I am sure you will all join me in congratulating the entire First Year for their performance in the Christmas Concert last night.  For those of you who were unable to attend, the First Year Choir sang a medley of Disney tunes as well as David Bowie’s “Peace on Earth/Little Drummer Boy”. The thunderous applause they received at the end of their performance was richly deserved. Well done also to all the boys who took part in the various other bands, groups, orchestras and ensembles. It was a fantastic concert, and a great way to establish a Christmas mood. Thank you to Dr Ward, Mr Donald, Mrs Oldfield and Mr Roland for all the work they have done to help the boys prepare for the event, and for the accompaniment and conducting that they did last night.

Aficionados of the geographically trivial from across southwest London flocked to Hampton on Monday night for Geographical Association World Wise Quiz. If you know your Dhaka from your Dakar, or can name the only two double-landlocked countries (answers on a postcard), then the Main Hall was the place to be.  Twelve teams from LEH, Reeds, Trinity and Kingston Grammar, all aged 11 to 14, joined Hampton teams in a battle of wits. After some fiendishly difficult rounds, featuring mapwork, English counties and well-known (and less well-known) landmarks, KGS came away winners this year, but there were some sterling performances from the Hampton First Year boys – particularly in the notoriously tricky “landmark reveal” round! Well done to Paddy Quirke, Tristan Robinson, Kristian Wells, Edwin Martin, Alexander Cresswell and William Knowles for taking part, and I hope they come back inspired to compete again next year!

Sporting-wise, the First Year have been very busy. The Richmond Borough Cross Country Championships featured a number of our students and congratulations to Daniel Clarke (13th), Oli Drew (14th), Henry Donaldson (17th), Freddie Blair (18th), Nick Allen (22nd) and Louis Simmons-Gooding (32nd) for outstanding performances while representing the School.

Also competing against local schools at the Richmond School’s Swimming Gala this week were Sheerjet Khan, Alex Cresswell, Daniel Clarke, Xavier Miklichansky-Maddocks, Freddie Blair and Daniel Townsend. Well done boys on representing the school in this prestigious competition and finishing third overall!

William Aust tells us about the U12 A Rugby Team’s recent exploits: “On Friday the Hampton U12 As took part in the Middlesex Cup. The team met at Staines Rugby Club and prepared for the first of our six matches. In this match we achieved a convincing victory against Newland House. Next up were Haberdashers. Despite trailing 2-0 at half time, we managed to come back to earn a hard fought draw. The final group game was against Enfield House which resulted in a loss. This meant that we finished third in the group just missing out on second place due to our inferior points difference, so we advanced to the shield competition . This second group stage saw us win 3 from 3 against Teddington, Latymer and Fulham Boys. As a result, we were crowned shield champions.” Well done boys – it sounds like you played some excellent Rugby!

Timmy Lee reports for the U12 B Footballers: ”On Friday 2 November, we played against Eaton House in our ESFA Cup third round match. We tried our best to get an early lead, but unfortunately we conceded 4 goals in the first half. However, we retained our fighting spirit in the second half and defended well as a team. Sam Wooldridge also scored an excellent, well-worked goal. Despite our best efforts, Eaton House scored another 2 goals, making the final score 6-1 to them, thus ending our cup run. Thank you to Mr Thomas for helping us during the cup matches.”

The final week of term approaches, but the boys are still beavering away in lessons, producing some truly outstanding pieces of work. Gus Carter, Oscar White and Toby Gwynne’s tech projects are particularly worthy of note, and pictures are included here for your perusal. Toby’s outstanding project, coupled with his fantastically positive attitude to school life makes him our Tutee of the Week – well done on a thoroughly deserved accolade Toby!

 

I hope that this weekend brings you much Joy and that your Halls are becoming decked with Holly, that you are ding donging merrily on high and that you are jingling your Christmas bells! One more week to go!

 

Mr T. Hill

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