From the Head
Dear Parents and Carers
What a busy and meaningful week we've had at St Olave's! This week marked Anti-Bullying Week, World Kindness Day on Wednesday, and Children in Need today. These important events have provided a wonderful opportunity for us to reflect on the values we hold dear—kindness, compassion, and standing up for one another.
We know that discussing these topics in school can sometimes prompt children to think more deeply about their own experiences or those of their friends. This is entirely normal, and we encourage open, honest conversations at home and in school. If you have any concerns or feel your child needs extra support, please don't hesitate to reach out. You can always email us or catch me at the gate—I’m here to listen and help resolve any worries quickly.
Thank you for your continued support in making our school a safe, nurturing place for all children. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I look forward to seeing you all next week.
Kind regards,
Miss Holloway
The week ahead...
Safeguarding Team
Notices
Christmas Fayre Donation Week
Our Christmas Fayre Donation Week starts on Monday! We’d greatly appreciate your support in helping us make this year’s Fayre a magical success. Here’s what we’re looking for:
- Chocolate (bars, boxes, or treats)
- New, unopened bottles (anything from drinks to toiletries)
- Money tree envelopes (please send in coins)
- Jars for the jar stall (filled with goodies, e.g., sweets, small toys, or crafts)
- Secret room gifts (items suitable for adults please)
- Toys and books (good condition, pre-loved or new)
Your generous donations can be dropped off at the gate with Mrs Farrell throughout the week. Thank you for your support—it truly makes a difference!
Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Working Party
If you are interested in being part of our St Olave’s Prep EDI Working Party, please read below. Thank you to those who have already signed up, this is for new members of our school community or for anyone who missed our invitation last term.
As a member of the EDI Working Party, you will have the opportunity to:
- Collaborate with school staff and other parents to identify areas where we can improve our policies and practices;
- Participate in workshops and training sessions;
- Offer ideas and support for new initiatives in school;
- Reflect on curriculum design and inclusive teaching.
If you would like more information about how you can become a member of the EDI Working Party, please sign up by clicking the button below.
Poppies
Thank you to everyone who supported our fundraising for the Royal British Legion, and thank you to the Prefects for a great sales pitch. We will let you know how much money was raised as soon as it has been counted by the Royal British Legion.
Nativity Costumes and Christmas Jumpers
Thank you also to everyone who donated clothes and costumes for the forthcoming nativity plays. We are still collecting donations.
This week at St Olave's
Children in Need Day
The whole school have had fun this week supporting Children in Need. Our P.E. lessons all week have had a Gladiator theme, as Steel and the other Gladiators are supporting Children in Need, and we were lucky enough to have been visited by Steel earlier this term. Our Year 5 Community MPs led an assembly, then some of the children joined a live Gladiator session. We had lots of fun activities throughout the day, lots of selfies, and we even had Pudsey themed cookies.
Thank you to everyone who donated to our JustGiving page - if you would still like to donate, please click the button below.
Anti-Bullying Week and Odd Socks Day 2024
This week, children from Nursery to Year 6 participated in Anti-Bullying Week. This is an annual event for our school. The theme for this year was CHOOSE RESPECT.
On Tuesday - it was ODD SOCKS DAY. It was tremendous to see an array of odd socks all over our school. Odd Socks Day is all about celebrating our individuality and the wonderful differences that make each of us unique. It encourages us to embrace diversity and appreciate what makes everyone special. By wearing mismatched socks, we remind ourselves and others that it's okay to stand out and that our differences should be celebrated, not judged.
On Wednesday, the Year 6 Anti-Bullying Ambassadors led an assembly to teach younger children about the importance of respect. They explained different types of bullying, including verbal, physical, emotional and cyber bullying, in a way that was easy for the children to understand. The ambassadors also shared how bullying can make someone feel and offered ways to recognise it. The assembly encouraged interaction, with plenty of opportunities for questions. It concluded with a reflection on trusted adults the children can talk to if they experience bullying.
Dementia Friends
On Wednesday morning, Year 6 welcomed Mrs. Parsons, a volunteer with Dementia Friends, who led an insightful workshop about dementia. She explained in simple terms what happens to someone with dementia, focusing on the changes they may experience and how we can support them. The children showed great empathy and gained valuable ideas to assist those with dementia. As part of the session, they received Dementia Friends badges and will be taking action later in the year to help support the elderly in their community. One important lesson from the workshop that stuck with us was the simple yet powerful message: Be Kind. This reminder encourages us to treat everyone with care and empathy, especially those facing challenges like dementia. Small acts of kindness can make a big difference in supporting others.
