Venerunt. Cucurrerunt. Naverunt. Vicerunt! They came. They ran. They swam. They conquered! What a week it has been for our sportsmen and women! Fresh from their half term break with batteries recharged, the Lower School cross country athletes and girls’ swim team have excelled themselves and recorded some notable victories of which they should be incredibly proud. On Triumphant Tuesday the U8 and U9 cross country team (boys and girls) travelled to Hilden Grange to take part in their annual competition. Last year the U8 trophy made its way back to Hazelwood. This year we did the double with the girls’ U8 and U9 teams getting their well-deserving hands on silverware. The boys’ teams ran their hearts out too with Luke Danby (in Mr Reay’s words) delivering the individual race of the afternoon. Not only did Luke beat the rest of the field by some 50 metres, but he also caught and overtook the Year 6 athlete (‘the hare’) who was setting the pace and showing the children where to run. It must have been quite a moment. A full report, written by a jubilant Mr Reay and Miss Wills appears within the on-line Nutshell. The trophy cabinet is now fit to burst. Congratulations to everyone who represented the school and themselves so very well.

Whilst all this excitement was going on outside, in the relative warmth and calm of Combe Bank’s swimming pool, the girls’ swim team was powering its way to an equally thrilling victory which continued the incredibly successful season enjoyed by both the boys and the girls of Hazelwood. Miss Lloyd, and many parents, were there to cheer the children on as some gave their all to secure fingertip victories. In the end it was left to the relay teams to consolidate Hazelwood’s lead and to ensure that the afternoon ended with smiles on all the children’s faces. Again, congratulations to all our swimmers and to Miss Lloyd who has coached them to their most successful season in recent years.

I was delighted to hear of the unanimous decision at the recent Planning Committee to approve the submitted application for the school’s new build project. Whilst I understand that the green light cannot be finally lit until the Secretary of State ratifies ’s recommendation, it is terrific to know that we are now weeks away from pressing ahead with our wonderful plans for the development of the site. Work continues behind the scenes so that we are very much on schedule for a start date of summer 2015 with occupancy of the new teaching spaces in September 2016. We will, as a condition of the application’s approval, be formalising a School Traffic Plan aimed at alleviating congestion and maintaining safety in the car park and on surrounding roads. Please can I ask you all, in advance of the publication of this document, to observe our car park etiquette and in particular, work with the school in delivering a smooth and seamless double stream pick up in the afternoon. Too many cars are now being parked on Wolfs Hill thus causing havoc and danger with parents walking along the middle of the road or with cars speeding by to try and navigate the obstruction ahead of an on-coming vehicle. The alternatives to DSPU are few and far between and would lead to increased congestion and delay.

And finally I would like to say thank you to the Admin and Nursery teams who do not automatically enjoy a work-free half term. Whilst the relative calm of both sites may give them the occasional breather, it is business as usual for the staff and their continued efforts and attentions are very much appreciated. A lot goes on to keep the nursery running and to prepare the school for the return of the children. Thank you.

Our warmest congratulations go this week to Mrs Weeks who was proudly wearing a beautiful engagement ring when she returned from her half term break. We wish her and her partner, Steve, all the very best for their future lives together.

The redecoration and sprucing up of the Changing Rooms got underway over the half term break. Whilst these pictures are misleading (there is no pupil kit to clutter up the environment!), they do show a fresh coat of paint and a floor clean can transform even the most muddied of areas. Let’s hope we can keep it looking and smelling this clean as the term progresses!

For a list of emails/letters/texts sent home each week please see the ‘Notice Board’ further down the Nutshell.

News from The Larks

We are delighted to announce that we have now achieved County Council’s Early Years Quality Improvement Award. This scheme has helped us to look at what we do, identify areas that need to be improved and to work out how to make those improvements. By completing this scheme we have proved that we have made good progress against a set of agreed standards and raised even further the quality of the Nursery and Early years in the process. We will now be accredited by Surrey as a high quality setting and will carry their kitemark logo. Many thanks to all who have contributed to this achievement. We are now awaiting our certificate which will be proudly displayed outside the Paterson Hall. Mrs O’Keefe and the Skylarks team took the children on an exciting and very muddy walk to the fields in last week. On the way they posted personally written and illustrated postcards to their parents before squelching through the muddy field and playing a game of ‘pooh sticks’ in the stream. This has led to many more investigations back at the nursery on areas such as how the postal service works and testing how water flows.

