Welcome to the Third Year Blog!
We’re back!
Exams are over! The sun is out! The 3G is comparatively empty! It was katsu curry for lunch on Monday! Hampton life is sweet.
One might think that Hamptonians might be sitting idle in the sunshine, drifting between lessons, keeping an eye out for the ducklings getting bigger and bigger as they amble around the cloisters. Not a bit of it! As this week’s blog attests, there is still plenty going on, with National Regattas to row in, Prep School pupils to teach new skills to, musicals to watch, and the fabled Interform Cup to strive for.
Yes, it’s summer, but there is still plenty going on!
Heads of Year Message
Well done to all J14 rowers for their excellent showing at the National Schools’ Regatta on Friday 26 May.
Well done to everyone for completing the Third Year Exams the week before half term (and earlier this week for some). Pupils will have received most of their exam results this week and can inform parents themselves. Parents will receive official notification of their son’s exam grades at the end of term in the Summer Grade Card. Departments that set pupils for GCSE will use exam results (alongside other data throughout the year) to inform their decision making and will inform parents by letter before the end of term.
iPad return and laptop collection
A reminder that Forms 3A-3E will collect their new laptops from the atrium at lunchtime on Thursday 15 June, followed by Forms 3F-3J on Friday 16 June. In particular, a reminder to 13+ joiners that they must back up their iPads before handing them in on those dates. An important section (relevant to 13+ joiners) from the letter sent earlier this term reads:
Prior to attending
- Any damage or technical issue with the iPad must be brought to the attention of the IT department as soon as possible. Do not wait until the day of return to raise any issues.
- Pupils must take a backup of their iPad and ensure they have synced their Class Notebooks (see attached guide).
- Once confident the backup has completed, pupils should reset their iPad to factory settings and remove ‘Find my iPad’ (see attached guide).
- If there is any uncertainty, please see the IT department prior to Thursday June 15.
Absences
For medical absences, please notify your son’s Form Tutors via email (cc’ing absence@hamptonschool.org.uk) on the morning of each day of absence by 8:45am, or complete the absence form via the parent portal. For planned absences and appointments, please contact Heads of Year requesting the absence with as much notice as possible.
Boys – We hope that everyone makes the most of the remaining weeks of term. Please throw yourselves into the activities on offer and keep supporting one another with kindness right until the end of term. As always, do reach out to us or your Form Tutors if you are having any difficulties.
We hope you all have a lovely weekend in the sunshine!
Best wishes
Mr T Rigby & Miss M Bedford
National Schools Regatta Bronze!
Fantastic to hear that our J14 rowers secured a superb bronze medal at the recent National Schools’ Regatta. Let’s hear all about it from Patrick M (3C).
On the final day of the exam week the J14 octos – A (bow to stroke: Billy T, Aiden H, Jack H, Archer J, Zach K, Oliver S, Patrick M and Will L coxed by Johnny R), B (bow to stroke: Boris D, Daniel T, Alex P, Matthew W, Leon M, Azam A, Thomas L and Ben F coxed by Akshay P) and C (Chris C, Henry P, Albert S, Max T, Eric M, Harry GW, Alessio C, Gabriel H and coxed by Cassian BS) all went to Dorney Lake for the National Schools’ Regatta. After an early start, at the school by 7am, we soon arrived at Dorney and rigged our boats up ready for our time trial at 10:45am. J14A were to set off second of twenty seven crews entered in the 1st octo category. We knew that we would at least need to come 6th to qualify for the A final and have a chance of medalling. After a while in the marshalling area we turned out and began the 500m paddle to the measuring line before beginning our 1km race. During the time trial we suffered from a fierce cross head-wind, one of the most difficult conditions to both row and steer in, with the wind both slowing you down and pushing you to the side. On what was a very difficult test of our technique we finished the time trial with a time of 3:37.60. A good time considering the conditions, which meant we qualified for the A final later in the day. St Paul’s School had come first with a time of 3:34.97, with Windsor Boys coming in second with a time of 3:36.12 (just over a second slower) and us 2.63 seconds off first place. The rest of our final was completed by Abingdon School (3:40.36), Reading Blue Coat School (3:40.91) and Radley College (3:41.98).
