Friday 6th September

Happy Friday!

Welcome to the first blog of this academic year! It was lovely to welcome the children back to school on Wednesday. There's something special about the energy and excitement that comes with a new school year, as the children come with tales of adventures they have been on over the summer, reconnect with friends and embrace new learning opportunities.

The children arrived in school looking incredibly smart and have settled in well, establishing routines in their new classrooms with their new school adults. If your child has been in school, and on time, since Wednesday then they will have started the year with great attendance and we will be working with our families to ensure this continues.

After school today, staff gave their favourite moment from this week:

Nursery staff said that it had been wonderful to see how quickly the children had settled and were so impressed with how confident they were in the classroom.

Reception staff said that they had enjoyed seeing the children play on the equipment in the reception garden area as they were so excited to start exploring it.

Year one staff said that they had been super impressed with how well the children adapted to their new environment and enjoyed watching them discover all the new learning opportunities in the outdoor classroom.

Year two staff said that they were blown away with how enthusiastic the children were about their new learning experience and that they had asked lots of fantastic learning questions.

Year three staff said they were delighted with the children’s ideas for their dream boards and their future job aspirations included nurses, fashion designers and marine biologists.

Year four said they were proud of the children’s ideas for their independent writing piece as they were so varied and exciting. They used a video as a stimulus called ‘Home sweet home.’

Year Five staff said they had been super impressed by the children’s historical knowledge when they had been looking at where the Victorian era sat on a timeline as the children were able to recall lots of facts from previous learning experiences.

Year six staff said they had been pleased with how responsible the children had been about completing their year six jobs and that the children had been really excited to start their learning experience about the ‘World Wars.’

We hope you have a wonderful weekend and we look forward to seeing you on Monday, ready for our first full week of this academic year.

But before I finish today’s blog, we have a message from Miss Grasby…

I hope that everyone had a good summer holiday, and for those that found it harder, know that you would have been in our thoughts.

The start of the new academic year will have been full of excitement, and maybe a few nerves - for children, staff and parents. For me, it has been very different as for the first time in over twenty years I have not returned to the hustle and bustle of a new school year as I’m at home with my daughter.

Anwen Frances arrived at 3pm on Tuesday 13th August. She is beautiful (her name means beautiful in Welsh) and at nearly 4 weeks old has already grown super quickly! Anwen loves cuddles, likes going for walks in her pram, dislikes her car seat and is a little sleep thief!

She has been incredibly spoilt with lots and lots of gifts, and we want to thank all of the Olive Hill community for their kindness. Anwen has an amazing wardrobe thanks to many of you - I’m very envious of it, as she is wearing something new everyday and I’m left looking for clothes that are clean (I’ve stopped worrying about whether they are ironed). For now, my large collection of heels will remain in their boxes. She also has lots of teddies and toys, and nappies, wet wipes, and other thoughtful provisions that have been most useful. There have been many occasions when we think we haven’t got something or something has run out and your gifts have saved the day! Our house is full of cards, and we love to look at them and talk to Anwen about the special people who sent them - you!

As I adjust to my life as a parent, I have been thinking of you all. I hope that everyone has had a positive start to the year - whether that be at Olive Hill, a new secondary school, or parents returning to work. I have missed seeing you coming into school of a morning, and waving goodbye at the end of the day.

Wishing you the very best, Miss Grasby and baby Anwen.