Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
Thank you to all our media reps for their continued excellent work on our weekly blog! This week we have another Tutor interview for you to enjoy, exciting football match reports, clubs, achievements, and of course our weekly 10 questions!
It is one of the Second Years’ favourite weeks this week! No homework week! For this entire week, we have absolutely no homework tasks so we can relax and rest, however, if you have work to catch up on teachers will still set you catch up work! It’s a really great week, just make sure you don’t play too many video games! Unfortunately, when we do have no homework week it normally means there are lots of tests coming so be prepared for that! But other than that, the Christmas holidays are coming! By Lucas (2P)
MERITS
Well done to the following boys for reaching their merit milestones this week!
Lander Kauenhoven-Wrenn – 10
Daniel Kim – 10
Eugene Kwon – 10
Seb Rautenberg – 10
Leander Koutsoudis-Bhuller – 10
Rio Felonov Tzanev – 10
Ethan Willis – 10
Sriyan Stankovic – 10
Joshua Gaughan – 10
Patrick Moroney – 10
Henry Pitt – 10
Eric Ma – 10
Charles Halberstadt – 10
Raif Dunt – 20
Faris Salman – 20
Elijah Hipkins – 20
Alexander Lidblom – 20
Caspar Strouts – 20
Daniel O’Sullivan Sanz – 20
Ali Tait – 20
Ali Tait – 30
Kanishk Manjunath – 30
Agalyan Sathiyamoorthy – 30
Max Flannery – 30
Aarush Jain – 30
Ben Bates – 40
Joshua Ripon – 60 (he’s off to see Mr Knibbs again!)
TUTOR INTERVIEWS
Our weekly interviews, are a great opportunity for you to find out a little bit more about your Tutors! So, thank you to Omer and Alex (2F) who interviewed Mr Gordon; Languages Teacher and one half of 2F’s Tutor team!
What inspired you to become a teacher?
On my Gap Year I worked in a boarding school in France for two terms and then I taught English in Malawi for a term too. Both experiences were amazing, fun and challenging (in a good way) and ever since I knew I wanted to become a teacher.
What is the best part about being a teacher?
There are so many great things about being a teacher and in some ways, I think the variety that comes with the job is the best thing about it – being simultaneously a subject teacher, a form tutor, a sports coach, a club-taker, etc. But what I love most is the interaction you get with your pupils during lessons, especially when talking to them in a foreign language (I teach French and Spanish).
What is the worst part about being a teacher?
I have my own little children who take up a lot of my time at the end of the school day, so for me the worst thing is probably the late night marking sessions I have to do once they have finally gone to bed!
At school what was your favourite subject?
Oooh, I should probably say French or Spanish, as those are the subjects I teach now, but I always really loved Latin, which I studied for A Level too. I had some great teachers and the subject helped me so much when it came to learning about how languages (including English) work in general, as well as how to read and analyse literature properly. Plus, the Romans did some pretty cool stuff.
What is your favourite movie?
I’m afraid I tend to love rather miserable-but-uplifting European films, and one of my faves has to be the French movie The Diving Bell and the Butterfly – it’s an amazing true story about a paralysed man with ‘locked-in syndrome’ who managed to dictate an entire book simply by blinking one eye. It might sound slow but it’s incredibly powerful and moving. A more amusing and exciting French favourite is Taxi – it’s great fun.
What is your favourite subject to teach?
I love teaching French. I have spent a lot of time in France and feel a real connection with the language, and I really enjoy teaching boys fun expressions and helping them to work on their accents. I also enjoying teaching French literature to the A Level pupils.
Who was your childhood hero?
My childhood hero was Gavin Hastings, the great Scottish full back (I am originally Scottish). He was pretty much our only good player and it made the Five Nations, as it was back in the 1990s, so much less painful. I was also obsessed with Jimi Hendrix, one of the greatest and most iconic guitarists of all time, so I was grateful to my Dad for introducing me to him when I was little.
What is your favourite sport
I love cricket, both playing and spectating. It was really fun taking the U15Bs last year – they were a really super team. I am going to be glued to the Ashes over the holidays, too, I just hope we don’t get annihilated by the Aussie pace bowlers. I left school in the summer of 2005, which was when England regained the Ashes from an Aussie team that had the greats Shane Warne, Ricky Ponting and Glenn McGrath – I have never enjoyed watching sport as much as I did that summer. If you haven’t seen ‘The Greatest Series’ DVD about it then you absolutely must watch it!
What would be your dream job (other than being a teacher at Hampton, of course)!
In an ideal world, I would be a bestselling novelist. I love reading and writing, and the thought of spending my days locked away in a library coming up with entertaining stories fills me with joy. I feel inspired by writers like PG Wodehouse, Evelyn Waugh and Saki who wrote very funny, satirical stories in their day.
