Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
Another fun-packed week for the Second Year. A definite highlight has been the fantastic language taster sessions that will hopefully make language options for next year easier! On Thursday, we also had our e-Safety morning which covered a number of important tips and advice for staying safe online.
Please look out for Second Year reports on the Parent Portal at the start of next week (24 January). Please do contact your son’s Form Tutor if you have any questions about these.
MERITS
Well done to the following boys for reaching their merit milestones this week!
Oliver Atlay – 10
Dominic Stenning – 10
Seb Rautenberg – 20
Arun Crowe – 20
Max Mudge – 20
Arun Crowe – 30
Dario Pujlic – 30
Marcus Solomon – 30
Jihwan Moon – 30
Joshua Chapman – 40
Aditya Kirthivasan – 50 (Fabulous!)
Agalyan Sathiyamoorthy – 60 (Wonderful effort!)
E-SAFETY MORNING
On Thursday, the Second Years had the opportunity to learn about e-Safety. Firstly, we logged onto Rhapsode Learner and completed modules on eye strain and online hate speech. After that, the Second Years headed to the Hammond Theatre, where we were given a talk about e-Safety. Some key elements of the talk were to make sure passwords were kept safe and never give your information to someone you only know online and have never seen in person. There was an important video where we learnt about the negative effects of sharing information with somebody you don’t know. In the example the victim reported the anonymous user to CEOP which stands for Child Exploitation and Online Protection Command, and the police were able to act and make an arrest. Then we headed back to our classrooms to complete our final module on trash talk and in game abuse before heading off to break. By Joshua (2B)
LANGUAGE TASTER LESSONS
Thank you to the following boys for sharing with us their highlights!
Soon, the boys in Second Year must choose their subjects for the Third Year. Many of the subjects we can choose are new interesting languages! And what a great way to introduce us to the new languages other than some language tasters. Hamptonians have taken part in tasters during this week and have had these great experiences to test out the languages and pick which one is just right for them. They have the choice of Russian, Gratin (Latin/Greek), Mandarin, French, Spain and German. It sure is going to be a hard choice! Good luck with them! By Lucas (2P)
This week, we had four language tasters, to help us choose which language we wanted to start in 3rd year, and to continue for our GCSE’s. We had language tasters in Mandarin, Russian, and two of out three modern languages: French, Spanish, or German. I thoroughly enjoyed all of the tasters and now I don’t know which language to choose for my third-year option!
French:
Mr Boardman treated to us a fun French lesson. We started off the lesson trying to identify a series of French people, from Mbappe to Joan of Arc. Then, we learnt a few basic French phrases, and to finish the lesson, we did a bit of karaoke in French!
German:
Our Head of German treated us to a fun, interactive lesson. We learnt a little bit about German culture and then we tried to pronounce some fiendishly difficult words in German, such as “eierschalensollbruchstellenverursacher” which literally means “egg shell pre-determined breaking point causer,” which is a great device that perfectly breaks your boiled egg shell.
Mandarin:
Mrs Zhang, our Head of Mandarin, treated us to a factual lesson about Mandarin. Our teacher opened us to the world of Ancient China, and taught us a little about the complex characters of Mandarin and some of the grammar rules that govern Mandarin. By Joshua (2J)
This week, instead of our normal modern language, the second year are trying out a taster session for all the languages you can do in the third year. I am in 2B and I currently do French, so this week so far, we have had taster sessions for, Spanish, German and Mandarin. We will be having a Russian taster session on Friday. In these taster sessions we learn a couple of phrases and practice them. In German we did a Quizlet Live, Spanish we were practicing Maths, and Mandarin learning simple phrases from songs. These taster sessions were quite interactive and I really enjoyed taking a break from French and learning four new languages in a week. By Aditya K(2B)
Take a look at the video below to see the Second Years trying out the new languages:
FOOTBALL
On Saturday, the Hampton U13A, B, C, D, and E football teams faced off against KCS away from home. The As and Bs brought home emphatic victories, and the Cs drew in a close 1-1 match. Unfortunately, the Es were affected by muddy conditions and were defeated 5-1, and the Ds suffered a close 2-1 loss in an exciting match. Just after kick-off, a KCS striker slipped past the keeper but was denied by a stunning block from Ameya, dropping to his knees to keep it level. The opposing team were on the offensive for the majority of the first half, with the few quick breaks we had stifled by their towering centre-backs. After finally conceding our first goal late in the half, the whistle blew and gave us a needed break. After a quick tactics talk, our substitutes entered the field and play resumed. The opponents charged through and scored a second during the first play of the game. However, we turned the tide and spent the rest of the half on the offensive, with a close miss from Arish and a crossbar hit from me, both originating from corners. Eventually, we knew we were extremely short on time, and made our final attack. Aaron slipped a sneaky through ball to our striker, Dylan, who smashed a screamer into the top corner. However, that was the last kick of the game, and it ended 2-1. But, we were happy with ending on a high and all enjoyed ourselves. Thanks to KCS and the football staff for organising the block fixture, and thank you to Mrs Havord for being our coach. By Ben (2J)
Rock and Roll
Next Friday 28 January evening brings the ever-popular Hampton Rock Concert to the Hammond Theatre, with a cacophony of different musical acts to terrify your senses. Tickets are selling fast, so make sure you get yourself booked in for a highly entertaining evening.
