Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
This week saw the return of No Limits Week, which encourages pupils to try out three new clubs or activities. The Second Year Hamptonians have been having a go at all sorts of fun activities from Beekeeping to Basketball! It also means we’ve got some new writers for the Blog this week, thank you for coming to Blog Club boys and I hope to see some of you again in the future!
Next week will be a homework holiday for the Second Year to allow some time to recharge batteries midway through the half term and get ready for hard work over the coming weeks before we break up for Christmas. Hopefully everyone will spend time on hobbies outside of School and will take the opportunity to get some early nights! Any pupil who is behind with any work at all must take this chance to get up to speed. We will also have our first Interform competition… Chess! There will even be a team of tutors competing…! Good luck to everyone involved!
Merit Milestones
Another bumper week of merits! Looking forward to more of the same next week…
Adam Saker – 10
Thomas Scrimshaw – 10
Rahul Bansal – 10
Manraj Grewal – 10
Ben Whiteley – 10
Jayden Chit – 10
Alex Collado – 10
Max Dexter – 10
Luke Taylor – 10
Olly Phillips – 10
Ed Pedder – 10
Nileeth Gwalla – 10
Paul Isalan – 10
Umair Mukhtar – 10
Oliver Champkin – 10
Kiran Grover – 20
Umair Mukhtar- 20
Danny Prichard – 20
Josh Gibbins – 20
George Eggleton – 20
Anton Chetvertkov – 20
Rory McEwan – 30
Siddharth Srivastav – 30
Josh Millington-Jones – 30
Meet Miss Mattinson
Our weekly interviews, are a great opportunity for you to find found out a little bit more about your Tutors! So, thank you to Rory M and Krishang T (2B) who interviewed Miss Mattinson, Music Teacher and 2B’s tutor!
What subject do you teach and why?
Music – because I have always loved making music and listening to music and I want other people to experience that too!
What is your favourite colour?
Green – a green like Bob Ross’ Sap Green. This is because I love being outside in the countryside, on a long walk, surrounded by trees.
What is your favourite instrument and why?
The flugelhorn! It’s not an instrument I play but it makes such a warm sound, especially when played in a Jazz style.
Where is the favourite place you’ve sang at?
When I was at school, the school choir went on a tour to Krakow in Poland and we all sang in the salt mines in Wieliczka, where a chapel has been carved out of the rock. The acoustics was just astonishing and the atmosphere, a few hundred feet below the ground, was unforgettable.
Who is your favourite composer?
Ravel. His compositions for piano and for orchestra are beautiful, particularly his Piano Concerto in G. The slow movement of this is probably my top choice for Desert Island Discs.
What is your pet peeve?
The thing that irks me the most is unkindness – if I could teach all my pupils one thing and one thing only, it would be to be kind – so that’s my biggest pet peeve. That and loud chewing.
What is your favourite food?
Pizza. I don’t think I’ve ever turned down pizza.
What is your favourite musical?
I think I’d have to say High Society with music by Cole Porter. The plot isn’t my favourite but any film that stars Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra AND Louis Armstrong gets a big tick from me!
Who is your role model and why?
My parents are both huge role models for me. They were both performing musicians at the start of their careers and have now taught collectively for half a century! I know that they have had such a positive impact on their pupils and, if I can do half as much as a teacher, I’ll be happy.
Lunchtime Piano recital
On Friday there was a lunch time concert for pianists. There were five performers who all played very well. I was one of the performers and performed my grade 5 piece la Chevaleresque. Another pianist performed a piece from the movie Interstellar – it was excellent! There are going to be more informal concerts on the 2nd of December and 30th of November and anyone can come for free – we look forward to seeing you there!
By Umair M (2L)
Language of the week – Proto-Indo-European
As we continue our journey with languages from around the world, let’s hear from Theo L (2B) and Habib T (2B):
PIE may have been spoken by a hypothetical prehistoric civilisation of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The language is an ancestor of the Indo-European family of languages; a massive ancient group of languages that includes English, French, Portuguese and the overwhelming majority of European languages.
Knowledge of this language comes primarily from reconstruction of other languages, along with archeological evidence. The reconstructed language contains evidence of pastoral farming, agricultural cultivation, and Neolithic agricultural technologies – reminiscent of the things they would do at the time. Additionally, there is reference to the worship of a sky god – likely a form of Jupiter, the Roman King of the Gods. The civilisation likely lived during the late Neolithic period – 4th millennium BC. It is practically impossible to find the origin of this language, since there is only indirect linguistic evidence, and no record of it because it is so old.
CLUBS OF THE WEEK
Every week we feature a number of clubs Second Year Hamptonians have been loving, as this week was No Limits Week we saw a lot of pupils trying new activities they now want to recommend to you!
Chess Club
On Thursday I went along to chess club, a great experience to improve your game of chess as well as just having some fun. At the club, we all went and grabbed a board, and sat down for our games. I enjoyed an intense game, as well as some rule bending games which produced a handful of laughs.
When we felt like we had enough, we decided to pack away, and leave to go off to lunch.
Overall, this club was a lot of fun, and very laid back and not rigid. I would really recommend this to anyone who has a passion for chess, or just for a bit of fun.
By Kai W (2L)
Psychology Club
On Thursday 1:10, I found my way to psychology club located in S41. It is run by Mr Dow and we have great fun watching mind shattering videos and doing fascinating tests. It is really interesting watching how people’s minds work and their thought processes. We also discuss ideas from people in the past and the social experiment they did.
In my opinion, you can come no matter what you think because everyone is open to ideas and are very kind.
