WELCOME TO THE SECOND YEAR BLOG!
Half Term is upon us! Today everyone came to school in mufti to raise money for our chosen charities. There was a wild selection of football and rugby shirts on show in Second Year and some dazzling trainers. Boys also contributed to the collection for the Feltham Food Bank which was great to see. We had a stunning concert on Thursday which is reviewed here and the interform rowing competition. Many are gripped by the rugby Six Nations and the Test match in India and we have reports on both in this week’s blog.
Wishing everyone a happy half term. I look forward to all the excitement of the interform football and rugby on the day of our return.
MERIT MILESTONES
Another bumper week for merits! Well done to the following Second Years:
Ben Jago – 10
Nathaniel Opiniano – 10
Alexander Kirkham – 10
Jiashan Li – 20
Jay Aragon – 20
Edo Cominacini – 20
Oscar Schofield – 20
Joshua Dunbar-Lee – 30
Ian Burguillos – 30
Gabriel Knowles-Szuniewicz – 40
Jonty Gwynne – 50 (Congratulations!)
Devam Kumarswami – 50 (Great job!)
Joe Bates – 50 (Super!)
Patrick Hobbs – 50 (Fantastic)
Manav Krishna – 60 (Wonderful!)
Manav Krishna – 70 (Very well done!)
Armaan Virdee – 80 (Amazing!)
TUTOR QUESTION OF THE WEEK
Each week the pupils decide on a question to ask all the Second Year form tutors. If there was one skill you could master perfectly for the rest of your life, which would you choose?
A: Know every human language.
B: Cooking every single food to perfection.
C: Parkour
D: Drawing
Among our tutors, A won votes from Mrs Owen, Mr Lee, Miss Tiller. B was Miss Winstock’s pick “A would be amazing but then you miss out on all the fun of learning a language from scratch.” I’m a real foodie so could not resist being able to cook to perfection (Mrs Whitwam) and 2L tutor group chose the same. Mr Hood said, “Parkour obviously… So if you see me on top of the sports pavilion, mind your business.” 2W’s Mrs Kirby may be following as she picked Parkour.
Interform Rowing
Yesterday saw Second Years take to the water (albeit an ergo machine in the Sports Hall!) and battle it out for the title of Interform Rowing Champion. Benjamin J (2W) tells us all about it:
On Thursday, each form from our Second Year went up to compete in the Interform rowing competition. In front of the rowing machines, there was a big screen showing us who was leading and who was behind. The more you rowed, the more your virtual rowing boat moved forward, and whoever moved the furthest, wins. In first place, were the tutors who won by a very long way. For the forms, In first place was 2H who had rowed very well the whole race. The 2nd place went to 2P, 3rd to 2F, 4th to 2W, 5th to 2B, 6th to 2J and 2L had 7th. We had 20 minutes to race as much as possible in groups bigger than four. The race was a team effort and will play a part in whoever wins interform this year.
Take a look at the video below to see how everyone got on:
Unsilenced III
Joshua A (2J) reviews the final concert of a packed half term:
I was delighted to be part of a concert dedicated to women composers this week. There are fewer women composers than men before the 1900s largely because of prejudice. I was playing a piece called Giga in D from the Harpsichord composed by Elisabetta de Gambarini. It’s a very playful piece as there were no dynamics (how loud or quiet the piece is played) so I got to experiment and then show off the piece.
The concert was in the Hammond on Thursday and on the day of the concert, I had about three hours until the show, so I decided to spend the time practising my piece. After the hours were up, we were escorted to the Hammond Theatre in the order of the program and then, the lights dimmed. The clarinet quartet played first, and I was after, so I enjoyed listening to the woodwind instruments and then, I was on. They introduced my composer as I prepared for the piece and began to play. My music and me, had a connection as my hands played all the notes, and by the time I had finished, there was a applause as I bowed. The rest of the concert was interesting and I learnt a lot about the women composers and believe that they will forever be ‘Unsilenced’.
Review of a new way of gaming
Ever wondered what Pro Clubs is all about, well fear not because Rajvir S and Edward R (2L) explain all about it:
Pro Clubs is a game mode on FIFA. It is when you and your friends can play together on a team with your own individual characters. You can have up to 11 players in a team and club. You compete in cups and league matches. Each player controls their pro, rather than controlling the team. Playing this game mode, emphasises teamwork and communication as it can be very frustrating when your teammates don’t pass. When you create your pro, you can customize the pros appearance, position, play style and attributes. You can gain points from matches and training. Your pro would have a certain level. The higher your level, the more attributes or play styles your pro unlocks. Pro clubs has made many different communities come together.
