The First Year’s little grey cells were in overdrive this week at the Inter-Form Quiz. Fans of the trivial flocked to the Lecture Theatre to pit their wits against my finest batch of brain-teasers, head-scratchers and memory-strainers. The boys had to answer questions on History, Geography, Science, the Natural World, Art, Sport (what is the fewest number of shots you can play to win a set of tennis?) and Literature, and well as wrestle with some fiendish Hampton-themed anagrams and some diabolic dingbats (HOROBOD – clue: a historical character…answers on a postcard). The standard was impressively, if unsurprisingly, high, and it was 1J who proved themselves to be the champion quizzers, with teams from the Form filling the first, second and third positions. Jai Saha, Sam Davidson and Jack Pearce were the overall winners, just half a point ahead of James Bantick, Luke Paskin, Ethan Knight and Huw Harris. Well done to them, and to all the boys who took part. It was great fun.
The First Year continues to play a leading role in promoting an environmental ethic within the School, and I was delighted to hear of the contribution made by Joel Arulpragasam, Bayley Burridge and James Wiley to our Bikers’ Breakfast event. The scheme, run by Mr Talman and his environment committee, and based on an astute understanding of the psychology of the pre-teenage and teenage boy, offered vouchers for breakfasts in the Dining Hall for all boys who cycled into school (wearing a helmet) on Tuesday. Joel, Bayley and James are staunch members of the Environment Committee, and this is just one of a number of excellent initiatives they have implemented to help the School manage its ecological footprint.
The cricketers played a reverse fixture against RGS Guildford on Saturday, having met them in the first match of the season. The U12As once again came up a little short, losing by 29 runs, although Thomas de Gruchy compiled an impressive 26. The U12Bs produced an excellent batting performance, with both Abhi Sundaram and Luke Bland scoring half centuries before retiring, as the team posted an imposing 170-1. RGS batted very well in reply, but could only reach 152-6. The U12C team scored 106-6, built around a 50 partnership between Mac Crawford and Luke McNamara. The bowlers then dismissed the opposition for 80, with Xavi Murtagh, Sam Walker, Ethan Clapham and Adhish Rao all in the wickets.
The tennis players succumbed to a very strong Reeds team on Tuesday, losing 7-2. However, Mr Baker reports that this scoreline does not reflect the excellent play from the boys. He singles out second pair Ben Bird and Jai Saha for special praise, as they took the Reeds first pair to a sudden death tie break, narrowly missing out on a huge upset.
Well done to our merit certificate recipients this week: Alessandro Russell and Rohi Popham (30 merits); Jai Saha and James Bantick (50 merits); James Emery (60 merits); Shane Bowden and Abhi Sundaram (70 merits); and Sam Colvine (110 merits).
I wish all the First Years a happy and relaxing half term holiday, and I hope that you achieve the right balance between revision and relaxation. Good luck to our intrepid coasteerers as they set off for Dorset this evening – I’m sure you’ll have a great time and I look forward to hearing all about it.
Mr J. Partridge
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