Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
Welcome to the first blog of the year, and already so much to report on! It was lovely to welcome you all back last week, and I am sure you have all enjoyed catching up with each other and meeting your new teachers. The Second Year Team wish you a successful year and we look forward to celebrating your many achievements in our weekly blog.
After a long Summer holiday of spending time with your family, going out on holidays and enjoying the lovely summer weather we are back in school, for some of us with mixed feelings, but mostly joy! Most Covid restrictions have been lifted so throw your masks out the window as we no longer need them in school. We have new classes, new teachers and even a new subject! Drama! How cool is that? Now, there is a lot more walking around the school since we don’t have every lesson in the same class so you will be able to do a lot more exploring. We hope you enjoyed your first week back and have a very good year. By Lucas (2P) and Sebastian (2P)
CO-CURRICULAR FAIR
The co-curricular fair opened our eyes to the breathtaking number of clubs that are available to do here at Hampton School. There were also new clubs beginning such as the Lego Architecture club and clubs that have returned after a year of its absence such as the model aviation club. It is good to see COVID restrictions easing and being able to enjoy a variety of fun clubs that we weren’t able to fully access last year. By Arie (2P)
Thank you to the following boys for sharing with us details of the clubs they have enjoyed this week!
The History, Archives and Archaeology Club (HAAC) by Joshua (2J)
There have been so many amazing clubs on offer for the Second Year. However, my personal favourite was The History, Archives, and Archaeology Club: The HAAC, with history teachers Mrs Willcox and Mrs Arnott running the club. This term, we have decided to start a new project on the foundation of Hampton School. Some of us may know that Hampton was founded in 1557, by Robert Hammond, in the age of the Tudors. But there’s a lot more to the foundation than that. We will endeavour to search through the archives of our school, with the help of our resident archivist Miss Esmond. You are welcome to come along and turn back time! The club is run on Tuesday from 1:10 to 1:45pm in Room 86 and next week, we will be taking a tour of Hampton School.
Coding Club by Ben (2J)
Last Friday, First, Second and Third years were treated to a fantastic co-curricular fair, displaying the baffling range of brilliant clubs here at Hampton. One of my favourites that I’ve been to, however, was Coding Club. I went up to queue, and very swiftly, the whole area outside the main hall was stacked with eager lower school pupils, keen to code. However, due to room space, only NINETEEN of the queueing students were allowed in! Personally, I should probably get a lottery ticket, because, due to extreme luck, I got in. Nineteenth. However, once in the club and computer issues were sorted out, it was all fun and all Python. As Second Years, we could choose between coding a calculator or a number guesser on the well-known Python coding site. I, alongside my two friends with me, elected to go for the harder option. Obviously. At first, we didn’t realise that Mr Hope had put some starter code up on the board, and between the three of us, we successfully created a working calculator that could solve any two-number sum, from 2×2 to 2548461947+739263929! Unfortunately, this was when we realised that we were doing the wrong thing. The completely wrong thing! The club is open on Wednesday at 1:10pm in Room 70, So if you’re interested, come along and you can code your way through the afternoon, but as it is very popular make sure you get there early!!
Badminton by Aarush (2J)
On Monday, most of Second Year came to badminton and table tennis at lunchtime. It was so popular that some of us had to go and have lunch first, then come back, but once we did, we were greeted by an uproar of noise! I mainly did badminton and I really enjoyed it as I was challenged. Even though the courts were pretty crowded it was still lots of fun. I could hear loads of noise coming from the other side where people played table tennis. I heard that it was good fun and everyone got a good chance to play.
Hampton Sports Chronicle by Akshat (2J)
The Hampton Sports Chronicle was fun and this week we had the introduction week. We learned about what we were going to do over the course of the year and the main product which is the sports magazine at the end of the year. You also get the chance to interview Old Hamptonians, and other famous people who went to this school. I look forward for the rest of the year at the club and it is great fun. If you want to join, this club takes place between 12:35 and 1:15 on a Tuesday in Room 52 (English Department).
Take a look at last year’s magazine below:
Christian Forum by Joshua (2B)
Held every Monday at 12.35pm -1.10pm in the Quiet Room (RS and Philosophy Department). The session starts off with a game followed by some Bible readings. This autumn term, we are looking at the Book of Luke from the New Testament. We will also be reading Meals with Jesus by Ed Drew which explores Jesus’ character through the nine meals that he shared with others. This book has excellent online reviews.
The full list of clubs on offer can be found in the booklet below:
Why not have a go and try something new!
INTRODUCTION TO DRAMA
Since the start of the year, Second Year Hamptonians have been introduced to the Theatre. Acting and speaking in front of people is a very important skill and doing mini plays and performances will make it far easier to give important speeches in your life. I for one have enjoyed a range of activities put forward by our Drama teacher such as testing our teamwork by putting a mini story together in where each person says a word. There were two groups and the group that made the best story (judged by our teacher) would get to pick a forfeit. Don’t worry it wasn’t too serious and the press ups were limited to 10 not 100!
Also, Drama is a really nice change to some of the more academic lessons by providing something new to take off some of the pressure of work and be more active. Making weird and wacky stories to perform to the class is very fun and helps you to develop good speaking skills which will help you later in school and life. By Finley (2L)
SUMMER ACHEIVEMENTS
We love to celebrate your achievements in our year group blog, whether it be from in school or beyond! So please do let us know what you’ve been up to.
Firstly, a big well done to Alessandro (2H) who was given the Players’ Player of the Season award by his Sunday league football team, Hampton & Richmond. He was voted best player by his team mates for his contribution to the team last season which included scoring 15 goals. What a fantastic achievement and good luck with the new season!
Also, congratulations to Leander (2W) who has spent the summer building some very impressive sailing and navigation skills! He passed his RYA Stage 3 sailing qualification at the Thames Sailing Club in July, quickly followed by his RYA Start Racing qualification. Leander has since taken part in his first sailing race, finishing an impressive second in a single-handed boat, and is now looking forward to working towards his Stage 4 qualification. Leander also successfully completed and passed his Silver National Navigation Award which he did over two days in Dartmoor, before putting his skills to the test and leading the way to a stunning wild camping spot! Well done Leander, we wish you every success in your sailing and best of luck with your stage 4 qualification.
