Hazelwick School

Newsletter

Headlines Ms A Fearon, Headteacher

December Reflection:

December 2015

Headlines Ms A Fearon, Headteacher

We look forward to seeing all our students on Monday 4 January (week 1)

for the start of the Spring Term.

Welcome to this final edition of our school newsletter for 2015. I would like to start by wishing

all students, parents and carers a joyful Holiday Season and a very happy and peaceful New Year.

The final weeks of term have been immensely busy and productive. Year 11 students have sat

their mock examinations and there has been a range of extra-curricular activities involving many

of our students.

During December, activities have included the Sixth Form Karaoke and ‘Festive Friday’, both

being enormous fun while also raising money for charity.

On the evening of 15 December, we held our Sixth Form ‘Celebration of Achievement’ where

we welcomed back last year’s upper sixth students to receive their A level certificates. We also

awarded subject and pastoral prizes. Fifty five students and their families attended and enjoyed a

fabulous evening of celebration and catching up with friends after their first term at university or

in employment.

Throughout these weeks, we have ensured that the quality of teaching has remained high,

enabling our students to learn in lessons right through to the end of term.

We say goodbye to Dr Messenger, from the Science Department and we thank her for her

contributions to our school in her time with us.

Festive Friday Karaoke

Karaoke

Hazelwick has been out and about in the local

community; our musicians have been

performing in their first concert at the

Bandstand in town.

Year 8 and 9 students have shown tremendous thoughtfulness and

generosity in the contributions they have made to the compilation of

Christmas boxes for the residents of Crawley Open House. Year 7

made Christmas cards and hand delivered them to Francis Court

Care home in Copthorne and spent time with the elderly dementia

patients.

Page 2

News, Events & Activities... Food Technology – Let’s Get Cooking Club!

The Food Technology department have been busy this half-term. Thank you to the Food Technology ‘Let’s

Get Cooking Club’ who made Mince pies for the Christmas fair and Ellie Myers in Year 13 who made these

brilliant festive polar bears for a raffle prize.

Below is a recipe if you’d like to make them at home.

Miss Maides

Ingredients 175g butter

175g sugar

175g Self-raising flour

3 eggs

½ tsp baking powder

White chocolate butter cream 150g butter

400g icing sugar

1 bar white chocolate, grated small

36 white chocolate buttons

Chocolate icing writing pen

1 tsp vanilla essence

Method 1. Place all the cupcake ingredients into a bowl and use an electric whisk until the mixture is light, fluffy

and pale in texture.

2. Place the mixture into cupcake cases and cook on Gas mark 6, 180°C for 15 minutes.

3. Get them out of the oven, place them onto a cooling rack and leave to cool completely. 4. To make the icing, place the softened butter, icing sugar and vanilla essence into a bowl and whisk

until softened and the icing goes into peaks.

5. Use a palette knife and flatten the icing onto the cake.

6. Grate the white chocolate into a bowl and dip the cake into the chocolate so that it sticks.

7. Use two white chocolate buttons as the ears and place into the icing.

8. Cut one chocolate button in half and use as the nose.

9. Use the chocolate writing icing to complete the look. Add dots to the eyes and draw the nose.

10. If you have edible glitter, you may wish to add a sprinkle of glitter as well!

11. Finally, Enjoy!

And Happy Christmas from the Food Technology Department

Page 3

News, Events & Activities... Year 11 Product Design

Year 11 Product Design students are getting creative in their revision techniques. Students are

using "Quizzical Coasters" to support them in their everyday at-home independent study.

Students have a range of quick fire quizzical questions to recall key subject knowledge

everywhere they go!

Keep up the hard work!

Miss Jones

Year 10 Product Design and Systems & Control

The Year 10 students in Product Design and Systems & Control

have been working extremely hard. Miss Jones, Mr Jenkins and

Mr Dyke have nominated two students from each class and they

have been awarded – Star Designer.

A huge congratulations for outstanding effort, behaviour and

subject knowledge in these lessons – a superb start to Year 10!

