Friday 12th June
Happy ‘bubble’ Friday everyone. I hope you’ve had a great day. We had lots of fun here at Olive Hill this morning when we welcomed everyone to their bubbles, with bubbles! We had bubble machines, bubble wands and bubble guns. The school staff certainly enjoyed creating the bubbles and waving the wands about.
Today was also a special day as we welcomed reception children back, it was lovely to see their smiles as they entered school. It is amazing how quickly our children have adapted to their new routines. School staff and families have really supported with this - so a massive thank you to you all. It is super important that every child is able to follow the new expectations and stay in their designated areas both inside the school and when they are outside on the playgrounds.
I am really missing the sound of children in the corridors, and those children who used to pop into my office (which is still a mess by the way) to say hello. As part of our new expectations, to keep everyone safe, children are not able to come out into the corridors unless they are using the toilet facilities. There are even strict expectations about which toilets we can use. Miss Walters has done a great job of labelling them all so we don’t get confused.
This is only a quick blog today because I have just had an antibody test at Russell’s Hall - this involved the phlebotomist collecting a blood sample from my arm, but it ended up being both of my arms as my veins are quite small. I now have cotton wool taped on both my arms. All staff in Dudley schools have been offered the test to see if they have antibodies for Coronavirus. An antibody test can tell someone whether they have had the virus that causes Covid-19 in the past, by analysing a blood sample.
A positive antibody test demonstrates that someone has developed antibodies to the virus. As Covid-19 is a new disease there are lots of things that scientists don’t know at the moment, so even if you test positive for antibodies you must still follow the restrictions that are in place. Lots more staff will have the test over the weekend, maybe someone in your family has had the test and they can tell you what it is like. It is a very different test to the one that tells whether you actually have Covid-19, I believe that involves a swab but I haven’t experienced it.
Families, over the weekend I do plan on writing a letter to you all full of relevant information regarding school and the latest government announcements. Please remember that you can always contact the school between 8.30am and 3.30pm Monday to Friday if you have any specific queries, questions, concerns, feedback or comments.
Have a great weekend all. We miss you.
Stay safe.