Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
It’s been another busy and fun filled week for the Second Years, there have been National Quiz Finals, Regional Sports Competitions, a history trip to Portsmouth and, of course, the Summer Show performances. We have a blog full to the brim of fun accounts and reviews of all the events this week, so I’ll keep it brief and let our wonderful Blog writers tell you all about it!
I hope you all have a wonderful weekend in the sun!
Merit Milestones
Well done to the following boys:
Jake O’Reilly – 30 (Great work!)
Krishang Toprani – 50 (Hooray!)
Eric Paqvalén – 70 (Congratulations!)
Eric Paqvalén – 80 (Double congratulations!)
Kian Iranpour Boroujeni – 80 (Fantastic!)
Tutor Question of the Week
This week the pupils wanted to know…
Would you rather speak to animals or be able to speak every human language?
Animals: Miss Tiller, Mrs Hill
Every language: Miss Winstock, Mrs Owen, Miss Holt, Mr Worrall,
Have you ever had a burning question you’ve always wanted to ask your form tutors, then please send your suggestions for next week’s Tutor Question Time to b.tiller@hamptonschool.org.uk.
History Trip – Mary Rose
On Wednesday, we travelled to Portsmouth to visit the remains of the Mary Rose ship. We started the day with a workshop led by one of the many professionals that help people learn about the history and the build up to the sinking of the Mary Rose. During this workshop we studied replicas of artefacts that were found aboard the ship and talked about some of their uses, we also talked about the history of the Mary Rose and how it was King Henry VIII favourite ship in the English Navy. After this we went down to a 4D experience that talks about the recovery of the ruins of the Mary Rose which was led by many archaeologists and divers this was a truly remarkable experience as we were able to both witness and learn about the true engineering extent of recovering the ruins
After this very insightful experience we went down to the gallery and looked at some artefacts as well as the Mary Rose itself. The archaeologists only managed to recover half of the ship as it was buried in silt, but this was still an amazing experience and a look back into the past of the English Navy.
Overall, this was an amazing experience and I recommend it to anyone that has a want to learn and enjoy history as well as experiencing some clever engineering feats.
By Kai W (2L)
Once Upon a Pine: Performers point of view
After countless hours of rehearsals, the play was finally ready. We all got into costumes, did a quick run through of the show and then it was time. As the first people began to arrive, we got the ticket sellers to give out popcorn and encourage people to go on stage to see the pre-show. To make sure there were not too many people the narrators controlled the flow. After everyone had taken their seats, the play began, and it was a blast. After a similar repeat the following night, the show was finally over! Well done to everyone involved.
By Max D (2L)
Once Upon A Pine – A review
On Wednesday 21 June, I stepped into the Hammond Theatre and was immediately greeted to an introduction of the play in the form of a circus that featured plate spinners, ribbon twirlers and even a mime. It was a great introduction to what would turn out to be a brilliant performance.
The story is a remake on the classic tale of Pinocchio, a boy puppet who wants to become a real boy, but is allured to the circus and misbehaves, leaving his father to starve before seeing the error of his ways and rescuing his father from a huge dogfish. It was a hugely entertaining performance with a brilliant acting display coupled with both a brilliant narration and interesting choreography, making it one of the best Hampton productions of the year. A huge congratulations to all the performers, backstage crew and Miss Tiller, who helped put together a brilliant Lower School production.
By Rory M (2B)
Athletics Roundup
Athletics Regional Finals
Monday 19 June was the athletics regional finals and a group of boys represented Hampton School with some amazing performances. Despite the pupils of the Lower Years not taking home any silverware, the events they competed in were amazing and they should all be very proud of how far they had come. The Inter-boys and Upper Years also performed brilliantly and many events were won by our boys. All in all, it was an amazing spectacle and experience for everyone who went, and they should all be very pleased with how they performed.
By Oscar M (2L)
Borough Finals
On arriving at the borough sports grounds on Wednesday, the early bus boys began warming up. Slowly but surely the rest of the team started to trickle in. As the first few events began, Hampton got off to a great start with already one borough record. As the day progressed each boy did increasingly well in their individual events. As everyone was trying to stay hydrated more events went by. At the end of the day the results were in sadly Hampton had lost the win by one single point, or in other words 0.1 seconds or even 20 centimetres. Even though Hampton came second by such a fine margin many of the boys got PB’s with two borough records.
By Joe T (2L)
National Quiz Finals!
