Friday 27th May

Happy Friday!

With all of our planning for our Jubilee celebration, I had almost forgotten that it was also the end of the first half term of the summer! This half term has gone so quickly - it really has been a blink and you’ll miss it moment.

This week has been a blur of preparation for the Jubilee mixed with the usual maths, English and foundation subjects. On Thursday, year five had a fantastic day at the Molineux Stadium - home of the Wolverhampton Wanderers FC. They were absolutely buzzing with the excitement on their return to school, and they were also all in new head wear! A huge thank you to the staff at the Wolves who organised the trip for the children - they loved standing on the same ground as famous footballers (I believe some children even tried to take a blade of astro turf home with them!). Not only was this an amazing opportunity for the children, we were also able to provide it free of charge thanks to the generosity of others.

This week we have cleared some local supermarkets of bread and cake, twice! Catering for 450 involved 900 slices of bread, some very large tubs of butter, lots of jam, a whole host of cucumber and vast amounts of cream cheese. It also involved expert sandwich makers from a selection of school staff and the Friends of Olive Hill. I’m not sure I will be eating any sandwiches for a while! I’m also not an expert in making sandwiches!

Today has been a really special day. Not only did we celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, but it was also the first time we have been together as a whole school in over two years. The children, and staff, looked wonderful as they arrived at school this morning. During the morning the children took part in various history and art activities as part of our celebrations. The Jubilee theme continued over lunchtime and the kitchen staff worked with great speed to get everyone through the serving hatch in record time! We then assembled on the field for our Jubilee concert and afternoon tea. (Whilst we were assembling on the field, the Friends of Olive Hill were rapidly plating up 450 afternoon teas).

Once we were assembled on the field we were joined by some very special guests - Mr Bashir and Ms Ali from our governing body; Miss Murphy from the central team of our multi academy trust and the Madam Mayor and Mr Desmond Greenaway. How lucky are we! The new Mayor of Dudley said she was honoured to be attending our school and enjoyed every moment of her visit.

We started our concert by singing the National Anthem, this was then followed by performances from nursery and reception - We Don’t Talk About Bruno and Dance Monkey. Year one then performed the Cha Cha Slide; Hawthorn class entertained us all with Let’s Get Ready to Rumble and Apple class 5,6,7,8. We then moved back in time as Oak class performed Eye of the Tiger.

After all that singing and dancing, it was time for a tea break…

All the children collected their food and drink and made their way to the many picnic blankets available - it was awesome to see the children all mixing together in different age groups. They had a lovely time chatting with each other and the staff did a great job of clearing up.

With the food demolished, it was time for act two…

Oak class started us off with another song from the 80’s - Aga Do. Both Ash and Magnolia required audience participation for their renditions of We Will Rock You and Do the Hustle. Year five then treated us to a 60’s mix before year six took to the stage and celebrated the first decade of the Queen’s reign with Grease Lightening. As the staff had so much enjoyed being entertained by the children, we felt it was only fair that we should also perform - so we took to the stage, went for a walk, sneezed, rang the bell and beeped the horn in ‘Superman’. The whole school then sang ‘I am the Music Man’ together! We finished our concert with a whole school choir singing ‘Believer’.

It really has been the most fantastic afternoon. It has been made possible due to the commitment and dedication of our staff, our parents, our children and The Friends of Olive Hill. I cannot thank you all enough for everything you have done: providing costumes, bunting, food, time, love, humour - the list is endless.

We are now all exhausted! We wish you all a wonderful half term break - go and make the best memories you can with your loved ones. Always remember that the best memorise are often those that cost nothing. We look forward to welcoming you all back at 8.45am on Monday 6th June for the final half term of this academic year.

Stay safe.