It was a bitterly cold afternoon but the smiles and delight on the faces of each member of the team as the final whistle blew was enough to warm up the frozen fingers and toes of the children and the very many parents who had resolutely taken up position on the touchlines to cheer them on. Well done girls and thanks to Miss Dancy and Miss White for coaching and encouraging the players with insight and enthusiasm. It is great to see the school achieving success in hockey so relatively soon after its introduction as a core sport at Hazelwood for its girls. This speaks volumes for the quality of the coaching and the determination of the pupils to do their best. It’s also the result of the level of coaching input we give at the very early stages of a pupil’s Hazelwood adventure. This was very much in evidence last week

The Nutshell opens this week with news of another tournament success for the school’s sports teams. This week it’s the turn of the U10A girls who, not to be outdone by the footballers last week, travelled to Burgess Hill to take part in the UKSA tournament. Competing against twenty other top Prep Schools, the girls put in some incredible performances to reach the semi-finals. Narrowly beaten in this penultimate stage of a fiercely competitive competition, the girls faced a tough Plate Final against Cumnor House. They kept their nerve, remembering all they had learnt in training to emerge worthy and proud winners of yet more Hazelwood silverware.

when our visitors to The HNEY site were able to enjoy an Oak PE lesson taught by sports specialist teachers from the staff team. The commitment to sport at Hazelwood remains ever strong and Mrs Hardgrave, Mrs Falconer and Mr Fotheringham and their teams are always looking for new opportunities to diversify and enhance the children’s access to the widest range of sporting opportunities. For example, this week, pupils of Years 7 & 8 travelled to Bedes to complete a triathlon using the Senior School’s marvellous indoor facilities. It was a fantastic chance for some pupils to flex their sporting muscles away from the rugby field and netball court and to take their levels of stamina and focus to a whole new level. There was success too for the Lower School swimmers in the mid-week Gala against Caterham School proving that it’s not the size of the pool that counts but the quality of the coaching that happens within it. Mrs Falconer’s report later in the Nutshell points to an indefatigable team spirit which others find difficult to emulate and troublesome to overcome. Well done to everyone who took part.

Our visitors to Oak last week were also confronted with large canvasses depicting animals from the jungles and savannahs of the world. These were the outstanding work of each of the rooms of the Nursery, from Fledglings I to Skylarks and were completed during their recent Eco Week using recycled materials. They make quite a stunning collection and when

Fledglings 2

Lower Robins

Skylarks Fledglings I

the elephant, created by Upper Robins is back from the animal hospital (it is having its trunk re-attached), they will make a stunning collection of pictures to grace the walls of the Dining Room. For some children the canvas was bigger than they were adding to the excitement and possibly the trepidation as the larger than life animals took shape.

This year, the Christmas Concert taking place on Friday 6th December will remind us all that Christmas is for Giving. The assembled musicians will give of their talents, following hours of rehearsal, to treat the assembled audience to a night of festive revelry. During the evening we will be reminding everyone about the school’s two very worthy community projects; the overseas partnership with the four Community Schools of the Songwe District in Tanzania and the Community Fund which sets out to help community organisations closer to home. With the support of the HPA, this year we are looking once again to award up to ten grants of £750. The invitation to apply to the Fund is launched in a few weeks’ time.

It would be great if, underneath one of the stunning trees donated by the HPA, we could assemble a sea of beautifully wrapped gifts bringing home the true meaning of Christmas and dispelling, albeit temporarily, the idea that Christmas is about what you receive and not about how much you give. Thank you for your support.

In addition to this we want, for the first time, to create The Hazelwood Giving Tree by asking parents to send in ahead of the concert (for those of you who are not attending) or to bring in on the night, a wrapped gift for a boy or a girl under 13 years of age. We will then distribute the collected gifts to local charities, hospitals and schools so that children for whom Christmas is a testing time, can receive some festive cheer. Please mark on the label whether the gift is for a boy or a girl including an indication of the age. Please make sure there are no nuts present or anything which could be dangerous. For those gifts requiring batteries, please include the necessary cells.

We look forward to seeing you all the Christmas fair next Saturday. Thanks to everyone who is lending a help in staging what is always a memorable and fun event.

For a list of communications hosted on the Parent Information Portal (PiP) each week please see the ‘Notice Board’ further down the Nutshell.