FOOTBALL
On Saturday, the U13C and D teams faced Chigwell School’s As and Bs at home. The D-Team had a rough match, taking an unfortunate 3-1 defeat away. Starting as a substitute, I had a perfect angle to see an unnecessarily early goal go curling past Cassian into the bottom right corner. This undoubtedly affected our morale and energy for the rest of the game, but we held out for the rest of the first half, with some relatively close chances, but an unfortunate lack of shots. After a morale boost in half time, we played some subs and kicked off. However, after a swift loss of possession and the opponents retaining the ball around our 18-yard box, we all felt that another goal was somewhat inevitable, and sure enough, after a sequence of blocked corners, a cross from the corner flag went curling round to the back post and was tapped in, making it 2-0, a difficult score to recover. After a third was shot in, impressively almost from the touchline, all hope seemed to be lost. That was, until some stunning link up play from Luca, Teddy slipped in past the keeper on the edge of his box, and nearly ran it in! That sealed the match as a 3-1 victory for Chigwell, but it was an enjoyable experience and a particularly great debut for Ethan. Well done to everyone who played and thanks to the sports staff for organising the match. By Ben (2J)
Hoping to end their two-game losing streak, the U13C team welcomed the U13 Chigwell A team to Hampton. The C team were lacking some of their players: Jude Lord Smith had been moved up to the B team (and some others) and Ed Barkus was missing the fixture for the first fifteen minutes, Hampton conceded 3 goals in quick succession but after a change of goalkeepers for Hampton, Hampton dominated and were unlucky with some very close chances from Louis Harvey and others. After half time, Chigwell scored three goals and once again a replacement of goalkeepers was necessary. As Hampton went on the attack, a low cross skimmed the line, narrowly missing the Chigwell goal. Just as it seemed Hampton were building momentum, a cross from a Chigwell winger was sent into the Hampton penalty box. It was cleared away by Joshua Chapman and it ricocheted off Daniel O’Sullivan’s head, causing a deflection into the net. As the game entered the final few minutes, Hampton missed some golden opportunities but eventually the game ended 8-0 in Chigwell’s favour. Despite this defeat, the U13 C team have learnt some important lessons from this game and they look to use this in the upcoming fixtures. By Joshua (2B)
SCHOOL COUNCIL
Hampton School is a community: a community built up of governors, teachers, parents and, of course, students. The school council is a student-led team dedicated to representing their year and their peers and they try to make Hampton School a better place for everyone. Last Thursday, we discussed these action points in length with our year representatives and with our Assistant Head, Mr Woods, our Common Room Administrator, Miss Jefferson and our Vice-Captains and Captains from Sixth Form. Second Year wanted to increase the amount of goals on the 3G, to have non-cash payment at breakfast, have a crisp packet recycling bin near the 3G, and to push for more second-hand uniform sales and to have more environmentally friendly clothes. But, we have to wait to see if any of these points are taken up on. By Joshua (2J)
POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS CLUB
Last Friday, I went to Politics and Current Affairs Club and it was really interesting listening to the top stories of the week. First there is a picture which we have to guess what it is all about and then talk about it. It also really improves our oracy skills and it is really fun. It is run by Miss Field who is a really nice Politics teacher. It is really fun and will I continue this club every week. If you are interested in this, come to Room 99 on the Second Floor near the Biology Office, it starts at 1.10, and I look forward to see you there! By Aditya (2B)
MUSICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
Thank you to Daniel (2J) for sharing with us this video of him performing a very tricky, fast guitar piece (Yakkety Axe by Chet Atkins) at full speed. He took up the challenge to learn to play this piece from his guitar teacher Mr Hvartchikov. Well done Daniel!
In other musical endeavours, thank you to Alex (2H) for sharing with us his extra-curricular choir commitments and performances. Alex is a keen chorister outside of school, having sung with Platinum Choristers for the past 5 years. Last weekend Alex had the amazing experience to perform at St John’s Smith Square in Westminster along with professional consort singers and The Hanover Band, a period instrument orchestra. They performed Handel’s ‘Messiah’ to a sell-out crowd with great success even performing an encore of ‘Hallelujah’ finishing to a standing ovation. Alex will soon be performing again with Platinum Choristers along with Platinum Consort for a special Christmas concert on Saturday 18 December. Well done Alex and good luck for your next concert!
NEWS ROUND-UP
By Akshat (2J)
Dominating the news this week, was the highly-anticipated annual CBI meeting and Boris Johnson was giving a speech. It was all going fine until he seemed to have lost his notes and believe it or not, started talking about Peppa Pig. He said, “I loved it. Peppa Pig World is very much my kind of place. It has very safe streets, discipline in schools, heavy emphasis on new mass transit systems. Even if they’re a bit stereotypical about Daddy Pig.” His speech also included him comparing himself to Moses and impersonating a racing car.
In more strange news, a couple in New Zealand have grown the world’s heaviest potato. It weighs 8kg and they have named it ‘Doug the mutant spud’. The couple were very proud of their creation and called it ‘the weirdest day of their life’.
As you can see from the picture below, it was quite big!
SMOOTHIE BIKE
The Smoothie Bike is back at Hampton again! Have a go on the Smoothie Bike and enjoy some tasty creations. The wheels start turning at 7:45am on Wednesday 1 and 8 December in the Dining Hall!
WEEKLY QUESTIONS
Welcome to the Weekly Questions! Every week, we’ll post 10 general knowledge questions, and, if you have a go, you can be awarded a merit if you send your answers to Miss Kugele (r.kugele@hamptonschool.org.uk)! This week’s questions have been set by Aarush:
- How many times has Andy Murray won Wimbledon playing singles?
- What year was Heinz established?
- In Harry Potter, what is the name of The Weasley’s house?
- What’s a baby rabbit called?
- How many Olympic gold medals does Sir Mo Farah have?
- What flag is this?
- What does the AC button on a calculator stand for?
- What’s the biggest animal in the world?
- What is the capital of Uruguay?
- What is the name of the main antagonist in the Shakespeare play Othello?
Here are the answers to last week’s questions:
- Which countries flag is this? Kazakhstan
- How many cards are there in an original deck of cards except from jokers? 52
- How many hearts does an octopus have? 3
- What is the 2nd tallest skyscraper in the world Shanghai Tower
- How much is a couple? 2
- Who has scored the most goals ever for England Football Team and how many has he scored? Wayne Rooney- 53 goals
- Who invented the light bulb? Thomas Edison
- How many states does America have? 52
- What nut is in the middle of a Ferrero Rocher? Hazelnut
- How many elements are there on the Periodic Table? 118
