Welcome to the Third Year Blog!
Welcome back! Whether you went on holiday, celebrated the Jubilee or just completely chilled out, I hope that you all enjoyed a fantastic half term break and have come back refreshed and ready for the final push of this academic year.
With the exams taking place before the break, this week has seen Hamptonians return and receive their marks in each subject. I hope that you are happy with your results, but if you are not, remember that the purpose of the Exam Week is to give you the opportunity to practice exams in a formal setting and for you to learn about your revision strategy in the process. There is still plenty of time to hone this technique ready for your GCSEs!
On Monday, PSHE focussed on Personal Finance, where the boys were introduced to the different kinds of financial services available to them; this will be continued next week. Later in the week, there was another PSHE session where pupils were invited to reflect on their experience of the recent Exams Week – as mentioned above, an important part of the process! Wednesday saw the first sporting occasion of the half term with a team of Third Years heading to John Fisher School to complete in an athletics competition. Yesterday also saw our U14A Football team lace up their boots again when they travelled to Charterhouse to play in an exhibition game, where they were 6-2 winners. A full programme of sport resumes this Saturday so good luck to all of the cricketers and rowers involved.
In other news this week, the 13+ joiners in the Third Year traded in their trusty iPads for the new laptop that will see them through their GCSEs…the 11+ joiners will be doing the same in a couple of weeks.
I hope that you enjoy reading the blog and have a great weekend ahead!
Heads of Year Message
Thank you and well done to all 13+ joiners for returning their iPads and collecting new laptops from the IT department sessions this week. Drop-in IT support sessions are available in the Lecture Theatre at break times and lunch times every day until Friday 17 June. Please attend one of these sessions if you have any issues with, or questions about, your iPad or new school laptop. Pupils who joined the Hampton in First Year will collect their new school laptops on Tuesday 21 June or Wednesday 22 June. Details of this were sent to parents in a SchoolPost letter on Friday 27 May.
It was very encouraging to see Third Year pupils taking the First Aid course seriously this week. So far, Forms 3A-D have completed the course (two sessions total) and assessment. 3E-J will complete the second session before the end of term.
We are looking forward to the talk by Mike Haines OBE on the topic of Forgiveness next week. We expect that Third Year pupils will show the utmost respect for our visiting speaker during what promises to be a moving and powerful presentation on Wednesday morning.
We hope everyone enjoyed a well-deserved rest over the half term holiday. With a relatively short half term ahead of us, we hope and expect to see all pupils participating in lessons and co-curricular activities with energy and enthusiasm throughout. The second half of summer term presents an excellent chance to enjoy a more relaxed approach in school whilst making the most of the full range of co-curricular opportunities available at Hampton.
Third Years – we hope you make the most of the remaining weeks of term. Please throw yourselves into the activities on offer. As always, do reach out to us or your Form Tutors if you are having any difficulties.
Best wishes
Mr Rigby & Mr Moore
National Schools’ Regatta
Just before half term the rowers competed at the National Schools’ Regatta at Dorney Lake. This is the biggest race of the season, with 5,000 competitors from across the United Kingdom racing over three days. The racing takes the form of a time trial followed by B and A Finals. From the time trial, the top six crews go to the A final, 7th to 12th go to the B final, and 13th and lower are eliminated from the competition.
In the J14 A Octuple Sculls there were 25 crews in the event and we managed to come 7th place in the time trial so just missing out on the A Final. Lining up hoping to win the B final, we found the strong tail wind roughed up the water near the finish line and our crew struggled a bit in the closing stages. Despite a huge effort from the boys, Radley, who coped with the conditions better than us, managed to get ahead and we came 2nd place, so ranking 8th overall. Not a bad result!
Our J14 B Octuple also had a strong field with 24 crews competing for medals. The time trail result was 8th place so in to the B final. Sitting in 2nd place at the half way mark, the St Paul’s crew just behind us put in an impressive burst to win the final, pushing us back into 3rd place despite a spirited performance from our rowers. Overall 9th place which is a great result for our B crew.
We are looking forwards to lots of racing coming up over the next few weeks.
Help Project Overview
I decided to base my Third Year HELP Project on Colour Blindness, due my personal connection with the subject – I have Deuteranopia, a form of colour blindness. With a few meetings with Mr Baker, I felt that Biology was the suitable subject to take this project forward in. Over the weeks that passed, keeping my end of year exams my focus, I continually worked on my project in small increments. In my project I formulated a plan to test two other people I know personally, to test their perception of the colours that I see and compare them. I did this to see what difficulties they might see in the real world, and what dangers that they may face. As well as the human aspects, I was interested in the animal world, taking information from books and trusted sources. To conclude, I feel that I have gained a lot of knowledge and bettered my understanding of the condition I have. To people choosing topics for their HELP project, always remember to look into your own personal story, as there you can find something you are truly passionate about.
