Friday 18th February

Happy Friday!

We are half way through the academic year! This half term has been very busy indeed and I think everyone is looking forward to a break. As a community we have achieved a lot in a short space of time, starting with OFSTED at the beginning of the term and quickly followed by an outbreak of Covid19. Throughout the half term our priority has remained the children and this has often meant staff being very flexible in their roles. This week has been no exception. A huge thank you to all the staff of Olive Hill for their ongoing commitment to ensuring the success of the children - you and the children are amazing!

This week, the majority of our year six children attended a residential visit. On Monday they arrived at school with some of the biggest suitcases we have seen, along with the very large suitcases they carried backpacks full of ‘other’ stuff! They left school on Monday afternoon looking very clean and tidy - the opposite was true when I visited on Tuesday afternoon. After a full week of activities and lots of fun the children are very tired. Their large suitcases are returning home full of wet and muddy clothes. The backpacks are lighter as the ‘other’ things - mainly sweets - have been devoured. The children will have created lasting memories for themselves and mountains of washing for their parents and carers. Thank you to Miss Raphael, Miss Homer, Miss Thacker, Mrs Hamblett and Mr Patel who all accompanied the children for the week - they are all exhausted, I know from experience that sleep is not really an option when you have lots of children enjoying a very long sleepover.

The remaining year six children have enjoyed their activity week in school. Mrs Honey and Miss Saleh have carefully organised the week to included art and cooking amongst many other exciting tasks. The pizzas looked delicious on Wednesday - they had certainly loaded on the toppings!

Following the half term break, Mrs Honey and Mrs Waldron will be returning from maternity leave. We are very much looking forward to having them back. They will be working across years one to four, supporting children to achieve age-related expectations. If your child is involved with this additional support a letter will be sent out at the beginning of the half term. We will also be sending a letter to all parents and carers with details of our next parents’ evening - this will be a great opportunity for you to review your child’s progress with their teacher.

We wish you all a lovely half term break. Enjoy making memories with your loved ones and we look forward to seeing everyone back in school on Monday 28th February.

Stay safe.