Welcome to the Third Year Blog!
Welcome to our first Third Year Blog of the year, where we record the exploits and successes of the School’s much-loved middle. And what an incredible start it has been with dramatic, historic events unfurling outside the School gates with a new Prime Minister, the death of our Queen and a new King on the throne. Inside School, we have welcomed 54 new boys and all forms have been mixed up creating exciting opportunities for new connections. Importantly, the form groups will remain the same for the next three years as the boys’ journey through their IGCSEs.
Highlights of the week include Teambuilding Day and the buzz of the Co-Curricular Fair as well as the new room numbering system. Philosophy Circle is our club of the week. Sports fixtures were reduced because of the period of national mourning but we have an incisive report from the touchline.
HEADS OF YEAR welcome MESSAGE
We were delighted to see the smiling faces, energy and enthusiasm as Third Years returned to school last week after a well-deserved summer break. Whether a returning Second Year pupil or joining from a Prep School, all have started the school year remarkably well. They are settling into the new Form Groups with characteristic adaptability and we have already received several positive comments from subject teachers who have been impressed with the early interactions with their Third Year classes – well done everyone! They have also responded well to the challenges of familiarising themselves with a new timetable, new classrooms, new Form Tutors and new subject teachers, so we are sure that the boys will benefit from an extra day to regroup over the bank holiday weekend.
We spoke to all Third Years together at the start of term to emphasise a few important points. Firstly, they are always welcome to speak to us, their Form Tutors and/or their Sixth Form mentors on any subject, but particularly if they have a question or a problem relating to School life that they need help with. Second, they should be themselves and must be kind to themselves over the coming days and weeks. The exertions of starting a new term in a new environment are very challenging, so they must give themselves time and space to rest, sleep at night, eat well and stay hydrated. It may take a little time to feel completely settled (and this is to be expected), but the boys should be calm and authentic in their interactions with teachers and peers. Finally, we set the boys some aims for the year. We hope these will act as a guiding principle for their time in Third Year:
- Always aim for personal best in everything you do at School – academic endeavour; co-curricular engagement; interactions with teachers and peers.
- Be kind to everyone in the School community.
- Get involved in as many aspects of School life as you can.
- Speak up if you need assistance or if you get things wrong.
Given the aim to “get involved”, we were very pleased to see a full turnout at the Co-Curricular Fair on Friday 9 September. Third Years should resolve to try out at least one new club (beyond sports practices) this half term.
Teambuilding Day was a great success on Thursday. We were delighted to see all the Third Years taking part in teambuilding activities so energetically and enthusiastically throughout the day. Feedback from the Problem-Solving Company praised our pupils for their sustained and constructive efforts on each task. We know that this is just one step in the integration process, but it was great to see the boys having fun whilst learning about effective communication, problem solving, and working as a team.
Parents will have received separate communications about Open Morning (Saturday 24 September) and Pastoral Forum (Monday 26 September). All Third Years are expected to attend Open Morning to assist (unless involved in an away sports fixture that day). Parents are warmly invited to attend the Pastoral Forum, using the link in our letter to sign up.
We have high hopes for the new Third Year boys and we are really looking forward to supporting each of them and helping them to achieve their potential this year.
Best wishes
Mr Rigby & Mr Moore
Teambuilding Day
Our first Interform event was Teambuilding Day on Thursday when the whole year group gathered on the fields for a fun and challenging series of tasks which tested their abilities to problem solve and negotiate. The day is an opportunity for the new form groups to get to know each other as well as to learn about communication and leadership skills.
‘We laughed a lot,’ reflected Hayden E (3A) who joined this term, ‘and we definitely know each other better.’ His favourite task was Egyptian Moves where the boys had to travel in teams on a combination of planks and short poles. It required careful planning and there was much hilarity as they wobbled and fell on the first try. Other tasks involved filling a pipe with water (Global Warming) with only three ropes to help you, and Spider’s Web where boys had to pass through improbably small gaps without touching the ropes.
JR O (3A) commented on the day: ‘It was a rewarding experience and I found I got to know my friends much better. The tasks required ingenuity and teamwork. My personal favourite was the Spider’s Web. I found it made us think of interesting and fun ways to escort each other through.’
The day was run by an external company and the leaders commented on the boys’ excellent behaviour, highly competitive spirit and keenness to learn. First place went to 3G, second place to 3A and in third place was 3F. Final results from the day are as follows:
3G – 220pts – 9
3A – 202pts – 8
3F – 201 pts – 7
3E – 200pts – 6
3D – 194 pts – 5
3B – 181pts – 4
3C – 175pts – 3
3H – 170pts – 2
3J – 160pts – 1
A long way to go until the silverware is handed out, but 3G lead the way after one event.
Take a look at some of the images from the teambuilding activities here:
Well done to all our Third Years on a fantastic day working together!
Co-Curricular Fair
Last Friday, Hamptonians in the First, Second, and Third Year took part in the annual Co-Curricular Fair. The Co-Curricular Fair is an opportunity to explore the breadth of all of the amazing clubs on offer, ranging from Chemistry to Model Aviation, and from Board Games to Lego Architecture Club, to throw yourself into all corners of Hampton life, and to make some new friends. At Hampton, we are all so lucky that there is an extremely wide variety of clubs and over the last two years, I have tried numerous clubs and I was itching to try more! At the fair, there was a sense of excitement in the air, as pupils learnt about all of the different clubs that Hampton had to offer. There were so many choices and it was really hard to decide what clubs I wanted to try out and, in the end, I picked Linguistics, History, Archaeology, and Archives Club, and Geography and I am really looking forward to trying all of these new clubs.