Harp Workshop
On Tuesday, Ms Mossone-Evans organised a Harp Workshop for all the children in the school. Not only is this a unique experience it was also lots and lots of fun! We were put into pairs and then taught about the middle red string on the harp which is the note middle C. We were also taught that the levers at the top of the harp are similar to the black keys on the piano. Following this, we then learnt how to play ‘Twinkl, Twinkle, Little Star’. Everyone was successful! This workshop made many of us feel like we want to start learning the magnificent instrument, the harp.
Paige, Maita and Geetanjali - Year 6 Music Monitors
Tag Rugby
Monday saw Years 3 and 4 travel to Farringtons Prep School for a couple of friendly games of tag rugby. Year 3 have progressed enormously throughout the academic year and won their fixture scoring lots of tries throughout the afternoon. Brilliant teamwork was demonstrated throughout the afternoon.
Year 4 also won their fixtures, relying on their knowledge and skill to organise themselves back into their defensive line as quickly as possible, which reduces the space for the opposition. Tries were scored amongst the team. Well done to all the children who took part and made the afternoon a successful one!
Toca Social at The O2
On Thursday, the Year 6 girls were invited to a fun and engaging event at Toca Social (Football) at the O2. It was a delight to be able to take the school minibus on this short journey. We had the best time, with the girls trying to hit all the interactive targets, competing against each other in small groups. Even Mrs McNamara showcased her skills and joined in. We were incredibly lucky, as after the event on our way out of the venue, we were stopped at Boom Battle Bar and then invited to play some mini golf free of charge, which all the girls jumped at the chance to do. A once in a lifetime school opportunity with everyone having the best time! Well done girls on your exemplary behaviour and 'can do' attitude. Who knows which one of you will end up as part of our England Lioness team in the future?
Nursery
Another busy week has flown past in Little Acorns. The children have enjoyed taking part in several whole school events this week including attending the harp assembly, wearing our odd socks for Anti-Bullying Day and fundraising for Children In Need. The children also impressed us on Monday with the thoughtful and sensible way that they marked Remembrance Day by staying quiet for two minutes and hearing about the reasons why we do this.
During special group time this week the children have made a treasure hunt for the other children to follow. They used the sticks they collected at the park to make arrows showing the way to the treasure. The sticks have also been used to make pictures, dens and pretend campfires in our outdoor area.
On Thursday afternoon we took our first trip to New Eltham Library to hear a story, browse the books and choose a book to take home. The children listened beautifully to our librarian Sally and then chose the book they have taken home. Please enjoy the book together and return it in time for our next visit on Thursday 28th November.
Reception
We say it every week but…Where has this week gone?
At the beginning of the week, we learnt about Remembrance Day. Mrs Harris bought in a medal that her dad was given for fighting in the war. The children listened beautifully to her explanation and they showed great respect throughout all discussions around this topic.
To recognise anti-bullying week, Reception have discussed what it means to be kind and respectful. It has been so lovely to hear all the wonderful ideas and suggestions as we have seen how they can support each other and build each other up with confidence if needed. The children loved wearing their odd socks to represent that we are all unique and offer different and special qualities.
A highlight for us this week was watching the Year 1 children play the harp. We were so impressed with their skills and it was beautiful to listen to ‘Twinkle, Twinkle’ played with such grace.
This week, we have started our Drawing Club sessions. We have read the story ‘Whatever Next?’. The children have drawn the character, a rocket and a picnic to take to the moon. Each picture has needed a secret code to make magical things happen. They have LOVED making them up and sharing them with their friends.
We have found ANOTHER use for our sticks that we collected during the nature walk last week. The children created their very own tic tac toe board and they enjoyed playing with their friends.
We hope you have a fantastic weekend! We look forward to seeing you all for another great week.
Year 1
Year 1 have had a lovely, busy week! We enjoyed all of the extra activities on offer and we have worked very hard in our classrooms.
In English we have practised our comprehension skills using our new book ‘Boris and Sid Make a Mess’ where the children made predictions and wrote sentences based on the story.
We brought our maths topic of addition and subtraction to a close; the children have learnt a lot about different ways to add and subtract to 10, using part-whole models, number sentences and number lines.
