Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
We’ve been back at School for few weeks now and it’s clear that life at Hampton is back in full swing! We started the week with the funeral of Her Majesty the Queen and spent the day celebrating the outstanding life she led. On Thursday, the weekly PSHE sessions were led by members of the Senior Leadership team, it was a brilliant opportunity for you to get to know one of the Assistant and Deputy Head teachers and they imparted an incredibly important message about bullying. It has also been fantastic to see how many of you have been filling your lunch times with the huge range of clubs and activities that Hampton has to offer. Find out more about just some of the clubs on offer in this week’s blog.
Tomorrow is the Hampton School Open Morning. Thank you all in advance for supporting such an important day for the School and for sharing your enthusiasm and no doubt your fantastic stories about your time as a Hamptonian with our visitors tomorrow!
Portland Adventure
Some of our Second Years enjoyed an adrenalin-packed weekend of adventure as they went on the first Adventure Society trip of the year, let’s hear all about it from Kai and Dominic:
On Friday lunchtime we set off on our adventure to Portland, where we would be amazed and awed by the beauty of our destination, as well as the experience of climbing at the seaside. One bus ride later, we arrived at the quaint town of Portland, where we would be briefed on our adventure ahead. Once we were equipped with our climbing gear, we travelled to our first climb. With the crashing waves behind us, we ascended the cliff face, tacitly placing our arms and feet with great precision to allow us to scale the climb. After a few attempts, and a couple scrapes and bruises, we made it to the top, and anxiously abseiled down, the slow and steady motion of the rope easing our nerves. After our first ascent, the nerves were calmed and we enjoyed the rest of the session.
The next day, we enjoyed another session of climbing, feeling more confident by the second. After a tiring climb, we came back to our lodgings, and prepared for a wet session in the harbour. Once we were equipped with our wetsuits, we swam into the harbour, and we played many fun games in the water.
On the final day, it was time to leave. We went for one last climbing session, where we both set timed records for two different walls. After our triumphant last climb, we packed away our belongings and set out on our way back home. Overall, we really enjoyed this trip and recommend it to anyone with a passion for climbing. Thank you to all the teachers involved in making this trip so fun.
By Kai W and Dominic N 2L
Meet the Tutor
What is your name and what do you teach?
Mr Worrall and I teach Physics.
What is your favourite part of being a teacher and working in Hampton?
Getting to see all the pupils enjoying themselves inside and outside the classroom.
What is your favourite animal?
My family dog, a Golden Labrador.
What is your favourite football team?
Chelsea.
Who is your role model and why?
My old tutor and science teacher at school, who was head of Chemistry. He influenced my job as he spent a lot of time with me helping me apply to university. The time and effort he spent inspired me to become a teacher.
What is your advice for all Second Years?
Keep throwing yourself into as many things as possible, whether that be sports teams, music, drama or co-curricular activities.
Interview by Rory M and Krishang T
CHESS CHAMPIONSHIPS
It’s great to hear about all the things you get up to outside School. Alex L tells us about his chess achievements over the summer holidays:
During the summer holidays, I made some great personal achievements in chess. First, I played in the British U12 Chess Championships. I was aware that this was my last year playing in this age category so I knew that I had to do well. The first two games were quite easy as the stronger players started separating from the weaker and then something very strange happened. In the second round, seed one lost, and I was paired against his opponent in the next round. The game was even at first but then I saw an incredible tactic that won me the game.
However, the fourth round wasn’t as lucky for me as the other ones as I was playing on board 1! My opponent was fourth seed and after a long, equal battle he managed to win. As you can imagine I wasn’t very happy as my win streak was ended. My next game was against someone who beat the third seed in the first round. I couldn’t get a break! But after getting an advantage from the opening I managed to beat my opponent. Now after my score 4/5 I was placed on the first board again playing the person who beat the fourth seed last round and was leading by ½ a point. I lost.
I don’t know what happened but he managed get the victory. The final round was about to approach and I was paired against seed six. This was a perfect match as I was seed seven. The game was equal but I had more time and luckily for me that was the deciding factor. I came fourth with 5/7 barely missing the money prize.
By Alex L 2J
Discovering DESIGN and engineering
It’s always interesting to hear about what you’ve been up to in your lessons. Guradaes tells us about his latest Design and Engineering project:
For this half term, my Design and Engineering group and I are making a trophy, made of steel, that represents our favourite activities and hobbies. We first started off by gathering ideas for the trophy, and then shortlisted it to our favourite pose. Then, we made a model out of card, to see if everything works well. Now, we will be working with actual steel, bending and shaping it to create our masterpieces. I am very excited to see the results!
By Guradaes S 2H
CLUBS OF THE WEEK
With over 130 clubs, societies and activities running at Hampton every week, we’ll be highlighting a few each Friday in our blog! We encourage you to try out a range of activities, who knows, you might find something you love!
