Friday 3rd February 2023 — Olive Hill Primary Academy

Happy Friday!

So much has happened this week at Olive Hill - it’s been a busy one again!

Year 3 have been out on the minibus to Birmingham Botanical Gardens this week. They thoroughly enjoyed the day and came back talking about the exciting experiences of handling exotic animals and learning about plants from around the world. They represented the school with excellent behaviour and put their knowledge of Biomes to great use.

The school has received lots of visitors this week too. On Tuesday, we were visited by the headteacher and assistant headteacher from a school in Buckingham who came to learn about the excellent practice in place here at Olive Hill with a particular focus on phonics. They had heard how impressed OFSTED were with our phonics and reading provision when they visited last year and wanted to come and see it in action for themselves. They commented on how the school has an excellent culture, recognised the talent and passion of our staff, and remarked how well all of the children behaved throughout the school. Even more headteachers visited Olive Hill this morning as we hosted the Halesowen Teaching and Learning Community meeting which Miss Grasby attends to help to continually develop the teaching and learning in all Halesowen schools.

Year 6 children have continued their learning about Ancient Civilizations. They used ingredients typical of Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece to produce flavoured flatbreads. We hope they make a great accompaniment with their tea this evening! They looked delicious!

Year 4 children have been learning about the Battle of Hastings and have used our school iPads and the I Can Animate app to create stop-motion Lego animations of the battle. They took lots of still images of their Lego figures and have ordered them to create a video.

We’d like to remind all of our families and visitors to school to be considerate and safe when parking and driving on the roads around our school. Please do not park on the yellow zig-zags or double yellow lines outside our school entrance - these are there to protect our school community and keep our children safe. Please also consider our neighbours who need access to their driveways at these times too.

Following the strike action on Wednesday this week, there are 3 more dates planned for further strike action: 1st March, 15th March and 16th March. We will communicate how the strike may affect our school as soon as we are able to.

All families should have received a letter via Parentmail and a text message yesterday regarding Parents’ Evenings. Appointments can now be booked via School Cloud. We look forward to welcoming all parents and carers into school to discuss your child’s learning at this mid-year point.

Have a lovely weekend.