Welcome to the First Year Blog!
It has been great to welcome First Year Hamptonians back to School after a well-deserved rest with the same energy and enthusiasm they had before the break. With the spring term now well and truly underway, the first fixtures have been played, clubs both old and new have (re)started, the evenings are already beginning to get a bit lighter and – possibly most importantly – the amount of time the pupils get each day on the 3G has nearly doubled now the last section has been opened! Have a great weekend!
PROJECT EXPLORE LAUNCH
Project Explore is an exciting opportunity for all First Year pupils to get involved in! You should visit a local site that you are interested in, tell your Form Tutors about your visit, and with some inspiration from your visit produce your own project. There are no guidelines on what you can make: you could choose to write a poem, cook a meal, make a piece of art, record and edit a film, or any other creative piece you can come up with!
The deadline for Project Explore is Monday 24 April – just after the start of the summer term. I know all Form Tutors are looking forward to hearing about your visits and projects, so make sure you tell them all about it!
Mr Hill and Mrs Peattie have recorded this video to explain everything in more detail. All First Year parents have also been sent an email with a more information.
HAMPTON HOUSE OF COMMONS
A new term means new clubs! This week saw the launch of the Hampton House of Commons, and Zac C (1H) tells us more:
Hampton House of Commons is a newly established club where boys of all ages can experience the political life of parliament. In this club, pupils create a mock version of the UK government. It is partly a debating club but also gives pupils a chance to experience what it is like to be a professional politician. It runs on Monday during lunch from 12:35 to 1:10pm. By Zac C (1H)
Take a look at the video below to get a flavour of the club’s first session:
JUNIOR DEBATING CLUB
All other clubs have restarted as well, and pupils in Junior Debating Club have been discussing this topical question:
Our topic was about whether maths must be compulsory to the age of 18. I was for this statement. We had five minutes to get evidence to do our opening speech, collectively as a group we discussed what the advantages of this were and how to counterattack what they were going to say. In the end we won but it was a very close debate. By Danyal P (1J)
Our topic was “Does maths have to be compulsory till the age of 18?” I was on the against side. We were split into groups and from there we started to research. We had five minutes to gather information. Statistics, statistics, statistics that was all we needed but we couldn’t find any! We thought we had a big problem but then ideas drifted to our minds and we fought back. But… sadly we lost. By Jai K (1J)
THE WRITERS’ ROOM
The Writers’ Room is a club I have been attending and I have really enjoyed it. The club gives you the chance to write about anything and everything and encourages you to be as creative as you can. The most recent attendance was where we wrote meaningful six-word stories. It was a very interesting activity and I recommend this type of experience for everyone. By Louis C (1J)
Exciting English
This week in Mrs Whitwam’s English lesson, 1L have been learning all about Alfred Tennyson’s classic poem The Charge of the Light Brigade. Tennyson was one of the most important poets of the Victorian period and the poem is all about the failed attack at the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. A brilliant way to learn all about different techniques and structures in poetry.
COMPUTING CHALLENGES
At the beginning of lunch, we went to G66 to undertake the OUCC (Oxford University Computing Challenge). A few weeks before, we undertook the Bebras test and the people who were in the top 10% were invited back to the OUCC. The test consisted of quite difficult programming problems (at least for me!) You had to first understand the problem and decipher its meaning before trying to find a way to go about solving it. Do you use this loop, the repeat block, another block. Is this the quickest way, or is that the quickest way to solve this problem? Wait! Why did that work? Oh well, time to go on to the next question! It took a lot of energy and by the end of the test, we were all starving. By Gabriel K-S (1B)
Recently I took the Oxford University Computing challenge as I advanced into the top 10 percent of the previous Bebras challenge. I headed off to the classroom where it was being held and began to start the test. The test consisted of many difficult questions to answer and they were mainly all on coding and computing. Even with its harder questions I managed to answer a few of them. This challenging assessment was a thrilling trial for me and I hope to get involved more in this type of activity. By Louis C (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 Joe L (1L) as Mrs Minchin, Mr Hill and Mrs Peattie have been really impressed with him being a friendly, polite, and helpful member of the tutor group who is always ready to answer questions and support his classmates as required. Well done, Joe!
MUSIC TEST
Some great news from Inwoo Y (1W): he has passed his grade five music theory test with distinction and received a certificate from the Associated Board of the Royal Schools of Music (ABRSM). He did the test during the autumn half term and received the results during Christmas. Congratulations, Inwoo!
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).
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat
Any dream will do! Tickets are now available for this year’s Junior School Musical Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat! The joint cast of Hamptonians and Waldegrave pupils will bring this magical musical to life. Performances take place on Tuesday 7, Wednesday 8 and Thursday 9 February and tickets can be booked here.
FIRST YEAR FIVE QUESTIONS
An impressive 39 First Year Hamptonians had a go at last week’s quiz, well done to everyone who had a go! Form 1J are crowned weekly champions with a fantastic 11 entries. Merits go to:
1P: Thomas N, Oliver Y, Ollie B, Zac R, Sion K, Lucas T, Lucas B
1J: Henry S, Danyal P, David W, Josh B, Rohan K, Jai K, Joshua A, Siddhant S, Louis C, Shishir V, Ollie S,
1L: Armaan V, Macsen B, Edison Y, Willoughby E
1W: Brooklyn N, Inwoo Y, Huw C, Dean B
1B: Alexander K, Gabriel K S, George H, Jiashan L, Sebastian W, Fred O, Devam K, Joe B, Alex P
1H: Joshua D-L, Lucas T
1F: Oscar F, Daniel S
Take a look at this week’s questions – have a go yourself or challenge people at home and see if they know the answer.
- In what modern day country was Nikola Tesla born?
- How many F1 Drivers’ Championships has Lewis Hamilton won (a joint record with Michael Schumacher)?
- Which Apollo moon mission was the first to carry a lunar rover?
- Who was the architect who rebuilt London after the Great Fire of 1666?
- Which character does Ewan McGregor play in the Star Wars series?
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 term’s Christmas-themed questions:
- What is traditionally hidden inside a Christmas pudding? A coin
- In which film is 8-year-old Kevin accidentally left behind when his family go on their Christmas holiday? Home Alone
- Which country sends a Christmas tree to London every year? Norway
- Which creature created by Dr. Suess tried to steal Christmas? The Grinch
- What date is St. Nicholas’ Day? 6th December
Remember to write your name in the form so you can be credited with merits!
