Welcome to the First Year Blog!
Having now had a full month as Hamptonians, the First Years are continuing to get to know each other and the School better – with only two weeks until the first half term break the tiredness is also starting to set in, so try to get plenty of rest this weekend to return to School with fresh energy on Monday morning!
This week’s blog starts with a focus on Avon Tyrrell with more experiences, including a poem, from both Avon Tyrrell trips. Another big day this week was yesterday’s No Limits Lessons Day, with lots of fun and interesting experiences in lessons doing things a little bit differently to normal. Although Friday has now finished, the week has not quite finished yet with lots of sports for many First Years tomorrow – good luck to all involved!
OUR LEAP
We boarded the bus,
Everybody anticipating, creating a fuss,
The coach bubbled with excitement,
As we shouted in a confinement.
As we climbed up the tree each a mini monkey,
We were told from below that we looked rather funky,
Reaching the top,
We had to stop,
As we looked below,
“How far up did we go?”
At once we all jumped screaming “Faith!”,
On the Leap of Faith.
We headed into the woods,
Putting on our hoods,
We were blind boys,
As a blanket of darkness fell upon us,
We hesitantly stepped in the night,
“Should we go left, or right?”
But we wandered around unaware of weary hinds,
As the everlasting ghost stories filled our minds.
A big yawn,
At the crack of dawn,
What a start,
Tennis balls blast,
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Catapulting into the sky,
Towards our targets we let them fly.
A broad smile broke onto our faces,
All looked down and tied our laces,
Getting ready for this messy exchange,
The finish line was certainly in our range,
Aboard our raft, with holes it may have been riddled,
With a huge thrash and a splash we paddled,
We hit the buoy and shouted back,
But realised our binds had gone real slack…
Alas that was the last act,
And on the journey back,
We sat tired, our minds wandered back,
To the leap… the Leap of Faith.
When it dawned on us,
Avon Tyrrell was our leap,
Our first leap of camaraderie,
As Hampton Boys…
By Ruaan V (1L)
AVON TYRRELL ADVENTURES – PART TWO
Avon Tyrrell was such a spectacular trip! It was awesome doing all the fun, engaging and adventurous activities but most of all bonding with my friends. In the trip, there was an array of activities ranging from catapults to orienteering to raft building and so many more. Now let me give you some more details.
So, it began with us getting on the coach at 9am, all ready and raring to go on our first trip with Hampton. As we stepped on the bus, we all were so excited and exuberant, and we could not wait to get there. The first activity was orienteering where we had to work in groups of four and then navigate around the whole of Avon Tyrrell trying to find check points scattered around the site. After that we had team building which entailed making a parachute out of four pieces of paper, three balloons, and ten bits of string. This to me was the best activity because everyone had contributed in some way to building the parachute. We were all hands-on board from building a protection wall for the egg, cutting the tape, blowing the balloon, tying the balloon, creating the design and then finally putting it all together. Along the way there were some disagreements, when we were designing and executing the project, but we all agreed to finish off amicably. Sadly, because of the wind our parachute go stuck in a window ledge and the experiment wasn’t successful but the good thing we all succeeded in learning and working as a team. After that we had lots more activities but after two days, we had to say goodbye. Avon Tyrrell is a trip that I will always remember and cherish for a long time. By Ridhaan G (1F)
Avon Tyrrell will probably be one of my best experiences that I will have at Hampton. After a long drive of playing card games and chatting, we finally arrived. Away from a buzzing motorway into the calm countryside, Avon Tyrrell seemed so quiet and peaceful. However, we were all bursting with excitement. We wasted no time in getting started soon after the safety briefing was over. My first activity was the high ropes. We had to climb up a very tall pole, jump onto a metal bar and hold on. It was so fun. By then my tummy was rumbling, luckily, it was time for lunch.