Following a trip to the vets please note that our three guinea pigs, Bubble, Nutmeg and Petal will be removed from the main nursery for a few weeks as two of them are unwell. Although there is no threat of cross -infection to the children we feel it is best to allow them some peace and quiet to hopefully recover without constant toddler chatter and being ‘fed’ pieces of Le News from Hazelwood Name School Scholarship John Briggs Brighton College Music Dominic Charlton Lingfield Notre Dame Sports Louis Dean Tonbridge Music Exhibition Olga Dubov Royal Russell Drama George Foulds Academic Spiros Giovas Sevenoaks Unconditional offer and invited to sit academic scholarship Shyam Malhotra Trinity Music Caterham Music & Academic William Passman Trinity Academic Lingfield Notre Dame Academic Ben Spires Caterham Sport Hannah Williams Caterham Sport Ben Cooper Worth Sport Jessica Ellis Royal Alexandra & Albert Major Academic Evie Hall Reigate Grammar (13+) Sport Pippa Seager Lingfield Notre Dame Sport Worth Academic & Sport Ben Sharp Worth Academic & Art Max Stimson Worth Sport Gemma Wallsworth Lingfield Notre Dame Music Award Jocelyn Heaver Whitgift Sport

Congratulations to ALL our scholars so far. They have done tremendously well. Some pupils have scooped awards from two different schools. We will bring you news of their final school choice and other scholarships yet to be announced in future issues of The Nutshell.

World Book Day is Thursday 5th March It would be lovely if the children could come dressed up as a character out of a book. Anything goes! It could be a 'real' person if your child is particularly interested in someone they have read a book about, for example. There will be a prize awarded to the best dressed in each year group.

World Book Day tokens are available for every child in the prep school and these will be handed out to the pupils during the day. The £1 tokens can be swapped for one of the world book day books or against a purchase of a book at a greater value at participating book shops.

This year the English Department along with the library will be holding a readathon where pupils will join in, in reading 125 books throughout the day this links in with the schools 125 celebrations.

Netball: U13 Versatility Tournament

On Wednesday 11th February we hosted our third U13 Versatility Tournament. 6 schools attended the event and with our teams we had 8 teams playing. In Versatility the girls are given a position to play at the beginning of the tournament and then they swap positions for every match. It is a fantastic competition as it shows the teams that have the truly versatile players and every player gets to play every position. There were some brilliant matches and some very close scores, however there is only one winner and that was Copthorne Prep with Hazelwood A team coming 4th. It was great for all the year 7 and year 8 girls as they were all able to play in the tournament and we are also very grateful to the three year 6's Sasha Twyman, Evie Hall and Eva Georgiou who played up in order to make all the teams equal.

U11 Tournament at St Michaels On Wednesday (today) the U11 A team took part in the St Michaels Tournament. The girls played brilliantly they were a credit to watch winning every match in their section. They won against St Michaels, Sutton Valence, Walthamstow Hall, Combe Bank, Rose Hill, Hilden Oaks and Granville, some of the matches were easy wins within the 8 mins allowed.

The shooting from Eva Georgiou and Issy Fletcher was amazing missing only a few goals, the centre court playing by Pippa Seager, Evie Hall and Francesca was seamless and showed great drive and determination. The defence team of Sasha Tywman and Harriet Alexander meant the opposition rarely had a chance at goal. We then went into the semi final against Russell House and lost in the final seconds 5-4. It was a very close game with both teams showing a very high standard of netball. Russell House went onto win the tournament by 1 goal and Hazelwood came a close 3rd out of 16 schools. The top 3 teams of Hazelwood , Caterham Prep and Russell House were of equally high standard and I am so proud of the girls. They were so determined and fought every match with such maturity and ability that I am looking forward to the IAPS next Thursday where we come up against Russell House again. We can beat them this time!