News from The Nursery & Early Years

Hazelwood Nursery and Early Years has been busier than ever this week as the build up to Christmas begins! Singing can be heard in every classroom around the site as the children practice for their upcoming Christmas concerts and nativities. During their walk around the nursery, the children have been finding ice in all sorts of locations and that inevitable lead to some cold hands! Can we please ask all parents to ensure that your child has a coat, gloves and a hat to allow the children to make the most of our outside space in the colder weather? Finally, a real highlight of the week for me was supporting Trudi Steele in her Forest school session. This week was the first time in which the children sat round a real campfire and the children behaved impeccably, listened excellently and following all the rules given. Whether that was due to the promise of some freshly cooked popcorn from the fire, we will never know!

The children in Fledglings 1 have been learning the Christmas songs and actions for our concert whilst exploring the musical instruments. We have also explored an under the sea theme. We have been hunting for creatures within the messy play and created our very own turtle handprints when using different shades of green. This week in Fledglings 2, we have been looking at Jack and the Beanstalk. The children have planted black-eyed beans in a cup with tissue paper. They have painted lots of paper grey to make a castle and green to make a long Beanstalk. The children have made up their own patterns to make a cow mask and painted circles to stick onto card. We have used the iPad to show the children a short story of Jack and the Beanstalk, looked at the book and used puppets in their play.

This week children in Lower Robins have been looking at seasons, especially wintertime. We have been exploring this topic through talking about weather changes that have been observed by the children throughout their day such as it is getting darker in the evenings and it is colder outside. We have also been exploring activities such as ice painting, free the letters and numbers from the ice, exploring and making snow as well as creating the Polar Express using many different size boxes. We extended our topic on 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' into a second week in the Upper Robins' room, so that we could really capitalise on the children's interest in this traditional story. We enhanced their story recall and subsequent comprehension by asking questions on the text and then describing how we thought the characters might have felt at various times in the story. Some children sequenced pictures to re-tell the narrative and others were able to comment on how the 'messy' porridge oats changed in texture over the week. We completed our large display, categorised 'soft' and 'hard' objects into their appropriate box and even made some porridge to eat, topped with our favourite topping! Skylarks have been exploring their environment as the weather changes from cold to COLDER! We went on a winter walk up to our Nature area and found some ice along the way- resulting in some fascinated children! We made the leaves fall down all over again by placing them on our parachute and throwing them into the air, and used the sticks we found in the garden to create hedgehogs. Hedgehogs have also been created by using forks to spread the paint around, inspired by the story 'one winter's day'. The children have also enjoyed looking at numbers on winter mittens and recognising their phonics using a torch.

Skylarks have also been practicing their Nativity and have enjoyed singing the songs here and at home, their lines have been sent home to get as much practice in as we can before the big day!

The children of Skylarks enjoyed making popcorn on the brazier during their Forest Schools and chasing the leaves and watching them fly up into the air

Continuing with the theme of magic, the story, “The Princess and the Wizard” inspired the learning in Oak this week. Activities included exploring camouflage and colour mixing with primary colours. Nativity rehearsals are underway; the children are working hard to learn all the words and actions to the many songs and looking forward to performing to an audience soon.

See you all next Saturday at the HPA Christmas Fair. It’s always a great event a fabulous way to start the festive ball rolling!

News from Hazelwood

On Friday, to celebrate the movie release of Frozen II, parents and pupils were greeted at drop off by the school’s own dressing up homage to Elsa, Anna, Olaf and friends. Thanks to Miss Dancy, Mrs Greenwood, Mr Fotheringham, Mr Cartwright and Mr Tappin for raising smiles and making many pupils’ day. When Frozen comes to a live stage near you in the future, Hazelwood School has a good line-up of understudies who would be only too happy to oblige!

Photo of the Week

On Tuesday morning, the school was treated to a performance from our very own String Band, who are preparing for this year's Christmas Concert. Conducted by Mrs Madden, the group performed three songs, showcasing some great dynamics. With two weeks to go until the Christmas Concert, this was a great experience for the group and one that puts them in a great position to bring the house down on Friday 6th December.