After lunch, it was time to do some team building activities. One of those was walking across a beam without touching the ground and your entire team had to get to the end. Thankfully, we were allowed to put some stepping stones down and get on it. We could also help teammates if they were about to fall off. The next activity after our refreshment break was making a parachute out of cardboard, paper and Sellotape to protect an egg which was being dropped down from the second floor. Mine, sadly…did not make it. After dinner, we went on a night walk. It was really dark, but our eyes soon adjusted to the dark. It was interesting listening to ghost tales and some stories about the house. It was the first time I saw the Starlink satellites. It was nearly ten o’clock and I was ready to hit my bed. I woke up bright and early, eagerly awaiting the next set of activities to begin. We started straight away where we were split into different groups randomly between our classes. Some team games involved solving puzzles to earn points. I enjoyed using the catapult to hit some barrels. After lunch, it was time to build the rafts. I found tying the ropes pretty hard, but as a team we pulled it off well. It was a race getting to a certain point in the water and back in the quickest time possible. Some were lucky who managed to stay dry while others were not. This was by far my favourite activity.The time flew by so quickly and I was sad to leave. At the end of the trip, l was tired after a jampacked two days but immensely content. I will treasure this memory for years to come. By Ruhaan V (1B)
My experience of the Avon Tyrrell was brilliant. The high ropes were one of the best activities. I got to go on one of them that was like a pair of scissors. There was one beam of wood going from one tree to another and then back. They were inclined steeply so you went very high at the end, and I found it was rather terrifying. However, reflecting on it, I am glad that I gave it a go. I was fortunate enough to then go on another high ropes course the next day. This was a different one and was more like a vertical obstacle course. After the previous day, I was slightly apprehensive towards trying again at one. However, I gave it a go and thoroughly enjoyed it. One of the other main activities we did was the raft building. We firstly assembled some planks and empty barrels and tied them together with rope. Then, that afternoon, we got to sail them. It was a race to reach a buoy and get back as quick as possible. I went right in the water and powered it along from the back. Despite me being rather cold for a little while as I made my way back to the house, that was one of my favourite parts. By Will H (1F)
The trip to Avon Tyrrell was an unforgettable experience. I am still in wonder at how they fit so many things into two days! First, my group had orienteering, a tense race around the house grounds to find the markers on the course. I was ecstatic when my group won, even though some members went missing along the way and had to be recovered. That’s how big the grounds are! The high ropes were incredible. Everyone went out of their comfort zone, pushing themselves to their limits, and I completed my favourite course, the Leap of Faith, which includes a bar and a wobbly pole. The next day, there was fierce competition building through the 100 boys on the trip. There were many activities designed to make you think outside the box and to work together as a team. Points were given out depending on how well the group did at those things. There were then raft races, and remarkably, no one’s raft collapsed. After this, the team with the most points won the competition. Although my group was sixth, it was still an amazing piece of teamwork. By Magnus F (1B)
The Avon Tyrrell trip was a blast! The house we stayed in was amazing, the activities the three forms took part in were outstanding. I woke up on Monday immediately and excitedly got ready for two days of adventure. The coach ride to Avon Tyrrell was extremely fun with me and my friends sitting at the back of the coach playing games like ‘Exploding Kittens’ and ‘Chopsticks’. I only played one round of Exploding Kittens as that round took around one hour! When we arrived, we arranged our bags in our forms and were briefed by Mr John. My first activity was low ropes where me and my group used teamwork to get ourselves across the course. We then levelled up onto the high ropes where we put on a harness and went straight on to the Leap of Faith. We had to climb up an old, wobbly pole and jump mid-air to try to catch a bar. Unfortunately, I couldn’t jump far enough to grab onto the bar but at least I got a hand to it.
