Cross Country, Spanish Fiesta Club & Meet Miss Carolan!

WELCOME TO THE FIRST YEAR BLOG!

Another week has flown by, and it is hard to believe it is now only two weeks until the half term break! This week, First Year pupils learned about the Holocaust in their PSHE lessons as part of the School’s programme for Holocaust Memorial Day: a very touching lesson with lots of stories shared. Away from lessons, tonight’s Rock Concert is one of the highlights in the music calendar of the year. Good luck to all those involved and enjoy watching the show if you are going!

MEET YOUR TEACHERS

Ethan S-W (1L) caught up with Miss Carolan, Art teacher and one half of 1L’s tutor team:

Who is your favourite artist?

I think David Hockney would be my favourite because of his bold, uplifting, bright and beautiful compositions. He has two cute sausage dogs. I love dogs!

Why did you become an art teacher?

In Ireland I had a kind and generous art teacher who was very impactful on my art career, and she said I would be a great leader for my class and that I should take up art.

What is your favourite highlight being a teacher at Hampton?

Aside from getting the opportunity to teach my favourite subject at such a fantastic school, a highlight of mine would have to be becoming a First Year Form Tutor because I get to do interviews like this!

What did you like to do as a child?

I was a horse rider, in fact, for eight years until I had an accident that convinced my parents horse riding was not for me. If I was not at horse riding, I loved painting in my garage. I was also a very good player for my school in Gaelic Football which is basically Irish Football.

As you were a Gaelic Football player, who was your favourite player?

Rooney has been a great player.

What was your dream when you were a child?

When I was little it was my dream to own a horse ranch and also set up an art academy.

What is the most useful invention in your opinion?

I think that doors are one of the greatest inventions because without them there would be no opportunities – One door closes another opens.

Did you like rugby in Ireland?

I love watching it. Our team is great. To be honest I don’t play and I don’t know much about the team but I am a professional spectator.

What was your purpose in becoming an art teacher?

Show my pupils that there is an artist in everyone if they put their mind to it. I want to inspire pupils to appreciate art and take it up as a subject.

By Ethan S-W (1L)

SPANISH FIESTA CLUB

This half term, Spanish Fiesta Club linguists are exploring Hispanic culture and cuisine. This week, Henry S (1W) brought in homemade churros con chocolate for the club, one of Spain’s most popular delicacies. First Year and Sixth Form critics gave them a strong 10/10! We are looking forward to seeing what homemade Hispanic treats are next!

MARTIAL ARTS FIRST AID

On Monday 22 January, I completed a two hour first aid training course at my martial arts club. The martial art is called Han Guk Mu Sool, and the course is part of my qualification to become an instructor. I have trained there since I was six years old, and I’m aiming to get my first dahn black belt and complete my instructor course this year. The course was so valuable! I learnt how to do CPR (and how hard it is to do) as well as things such as what to do if someone has fainted and how to use a defibrillator.

While I was doing it, some of the things that surprised me were how hard you had to press to perform CPR correctly (it’s one third of the depth of the chest!). We also learnt that when performing the Heimlich Manoeuvre to stop people from choking, you have to put one fist under your sternum with your other hand on top then you have to pull upwards. Most people think you just need to squeeze the stomach!

I now feel much more confident when I coach as I know that I can help support and protect the people in my class if I need to. I also believe that everyone, no matter your age, should do a course like this where you learn the basics of first aid. You never know when you might need it.

By Charles B (1F)

Cross Country 

Hot off the press! Well done to Rafi B (1W) who won a Silver medal in the Richmond Schools’ Cross Country Championship this morning. A fantastic result. Well done to all the First Year runners who pounded the challenging course in Richmond Park.

THE BLUNDERS

Shaurya D (1L) introduces us to The Blunders, the latest book from David Walliams.