A Flavour of Africa Our children have benefitted once again from a visit from the wonderful Bella Hakili, the Communities Manager at Shanta Gold, Tanzania. With the primary school education project in Saza being one of her many responsibilities, Bella helps to provide the link between them and Hazelwood pupils. Direct from looking after us on our half term teaching visit, Bella spent a week and half at Hazelwood, working with our pupils helping them to understand more about the lives of children in Songwe, their schooling and how our fundraising impacts on their learning. Going into lessons and leading assemblies in the Chapel, at Chestnut and at the nursery, Bella was able to connect with almost every pupil. Answering hundreds of questions from our curious children, we were able to introduce a more interactive element to the partnership, having taken the 3D camera to Tanzania. With videos then downloaded on to the VR goggles, groups of children had to opportunity to get closer to the action at Mbangala School, via the Box. Bella led a Year 6 maths class in replicating the parallelogram song seen (but not heard) on the VR googles, incorporating a combination of Swahili and English. Do ask them about the mraba or the mstitili or even the sambamba.

Bella has taken lots of lovely letters back to the pupils in Songwe, written in response to those produced during English lessons with our Hazelwood teachers. With post from many pupils in Years 2-8, we look forward to receiving replies and continuing the exchange.

We would like to thank Shanta Mining for loaning Bella to us, in order to help enrich our Into Africa partnership and bringing a flavour of the beautiful country of Tanzania to our pupils.

Year 4 join the culture club It is always exciting to learn about other cultures and religions but visiting a place of worship really brings the topic to life. Year 4 were lucky enough to visit a Hindu Mandir in Crawley.

They were invited to participate in a service which takes place 3 times a day, with songs, bell ringing and clapping, a very happy and joyous occasion sending prayers to the gods. All the children passed around the Puja tray. After the service the children were allowed to ask questions about Hinduism and the Hujar Hindu temple. The building is carved from marble and was built 11 years ago. Each Hindu worships a god or goddess, which is special to them. Many questions were asked about Durga, who has many arms. She is a mother goddess who is always multitasking. After the service, Miss Parr kindly offered herself as a model and was dressed in a sari. All saris are one size, and are one singular piece of material measuring 5 – 6 metres. It is wrapped around the waist and pinned on the shoulder. The speaker told us some wedding saris can run into tens of thousands of pounds!! Following this, we moved to a hall to practice some yoga moves. Our guide told us these would also been done three times a day and were a way of showing devotion to gods, clearing the mind and relaxation. We all became experts by the end, with some children standing on one leg for endless minutes.

It is important to remember other cultures are on our doorstep and that inside these beautiful buildings are wonderful architecture and marble carvings. There was plenty of discussion and smiles on the way home in the coach!

Year 2 wrestle with the mud Today 2W and the other half of 2M had their first forest school session. They were all very excited and ready and raring to go. Armed with wellies and waterproofs and having just avoided a downpour, we set off. The children collected a leaf from the playground and thought about all the things the leaf could be. Some very imaginative ideas like, ‘a hammock, water gun, moustaches, umbrella’ and many more wonderful ideas.

Once in the forest the children were incredibly excited. We looked at the boundaries and explored. Once settled we then read the story, ‘Stanley’s Stick’ about a boy who uses his imagination and his stick is so much more than just a stick!

The children fully embraced this when down in the forest and were able to crest mud paintings, use flint and steels to light cotton wool as well as shelter building. The mud down in the forest is out in full force now and we are excited for our session next week with the promise of some hot chocolate to keep us warm!

Well done Josh! A proud brother Ethan writes about his experience watching him play for Team England in Dubai. The report was written on his grandad’s typewriter and duplicated here in its original form to remind us all of how things used to be!

On the 20th of November the U10 A team travelled to Burgess Hill for a hockey tournament. It was a cold and frosty day, however we wrapped up warm ready for the day ahead.

Miss Dancy calmed our nerves by playing Christmas songs on the way - it really helped!! Once we arrived at the astro we were ready for our first match. It was a tough game, although we came out the winners, winning 2-0. Some excellent goals by Martha C.

Our second and third games were as intense, but as a group we stepped up to play excellently! From defence to mid to attack, we all put in 100% effort and won both games 4-0 and 2-0.

We knew our last group game would be the crunch match and whoever won the match would go through to the cup final. Great Walstead played excellently and unfortunately were just the better team on the day winning 2-0. This therefore meant we were through to the plate semi-final! Miss Dancy and Miss White were thrilled with us, and were extremely excited for the semis!

The semi-final was always going to be a hard match against Vinehall, however we showed excellent determination and won 2-0!!! The parents, pupils and teachers were thrilled with our focus and effort!

