Welcome to the Second Year BLOG!
Hampton is feeling festive this week! On Thursday we saw the welcome return of the grand Christmas tree in the main reception area; everyone is very much looking forward to the holidays! It was an energetic start to the week on Monday for our U13A rugby players, who were out competing for the Middlesex Cup – read the article below to find out how it went! We’ve had a very musical week, with lunchtime concerts from pupils and guest performances from the Carducci String Quartet. I look forward to seeing the upcoming Christmas concerts too!
MERIT MILESTONES
Another bumper week for merits! Well done to the following Second Years:
Vasily Uskov – 10
Zhenbo Hong – 10
Benedict Butterfield – 10
Alex Milicic – 10
Oliver Miles – 10
Toluwanimi Idowu – 10
Ethan Monk – 10
Xavier McGuire – 10
Myles Bar-Nahum – 10
Jack Haynes – 10
Myles Bar-Nahum – 20
Luke Taylor – 20
Sanjit Baber – 20
Sam Coupe – 20
Oliver Scott – 20
Aadam Khan – 20
Abhideep Sunilkumar – 20
Krishang Toprani – 20
Amar Gill – 20
Eric Paqvalén – 20
Kian Iranpour Boroujeni – 40
Rory McEwan – 40
Theo Liang – 40
A hat-trick of gold certificates to round off the week!
Meet Mrs Hill
Our weekly interviews are a great opportunity for you to find out a little bit more about your Tutors! So, thank you to Alexander L (2F) who interviewed Mrs Hill, Geography teacher and one half of 2F’s tutor team!
What part of Geography do you really like?
I would consider myself a ‘human geographer’ and love teaching many of the topics we cover in A Level Geography such as Population, Development and Globalisation. But I also really enjoy teaching Second Year Geography, I think we cover some interesting topics from deserts and water scarcity to crime!
Favourite book?
Difficult because there are so many to choose from, but I would have to say Harry Potter. They are the only books I have ever read more than once!
Do you have any pets?
I haven’t had any pets since childhood – I had a rabbit called Peter! But I would love a dog at some point in the future.
If you had to eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be?
If I had to pick just one food I’d say bread, as there are lots of different varieties and I absolutely love toast, but if I can pick one meal then I’d say spaghetti bolognese – it’s my absolute go to and the one I crave when travelling and is the first thing I cook when I get back!
What would you do if you weren’t a geography teacher?
Not sure, but it would probably still be related to geography in some way!
Do you have a favourite Christmas film?
There are two that come to mind for the nostalgia, and I must have seen these a hundred times! All I want for Christmas (1991) and The Santa Claus (1994)
ROAR!
Roar is a choir club, it happens at 1:10 on a Tuesday at lunch. You don’t have to audition for it but I wouldn’t start this term and wait until spring as we are already through a couple of songs and you do not want to be behind. We usually do songs from musicals such as ‘You’ll be back’ from Hamilton and ‘Naughty’ from Matilda. I would definitely recommend it to anybody who enjoys singing and wants to sing modern upbeat songs. There are two Christmas concerts coming up and Roar are performing in the first one on the 8 December – I hope you can come and support us!
By Danny P (2L)
Take a look at the video below to get a sneak peak at what Roar have been practising:
Middlesex Rugby tournament
This Monday saw the U13 rugby tournament take place, held at St James School. Zaki C (2L) interviewed one of Hampton’s players, Rafe M (2L) about their success at the tournament.
Did you enjoy the tournament?
It was a great experience and was very fun. The sub coats were amazing.
What best part of the tournament?
We lost to St Benedict’s who ended up winning last year. When we beat them it was amazing!
What did you think of your team performance?
We had a great game plan and spread the ball wide to our wingers, Jake and Joe. A great overall team performance.
Do you think you will win the tournament next year?
We have a good chance and our main competitors are St Benedict’s and if we beat them we stand a good chance.
How many matches did you play and how many minutes did you play?
14-minute matches and we played 6 matches. We won all of our games and only conceded 1 try.
Who do you think was one of your strongest players?
Luc L (2B) was the best player and he got us lots of turnovers.
A huge well done to all the boys involved in the tournament and we look forward to seeing the future success of the team!
ESFA Success
Harrison G (2J) plays for the U13A team and he’s also a fantastic writer and this week we get to experience a re-telling of a dramatic match the team played last week. Thank you, Harrison!
As I stood in the bitter, cold rain, a chill nipped at my bare knees and face. Our ESFA Cup run was over, surely…
After a deafening lunchtime of watching England v Iran in the World Cup, my stomach started aching with nerves. I knew this would be the hardest match of the tournament so far. The side was St Joseph’s school. They came out onto the fields in a full blue kit whilst we were warming up. They looked menacing especially the number 7 who looked as if he could beat us by himself. The game began and it seemed evenly matched until the number 7 was through on goal and just edged it past me, 1 – 0. We struck back early, a tap-in to the far post, 1 – 1. However, they continued to pressure us and just before half-time number 7 got through the defence and caught me, putting the ball through me and my nearest post, 2 – 1. The first half had flown by and I believed there was hope, but it was slim. The second half started on a low with a shot from outside of the box that cruised into the bottom corner. It was 3 – 1 and before I thought that it couldn’t get any worse, it started to drizzle. Light at first, then harder and soon it was chucking it down. As I stood in the bitter, cold rain, a chill nipped at my bare knees and face. Our ESFA Cup run was over, surely…
Although I was almost in utter despair, my teammates still played hard and physical. We kept going at their goal, but our attacks were without reward and soon there were only ten minutes remaining. This was clearly going to be agonising. Or at least that’s what I thought. Finally, our luck turned and we blasted the ball into the net after fumble by the keeper. My teammates roared, but I refused to celebrate, for I feared it was all in vain. But we kept at it and soon we got another goal. This time I jumped for joy and shouted out in happiness. It was 3 – 3 and I was filled with a new burst of confidence. But time was running out and extra time was looming over us. But alas, we couldn’t hold the fort (our penalty box) and soon they broke through, number 7 on the ball, but I saved his shot and everyone continued to play. But alas, again, a ball over the top and somehow a penalty was awarded to them. Everybody told the number 7 to take it and I thought, ‘oh dear, we’re gone.’ But he was like, ‘nah, I’m not taking that.’ Relief washed through me, it was a win in itself. The taker, who they worked out eventually, stepped up, he began to walk forward, then started running, he shot…
THE END…
He blasted it miles away from the post. The game went to extra time after both teams battled it out in the final two minutes. We got a goal early in extra time and the half was over quickly with a score line of 4 – 3 the second half began and after some frustrating minutes for the opposition we scored again! As it happened the final whistle blew and we had won.
Well done boys! Good luck in the next round.
DT LED Matrix
In Design Engineering, some Second Year pupils, including me, have been making an 8×8 LED Matrix – comprised of a printed circuit board with components, and a Light-Dependent Resistor (that detects light levels in a nutshell), DIL socket and chip! To attach these components, we had to solder the wires to the board itself, and to do it the perfect amount; taking a lot of patience.
The screen has a 8×8 display of pixels (64 pixels in total) that can display any shape, line, bitmap image, or animation using an array (multiple pieces) of binary code, like:
B01111110,
B11111111,
B11000011,
B11000011,
B11000011,
B11000011,
B11111111,
B01111110
For the functionality of the board itself, I personally coded three modes (switch modes using the A2 button) – an animation (an Earth spinning around a sun), a 4 level light sensor and a 15 second timer that can be paused and restarted. To achieve this, I utilised the LDR to also act as a second button, expanding the possibilities even further (a finger does block light, so this is possible!).
This was an extremely fun project, and I am looking forward to the next Design Engineering topic!
By Theo L (2B)
MUSIC ROUNDUP
As I mentioned earlier in the blog, it has been a busy week for music, with many pupils either participating in lunchtime concerts, watching the Carducci String Quartet and even one pupils’ debut performance with their band!
Lunchtime Concert
On 30 November, there was a short informal lunchtime recital for people doing ABRSM exams this December. Every performance was great. I was the only guitarist and I played my piece nightfall while my classmate Ollie C (2L), performed Shark soup. Although the majority of performers were pianists, there was a range of talent with a variety of pieces. There will be more informal lunchtime concerts this year and we hope you come to watch and make sure you tell your friends!
By Umair M (2L)
Carducci String Quartet
On Tuesday lunchtime the Carducci String Quartet performed in the Hammond. They are a very well reputed quartet and they were clearly very talented, as demonstrated by their performances. The Quartet consisted of two couples, and Irish couple and an English couple. After performing several invigorating songs, the players answered several questions from pupils and teachers. After lunch there was a Masterclass with the quartet for several of our string players, but as a trumpet player, I’m not sure I would have fitted in…!
