I was so impressed when I went down to the Nursery site this week to see so many wonderful robots on display as part of the Nursery and Early Years’ Eco Week. Of all shapes and sizes, and using such a variety of materials and recycled products, clearly a lot of fun and imagination has gone into each and every robot. Individually they were fantastic. Together they made for a display of engineering and manufacturing genius. C3P0 and R2D2 would have been proud! I had to look long and hard to work out what waste materials had been used in their construction. Having been painted and decorated, it was difficult to make some of the elements out. I know the children have enjoyed their learning this week and that the staff have worked hard to deliver an Eco Week which gave everyone plenty to investigate and to think about. Thank you to the parents who have helped co-create the robot army which now fills the Paterson Hall ready for today’s Open Morning. Thank you too to the parents who came along to the HPA’s AGM earlier this week. The atmosphere in the TOSH was uplifting and it was great to be part of a group of enthusiastic people who have given so much already, but clearly believe they have so much more to give in the future. The fun and the fund-raising have shared joint top billing on the HPA’s agenda most recently and this has clearly paid dividends. There is an impressive amount of money raised and a list of parents willing to step up and help organise and support events. Next on the calendar is the annual Bonfire Night which never disappoints. It has developed and grown to be one of the very best local displays with the ooohs and the ahhhhhs last year lasting for a good twenty minutes of aerial acrobatics and technicolour explosion. Please come along and support the event. The HPA have already promised to assist in the refurbishment of both libraries. In addition, further funds were pledged to buy additional outdoor play equipment for the Nursery and Early Years. Mr Garlick is currently, and happily, shopping to see what he can find to buy! Thank you to Sasha Johnston and her Committee who have done, and continue to do, a brilliant job whilst leading busy work and family lives of their own. Parents wanting to get involved with the HPA can contact Sasha on [email protected] It has been a good week for the U11A hockey team who travelled to Hawthorns School on Saturday to take part in their annual tournament. The girls emerged as competition winners and brought back to school our latest piece of much-admired silverware. En route to lifting the trophy, they beat teams such The Hawthorns, Daneshill and St Teresa’s and played some impressive hockey, working together as a team. On Wednesday the same girls travelled to Hoe Bridge School near Woking hoping to repeat their achievement. Here they were up against a different line-up of teams including schools such as St George’s Weybridge who have a rich, and epic, history of playing hockey at the highest level. A few missed chances in their opening game allowed their early opposition, the subsequent tournament runners-up, to squeeze past them into the latter stages of the competition. Hazelwood were in the semis, up against St George’s. They were defeated by the narrowest of margins. St George’s went on to win the tournament. Mrs Falconer and Miss Dancy were incredibly proud of the team. In the space of one week they have experienced the highs of winning and the lows of being defeated when so close to a shot at glory. Both valuable, character-building lessons. Well done girls! And finally, I am writing to share the news with you that Mrs Liza Pinder will be returning to work as an SEN teacher in the spring term. We are very supportive of Liza’s decision, so that she may follow her passion for working with children and that they may benefit fully from her SEN teaching skills. As a result, the school will be advertising for a SENCO to take on Liza’s existing role. We hope to be in a position to appoint from 1st January 2018. Rest assured, any support given to your children will not be affected by this move and I am confident that once the new Head of the department is in place, the combined talents of its staff will continue to deliver the quality of support that our pupils are currently benefitting from. Welcome to the Joynson family whose son, Oscar, has just joined Mr Kemp’s Year 3 class. We hope they feel at home in next to no time and that Oscar enjoys making new friends as he sets out on his Hazelwood adventure! 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 This week at HNEY, the children have been thinking about all things Eco! It has been wonderful to see such creativity from both the children and parents as part of our ‘Recycled Robot’ competition. In the rooms, the children have also enjoyed creating various items from recyclable materials. As well as our eco week, the children at the Nursery have also been hard at work trying to master new skills. In skylarks, we have been focusing on repeating patterns using a wide range of objects. I was particularly impressed with the mathematical vocabulary the children used to describe their patterns. It has also been a busy week for all of the other rooms on site. Please read below for a full round up of activities. This week in Fledglings 1, we have had fun exploring ice play with hidden toys inside, exploring leaves outside with diggers and finding hidden insects. We have also been making spider webs and exploring our plastic bottles filled with different materials. This week in Fledglings 2, we have sorted recycled items into different boxes. We also planted Black Turtle beans using newspaper. Made musical instruments using tubes and paper aeroplanes and rockets using recycled materials. Upper Robins have been exploring a whole range of different recycled packaging this week. We have used the packaging to create our own bottle wind spinners and carton bird feeders for our garden. We have created robots and other structures using recycled materials. We have also been exploring textures and colours by using different coloured paint in flour. In Lower Robins this week we have made beautiful sensory bottles from recycled water bottles, painted flowers made from egg cartons to add to our insect 'small world' table, been on a walk around the school grounds to collect natural objects and used the recycling computer program to sort objects into the relevant bin. Skylarks have enjoyed learning about recycling and looking after their environment for Eco Week. They have been busy making creations using recycled materials and making posters about how we look after our world. The children have also enjoyed continuing to look at the changes of autumn. Oak enjoyed Eco Week and explored the theme of autumn. Activities including leaf printing, creating clay hedgehogs, making animals and people from natural resources, writing autumn lists and an autumn hunt. Reminder: The Early Years Office opening times are between 8.00 and 17.00. Should you wish to speak to a member of staff urgently the late room numbers are: Fledglings 1: 307 Fledglings 2 and Robins: 311 Oak and Skylarks: 305 What’s on at HNEY next week? Wednesday 18th October- Phonics workshop for Robins and Skylarks parents. Thursday 19th October- Skylarks to Oak morning- please confirm attendance with Nick Tappin. Thursday 19th October- ‘How children under 2 learn’- workshop with Jane O’Keefe for Fledglings parents. Friday 20th October- half term for Oak children and term time children. News from Hazelwood Interhouse Debating SHOULD PETROL AND DIESEL CARS BE BANNED? Each House worked hard as a team to craft well-constructed and compelling arguments for and against banning petrol and diesel cars. The judges enjoyed confident and well prepared performances by all those involved. Children had thoroughly researched the environmental, economic and health implications of such a move, discussing both statistical and anecdotal evidence to support their points. Judges were particularly impressed with some of the persuasive techniques employed by debaters, including rhetorical questions, effective use of emotive language and repetition of key statements. Above all else, the audience was well engaged with confident, thought-provoking and, at times, humorous presentations which challenged our ideas about the limitations of technology and the on-going (but diminishing) need for fossil fuels. Nevertheless, the suggestion that 4X4s and Lamborghinis would be a thing of the past prompted gasps of horror so I suspect engineers and manufacturers have some work to do before we are completely persuaded to go hybrid or electric. Well done to Felix, Camilla and Luca from Baily; Harry, James and Archie from Irving; Georgia, Dylan and Lucy from Parry and Sofia, Edward and Maddie from Dowling - great performances all round! The over-all winners will be announced at the end of term assembly... This amazing robot is the work of Isaac M in Year 3. Inspired by his sister’s creation for Eco Week, Isaac busied himself creating his mustachioed mechanical complete with its hidden circuit board. Isaac returned the robot later in the week when it had transformed itself into a Superbot Colonel complete with flying cloak and medals.