We had a considerable wait in between races with all postponed by half an hour because of difficulties with marshalling boats and stakeboating (stakeboating is where boats are held onto a start pontoon before racing). This time extended and racing went on well into the evening. We had been assigned lane three with place number deciding lane. The more favourable lanes being the lower-numbered ones considering the conditions. Once all boats were ready we were started with a sharp, “attention, go!”. And we were off. St Paul’s from the start gained a lead. For much of the race our bow ball and Windsor’s were changing places slightly edging in front before losing it once again. We were so close we could hear the sound of their cox giving instructions to their crew. By the 500m mark, halfway through the race, St Paul’s led by two seconds over Windsor, with us 0.21 seconds behind them and Abingdon just over two seconds behind us. Now in the second 500m with pain beginning to properly set in St Paul’s pace began to slow, as did ours and Windsor’s but Windsor managed to hang on to second. St Paul’s crossed the line first though with a time of (3:17.15), with Windsor behind (3:18.20) and with us completing the list of medallists (3:20.68), Abingdon came fourth (3:23.99) unable to catch up to us with Reading Blue Coat fifth (3:30.03) and Radley College just 0.03 seconds behind (3:30.06).
The B octo narrowly missed out on the 2nd octo A final, by under a second. They finished 3rd in their B final with a time of 3:39.56, 2.55 seconds off first place. The C octo also raced in the 2nd octo category as there was none specifically for 3rd octos. They came 16th qualifying for the C final, an impressive achievement considering 2nd octos from some schools had not qualified for a final at all. They finished fourth in their final with a time of 3:54.40.
Thanks must go to all the coaches and to those who organised the event with the squad back in action this coming Saturday for Star Regatta in Bedford.
Third Year Drama trip
The Third Year drama pupils travelled to London on Thursday to watch a performance of the musical ‘Newsies’. Below is a brief review from Thomas G (3J).
The play ‘Newsies’ was a very energetic production in which we saw many dramatic techniques that we covered during our drama lessons. For example, there was the use of gobos, also known as stencils.
I found in the first part there was more singing and acted as more of an introduction. In the second part there was much more dialog and dancing, which I believe allowed them to develop the plot. In conclusion, I believe that Newsies was an excellent production and included many great dramatic techniques.
Arts Award
Next Thursday, Third Year boys on the Arts Award will be teaching pupils at Hampton Prep how to graffiti, play the spoons, and make a cartoon in a day of workshops which put them at the front of the classroom and in charge of the lesson.
Twenty Third Year Hamptonians, who have been working all year on different creative projects, will share their passion for their particular art form with Year 6 pupils. The prep boys will be taught how to photograph wildflowers and insects, how to design a politically-impactful piece of graffiti and how to design an advert. There will be paint, glue, clanging music and chocolate involved.
The workshops develop and test the boys’ leadership skills as well as their ability to work in a team and organise an effective lesson. They are close to the end of the Arts Award which, if they pass, gives them a Level 2 qualification (equivalent to a GCSE). We wish them luck!
Interform Update
The race for the Interform Cup is hotting up with just a few events remaining. While these have not been finalised, various ideas are being considered – Basketball, Chess, a Spelling Bee. There are still plenty of points to play for!
The current standings are below, along with a guide of where each form’s strengths and weaknesses seem to lie.
1st 3A – 62 points
Strength: Cooking
Weakness: Codebreaking
Modern men who haven’t been able to get into their lockers since mid-September.
2nd 3F – 52 points
Strength: Penalty shoot-out
Weakness: Athletics
Fantastic shot placement from short, slow run ups.