Book your tickets here
STRANGE MATTER
We all know about the three states of matter: solids, liquids, and gases. You may also know about a fourth state: plasma. But do you know about strange matter? Let’s start with an explanation on the protons in an atom. Each proton has two up quarks and one down quark which are joined by gluons. A neutron star is the collapsed core of a supergiant star which has a mass between 10 and 25 times that of our sun. These neutrons stars are the densest things in the universe other than black holes. They contain strange matter which is formed because of the great pressure at the centre separating the gluons and quarks turning them into strange matter. If any matter touches the strange matter, it also becomes strange matter. In the core of a neutron star, the strange matter is totally safe. However, when two neutron stars are orbiting each other, their orbits start to decay until they collide in a massive kilonova explosion. When this happens, the strange matter can be catapulted out in small ‘strangelets’. If these strangelets touch any matter, the matter will be transformed into strange matter. Fortunately, space is a vacuum so it is very hard for any strange matter to hit any other matter, however, it is not impossible. The closest neutron star is 400-500 light-years away which is approximately 4 quadrillion to 5 quadrillion kilometres away. So, we shouldn’t be too worried about our planet being hit by strange matter whilst it is so far away, but it is best not to get close to a neutron star or we may be converted into strange matter if not spaghettified by the immense gravity. By Anirudh (2B) and Advait (2B)
THE CENTENNIAL LIGHT
Burning for over 100 years and having glowed for over fifty million hours, the Centennial Light still glows. But how? To understand this, we first need to get some facts. The Centennial Light has been burning since 1901 almost continuously for a total of 121 years. The hand-blown carbon-filament lightbulb was invented by Adolphe Chaillet, a French engineer who patented the design. The lightbulb itself was donated in 1901 to the Fire Department. It was only in 1972 when its age was first appreciated by people. And now, over fifty years later it still burns. However, it is slowly fading, when it was first screwed in, it outputted a total of 30 watts. But now it only outputs four. Its secret, the carbon filament. Carbon filament lightbulbs are highly ineffective as they increase in resistance the brighter they glow. However, what makes carbon filament bulbs special are a combination of two things. One, unlike other filament bulbs, carbon filament bulbs burn out very slowly. They are vulnerable to power surges but they can last a very long time at lower currents. They burn out slowly as the carbon does not combine with reactive gasses to form compounds. Instead it slowly forms a film on the glass. This can take long periods of time. Secondly, its tolerance to weather. With a sealed and strong glass shell, the Centennial Light is perfectly designed to survive any weather. But most other lights cannot survive the conditions the Centennial Light can. Most LEDs would quickly die due to higher humidity, temperatures or outdoor conditions until recently. However, the sealed glass around the Centennial Light offers significant protection. However, the most important feature in our bulb’s story is not something measurable. It is luck. The Centennial Bulb has only survived to tell its story because of people who care to protect it. And we can all wish it a few decades more. By Kanishk (2W)
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 Alex and Omer (2F)
- What is the actor of the first Dumbledore Harry Potter called?
- In the recent blockbuster, ‘Spider-Man: No Way Home’, how many spider men appeared?
- What member of the German national team featured in the animated film, ‘monsters university’?
- What year did the first instalment of the ‘Jurassic Park’ series release?
- After which animated movie did the sale of pet rats increase?
- Which Christmas film did Donald Trump appear in?
- What Marvel film pits the Avengers against each other?
- Which 2005 film tells the story of a lion, a hippo, a zebra and a giraffe who escape from the Central Park Zoo?
- What is the Uncle of Simba called in “The Lion King”?
- What was the first Disney movie ever released?
Here are the answers to last week’s questions:
- Which prime minister took over after Tony Blair? Gordon Brown
- What was the percentage of the people who voted to leave the EU in 2016 in the referendum? 52%
- Who was the leader of the Liberal Democrats during the December 2019 election? Jo Swinson
- Who is the prime minister of Australia now? Scott Morrison
- Which year did Tony Blair become prime minister? 1997
- How many people demanded for the removal of Tony Blair’s knighthood? More than 1 million
- Who was the Prime Minister during the Falkland Islands war? Margaret Thatcher
- Which US state banned ‘drive through’ voting? Texas
- Which PM has been mayor of London before recently? Boris Johnson
- Which person was denied entry to Melbourne to play the Australian Open being released? Novak Djokovic
