Friday 4th November
Happy Friday!
The start of the second half of the autumn term has been hectic! So hectic in fact, that we ran out of space to host various people and events on Thursday.
It has been lovely to see the creative home learning that was accomplished over the half term break. The children have been very proud to share their achievements. Year 6 were challenged with making Anderson shelters; year 5 completed projects about Victorian inventions and year 2 did lots of research about Peru.
Please do keep checking our main communication tools - this includes texts (please make sure you let us know if you change your mobile number) and ParentMail (please make sure you let us know if you change your email address). This week, you will have received detailed information about two vacancies for parent governors on our local governing board. It is important that we have representation from our parenting community on our LGB. If you would like to arrange a further discussion about the role of parent governor and the required commitment, please contact the school office.
You will have also received a paper letter this week containing information about our school Christmas dinner. Please return your child’s menu choice to school at the earliest opportunity, and where appropriate pay the £2.40. The Dudley Catering Team who are assigned to Olive Hill make a scrumptious Christmas dinner, and all of the staff work together to make it a special event for the children.
Speaking of Christmas, the Christmas songs have already started … we apologise if the early reminders of Christmas have also started in your homes!
Thank you to all of the year one parents who supported the reading workshop on Thursday. We have further workshops planned for reception and nursery in the coming weeks. Reading is fundamental to ensuring a child’s success and it is vital that they are immersed in books both at home and in school.
Also on Thursday (this is why we ran out of rooms), year six had a World War II workshop. Firstly, can we just say how fantastic the year six children (and staff) looked in their costumes. The children had an interactive theatre experience in the morning, followed by a baking lesson in the afternoon. As we would expect, our children were an absolute credit to us, with the facilitator from the theatre company passing comment about how they are the best group of children he’d worked with. Once again, the children of Olive Hill make us all really proud.
Today, our six prefects, otherwise known as our senior child leadership team, held their long awaited cake sale. It was a HUGE success! The children raised £267.35 towards their quiet area on the KS2 playground. We are very impressed with what they have achieved, and the support they had from the community. Along with Mrs Williams, our school business manager, we have agreed to match their fundraising, so they have a total of £534.70 in the pot.
This morning you will have been greeted by lots of scarecrows! Classes, year groups and phases have been very creative (admittedly, in some cases, the creativity has come from the staff, or if not the creativity, the competitiveness!). Following the success of our Scarecrow Fest last year, we wanted to do it again, as it gives us all something to smile about. Our scarecrows were as follows:
Nursery and reception - Goldilocks and the Three Bears
Year 1 - Dave’s Cave
Year 2 - Paddington and Mr Brown
Year 3 - Spiderman and a Fairy
Year 4 - Greta Thornberg and Sir David Attenborough
Year 5 - The Minions
Year 6 - Wally and Wanda
SLT - SpongeBob SquarePants
We will let the children know the winning entry in Monday’s celebration assembly. In the meantime, head over to our Twitter account to view the photographs.
With further increases in interests rates just this week, we know that for many the cost of living crisis continues to deepen. We are all noticing the increasing cost of essentials, including food and hygiene products. If any of our families are struggling, especially with Christmas on the horizon, please do contact the school office as we do have some access to funding.
For anyone celebrating Bonfire Night over the weekend, we hope you have a great time. Remember to stay safe and watch the fireworks from a distance.
Have a good weekend all.