From the Head
This week has been filled with energy, achievement, and unforgettable experiences for our children across the school.
Our Year 3 and 4 Instrumental Spring Concert was a joyful celebration of musical progress and performance. The children took to the stage with confidence, showcasing the skills they have developed in their instrumental lessons; it was a delight to see their hard work come to life. A huge thank you to our music team for their dedication and to the families who came along to support and encourage our young musicians.
Meanwhile, Year 4 children leapt, tumbled, and balanced their way through the first of our specialist Gymnastics Plus afternoons. This exciting new initiative is designed to help children develop strength, flexibility, and coordination under expert coaching. It was fantastic to see them embracing new challenges with enthusiasm and determination and I know that they have already spread their excitement to the other classes who are looking forward to their turn!
For our Year 5 children, this week has been one of adventure and discovery on their residential trip. From outdoor challenges to team-building activities, they have embraced every experience with resilience and enthusiasm. These trips are such a valuable opportunity for children to develop independence, strengthen friendships and push themselves beyond their comfort zones. The stories and laughter they will bring home are a testament to the memories they have made. A heartfelt thank you to the staff who have supported them so brilliantly throughout the week - ensuring the children were safe, happy and thriving. As they return home, our dedicated staff team will no doubt be looking forward to reuniting with their own families after a week of caring for our young adventurers!
As always, it has been a pleasure to see our children seizing opportunities, developing their skills and growing in confidence. We look forward to more exciting weeks ahead! Have a lovely weekend.
Kind regards, Miss Holloway
The week ahead...
Lunch Menu
Safeguarding Team
This week at St Olave's
Tree Planting in Southwood Park
This week the Community and Eco Committees joined The Friends of Southwood Park for a very exciting project. The children helped plant a Field Maple in the main park. The tree had been purchased with the money we raised and donated at Parksfest in September. Previously, the children had researched various trees and decided the Field Maple, as a native species, would be ideal to plant. It is sturdy, and is loved by caterpillars, aphids and their predators. It is also good at resisting air pollution. The tree will need 55 litres of water a week for the next year, so if you are visiting the park, please check out the tree and give it a drink of water.
Marie Curie Daffodils
Thank you to everyone who donated money for a daffodil. The Year 6 children did a great job supporting Marie Curie during the Great Daffodil Appeal.
Year 6 Trip to The Churchill War Rooms
On Thursday afternoon, Year 6 visited the Churchill War Rooms as part of their History topic about World War II.
The trip provided an immersive experience, allowing the children to explore the underground headquarters where Winston Churchill and his government directed the war effort. Equipped with audio guides, they navigated the historic rooms, gaining insight into the challenges and decisions faced during the war. The interactive mini-games on the audio guide in each room added an engaging element to their visit, reinforcing their understanding of wartime strategies and daily life in the bunker.
As they explored, they learned about the many men and women who worked tirelessly in the War Rooms, reading their personal stories and discovering the crucial roles they played in supporting Britain’s war effort. A highlight of the trip was seeing the famous door from 10 Downing Street, the very one Churchill walked through during his time as Prime Minister. Another memorable moment was stepping inside Churchill’s bedroom and seeing the very place where he delivered some of his most famous speeches on BBC radio, inspiring the nation during its darkest hours. Seeing these historic spaces firsthand made the experience even more meaningful, deepening their appreciation of this pivotal period in history.
Marine Animals Project
Our Languages Monitors have treated us to a very interesting project this week: Marine Animals. The Year 6 children researched the names of eight marine animals in French, Spanish and Latin, and presented their work in class. The children, with their teacher’s hats on, taught everyone else how to pronounce the animals, with memory games and choral repetitions, and they made sentences featuring the marine animals. Well done!
Mrs Mossone Evans
Year 1 Trip to the Old Royal Naval College
The children were so excited for our fascinating art trip on Wednesday and it was brilliant.
We travelled by train and DLR to Greenwich to visit the Old Royal Naval College. The children behaved impeccably on public transport and one of the children was even chosen to make an announcement to passengers of an approaching station. We were very proud to have them represent our school.
On arrival, the children were given a brief introduction to the history of the Naval College and what it has been used for over time. We then made our way to the chapel to look at the fantastic architecture and beautiful artworks inside. The children were able to identify and discuss different shapes and patterns used throughout the chapel. They then learnt about symmetry and identified lines of symmetry in some of the decorative features of the chapel.
