From the Head
It has been another fantastic week at St Olave’s. Firstly, my sincere thanks to everyone who supported our Open Morning. To our staff team and our wonderful pupil and parent guides who spoke so warmly about your experience of the school, thank you. It was a pleasure to welcome prospective families into such a calm, purposeful and happy environment. Our guides were exceptional: articulate, proud and completely authentic. They are our greatest ambassadors. I have also loved hearing the excited reflections from Year 5 following their first horse riding and stables experience afternoon. To hear so many children describing how they felt nervous at first but proud afterwards was exactly what we hope for. Real confidence grows when children step slightly beyond what feels comfortable, supported by adults who believe in them. Similarly, the courage shown in this week’s Talent Show auditions has been remarkable. Standing up and performing in front of others is not easy. Whether children were selected for the final show or not, taking part matters enormously. At St Olave’s we talk often about resilience, and there is strong evidence to show that children develop perseverance and emotional strength not by being shielded from disappointment, but by learning how to process it in a supportive environment. Feeling nervous, hopeful, excited (and sometimes disappointed) is part of healthy development. Our role as adults is not to remove those feelings, but to help children navigate them well. It is equally important that we teach our children to celebrate others wholeheartedly. Being genuinely pleased for a friend, even when we are not chosen ourselves, builds empathy and maturity. These are life skills that will serve them far beyond primary school. A huge thank you to Mrs Farrell for her time, care and consideration in organising such an incredible afternoon for the children, and to everyone who supported her. We are also proud to celebrate the winners of our recent Food Committee competition. Children were invited to design a plate to communicate a message about the inequality of food distribution across the world; a thoughtful and important theme. The entries were impressive in both creativity and depth of understanding. The winners, chosen by the Food Committee, are Max L in Year 2 and Poppy in Year 6. As part of their prize, Max has selected Tuesday’s menu and Poppy has chosen Friday’s menu for the whole school to enjoy. It is a wonderful example of pupil leadership in action. It has been a week full of pride, courage and community spirit. I have genuinely loved it! Thank you, as always, for your continued support. I hope you all enjoy a lovely sunny weekend and I look forward to seeing you next week.
Kind regards, Miss Holloway
The week ahead...
Lunch Menu
Monthly Safeguarding Update
April – Growing Up Safely
Children are naturally curious, but sometimes this can lead to unsafe behaviour such as sharing images. Please keep phones and online activity supervised at home and remind your child they can always talk to you or a trusted adult if they’re worried.
Focus on School Values
This week in assembly we explored one of the Fundamental British Values: tolerance of those with different faiths and beliefs. Using the beautiful book The Proudest Blue by Ibtihaj Muhammad and S.K. Ali, we reflected on what it means to be proud of who you are and how we respond when someone’s beliefs, clothing or traditions may be different from our own. The story follows two sisters on the first day one of them wears a hijab to school. Through the eyes of the younger sister, we see both the unkindness that can arise from misunderstanding and the deep pride that comes from standing confidently in your identity. We talked about the fact that in Britain people follow many different religions and some follow none at all. Tolerance does not mean we all believe the same thing. It means we listen, we learn and we treat one another with kindness and respect. It means we do not judge someone because of what they wear, what they eat, how they pray or what they believe. At St Olave’s we want every child to feel safe, seen and proud of who they are. We also want them to grow up curious about the world, confident enough to ask kind questions and secure enough in their own identity to celebrate difference in others. The world is richer because we are not all the same. You may wish to continue the conversation at home by asking your child what tolerance means to them, or by sharing something about your own family traditions and beliefs. When children see respectful curiosity modelled by adults, they learn to carry it forward themselves. It was a privilege to see the children engage so openly with such an important theme.
Notices
Boppin' Bunnies Singalong Session
If you have a younger child not yet in school, we would love for you to bring them to our Boppin' Bunnies Singalong Session on Friday 8th May. Please contact the School Office if you would like to book your spot!
This week at St Olave's
Our first 'Horse Riding and Stables Experience Afternoon'
Year 5's Birch class was lucky to be the first group to take part in our brilliant new Stable Experience afternoons at Mottingham Farm Equestrian Centre on Monday. Children received a coaching session where they learned to control their horses and ponies using the reins, including starting, stopping and turning, and valiantly attempted a pacey trot! Birch class was also instructed in matters of grooming and animal care, discussed the various types of horse feed, and helped muck out the stables. The children absolutely loved the session - even the mucking out!
Year 6 at Charlton House
On Monday Year 6 travelled back in time to 1945 on our visit to Charlton House and had a truly wonderful time. The children engaged in many different lessons, led by WW2 fire warden Jenny, about how to stay safe from gas, enemy planes and made their own WW2 advertisements. We were so impressed by how engaged and enthusiastic the children were on the trip with so many questions and contributions throughout. The day truly expanded Year 6’s knowledge and understanding about WW2 and the daily lives of individuals who lived through that life-changing time. The way the children dressed up and immersed themselves in the experience was so lovely to see. Well done Year 6!