Y6 Rose Hill School Science Workshop It was an hour packed of fun magical tricks with a scientific theme. Gemma Wallsworth was selected from the audience to have an egg cracked over her head but then the presenter changed his mind and she had to crack the egg over his head. She was a very brave volunteer. This was to show one of Newton's laws of motion about inertia as the audience had to believe that the hard boiled egg and not the raw egg had been correctly selected by spinning it on a plate and looking at which one stopped first (the hard boiled one).

The spirit of Collaboration working across Hazelwood

The children of Hazelwood and Mrs Wisniewski, the school librarian, have had great fun creating this wonderful display. It shows the titles of the very many books which were read over the Christmas holidays. Some of these titles will be amongst the reading list for the World Book Day Readathon where the target is to read 125 books during the school day. Fantastic!

Sssssay hello to our Sssssafety Sssssakes

As part of Health and Safety Week, the children across the school designed Ssssafety Sssnakes to encourage walking around the tightest corners on the school site. These were brought to life by Mr Smith from the Estates Team. Well done to Hannah Williamssss for this ssscary serpent.

Anna Sssssssophia Tull

Ssssstéphanie Clarke

Jim Kingdon-

Jonesssssss sssss

1A have been enjoying preparing and presenting their class assembly on the theme of 'Castles'. We have also been thinking about our special word 'Resilience'. We acted out the story of 'Zog' by Julia Donaldson and thought how Zog showed amazing resilience when learning all the skills he needed to be a great dragon. We also shared lots of facts we learnt at Leeds Castle. 1A re determined to keep trying and trying to be the best they can!

Swimming Gala Report Tuesday 24th February Hazelwood U9-U13 Girl’s vs Combe Bank On Tuesday 24th February, the Hazelwood U9-U13 girl’s team took on Combe Bank school girls in an exciting swimming gala. After lots of hard work in the pool, it was time for the Hazelwood to show their competitors what they are capable of! All girls swum really well and cheered each other in all races. We also had some strong performances with clear wins, particularly in the relay events, which was lovely to watch. Some girls were swimming in their first ever gala and proved that they thoroughly deserve a place on the team!

Final Scores... 1st Hazelwood – 104pts 2nd Combe Bank – 86pts

Well done girls, what a super performance!

Mr Fagg, Hazelwood’s answer to Julius Caesar, is doing the London to Brighton Challenge on 23rd May. He hasn’t asked for any support but the Nutshell thinks he deserves some of imperial proportions. Follow the link to hail him a hero! https://www.justgiving.com/WMCF

Following on from the recent staff training, children from Year 2 lead the Chestnut playground in some interactive clapping games, building on the theme of collaboration and leadership. The children loved being out in the sunshine keeping cold hands warm with all the clapping!

Cross Country Success at Hilden Grange A nervous but excited group of Year 3 and 4 pupils descended on Hilden Grange for what turned out to be a superb afternoon. Each group of children were running for individual places with the top 4 in each age group counting towards the team event.

The Under 8 girls kicked us off and Mr Reay was heard letting out a yelp of excitement as he saw 3 Hazelwood girls in the leading pack as they entered the closing stages. Karlijn Ras and Iona Day ran outstanding races to finish in 3rd and 4th places respectively. Sofia Brown led the race from the outset but was caught inches from the line and pipped into 2nd place. With great supporting runs from Holly Lawson (20th), Jaslyn Cole (30th) and Amelia Bream (31st) we definitely had a chance of winning the team event.

The Under 8 boys followed and we witnessed the outstanding performance of the day by any competitor. Luke Danby not only won his race by a good 50m but he also overtook the Year 6 'Hare' whose job was to set the pace and keep the children on the right course! Strong runs from Archie Triplow (13th), Ralph Lewis (21st) and William De Vere Hunt (23rd) made up the other team places with Edward Jupp (24th) and Jake Curson (34th) also giving their all for the team.

The Under 9 girls were back defending the title they won as Under 8s the year before. All 6 runners put in excellent performances and gave the team a real chance of defending their title. Jas Fletcher (2nd) won an individual medal and she received fantastic support from Hannah Richards (4th), Camilla Eerdmans (8th), Hannah Rhodes (9th), Felicity Cumming (14th) and Gracie-Mae Knight (22nd). The girls certainly had a good chance of defending their title.