Chamber Choir
Chamber Choir is a really good club for those intrigued by and enjoy singing. In Chamber Choir you get the chance to perform in loads of concerts and not only are the performances great fun but being backstage is also a great opportunity to meet new people with the same interests. Last week we started preparing songs for the Christmas Concert. However, this club is fairly advanced so if you are new to singing you could try joining choir and that also participates in concerts but with larger numbers. If you are interested in joining Chamber Choir then you should try speaking to your music teacher or Mr Green. Overall after doing Chamber Choir for a year I can say it is really fun and I highly recommend it.
By Josh G 2L
Brilliant Backgammon!
Backgammon Club happens every Tuesday from 1:00pm in Room G46. I started Backgammon in the No Limits Week in First Year. Before this I didn’t know how to play or that it even existed! But when I went, I loved it! I particularly enjoyed how its blended strategy and luck and makes you think outside the box!
Last week I went with two of my friends and we made a backgammon tournament between ourselves. Near the end of every match, it got extraordinarily tense on the final roll of the dice, someone’s final chance to victory… If you like a game crammed with strategy luck, sometimes some tension and desperation, come to backgammon club on Tuesdays. Mr Barnes is always keen to welcome new players!
By Umair M 2L
Programming Club
Programming Club (Room G66), run by Sixth Formers, is a club dedicated to teaching programming/coding at a beginner level all the way up to advanced. It is a great way to learn it, along with a range of other technological subjects – including robots!
Each term, a subject is chosen, and it is continued for the rest of the term. This term, the subject chosen is making a website using HTML, CSS and Javascript. Currently, we have already explored different types of headers and how to use classes, along with a little bit of CSS (including fonts, colours, and size) with the <style> tag. If you would like to join, go to room G66 on Wednesday 1:00pm, and ask to put your name on the waiting list!
By Theo L (2B)
CLUBS, CLUBS, CLUBS!
The full list of all clubs, societies and other co-curricular activities on offer at Hampton can be found here:
Co-Curricular Club Timetable 2022-23
We are currently putting the finishing touches to our exciting 2022-23 Co-Curricular Booklet and, with over 130 clubs and societies on offer, the biggest challenge will be deciding which ones to join! Keep an eye out for notices from your Form Tutor for any changes to this year’s clubs.
Special Shout Outs
We love to hear about what you have been getting up to outside of school and to celebrate your successes in the Second Year Blog! Please do send any information about any of your achievements through to Miss Tiller. (b.tiller@hamptonschool.org.uk)
Josh M-J (2J) plays for Teddington Town Cricket Club and over the summer his team got to the plate finals. Well done Josh!
Junior Musical
Calling all budding actors! It’s time to audition for the much-anticipated Junior Musical. This year’s production is Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat – which tells the journey of Joseph and his coat of many colours. Auditions will take place on Tuesday 4 October from 4 to 5:30pm in the Hammond Theatre with recalls on Tuesday 11 October. The Junior Musical is open to all First, Second, Third and Fourth Year Hamptonians.
The audition song will be Close Every Door to Me. Please familiarise yourself with the song, prior to the audition. There will also be a short and simple dance audition.
More information can be found in the poster below:
TALK!
The first Hampton School Talk! of the year will take place on Tuesday 27 September at 1pm in the Hammond Theatre, The Pandemic – Lessons Learned.
Presented by Lung Consultant Dr Felix Chua and Pharmaceuticals specialist Dr Andrew Makin the Talk! will offer an insight into the Covid-19 pandemic, the medical approaches for treating coronavirus, the search for a cure, and what the future might hold for Covid-19 and other pandemics. If you’re interested in all things medicine or can see your future in drug development and research, come along on 27 September and find out more.
Hamptonians from across all year groups are welcome to attend and do not need to book a ticket
Quiz of the Week
Well done to everyone who had a go at last week’s quiz. Big shout out to Form 2B with the most entries. Merits go to:
2J: Danai T, Kian I B, Nihal N
2L: William O’S, Umair M, Oliver P
2W: Oliver S, Ethan D
2B: Krishang T, Kiran G, Tolu I, Jamie R, Rory M
2H: Svajan G, Guradaes P S
2F: Adam K, Ollie N, Siddharth S, Rahul B
Take a look at this week’s questions – have a go yourself or challenge people at home and see if they know the answer. Points for the Interform Competition will be awarded to the form with the most entries over the term.
Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here.
Here are the answers from last week’s quiz:
Which famous actor owns Seven Bucks studios? Dwayne Johnson
Which team does Ivan Toney play for? Brentford
What is the smallest country in the world? Vatican City
Which Greek God is known as Vulcan in Roman mythology? Hephaestus
Which band is OH Brian May a part of? Queen
Remember to write your name in the form so you can be credited with merits!
