On the last day of the half term, hundreds of children and their grown ups gathered in the scorching heat in the playground to watch Hazelwood’s Got Talent! Opening with the Hazelwood Dance Festival entry and including a performance form the school choir, the talent show was the culmination of class rounds and a semi-final, with winners performing for the ultimate trophy! We had gymnasts, dancers, guitarists, singers and comedians! The level of talent and the variety of the performances was incredible and made the job of our guest judges very hard. This year, we welcomed: Graham Sievers (Chairman of Conway Tennis Club); Caroline Lau (Create Theatre School); and Ash Venn (a Hazelwood Governor) to judge the performances. After much deliberation, they announced the winners from each Phase Group and we were delighted to have Martin and Ellie from Anthony Webb present the medals and trophies.
Huge thanks also go to Miss Powell for organising everything so brilliantly, Miss Bispham for her music and technical support, and the HPSA team for the set up, logistics and refreshments! Finally, we would love to say a big Hazelwood thank you to Steve Rawlinson who has been helping on the tech for the best part of a decade - thank you, Steve! 

During Neurodiversity Celebration Week, the children learnt about how and why we are all different and unique, and how these differences make each and every one of us special in our own way. As a school, we explored the idea that everyone’s brain is different, and that no two people think, learn, or experience the world in exactly the same way.
Our special slogan for the week was: “Be confident, be you, be the star that you are” — a message that we believe should be embraced every day!

During assembly, we explored the meaning of neurodiversity and discussed why it is so important to celebrate it. The children also learned about different types of neurodiversity through a range of engaging videos, and discovered some well-known individuals who are neurodivergent.
Throughout the week, the children took part in a variety of fun and meaningful activities to mark this special week. 

In our achievement assembly, many children were recognised with Hazelwood Values Awards for supporting their peers and demonstrating respect, kindness, and fairness. We were also proud to celebrate children who showed a strong understanding of empathy and consistently demonstrated this within our school community.

By marking this important week, we hope that all of the children have developed a deeper understanding of the importance of celebrating each other’s differences, strengths, and challenges.

On Tuesday 3rd March, we hosted our second Community Iftar, celebrating the holy month of Ramadan as a school community. Once again, we were overwhelmed by the number of parents, carers, staff and children who attended as well as the amount of food brought and shared amongst our guests.
An Iftar is where Muslims come together to break their fast every day during the holy month of Ramadan. 
It was lovely to see so many families, both Muslim and non-Muslim recite and listen to prayers and join together to eat traditional foods in a fabulous display of our community spirit. 
Huge thank you must go to our wonderful HPSA organisers: Alia, Karima, Anna, Sara and Eva. It was such a special evening. 

PANTO - CINDERELLA: THE SHOE MUST GO ON
Our wonderful HPSA Daisies performed their amazing pantomime not once, not twice, not three times, but four times on Wednesday to a packed out hall of children and then adults in the evening - OH YES THEY DID! ! Lots of singing, dancing, acting, dames, wicked stepmother, mice, fairies and even some K-pop demon hunters 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!!

We had so much to fit in to Multicultural week this year, that we had to make it longer than a week and start last Thursday. That just increased the enjoyment and engagement level of our children who were able to learn so much information about different cultures and traditions. 

To celebrate how we are one big family at Hazelwood made up of many different cultures, nationalities and identities, every child contributed to this exciting week of learning, by asking lots of questions, finding out lots of information and really showing our value of appreciation and understanding. Our overarching message this week is that "All are Welcome" at Hazelwood and we are proud to say that "We’re part of a community. Our strength is our diversity". What a special way to finish the first half term of this academic year.