Year 2 at Howlett's Wild Animal Park
On Wednesday 22nd April, Year 2 enjoyed a spectacular day out at Howletts Wild Animal Park in Bekesbourne, Kent. It was with great excitement that we entered the park, wondering if the animals would be ready to meet us. However, very soon our wildest dreams had come true! We were mesmerised by three black rhinos, who seemed to like us - they headed over and allowed us to watch them up close. The African Elephants were next, they were a sight to behold, a range of sizes and ages and we loved watching them move and feed in their beautiful, landscaped surroundings - we could have been in the African Savannah, as the sun shone down, creating the perfect day. Having learned about gorillas in class, we had a brilliant time at the gorilla enclosures. We learned so much from our session with the gorilla expert. It was fascinating to hear how they are prepared for reintroduction to the wild. The gorillas were very active and put on a highly entertaining show. Toby spoke for us all when he said, “It is impossible not to smile, when you watch gorillas.” The silverback, the baby, and the play-fighting antics of the younger members of the group kept us enthralled. After this, we made our way to the lions, giant anteaters, Javan gibbons, red river hogs, antelopes and monkeys and animals of the Ice Age. All very interesting. The children behaved impeccably, wanting to maximise their time outdoors, observing the habitats carefully designed for each animal. In total, we were lucky enough to meet 20+ incredible animals. We learned so much and just knowing how critically endangered some of them are, made us appreciate how lucky we were to be there and see them in real life. With a picnic lunch in the beautiful sunshine, some time to play in Joshi’s Jungle playground, Year 2 had a day out to remember.
“It was a pretty amazing day.” (Rishi).
“I think it’s the best trip I’ve ever been on.” (Ryu).
Author Visit
Author Onjali Rauff visited the school today to speak with students about her books and the refugee crisis that inspires much of her work. She shared the real-life experiences behind her stories, helping students better understand the challenges faced by displaced people around the world. During the talk, students listened closely as she explained how writing can raise awareness and encourage empathy. They also had the chance to ask questions about her books and what motivates her as an author. It was an engaging and thought-provoking visit that left a lasting impression on both students and staff.
Talent Show
We had a great afternoon of fun, music and entertainment watching some of our children perform in St Olave's Got Talent today. There were so many brilliant performances in the auditions that the judges had trouble deciding who to put through to the show. As a result everyone who auditioned will have the chance to perform to the whole school in an assembly some time this term.
Sporting Round Up
Basketball Tournament
This Wednesday, Year 5 took a trip across to Babington House Prep school to take part in a basketball tournament. St Olave's took 3 teams in which all the children played brilliantly as a team. We started the afternoon off with some warm up skills and drills activities, taught by two players who played for the Greenwich Lions team. From this, we played half court matches with each team having various scorers. I was particularly pleased with how we passed the ball around the court ensuring that we made space for each other. Well done Year 5 for a great afternoon!
Rock Climbing at The Reach
Thursday afternoon saw a group of Year 5 and Year 6 children take part in rock climbing at The Reach in Charlton. The children had the best time demonstrating brilliant strength and bravery when tackling the varied heights of the climbing walls. Well done Years 5 and 6!
Nursery
This week at Little Acorns, we have been inspired by the beautiful blossom we discovered at the allotment. The children took a closer look at the flowers, carefully identifying the petals and stamens, and observing how fruit begins to form as the petals drop away. This sparked curiosity and thoughtful discussion about the changes we see in nature. They then explored this inspiration through their own creative expressions, using paint and tissue paper to design delicate blossom artwork, experimenting with colour, texture, and shape. We have also begun a book vote to choose our next shared story, which has encouraged lots of mathematical thinking and reasoning. Using our five frames, the children have been counting, comparing, and discussing their choices. Alongside this, we created an obstacle course using a repeating shape pattern; rectangular mats, circular cushions, and triangle polydrons, supporting the children in recognising patterns while staying active and engaged.
Reception
We have had a truly lovely week in Reception, filled with creativity, imagination, and lots of exciting learning inspired by the story of St George. The children thoroughly enjoyed exploring this theme and became very engaged in role play. They designed and made their own knight hats, shields, and pieces of armour, taking great pride in their creations. It has been wonderful to see their confidence grow as they stepped into the roles of brave knights. We also discovered a fantastic book called The Knight That Wouldn’t Fight, which sparked lots of thoughtful discussions and ideas. This linked beautifully with our Drawing Club sessions, where the children created their own knights and invented funny, imaginative creatures for them to “slay.” Their storytelling and creativity have been brilliant to see, with lots of unique and amusing ideas shared. In Maths this week, we introduced a fun book voting activity. The children used crystals to vote for their favourite story, placing them onto a tens frame. This allowed us to explore key mathematical concepts such as identifying who had more and who had less, as well as spotting patterns. This activity linked perfectly with our learning on tricky teen numbers, helping the children to think about numbers beyond 10 in a practical and engaging way. It has been a joyful and productive week, and we are very proud of all the children’s enthusiasm and achievements!