We then headed over to a classroom where the children collaborated to create their very own symmetrical designs. The children followed instructions and created interesting and colourful pieces of artwork. They were able to adapt their designs making sure they kept specific lines of symmetry and followed consistent patterns. Maybe together you can identify different shapes and patterns around your homes.
The children were then taken to The Painted Hall to admire the beautiful paints that adorn the walls. They were also lucky enough to experience the ‘Helios’ exhibition where a giant sphere has been suspended from the ceiling to represent the Sun. The children were amazed by the detail and scale of the paintings on the walls and ceilings.
To finish the day the children were taken to a private underground skittles alley. This was used by the patients of the hospital of the Naval College as a form of entertainment. The children all had a turn of playing skittles and were very excited to be shown this hidden treasure!
We hope the children were enthusiastic to tell you what a wonderful time they had!
Pupil Achievements
Congratulations to all the children who took part in our Spring Instrumental Concerts over the last two weeks. Your hard work and dedication to practising your pieces shone through in every single one of your talented performances. Click the link below to see our Instagram post featuring a taster of some of the performances.
Sporting Round Up
Year 3 and 4 Football Matches
St Olave's hosted a Year 3 and 4 girls and boys football matches at Footscray RFC. The boys worked hard and at times showed some fluent football. We led the first half 1-0, but a bit of a goal frenzy occurred in the second half and we ended the game losing 5-2. A great effort from all the children involved. The girls battled away and grew in confidence the longer the game went on. The girls led 1-0 at half time, through a well taken strike by Tharaa. The girls developed further in the second half, and won the game 3-1. A well deserved victory for the girls.
Gymnastics Plus
This week, 4 Rowan were the first class to travel to Sutcliffe Park to further enhance their skills and experience a range of different gymnastic equipment during our Gymnastics Plus session. The children had 3 excellent coaches to take them around and experience beams, trampolines, and floor apparatus. The children were so excited, and loved the afternoon. These skills continue to develop coordination, strength and confidence within the children. Well done Rowan class for an outstanding gymnastic experience.
Nursery
The Little Acorns started the week with a little burst of Spring as they looked carefully at a vase of daffodils and created art work using paints, paper and pens. The children are becoming more and more independent and are able to mix the colours that they need, in this case yellow and blue to make the green stems.
In Special Group Time the children have been learning how to play hopscotch, drawing their own hopscotch numbers and then having a go at jumping with one leg and two.
We finished the week with a very messy and exciting activity as we explored the unusual properties of cornflour mixed with water and as one of the children said “I’m having so much fun!!”
Reception
We have had a BEARilliant week this week as our teddies joined us for a fun day in Reception. In our music lessons, we have been learning ‘The Teddy Bear’s Picnic’. Mrs Aldridge asked the children to bring their teddy in from home so that they could sing along with us. With that in mind, we thought it would be a great idea to invite the teddies to ALL of our lessons. They had a great time learning ‘Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes’ in French, singing in music, completing obstacle courses in PE and learning how to read and write sounds in Phonics.
This week in Drawing Club, we have been reading ‘The Smartest Giant In Town’. We have drawn our own giant and created smart clothes to stick on their body. The children enjoyed doing this so much, they decided to merge their Drawing Club lesson with their time with their teddy bear. We decided that the teddies needed a bit of a treat after their busy day at school. The children designed them some new clothes and accessories. They looked absolutely fabulous. We hope you loved their new look when they arrived home.
In Maths, we have been focusing on finding number bonds to 10 and recognising numerals to 20. We have played lots of games and had so much fun.
We hope you have a wonderful weekend. We have our fingers crossed that the sun will make an appearance!
Year 1
What a wonderful week it has been in Year 1! You can read all about our trip to The Old Royal Naval College in the 'This Week at St Olave's' section above.
Aside from their trip, Year 1 have had a very busy week consolidating their maths skills with their knowledge of numbers to 50. They have worked hard to use number lines and part whole models to improve their understanding.
We were inspired by last week's World Book Day to write our own stories and have taken time to think, plan and then produce our own stories based on a traditional folk tale.
We had great fun in our art lesson with the first step in our final piece studying 3D sculpture; let's just say it may not fit in the room once it's finished...
Year 2
'Spring is here, yes it’s here, let’s all cheer!’ These lyrics capture all of the energy and joy Year 2 have been displaying this week. They have worked hard at learning and practising the poems and songs for our upcoming Spring Concert and you will have received a lovely handwritten invitation to this event. Homework this weekend is to focus on making sure that we learn all of the poems and song words which were sent home last week.