Festive Cheer

Hazelwick's musicians have been spreading festive cheer throughout Crawley this month. Senior Soul

Band performed some funky carols at the Christmas fair whilst the newly-formed Junior Soul Band

visited the Band Stand in town to perform for the local community. Despite blustery winds, they

performed brilliantly in (for most) their first concert at

Hazelwick. We eagerly wait to see what they do next!

Miss Burchill

Page 4

News, Events & Activities... Imperial College

Hazelwick’s pioneers of computer science are coming!

On Friday 4 December, a group of Computer Science 6th Form students went on a trip to the Imperial

College London for a lecture on ‘The Pioneers of Computer Science’. With speakers from Amazon, BT,

Apps for Good, Google and The University of Coventry, the lectures promised to be inspirational.

Debbie Forster from Apps for Good discussed the opportunities that tech would offer the students in the

jobs market and was a great advocate for encouraging girls into Computer Science.

We were given an insight into what it takes to design and deliver innovative new data centres by Dave

Bowen from BT.

Isabella Pighi from Google was one of the data scientists that was involved in the Ebola crisis and she gave

the students an understanding of how they managed to control the situation through the use of

telecommunications data.

The students related to the coding/programming that Byron Cook from Amazon talked about, and were

able to appreciate how these advances in mathematical logic and computing would affect the world in

which we live.

But the highlight of the day was without a doubt the speech by Kevin Warwick from The University of

Coventry. The talk was both engaging and highly relevant to what the students were currently working

on in school. The Turing’s Imitation Game (a.k.a. the Turing test) involves trying to tell the difference, in

conversation, between a human and a machine. Actual examples were given of machines performing very

well and fooling interrogators. The enthusiasm for

computer science was clearly evident when the students

were given the opportunity to try the test for

themselves to see how well they performed.

The trip was enjoyed by all and was a valuable

experience that helped not only to enhance their studies

but also to support the students in preparing for, and

giving an insight into, future careers as Computer

Scientists. For one young lady on the trip the whole day

from start to finish proved to be an experience she will

never forget, as this was the first time she had been on a

train, the Underground and to London!

Mrs A Kansara

Computer Science Department

Page 5

News, Events & Activities... Italy Trip – October 2015

During the October half term break, 28 students (from Years 10-12) took part in the Classics

Department’s 10-day grand tour of Italy, accompanied by old timers Mr Hopkins & Mr Palmer and

newcomers Mrs Lawrence & Miss Scott – a great team! The group travelled by coach and covered a

huge distance, cramming so much into the short time away. The 2015 trip was a great success and a

truly memorable experience.

Starting off in Florence, we were impressed by the sheer beauty of the whole city, the awesome

grandeur of the enormous Duomo and the artistry of Michelangelo’s statue of David. Heading south to

the Bay of Naples, we climbed to the rim of the crater of Mount Vesuvius, before strolling round the

evocative remains of ancient Pompeii. Next stop – Rome. First of all, the stunning St Peter’s and a mere

500 steps to the top – but what a fantastic view of Rome from the top of the dome! And then, so many

sights – the Trevi Fountain (minus the water!), the Colosseum, the Circus Maximus, the river Tiber, the

Pantheon, arches, obelisks & elephants, the Forum, the Palatine Hill, a genuine Italian market. And, on

the last night, a great pizzeria followed by Piazza Navona and an unmissable ice cream at the legendary

Giolitti’s gelateria.

Heading north towards Venice, we stopped for lunch at Assisi, the beautiful town of St Francis, with its

cobbled streets, quaint buildings and serene atmosphere! Venice, was of course stunning, coming

gloriously into view at the end of a boat trip across the lagoon; the view looking down on the whole of

Venice from the top of the bell-tower; walking on the raised platforms to keep our feet dry as the water

-level rose; the exquisite ornamentation of Basilica San Marco; the simple elegance of St Mark’s Square,

with the orchestras playing in the evening; the focal point of the Rialto Bridge; the novelty of crossing the

Grand Canal in a gondola, like a real Venetian commuter – and for a mere 2 euros! And there was time

for a bit of shopping, too.

