Friday 3rd April

Happy Friday! If things were normal, today would be out last day of the Spring term and we would be breaking up for the Easter holidays. Of course, we would also be having our annual Easter bonnet parade and egg scene competition. We are all really disappointed that these activities have been cancelled, but it is super important that we all stay safe. You could always make an Easter bonnet or egg scene at home and email us a photograph to children@olive.dudley.sch.uk - we would love to see your creations.

Yesterday, I said I would tell you some funny stories about things that have happened to the staff since the school closed for most children two weeks ago.

I will start with my own story. I am very lucky to live opposite a park and after quite a few days of being inside I decided to go for a run. Before leaving the house I looked for my running trainers, but I couldn’t find them, so I put my ‘best’ trainers on instead. I did one lap of the park (admittedly I did walk some of it as I was soon out of breath) and then, rather bravely, decided to do another. As I was running I noticed a family on the path in front of me, knowing how important social distancing is at the moment I ran onto what I thought was the grass. Squelch, squelch. It was mud disguised as grass. I could not believe it. My feet were covered in mud, they were soaking wet and my ‘best’ trainers were no longer clean. I decided that muddy trainers was a good enough excuse to stop running and went home, feeling rather miserable.

You may remember that I told you about Miss Walters baking cookies and not using accurate measurements, well she has had another baking disaster. Yesterday, some of the children who were in school because their parents are key workers, spent the morning making chocolate mudcakes. Miss Thacker told the children that the teachers would cook the cakes over lunchtime so when they came back from playing outside they would have a nice warm cake to eat. Unfortunately, Miss Thacker asked Miss Walters to do the cooking. These particular cakes needed to be baked in a microwave. In the first instance Miss Walters did not know how to use the microwave, so Mrs Waldron gave her a quick lesson and left her to it. It did not turn out well. The cakes were over cooked - it was like you were chewing on wood. Strangely, some of the children thought they were nice (the staff did not agree).

On the first day of school closure, Miss Clarke was very excited about going out for her daily exercise. In fact, she was so excited that she walked out of the house without her keys. Miss Clarke and her partner then had to break into their own house. This involved her partner, Steve, climbing onto the garage roof and drilling through a door. They then worked as a team to make a contraption to retrieve the keys. When Steve climbed onto the garage roof, he also found out (much to his horror) that the neighbour’s cat had been using the roof as a toilet!

Lots of the school staff have been completing jigsaws to keep them occupied at home. Mr Weston told us that he had completed a jigsaw in under an hour when it said 3-4years on the box (very funny Mr Weston). Anyway, Miss Thacker has been completing a 1000 piece jigsaw and the other day her cat, Olive, decided she wanted to help. She sprang onto the board and catapulted nearly all of the pieces around the living room. Miss Thacker is still finding pieces of jigsaw everywhere, including in the plants.

Did you go out and clap last night? Mrs Birch did and she gave her son a saucepan to bang with a wooden spoon. He banged the saucepan so hard that the spoon broke - you can see it in the blog picture. Mrs Copson also allowed her son to bang a saucepan, it is now dented! Apparently, there will be no more cooking in the Birch and Copson households (surely they have more than one saucepan and spoon, any excuse). Mrs Higgins has said she is going to bang a saucepan next week - do you think she is trying to get out of the cooking also?

All of your teachers would love to hear your funny stories, like you they are having to spend lots of time at home and reading your emails makes them smile.

Have a lovely weekend everyone.

Stay safe.