Friday 21st July

Happy Friday!

We have completed another academic year at our wonderful school. A huge thank you to our whole community for the support you have shown us. Today has been a huge mix of emotions. There has been lots of laughter, and many tears. By 10am this morning we had gone through a few boxes of tissues!

This morning, the whole school gathered in the large hall for our final assembly of the academic year. There was some impromptu collective effervescent as all the children sang along to the music. To walk into the hall as this was taking place was magical. We then said our goodbyes to the staff and children who are leaving us this year. Olive Hill is a really special place, full of special people and this was so evident in the hall.

Today we said goodbye to Mrs Honey as she is due to commence her maternity leave during the summer break. We wish Mrs Honey well, and look forward to her return. We also said goodbye to Tracy, our school cook, Tracy is going to work at a smaller school in Dudley and I know she will miss feeding the children of Olive Hill. It was Miss Care’s last day today, and we are going to miss her so much. She is an incredible teacher who always puts the children first. Her new school will be so lucky to have her. Mr Priest has had us all in tears with his final day, he made a lovely speech in assembly talking about the ‘magic’ of our school, and in return we gave him a challenge - hidden in every classroom was a present that would help him in his new role. He wasn’t that impressed with the alarm clock! Mr Priest has been an inspiration to us all and he will be missed.

Not only have we needed to say goodbye to adults, we also said goodbye to our awesome year six children. We are so proud of the unique individuals they have become, and although we know they are ready for the next stage of their education, we will miss them.

Earlier this week, you should have received your child’s annual report. A lot of time goes into producing these reports as we want to make them as personal to your child as possible. We spend a long time with each of them, and we really get to know their individual characters.

As always, it is a pleasure to serve the community of Olive Hill. Today has been super busy and I haven’t finished our end of year newsletter - this will be emailed to you on Monday, and should contain lots of answers to questions you may have about next year. I’ve also not had time to clean my desk, and one child told me it was as messy as his bedroom! Thank you to everyone for their kind words and gifts - the staff have left this evening feeling very appreciated, but ready for their summer break. We love having your children at Olive Hill, and everyone works incredibly hard to give them the best experience of primary school.

We wish everyone a wonderful summer break and hope that you get to spend lots of time together as families, creating memories that last a life time. We can’t wait to hear about all your adventures when you return on Wednesday 6th September 2023.

Enjoy, smile and have fun!