Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
It’s been another fun-packed week for Second Year Hamptonians. A definite highlight has been the language taster sessions that will hopefully make language options for next year easier. All of you should now be able to count to ten in Mandarin! On Thursday, we also had our options talk which gave the boys information on what subjects they can choose to take on into the Third Year. In Drama, every Form is preparing a 10-minute play from Roald Dahl’s comedic Revolting Rhymes to be performed for parents in March (see Huw C’s Lesson of the Week). Also, don’t forget to buy your tickets for the Rock Concert on 26 January!
MERIT MILESTONES
Another bumper week for merits! Well done to the following Second Years:
Max Coney – 10
Ishaaq Alam – 10
Manilo Carraretto – 10
Eashan Back – 10
George Scholes – 20
Aleksei Lekhanov – 20
Arik Kuzmis – 20
Devan Dhariwal – 20
Eashan Gudipati – 20
Gabriel Knowles-Szuniewicz – 30
Ari Emanuel – 30
Joe Bates – 40
Shishir Vaddadi – 50 (Off to see Mr Knibbs!)
Shishir Vaddadi – 60 (Wonderful!)
Siddhant Shetty – 60 (Tremendous!)
TUTOR QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Each week the pupils decide on a question to ask all the Second Year form tutors. This week’s question comes to us from Oliver Y (2P):
What is your favourite chocolate brand and why?
- Lindt
- Cadbury
- Ferrero Rocher
- Other
Cadbury wins with votes from Mrs Owen (“They make Creme Eggs!”), Miss Winstock (“It doesn’t try to do anything fancy – just good, old-fashioned, dopamine-inducing chocolate!”) and Mr Vann-Alexander (“Dairy Milk is the CORRECT answer”) and Miss Holt.
Mrs Kirby is the expert and her response is: “Essentially any of those but my personal favourite brands are Tony’s Chocoloney as it is fairtrade as well as delicious, Melt Chocolate which is a very expensive handmade chocolate made in Notting Hill, Hotel Chocolat is pretty good and Marks and Spencer do some lovely seasonal chocolates….you can probably tell, I quite like chocolate!”
Mr Harrison voted for Lindt ( “The pistachio one is possibly the best thing in the world”) as does Mrs Whitwam who always has a stash of the dark chocolate.
Modern Language Taster Sessions
It’s been an exciting week for Second Year Hamptonians as they try out lots of different new languages ahead of their Third Year option choices. Thank you to the following pupils for sharing their highlights with us:
French
By Joshua A (2J)
During our language lessons this week, we had language taster lessons to help us decide what language we would like to learn in the Third Year. On Wednesday, we had a French Taster lesson with Ms Peel, a member of the Modern Languages department where we learnt French words and phrases like ‘Bonjour’ or ‘fondue’ (meaning hello and cheese). We were surprised when we learnt that French and English are quite like each other, having words that either look the same in French or have a similar pronunciation. It was very fun and active as we learnt to have a simple conversation and performing it to the class. It was a very interesting lesson and it has helped us figure out our language for next year.
Russian
By Siddhant S (2J)
Privet! This week, to help us with choosing our Third Year languages, we had some language taster sessions. On Tuesday we had a Russian language taster taught by none other than the Head of Second Year Mrs Owen! We had an adventurous time exploring the twists and turns of the Russian language. It left everyone wrapping their heads around a whole new alphabet, consisting of 33 characters! We practised speaking back to each other in Russian and we learnt that Russian is the most spoken language in the world! 160 million! The experience left me wondering which language I should choose. I can already tell that it will be a very tough choice. Da svidania!
German, Spanish and Mandarin
By Mattie R (2F)
This week we’ve been having taster lessons instead of the normal language we do (for 2F it’s French). In German, we learned how to ask and answer ‘get to know you’ questions. At the end, we played a game where we had to translate phrases and won points. My team lost, but we all got a sweet anyway! In the Spanish taster lesson, we played a game where we played music and threw a ball around the room and when the music stopped, whoever had the ball would ask or answer a question. It was a really fun lesson! In our Mandarin lesson, we learned what certain characters mean and how to count to ten. We sang a cool song about counting to ten.These taster lessons are really great and have shown me all the amazing trips and languages you can take at Hampton, which I will be sure to consider if all the lessons are as fun as those!
To get a flavour of what the Second Years have been up to in their modern language taster sessions, take a look at the video below:
Revolting Rhymes
By Huw C (2W)
We were all buzzing for drama this week as we were going to be told what Revolting Rhyme from Roald Dahl’s collection we were going to be acting. There were multiple rumours going round and people were making guesses at what 2W would get. At the start of the lesson, after a brief warmup of ‘bibidy bobidy boo’ (a voice game), we were told that we were doing Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. We went round the classroom taking turns to read out line of the rhyme; we were asked to volunteer for certain roles. I am hoping to be Prince Charming, of course!
BBC Earth Experience
Let’s hear from Ekam R (2B) for his review of the BBC Earth Experience:
At the weekend I went to London to see an exceptional and exclusive broadcast of nature through the eyes of Sir David Attenborough. His documentary snippets from Blue Planet and The Seven Continents were extraordinary in 3D. The best part was that it wasn’t just on one screen, there were screens on all sides and each had a different camera angle so I lay down with my family on giant beanbags, and absorbed the surroundings. This was a sleek, sophisticated and educational presentation of the world, and its furry friends, as we have it today. A must-watch for all before it travels to Melbourne, Australia in February.
Sports Afternoon
Every Monday afternoon, we have a sports session for 1 hour and 20 minutes. I played football and there was one big football pitch with two footballs in play and two other small pitches with only one ball in play. We were split into two teams and we had to try to score as many goals as possible. However, there’s a twist, every time we score a goal, we had to swap with someone else on a different sized pitch. There were four players at a time on the small pitch and the rest of the players on the big pitch. We ran around the pitches and dribbled past defenders and shot for the goal. It was very fun and I really enjoyed it.
By Oliver Y (2P)
Super Smoothie Bike
This week me I went to the ‘Smoothie Bike’ which was run by the Catering team for people who get their breakfast from the canteen. We had to choose our selection of ingredients (strawberries, blueberries, mango, spinach) and our liquid (milk or juice) before getting on the bike. It looked like a regular bike but it was harder to spin and it took about 30 seconds of intense biking before our smoothie was ready. The end result was extremely tasty! I’d advise you to look out for any notices from the Catering department about events like this!
By Gabriel K-S (2B)
Healthy living challenge
The boys of 2L have spoken and voted! For the rest of this term, every Monday morning 2L (including one of the tutors!) will do a one lap run/jog/walk together on the School fields before registration.Well done and we can’t wait to hear how you get on.
Hampton Innovations
There’s one more week left to enter the Hampton Innovations competition. Take a look at the video below from Leo and Rafe, who’ll tell you all about it:
You can enter as an individual or as a team, so have a chat with your friends and see what you can come up with. All you have to do is fill out this form linked here.
Final entries for shortlisting will be on Friday 26 January 2024, so plenty of time to get your thinking caps on. If you have any questions please email Miss Towler.
SPECIAL SHOUT-OUTS!
I am delighted to share with you the happy news that Kavin W (2H) has been awarded a distinction for his performance in the LAMDA Grade 6 Bronze Medal solo acting examination. This accomplishment not only brings immense pride to Kavin but also highlights the thriving drama in our School.
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 Mrs Whitwam (v.whitwam@hamptonschool.org.uk).
QUIZ OF THE WEEK
Well done to everyone who had a go at last week’s. It’s a two-way tie this week, big shout out to Forms 2J and 2L with the most entries. Merits go to:
2J: Siddhant S, Shishir V, Josh B, Joshua A
2L: Armaan V, Rajvir S, Konrad G, Jonty G
2W: Laurie L-T, Esa S, Shiv V
2B: Joe B, Devam K, Alex G
2H: James G, Manilo C, Joshua L
2F: Daniel S, Nico W
2P: Oliver Y, Sion K
Take a look at this week’s questions – have a go yourself or challenge people at home and see if they know the answer. Points for the Interform Competition will be awarded to the form with the most entries over the term.
This week’s brain-busting quiz questions come to us from Tom B (2W) and are all about the weather. Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here.
Here are the answers to last week’s questions:
- After winning four Grammys in February 2023, Beyoncé is now the most awarded artist in the prize’s history, but how many Grammys in total does she have? 29
- What was the name of Prince Harry’s memoir published in January 2023? Spare
- Who won the Women’s Six Nations last year? England
- Who ended Novak Djokovic’s winning streak at Wimbledon? Carlos Alcaraz
- What is the name of the social media app designed by Meta last year aimed to rival Twitter/X? Threads
