Sankt Nikolaus, Rugby Success & What a Term!

Welcome to the First Year Blog!

I can’t believe I am already writing this term’s final blog! The First Year’s first term has passed by incredibly quickly and it has been a real pleasure to see such a friendly, enthusiastic and positive year group settle in so well. This term has been packed with exciting events and this week (and next) are no exception: Christmas Concerts, a traditional Christmas lunch with all the trimmings, fun final lessons, and another important ESFA fixture for the U12B team this afternoon – good luck boys!

Enjoy the final week of term, and remember Wednesday is a half day – School finishes at 12pm and coaches leave at 12.15pm! I hope you have a wonderful Christmas holiday, wherever you are going and whoever you are spending it with. Make sure you get plenty of rest and enjoy all the festivities, and we’ll look forward to seeing you all again in January!

And all that’s left to say is Happy Christmas from everyone in the First Year team!

WHAT A TERM!

I know that Hampton is the school for me and that it will be an unforgettable experience. I have really enjoyed everything, like our philosophical balloon debate, our upcoming PE table tennis ladder tournament, merits (lots of them), Maths, Chemistry and much more. I believe here at Hampton everything suits me and that I have settled in very well with great relationships with all my peers. Something I have really enjoyed are all the co-curricular activities. Learning new languages and sciences has been an amazing experience. I remember on my first day how excited and nervous I was and now as I look back, Hampton has been a lot more than what I expected it to be. I know I’m destined to a great future thanks to this most amazing school.

From the lunches to the Chemistry lessons, I have loved every moment. Learning the saxophone has also been something new and something that I have really enjoyed. After seven years of playing football, I had never expected that I would change my sport to rugby. The Hampton Rugby community has helped me settle in and there is a great camaraderie amongst my teammates. One of my other highlights of the term is that I have gone from not knowing a single word in the Spanish alphabet to getting 100% on a Spanish essay. My achievement in English has somewhat made me overcome a fear of analytical writing. But now, after Mr Willoughby has taught me how to write these paragraphs, I have managed to get them done with ease and finesse.

Do you want to hear my best achievement? Well, here it is – I WAS ABLE TO CARRY MY RUGBY KIT, MY SCHOOL BAG, MY SAXOPHONE AND MY CRICKET KIT all the way to school and bring it all back home without losing even a single item!!

By Ethan S-W (1L)

Sankt Nikolaus

1P have been learning all about Sankt Nikolaus in their German lessons. This week he paid them a visit, leaving treats in the shoes they had decorated. Gut Gemacht!

CHRISTMAS CONCERTS

Last night brought the first of two Christmas Concerts, with all First Years performing as part of the First Year Choir, and some boys involved in orchestra, ensemble and choir performances too. With another concert coming up tonight and the Carol Service on Monday evening, there are still many festive performances to enjoy, and best of luck to all performers involved in the upcoming events!

Rugby Success

Congratulations to our U12A rugby players who won the 2023 Middlesex Cup Plate last week. A great way to end their first term of sport at Hampton. Well done to you all!

TUTEE OF THE WEEK

Every week, the First Year Tutor team nominate a pupil 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 William P (1B) for all his positive energy and enthusiasm for everything at Hampton this entire term – well done William!

SHOEBOX APPEal

Hamptonians spent the week organising, filling, and wrapping over 100 shoeboxes to donate to Solace Women’s Aid. Solace is a leading specialist charity in the UK supporting women and children experiencing domestic abuse. The lifesaving support that Solace provides to over 20,000 women, children and young people each year is so important. Each form donated items including stationary, toys, vital hygiene products, games and so much more. The donations will certainly make a huge impact on those in need and the life changing work that Solace do. On behalf of Form Charity and Solace, we would like to thank all Hampton staff and pupils for their valuable contributions to the shoebox appeal this Christmas.

Thank you to everyone who contributed!

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).

THE 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: Which farm animal can be found on the roof somewhere around the School?

It is – of course – a cow on the roof by the Cloisters!

A big shout out to the First Years who correctly found the answer to last week’s Hampton Hunt. Well done to Alex B (1F), Joseph G (1F), Noriki W (1F), Thomas P (1F), Francisco C I (1F), Charles B (1F), Ian L (1F), Atharv J (1F), Justin K (1F), Arjan A (1F), Alex P ( 1F), William H (1F), Emile S (1W), Theo P (1W), Yousuf H (1B), Toby W (1B), Alex d V (1B), Jack T (1B), Ruhaan V (1B), Ethan Y W (1B), Riyaan G (1B), Kailan S (1H), Chen L (1H), Asher C (1H), Luoke W (1H), James A (1H), Patrick J (1H), Julian M (1H), Ying Z (1H), Liangxu Z (1H), Zaki T (1H), David T (1H), Mehrad M (1H), Ollie S (1H), Aaron J (1L), Reyansh J (1L), Shaurya D (1L), Arjan C(1L), Sujay N (1L), Harry C (1L), Colin Y (1L), Leo S (1L), Matthew T (1L), Eliott P (1J), Xander L (1J), Akshaj G (1J), Oscar C (1J), Wilf W (1J), Oscar G (1J),  Toby B (1P) and Nicholas S (1P) for getting the correct answer! 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: