Welcome to the First Year Blog!
I can’t believe I am already writing this term’s final blog! The First Year’s first term has passed by incredibly quickly and it has been a real pleasure to see such a friendly, enthusiastic and positive year group settle in so well. This term has been packed with exciting events and this week (and next) are no exception: Christmas Concerts, Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, fun final lessons, and another important ESFA fixture for the U12B footballers, which I’ve just been told they won 3-1 – well done for making it into round 4, boys!
Enjoy the final week of term, and remember Wednesday is a half day – School finishes at 12pm and coaches leave at 12.15pm! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday, wherever you are going and whoever you are spending it with. Make sure you get plenty of rest and enjoy all the festivities, and we’ll look forward to seeing you all again in January!
All that’s left to say is Happy Christmas from the First Year team!
MEET THE TEACHER
For this term’s final instalment, George S (1H) interviewed one of his Form Tutors Mr Barber!
What made you want to become a teacher?
I really love my subject and wanted to teach other people it.
Why did you come to work at Hampton?
I heard Hampton was awesome and wanted a new challenge.
If you had three wishes, what would they be?
Giving everyone enough money to live, that I never get bored of my job and Manchester United get back to where they should be.
What’s your favourite animal?
Canines in general; maybe foxes, as I feel sorry for them.
What came first, the chicken or the egg?
The observer.
What is your favourite TV show/movie?
Sci-fi movies that make me think.
MUN CONFERENCE
This Monday, I was lucky to be given the opportunity to attend the Benenden MUN conference near Brighton. This was because I am part of an amazing club called Model United Nations, which takes place every Tuesday. Early on Monday morning, I woke up with a spring in my step! After sitting in the car and finally arriving at school, I got on to the bus for a long drive to the coastline. As we neared the school where the conference would take place it felt as if there was a river bubbling through my veins. Suddenly, the bus stopped… We had arrived.
We were directed to our seats for the opening ceremony. The conference was declared open, and we were told to go to our allocated rooms for our debating to begin! Once I had got into the room, I was greeted by another 40 cheerful faces all from the delegations of different countries. I was from the delegation of Pakistan, and we were going to be debating about the eight tonnes of space debris that had been orbiting our planet.
About ten minutes into the debate, everyone had to make a speech about themselves. Luckily, I had prepared the speech beforehand. As the name ‘Pakistan’ was called out, I hesitantly walked up to the front of the room. I read out my speech as confidently as I could, and it went amazingly well! I did not make any mistakes and I managed to make perfect use of the time I had to say my speech.
After the debate ended, I had my lunch, which consisted of some delicious fries, salad, and macaroni cheese. Once again, we were directed to our rooms and open debate started again. I stated a few POI (point of information) and overall, I found the debate to be exhilarating.
Upon leaving the school and entering the bus to return home, I felt that I had an amazing new experience. I was sure that I would come to another debate as I had learnt so many new things. I would definitely recommend joining MUN club to anyone who enjoys engaging in debate! By Devam K (1B)
CHRISTMAS CONCERTS
Last night brought the first of two Christmas Concerts, with all First Years performing as part of the First Year Choir, and some boys involved in orchestra, ensemble and choir performances too. With another concert coming up tonight and the Carol Service on Tuesday evening, there are still many festive performances to enjoy, and best of luck to all performers involved in the upcoming events!
On Thursday First Years and other bands and orchestras performed to a crowd of parents. My form, 1J, appeared in the second half of the concert along with the Symphony Orchestra, which included one of my form mentors, Freddie! We sang Be Our Guest very well with the goofy piano music and then Carol of the Bells not-so-successfully with the other people singing ding-dong all the time. Nonetheless, it was a fun experience and I’d love to do it again if I could. By Shishir V (1J)
SNOWBALL FIGHT
I mentioned a snowball fight in last week’s blog – Elijah and Joe from 1L reveal why they were involved in this! The final Christmas video will come out next week so make sure you have a watch when it is published!
Last week in Physics, we shot a mini video of us having a snowball fight for the Christmas Card video. The snowballs were made of realistic cotton as we had no snow. Our teacher Mr Fuldner, joined in at some points. We were told to stay in a certain area where we chased after each other and threw our snowballs at each other. Then, a selected few got to throw snowballs at our teacher in a mini semicircle as they filmed us throwing them. Overall, this was a great Physics lesson and we can’t wait to see the video. By Elijah T (1L) and Joe L (1L)
BEEKEEPING CLUB
Beekeeping Club managed to extract some honey last week! Mr Langton has shared some photos with us and Tom has written about his experiences in Beekeeping Club:
I always look forward to the unique experience that is Beekeeping Club. Dressing up in beekeeping suits fills me with trepidation but excitement. Thousands of bees swarming around you is a highlight of the week. I have learnt what key role they play in sustaining the environment. Did you know that the average hive produces 11kg of honey during a season? It is an extraordinary experience and while having fun with your friends you will also learn about buzzing bees. It is a great way to finish the week. By Tom S (1L)
In Beekeeping Club, a few weeks ago, we learnt how to take the honey out of the hive! First, we took a few frames out of the hive, which contained the honeycomb with the capped honey. Our job was to uncap them using a honey knife. We were guided by Mr Langton and Mrs Moore. We made a few slashes in the honeycomb so that the runny honey could drizzle out. We repeated the process on the other frames and then put the frames in the extractor. The extractor looked like a cylindrical can with three mesh partitions to hold the frames and a lever at the top to spin it. After putting the frames in, we spun the frames extremely fast, so that the honey was propelled out to the walls and drizzled to the bottom of the can. The extractor worked like a centrifuge to push the honey out. We finally got some jars and poured the honey into them. We then put a small piece of honeycomb inside each jar with the runny honey and as the jars had got all sticky, we had to wash them before labelling them. We were able to take our jars home as a Christmas gift for ourselves and our family or something to give to friend (I decided to keep mine). Beekeeping is an amazingly fun club, and we learn new things every week. Hopefully, you can join in too!