Year 1
The sunshine has arrived, and the summer term is in full swing. The children have had a fantastic week, showing excitement and enthusiasm in their learning. They have enjoyed their Geography learning all about the Galapagos Islands, where they have recorded interesting facts, drawn anatomically correct diagrams, and even tracked the journey of a Galapagos tortoise. It has been lovely to discover how much some of the children already know about the environment and places of natural beauty around the world, as well as their eagerness to learn and explore. You may have some budding travellers looking for a long-distance trip to South America this summer! In English, the children have continued their learning by using suffixes correctly. They have also focused on their comprehension skills, particularly thinking about referring back to the text when answering questions and providing evidence for their answers. We have also started reading Winnie-the-Pooh during Faster Read, and the children are delighted to hear the stories of this familiar friend. In Maths, we have completed our unit on measure by learning about capacity and volume, including how to measure and compare capacity. We will now begin our multiplication unit. It would be helpful to practise counting in 2s, 5s and 10s at home. Our Science topic on materials has led to an investigation into waterproof materials this week. The children made relevant predictions based on their prior knowledge and were able to record their findings in their books like professional scientists. We ended the week with a visit from author Onjali Raúf. The children had a fantastic time learning about her story The Girl at the Front of the Class and contributed fantastic ideas as well as asking thoughtful questions. We were very proud. Have a wonderful weekend and enjoy the sunshine!
Year 2
What a week! On Monday morning we began the week with our new ‘Traditional Tales’ topic in English. We were introduced to our new text ‘Goldilocks and Just the One Bear’ and we discussed how it was like the story of Goldilocks we already know with a little twist! Later in the week we recapped speech punctuation and identified this in the story. We then practiced our skills by turning some of the speech bubbles from the text into dialogue for a text. In maths, we began our study of fractions. We first talked about what a fraction is, with particular focus on equal groups before looking at when a whole is split into halves, quarters and thirds. We practised how to write the correct notation for each of these too. Perhaps you can find some instances where fractions are useful to understand at home this weekend! In geography this week we have turned our focus onto the UK! We learned which countries made up the UK along with their capital cities. We enjoyed hearing about the different experiences of where people had visited in class in the past and even where some family members were from. Throughout our topic we will be exposing the children to maps of varying scales so please do allow them to explore this through atlases, globes and even Google maps at home. We were very impressed with how maturely and sensibly the children approached their first school swimming session this week. The children independently dressed themselves and waited patiently for their turn. We can’t wait to see how they continue to improve this term. We loved exploring Howletts Wild Life Park on Wednesday! Please read all about our adventures above.
Year 3
We have had another fantastic week in Year 3 and the children have continued to show great enthusiasm and engagement across their learning as we move into Week 2 of the Summer term. In English, the children continued their learning about fables. We explored different fable characters through role play and hot-seating activities, allowing the children to think carefully about characters’ thoughts, feelings and motivations. They then practised writing dialogue before re-telling a familiar fable using the skills they had learned. The children are thoroughly enjoying this topic and have been engaging brilliantly — we are very excited to see the wonderful fables they will create when they begin writing their own stories next week. In Maths, we have been learning about capacity and volume. The children developed their understanding that 1000ml is equal to 1 litre and applied this knowledge to a range of problem-solving activities involving addition, subtraction and converting between measurements. They showed great determination when tackling multi-step questions. In Science, we continued our topic Animals Including Humans by exploring different types of skeletons: exoskeletons, endoskeletons and hydrostatic skeletons. The children demonstrated excellent prior knowledge of vertebrates and invertebrates and were able to sort animals into the correct categories with confidence. In Computing this week, we began our e-safety topic by investigating the concept of “fake news.” The children watched a famous video showing spaghetti growing on trees and quickly began questioning whether it could really be true! This led to thoughtful discussions about the difference between fact, opinion and belief, and the children enjoyed creating their own quiz questions to test one another. In Geography, our topic of Settlements saw us comparing towns, cities and villages across the UK. The children explored the features that make each type of settlement unique and discussed how people live and work in different environments. We are very proud of the children’s continued hard work and positive attitudes, and we look forward to another exciting week of learning in Week 3 of the Summer term.