The meals that the Avon Tyrrell staff served to us were nearly as good as the meals at Hampton! We had pasta for lunch and pizza for dinner as we had to have the energy for the night walk later. In the walk, we had no light and try to adjust to our surroundings (quite easy for me, not for others). There was a humungous puddle of mud which nearly everybody stepped into, but I narrowly dodged by staying on the grassy part of the path. We made herbal tea from a candy-like tasting herb which everyone tasted – it was delicious. On Tuesday, I woke up at 6:45am around the same time as the others in my room but as we weren’t allowed outside before 7am. After breakfast, we were all excited to start our activities but the downpour from last night had delayed us a bit. Luckily, there was a foosball table so some of the boys in other forms created teams and played king of the table. After a while, I got bored so went to play some pool instead. I had never played pool before, so I thought nobody had as well, but it seemed like everyone was an expert! I then found out that I am a decent pool player (which surprised me) and played a mini match, which I lost. After things had dried up a little bit, we then started our day with collecting points for the competition later. My most favourite part of Tuesday was when me and my group crafted our raft and it floated. My group wanted to come last or first so when they found out they couldn’t be first, they all started cheering to be last! Fortunately, our group came 6th out of 8 which made me extremely happy. On the way back, everyone was so tired that they barely made any noise and as I was exhausted, I just fell asleep for most of the journey. The trip was amazing so thank you to those who organised it! By Naivedya A (1L)
On 25 September, 1L,1P and 1W embarked on their first Hampton adventure; one that they would never forget. It was a bustling morning, full of excited energy ready to participate in activities with friends and mentors. After saying goodbye, we loaded our suitcases and set off to the New Forest. The coach was filled with exuberant chatter. Time slowed down and after a long journey, we arrived with a cheer from our crowd. Finally, we were able to walk down the rolling hills to our first activity: the ropes course; with the sole purpose to enhance our teamwork skills. Starting with low ropes, we tried to get past different obstacles as a team, problem solving when the group reached a dead end. It was immense fun. Afterwards, we just had enough time to try our hand out at the high ropes section. Harnessing up was challenging as there were so many different straps to tighten! Eventually, we were kitted up ready to go. The first section was the balance beam where we had to climb up a tree and walk across a beam suspended metres up in the air. We just managed to hustle everybody’s go in with time spare to attempt another aerial course: the tight rope. I couldn’t help but have a bit of nervous energy as it didn’t look that stable, but I was determined to complete it. Bear-crawling up into the treetops, I just managed to finish it before jumping off to get back down.
Next, we were treated to a delicious lunch of pasta with tomato and basil sauce. With little time to rest, we went outside for our next activity: problem solving. Split into groups of eight, we played six teamwork games from the mohawk walk (walking across a thin course of balance beams helping each other as a team) and the electric maze (a memory game where you need to memorise a path across the maze). The activities also included orienteering where we had to find different numbers dotted around the concourse. The day was coming to an end but there was still one more activity after dinner. It was pitch black outside, and with no torches in hand, we set off on our mysterious night walk. Spooky ghost stories were told under the moon. We even got to make our own herbal tea. Our group chose fennel tea and with every sip, our nerves were relaxed and slowly all of us drifted off. I slept like a log.
The next morning brought its own unexpected fun. Everyone was assigned groups across different forms to help make new friends. Going head-to-head with the other seven groups, the team would be battling for points in multiple activities. First, we used the giant catapults to sling tennis balls at barrels to earn points. Next, we had raft building which we started to build our team raft which we would race later in the day. We learned how to craft square knots with ropes to strongly bind our raft together. Then, we had archery. Followed by the high ropes, we climbed a gauntlet tower and touched the top to score an additional hundred points for the team. With every activity, the friendships grew. The grand finale of the trip was raft racing, where we had to reach a target point and come back against a timer. Our team did terribly! We kept falling off, which stalled the vessel multiple times. I jumped off and couldn’t get back on, so I had to swim back! Although our team lost the race, we made friendships and memories to last a lifetime. Thank you, Hampton, for organising such a momentous event; it has certainly helped all the First Years become part of the Hampton community. By Rey J (1L)
NO LIMITS LESSONS DAY
I woke up on 5 October after a long, but interesting week and realised, today was No Limits Lessons Day! We started off the day with some physical education. Mr Hooper and Mr Hurst taught us about throwing and catching. We even challenged Hampton’s record for the least amount of seconds to throw and catch a ball to the whole class. Unfortunately we did not beat the record, but it didn’t matter, as it was still so much fun. Next, we had PSHE and we talked and learned about black history month and why we celebrated it. After PSHE we had Biology class. We decided to plant and take home some daffodils while watching a David Attenborough documentary. We then played a fun Biology game called Blooket.