We loved our science lesson on the sense of touch; the children used lots of fantastic vocabulary to describe the objects they were feeling.
Our art lesson was a challenge - can you draw a whole object without lifting your pencil…?!
Year 2
What a busy week - from Remembrance Day to a harp workshop and anti-bullying week to Children in Need, we are ready for the weekend!
To recognise anti-bullying week we had a big push on what respectful behaviour looks like, both in school and out, and towards others as well as ourselves. The children had lots of ideas of what respect means and how it can be demonstrated, and even wrote their own ‘Respect Pledges’. We also LOVED wearing our odd socks in celebration of being different and unique!
In English, we have focused our learning on using the correct tense in our writing and developed sentences about a very naughty tiger who ate all the buns! Maths has seen us move into subtraction which has taken a lot of concentration to remember to start the ones and exchange when necessary. Science made us think about why certain things are made from certain materials - as we all agreed that trousers made from wood would not be very comfortable! And as artists, we developed our knowledge of primary, secondary and tertiary colours!
One of our highlights was joining in with Joe Wicks for a special Children in Need workout / quiz! We had to answer the questions with exercise moves!
Have a wonderful weekend!
Year 3
We have had a brilliant week here in Year 3! We have started to put together some of the features of our non-chronological report, creating snazzy looking titles and using alliteration and adjectives to make interesting subheadings ready for our topic paragraphs to be written next week.
In maths, we were introduced to the three times table and have begun using lots of methods to help us with skip counting in threes and dividing by three including bar models which we found super helpful for problem solving questions.
In geography this week, we have been exploring the physical features of Antarctica and learned about the climate and landscape. We discovered that Antarctica isn’t completely made of ice like some of us believed but is in fact land covered with ice instead.
Science saw us exploring different surfaces and how this impacted friction this week. We completed an experiment to see which surface a car would roll on easier and found that a rug stopped the car from moving at all, therefore concluding that was the surface where the most friction was at play!
Odd Socks day was a blast as we sported all kinds of different socks to celebrate how we are all unique. We explored how in class we were all different (and some of our similarities too) to celebrate the day.
We are very much looking forward to our trip on Tuesday, wrap up warm everyone things are about to get chilly in the Polar Zone at the aquarium!
Year 4
What a great week we’ve had! We have managed to squeeze in lots of learning as well as celebrating Anti-Bullying Week and attending a harp workshop. We started our week with completing our end of unit assessment for our area topic - the children performed brilliantly and have really understood this topic. For the rest of the week, we moved onto revising our 3x and 6x tables. We played some fun games and practised our times tables on Times Tables Rockstars, and then applied our 3x knowledge to our 6x tables.
In English, we have continued to read extracts of “How to Train Your Dragon”, and the children enjoyed acting out a scene from Thor’sday Thursday in order to help them plan and write a diary entry in role as Hiccup. They identified features of a diary entry before using a checklist on their own writing. Next week, we are going to be writing our own adventure story building on the grammar work we have done this half term.
In science, we learned about what an appliance is and how we can recognise different hazards when using electricity. In history, we learned what the different symbols on Roman shields represented, and then designed our own. We decided which design we preferred and explained why we had chosen this. Next week, we will be painting our own shields.
For Anti-Bullying Week, we celebrated Odd Socks Day on Tuesday, and then watched the BBC live lesson all about respect. The children wrote some lovely acrostic poems and discussed how we can work together to solve conflicts.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend.
Year 5
This week, we have enjoyed taking part in a range of activities for Anti-Bullying week. The children have shown some mature and thoughtful ideas of recognising respectful and disrespectful behaviour and how they can use different strategies to help solve conflicts. We also enjoyed wearing something spotty and taking part in the live lesson for Children in Need on Friday.
In maths, we have concluded the first part of our multiplication and division topic. We have explored prime, square and cube numbers and have been using our times table knowledge to multiply and divide by multiples of 10, 100 and 1000. In English, we have planned and written up newspaper articles based on the poem ‘The Walrus and the Carpenter. In art, we have been exploring how to create interesting portrait drawings using words and experimenting with materials and techniques to construct self-portraits that represent aspects of ourselves.
We hope you have a lovely weekend.