RS Talk by Mike Haines OBE
Next Wednesday, the Third Year will attend a talk by Mike Haines OBE, of Global Acts of Unity, where they will further develop their understanding of forgiveness, building on the work they have done earlier in Religious Studies and Philosophy. Global Acts of Unity is a registered charity that was set up by Mike following the killing of his brother David in the Syrian desert in 2014. David Haines went to Syria with a well-established NGO, but was kidnapped by ISIS, and tragically murdered one year later. Mike’s response to this is powerful: he talks of the damage that hate does and he promotes the values of unity, tolerance, understanding, and forgiveness.
Since 2015, Mike has been undertaking school tours to reach young people in the hope that his story will inspire in them these values. He has spoken to over 100,000 school children and the response and testimonials are consistently excellent. You may have also seen Mike on Channel 4 News recently, regarding the trial of his brother’s killer, as well as in the national press. The talk should be informative and inspiring, and we hope that your son will gain a great deal from it. More information can be found here.
HAMPTON GOLF COMPETITION
Hampton is organising a golf competition for various schools in the borough and we would like to enter some boys from the First, Second, Third and Fourth Year if possible. The competition will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday 21 June, at Fulwell Golf Club.
If you are a golfer and would like to put yourself forward, please email s.may@hamptonschool.org.uk, or find Mrs May in the German office. You would need to own your own clubs, be familiar with golf scoring and etiquette, and have experience on a full-length golf course. We probably can’t take everyone who is interested, but please feel free to contact Mrs May for info.
UPCOMING CLUBS
As we enter the final half term, it’s your last chance to try something new from the wide range of activities that are offered at Hampton. Here’s a reminder of ones that you might like to check out:
- Croquet Club takes place on a Wednesday from 1-1:45pm between the Porter’s Lodge and the tennis courts at the front of school. No previous experience necessary – just a steely streak of competitiveness! Come and enjoy the sunshine – all welcome.
- Psychology Club will be running this term on Thursday at 1.15-1.45pm in Room 98 – all Third Years are welcome to come along. We will be discussing fascinating psychological phenomena such as déjà vu and the Placebo Effect, and even be conducting our own experiments!
- Garden Club takes place in the Geography Department Garden from 1pm on Thursdays. If you are interested in how to grow your own food from seed, propagate plants from cuttings and generally want to experience a rewarding and therapeutic new life skill then come along and see what green-fingered Hamptonians are up to.
- Photography Club will be happening on a weekly basis this term – a chance for any budding photographer interested in developing their skills. It will take place in Art5 every Tuesday and will run by Aryan S in the Sixth Form.
- Current Affairs Club is up and running! The club is open to all in the First to Fourth year, and happens every Friday at 1.20pm in Room 99. From exciting debates to interesting news stories that you may have otherwise missed, this club is all about digesting what’s going on in the world in a fun and engaging way. Attendance is not compulsory week on week, so if the club is not for you – no worries!
- Maths Club takes place on a Friday at 1.10pm in Room 7. New members are always welcome – you don’t need to have attended before.
- Climbing Club happens on a Friday at 12.35pm by the climbing wall. Any level of experience is welcome – come and try something new!
- Philosophy Circle run by Mr Scott also happens on a Thursday at 1.20pm, taking place in Room 21. Come along and get involved in some thought-provoking discussions!
Two Truths and a Lie
Last week Mr Trivedi gave us two truths and a lie – well done if you guessed that Mr Trivedi playing for Chelsea U11s was the lie.
Dingbats
A new feature to get you thinking this week…Dingbats! A Dingbat is a ‘say what you see’ kind of puzzle which will lead you to a well-known phase. For example, the answer to the Dingbat below would be ‘Banana Split’:
Can you work out the common phrase based on the clue below?
Connection Corner
Well done to the everyone who had a go at the Connection Corner set over the half term holiday. It was a tricky one and stumped many of you. Merits go to all those who correctly guessed that adding a prefix of San made all the answers into a place name. Big shout out to Monty S, Ed M, Eddie H, Viren A, Oliver D and Thomas W-M.
Another tricky one to have a go at over the weekend:
In case, you’re still perplexed here are the answers from the half term conundrum:
Which footballer scored the ‘Hand of God’ goal against England at the 1986 World Cup? Diego Maradona
Which famous Spanish actor is the voice of Puss in Boots in the Shrek film series? Antonio Banderas
Which football manager is known by the media as ‘The Special One’? Jose Mourinho
Which German F1 driver won four consecutive World Championships between 2010-2013? Sebastian Vettel
Connection answer: Adding a prefix of San makes them a place name (San Diego, San Antonio, San Jose, San Sebastian)
