Interform Basketball, Top Tips & Meet Mr Neville!

Welcome to the Fourth Year Blog!

Well done on your first half term as a Fourth Year Hamptonian! I am sure some of you have now realised that it is a little bit of a step up now the GCSE courses have all started, and it is great to see you are rising to the challenge. Hopefully you have cleared the decks and completed any outstanding work, and enjoyed a good rest over the half term break. Without a doubt, this next half term will be just as busy!

Thank you to everybody who has contributed to this newsletter; I love hearing about everything you have been up to!

Miss Brown

Interform competitions

Quiz

The much anticipated Interform Quiz involved everything from maths to emojis! Results as follows – a big well done to 4F who were named winners!

Basketball

Some excellent skills were on display during last half term’s Interform Basketball!

A huge thank you to Mr Hooper, Mr Page, Theo L and Zakir M for giving up their lunch time, and to Miss Singleton for organisation of all the events! Looking forward to more events this half term.

Take a look at the video below to get a flavour of the hotly-contested Interform Basketball competition:

Meet Mr Neville

Ameya M (4H) caught up with Chemistry teacher and our very own Head of Fourth Year Mr Neville:

What made you want to become a teacher?

It was never something that occurred to me until university. I did some rowing coaching and really enjoyed it, so started looking at careers where I could help and guide people, and make a difference. Teaching was a natural choice after that.

You’re a Chemistry teacher – what’s the best thing about your subject?

Definitely all the exciting experiments!

If I could transport you anywhere in the world, where would you go?

Singapore or Thailand – I’ve never been to that part of the world and would love to go!

If you could be any animal, which animal would you be?

A Hampton Lion!

What would be your top tips for a Fourth Year pupil?

Be well organised and never be afraid to ask for help…! Keep up your co-curricular activities and make the most of what is on offer!

If you weren’t a Chemistry teacher, which subject would you teach?
Either Biology or Geography – they’re both such interesting subjects!

What is your favourite food?

At the moment I’m craving a Pad Thai!

What would be your desert island discs?

I’m a huge music fan, and couldn’t possibly choose just a few discs… I can’t be without Spotify! Anything by the Arctic Monkeys usually gets my vote, their latest album is my favourite!

A taste of the outdoors

It’s been great to hear so many of you’re are taking on the challenge of Silver a Silver Duke of Edinburgh award. Ameya M (4H) tells us all about his training expedition earlier this term:

On Saturday 30 September we set off on our DofE training expedition. This was just to train and prepare us for the real expedition. As soon as we arrived, we were given tent sets and we had to assemble our tents (with some help from teachers). Throughout the first day, we had to learn new, different skills, for example: we had to cook our own food using a trangia. Different groups made different foods; luckily, our group managed to make burgers and pasta without too much difficulty.

After a night sleeping in our tents, we prepared our breakfast using the trangia, washed up and then set off on the walk. We had to use a compass and map to navigate an 8 km walk. We walked through hills and even through a village until we finally reached our camp site. We dismantled our tents and set off back home. Overall, the first practice was a fun experience, and I look forward for the future expeditions.

Miss Brown’s top tips for D of E success…

• Don’t forget to keep up your weekly sessions of volunteering, skill and sport! Make sure you are uploading evidence to your  eD of E account regularly. Don’t leave it until the end!
• Make sure your assessor for each of the sections knows they are going to be assessing you. Perhaps a polite email requesting this wouldn’t go a miss if you have forgotten to do so!
• Keep an eye on emails from Mr John about when you can do your expeditions!
• A Brillo pad is your best friend. Trangia cleaning is so much easier when you have one!

Volunteering

One of the key elements of the Silver Duke of Edinburgh award is volunteering in your local community, Joshua R (4J) tells us more:

The Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award, also known as the DofE, has four parts: the expedition, skill, physical, and volunteering. Volunteering involves giving your time to do something meaningful and impactful in your local community, motivated by your willingness to make a difference to other people’s lives. Some of my friends have decided to volunteer at local charities and not-for-profit organisations such as Oxfam, at park runs, and by making our local streets tidier by picking up litter. However, for my volunteering, I wanted to help in a local primary school because I really enjoy working with children, especially after leading a workshop for pupils at the Hampton Prep School for my Arts Award last year. I decided to help at the lunchtime Hampton Hill Junior School (HHJS) Chess Club, by teaching and coaching boys and girls, aged 7-8, on how to play chess, along with quite a few other Fourth Years. We initially had a zoom call with the teacher who ran the Chess Club to outline how we could best help with the club.

My first time actually going to the Chess Club was a few weeks ago, when we were driven in one of the Hampton minibuses over to HHJS. I remember feeling a sense of excitement walking through the corridor over to the Chess Club room, but I was also feeling quite nervous for what was to come. When we got there, we were each allocated a few boys and girls to mentor. I found the time mentoring and coaching the boys and girls chess, from the basics of how each piece moves to a little bit of chess strategy, surprisingly rewarding. It made me really happy when I gave out stickers and gel pens to the children for good behaviour, and improvements of their chess skills. I have only just started this volunteering journey, but I’m excited for where it will take me. It will not only help me to grow and develop as a person, but it will allow me to actually make a difference in my local community and help others with a new skill! A huge thank you to Mr John, Ms Petitt (Chess Club organiser), and all of the DofE teachers involved!