By Rory McEwan (2B)
Upcoming Band Performance: Drumstixxx
This Saturday three Second Year boys: Xavier M, Myles B-N and Ryan W will perform. All three are very excited they have been practising every Monday since the beginning of the year, they all have put in lots of effort into each instrument: Myles B-N, lead guitarist, Xavier M, bassist and Ryan W, on guitar and vocals. Hour after hour all three have been preparing to play these three songs: Immigrant Song, Sweet Child O’ Mine and Smells Like Teen Spirit. We will tell you how it goes next week!
By Xavier M (2J)
Language of the Week
Azerbaijani by Habib T and Theo L (2B):
Origin: Is a Turkic language – sometimes referred to as Azeri Turkish
Speakers: 30 million – Official language of Azerbaijan
Age: Dates back to the late Stone Age
Can you match the following words to their English translation:
Sag ol Goodbye
Helekik Thank you
Salam You’re welcome
Buyur Go Straight
Duz gedin. Hello
Answers:
Sag ol: Thank you
Helekik: Goodbye
Salam: Hello
Buyur: You’re welcome
Duz gedin: Go straight
Why don’t you have a go at the word search below:
CLUB OF THE WEEK
Every week we feature clubs that Second Year Hamptonians have been loving, whilst No Limit’s Week might be over, it’s never too late to try out a new club or activity.
Choir
At choir, we are building up to our Christmas concert in December. Currently, we are rehearsing all together (trebles, altos and tenors) on Mondays, during P3, and on Wednesdays from 8:15 a.m, where we further practise our singing. For example, a song that we are singing is Gaudette, which is my personal favourite. What I like is that anyone is welcome to come along and sing, however it may be slightly late to join before the Christmas Concert, so I encourage you to sign up in 2023!
JOKE COMPETITION
The Second Year Joke Competition continues to bring those who come to Blog Club a good laugh, thank you for all your submissions! This week the winning joke was submitted by Lucas Z and Xavier F (2J) congratulations, you’ve both won a Merit!
Two people were dating.
The girl asked, “Do you like animals?”
The boy said, “I work with animals.”
The girl said, “I like people who work with animals.”
The boy said, “I’m a butcher.”
We will be continuing the competition next week, you can enter by emailing b.tiller@hamptonschool.org.uk . If your joke gets a mention in the blog, then you can collect a merit from your form tutor. Remember to use your name and form otherwise you won’t get any credit for entering.
Try your best to crack us up – good luck!
STEM Fair
The STEM fair is jointly run between Hampton and LEH. The aim is for you to design and implement your own project in Science, Technology, Engineering or Mathematics. Projects should aim to answer a question and should produce some sort of physical object (artefact). This is a team activity and each project should have a team of three people. You will have to ask a member of staff to supervise your project, and you should keep that teacher up-to-date with your progress. There is no paperwork or report required. You will need to make a poster (single A2) and you will present your poster and artefact at the STEM fair which is the week after the February half term holiday. Projects should take around 20 hours to complete.
This year’s fair will be launched on Tuesday 6 December at breaktime in the Lecture Theatre.
If you are interested in completing a project, please do come along. Or if you cannot come, at least one member of your team comes to the presentation.
SOUND BATH
Breathe and relax! Ms Garrido-Soriano will be running her final Sound Bath session of the term on Wednesday 7 December in The Hammond Theatre at 1pm. Come along and let your thoughts float blissfully away!
QUIZ OF THE WEEK
Well done to everyone who had a go at last week’s quiz. Merits go to:
2J: Josh M-J, Harrison G, Lucas Z, Kian IB, Jake O’R, Nihal B, Alex L, Jack H, Alexander M
2L: Oliver P, Kai W
2H: AJ C, Darshan S, Henry W
2W: Oliver S, Abhideep S, Leonardo F, James P, Jatin C
2B: Ethan G, Salah S, Charlie D, Rory M, Daniel M
2F: Siddharth S, Manraj G, Tom S, Ishaan A
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.
There’s a World Cup theme to this week’s questions, thanks to Alex L (2F) and Umair M (2L). Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here.
Here are the answers from last week’s quiz:
- Which nation has won the most FIFA World Cups? Brazil
- Who invented the computer? Charles Babbage
- How many time zones does Russia have? 11
- In cricket, which bowler had the nickname ‘Whispering Death’? Michael Holding
- What is the largest county in England? North Yorkshire