We all headed home exhausted, but filled with great memories, a love of Italy and a wish to return and

see more. The staff were thoroughly impressed by the attitude, behaviour, cooperation and enthusiasm

of every single one of the students – they were a fantastic group and a real pleasure to be with, as well

as being fine ambassadors of Hazelwick and a credit both to themselves and to the school. We

thoroughly enjoyed their company and we are very proud of them all.

More pictures can be found on the website, in the Gallery under Italy 2015.

Mr Hopkins

Classics Department

Page 6

Italy Trip Continued...

Page 7

Read On!

As we reach the end of the year, I have decided to focus on the winners of the major book awards in 2015. I

have included the link to each shortlist, so you can see if you agree with the final decisions!

CILIP Carnegie Medal Winner

Buffalo Soldier by Tanya Landman To be honest, I was surprised that this won the CILIP Carnegie Medal this year as I found the grimness of the

plot relentless, though this does not detract from the sense of time and place that the author evokes. The

book is set at the end of the American Civil War where the African-American slave Charley has been ‘freed’.

Charley decides to disguise herself as a man and joins the Army after the violent death of her adopted mother.

Charley quickly discovers that she is trapped in a world of injustice and inequality when she is sent to the

prairies to fight against the Native Americans. Although this is a ‘hard’ read at times, I would suggest it is a key

stage 4 to 5 title. It is a title that makes you ask questions about the nature of freedom.

Reading Level: 12 to 14

Interest Level: 14 to 18

AR Level: 5.3

http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/carnegie/current_shortlist.php

CILIP Kate Greenaway Medal Winner and the Information Book Award Overall Winner (Ages 7

to 12)

Shackleton's Journey by William Grill Grill has won two awards in 2015, the winner of both the Kate Greenaway Medal and the Information Book

Award Overall Winner 2015 (Ages 7-12). This is a stunning illustrated re-telling of Shackleton’s ill-fated

expedition, which I found very moving. I found the use of simple coloured pencil drawings incredibly effective,

especially the use of the blue pencil in portraying the snow and ice. This book works best as a book to share.

Reading Level: 8 to 10

Interest Level: 9 to 13

AR Level: 6.7

http://www.carnegiegreenaway.org.uk/greenaway/current_shortlist.php

http://www.sla.org.uk/information-book-award-2015.php

Page 8

Read On continued… Winner of Guardian Children's Fiction Prize and the Peters Book of the Year 2015 - Teen Fiction

Category

A Song For Ella Grey by David Almond In addition to winning two awards and being shortlisted for several others, there has been some debate about

the content of this book. The children’s author Lynne Reid Banks has expressed her view that this book is not

suitable for children and should not be shortlisted for a children’s book prize. The story is a clever reworking

of the Greek myth of Orpheus but is given a modern twist with the modern day setting of Tyneside. Reflecting

the lives, loves and tribulations of the teenage characters, the story does contain conversational swearing, and

scenes of underage drinking and casual sex. On the style front, black pages are used with different white fonts

when Orpheus is in the underworld, which some readers may find tricky to read.

Reading Level: 10 to 12

Interest Level: 14 to 17

AR Level: 3.8 http://www.theguardian.com/childrens-books-site/2015/oct/31/the-guardian-childrens-fiction-prize-shortlist-

2015

http://peters-books.co.uk/peters-book-of-the-year-2015-winners-announced/

Winner of the Blue Peter Book Awards 2015 (Best Story)

The Spy Who Loved School Dinners by Pamela Butchart This is the sequel to Baby Aliens Got My Teacher and in this story Izzy and her gang suspect the new French

student, Mathilde, of being a spy. Izzy’s suspicions are aroused when Mathilde loves the school dinners and

asks for seconds! If you enjoy over the top characters combined with silly capers, then this is a must read!

