Welcome to the First Year Blog!
Another busy week finished, and now only one week to go until half term! Next week’s trips should bring two exciting days away from School for First Year Hamptonians, and I do hope you’re all looking forward to this! With everyone now definitely ready for a break, let’s keep up the positivity, enthusiasm and kindness throughout the final week!
MEET THE MENTOR!
Naivedya A (1L) and Shaurya D (1L) interviewed one of their Form’s Sixth Form Mentors, Jago D (U6LP):
How has your Hampton experience been over the years you have studied here?
My Hampton experience has been full of sport and I have really enjoyed meeting new people.
What has been the favourite club that you’ve taken part in at Hampton?
My favourite club that I used to go to is the Hampton Sports Chronicle because I got top see my sports reports published on the HSC website. Therefore, I was thrilled and on cloud nine to see my writing online.
Who has been your favourite teacher at Hampton?
All teachers have been supportive over the years, and they have helped me in growing and learning new things.
What subject do you like?
My favourite subject is History. It fascinates me and I am very fortunate to have amazing teachers.
How much do you think you have developed your skill with the Hampton coaches?
The Hampton football coaches have helped me a lot, as at first I played right wing but then I had to change position to be a right midfielder. The training is fun and very constructive.
What book/ genre do you like in particular?
Generally, I like reading sport books due to the fact that I love sports, especially football. A good book that I would recommend is Arsene Wenger’s autobiography, My Life in Red and White, you can find it in the sports section of the library.
Who is your favourite sporting player of all times?
My favourite football team is Fulham, so my favourite player is Tom Cairney, but Messi is the GOAT.
What do you think has been the biggest challenge that you have overcome?
I haven’t confronted any major challenges, but one challenge was the pandemic. It stopped all our studies and meeting my friends. Additionally, it hindered all the clubs that we attended.
ANIMAL ENCOUNTER
This week’s Biology Week meant all First Years had the opportunity to watch a talk by a leading wildlife photographer during Monday’s Assembly, with some fascinating stories about the process and some interesting Biology learned during the talk! Some lucky First Years were also able to meet some animals up close, including snakes, crocodiles and meercats!
CUP FEVER
Each year Hampton’s A and B Football teams enter the national cup for their age group – the ESFA Cup! The U12A team has already made it through the first two rounds and JJ O (1W) updates us on yesterday’s excellent performance in round two!
Yesterday, Hampton U12A football team travelled to Croydon to play Harris Academy in the second round of the ESFA Cup. We didn’t know what to expect as we had not played them before so there was a lot of tense chatter on the coach journey there! When we arrived, we warmed up and started the game brightly. Neil scored an early goal, which settled the team’s nerves. Despite playing up a steep slope, the team did brilliantly to get to half time with a 4-0 lead.
In the second half, the team continued to keep a level head and scored three more goals in quick succession, with Ridhaan completing a hat-trick. The match finished 7-0 and the team did really well to keep their second clean sheet in two consecutive games! A big thanks to Mr Hussain and Mr Haynes and well done to all the boys – it was a great team performance! I’m looking forward to the next round!
MY FIRST HAMPTON HALF TERM
As it is the second last week of the half term, and next week is going to be action-packed with lots of trips, I thought I would reflect on this half term as if it is the last week (if you know what I mean).
So, first half term at secondary school. Well, the first week (it was two days, does it count as a week?) was super fun and we were all scrambling around trying to find our classes and everyone got lost at least once. I didn’t know anyone, and I was quite scared and nervous trying to fit in but once I found my friend group, it has been smooth sailing which swiftly brings me onto the second week. Arguably, the best moment of the week was the Wednesday water issue and school closure. I think that will always be remembered: In my first proper week, we got to go home because of a water pipe issue. But honestly, during this week I met my first friends and started bonding with them which was super fun and I believe by this point, I had found my way around the school. On the Saturday of that week, we got to tour the First Years of next year around a school I could call my own (not literally, the school’s too big for that). The next week was the iconic Avon Tyrrell trip, which was so much fun, and all the bonding activities worked and the people I was in teams with are now close friends with me. Unfortunately, I had to miss No Limits Lesson Day the next week because I was sick. It was the first time I felt angry I had to miss school because of it. Hampton has a way of making you wake up in the morning excited for school. I call it the ‘Hampton Effect’ (I thought very hard about that one). So, that’s it. A half term (minus one week; that’s next week) at Hampton. I couldn’t be any more pleased with my progress and I am so proud of myself for surviving my first few weeks of secondary school, but it was made 100 times easier by this wonderful school. Thanks Hampton. Thank you so much. Have a nice, well-deserved weekend rest everyone. See you next week!
