Friday 30th April

Happy Friday!

I hope that you all received your invites to our virtual parents evening. If not, please do follow the link on the homepage of our website. Thank you to all the parents and carers who have already booked using our intuitive online booking system. Mr Patel and Miss Walters spent a long time researching the most user friendly system so I hope you have been able to successfully navigate it. From our perspective, it has been much easier to use an online system rather than a paper-based system - especially when it comes to making sure siblings are able to have appointments close together. If you are having any problems booking your appointment, please contact the school office and they will be happy to support you by checking that you are inputting the correct details. Next week we will be sending out further guidance to support you with attending the video call on the evening of your appointment.

This week, the CEO of our multi academy trust, Mr Dunster, said his goodbyes. Mr Dunster is moving on to a new adventure and he will be missed. Mr Dunster always enjoyed his visits to Olive Hill and spoke very highly of the school and our community. In my farewell meeting with him, he spoke of the welcoming environment and the desire of all the staff to look at the needs of the children first and then do everything they can to support the children in meeting those needs. We are passionate about making sure our children have the opportunity to thrive. Mrs Salter (previously known as Mrs Cutting) will now replace Mr Dunster as the acting CEO of Stour Vale. We wish Mr Dunster the best of luck in the future and Mrs Salter the best of luck in her new role.

At the start of each academic year, we always discuss the children’s aspirations with them. We focus on the type of person they wish to be and what profession they may like in the future. If you were able to visit the school, you would notice a board for each group full of the dreams of individual children. Thanks to Mr Brady there is also a Disney theme running through each of the boards and the Disney Magical Castle has been saved for ex-pupils of Olive Hill who have gone onto achieve their dreams. We have a display of ex-pupils containing a photograph of them in their profession and a little bit of writing about themselves. This includes a policeman, a paramedic, a boxer, a musician and a superbike racer. We would like to include even more examples of ex-pupils, to share with our children the range of aspirations that are available to them. Perhaps you have older children who attended Olive Hill who have gone to college or university, or older children who have participated in different sporting events, or older children who now have jobs; perhaps you even attended Olive Hill yourself. We would love to hear from any ex-pupils who would be happy to share their story with us and for it to displayed in school. If you would be interested in doing this, please email the school at info@olive.dudley.sch.uk, remember to include a picture and little bit about you and your achievements.

It is now time for me to tidy my office. Children, I bet you all have wonderfully tidy bedrooms! At the moment I am struggling to see my desk there is that much paperwork piled up, in fact, there is clutter on nearly every surface. I may be here a while!

Have a fantastic three-day weekend.

Stay safe.