By Max D (2L)
Philosophy Club
One of the best clubs of the week occurs on Wednesday at 1.25 which is Philosophy Club and it is held by Mr Vann-Alexander in S6 (in the RS tower). It is an intriguing club and each week you alternate between talking about one philosophical statement and games week. During the week where we discuss a philosophical statement Mr VA gives us one statement (for example, if God exists) and we are asked to give an opinion about what we think. During games week, we play a variety of different games that include word association – where each person says a word that relates to the word that the person before them says – and the one minute game – where we are split into different groups of 4 and each of us attempt to talk about a statement for one minute without repeating a word that isn’t in the statement or hesitating. If we hesitate or repeat a word and someone else points it out then they take over and whoever finishes the minute wins and goes to the grand finale. We highly recommend this club to anyone that is interested in philosophy and wishes to improve their debating skills. Not only do you learn to think on your feet and have interesting, philosophical conversations but you also have great fun with Mr VA and everyone else who partakes in this club.
By Haadi H and Alex C (2L)
Take a look at just some of the activities you had a go at during No Limits Week:
Swords, shields and showmanship!
Last Thursday, we had the opportunity to go to a talk on Gladiators from the bestselling author, Ben Kane. He started telling us some of the lesser known facts about gladiators, like how gladiator fights started out as a ritual at wealthy people’s funerals. We also learnt lots about the lives of gladiators and what it was really like to fight in the arena – unfortunately, most of the new gladiators were dead by the end of their first or second battle. The thing we found the most interesting was learning about the slave rebellion that swept through Southern Italy, led by Spartacus the gladiator. At the end of the talk, there was the chance to buy one of Ben’s bestselling books, and get it signed as well. Overall, the talk was really great and was perfect for people interested in classics and ancient history.
By Rory M (2B) and Alex L (2F)
Story Time
And now, for Hijacker’s Island – a weekly running story of a secondary school class stranded alone on a deserted island…
“Yes… let’s go!” Rupert said.
2Q erupted into cheers. Plankton School Second Year did not go on many trips, at least ones that were really fun. So, when Mr Henry, the Headmaster, announced that they were going to New York, everyone was overjoyed. Everyone but Luke.
New York… oh come on…
“Come on!” Peter, who was sitting next to him, yelled across the room. “We can leave Johnny behind.”
“No, what about homework?” Fred arrogantly shouted.
“Oh be quiet!” Barru bellowed, and the class laughed. Behind Luke, Kipper and Charlie momentarily paused their endless discussion of video games to cheer with the rest of the class.
And a month later, the great day arrived. All of Second Year arrived at the airport, and were each assigned their guides. 2Q’s was a man with a salt and pepper beard, and he was of a stocky build, with a green polo shirt. His name, as he said, was simply Jim. As they boarded the plane, Jim disappeared for a moment, which Luke (slightly paranoid, as always) found strange, but Jim soon reappeared and was his gloomy self again. Luke didn’t need to ask twice about where he was going to sit. He sat with Daniel, Theo and ‘N’ by the window. Yeah, there were four adjacent seats by the window. Also, N’s real name was Nitraloskinthopendennis, and since no-one could be bothered to say that, everyone just called him ‘N’, or Nitral.
“I can’t wait, huh,” N said.
“I’m going to shout really loudly…” Theo declared.
“Hehehehe,” Daniel giggled. “Bruh, why?”
N sighed.
It was only when the plane landed that everyone realised something was wrong. At the same time.
“Does New York look like this?” Luke asked.
Make sure to come back next week to find out what could possibly happen next!
THE 39 STEPS
Some of our dramatists will be treading the Hammond Theatre boards in our first production of the year The 39 Steps.
Richard Hannay, a perfect gentleman and dashing hero, meets a mysterious woman at a London theatre, who implores him to take her home with him. She soon confesses to being a spy, hot on the trail of a dangerous organisation. That same night she gets stabbed in his flat and Hannay is thrown into a mad chase to escape both the police and the mysterious spy organisation, ‘The 39 Steps’, whilst trying to solve the riddle behind her murder. This wonderfully inventive and gripping comedy thriller takes you on a breath-taking and hilarious journey from London to the Scottish Highlands and back. Can Hannay evade capture and clear his name of murder before it’s too late? Will he fall in love along the way? And what exactly are ‘The 39 Steps’?
Tickets are now on sale here for what promises to be a fantastic production. Don’t miss out!
JOKE COMPETITION
The first week of our Second Year Joke Competition had some fantastic entries and gave us all a good laugh. In fact, we couldn’t decide on just one winner so this week the winning jokes were submitted by Rory M (2B) – congratulations, you’ve won yourself a Merit!
Yesterday I saw a guy spill his Scrabble letters all over the road. I asked him “What’s the word on the street”?
SHOUTOUT OF THE WEEK
A huge congratulations to Guradeaes S (2H) his cricket club (Ashford CC) won the U13 plate!
QUIZ OF THE WEEK
Well done to everyone who had a go at last week’s quiz. Merits go to:
2J: Josh M-J, Alex L, Jake O’R, Nihal B, Kian IB, Ben G, Eric P
2L: William O’S
2H: Darshan S
2W: James P, Jatin C, Freddie T, Atulya S, Abhideep S, Oliver S
2B: Ethan G, Kiran G, Rory M, Krishang T, Daniel M
2F: Theo T
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:
- Who won the premier league last year? Manchester City
- When was Hampton school founded? 1557
- Who played as Ron Weasley in the Harry Potter movies? Rupert Grint
- How many permanent teeth does an adult normally have? 32
- How many tons does the Great Pyramid of Giza weigh to one decimal place? 6.5 million
