Christmas Travels, Special Achievements & Welcome Back!  

Welcome to the Second Year Blog!

Welcome to our first blog of 2023! I hope you all had a lovely festive break and got to spend time with your family and loved ones. This week the boys have been reflecting on their first term of Second Year, celebrating successes and identifying some targets for 2023. We have a lot to look forward to this term; the Interform Quiz starts next week and I can’t wait to see which form’s quizzing prowess will come out on top! The pupils will also start their language taster sessions, which gives them the opportunity to try out a variety of languages before picking their options later this year. I can’t wait to hear all about it in next week’s blog!

Interform quiz schedule:

Merit Milestones

Another bumper week for merits! Well done to the following Second Years:

Archie Crowhurst – 10

Ishaan Arora – 10

Charlie East – 10

Edmond Louet – 10

Lorenzo Ingrassia – 20

Ollie Nicholls – 20

Zhenbo Hong – 20

Rahul Bansal – 20

Lorenzo Ingrassia – 30

Siddharth Srivastav – 40

Josh Millington-Jones – 50 (fantastic!)

Theo Liang – 60 (amazing!)

A summary of the year: 2022

Umair M (2L) takes a look back at 2022:

2022 had plenty of highlights! In Hampton, the then First Years (us) took their first exams and we made the most of our first academic year as a Hamptonian. COVID-19 did not have a big impact anymore yet many things have changed. We now come into School in games kit and we use Teams inside of Firefly. The rooms were renamed and we’ve just stopped getting lost.

Outside of School, many monumental events occurred. Records were broken, from the box office to the weather. We had the hottest day in England ever while multiple movies broke multiple records. The FIFA World Cup took place and was arguably the best World Cup ever! We were able to watch the amazing England vs Iran match at School. Some forms even had a sweepstake and Messi finally won the World Cup. Looking ahead, 2023 looks to be an exciting year. Next Tuesday we have the Interform Quiz with 2L vs 2W and 2B vs 2H. Plus some Second Years will be participating in the Oxford University Computer Challenge round 1!

Christmas in Australia!

It was great to hear about all your adventures over the Christmas holidays. Lots of you travelled far and wide, Kai W (2L) made it all the way to Australia:

During the holidays, I travelled to the east coast of Australia, an amazing place to visit. As we landed into Sydney, we were greeted by both palm and Christmas trees, a very confusing sight to see. A short drive later, we saw Sydney Harbour, a turquoise blue sea covered with hundreds of vessels, like an ant colony. We were amazed by this sight, and paired with the marble white glory of the Sydney Opera House, blown away. We travelled along the sights, enjoying ourselves throughout. 

As we travelled further inland to Canberra, we saw the renowned bush of Australia. With kangaroos hopping around us, and kookaburras singing in the trees, we visited lots of family and friends, sharing our stories so far about Australia. We spent Christmas there, enjoying the sunny weather and barbecues. After our enjoyable time in Canberra, we travelled south to Eden, a small but lovely town. We enjoyed the amazing surfing, going out there for hours on end, never wanting to stop. We met up with my uncle and aunt, and stayed with them as we enjoyed this lovely place. We borrowed their camper van for our next journey to Philip island, known for its amazing wildlife and penguins.  

On our first day on Philip Island, we went to a koala reserve, where we read about this endangered animal that is so crucial to Australia. After the wildfires that wreaked havoc in forests, it was now even more important to keep them alive. On our second day, we witnessed pelicans being fed, and we learnt a bit about these interesting creatures. On our final day in Australia, we were able to pet koalas and feed them in a reserve. They felt a bit like a teddy bear, with long fluffy fur and large ears. They seemed to be very picky with what they eat, only enjoying a few leaves from a branch, them swapping to another. We were also able to feed kangaroos, which was a very strange experience as kangaroos are very large and to see them this placid was different. Overall, it was an amazing experience and I recommend it to anyone who enjoys adventure. 

The bassoon 

Lots of Hamptonians play an instrument, but what do you know about the bassoon? Dominic N (2L) tells us more about this unusual instrument:

You may not have heard of the bassoon. It is a very obscure and difficult instrument in the Woodwind family. It has a double reed, like the oboe, and makes a beautiful sound when played. You can join just about any orchestra as it is a very rare find. You are probably wondering what this instrument looks like. Well, a full-sized bassoon is 1.38 metres high, generally red and wooden. It has a range of 3 ½ octaves and weighs about 3.4 kilograms! The sound is produced by blowing into the reed. The wind will travel through the instrument, coming out through different holes which alters the pitch. The lowest note (B flat below the bass clef) is played by covering all the holes in the instrument. 

I play the bassoon and have done since I was 10. If you want a way into an orchestra, perhaps you could consider playing the bassoon like me!

Special Achievements

It seems we have a lot to celebrate this week, with lots of people achieving their goals and succeeding in a whole range of areas, from music to science and more! We absolutely love being able to celebrate your achievements, so please make sure you send anything you’re proud of to: b.tiller@hamptonscool.org.uk

Anton C (2B) created model rockets over the Christmas period and had a successful launch! We look forward to hearing about his future experiments.

Siddharth S (2F) played during New Year’s Eve in the Chess NYE Prize marathon Chess Arena Prize and came 1^st Place in the U1600 section. Well done, Siddharth.

Leonardo F (2W) had some amazing achievements at the end of last year. He participated in the Maths Olympiad hosted by the London School of Mathematics and Programming and achieved a gold award. He also passed his grade 6 guitar exam with a merit!

Umair M (2L) achieved a merit in his grade 4 exam – well done, Umair!

Theo T (2F) won The Miley Cup (for the Best Rising Star aged 13) in the London Organ Competition over the Christmas holidays. What an achievement, Theo, well done! Find out more here.

Houses of Commons

Order, Order! The Hampton House of Commons is a new club for budding politicians with an interest in all things politics and parliament. We will create a ‘mock’ version of the House of Commons and debate new and fresh ideas on policy areas from Education to Healthcare, with a governing party and Cabinet, an Opposition and representation for all parties currently in the Commons. The club will run weekly, and the first session will give you the chance to choose your party as we determine who commands a majority, party leaders, the Cabinet and the Speaker.

Come along next Monday 16 January at 12.35pm in the Lecture Theatre. All year groups are welcome. Any questions, please contact Mr Leafe.

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 term 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.

Project proposals are due in on Monday 16 January so if you have’t yet submitted yours, get your thinking caps on over the weekend.

If you have any questions, email Mr Wilson in the Physics Department.

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 Dominic N (2L). Congratulations, you’ve won a Merit!

Q: What do you call a parade of rabbits hopping backwards?

A: A receding hare-line (hairline)

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!

QUIZ OF THE WEEK

After a break over Christmas, Quiz of the Week is back! Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here. 

Points for the Interform Competition will be awarded to the form with the most entries over the term.

Have a great weekend!