Friday 23rd June

This week has been another busy one at Olive Hill but thankfully the weather has seemed slightly cooler, which I think we have all been grateful for!

Several year groups have been out on trips this week:

Year 2 visited a local mosque, where they received a talk about what it is like to worship there. The children enjoyed all their new learning and were very thankful for the biscuit they were given to take home.

On Wednesday and Thursday, our year 4 children visited Mount Pleasant School Farm where they took part in a day’s learning on how farming has changed since the Stone Age. The staff were incredibly proud of how the children conducted themselves on the trip and how they embraced new experiences such as feeding sheep and collecting eggs.

Today, Cherry Class attended Birmingham Central Mosque, where they enjoyed learning about the Islamic faith. They discussed the features of the mosque and were intrigued by some of the beautiful decorations.

We are so lucky to be able to visit these places of worship and bring the children’s RE learning to life.

This week, we have again been hosting Sounds-Write training and the staff taking part have been showcasing their phonics knowledge around school. Training, such as this, is an important way to ensure that school staff can deliver high-quality teaching that impacts positively on the children. After two days away, the staff involved were keen to return to the classrooms and see our wonderful children.

Today a letter has been sent to you regarding planned school events. Key information included:

You may be aware that the NEU (teaching union) have called for further strike action on Wednesday 5th July and Friday 7th July. Due to the nature of strike action, we do not know yet how this will impact on individual classes, but we will provide you with this information as soon as we are able to. We did have some events planned for these two days, and we have made the decision that rather than cancel them, we would move them to another day.

With only four weeks left, we are very limited in terms of availability of dates, and some events, including the Summer Fayre, require most staff to be available. Rather than cancel the Summer Fayre altogether we have made the decision to hold a Family Summer Event on Monday 10th July (thankfully, the bouncy castle is available on this date). The event will be for families of Olive Hill only. The event will start at 2pm, and last entry will be at 4pm. We have tried hard to meet the needs of our whole community – including staff who have other commitments outside of the school day and working parents. We do appreciate that this will cause an inconvenience for some, but the circumstances are beyond our control.

Sports Day (reception to year six) will be on the morning of Tuesday 11th July, and you should have received a letter with details of timings.

Also, on the evening of Tuesday 11th July we will hold our annual ‘Meet the Teacher’ event. This is an opportunity for you to meet your child’s new teacher for the next academic year. Appointments are not necessary for this event, and you will be able to attend between 3.30pm and 5.45pm.

Have a lovely weekend.

Megan Walters22/23