And then this was it. We were through to the FINAL of the Plate! Us girls put our mouth guards in, pulled up our socks and focused. We knew the next 10 minutes was going to be intense. After a few minutes, Cumnor House had 4 chances to score - however Victoria made some excellent saves and therefore the score stayed 0-0. With 3 minutes to go, the ball was fiercely chucked up towards our attacking D and the crowd erupted! We managed to score!!!!! The final score was 2-0 to us, and we had managed to win the plate!

Thank you so much to Miss Dancy and Miss White for all of their efforts throughout the term.

U10 A Team

A few of our Hazelwood tappers (pictured below) along with about 60 of our other dancers have spent the past few weeks working hard to learn the tapathon routine. Hundreds of dance schools all across the UK performed at the same time on Sunday to try and beat the world record for the most tappers dancing a set routine at the same time. We are awaiting the results!! On Sunday we managed to raise just over £300 in donations and cake sells for Children in Need!

On Thursday The BOX Ambassadors took Year 2 on a trip to Tanzania with the use of the VR Goggles! The younger children enjoyed the sights and sounds of Africa and the support of their older mentors.

Swimmers make a splash at Caterham

On Tuesday, 61 Swimmers from years 3-6 took part in the swimming gala against Caterham. It was the first gala of the year for the Year 6s and all swimmers performed brilliantly. The children were raising their game swimming in 25m races. All children took part in an individual race and relay event and demonstrated some brilliant streamlining and speedy swimming. Overall we ended up winning the gala by 30 points which was an excellent result.

Well done to everyone involved. Mrs Falconer

Year 7 & 8 break a sweat!

12 members of the swimming squad from Years 7&8 visited Bedes during the afternoon to attend an indoor triathlon event. The event was friendly and relaxed and none of the children were timed, it just gave the children an opportunity to experience a triathlon. First of all they had to swim 11 lengths of the 25m pool, so that's 275m. Following this they got changed and went upstairs to the fitness suite where they completed 10mins cycling on a spin bike with resistance, and seated sprints. After the 10mins were up they finished off with a 1.5km run

on the treadmill. The children worked really hard and enjoyed taking part in an indoor triathlon. Well done to everyone that took part.

Mrs Falconer and Mrs Hardgrave

Year 4 have been enjoying their India topic and getting very hands on with their homework. Jake’s family was treated to a delicious chicken saag whilst Ele wowed her parents’ tastebuds with lamb curry, vegetable pliau and dhal. Sammy was delighted to bring some tasty Tarka dhal in for Mrs Ford to enjoy.

Madame Le Floch took her Upper School MFL pupils into The BOX to study this week. Each group chose a different way to utilize the unique environment which suited the task in hand and their approach to learning.

Pour mes examens Tout seul

HPA

Christmas Fair - Saturday 30th November - 12.00 - 3.30pm Our wonderful Christmas Fair - and Father Christmas - is just next week on Saturday 30th November. In addition to the legendary grotto, there will be a wide range of gorgeous gift and market stalls, Christmas trees, a cafe serving hot food, cakes and drinks, festive games for children, a raffle, tombola and lots more! Please bring along family and friends to get into the Christmas spirit! Grotto tickets are now on sale for visits and a small gift from Father Christmas @ £5.00 each via buytickets.at/hpa . Password is being circulated by form reps. Raffle tickets - these have been sent home in school bags so please return all completed ticket stubs and monies or any unsold tickets to the school office or HNEY reception by Monday 25th November. There are some fabulous prizes to be won! Donations for the Bottle Tombola, Teddies - Bottles of any description and pre-loved teddies would be very gratefully received at drop off or in the HNEY office on Thursday 28th and Friday 29th November. Cakes - Nut-free cakes would be much appreciated at drop off or in the HNEY office on Friday 29th November. Grotto call out - Making it magical! The grotto team need your help to make the grotto a truly amazing experience for the children and would be grateful if you could please lend or donate any of the Christmassy items below to create this. Please could you contact ruthbrundle@btinternet.com if you can help? They should be brought to drop off on Thursday 28th November where a member of the team will collect them or please contact Ruth to make alternative arrangements. - Christmas trees (if they are pre-lit, all the better!) - Woodland or Christmas themed animals or figures - Large decorations (no small or tree decorations please) - Light up decorations - 2 fireplaces - real or homemade! - Large rugs and throws HPA Christmas Gift Shop for Year 1 upwards One of our most magical events of the year is just around the corner! Many of you will be familiar with the excitement generated by this event and how the children love to take part in this special shopping experience.

Têtes baisée Aimer La BOÎTE

Thursday 5th December - Bring in a Gift Day Each child comes to school bringing with them 1 or 2 unwrapped gifts (for male and female recipients according to whom they intend to purchase gifts for on the Monday) to donate to the Christmas Gift Shop. These should be new and unused and to the value of about £5. It is very important that the quality of the gifts is something you’d like to receive in return from your child. The gift choice nowadays is endless: mugs, books, candles, tea sets, DVDs, gloves, scarves, hats, umbrellas, gardening gifts, games, car equipment, pamper ideas. And so the list goes on. Last year, the gifts were wonderful. Please note, however, that there should be no alcohol, nuts, glass or knives /blades. It would really be appreciated if everyone could please follow these guidelines to avoid some of the difficulties that have occurred in the past.

Monday 9th December - Christmas Jumper and Gift Shop Day Each child should bring in £4 to choose two gifts (or £2 to choose one gift if they brought just one gift in on Thursday) for their parents / grandparents etc. from the Gift Shop which will be in TOSH. These will then be wrapped up for them to take home and give at Christmas. This event is extremely popular with the children - especially the younger ones - who all like to participate and it is run chiefly for their benefit. This is a special day for the children but if you do not want your child to take part, please could you discuss this with them before the day as it is very difficult to cater for disappointed children who feel that they are missing out on all the excitement with their friends. If you are able to help set up the Gift Shop in TOSH on Thursday 5th or Friday 6th or to wrap up presents on Monday 9th, please contact Natalie Thomas nethomas4@gmail.com HPA Christmas Gift Shop at HNEY The little ones will be having their own special Christmas Gift Shop at HNEY and details will be sent round separately to each year group at HNEY.

Black Friday, Christmas shopping and free commission for the HPA With all the Black Friday shopping deals around, Christmas coming up plus your normal shopping, please also generate a free cash donation for the HPA with every purchase you make online via www.TheGivingMachine.co.uk. There are over 2000 of the most popular retailers taking part in the scheme making it easy for you to make a difference without it costing you a penny more than the normal purchase price of your items. The shops involved in the scheme include Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, John Lewis and Amazon, to name but a few. You can open a new tab for The Giving Machine just before you check out and your basket should be waiting there for you to generate money for the HPA using the checkout code "Hazelwood School". Burns Night - Saturday 25th January Tickets @ £45 each will be on sale soon for a traditional celebration of Burns Night here at Hazelwood so please save the date as tickets are limited!

News from the Kitchen

Please don’t forget that the new menus for both Hazelwood School and the Nursery & Early Years are now on their respective websites under The Parents’ Sections.

Notice Board

Communication sent home this week The following letters have been hosted on PiP (main site only) this week. If you need a duplicate copy, please contact the School Office.

PIP (Parent Information Portal) Access Link https://3sys.hazelwoodschool.com/schoolPORTAL

LETTERS Years 1-5 - Curriculum Letters

Years 3- 8 - Christmas Concert Seat Booking Information (for pupils in Chapel/Training Choirs (optional for Y3/4), String Trio, String, Wind, Flute & Jazz Groups, Orchestra) - booking deadline Friday, 29th November

Year 5 - Bowles Skiing Activity Information - replies by Friday, 29 November

Year 2 - Hurstmonceux Science Observatory Trip - consent deadline (if needed) Friday, 29 November

Year 2 - Recorder Lessons

REMINDERS Year 8 Reports - now available to view on PiP

Year 8 - Parents’ Evening - bookings close Friday, 22nd November

Year 4 - Residential Trip Initial Information - reply deadline Friday, 29th November

Year 3 - Residential Trip Initial Information - reply deadline Monday, 2nd December

Year 3 - English Speaking Board Examinations -reply deadline Monday, 2nd December

Year 5 - Residential Trip Initial Information & Consent - reply deadline Friday, 29th November

Year 1 & 2 Parents/Nativity - there is some availability remaining for both performances of the Year 1 & 2 Nativity next week - please use the link given in the original letter if you wish to book additional seats; bookings for these are unlimited and will be on a first come, first served basis. Thank you.

Back from the animal hospital, the Elephant Collage (with trunk) beautifully crafted by Upper Robins, makes quite an entrance.