Hazeldene House News
Current news from this term is always displayed first. If you would like to read past news stories from the House, please click through the subsequent pages.
December 2016
Dear Parents and Girls,
The lights are off and the doors are closed on another successful term in Hazeldene. It seems a long time ago indeed since the beginning of the academic year – when our new Lower Fourth attended the Sunday Tea Party, apprehensive but excited for the new start of their life in Senior School. It is a long hard term, with its challenges, certainly, but also a great amount of fun, friendship and celebration too.
It is hard to capture the spirit of the term in words alone. To help celebrate the year so far, I have put together some of the footage from the term. I hope you enjoy this insight into House life.
https://youtu.be/9S2mPGSWHW0
We kicked off the year with our Family Fun night. Members of each family competed in old favourites: the three-legged race, ultra-competitive musical chairs, up-and-under, egg-and-spoon, giant Twister, limbo and even the retro Space Hopper race! Team Moore won the evening with the most victories in the various events.
Our other whole House event of the team was the highly-anticipated Nugget Night! McDonald’s received an order for 520 nuggets on Friday 25th November. And boy, did they devour them! Our highest nugget count went to Georgia Groves, with Alex Scott, Kiren Doyle and Beth Hambling close runners-up (all in the plus-20s!) This was followed by some karaoke, belting out tunes by Miley Cyrus, Little Mix, Britney, Abba, Queen B and even a song from the musical, ‘Billy Elliot’ (with dance routine factored in!) for good measure. Soundbites can be heard in the video link above.
The Upper Sixth girls have been a huge help this year. Embracing their new roles as our Grandmas to the younger years in our Hazeldene Families scheme, they have organised get-togethers with their family members, sharing cake and cuppas, Christmas presents and even some delicious pizza. We will have more inter-family events next year, and I hope this will become a legacy for the House for decades to come. Particular thanks to Ellie Moore (Head of House) and Josie Wiklund (Deputy Head of House) for their support, great humour and organisational flair, to Sasha Johnston and Charlotte Goodall for their stellar work on House Song, to Emily Coleman and Esme Weston for House Sports teams, to Emily Whittle for House Debating help, and to Rachel Xuereb for her passion and directorial vision on our vibrant House Drama entry.
This term has brought with it great success. We performed the Triple: winning House Song, then both House Hockey for Juniors and Seniors, all on three consecutive days, before half term. Subsequently, we have had victories in Junior House Badminton and Senior House Swimming, and came in second place for the Junior House Swimming.
None of these fantastic achievements would be possible without the dedication of the girls. I spoke in our final end of term assembly about the one word I would sum up the girls with this term: impressive. They put so much into every aspect of school life; it is a wonder there is so much left for House life too. Yet, they keep adding fuel to the fire, and as such, Hazeldene makes a tremendous amount of heat!
After winning last year, I think we were completely amazed to retain the title of House Song Winners for 2016-17 – this is, of all of the House competitions, the most fiercely fought for and the display of the most time and effort. The success of this year’s entry was for beautiful harmonies, ensemble singing and an absolutely polished piece. Well done to everyone who soared to top notes, kept in key, worked tirelessly on harmony parts, accompanied, instructed or attended rehearsals.
Thank you to everyone who has participated in a House competition or event so far this year:
Senior House Hockey
Cup – 1st place
Ali Silk, Megan Longden, Claire Humphries, Tash Durie, Emily Coleman, Anna Murray, Maddie Bache, Ella Longden, Mollie Trow
Plate – 2nd place
Candy Lockett, Amy Staniland, Sasha Johnston, Charlotte Goodall, Isabella Breithaupt, Ellen Moore, Kara Doyle, Emily Coleman, Grace Grenfell, Jessica Fullard
Junior House Hockey
Cup – 1st place
Siena Horton, Alice Liversidge, Fleur Gallagher, Martha Edge, Kitty Luscombe, Alice Anderson, Hannah Sahota and Daisy-Mai Clements
Plate – 3rd place
Jade Jenkins, Grace Dieppe, Emily Gittoes, Gabbi Brown, Gemma Calthorpe, Maddie Cooper, Maddie Fullard, Sadie Gardner
Junior House Badminton – 1st place
Beth Hambling (Capt.), Martha Edge, Grace Harker, Tilly Giles, Grace Dieppe, Gemma Calthorpe, Lydia Matthews, Abigail Dakin, Lena Siller, Maddie Fullard
Senior House Swimming – 1st place
Kate Allely, Alex Scott, Maddie Bache, Tash Durie, Charlotte Goodall, Ellen Moore, Claire Humphries, Daisy Scott, Rachel Weller, Tabatha Nicholas, Jessica Fullard, Ella Gardner, Hannah Williams, Anna Murray
Junior House Swimming – 2nd place
Imogen Vaughan-Hawkins, Jade Jenkins, Grace Dieppe, Catrin Carter, Sadie Gardner, Kitty Luscombe, Maddie Fullard, Gemma Calthorpe, Alice Anderson, Alice Liversidge, Jessica Rai, Emily Gittoes
We also made strong impact away from the sports fields and arenas, with Junior House Debating and House Drama. In Junior House Debating, Hafsah Suleman and Martha Edge were the perfect counterbalance to one another, one fiercely logical and the other passionately argued – debating the motion, ‘This House would ban beauty pageants’. They presented some excellent points and were unafraid to add rebuttal to their opponents. Well done. In the final week of term, we had the first House Drama for nearly a decade. Four Hazeldeneans represented the House with the five-minute adaptation of John Godber’s ‘Shakers’. Maddie Cooper, Lauren Court, Olivia Dalby and Rachel Xuereb shined on stage, with great ensemble moments and humour, swapping in and out of different roles and showing versatility. Sadly, we didn’t win, but the girls put on a treat for those at the Finals on the 12th.