Little Shop of Horrors

The HoY and AHoY team, and many of your Form Tutors enjoyed a night at the Hammond Theatre before the half term break, being entertained by some incredibly talented performers!

I have never seen the Little Shop of Horrors before and was not disappointed! A huge well done to all the performers, band and backstage crew. The following Fourth Year pupils were involved Harry N, Teddy H, Samuel H, Ralf S, Alex P, Leander K-B, Hayden E.

sports round up

There has been an incredible amount of sports action this half term – well done to everybody for your hard work in training and matches!!

Football

So far this term, Mr Towl – new to the coaching staff this year – has led the U15A Football team to an impressive start to the season with two strong away performances in the Elgin League, including an impressive 5-2 victory over a strong Whitgift side where prolific striker Rio F-T scored four of Hampton’s five goals. After an unfortunate loss in the second round of ESFA, the team looked to bounce straight back in an away league game against Bradfield College. A strong performance from the defence helped the team cruise to a 4-0 win and add three more points to their Elgin League campaign. The Fourth Years finished their last two games before half term with a well fought draw away at Eton and a comfortable 6-0 win against Forest School. During half term, the U15A and B footballers enjoyed a trip to Holland, we can’t wait to hear bout how they got on. As well as this, the team will be looking forward to starting their ISFA campaign against Sherborne School after half term.

The U15D team enjoyed a strong start to their first two games with comprehensive victories, before losing against Eton College in a hard fought second half. Our first game took place in Croydon, situated not too far away from Whitgift’s main school. By half time we were comfortably ahead, dominating with a 6-0 scoreline. A half time double save by Arie B (4A) ensured that we kept a clean sheet and won 13-0, accompanied by Dylan M (4F) scoring a hat-trick and late goals by Oliver A (4J) and Ryan C (4J) further increasing the margin of our victory.

After that impressive performance, we aimed to maintain our winning streak at Winchester College in an away fixture. A chip over the keeper by Nathaniel C (4A) initially gave us the lead but unfortunately, a one-on-one meant that at half time the score was locked at 1-1. We aimed to improve after half time and scored a flurry of goals in the first 15-20 minutes. From there, the game settled down and by the end of the game the score comfortably reflected how well we had played; a 6-1 victory.

Our final game of this half term was at Eton College. Slip-ups in our defence allowed the opposition to take an early advantage of 2-0. An error from their goalkeeper allowed Nathaniel C (4A) to selflessly cross the ball to Neel M (4C), resulting in a goal. Although at this stage we were behind, we persevered and made it 2-2 with a brilliant attempt by Dylan M. However, in a matter of minutes we had gone from a draw to needing to reduce an extraordinary deficit; unfortunately, we ended up losing 7-2 and our winning streak had come to an end. However, we are facing Eton again next month so are hoping for a win!

By Joshua C (4H)

Rugby

The U15A rugby team have had a strong start to the season and have come on lots in the last half term. The first event of the season was the South Coast Kings U15 festival – this was a great day to test our new skills learnt in pre-season on the pitch. While we were up against some tough opposition, we had some great performances and ended up winning the cup. A fantastic day, but only the start. We were determined to carry this momentum forward, so we trained hard and brought together some good wins against Campion and Seaford. Although there were some clear things to work on, we had a successful two weeks.

However, it got substantially harder from there, RGS High Wycombe was a strong opponent and even though we led the game right until the end, in the last play they crept through to win the game 12-13. We then moved forward to round one of the RFU National Cup. We knew Halliford School had developed lots since we last played them, but in the end our defensive structure held well and our attack flourished, contributing to a 57-12 win. We hoped to pull this momentum through to Epsom College, but this was a difficult game and a narrow loss of 6-0 was hard for the team to take. Nevertheless, we continued to round two of the National Cup.

On a cold Thursday afternoon, we travelled to KCS Wimbledon for what was expected to be a tough game. Despite the strength of the opposition, our attacking game plan created some great opportunity, and we finished the match at 22-0. In the final weekend we played Wellington College. While our attack created some great opportunities, our possession didn’t quite convert to points. With a breakaway try going Wellington’s way, we finished a tough day 5-17. So, a good half term with some strong performances but, most importantly, we remain in the National Cup and look found to round three against Dulwich College after half term.

By Will O (4A)

The U15B team has had a challenging but reasonably successful first half term. Three out of six games have been won with some great tackles and tries. Luca K has made quite a few dump tackles on players twice his size as well as a selection of tap tackles. Last year we played RGS High Wycombe and lost horribly, this year however, a great game of rugby was played, with Hampton taking home glory in a 31-12 victory. This win was accomplished with multiple injuries within the team at the time. Our next game is on the 11 November against Trinity College in Croydon. This will be a challenging game as we left with a loss last year, but by the looks of it we have a fair chance this year and hope to pull through and win.

By Euan H (4D)

Call for Blog writers!

We’d love to hear from any U15B and C team footballers out there, and those of you who participate in basketball, badminton and table tennis. We’d also love to hear about any other non-sporting achievements or activities! All we ask for is a short report each half term, so that we can celebrate your successes! (Plus, you can grab yourself Lion Merits in the process!)

Here’s to a great half term ahead!