Three cheers for the community of Hazelwood School and Nursery! The School and Nursery are once again fully alive with the sounds of happy children at work and at play. Friends have returned after the summer break to be reunited with tales of holidays from across the globe. Our new families have arrived (some from the far-flung corners of the globe) to begin their Hazelwood adventure. I was delighted to throw open the curtains of my living room on Wednesday in the knowledge that soon the Head’s Terrace below would be the bustling route to and from the Baily Building for those excited Year 3 children making the transition from Year 2 and the Chestnut Building. A school, without children is like a balloon without air. It has shape, form and colour but it isn’t, until it has air, that the balloon comes alive and takes on a personality which captivates and opens up endless possibilities. Welcome back one and all. I am delighted that the 2017-18 academic year, which holds so much promise already, is underway! A particular warm welcome is extended to our new staff members across both sites and to our new families: The Harrison family, the Maryan family, the Collis family, the Viner family, the Bladen family, the Keoghan family, the Mavili family, the Zurrin family, the Bruner family, the Parsons family, the Brockwell family, the Hewett family, the Long family, the MacPhee family, the Sher family, the Gallagher family, the Taylor family, the Walters family, the Beattie family, the Broughton family, the Chamberlin family, the Collins family, the Cousins family, the Hull family, the Kolankiewicz family, the Lawless family, the Leow family, the Mourouzides family, the Pope family, the Sheppeard family, the Gonzalez family, the Henk family, the Kemp family, the Lomax family, the Stallard family, the Stokes family, the Su family, the White family, the Williams family, the Grayston family, the Wynne family, the Kerchiched family, the von Bergen family, the Linger family, the Esreb family, the Conway family, the Bennett family, the House family, the Watson family, the Mason family, the Raymond family, the Chou family, the Rundle family and a host of siblings of existing Hazelwood families who have enjoyed their first few days of their new school or nursery. Myself and all of the staff team look forward to getting to know you and to watching your children thrive and develop in our care over the coming weeks, months and years. Thank you to all those staff who remained across both sites during the summer working with the children at the Fun Club or at the nursery, or preparing the site for the return of the pupils in September. Improvements continue to be made to our facilities to ensure that the whole community can learn and grow in a safe and engaging environment. Hats off to Steve Smith, our Facilities Manager who brilliantly interpreted the winning designs in our H&S Week competition to Jazz up a Zebra. Isaac M and Henry D are both delighted with how their ideas have turned out. It is hoped that with a splash of colour and creativity, the zebra crossings will become more noticeable and that cars will look for somewhere else to be parked! “We popped down, and had a look, and Isaac absolutely loves it! We think Steve has done an amazing job! We took some photographs, and Isaac realised he could include them in his TED project based on Underground Art Movements... as they can certainly be considered Street Art... (despite not being done in secret or illegally). Thanks for choosing his designs, Isaac is certainly a very proud boy, and he took immense pride at watching his friends walk over it today as we left a party at the school”. And finally, thank you to everyone who has started the new school year with an almighty spring in their step. There is a buzz of excitement and anticipation across both sites as staff, parents and pupils adapt to new routines and new faces. Apologies to all our new Year 3 children that perhaps the most exciting aspect of transition – the security swatch – failed to live up to huge expectation. The school was delivered a faulty batch of fobs which the door readers could not register. Mrs Powell has worked her socks off to get these re-issued so that normal, excitable service can be restored from Monday. Our new Year 1 pupils seem to have taken to rolling drop-off like ducks to water meaning that congestion in the morning car park is down to a minimum. It has been a privilege and a pleasure walking the children to the Chestnut Hall, chatting and hearing all their news. Double Stream Pick-Up may need a little more focus to get it running as smoothly as we would like! And our Year 8 cohort have returned a few inches taller with heads and shoulders held back. They are setting an excellent example for the other children to follow and seem to be adapting to their positions of responsibility and leadership incredibly well. My second year as Head of this amazing community is going to be an exciting one! “Rolling drop off is the easiest thing ever…why do people park-up??!!! My boys were actually singing (well it was more akin to a football chant) about how happy they were to be going back to school ….. …unbelievable!” Do please join us for the Hazelwood School Senior Schools’ Fair this Saturday. We are playing host to over 35 top Senior Schools and it would be great to show them our community at its very best. This event takes quite a lot of organisation, all of which deserves a great turn-out. Families in the past have commented on how useful it has been. See you there. For a list of emails/letters/texts sent home each week please see the ‘Notice Board’ further down the Nutshell. News from The Nursery & Early Years It has been wonderful to welcome all of the children back for the new academic year. It has been fantastic to walk around the site and see such happy faces in all of the rooms. There are some children who are continuing to settle in but I am sure that it will only be a matter of time before we have limited tears. A big thank you to the staff for making the settling period as smooth as possible. Although it is only the first week back with all of the children, the site has been a hive of activity. In Fledglings 1, children have had lots of fun this week exploring their new classroom and settling in. They have been getting very messy in the corn flour play and exploring the rice with modes of transport. They have also been making many different sounds with the sensory bottles and musical instruments. Over in Fledglings 2 there has been lots of experimenting with paint colours and water in the tuff trays as well as messy play with flour and corn flour. The children have been doing lots of drawing as well as exploring the decking area. A small group of children have visited the playground and tried out the little bikes. Meanwhile in Lower Robins we have been making our own play dough, looking at small world bugs, working out puzzles and building things using a variety of construction materials. Despite the rain there has been lots of outside play, particularly in the sand pit. Settling has gone well and all the children are getting used to their new room. In Upper Robins, we have been exploring different coloured water play and mixing colours. We have been using different cutters in play dough and are making different sculptures and shapes. We have been painting using different colours and threading Cheerio's onto string to increase our hand and eye co-ordination. Skylarks have enjoyed exploring all the areas of their new room. This week we have focused on settling in and learning about all the new children and staff. The children have enjoyed playing with the small world cars, train track and colouring pictures of their families. The children took part in their first PE lesson this week. They all had lots of fun joining in with the games and running around. A big WELCOME to our new team members: Chloe Wilford, Diane Kelsey, Mara Avila, Paige Hackworth and Megan Peters. Good luck to the quiz teams of Years 7 & 8 who lock horns tonight in the inaugural Upper School Quiz. Given the fact that Mr Jarvis is the quiz master, the safe money is on rounds all about History, football and Liverpool’s 2005 victory in the Champions’ League (against Milan at the Ataturk Stadium in Turkey!) Smiles all round for the children of Oak Reception. Their teachers, including Mrs Smith- Chandler (who is equally new to the school), are looking forward to taking their first steps on their BIG school adventure. They have quickly settled making it hard to imagine that they haven’t been here all summer! Equally hard to imagine is that the children of Year 8 were, only a few days ago, enjoying temperatures of 37 degrees on their trip to Sorrento, Italy. To cool down they had to take a dip in the sea. They certainly didn’t bring back the weather. Only happy memories of a wonderful trip filled with tales of ancient civilisations, dormant volcanoes (thank goodness) and 150 varieties of gelato! Thanks to Mr Fagg, Mrs Brighting and Mr Walton for giving the children such a terrific time.