House Colours and Ties were awarded in our final House assembly. These House awards are not a right – they need to be earned from a combination of factors: academic effort and perseverance, representing the House in Competitions or the wider school life, and supporting and upholding the spirit of Hazeldene.
For our Juniors, congratulations go to: Maddie Cooper, Sadie Gardner, Jess Rai, Emily Gittoes, Lena Siller, Grace Dieppe, Alice Liversidge, Maddie Fullard and Gemma Calthorpe. These are our first batch – many will follow in their footsteps next term hopefully.
Senior House Colours were awarded to Ella Gardner, Jessica Fullard and Daisy Scott in 5th Form, for their consistent commitment to the House and school. It gave me pleasure to award colours also to Elise Spurgin and new recruits to the House, Tash Durie, Alex Scott and Hannah Williams in Lower Sixth.
We celebrated the successes of some of our girls who have gone the extra mile, and have been recognised for these accomplishments by being awarded commendations from teachers.
Prizes were given to:
L4: Lydia Matthews
Gemma Calthorpe
Abigail Dakin
U4: Lauren Court
Maddie Cooper
5th: Hannah Jones
Maddie Bache
Lily Rose Faulkner-Schütt
L6: Tash Durie
Anna Murray
U6: Ellen Moore
Emily Coleman
The Best Decorated Study Award was a close call – the Lower Fourth started plans early, making their study a veritable grotto of lights from mid-November, However, they were pipped to the prize by the 5th Form study, whose creativity and polish was incredible (the laptop fireplace video was the icing on the Christmas cake certainly!)
Having started this tradition last year, the coveted prize for the Christmas Music Video Award was hotly contested by the Lower Fourth and Upper Sixth. Despite a fantastic effort from the L4, our Upper Sixth ladies clinched a second-year-in-a-row victory with their version of Shakin’ Stevens’ song, ‘Merry Christmas Everyone’. These videos epitomise Hazeldene – creative, fearless and a little eccentric!
Whilst the studies may have been cleared and decorations taken down across the House, we have been feeling very festive in the past week. Our 5th Form had a Christmas Movie and Pizza Night, choosing to watch ‘Love Actually’ and getting misty-eyed at the airport scene in particular! The Sixth Form took an enjoyable trip to the German Christmas Market in Birmingham with Mrs Golightly, Miss Berment and Miss Tansley.
The girls continue to thrive in the wider school. We had great success in the Mark Reading last Monday.
GCSE Subject Prizes were awarded for those who performed to the highest level in 2016:
English Language, Latin, Spanish and History – Rachel Weller
Textiles and DT: Graphics Products – Holly Peplow
DT: Resistant Materials – Natasha Durie
I was impressed at the amount of Hazeldeneans to achieve their Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award – this is a worldwide recognised achievement and a testament to their hard work. Well done to Esme Weston, Emily Coleman, Josie Wiklund, Ellen Moore, Charlotte Goodall, Ellie Miners and Kara Doyle.
Throughout the term, many students have also achieved their Bronze and Silver Duke of Edinburgh’s Awards – congratulations to the following:
Silver
Elise Spurgin, Rachel Weller, Holly Peplow, Talia Mitchell, Megan Longden, Claire Humphries, Anna Murray, Tash Durie
Bronze
Abigail Gill, Lily-Rose Faulkner-Schütt, Maddie Lee
The angelic voices of our Hazeldene girls could be heard in the fabulous final performances in our two Christmas services at the end of the term. Well done to all those involved in the Choir and Music groups: Anya-Sharma James, Hannah Jones, Gabriella Brown, Maddie Cooper, Rachel Weller, Olivia Dalby, Josie Wiklund, Lauren Court, Heidi Collie, Daisy Scott and Ellie Miners. A particular well done goes to Josie Wiklund’s beautiful solo in ‘In the Bleak Midwinter’, and to Lauren Court, for reading a Lesson in the Junior Service.
We return on Thursday 5th January, straight into mock exams for our 5th Form and IB2 students, the Razzle Dazzle Ball on Saturday 14th for the Sixth Form, and then many of the girls will be performing in ‘Hairspray’ when it takes to the Artrix from the 24th-26th January.
I wish you and your families a relaxing, wonderful Christmas together, and a happy New Year.
Mrs L McKee
Hazeldene Houseparent