Reading Level: 7 to 9

Interest Level: 7 to 11

AR Level: 5.3

http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/30330883

Costa Book Awards The Category winners of the Costa Book Awards are due to be announced on January 4, with the name of the

overall winner revealed on January 26. I have included the link to the four titles shortlisted for the Children’s

Costa Book Award.

http://www.costa.co.uk/media/364247/combined-pdfs-v2.pdf

Page 9

Read On continued…

It has been a delight to watch the Year 7 students receive their BookBuzz books from Mrs Gray in the Library

and I hope that they will enjoy reading their chosen books over the holidays. I have included the BookBuzz

website link for those students who may wish to borrow and read other titles from the list.

http://www.booktrust.org.uk/programmes/secondary/bookbuzz/

Season’s Greetings & Happy Reading!

Mrs Thornton

Origami Session

I held a very successful Origami session on 4 December. Teachers, staff and students were in attendance and

they all made a wonderful Christmas candy box and Japanese cranes.

All the students enjoyed making the cranes and it was great to see the students’ smiles at the end of the

session.

Origami is the Japanese art of paper-folding. It translates as ori (folding) gami (paper).

A crane is a symbol of peace and happiness in Japan. This is a story of a thousand cranes.

http://www.origami-resource-center.com/sadako.html

Mrs Prentice

Page 10

Accelerated Reader...

All of our Year 7 form groups have each read well over 1 million words

now, which is fantastic! A great team effort from every form – well done!

Each form were rewarded with some chocolates to share and enjoy.

There are so many great titles for the students to read on the Accelerated Reader programme, with quizzes

for new books being added all the time. If your child has a book at home and wants to know if it is an

Accelerated Reader title, you can check through the AR book find website. www.arbookfind.co.uk. With

Christmas nearly upon us, books make great gifts, especially if it’s an Accelerated Reader title!

Millionaire Readers

Congratulations to Rupanshu Singh (7AKE), Alice Keyworth (8VLA), Ella Field (7JSM) and Lauren

Bradshaw (7ELA), who have all read over 1,000,000 words each. A super achievement!

Very well done.

Rupanshu Singh

My star reader this month is Joshua Worsell 7AKE. Joshua has quizzed successfully on each of the

19 book quizzes he has taken. What an amazing start to the year. Great work, Joshua. Keep it

up!

If you would like any further information about the accelerated reader scheme, please email me

directly. Egray@hazelwick.org.uk

Have a very Merry Christmas!

Mrs E Gray

Ella Field

Page 11

Sport... Talented Year 8 and 9 athletes visit Lee Valley

In November, our talented athletes

from Years 8 and 9 visited Lee

Valley to train in the world class

indoor facility. The students got to

experience running on an indoor

200m track as well as sprinting on a

130m straight. After they had

c o m p l e t e d t h e i r t r a i n i n g

programmes, we had a look around

the facility. Two students (Katie

Bristowe and Katie Small) were

lucky enough to meet 2014

Commonwealth games medallist,

Bianca Williams.

Pictured in the group photo, left to

right are Katie Bristowe, Megan

Cole, Kacey Weller, Katie Small,

Olivia Mullan, Anushka Patel, Oliver

Berrisford, Camron Lawson, Finley

MacLeod, Bradley Stanger and

Harry Rees.

Mrs Reynolds

Emily Gardiner 7KSM

Congratulations to Emily Gardiner (7KSM)

who received a commendation at the

National Cecchetti Classical Ballet Awards.

This is a national ballet competition where

the top 50 dancers in her age group (U13)

compete against each other for the top

prize. To enter this competition, Emily

had to audition to become part of the

Cecchetti Associates. This competition

included four set tasks and a

choreographed dance piece. Emily did

amazingly well, receiving a commendation

from the judges. This means that Emily is

in the Top 9 Cecchetti Ballet dancers in

the country for her age group.

Well done, Emily.

Mrs Menniss

Page 12

Sport continued... Year 8 netball team unlucky against Thomas Bennett

The Year 8s faced last year’s league champions on a wet and windy Thursday. In a very closely contested

match which involved lots of opportunities for both teams, Hazelwick just lost out on a victory, the final

score being 5-6. The effort these girls put in at training every week is fantastic and the standard of netball

highlighted this.

