Friday 3rd December

Happy Friday!

What a week it has been at Olive Hill! I don’t know about you but we are absolutely exhausted! It has been a week full of many high moments and a few low moments also.

Let us get the bad news out of the way first. We have seen a spike in the number of confirmed cases of Covid19. Hopefully, all our parents and carers should have received a link via text today with information about what we can all do to limit the spread of the virus. It is really important that you read the information and follow the advice given - it has been written by the experts at Dudley Public Health and they are very experienced in many things related to Covid19. We would ask that everyone remains vigilant to the symptoms of the virus and books a PCR test without delay if their child is displaying any of the symptoms listed. Please remember to always inform the school if your child has a PCR test booked and then inform us of the result - positive or negative.

As a result of the virus, and other difficult circumstances for individuals, we are currently very stretched as a staff team. This is made even more challenging as we aim not to move staff across school due to the risk it poses to them as a result of Covid19. We also very much want our children to consistently have familiar adults surrounding them, however, this week it hasn’t always been possible. All of the staff are doing their very best to keep many plates spinning and support each other as we find our way through the current situation. I want to thank them all for always putting the children first even if it means not having a spare five minutes in their day, stepping outside of their usual role or changing things at the very last minute.

We are risk assessing every situation to make sure we have taken all the actions we can to limit the spread of the virus. I wish I had a magic wand as this is something beyond our control. We have postponed a school trip this week and postponed one of our performances due to a high number of absences within that particular class. We recognise that this has been disappointing for the children, we feel that disappoint also. Currently, all our other performances are going ahead but if we do need to change things with little notice I apologise in advance. Individual letters have been sent to year groups regarding the arrangements for performances.

I believe that is the bad stuff out of the way. This week the elves made a return! I am sure they also returned to some homes!. The return of the elves has caused great excitement but I am concerned about their behaviour - they have been drawing faces on bananas, wasting toilet roll, driving vehicles around the corridor and stealing chocolate! None of our children would ever behave in that way.

Along with the excitement of the elves, we have also decorated the school in preparation for the festive period. We did have some help this time from year six who had an interesting approach to the decorating of the school involving a lot of sticky tape and white tac. It was wonderful to observe them in their small groups trying to problem solve how to hang decorations without them falling down. One child even wore a star costume for the occasion. Those who weren’t decorating made a giant Christmas gingerbread house, with an extraordinary amount of glitter - most of which ended up on the floor!

The children have been giddy with excitement this week and we still have another nine days to go before they break up. We do love a bit of excitement!

We also welcomed some special visitors to our school this week. They were super impressed with what they saw. They talked about the calm atmosphere (this was on Tuesday, before the return of the elves and Christmas decorations); the excellent relationships; the smiling children and how they could really see the drive and commitment of the staff to improve outcomes for the children.

Thank you to the year two parents and carers who came to their exhibition this week. The children were very keen to share their knowledge of the world and made some great recommendations of countiries that you should visit - if only we were able to freely fly around the world without worrying about red lists and Covid tests!

We had an amazing response from on community for the Gift Room - the Friends of Olive Hill have been totally overwhelmed with your generosity. A huge thank you to everyone who donated something today.

And now, my final highlight of the week. On Thursday evening our year six choir performed at Birmingham Town Hall as part of a charity event: Barnardo’s Kidsmas. Our children stood on stage and performed so well. I was in the audience, along with Mr Priest, and I don’t mind admitting that I cried because I was so proud of them. Thank you to the parents who came along to support the children and the staff who watched the live streaming in their own homes. The year six staff sought this opportunity out for the children, despite the immense amount of planning involved. It is opportunities like this that raise the children’s aspirations and open their eyes to whole world of possibilities. Click here to watch the performance (we are about 20 minutes in).

Have a good weekend everyone.

Stay safe