Thursday 1st April

Happy Thursday!

We have reached the end of our second term of the academic year - can you believe it? So far, this year has just been full of the unexpected. I do hope that as we move into our third and final term, we will find ourselves living in more certain times.

Sometimes the unexpected brings with it great opportunities, and that was the case this week when we had a few days of unexpected great weather.

We are really lucky at Olive Hill because we have an abundance of outdoor space. Even in the current circumstances we are able to have all our year groups outside completely distanced from each other. We have a large space for our nursery and reception children and this includes a grassed area, a hard surface, a covered area, a trim trail, a mud kitchen and lots of lovely equipment for the children to play with. Our KS1 children have a large hard surface with some permanent equipment and lots of boxes full of other resources such as sporting equipment, books, small world play and dressing up clothes. Our KS2 children have a very large hard surface area, an even larger grassed area, a trim trail and a climbing tower. In addition to all of this, we have a huge bottom field, a beautiful area with some large trees and a forest school area. We also have a gorgeous view of Halesowen and the Clent hills. At the moment, it is only our children and staff who have any direct access to these areas. For those parents and carers who have not been able to personally see the amazing amount of outdoor space we have an on offer, we hope that as restrictions are lifted we will be able to give you the opportunity to have a look around.

The fantastic spell of good weather this week has meant an increase in the amount of outdoor learning that has taken place. This is something we are really pushing for in the current circumstances, especially as the science indicates that we are safest when we are outdoors. On Tuesday afternoon, the outdoor environment was in full use - reception were outside doing their child-initiated learning; year six were painting; year one were doing bark rubbings; year five were doing outdoor PE and year two were in the forest school area. As we move into the summer term, we will be looking for more opportunities to take our learning, in all subjects, outside - fingers crossed that the weather is kind to us!

Year two have been basking in the sunshine this week! They have been finishing off their class read, ‘George’s Marvellous Medicine’ (my favourite), outside whilst sitting on the grass. The children have been enthralled to find out what happens to mean Grandma. In science they have been learning about the scientist John McAdam and once again they were outside applying the vocabulary they had learnt to describe the tarmac and the grass. Following this, they went onto to compare what happens to weetabix and pasta sheets when it rains on a non-tarmacked and tarmacked surface. I hear it caused a lot of mess!

Looking out of the window today, it is clear to see that our unexpected spell of gorgeous weather has ended. Unfortunately, I hear that it is going to get colder as we head into the weekend. Hopefully the sunshine will return at some point over the Easter break and even if it doesn’t, I hope that you will all find lots of time to spend outdoors in nature. The West Midlands has so many outdoors spaces available for a family adventure. If the sun isn’t shinning, put on your wellies and jump in puddles!

As today was our last day of term, Miss Walters held a virtual end of term assembly. As part of the assembly the children were asked to mime the actions to one of our favourite songs, ‘Spring Chicken’. Unfortunately, we are not able to sing in large groups under the current guidance, hence the miming of actions. Anyway, as an observer to this virtual assembly I had Microsoft Teams open and I could see the majority of classes on my screen. Everyone was on mute and and there were children jumping around like spring chickens everywhere! As each class had started the music at at different time there were different actions going on in every class. It was wonderful to see the children enjoying themselves and to feel that we were together as a whole school.

We hope that all our families have a wonderful Easter break. We hope that you are able to find time to be together as a family, without the many pressures of every day life. I am sure that many of you will participate in much chocolate eating! I know there are some staff who will certainly be eating chocolate over the break. As always, thank you to everyone in our community for the support they have shown us. Thank you to the Olive Hill staff for everything that you do to make a difference in the lives of the children and thank you to the children for making us all smile every day.

If your child has a positive Covid19 test result between now and Wednesday 7th April, please inform the school using our designated email address: covidreporting@olive.dudley.sch.uk.

We look forward to our return on Monday 19th April.

Have fun and stay safe.