The Under 9 boys were the last to run and once again we saw a group of boys give their all for the cause. Debutant Jack Jordan placed highest in 7th. The other results saw Thomas Higgins (11th), Max Ejje (25th), Thomas Limpenny (26th), Fred Webzell (37th) and Alex Dubov (40th).

Having demolished the post race jam doughnuts, attention turned to the prize giving. As well as the individual medals for Luke, Jas and Karlijn our Under 8 girls won their category. Attention then turned to the Under 9 girls who I am delighted to say defended their title to ensure we arrived back at Hazelwood with not one but two trophies. Mr Reay and Miss Wills could not have been more proud of the performances of all the runners and the future looks bright for our young stars. Mr Reay

Supporting their study of the Tudors, Year 6 visited Hampton Court Palace on Monday. The children had guided tours of the site and a Tudor workshop and some of them were lucky enough to meet Henry VIII and Cardinal Wolsey!

Sports Department Match Reports should be put in the folder on the wall in the PE office. They are then collected by the captain on Monday morning to be read out in assembly. If your child is nominated as captain, please encourage them to write the report in time for the assembly. The children do like to share their successes with the rest of the school. Thank you.

The Colts B team had a successful afternoon against Copthorne on Wednesday with some stunning tries scored and some immaculate passing and running with the ball. Congratulations boys for another committed team performance.

News from the Kitchen Please don’t forget that next week’s menus for both The Larks and Hazelwood are now on the website under The Parents’ Section.

Music Timetable The weekly music timetable can be viewed on the Music Notice Board outside the Dining room in the courtyard. I will endeavour to have the coming week’s music timetable on the notice board by the end of the school day each Friday. Please ensure that your child brings their instrument and music in on the relevant day. It is also important for them to take these books and instruments home when they do not need them in school.

Notice Board Letters sent home this week If you have not received any of the communications below, and think you should have, please contact the school office who will be pleased to send through copies.

Year 2 Dapdune Wharf Trip Year 5 Bough Beech Trip Year 7 Chatham Dockyard Trip Year 8 Bushcraft Parent Information Meeting Years 1-8 Summer Term Clubs & Late Rooms Years 2-7 Residential Trip & Tours Information Years 3-8 Year 6 Play Ticket Application Years 5 & 6 Charlie & The Chocolate Factory Theatre Trip Chapel Choir St Andrew’s Church Lunchtime Concert

Dear All

I work with The and District Link Association which is a local charity that helps people that can't drive get to medical appointments, I drive for them and am their Committee Secretary.

We really need more drivers to help us take the elderly or infirm from their homes to local hospitals or the Oxted Health Centre. It really is very simple and you can choose to do as little or as much as you like. You use your own car and can claim any expenses back through the charity.

So please if you have a few hours to spare in a week/month and are interested in supporting your local charity give me a call and I will give you more information.

Many thanks

Claire Standley 01883716826

Key Events for Next Week Monday 2nd March am Year 7 visit to Chatham Dockyard

Tuesday 3rd March am Year 5 residential trip departs 1730 Ski trip information evening 1430 U8 A,B&C v St Michael’s (H) 1430 U9 A,B&C v St Michael’s (A) Wednesday 4th March 0930 Chestnut Assembly 1F am Vocab Express competition (Years 7&8) begins 1430 Rugby: 1st XV v Sevenoaks (H) 1430 Rugby: 2nd XV v Sevenoaks (H) 1430 Rugby: 3rd XII v Yardley Court (A)* 1430 Rugby: U11B v Yardley Court (H)* 1430 Rugby: U11C v Yardley Court (H)* 1430 Netball: U11 A, B and C v Aderdour (A) 1430 Lacrosse: U13 A v Dulwich Prep (A)

Thursday 5th March All day World Book Day 1430 Rugby: U9A v Russell House (H)* 1430 Rugby: U8A v Russell House (H)* 1430 Netball: U9 A-D v Hawthorns (H) 1430 Netball: U8 A-C v Aberdour (A)

Friday 6th March 0930 Open Morning 1300 Year 8 Careers Lunch Year 5 residential trip returns

*denotes NEW fixture

A new recruit for Year 6 whose favourite subject is history!