Six Nations: Wales vs Scotland
Huw C (2W), who was in Wales for the day of the match, reports on the nail biting match last weekend:
I recently went to Wales for my birthday and went to the local club to watch the rugby game with my grandfather. The first half went terribly. Scotland scored try after try and converted penalties after penalties. They went into halftime leading 20-0. After a brief break, Scotland came back on the pitch and scored another try. The score was now 27-0. Surely it couldn’t get worse! Luckily, it didn’t due to a yellow card for Scotland and Wales scored a try. Surely, we couldn’t come back? We scored again and then Scotland received another yellow card. We ended up getting four tries and we scored 26 points. We held Scotland up on the try line, but the ref signalled the end of the game. We lost by one point …agony… but at least we got two bonus points.
Premier League Predictions
Laurie L-T (2W) offers up his Premier League predictions:
The Premier League is well underway and as it is halfway through the season, I decided to look at the line up! To my dismay, Liverpool are top of the table at 51 points despite recently losing to Arsenal. Close behind is Man City who are one game behind Liverpool at 49 points. Sadly, my team Chelsea, are 11th currently but I have high hopes for the rest of the season. In the relegation zone, Everton, Burnley and Sheffield United. Now time for my predictions! I think Man City are going to overtake Liverpool and win the Premier League for the fourth time in a row and Chelsea I hope will qualify for the Conference League. Finally, I think going to the Championship will be Luton Town, Burnley and Sheffield United. Who do you think will win?
Cricket Update
If you missed any of the cricket you can catch up with Vayun J’s (2W) report on India Vs England. He is an India fan!
This week, I followed India vs England second test. Being an avid India supporter, I was upset after we lost the first game. After India lost the first test, we were looking to come back, strongly, and cement our unbeaten record at home. We knew that England were tough opposition, but India were ready to come out all guns blazing. First innings, Yashasvi Jaiswal hit a magnificent double ton, extraordinary for his young age. After India got 396, things were looking pretty good. In England’s innings, Zak Crawley, the birthday boy, scored 76, before mis-cuing a shot. Ben Stokes got 47, but apart from that, no one scored. Things were looking bleak for England, before the match progressed to the third day where, courtesy of a Shubman Gill’s century, India made 255. This set England a target of 399 runs to get to win the match.
On day 3, Zak Crawley and Ben Duckett set another good opening partnership, before Duckett fell. The nightwatchman, a term used to describe a less capable batter coming in earlier because they do not want to lose a better batsman, came in. It was very clear that the next day would determine the outcome of the match, and that it would probably end. Knowing this, I made the rather unintelligent decision of waking at 4am on a Monday, to watch the test. I was tired, and it didn’t help that England played well and Crawley got another half century. But after 95, wickets fell at regular intervals. However, after the 7th wicket, Ben Foakes and Tom Hartley stitched a 50-run partnership, perhaps upsetting India’s chances yet again. Foakes fell at 275 and India wrapped up a solid victory.
The match had its highs and lows, with Joe Root continuing the Bazball style, yet in the end India’s expertise at home shone through. In terms of Bazball, an aggressive style of play seen by England, we may see it stopped soon. India and England will both want to win the next match and get a lead in the series, and India should be hopeful, as Virat Kohli, in my opinion the best player in the world, will be back in action after missing the first two tests. Some other key players may be back in the India squad, yet the game could go either way. I can’t wait to see the series progress, and the riveting action to continue!
DISCOVER HAMPTON – BUILDING BATTERIES IN CHEMISTRY
In this episode we join Mr Schofield teaching our young chemists how to build batteries. Around since 1799, batteries are everywhere in our day-to-day life and battery technology is key to moving away from fossil fuels for transportation and power generation – an essential topic for all our young chemists. Click on the link below to listen.
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 Mrs Whitwam (v.whitwam@hamptonschool.org.uk).
QUIZ OF THE WEEK
Well done to everyone who had a go at last week’s quiz. Merits go to:
2J: Siddhant S, Joshua A, David W, Zihan C
2L: Armaan V
2W: Shiv V, Laurie L-T, Brooklyn N
2B: Joe B, Alex G, Jiashan L, Sebastian W
2H: James G, Manilo C, Joshua L, Joshua D-L
2F: Adharsh A, Aiden F,. Nico W
2P: Oliver Y, Oscar F-O
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 Joe B (2B) and with Valentine’s Day just around the corner, love is definitely in the air! Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here.
Here are the answers to last week’s questions:
- The Ashes is a Test cricket series between which two countries? England and Australia
- Which team won the first ICC Men’s Cricket World Cup in 1975? West Indies
- Which national cricket team did Amazon Prime make a docuseries on? Australia
- Which former England cricketer won the BBC’s ‘Strictly Come Dancing’competition in 2005? Darren Gough
- In what year were the first official T20 matches played? 2003