3rd 3D – 51 points
Strength: Athletics
Weakness: Football
A bit like the Third Year form equivalent of Usain Bolt’s foray into trying to be a professional footballer.
4th 3G – 50 points
Strength: Teambuilding
Weakness: Codebreaking
Essentially the opposite of James Bond.
5th 3H – 43 points
Strength: Rowing
Weakness: Rugby
Excellent at going backwards, as long as it doesn’t involve an egg-shaped ball.
Joint 6th 3C – 41 points
Strength: Football
Weakness: Cooking
A form seemingly stuck in the 1970s.
Joint 6th 3E – 41 points
Strength: Codebreaking
Weakness: Tug of war
A form with the right priorities in terms of being well equipped for the modern world.
8th 3J – 37 points
Strength: Tug of war
Weakness: Teambuilding
The Tug of War seems to be the one event of the year where they were all pulling in the same direction.
9th 3B – 27 points
Strength: Codebreaking
Weakness: Penalty Shootout
Their real strengths are basketball, chess and spelling and they will be flying up the table in the coming weeks.
ONCE UPON A PINE: THE ADVENTURES OF PINOCCHIO
The summer show, Once Upon a Pine: The Adventures of Pinocchio, is going to be performed by members of the Lower School year on Tuesday 20 and Wednesday 21 June,
Tickets are FREE!
Book tickets here (there will also be some free tickets for pupils available on the door each night).
We hope to see many of you there enjoying what looks set to be a humorous and heart-warming show!
Two truths and a lie
Before half term, Mr Rigby was the teacher who offered us a few potential facts about himself:
- Mr Rigby represented Durham University at Ultimate Frisbee.
- Mr Rigby sets the thermostat in the Third Year Head of Year Office so that it is one degree centigrade cooler than the temperature in the rest of the school.
- Mr Rigby once featured in a BBC adaptation of Jane Austen’s novel ‘Persuasion’. His role was to fall out of a tree and ‘have his brow mopped’.
Well, anyone who has seen Mr Rigby with a frisbee in his hand (admittedly not many of us can say this) will be able to tell that he was the sort of student who would have strolled into the University Ultimate Frisbee team. Beyond this, Mr Rigby may not be a member of the Drama department, but if you need a convincing performance of someone with a minor injury looking for sympathy, he is a professional having delivered a deeply moving performance for the BBC. Seek it out if you can, but prepare to have your heart strings tugged by the power of his portrayal. What this means is that Mr Rigby does not have the thermostat set one degree cooler in the Third Year Head of Year Office – he is a powerful man within the School, but not that powerful.
For this week, we stay with the big names in the Year with Mr Moore, Assistant Head of Year offering some truth and some falsehood.
- Mr Moore has won the National Rosslyn Park Rugby 7s
- Mr Moore is a massive Phil Collins fan. His favourite song is ‘You’ll be in my heart’, which featured in the film Tarzan
- Mr Moore has scuba dived in the Bahamas to conduct fieldwork on endangered coral reef ecosystems
But, which is the lie?
CONNECTION CORNER
Well done to the everyone who had a go at last week’s Connection Corner. Well done to everyone who correctly guessed that the answers were all British Monarchs, merits go to Neel M, Ollie W, Agalyan S, Patrick M, Johnny R, Max F, Stanley A, Albert S, Oliver A, Gabriel S, Avraj M and Felix B. Big shout out to Ben B who specified that they were the four most recent monarchs. Impressive work Ben!
Another tricky one to have a go at over the weekend:
In case, you’re still perplexed here are the answers from the last week’s conundrum:
Who holds the World Record for the Triple Jump for men? Jonathan Edwards
Which English singer-songwriter had success with Shotgun? George Ezra
Which famous British actress starred opposite her future husband in the film Cleopatra? Elizabeth Taylor
Which Victorian author wrote Hard Times? Charles Dickens
Connection: The four most recent British monarchs Edward VIII, George VI, Elizabeth II and Charles III