By Rishi K (1L)
SCIENCE CONVENTION
On Sunday, I went to a New Scientist convention, where businesses/charities showed hi-tech technologies, as well being able to purchase some of the things that were on show. I also went to a talk later on, but however I’ll tell you about that later.
We found (me and my Mum) several robot technologies, such as one that could greatly help mentally disabled children as being like a help pet, but a robot. It could slide across the floor towards you, it could move its head, and I could see how it would be beneficial to some people as a low needs pet. As we went to a dancing robot with a giant Mars planet connected to the ceiling, we could see a dancing robot which was dancing along to music, with a perfect humanoid shape and only falling over once. I can’t talk about everything, but we went to a talk about great moments in the future. He said a lot of amazing things, but what really surprised me is that in order to go Proxima Centauri (a star) in a craft the size of a private jet, you’ll need 10 to the power of 64, or 10000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 observable universes worth of weight in chemical fuel, but only 10 cars filled with antimatter (which is actually real) to go there.
By Erik P (1W)
A Final look back
Now the weather has suddenly gone all autumnal on us, a final look back at a brighter, sunnier time in Avon Tyrrell is in order! Avyaya S (1B) shares his experience of the trip:
Last week we had our amazing Avon Tyrrell First Year trip and it did not disappoint. We did many fun activities including raft building and high ropes. We started off with a game where we were all lined up and the instructor put a long stick on our hands, our goal was to slowly put it down on the floor. We did multiple fun games like this including balancing, space hoppers and sheep and the shepherd.
Then it was time for the low ropes and high ropes. The low ropes were fun because we had a game where you must swing on a rope and land on a platform two metres away, this was fun because you had to fit everyone (10 people) on the small platform for extra points. Next, we had the high ropes where our group did the leap of faith. There was a platform 15 metres above the ground that you must inch your way up to by climbing and when you get to the top you have to stand on the small platform. IT WAS WOBBLY. It wobbled when you moved, it wobbled when you didn’t move, it even wobbled when you spoke. Then, I saw a bar one metre in front of me. I had to jump and hold on to the bar. I jumped as far as I could and caught it with one hand (and then quickly fell off). That gained our team 100 points. Luckily everyone in our group made it and we got a total of 1000 points from that one activity. It was a wonderful trip, and I would go there again if I had the chance. I will look forward to the adventure society trips as I get older. By Avyaya S (1B)
If you fancy reminding yourself of all the fantastic things you got up, take a look at the video below:
Budding Journalists
Great to see some of our First Year sports journalists having articles published on Hampton Sports Chronicle online. Well done to Alex P (U12A rugby), Theo P (U12D football) and Harry M (U12B football) for some incisive match reports. To read more, take a look at HSC online here.
Clubs Galore
Have you discovered a new passion this term? Have you become an expert at something new? There’s still time one more week of half term to discover a new lunchtime club, so take a look at the full list in the booklet below:
SPECIAL SHOUT OUTS!
Rishi K (1L) has shared the exciting news that he has worked as a voice actor in the Netflix series Little Baby Bum: Music Time, voicing Ahan! What an exciting achievement, well done!
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 Asher C (1H) for his excellent approach to school life. Well done Asher!
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: What kind of mathematical shape is the trajectory of angry birds once they’ve been launched from their catapult? The answer could be found on the walls of the Maths department: parabola!
A big shout out to the 42 First Years who correctly found the answer to last week’s Hampton Hunt. Well done to Michael C (1J), Sebastian M (1W), Reuben N (1W), Amaad B (1W), Erik P (1W), Thomas Y (1W), Francisco C I (1F), Ian L (1F), Aman C (1F), Thomas P (1F), Ridhaan G (1F), Charles B (1F), Atharv J ( 1F), Jack M (1F), Krrish A (1F), Noriki W (1F), Alex B (1F), Ollie S (1H), Ilakian D (1H), Zaki T (1H), David T (1H), James A (1H), Dushyant P (1H), Ying Z (1H), Liangxu Z (1H), Asher C (1H), Luoke W (1H), Cedric Y (1H), Julian M (1H), Ruhaan V (1B), Toby W (1B), Avyaya S (1B), Yousuf H (1B), Richard C (1B), Shaurya D (1L), Uzair V (1L), Harry C (1L), Naivedya A (1L), Matthew T (1L), Colin Y (1L), Rishi K (1L) and Sujay N (1L) for getting the correct answer! Make sure you collect a merit from your Form Tutor next week! 1H are at the top of the leaderboard this week with twelve correct entries.
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 is the heaviest element printed on the benches in the Tardis quad?
