Friday 25th June

Happy Friday!

This week has been an exceptionally busy week at Olive Hill, with many staff feeling they need to be in different places at the same time. I am going to start this week’s blog by thanking all of the staff who continue to do everything they can to support the needs of the children. Without fail, they put the children first every day. Working in a school is lifestyle choice and it is hard for us all to switch off from our profession at the end of the working day. We carry thoughts of the children in our hearts and minds throughout our waking hours and even wake up in the middle of the night thinking of ways to improve outcomes for our young people. Children, I always talk about how lucky we are to have you, but you are also incredibly lucky to be surrounded by adults who want the very best for you, both at home and in school.

We have had four WOW days this week. This started on Monday with year two’s circus themed day - you may have noticed Mrs Higgins and Miss Grice at the front of the school in the morning, looking fabulous in their costumes. The children’s costumes were equally as fabulous - we had ringmasters, clowns, acrobats and all sorts of other circus characters. The children loved learning new circus skills and the staff were so impressed with the resilience that the children showed, apparently circus skills are not easy and you need to keep trying.

On Tuesday we had two WOW days taking place at the same time. Reception had great fun at their beach day, despite the weather not being on our side. They thoroughly enjoyed all of the activities including the giant sandpit, bouncy castle and paddling pools, and they loved have a picnic in their classrooms at lunchtime. During the morning they were treated to a Punch and Judy show - you could hear the laughter right through our corridors, and at the end of the day they were treated to an ice-cream from a real ice-cream van.

Also on Tuesday, year six participated in a BMX workshop. For some of our children this was the first time they’d ridden a bike. All of the children had the opportunity to learn new skills during the workshop, with varying degrees of success. During the day there were also other activities taking place, including remote control cars and these appeared to be creating great excitement. As year six will be leaving us soon, and they’ve had a pretty disrupted final two years of their primary education, they are having some additional WOW afternoons.

Today, year five arrived dressed as scientists, some of them looked pretty crazy! Including the year five staff. They have had a day full of experiments, including a special visitor who demonstrated some weird and wonderful science investigations. In their classrooms, they were able to do some experimenting for themselves - including one involving pencils and a bag full of water. There was also one involving green food colouring as I’ve seen the evidence on the floor!

Don’t forget that the school is closed for the children on Monday 28th June due to a planned INSET day. We hope you will make the most of this additional day as a family where you can. We look forward to seeing the children on Tuesday 29th June.

As Dudley continues to see an increase in the number of Covid19 cases, please can we ask our whole community to help us protect the education of the children by adhering to the Covid19 restrictions. Adults and children above primary age, should be wearing a mask when coming onto the school site, only one person should be dropping off/collecting and please leave the site quickly. We really do hope that it will be different come September, but in the meantime please do your bit to keep everyone safe.

We wish you all a great weekend and stay safe.