Our English skills are developing every day. We have completed comprehension tasks this week, practising skills and taking time to get a good understanding of what we read. We are making good progress with our reading of ‘ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.’ The tension is rising as we move through the book into the final chapters. We have so many questions to ask about this story and there are plenty of new words to discuss.
In Science we studied our family photos to find characteristics we have inherited from our parents. We were able to use some new scientific words: resemblance, gene, offspring, similarities and variation. Our history learning has focused on the life of Queen Victoria and everyday life during her reign. We were fascinated to learn about Victorian schools and are very glad that life at St Olave’s is much more pleasant!
We have started a new topic in maths - measuring length using centimetres and metres. We shared ideas about measuring objects in real life, understanding what a useful skill it is. The children used their rulers to measure and draw lines and shapes, taking care to be as accurate as possible. We are looking forward to doing some more practical measuring next week.
Year 3
What an amazing week we have had in Year 3! From swimming to cooking and the Spring Concert we have kept ourselves busy. We were very impressed by all of the performances on Tuesday. We can confidently see that Year 3 is very talented bunch. Year 3 have also been impressing us in their Swimming lessons. The coaches were praising their hard work and focus - we are confident they will keep it up for the remainder of the term and be practical fishes by then.
Other exciting activities this week include our exploration of reflective materials in Science. Using torches and an array of items from around the school we investigated what made materials reflect light. We concluded that fluorescent, smooth and shiny materials were best for reflection and then discussed jobs that would require the use of high visibility jackets.
In maths, we have continued our exploration of all things fractions. We can now confidently define the term ‘equivalent’ and find equivalent fractions. We have also practiced finding fractions on a number line, adding fractions and finding fractions of amounts. Why not quiz your child on some of this knowledge and see if they are as fraction mad as we are!
In English, we looked at some grammar terms and in particular learnt how we could use conjunctions for time and place as well as prepositions to make our lines of poetry more effective. As we continue to develop our writing skills, we hope we have built up an impressive bank of poetic lines that we can put together to create an impressive finished piece of writing.
As for our geography learning, the explosive topic of volcanoes continues to captivate us. This week we have been learning about the structure of volcanoes and labelling a cross section. The children were interested to see how these natural structures are formed and should now understand the distinction between magma (under the Earth’s surface) and lava (outside of the earth’s surface).
Finally, You may have noticed a delicious cheesecake heading home this week which was produced as part of their cooking lessons. The children all took part in making each stage of their desserts and reaped the rewards of their hard work when they got to take them home and eat them. Now they know how to make such a delicious dessert they can make one for themselves, their family or even their teachers!
We hope you have enjoyed hearing about all the fun going on from Apple and Sycamore this week and we look forward to sharing more of our adventures next week.
Year 4
Spring term is flying by and this week seems to have gone by in a flash! We started the week with our annual Spring Music Concert and it was an amazing treat to hear so many of the children perform. What a talented and dedicated bunch we have! The children should all feel very proud of themselves for performing with such confidence.
On Wednesday, many of our children took part in a football fixture during our Games session, demonstrating excellent sportsmanship and teamwork. Rowan class were also lucky enough to be the first group from St Olave's to attend our Gymnastics Plus sessions at Sutcliffe Park! As you can see by the photos, they had an amazing time. Birch class cannot wait for their session next Thursday, so please remember to wear a PE kit.
In maths, we completed our unit on fractions and have begun our new topic of decimals - specifically looking at tenths as fractions and tenths as decimals. In English, we read another version of Princess and the Pea and considered how characters’ feelings changed throughout the story. We looked at features of playscripts and compared different examples of popular plays, identifying common features and describing their functions. In Science, we evaluated the results of our experiment, trying to find which material is the best for insulating sound. Ask your child to tell you about amplitude and explain what a variable is!
The children have all worked really hard this week. We wish you a restful and relaxing weekend.
Year 5
Year 5 have had a fantastic week on their residential in Swanage - keep an eye out for a full write up in next week's newsletter!
Year 6
This term, Year 6 have delved into their RE studies with a focus on Christianity, exploring the life of Jesus in greater depth. They have enjoyed learning about key events in his life and the significance of the Holy Trinity. A particular highlight has been listening to and interpreting some of the parables told by Jesus. We have been thoroughly impressed with their inquisitiveness and thoughtful discussions about his teachings. Their ability to understand and explain the messages behind the parables has been outstanding.
