Friday 22nd September

 Happy Friday!

This week has been another busy one at Olive Hill, and we have lots to tell you about.

It has been lovely to see the new Reception and Nursery children settling in this week. They are getting used to life at Olive Hill and are becoming accustomed to our routines and expectations.

On Wednesday, year six were fully immersed into their new learning experience with a visit from a historian, who came to teach them all about the World Wars. This included learning about the Battle of Dunkirk and getting to experience how they carried out air raid drills. Not only was Paul extremely knowledgeable about this era of history, but he is also a fantastic author and signed copies of his books for the children. During the afternoon, Paul treated the children to an inspirational writing workshop and the descriptive writing the children produced really blew us away!

Year six have also greatly enjoyed their new responsibilities and are becoming highly efficient in carrying out their new jobs. These roles include collecting the recycling bins ready to be emptied, setting up the hall for assembly, ensuring the computer runs smoothly during assembly and delivering stock from the office each week.

Today during our assembly, those children in year 6 interested in becoming prefects gave their speeches in front of the whole school. It takes a lot of courage to stand up and speak in front of such an audience and we are immensely proud of each and every one of them. The rest of the school has voted for who they would like to be their prefects and vice prefects and the results will be announced next week.

Here are a few extracts from their speeches today:

‘A prefect should take care of all the students at Olive Hill and offer support when someone is in need of help.’

‘I will set an excellent example to my peers by following our three school rules of being ready, respectful and safe.’

‘I would like part of my role to be supporting the younger children as I want to spread kindness to everyone in school.’

 ‘I have represented the school on many occasions and I would like to encourage others to do the same.’

Year four have continued their swimming lessons this week and are greatly enjoying their time in the new swimming pool. The staff have been very impressed with their resilience and have already seen an increase in their confidence in the water.

Today, year five got to experience what it was like to be a child from the Victorian era. They all looked fantastic in their Victorian outfits which included chimney sweeps, maids and school children. The children were treated to a Victorian classroom where they took part in a reading, writing and arithmetic session with a rather strict teacher. Parents please be warned that they may want to practise this on you at home as they each left school with a piece of chalk and a writing slate. They also got to play a range of Victorian games including hopscotch, marbles and snakes and ladders.  The facilitator of the day was impressed with the children’s knowledge and how well they represented the school.

Wishing you a brilliant weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday morning.