Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
For about ten minutes this week we had a sprinkling of snow and the excitement was palpable amongst Second Years as snowball fights were plotted and dreams conjured of a lazy snow day. But nothing settled and instead we enjoyed cold, crisp days with most boys out on the 3G. Blog Club asked the tutors what they would do with a snow day and the results are revealed here. There is news of swim and chess successes over the holidays as well as a review of Cricket Club.
Our first Blog of the year is full of healthy resolutions! Of course, many of us have made resolutions – read Huw C’s story. PSHE focused on healthy living this week and I was pleased to hear 2P are making small changes such as ‘During break time go for a walk or 3G rather than sit inside’ and ‘when you get home from School, play outside for 10 minutes rather than play a video game straight away.’
We have taster lessons next week for the four languages boys do not already study at Hampton. The idea is to help you choose your option language for Third Year. With reports coming out soon, Second Years are doing their best to impress. Have a great week and remember to hand in your Reading Project pieces to the English Department.
Thank you to all the media reps who came to the club on Wednesday (paid in chocolate coins and Lion Merits) and I look forward to reading stories about the rugby and football interform competitions ahead.
MERIT MILESTONES
Another bumper week for merits! Well done to the following Second Years:
Aatheshan Ramanakanthan – 10
Shay Bhagwan – 10
Newt Hepburn – 10
Dennis Hayes – 10
Jiashan Li – 10
James Nunn – 20
Sion Kim – 20
David Wu – 30
Danyal Pasha – 30
Jai Kothari – 30
Neev Gangwani – 30
Vayun Jain – 30
Anthony Simonov – 40
Armaan Virdee – 70 (Fantastic!)
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 is:
What do you most like to do on a snowy day?
- Build a snowman
- Have a huge snowball fight
- Hide under your duvet and sleep
- Watch through the window with a hot chocolate
Mrs Owen, Miss Holt and Miss Winstock plumped for number 4 – warmth and a hot chocolate – Mr Lee chose number 2 with ‘good waterproof gloves’, Mr Harrison, Mrs O’Connor, Mrs Kirby and Mrs Whitwam are all out building a snowman with Mr Harrison: ‘If there’s enough snow, I’ll definitely choose to build a snowman. We don’t get that amount normally so I couldn’t miss it by sitting inside.’ Mrs Kirby also wants a snowball fight AND a hot chocolate. Similarly, Mr Vann-Alexander said ‘all of the above plus a Lord of the Rings marathon.’
Resolutions
Huw C (2W) tells us about a few of the the resolutions that 2W
As the year starts, the first question that springs to mind is what New Year’s resolution you will take up. During our first registration we were asked to state our resolution for 2024. Many were rather unimaginative such as eat less chocolate and work harder but a couple stood out: ‘lose less things’ and to ‘stop saying ‘like’ and ‘literally’ all the time’. I soon wondered about how long it would be until people started giving in to the temptation of chocolate. According to my research, by April, 70% of people give up their New Year’s resolutions and by the end of the year only three people in my class will have kept their resolutions. Let’s see!
New Year Carol
Second Year choristers Devam K (2B), Ekam R (2B) and Monty R (2L) heralded the start of 2024 with a beautiful rendition of Benjamin Britten’s A New Year Carol, accompanied by harpist Miss Hunting-Morris. Well done boys!
Swim Nationals
The day after term finished, Nathaniel O (2B) travelled to Swansea with a group of 30 swimmers from his swim club to compete at the 2023 Welsh Winter Nationals. Entering the prestigious national event with a mindset focused on gaining invaluable experience rather than making the podium, Nathaniel exceeded all expectations, including his own, by securing a bronze medal for his 400m individual medley race.
Despite facing some of the best junior swimmers from across the country, Nathaniel also achieved personal bests in all of the seven events he qualified for and experienced an unforgettable finals race for his 50m back stroke event. But beyond the medal, it was the camaraderie, the friendships forged in shared lanes, and the sheer joy of being part of something larger than himself that made this experience unforgettable. It was the feeling of standing shoulder to shoulder with athletes who shared the same passion, the same dreams.
Chess champion
Over the weekend of 16 and 17 December, Tom B (2W) took part in the London Junior Chess Championship Under 14 Major competition. The tournament had a very strong field of participants, including two other Hamptonians! However, Tom managed an impressive five wins from six games, and he emerged not only as the joint LJCC Under 14 Champion, but was also awarded the titles of London Under 14 Champion, Southern Counties Chess Union Under 14 Boys Champion, and LJCC Top Under 13 Player. At the end of the tournament, he almost had more trophies than he could carry! Well done Tom!
Subject of the week
Joe B (2B) tells us all about his Art lessons:
This week, I have really enjoyed Art. Although I am not a particularly creative person, I thought it was very interesting. In my half of 2B, with Mrs Williams, we received our finished clay cake slices after they were put in the kiln for a second time after painting. Mine looked great: the plait on top came out very well! In the lesson, we were learning about the Native American tradition of a totem pole. Each animal meant a different thing, and we were tasked to choose three that we thought represented our family, and to draw them. I chose the elk (leadership, strength, agility, intelligence), the bear (power, physical strength, knowledge, respect) and the salmon (perseverance, speed, cunning).
The style of drawing is quite unusual, as they look wide and not like the real animal. I made a background and the pole looked relatively good. Next week, we will paint them in black, white, red, and teal. I hope we might be able to create them out of clay next.
Club of the week
Siddhant S (2J) has been throwing himself into cricket this term, let’s find out more about our Club of the Week:
On the first day back at School I went to Cricket Club at lunchtime. The club started this term for anybody who wants to play cricket for fun or is serious and wants to get into a team. I went this week and had lots of fun.
We did many different drills and activities to get us warmed up for the season. The coach, Mr Harrison, taught us exercises such as running up to a wall and throwing a tennis ball at it to try catch it. Many people threw the ball, only to realise that they had gone too far and found it sailing over their heads! Personally, I really enjoyed the batting drill in which we were fed a delivery and had to try and drive it straight. Sometimes our partners threw the ball at us only to have to jump away as the ball had been hit back at them! I would recommend this club to anyone who wants to have a lot of fun and who wants to improve.
JOKE Time
Alex F (2W) tells us a few jokes that will hopefully bring a smile to everyone’s face:
What is blue and not heavy?
Light blue!
Why are elevator jokes so good?
They work on so many levels
Which bear is most condescending?
Pan-duh
Did you hear about the actor who broke a leg on stage?
He is in the cast!
Why did the nurse tiptoe?
She didn’t want to wake up the sleeping pills!
Hampton Innovations
Do you have an idea that could revolutionise the environmentally friendliness of the School? Maybe you want to convert the School fields to a wind farm, sell Hampton’s waste to foreign markets or invest heavily in green toilet paper stock! The wilder and more creative the better. Enter as an individual or as a team (a problem shared is a problem halved after all).
All you have to do is fill out this form linked here.
From the entries submitted, the best, the wackiest and the most well thought out will be shortlisted to present their ideas at a fair to battle it out for ultimate glory …. well … a TROPHY and a PRIZE.
Give it a go, see how far your hairbrained scheme will take you. 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
We love to hear about what you have been getting up to outside of school and to celebrate your successes in the Second 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 the final quiz of the autumn term. It’s a three-way tie this week, big shout out to Forms 2J, 2B and 2H with the most entries. Merits go to:
2J: Siddhant S, Danyal P, David W, Josh B, Joshua A
2L: Macsen B, Armaan V, Rajvir S, Konrad G
2W: Benjamin J, Brooklyn N, Laurie L-T
2B: Joe B, Devam K, Alex G, Jiashan L, Sebastian W
2H: James G, Matthew K, James G, Manilo C, Lucas T
2F: Oscar S, Adharsh A
2P: Oliver Y, Samrith P, 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 Shiv V (2W). Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here.
Here are the answers from the last quiz of the autumn term:
- Which country first started the tradition of putting up a Christmas tree? Germany
- How many ghosts show up in A Christmas Carol? Four – the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future, and Jacob Marley
- Which fairy tale was the first gingerbread house inspired by? Hansel and Gretel
- Where did the tradition of Christmas stockings come from? According to tradition, the original Saint Nicholas put gold coins in the stockings of three poor sisters
- What are the traditional 12 days of Christmas? The Twelve Days of Christmas are the last six days of the old year (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31 December ) and the first six days of the New Year (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 January)
Have a great weekend!
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