Our Value of the Half Term is CREATIVITY...
Talking about being creative, there were lots of creative hairstyles on show today at Hazelwood, all in aid of... why not?? No particular reason other than to be a bit crazy and have some fun - also raising a little bit of money for HPSA to spend on our school! Thank you to everyone for joining in with the fun!
Hazelwood Takes on the Marathon!
I was honoured to be invited by Mrs Hammond to take part with approximately 80 Hazelwood children and many of their parents in the TCS Mini Marathon, organised a day before the London Marathon. The children ran a mile leading up to the end of the iconic course, cheered on by thousands of people. It was a truly wonderful experience! Thank you so much to Mrs Hammond for organising it for the Hazelwood team!
We ended the term with the Spring music concert, an opportunity to share all the amazing music that happens at Hazelwood. From our Infants and Juniors choirs to our String Ensemble and Ukulele Club, there are lots of activities the children can get involved with. Well done to our Year 5 & 6 soloists who wanted to share their musical talents and skills with their family and friends. Everyone worked so hard on their music to put on a brilliant concert for their families. Well done everyone!
World Book Day is always a special day at Hazelwood as children and staff seem to go the extra mile to dress up as their favourite book characters. We had plenty of wallies, wizards and witches as well as lots of animals, superheroes and princesses. Huge thank you to the parents for supporting this lovely day - I know that it can be a challenge!
The day included special assemblies, 'drop everything and read' and a special visit from the author of ‘The Spectaculars’ by Jodie Garnish for our KS2 children! We had a very successful book fair to end the day, and we made a whopping £1200, giving us loads of money to spend on new books to restock our library. Thank you all for your support, we are ever so grateful.
The latest joint purchase, with Sports Premium and HPSA funds, is our brand new ActivAll!
Our children were ecstatic to see the installation of our new ActivAll boards on their return from half term. The School Council spent time with Mr Bowstead, Mrs Gannon, Mrs Hammond and Mr Jack exploring the capabilities and functionality of the boards over the first few days and thought it would be useful to create an introductory video to share with classes. They then spent the next few days demonstrating to others how to use the boards.
As the boards have proved to be very popular, we have created a rota so that children know which day their year group can play on them. From what we have seen this week, the children are thrilled to have the opportunity to play the games and challenge themselves to beat their scores.
Our School Councillors decided that you might like to hear first-hand what our children really think of the boards so they conducted an interview with some of the children who have already had a play on them.
February 6th 2024 was Safer Internet Day which is the UK’s biggest celebration of online safety. At Hazelwood Schools we participated in these celebrations and learning based on the theme of ‘Inspiring change’ by looking at different areas of internet safety. To kickstart the day, Years 1 & 2, 3 & 4 and 5 & 6 participated in an assembly which introduced the purpose and themes of the day. The children were very enthusiastic when sharing what they do online. There were also more than a few sniggers/confused looks when looking at how much technology has changed and teachers talking about using record players to listen to music and using telephones that you had to turn the dial for each number to make a telephone call.
In the classroom, the children participated in a range of activities to support their understanding of how to remain safe online. Nursery and Reception classes looked at things that might change while online. They focused on if anything changes while they are online and it makes them sad, worried or scared, what they can do and who they can talk to to keep themselves safe. Years 1 and 2 read stories about Mo and Jaz who like to play games and watch videos online. In each story, something changed such as a funny video turning into a scary video or a person promising to give more ‘tokens’ from a game if Mo and Jaz shared what they already had. Each story lead to great discussion about how things can change online and what children can do to keep themselves safe. The honesty, understanding and maturity seen from our Year 1s and 2s regarding keeping safe online was astounding. Years 3 and 4 looked at how much technology has changed over the years, it was quite funny to see the look of horror on some children’s faces to realised there was a life without the internet or computer technology as it is today. The children spent time discussing and designing what the technology of the future might be and how it could be made safe for the people who use it. Our value of creativity was shining brightly across Years 3 and 4 this afternoon with amazing inventions being designed. Finally, Years 5 and 6 looked at the power of influencers and how they can impact our daily lives. Once again, the understanding, honesty and maturity of our students when talking about online safety leaves me speechless. The children spent time discussing how they felt influencers had influenced them and then they designed their own influencers who would use their powers for good.
Our Junior Choir headed off to Wembley this week to take part in the Young Voices Concert 2024! The children sang in one of the largest children’s choir concerts in the world performing alongside 5,000 other children to a huge audience of family and friends. It was wonderful to see some of our Hazelwood parents waving at us and cheering us on in the arena! The children were inspired by the amazing performances from Nandi Bushell, a 13 year old drumming superstar, and Urban Street crew It was such a joyful event - it was wonderful to see and hear the children enjoying singing so much. The pop medley was a firm favourite! What a fabulous experience for all! A massive thank you to Miss Bispham for organising such a wonderful trip, Mrs Pearson for her non-stop energy and the three parent volunteers for all their support on the day!!
Hansel and Gretel - the Nut Free Panto!
Our amazing HPSA Daisies performed their amazing pantomime not once, not twice, not three times, but four times on Thursday to a packed out hall of children and then adults! Lots of singing, dancing, acting, fairies, trees and even some Barbies appeared throughout the show to entertain the watching audience. Huge thank you must go to all of the amazing cast and crew for their time, dedication, energy and amazing acting skills! We can't wait for next year already!!
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There is only one thing better than having a Nativity in the lead up to Christmas... having two Nativities! And this year, with our four Year 1 classes, that is exactly what we have got.
All four children performed their Nativity: Christmas with the Aliens to children at the school and their parents. And what fabulous shows they were! There were narrators, shepherds, innkeepers, angels, kings, stars, donkeys, Mary and Joseph, the Angel Gabriel and, of course, the Aliens that came to earth to meet some surprised Hazelwood Children to learn all about the Nativity story.
Huge thanks to all of the staff that have worked so hard to produce a fabulous show… twice!
But the biggest well done and thank you is to our little Year 1 stars who shone so brightly with their wonderful performance.
It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas! The Christmas Fare was an absolute hit on Friday 1st December! We had the cold weather so wrapped up as warm as possible to enjoy the huge array of exciting things on offer. Food and drink, games, bouncy castles, HPSA merch, tombolas, hampers, exciting stalls and, of course, a visit to Santa's Grotto ensured that everyone had a fabulous time last Friday.
Huge thank you to Anna Morris and her amazing HPSA team. The money raised will be going towards an interactive outside games board, as requested by the school council on behalf of all of the children.
A group of 60 very excited children had a trip of lifetime yesterday when they went with a group of staff to see Disney's the Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre in central London. The children were incredibly well behaved and so impressed with the staging, singing, costumes and whole performance. For some of our children, this was the first time they had every been to the theatre and we were so delighted to be able to take them!
On Thursday, as is Hazelwood tradition, the choir entertained the crowd gathered around the Christmas tree at the Palmers Green triangle as we officially welcomed in the start of the Christmas period.
The children sang lots of songs, with plenty of actions, for families to listen to and sing along with. It was a wonderful festive atmosphere which finished with the turning on of the Christmas lights.