Year 6
To begin our week in Year 6, all the children took part in the Primary Maths Challenge. This involved using their reasoning skills to solve mathematical problems. The Primary Maths Challenge has been running for 25 years! We look forward to finding out what prizes will be awarded, Bronze, Silver or Gold awards. The children have also been consolidating their understanding of the topic of Fractions.
In English, the children have continued to delve into the depths of poetry with the overarching theme of the Black Lives Matter Movement. This week, we introduced them to the inspirational work of Benjamin Zephaniah who was born in Birmingham with Caribbean parents. He was dyslexic and left school unable to read or write. However, his passion for peace, equality and unity runs through all his poems leaving us all moved and in awe. The children have been using the acronym MORERAPS to help identify the poetic techniques. We have been very impressed with the level of understanding and the enthusiasm. (Poems discussed and evaluated are: Let there be peace, Good Hope, Who are we? The British.)
Now that all the Year 6 children are fully trained as Anti-Bullying Ambassadors, it was a pleasure to see many of them lead an assembly this week for the rest of the school. Staff commented on their excellent delivery, empathy and confidence. Well done to all of you.
You will see on our Year 6 Twitter page and Dojo that the girls were invited to play at TOCA Social at the O2. It was a girls’ only event to encourage our girls (not that they need that much encouragement!) to play sport and in this case football! They were full of energy, enthusiasm and appreciation and a joy to take out. Well done girls!
While the girls were at TOCA Social on Thursday, our Year 6 boys took part in a team building afternoon. They completed a number of challenges that tested their communication, creativity and collaboration skills. Showing determination, resilience and perseverance, they worked together brilliantly and had lots of laughs along the way. Well done boys!
Outdoor Learning
This week has involved a lot of clearing of our beds in preparation for winter. The children also spread lots of our rotted compost on the beds to feed them over the next few months. The younger children also planted out our broad beans, chard and beetroot that had been growing in the heated greenhouses. We also sowed some new seeds with Nursery and Reception. The children are spending even more time at the allotment as they now come out during their lunch time which they have really enjoyed.
Languages
What a busy week we just had! Nursery and Reception carried on with the new topic of the colours and played many different games. Year 1 did an amazing job working on French phonics and recognising the differences between EU and AU. Year 2 carried on practising the topic of hobbies and we started to introduce when we do a particular activity, using days of the week and time.
In the Upper School, in French Year 3 had the second lesson on numbers and the children practised how to count up to 60, with writing and listening activities. In Spanish, Year 5 has started the new topic of school subjects and they have all surprised me with their excellent memory and pronunciation of the new core vocabulary. Year 6 has also started the new topic for this half term which is physical description of ourselves and others. The children have learnt the core vocabulary and will focus on three different tenses of the verb ‘to be’ and the adjectival agreement. In Latin, Year 6 has focused on the role of slaves in Roman times, and in grammar, we have explored how verbs are used in Latin: the ending of a verb changes depending upon who is doing the action.
Design & Technology
Year 3 Pneumatic Monsters
This week pupils in Year 3 practised designing their pneumatic monsters. They drew their designs from different points of view and labelled the details of the monsters.
Year 4 Slingshot cars
Pupils in Year 4 explored product analysis and how this can further their understanding of what makes a good design vs a design that requires improvement.
Year 5 Doodle Bots
Year 5 pupils experimented collaboratively with wiring a Doodle bot, altering the counterweights and tweaking the leg directions in order to see how stable their designs could be.
Year 6 Steady Hand Games
This week pupils in Year 6 learned how to consider form vs function in the design of some household objects as well as comparing this to over designed products that are designed to look good vs working well.
Music
Firstly, a big thank you to all of the wonderful musicians who gave up their time last Saturday to perform on their instruments at our Open Day. Our visitors loved hearing the sounds of the harp, violin, piano and guitar as they walked around our school. Visitors also commented on how confident our young performers were and the children were more than happy to demonstrate how to play their instruments to younger children who were visiting. Thank you, you sounded great!
Our Harp Day was a huge success on Tuesday. All of the children had the opportunity to see and play the harp, with our hall being filled with 13 harps in total! We have a very good relationship with the local company who makes and provides harps for our pupils to either purchase or rent. If you are interested in your child learning the harp in school, please send me (Mrs Aldridge) an email and I can provide you with further information (s.aldridge@stolaves.org.uk).
In our Music lessons this week, all of the children have been learning Christmas Carols or songs for the Early Years or Lower School Christmas plays. We’re feeling very festive already!