Quiz Question:
Can you name a use for honey (other than for eating) and a use for beeswax? By Neil T (1J)
The Worldwide Quiz
Held on Monday 5 December, we took part in an interschool team Geography Quiz. Myself, Oliver (1P) and Krishang (2B) found all seven rounds extremely fun. The first round was the Alphabet quiz, where each person was given a question where the answer began with a letter of the alphabet. The last one was like Geoguessr with only part of the image shown. That was the round of death. One round was about OS maps, another about physical geography. My favourite was the Country Anagrams, where we unscrambled the letters. We ate our mince pies and chocolates and had fun. We came fourth which was quite good but it was partially because of slow reaction in the Geoguessr round. By Shishir V (1J)
BEBRAS
First Years recently took part in the Bebras Computing Challenge – Jai writes about his experience participating in this exciting competition:
We walked into the room nervously. We slowly logged into our computers ready to face the test. My brain sprang into action as I answered as many answers as I could accurately. After forty minutes we celebrated triumphantly as we finished another test. We were excited to get our results in a fortnights time. By Jai K (1J)
TUTEE OF THE WEEK
Every week, the First Year Tutor team nominate a boy who they have been particularly impressed with, and Mr Hill and Mrs Peattie provide him with a football to use on the fields for the week!
This week’s tutee of the week is Leo L (1L) as Mrs Minchin, Mr Hill and Mrs Peattie have been very impressed with him always being helpful and kind to his peers and making a real effort to tidy up the form room after break and lunch times – well done Leo!
CHESS MEDAL
Some impressive chess news from Jai K (1J): he won a silver medal at last weekend’s at Twickenham Junior Chess Congress 2022 in the U18 category. Well done, Jai!
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 First Year Blog! Please do send any information about any of your achievements through to Mr Fuldner (d.fuldner@hamptonschool.org.uk).
STEM Fair
Grab the opportunity to get involved in the STEM Fair at LEH in February. Your aim is to work in a team to create an artefact and a poster explaining your project. You have freedom to choose from any area of Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics.
The advice is to come up with a title phrased as a question that you are capable of answering. The ‘artefact’ is a loose term and can range from:
- A model/prototype
- Computer program
- Experiment
- Artwork inspired by your research
If you missed the meeting last week and would like to find out more, click here.
If you would like to take part in the 2023 STEM Fair then complete the form by following the link here.
Important dates to remember are:
Monday 12 December – Initial Ideas
Friday 13 January – Project Proposal
Monday 20 February – Poster Submission
Friday 24 February – STEM Fair at LEH
If you have any questions, email Mr Wilson in the Physics Department.
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 First Year Blog! Please do send any information about any of your achievements through to Mr Fuldner (d.fuldner@hamptonschool.org.uk).
FIRST YEAR FIVE QUESTIONS
An impressive 49 First Year Hamptonians had a go at last week’s quiz, well done to everyone who had a go! 1B and 1J and are crowned joint weekly champions with a fantastic 10 entries each. Merits go to:
1P: Eashan G, Thomas N, Oliver Y, Lucas B, Ian C, George V, Lucas T, Ollie B
1J: Henry S, Danyal P, David W, Charlie M, Devan D, Neil T, Sam D, Josh B, Rohan K, Jai K
1L: Patrick H, Rajvir S, Armaan V, Macsen B, Edison Y, Konrad G
1W: Brooklyn N, Benjamin J, Vayun J, Isaac d Q, Shiv V, Inwoo Y, Anthony S, Dean B
1B: Ekam R, George H, Jiashan L, Sebastian W, Ari E, Fred O, Devam K, Joe B, Neal H, Nathaniel O
1H: Matthew K, Joshua D-L, George S, Lucas T
1F: Oscar F, Daniel S, Aiden F
Take a look at this week’s Christmas-themed questions – have a go yourself or challenge people at home and see if they know the answer.
- What is traditionally hidden inside a Christmas pudding?
- In which film is 8-year-old Kevin accidentally left behind when his family go on their Christmas holiday?
- Which country sends a Christmas tree to London every year?
- Which creature created by Dr Suess tried to steal Christmas?
- What date is St. Nicholas’ Day?
Merits are awarded for everyone who has a go! Just click on the link below and enter your answers; points for the Interform Competition will be awarded to the form with the most entries every week.
Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here.
Take a look at next week’s blog to find out the answers and here are the answers to last week’s 5 questions:
- What is Joe Root’s ODI shirt number? 66
- Name the 2022 winner of the Great British Bake Off? Syabira Yusoff
- What is the capital of Finland? Helsinki
- How many elements are there in the periodic table? 118
- What is the longest Harry Potter film? (non-extended versions) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets at a whopping 161 minutes
Remember to write your name in the form so you can be credited with merits!