Well done, girls, and good luck in your next matches.

Mrs Reynolds

Pictured are:-

Shanice Jimu, Katie Small, Kacey Weller, Katie

Dowling, Rebekah Searle, Anujaah

Sriskantharajah, Charlene Tu-Weale, Nuha

Abdul, Isabel McPherson and Devika Pradeep Lal

Year 9 Netball results

The Year 9 netball team have been busy recently. They first played Oriel High School in a competitive

match and were victorious 5-2. Next, they played Thomas Bennett. In what proved to be a very tight

match, they unfortunately conceded a goal in the dying seconds to lose 3-4. The girls look forward to

their next matches after Christmas.

Well done!

Mrs Reynolds

Pictured are:- Nicole Knight, Olivia Mullan, Emily Vickers,

Phoebe Pennington, Katie Bristowe, Bronwyn

Cooper, Katie Small, Kacey Weller and Farah

Khan.

Page 13

Megan Cole 8HME

PE Spotlight On Success...

Sport: Team Gymnastics

What is this? This is a team competition on the trampette, vault, floor and tumble elements of gymnastics.

The team are awarded points for their combinations and skills performed.

Team: Hawth Gymnastics. Megan has been to International and European competitions with her club.

Greatest Achievement: Megan’s personal achievement is being able to perform a double pike

somersault. This is a complex move and Megan is currently the only person on her team who is able to

perform this. Megan has just returned from an international competition held in Spain. In this competition

her team came third. This is her team’s greatest achievement so far.

Best Sporting Moment: With her club, Megan competed in a big National competition in Stoke. Again,

her team came third but this time it was an unexpected result as there were lots of clubs competing.

Biggest Inspiration: Megan’s main inspiration is Beth Tweddle. Megan used to do artistic gymnastics

before doing team gym. As artistic gymnastics is on the TV more than team gym, Beth became someone

she aspired to be like. Megan particularly admires Beth’s bravery and her ability to keep going even after

some terrible injuries. This helps Megan to remain motivated and determined to learn new and more

challenging skills.

Biggest Challenge: Megan finds the trial and error nature of gymnastics difficult. Sometimes the outcome

can be amazing and technically perfect but at other times a slight error can lead to a big injury. This can

make it scary, and the fear of not knowing what will happen can be intimidating.

Hardest thing about competing at this level: As the competitions get harder, the more nervous

Megan gets. This is because Megan is continually pushing herself to learn new and more demanding skills

and combinations. Each new move that is learnt is very scary to practise and refine until you conquer it.

Best thing about competing at this level: Megan enjoys the satisfaction she gets once she has achieved

a new move or has finished learning a complex routine. Megan believes that the harder you work, the

better results you get, and she enjoys stepping back and reflecting on her progress.

Training Schedule: Megan trains for 3 hours on a Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday. The training includes

apparatus work, strength and conditioning, practising choreographed routines and developing escape routes

to enable Megan to escape unhurt from mistakes in skills .

Best Attribute: Megan is a tall gymnast, which means that she can use this to help her learn complex skills.

However, this can also make it harder, as it requires more effort to get through rotations safely. Megan’s

determination is another good attribute: if she gets hurt when learning a move, Megan quickly tries it again

and doesn’t give up.

Page 14

Melissa Cheeseman 13ECA

PE Spotlight On Success continued...

Sport: Mounted Team Games

What does this involve? It is extreme Equestrian, which involves a series of agility relay races on and off

horseback. The first team over the line wins.

How did you get into this sport? Melissa has grown up around horses and has ridden since the age of 6.

Melissa has ridden all disciplines within equestrian but really enjoys the challenge of Mounted Games.

Who do you compete for? Melissa competes for Hampshire MGA and was selected to represent England

MGA at the European Championships in 2012 and the World Championships last month.

Greatest achievement to date: Becoming World Team Champion. This was particularly impressive as

they are the first country to win this on borrowed horses. Their main rivals, USA, flew over their horses

meaning they were competing on familiar and top level horses. The England team borrowed horses that

were allocated to them on a random basis. The team then had three days to try and build up a relationship

with each horse. This was especially difficult as the horses given to them were not at the same level as their

horses from home.

