Friday 25th March

Happy Friday!

What a lovely, sunny week it has been this week! We are blessed at Olive Hill with a fantastic outdoor space. We know we are very lucky to have such large school grounds with playgrounds, fields, gardens and a forest school. The sunshine often makes a big difference and the longer days and warmer weather that spring brings have been most welcome. It has been great to see so many children enjoying our outdoor environment, playing and learning together.

We’d remind our families to take great care when parking around school. Please ensure the safety of yourself and others and park considerately. We have been aware of some vehicles mounting the curb to park near school. This could be very dangerous with the volume of young children using the pavements at the beginning and end of the school day. Where possible, we would encourage parking a little further away and walking.

May we also remind our families that nuts are not allowed in school due to allergies. Please check the contents of any snacks or lunchboxes that your child brings to school to ensure they do not contain nuts.

Year 5 were very excited when they came to school yesterday extra early for their visit to the National Space Centre. I popped my head into the classroom just before they set off to make sure all the children had their oxygen tanks, vacuum-sealed lunches and space suits. They had a great time and came back with their heads full of knowledge about space and space travel. The children represented our school with excellent behaviour and a thirst for learning. They arrived back safely after getting held up in a little bit of traffic on re-entry.

Phonics training continued this week for some of our staff who have been honing their skills. We know that learning to read is one of the most important things a child does in primary school and we also know that having highly-skilled teachers is the best way to ensure our children make the best start to learning to read. This is why we continue to invest in such intensive training for our teachers and teaching assistants. If you would like to find out about the approach used in school, Sounds-Write offer a free parent course, available here.

It has been lovely to see children sharing their learning with their families during the parents’ evenings this week. More opportunities to find out about your child’s learning are coming soon. Many of the classes continue to rehearse and prepare for their upcoming performances and exhibitions taking place over the coming weeks before the end of term. They are excited to show you what they have been learning about this term.

Have a lovely weekend in the sunshine.

Stay safe.