Friday 30th September
Happy Friday!
How is it the last day of September already? As the weather begins to cool, it is super important that the children bring their warm coats to school and wear sensible footwear. When the children are in school uniform, they should wear plain black footwear (this can be black trainers, but no different coloured logos or patterns). When they are in PE kit, they should wear trainers. As always, please make sure you label all of your child’s belongings as this makes it much easier for them to be reunited with their owner should they become lost.
This week, you will have received a letter, via ParentMail, regarding parents’ evening. This is such an important event for all of our families. It is a fantastic opportunity for you to come and view your child’s learning and to meet with the their teacher. The majority of our families have been very quick to sign-up - thank you. If you haven’t booked an appointment, please do so over the weekend. We would love to have 100% attendance.
The parents’ evening will take place on the days listed below between 3.30pm – 6.10pm:
Monday 10th October – Nursery, Reception and Year 1
Tuesday 11th October – Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4.
Wednesday 12th October – Year 5 and Year 6.
Tuesday 18th October – Year 5 and Year 6
Wednesday 19th October – Year 2, Year 3 and Year 4
Thursday 20th October – Nursery, Reception and Year 1
Please click on the link below for a copy of the whole letter, including instructions on how to book online:
You will have also received a a letter this week, via ParentMail, with details about school census day. Next Thursday, 6th October, it is really important that we have lots of children eating a school lunch, especially if your child is entitled to universal free school meals (reception, year one and year two) and/or income-related free school meals. The government use the information collected on this day as part of the funding calculation for schools. Without appropriate funding, we will not be able to provide an excellent education for the children of Olive Hill.
I am looking forward to my hot dog, wedges and salad, followed by a delicious ice-cream! Or, I may have changed my mind and go for the wrap option! Each class will have three winning stickers randomly inserted into the boxes of their meals, if a child is lucky enough to find a sticker in their box they will be able to claim a prize from the table of treats!
If you think you could be entitled to income-related free school meals and have not yet applied, please click here.
Now that the Covid19 pandemic has eased, we will be having a focus on attendance to ensure that all children are in school, on time, everyday and remain in school for the full day. Our attendance policy has been rewritten and you can read it here. The policy makes it clear that attendance at school is everyone’s responsibility, and it does have legal implications. We always carefully track the attendance of our children and we want to keep you informed of any concerns that we have. This may be through communication with the class teacher, Mrs Bird, the leadership team or through a letter. Attendance also relates to punctuality and children being collected early from school. We would encourage everyone to prioritise high attendance at school, arriving on time everyday and making sure their child remains in school for the full day. We will not authorise holidays during term time. There are two forms that you need to be aware of: a long-term leave of absence (a minimum of 10 days notice is required) and a short-term leave of absence (a minimum of 48 hours notice is required). The short—term leave of absence is for any leave that is less than one day. All forms are kept on file to support us with tracking attendance. Poor attendance at school, including punctuality and leaving early, are potential safeguarding concerns. If you are concerned about your child’s attendance, then please open a discussion with us - we want to be able to support all of our families if concerns do arise. As a school, our attendance is often above the national average and we thank all of our families who commit to ensuring that their child is in school, as long as they are well enough to attend.
As always, it has been a very busy week here at Olive Hill and the children have been absorbed in their learning. We are very proud of all that they achieve each and every day. Reception have made lots of progress in their speech and language this week, and they are now using their words and their manners when asking for their lunch. Well done reception.
We hope you have a good weekend.
Stay safe.