether the performances are safe to go ahead, as soon as all of the children are in school I meet with Mrs Bird and together we check the reasons for absences in each group before a final decision is made about the viability of a performance going ahead. There is always a chance that we will have to change plans at the last minute.
The Friends of Olive Hill did a fantastic job today facilitating the gift room - many of our children had the opportunity to select a gift for a family member and were then helped to wrap it and write their gift tag. They were so proud coming back up the corridor with their gifts. They had such lovely reasons for their choice of gift - families you are loved so very much. I am sure many of those presents are now underneath the Christmas Tree. Thank you to all of the parents and carers who supplied the gifts and to those who supported the event by sending their child in with a pound today. A huge thank you to Mrs Higgins and the Friends of Olive Hill for giving up their time to support the children in this way. It means so much to us all. We believe that with the gift room and the sale of sweet cones we will have made approximately £500. This money is kept in separate pot and is always used to enhance the children’s experience at school.
As part of their English lesson, Mrs White asked the children in her class what it was like to be a pupil at Olive Hill. I wanted to end today’s blog with their responses:
happy children,
smiling teachers,
amazing,
fun,
never alone,
kindness,
play,
get better,
show each other respect,
safe,
we are looked after,
exciting,
learn from our mistakes,
friendly,
learn new things,
successful learners.
Have a great weekend all. Stay safe.