In English, the children have continued their study of The Tempest by William Shakespeare. This week, they were captivated by the arrival of new visitors on the island, sparking their imaginations as they mapped out where each group was sent. They particularly enjoyed acting out scenes from the play, bringing to life the different situations each group of visitors found themselves in. Their enthusiasm for drama has shone through, helping them to develop a greater understanding of the characters and plot. Furthermore, they took on the role of costume designers, crafting imaginative and creative designs for Prospero in a theatrical production.
Science lessons this week have transformed Year 6 into budding electricians! The children explored electrical circuits, identifying and correcting problems to ensure their circuits functioned correctly. Through hands-on investigations, they developed their problem-solving skills and deepened their understanding of how electricity flows. Their curiosity and determination were evident as they worked through the challenges presented to them.
A major highlight of the week was the much-anticipated trip to the Churchill War Rooms on Thursday. Stepping back in time, the children uncovered the secrets of Britain's wartime nerve centre, discovering how crucial decisions were made underground during World War II. They learned about the dedicated men and women who worked in the War Rooms and explored the very spaces where Winston Churchill delivered his powerful speeches. The trip provided a fascinating insight into this significant period in history, enriching their understanding of their current History topic.
Today, we celebrated Pi Day by creating some fun Pi Skyline artwork. The children coloured in the number of squares on the graph paper that correspond to each digit in pi! Happy Pi Day!
It has been another fantastic week of learning in Year 6, filled with curiosity, creativity, and enthusiasm!
Outdoor Learning
This week, the children have been involved in an exciting project to help prepare a new area at the end of the allotment. With careful supervision, they have been assisting in clearing the space.
During the process, we have discovered a fascinating mix of items, including an old lawnmower, a baby’s bath, and even a drinks can dating back to 1990—much to the excitement of our Year 2 children! We have also come across some natural finds, including a number of slowworms, which we have carefully relocated to a safe part of the site. Any unexpected discoveries, such as old bones, have been managed appropriately to ensure the safety of everyone involved.
As part of the work, the children have been sieving the soil we are removing and repurposing it to enrich the beds and polytunnels, ready for the new planting season. Their enthusiasm and teamwork have been wonderful to see. We will continue clearing the area and look forward to planning how best to use the space in the coming weeks.
Languages
In Early Years, both Nursery and Reception have had a treat: one of our Languages Monitors from Year 6 has visited to teach us some marine animals in French! Year 1 has learnt how to add the possessive adjective to pets and the children worked on the difference between singular and plural, such as “mon chat” and “mes chats”, practising listening, reading and writing skills. Year 2 started to use the third person singular to describe someone’s appearance, and to help us do this we started our alien project.
In the Upper School, in French, Year 3 talked about the weather forecast in France: the children practised their sentences in groups and then wrote them down. Year 4 has had a revision of phonics: the children remembered multiple sounds and they practised reading and listening. In Spanish, Year 6 had a focus lesson on grammar: the children worked at the present tense of regular verbs ending in -ar, -er and -ir. In Latin, Year 6 also had our Languages Monitor presenting the marine animals: we had sentences prepared for us and the children, guided by the monitor, translated them and revised the gender adjectival agreement; the children also revised the parts of the body based upon their Latin derivatives.
Design & Technology
Year 3 Electrostatic Game
This week, Year 3 pupils applied the findings from their experiments to the design of their final product.
Year 4 Pavilion Structures
Pupils in Year 4 continued to test and reinforce the stability of their structures ensuring that they stood freely without the need to hold them upright.
Year 6 Automata Toys
This week, pupils in Year 6 completed background and foreground designs and added the cam mechanisms to their frames.
Music
Congratulations to all of the Year 3 and 4 instrumentalists who performed in our concert on Tuesday. The children prepared their pieces very well and performed with such confidence, we are all very proud of them. Thank you for supporting your child at home and for attending the concert. It was wonderful to have so many children performing - 49 in total!
Our Musician of the Month is Freddie Mercury. In assembly this week, we listened to his music, with many of the children recognising a lot of the songs. We learnt about Freddie’s vocal range and recognisable voice. We also looked at some of his flamboyant outfits and hairstyles. In particular, we watched Queen’s performance at Live Aid in 1985 and joined in with Freddie Mercury’s famous call and response with the audience, ‘Eeeooo’! It wouldn’t have been a Freddie Mercury assembly without listening to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’, complete with headbanging and air guitars! The children have been asked to listen to Freddie Mercury’s music during March as it will be great to share their favourite songs.
We were treated to a wonderful assembly performance by Alfred in Year 4 this week. The title of his piano piece was kept a secret so that the children could see if they recognised the piece - we did straight away and thoroughly enjoyed it! Can you recognise it?