I also caught up with Matthew J to see what he thought of the fair:
The co-curricular FAIR was great and it was good to look at all of the clubs on offer. I tried model aviation which is very fun and we’re making model planes which is cool.
By Joshua R (3E)
The full list of all clubs, societies and other co-curricular activities on offer at Hampton can be found here:
CO-CURRICULAR 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.
Finding your way around School!
When we walked into the School for the first time this academic year, we immediately noticed the change in room names. All the rooms on the Ground floor were now labelled G for Ground floor, F and S for First and Second. These new letters were accompanied with new numbers! While this sounds complex, it has made it much easier to know what floor you are on and the rooms are always quite obvious. However, this did not come without slight drawbacks. The disappearance of the specialist room names such as P2 for Physics, C10 for Chemistry or AR5 for Art made it a slightly greater task for new boys and experienced Hamptonians alike to locate classes in these subjects. Some of us were even scrambling around the School to find classes that happened to be right next to our form room! It won’t be long until we are all fully adjusted to the change in room numbers and were generally find it to be a more logical system than the former.
By Nathaniel C, Jack H and Stanley A (3A)
Club of the week
Philosophy Circle – Monday 12:35pm in the RS Tower
On Monday, there was Philosophy Club with Mr Scott, it was very well attended and I for one had a lot of fun. It was a slightly shorter session as it was only the first but still a lot happened. First, we were introduced to the club and then we moved on to getting into groups to write out some philosophical questions. One of ours was ‘How do we know that we are seeing the world wrongly and the people we call colour-blind are seeing it correctly?’ These are the kind of questions that were suggested. Next week we will be picking out a question from the Philosophy mug to debate so make sure you come along!
By Seb H-T (3C)
Upcoming Clubs
There’s always the opportunity to try something new from the wide range of activities that are offered at Hampton, and this term some new clubs have started up. Here’s a reminder of some that you might like to check out:
- Croquet Club takes place on a Wednesday from 1-1:45pm between the Porters Lodge and the tennis courts at the front of School. No previous experience necessary – just a steely streak of competitiveness!
- Pride Society meets on Thursdays at 12:35pm in Room S24. It welcomes anyone who identifies as LGBTQ+, or an ally, and is supportive, friendly and kind group.
- Up in the Library, Ms Morse is running Third Year Book Group (Wednesdays, 12:35pm) where pupils choose their next gripping read and conduct A Level style discussions on their reading. Lunch provided with extra chocolate biscuits!
- Tennis for Third Years in the A Team is on Wednesday (12:40pm)
- Third Years are invited to join the taster session for The Writers’ Club in The Writers’ Room this coming Wednesday at 12:35pm.
- The Combined Cadet Force meet with Flight Lieutenant Holdaway in the CCF parade on a Friday 4:15 – 5:45pm. This MOD-sponsored club is an organisation promoting teambuilding, leadership and self-reliance. Cadets can and will learn to live in the field with rations, learn weapon handling and general filed craft and as we are, at present a RAF section, the theory of flight with the potential of flying.
Sports Fixtures
The U14A team played their first match of the rugby season against Seaford College at the weekend. Let’s hear from their captain Harry D (3A) as he tells us all about the match:
The U14 As rugby season started with a much-anticipated game against Seaford College. After having three pre-season training sessions and a couple of lunchtime school sessions to learn the new rules and welcome the new members of the team we felt ready to play our first fixture.
Stanley A started us off with a dummy to send the defence the wrong way, scoring under the posts which we converted for the extra two points. Sebastian H-T scored the second breaking through the defence with a strong hard-line. We went into half time 14-7 after Seaford scored a converted try late in the first half. The second half started well, with a try created from a line out resulting in Jack scoring to push us 21-7 point ahead. Another try came soon after, as Fraser chased a kick from our half to score under the posts for a simple conversion making the score 28-7. Will finished the game off with another try that was converted to make the final score 35-7, a good, strong start to an exciting rugby season ahead. By Harry D (3A)
Good Luck Quizzers!
Wishing our Third Year quiz team of Joshua R, Kanishk M, Alex P, James B and Ben B, the very best of luck this Sunday as they compete in the National Junior Quiz Final this weekend. Fingers on buzzers!
Terrific Tennis
Great to hear about Dario P’s (3H) exploits on the tennis courts, when he competed for Team GB last week.
Last week I was very fortunate to get the opportunity to compete at an international tennis event in Umag, Croatia, representing Great Britain after qualifying through a national competition earlier this summer. This was a tournament of high standard and it was a fantastic learning experience competing against strong players from around Europe. I played some tough matches in my group, winning one out of three, unfortunately unable to qualify for the quarter finals. However, I did manage to win the rest of my matches to win the consolation draw. Overall, I really enjoyed the tournament, everything about the organisation and the GB team spirit was great. By Dario P (3H)
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.
CONNECTION CORNER
Have a go at answering the following quiz questions! Once you’ve got your answers, see if you can spot a connection that links them…
Go on, have a go for your chance to win a merit! The connection will be revealed in next week’s blog.
