Friday 9th December
Happy Friday!
We hope our community have had a good week. The weather has certainly turned colder! It has been good to see our children coming to school dressed for the colder weather - hats, scarfs and gloves are must. Please remember to label all of your child’s items as we frequently find the odd glove, often in the oddest of places, and we want to be able to reunite them with their owner. We are keeping the school building nice and warm, so the children are comfortable during the school day. The frost we’ve had this week does make our outside space look very pretty, especially the view at the back of school.
Every day this week we have been treated to a performance. Years five and six were first up with their curriculum performances, and the week ended with our first Christmas performance from year one.
Year five shared their learning about the Victorian era through drama, dance and song. The audience learnt about the strict punishments in schools and the bleak conditions of the workhouse. Year six shared their learning about World War 2 and we were very impressed with the different atmospheric moods they created including the sombre family table, the chaotic air raid and excitement of children. A huge well done to all our actors and actresses, and a huge thank you to the school staff who write the scripts, cast the parts, direct the action, and basically do all the jobs that are listed at the end of film credits!
Year one got our Christmas performances off to great start this morning, I don’t want to say too much as we don’t want to ruin the surprise for their next audience - but it did involve a lot of dancing and singing, not only from the children!
Thank you to the audience in all of our performances for being so respectful of our desire to provide the children with the best chance of success. It is always vital, no matter the age of the children, that the audience play their part well also.
In other news for the week, our choir have been very busy entertaining the local community - both in care homes and in the local town centre. The mini bus has certainly been well used - thank you Mr Weston for driving us here, there and everywhere! Thank you to Miss Homer and Mrs Jenkins for supporting our choir and preparing them to sing to different audiences. Not only have the choir been out and about singing, some of our year three children also joined other Halesowen schools for our annual carols in the church.
On Wednesday, selected children from year five travelled to Birmingham with Miss Richardson. This group of children spent the day being trained as anti-bullying ambassadors. We are very much looking forward to meeting with them in the new year to discuss their ideas moving forward.
On Monday, our football team, accompanied by Mr Brady and Mrs Tansley, played two matches after school - winning both! Well done to the team! When our children go out of school to represent us in sport it is important that they show great sportsmanship and a fantatstic attidue - our football team certainly did this. Just this morning I was listening to a school in Hagley talk about an ex-student of theirs, who is now playing for England at the World Cup, not only did they talk about his footballing talent, they also spoke of the kindness that he showed towards the other children. At Olive Hill we want our children to be happy, confident and responsible citizens, who are remembered for their kind actions towards others.
Today, years four, five and six have all had a workshop entitled ‘Bringing the Power of Engagement’. During the workshop the children were inspired to think about teamwork in relation to the Commonwealth Games. They learnt lots of facts about the Commonwealth countries, and were encouraged to feel proud of the West Midlands.
Today, nursery staff held reading workshops for the parents and children. We always highlight the importance of reading, no matter the age of the child. We need our children to be inspired to read both at home and in school. Thank you to all of the parents who attended this event, and thank you to Mrs Waters, Mrs Shinner and Mrs Jenkins for your facilitating and organisation.
As we move to the final week of this term, just a few reminders of the different events taking place:
Monday 12th December - Rock Steady Concert (invited parents and carers only)
Monday 12th December - Nursery and Reception Christmas Performance (ticketed event)
Tuesday 13th December - Nursery and Reception Christmas Performance (ticketed event)
Tuesday 13th December - Year One Christmas Performance (ticketed event)
Wednesday 14th December - Christmas Dinner! Children are invited to wear Christmas jumpers and accessories.
Wednesday 14th December - Y2,3,4,5 and 6 Christmas Carols on the Playground (all invited to join). Our Senior Child Leadership Team will be selling mince pies and winter spiced squash at this event to support their fundraising for a quiet area on the KS2 playground.
Thursday 15h December - Last day of term; children are invited to wear fancy dress on this day.
We hope you all have a good weekend. Lots of us here will be hitting the shops to either start or complete our Christmas shopping - I’m sure lots of our community members will be doing the same thing! Good luck!