Ultimate Aim: Melissa’s next aim is to be selected for England for the Open Senior Team and to compete

in the World Championships.

Biggest Influence: Melissa identified her sister as being her biggest influence, as she too has competed for

England. This gave Melissa the confidence that she too could achieve this and also the drive and

determination to try and equal and surpass her achievements.

Training Programme: To enable Melissa to compete effectively off the horse, as you need to be strong,

agile and quick, Melissa does athletics training four times a week. To help her on horseback, Melissa rides

daily. Occasionally, Melissa meets her team once a fortnight so they can train together to get ready for

competitions.

Hardest thing about competing at this level: It is difficult to keep the horses fit both in terms of being

exercised enough and keeping them healthy. It can also be very time-consuming and exhausting, as

competitions involve being away for the whole weekend. The competitions are often far away, leading to

lots of long distance travelling. This means that this is a sport that is hard to do without the generous

support of parents, as fuel costs, competition costs and horse costs mean that it can be an expensive sport.

Best thing about competing at this level: This sport has given Melissa the opportunity to meet a wide

range of people from various backgrounds and countries. Melissa has friends from all over the world.

Competing all over the world has given Melissa the opportunity to travel to places that she wouldn’t have

done without this sport. Melissa also enjoys building a relationship with each horse.

What do you need to do to succeed in Mounted Games? You need to be determined, driven to

succeed and be agile, quick and strong off the horse as this is a mixed sport. You also need to build and

develop a relationship with each horse. Mounted Games combines the rider’s physicality, the horse’s ability

and the rider’s handling ability.

World Team Champion Mounted Games

Page 15

Spotlight on Safeguarding... We all share responsibility within the community to safeguard children. Although the Every Child Matters

agenda is not a current national strategy the 5 strands and the thinking behind them remain very much at the

centre of our hope and expectations for Hazelwick children. ‘Stay safe’ was seen as the most important one

of the 5 strands by the children themselves.

Both in school and at home there are times when we look for support and advice regarding children’s well-

being and safety. An excellent external resource for adults and children who require more information

around the area of keeping and staying safe is the NSPCC website

http://www.nspcc.org.uk/preventing-abuse/child-abuse-and-neglect/

Stay Safe and have Fun!

The links below give advice and guidance to parents and children on keeping safe. Internet Safety and reporting concerns

Thinkuknow https://www.thinkuknow.co.uk/

CEOP http://ceop.police.uk/safety-centre/

Advice and guidance around house parties

Alchohol Education Trust http://www.alcoholeducationtrust.org/parent-area/teenage-parties/

General safety

NSPCC http://www.nspcc.org.uk/

Page 16

Homework Club

A reminder that Homework Club runs in the Learning Resource Centre, Monday to Thursday, from 3.10pm

to 4.30pm, for students in Years 7, 8 and 9 to study and, where necessary, to receive support from a team of

Teaching Assistants. For further details, please ring Mrs Bending on the school number (extension 2333).

For more details, please see the school website - www.hazelwick.org or contact us on 01293 403344

The majority of the photos featured in this newsletter were taken by Barry Holder and more of his excellent

photography can be viewed on the school website.

House Update... December has seen another exciting month for the House system at Hazelwick with many fundraising

events taking place. These successfully helped to raise money for the various charities that students have

chosen to support.

The month began with over £400 being raised at the Christmas Fair thanks to the many stalls organised and

run by House Leaders, Captains and Form Representatives. Other events that took place over 'Charity

Week' included cake sales, Jenga, Foosball, ‘guess the teacher baby/toddler photo competition’, cake

decorating, Sixth Form leg-waxing and a Christmas jumper event.

Heads of Houses also took part in ‘Movember’ last month and raised over £250 for this worthy cause.

Look out for more activities and events taking place next term!

Mr J Smith – Anderson House

Anderson ‘Hook-a-duck’ prize winners Movember Participants