Miss Noble fills us in on what happened at the National Quiz finals this week:
The Hampton Junior Quiz Team fought valiantly at the national finals, narrowly losing the plate final to City of London A Team.
We first came up against Magdalen College and lost 630-620 in a nail biting (and at times, controversial!) match. This meant that we were left fighting for the plate, and we comfortably beat Tiffin in our next round to get through to the final. Despite a strong start in our final match, we lost to City of London A Team by around 60 points leaving us proud runners up in the plate competition.
It was a fun afternoon out and all pupils enjoyed themselves. We will be back stronger next year!!
Now here’s an article from the perspective of William D (2J) who was part of the quiz team:
On Monday afternoon, William D(2J), Svajan (2H), and Alexander (2F), along with two First Years travelled to the Hall school in North West London to play in the final of the Junior Schools Quiz Challenge. The qualifiers were held online, and we won both of our qualification games. There were eight teams that had made it this far, which included local rivals Tiffin, as well as two City of London school teams.
In the first round, we were playing against Magdalen college school from Oxford. We got off to a great start, and at one point were leading 500-240. However, a poor run for us, and some fast buzzing from their two best players, led to them eventually winning by 620-610. An unfortunate error was made by the quizmaster, which cost us 20 points, but despite this, we were still proud of our performance.
This loss put us into the plate competition, where we played against Tiffin school. We played very well in this match, beating them by an eventual 750-300
We were now in the plate final. A win here, and we would bring home silverware. We were competing against a very strong City of London A team, who led for the entire match, but it was very close. With 30 seconds left, there were only 20 points in it. There would be time for one more question….
“What is unique about a catamaran?”
City of London buzzed in first and gave the rather questionable answer “a boat with 2 skis at the side.” This was accepted by the quizmaster, and with that, we knew the dream was over.
Umair M (2L) was part of the A team that unfortunately got knocked out, he tells us a bit more about it below:
Last Monday, Hampton School’s Junior Quiz team played in the National Quarter Finals. Unfortunately, we lost by one starter question which was 10 points. However, it has been an amazing run by our Quiz team and they have done very well. It must have been a very thrilling game! Well done Quizzers!
Junior Maths Olympiad
On 14 June I sat the JMO (Junior Maths Olympiad) with a couple of Second Years and some First Years. It was a two hour paper that we sat in the morning. The paper was split into two sections: Section A and Section B. In Section A we had to answer questions with a simple number whereas in Section B we had to answer questions with a written response, explaining how you get to the answer. Overall the test was relatively difficult with Section B being the hardest.
By Haadi H (2L)
Organ Club
Last Saturday, I was invited to join 12 other members of The Organ Club for an Organ Tour in Windsor, which started at the first Church at around 10am, and I was the first one to play the organ. It was an older organ with a light key action but because of the hot weather, some of the speaking stops were not functioning on the great division which was a shame. After a few more players had a go, we moved to the second Church which has a connection with the military and was visited by the Royal family with their own dedicated seating area. This second organ was larger and was more clear and clean sounding for my other contrasting piece.
Soon after lunch, we walked to the third church and gave the first piece a worthy reattempted performance, sounding much more in style and period of the piece on this organ, however because of its magnetic action it had a heavier touch. I was first to play again, as the youngest player on the day, at the fourth and last Church, this time turning one of my piano grade pieces into an organ piece, ending on a triumphant note. This organ was the largest by far and had many expressive stops and I thought this was the best sounding Organ of the day!
Overall, I enjoyed my first Organ tour, and it was a useful experience to sample different organs one after another and hear other members play, including the host organist who is the Music Director of three of the Churches that we visited. I look forward to the next Tour in Guildford and the chance to play at my second Cathedral!
By Theo T (2F)
SPECIAL ACHIEVEMENTS
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
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!
What do you do with a dessert that has committed a crime?
You put it in custardy!
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
Well done to everyone who had a go at last week’s quiz. Merits go to:
2L: Olly P, Haadi H
2J: Isaac H
2B: Kiran G, Rory M, Umair M
2W: Oliver S
Take a look at this week’s questions below, 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.
This week’s questions come from Svajan G (2H). Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here.
Here are the answers from last week’s quiz
- What is the name of the moon that has had a 9,600 km water geyser sprout up recently? Enceladus
- Which animal was crowned the world’s ugliest creature in 2013? The Blobfish
- How many times has Jose Mourinho won the Europa League? 5
- What is the IMDb highest rated movie ever? The Shawshank Redemption
- Who is the oldest person to win an acting Oscar? Antony Hopkins