At 12:35, the bell for lunch sounded, and I headed straight to F71, The Writers’ Room club. In my opinion this is one of my favourite clubs, as I get to broaden my imagination and write my thoughts down freely. Once again after the bell rang to signify the end of lunch I headed for Maths. We did a puzzling question of how many ways a black cab could go through a city with a road system arranged in grid squares. After Maths it was Geography. I was surprised to find out we were to go outside and orientate ourselves through the school field with a map and coordinates seeking hidden objects. At the last period we had English, and we learnt about ‘Titus Andronicus’ a play written by Shakespeare early in his career about Greek Mythology. When the bell rang to tell us the lesson had ended I knew that I had had a very stimulating, out of the ordinary day. By Alexander B (1L)
This week has been an outstanding week, but the highlight of my week must be No Limits Lessons Day. We got to do so many cool activities like playing games, solving puzzles, and in Biology we even made our own pots, decorating them and now we get to grow them at home. We even got to play a fun game called Blooket. In Maths, we did many sorts of puzzles and games that were quite fun. In Geography, we did orienteering, going around the school trying to find pens that were hidden by only using a map. This was all a lot of fun and a day I will never forget. By Uzair V (1L)
Q&A ON THE HAMMOND STAGE
Today I had a great time. I was on stage in the Hammond talking to parents about my experience at Hampton as a First Year who has been in the School for a month. I had a great time sharing my thoughts of Hampton with parents, boys and the teachers who were there. We had a lot of fun joking around on stage talking about food and bread. I was nervous standing on the stage and talking to parents. It was my first time in front of a massive crowd of people. Luckily all went well, and we represented the school well. I felt proud of myself for being there on that day and it was a great experience for me and the other people there. By Leonardo P X (1L)
AMAZING SUBJECTS
My favourite subjects at Hampton are Maths, Physics and Spanish. Predominantly it’s the teachers who make these subjects fun and interesting for me.
Mathematics is momentous. I love learning about new concepts, reasoning, logic and patterns. Mr Rudajev is the teacher who puts maths at the top of my list. I love his hump day commercial he plays for us on a Wednesday. Physics is phenomenal. All the different practical lessons are so exciting. I really like advanced physics and testing out how different things work. Because I enjoy physics so much, I decided to join the Physics Club on a Monday. At Physics Club we do different competitions, and the winner gets awarded with a prize. Mr Walsh is another of my favourite teachers, he makes physics so much fun. Spanish is superb. Every lesson has so many highlights. Profe Blachford being one of them! We all look forward to our Spanish lessons, Profe Blachford is fun and I wish one day I can speak Spanish as fluently as him. By Ethan S-W (1L)
Clubs Galore
Take a look at the full list of all clubs, societies and other co-curricular activities on offer in the booklet below:
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).
Tutee of the Week
Every week, the First Year Tutor team nominate a Hamptonian 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 Albert K (1P) for his enthusiasm and excellent team spirit when completing activities during the Avon Tyrrell trip. Well done Albert!
Hampton Hunt
Each week I will set you a challenge where you need to find out a random fact, number or indeed anything else around the School – you won’t be able to do this from home! Points for the interform competition will be awarded to the Form with the most correct entries over the course of the term! You have until the end of Wednesday to complete the challenge; you will find out in next week’s blog if you’re correct, and you will be given a merit by your Form Tutor the following Monday. And who knows – you might get to know the School better in the process!
Last week’s challenge: How many football pitches and rugby pitches are there in total, excluding the 3G? The sign on the Sport Pavilion would have been helpful in finding the correct answer, which is 11! Well done to Ridhaan G (1F), William H (1F), Reuben N (1W), Charles B (1F), Chen L (1H), Atharv J ( 1F), Sebastian M (1W), Ilakian D (1H), Liangxu Z, Zaki T (1H), Ying Z (1H), Asher C (1H), Luoke W (1H), Julian M I1H), Joe F (1H) and Sujay N (1L) for getting the correct answer! 1H are top of the leaderboard once again, can anyone take their crown? Make sure you collect a merit from your Form Tutor next week!
If you did know the answer but didn’t enter it into the blog last week, make sure you do so this week as it won’t count otherwise!
This week’s challenge:
What kind of mathematical shape is the trajectory of Angry Birds once they’ve been launched from their catapult?
The answer is somewhere around the School – reading the question will tell you which department you should be looking in!