Meet Mr and Mrs Blunder, their blundersome, uncontrollable children, their beloved granny, and their pet ostrich, Cedric. Having an ostrich isn’t the smartest idea but I mean they are the Blunders, what would you expect? They are the clumsiest and unintentionally the funniest family in the world. These upper class twits live in a crumbling and derelict house and when Blunder Hall, surviving on the brink of collapse is under threat, they embark on a journey to save it.

Lord Bertie Blunder was an inventor. One of his inventions were Inflatable Underpants. They will puff up when your wet, probably ideal when swimming in the sea. Just not if you have a little accident. Bertie believes that his inventions will make his family a fortune but ends up costing him a fortune. Still, they all love him the same. Next is Lady Betsy Blunder, she loves horses just like other posh people. Although, she doesn’t have one. She is always seen in her jumping outfit clutching a riding crop shouting ‘Whoa’. Pegasus is Lady Blunder’s imaginary horse which Lady Blunder classifies as real. Old Lady Blunder is Bertie’s mother in her eighties. She loves shooting so much that she isn’t seen without her blunderbuss. Her husband died in a bizarre blunderbuss accident. Now we are onto the children. The Blunders have two children Bunny and Brutus. Bunny is a 12-year-old daughter of Bertie and Betsy. With a pigtail, tutu and tap shoes she seems like a dream child, so she is the apple of her dad’s eye. She now believes that she is a world class ballet dancer, a painter, and a hula hooper, though she loves annoying at her beastly brother. Brutus in my opinion is the worst. He is murky boy for that his clothes are splattered with all sorts of random things; he drinks water from puddles and overall is revolting. Same as his sister he absolutely adores irritating her.

Personally, The Blunders is a hilarious book because of its action-packed journey from living a peaceful life full of absurd inventions to saving a Blunder Hall.

Discover Hampton Podcast

Some of our First Years have been involved in recording a podcast episode over the last few months, and this week saw the launch of the very first episode of Discover Hampton, now available wherever you listen to your podcasts! In The Magic of Maths, we meet Hampton teacher Mr Griller whose love of Maths is infectious. His lesson is all about combinatorics – a kind of clever counting! Join us in the classroom as Mr Griller shows his pupils how to apply strategies and short cuts to help them count without actually needing to do all the hard work – why not have a go at the questions yourself?

Have a listen here.

TUTEE OF THE WEEK

Every week, the First Year Tutor team nominate a boy 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 James A (1H) for his resilience after his recent injury – there are reports of him doing more with one hand than others might do with two so well done James!

SPECIAL SHOUT OUTS!

On Sunday Dillon G (1W) participated in the Surrey County Under 12 Singles Gold Badminton Tournament, and he has secured a silver medal in this competitive event. Well done Dillon!

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).

PROJECT EXPLORE 

Project Explore is an exciting opportunity for all First Year pupils to get involved in! You should visit a local site that you are interested in, tell your Form Tutors about your visit, and with some inspiration from your visit produce your own project. There are no guidelines on what you can make: you could choose to write a poem, cook a meal, make a piece of art, record and edit a film, or any other creative piece you can come up with! The deadline for Project Explore is Monday 22 April – just after the start of the summer term. I know all Form Tutors are looking forward to hearing about your visits and projects, so make sure you tell them all about it!

Mr Hill and Mrs Peattie have recorded this video to explain everything in more detail. All First Year parents have also been sent an email with a more information.

Calling all budding Actors!

This year’s Lower School Summer Show is The Playhouse Apprentice, a fun and comical production with pupils from Hampton High. Performances will be on 18, 19 and 20 June in the Hammond Theatre. Auditions are open to all First, Second and Third Year pupils, and will take place on Tuesday 6 February 4.00pm to 5.30pm, with recalls on Thursday 8 February 4.00 to 5.30pm. If you have any questions, please contact Mrs Richardson in the Drama Department.

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 building have the stones next to the main staircase come from?

Looking at the signs next to them you would see they have come from the first school building on the original site! Unfortunately we had a bit of a technical glitch at our end so alas no merits this week!

This week’s challenge: