Friday 26th November

Happy Friday!

Have you all been rocking around the shops to do your Christmas shopping? We have certainly been singing about it in school. In fact, the whole school was singing this morning with various assemblies taking place across the year groups. It is lovely to hear the sound of singing in our corridors, it brings a real feel good factor to the whole environment. I even had a little dance.

We want to give you advance warning of a couple of opportunities we have for the children to wear something other than their normal school uniform:

Next Friday, 3rd December, will be a mufti day. Friends of Olive Hill cannot hold a Christmas fair this year but we still wanted to run one of our most popular stalls- the Gift Room. This gives children the chance to purchase a gift for a parent for only £1. In return for wearing mufti next week, we are asking each child to bring in a gift. It could be an unused but unwanted present (we all have those in the back of our wardrobes) or a box of chocolates, toiletries or stationery.

On Wednesday 15th December we are inviting children to swap their school jumpers and cardigans for something more festive. On this day, which also happens to be Christmas lunch, children may wear their Christmas jumpers to school with their uniform.

On the final day of term, Thursday 16th December, we are inviting all children to wear an outfit of their choice that fits in with the theme of a Christmas Pantomime. The options are endless and we do hope that our children will have something available to them in their dressing up boxes! The staff are already busy planning their outfits.

The Breakfast Club Christmas tree is now displayed at St Paul’s Church as part of their Christmas Tree Festival. The festival is taking place from Friday 26th November to Sunday 28th November and visitors are welcome to attend.

As well as Breakfast Club creating decorations, the whole school has also started making their annual decorations for our Christmas hoops. I have spotted year six making elves and a brief visit to Magnolia class this afternoon turned into an hour of untangling wool as they created their robins. Walking past year five revealed rows of snowmen and there are lots of penguins in year two!

On Wednesday, a representative from Stour Vale undertook a safeguarding review at Olive Hill. She felt that the school was a very safe and happy place to be. She commented on how well kept the environment was, including the vast expanse of outdoor space (we have Mr Weston to thank for that). She spoke to parents, staff and children to gain their views and to check our safeguarding procedures. The children spoke about being known by everyone and a sense of belonging - this is absolutely the ethos we want our children to feel a part of. It was clear that the children adore their teachers (and by teachers they mean every adult in school) and we feel the same way about them.

All outside visitors comment on the behaviour of our children and how happy they are and we do feel it is important that we share this with you. We talk about it a lot because as parents and carers you are responsible for the wonderful individuals you send to our school and we want you to feel as proud as we do when people comment on their lovely manners, their beaming smiles and their calm behaviour. There is an African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child” and it means that an entire community of people must provide for and interact positively with children for those children to experience and grow in a safe and healthy environment.

Please do be mindful of how you are driving and parking whilst you are close to the school site. It is very clear to drivers when families are entering and exiting the school grounds and this is when extreme caution is needed. Please only park where it is legal and safe to do so and drive with other road users in mind. There has never been access for vehicles to the school site whilst large numbers of our community are moving about and the installation of electronic gates has limited this further.

Despite hearing talk of snow over the weekend we are not quite ready for it and we do hope it stays away. However, you may need those hats, scarfs and gloves as the weather turns colder, with or without snow. Please do make sure you label all of your children’s items with their name and class - we have a growing pile of blue jumpers that are not labelled and the odd hat or glove is also starting to appear. Children will lose things, despite reminders from home and school, so a label helps us to ensure they can be reunited with their owner.

Wishing you all a good weekend.

Stay safe.