Friday 29th January

Happy Friday!

What a week this has been! Although school has only been open for four days this week, it does feel a lot longer. Do you ever have weeks like that?

Last weekend, we saw lots of snow fall over the West Midlands. this resulted in us having to close on Monday as the school site was not safe and it wouldn’t have been safe for the staff to drive to work. Mr Weston did work really hard on the Sunday, to clear pathways on the school grounds. He was very cross when it snowed again and covered the paths he had cleared! Anyway, we were hoping that it may have melted a little on Sunday night, but when Mr Weston risk assessed the site at 5am on Monday morning, he said that it was slippery, parts not passable and the roads leading to the school were treacherous. Closing the school due to snow is never an easy decision to make. I have heard that more snow is forecast for the weekend, I really do hope that it has cleared by Monday morning!

This week we heard that there would not be a full return to school until at least March 8th. A detailed letter was sent to all of our families containing lots of updates about various aspects of school and remote provision. Please do make sure you have read it. You should have received a link via text message and it is also available on our website. During lockdown, if any of your details should change, please do let us know. We are regularly phoning home and sending text messages; we will also put things in the post - having the correct details on our system is vital.

Did you participate in treat Friday today? We had a choice of apple or orange juice, accompanied by a chocolate chip muffin. It got the thumbs up from many of our children.

Children, please do keep sending us your learning to children@olive.dudley.sch.uk. Your teachers and teaching assistants not only really enjoy seeing your achievements, it also helps them to report on the progress you are making. Remember, that there are many different ways to learn and we want to hear all about your different learning experiences. This week I learnt how to create a Microsoft form and link it to a QR code. I love the feeling of learning something new. If you are ever struggling with your learning, please contact the school and a member of staff will support you as soon as they are available.

All the staff at Olive Hill learnt to do something new this week. They learnt how to do a lateral flow test for Covid19. As staff, we now test ourselves twice a week in our own homes. This involves sticking a rather long swab down our throat and up our nose. Some of you may have experienced this if you have been for a Covid19 test.

I must go now as it is getting late and I am super tired after this super long week! It is really important for our wellbeing that we are able to switch off from all the things that are worrying us and take some time to relax, tonight I plan on putting my feet up and finishing a book I have been reading. I hope that all of our families have been considering their own wellbeing. The amount of pressure on everyone is huge! Please do all take some time to do the things that you enjoy over the weekend. Olive Hill staff, if you are reading this, I include you in my message to do the things you enjoy and take some downtime.

Stay safe.