Year 4
It has been another highly productive and enriching week in Year 4. In English, we have begun our Summer term focus, Bravery, Ballads and Breaking Ice, centred around the excellent text Shackleton’s Journey by William Grill. The children made thoughtful predictions about the book and explored its historical context. They also generated insightful and probing questions about the expedition, its crew and its eventual fate. Each child was assigned a crew member and wrote in a role, crafting responses to the original advert to join Ernest Shackleton’s expedition. Later in the week, they examined a range of expedition supplies, ranking them in order of importance and justifying their decisions using a range of conjunctions. In Maths, we have been developing our understanding of hundredths as both fractions and decimals, placing them accurately on a place value chart. The children have also been confidently dividing one- and two-digit numbers by 10. In History, we explored the Scots and the Picts, examining the archaeological evidence they left behind. The children particularly enjoyed writing their names using the Ogham alphabet. In Science, we have been learning how to classify animals according to their shared characteristics. It was particularly encouraging to see the children engaging in thoughtful discussion, especially when addressing and correcting misconceptions (for example, whether a snake has a backbone). In Art, we studied the work of Magdalene Odundo and created large, curved chalk drawings in the playground to replicate three-dimensional forms. This was an enjoyable and creative activity—albeit a rather messy one! Overall, it has been a fantastic week of learning, with the children demonstrating enthusiasm, curiosity and a growing confidence across the curriculum. The sun is predicted to stay for the duration of the weekend - we wish you an enjoyable one.
Year 5
In English this week, we tried our hand at persuasive speech writing. Taking inspiration from ‘The Explorer’ we used persuasive techniques, including emotive language and rhetorical questions to convince our audience the ancient city found by the children should be protected from the world rather than shared with it. We had many reasons ranging from looking after wildlife to slowing deforestation. We have also had a big focus on comprehension, in particular on using textual evidence to answer both multiple choice and inference based questions. Maths has seen us focus on units of measure. We can now confidently convert between cm, m and km; g and kg and ml and l. We even tried our hand at converting between metric and imperial. In science we explored and compared the life cycles of insects and amphibians, considering the similarities and differences and presenting our findings in a venn diagram. In our Outdoor Learning sessions, we learnt how to grow new plants including rosemary and mind from the sprigs of existing plants. We had an extra special Friday with both an author visit and the St Olave’s Talent Show. We really enjoyed meeting and hearing from ‘The Boy at the Back of the Class’ author, Onjali Q. Rauf; the children were brilliant at asking insightful questions. And what better way to end the week than watching a collection of our very talented friends perform in the hall - we are very proud of all of the Year 5 children who auditioned and took part.
Year 6
Year 6 started this week by travelling back in time to 1945 with our visit to Charlton House and took part in some essential WW2 survival lessons like how to stay healthy, how to make a gas safe room, how to spot the difference between enemy and ally planes and most importantly … learning how to dance to popular 1940s music. We were so impressed with how well the children got stuck into the activities of the day and their engagement throughout. Upon returning to 2026 to continue our week we have been busy researching espionage and all things spies, ready to write a non-chronological report in the coming weeks. Researching the topic has also helped us to make links between espionage and trips we have been on recently. For example, how Chistlehurst Caves were a key part of a double agent mission in WW2!! In maths we have finished our topic of statistics and are starting to learn about measuring, calculating and classifying angles. Our first lesson of the topic involved refreshing our memories about acute, obtuse, right and reflex angles, and then the children got stuck in measuring different angles and perfecting their protractor skills. We finished our week with a visit from Onjali Q. Raúf, which was extra special as last term, we read and studied her book ‘The boy at the back of the class’. Year 6 were brilliant in the Q&A session with so many questions for Onjali.
Outdoor Learning
It’s been another lovely week with lots of hard work at the allotment. We have been sowing lots of seeds again which will hopefully be used for our plant sale later this term. Year 4 planted lots of tomatoes in Poly 1 and this is now full. Year 6 planted two beds of parsley as well as two beds of peas with some wildflowers around the edge of a bed. Year 3 picked all the rhubarb from the beds and chef will use a lot of it in the children' s meals. Mrs Dourmoush has also taken a lot to use in her cooking lessons. Some of the other classes began their outdoor science lessons which all focus on plants in some form.
Languages
This week Nursery and Reception started their new topic: food. We started with fruits and vegetables and the children have already been making simple sentences using the name of the item and their colour. The children are able to recognise and answer three questions in French: what is it? What colour is it? How many there are? Year 1 has carried on revising months and the children have been playing with different dates and trying to solve some puzzles. Year 2 children can now say what they all eat at different meals in French: they have all worked really hard making sentences using a three part grid. Year 3 have learnt the names of the different continents in French and they have been able to use “se situer” to say where different countries are. Year 4 children have been consolidating school subjects and the children have made their ideal weekly timetable in French. In Spanish, Year 5 learnt how to tell the time and in Latin Year 6 has made great progress on their assembly.