Hampton@Home: June 26, 2020

Welcome to the penultimate summer term edition of our Hampton@Home e-newsletter.

Lockdown notwithstanding, the final phase of our School year is proving to be as vibrant and varied as ever. It was wonderful to welcome members of our Lower Sixth back to the School site on Wednesday and today, with more of them due in next week alongside boys in our First to Third Years (for ‘check-in’ meetings allowed by Government guidance). These all feel like significant milestones. Our Sixth Formers’ delight at being able to catch up with friends and some of their teachers was abundantly clear, and they also made their time in School productive and forward-thinking by drafting their UCAS personal statements. A few Liverpool shirts have been in evidence today, with those particular returning Hamptonians having double cause for celebration!

Last Wednesday saw Richmond Borough’s virtual sports event taking place during ‘National School Sport at Home Week’ and we are grateful to everyone – pupils, parents and colleagues – who braved 30+ degree temperatures to participate on Hampton’s behalf. Messrs Studt and Keenan from the Common Room got us off to a flying start by setting off at 4.30am to run a marathon distance past all schools in the Richmond Schools Sports Partnership, making my own 10-mile cycle to/from School that day feel like a rather meagre contribution!

There will be another opportunity for everyone in our School community to get involved when we celebrate our Founders’ Day next Tuesday. Form Groups will be coming up with entertaining and ingenious ways to take part in the newly-launched 1557 Challenge to raise funds for this year’s chosen Form Charities. The story linked below offers you information about the four charities we are supporting during the current academic year and our Form Charity Co-ordinator, Mrs Samuel, explains how you can join in with the 1557 Challenge.

The Hampton community’s generosity and kindness never fails to inspire and the success of our food bank collections are a prime example. I am reliably informed that during the past three weeks you have donated one ton (54 crates) of food and toiletries to the Feltham Food Bank. Thank you to all those by whom donations have been made. We intend to continue our collections throughout the School holidays and an email will be sent to all Hampton families next week with details of summer opening times.

I am delighted to say that this week’s H@H brings you the inaugural edition of The Hampton Focus, a superb current affairs magazine compiled by our Lower Sixth to explore contemporary political and economic issues. Also hot off the press is the 2020 version of the always excellent Lion Print magazine, which showcases the creative and artistic talents of Hamptonians from across all year groups.

Two members of our energetic PE and Sport Department, Mr Hurst and Mr Sims, have set some further challenges to help us keep fit during lockdown and we are joined for the latest e-Talk! by alumnus Dalton Leong OH (1981), chief executive of The Children’s Trust and a founding trustee of Shooting Star Children’s Hospices.

Thanks are also due to our ecologically-minded Head of Biology, Mr Langton, for his latest update from the Hampton hives. Meanwhile, Mr Slater presents this week’s Who’s your Hero on Welsh rugby legend Gerald Davies – recipient of 46 Wales caps and a stalwart of five British Lions tours. Those of us with long memories might recall that he made both front and back-page headlines in 1974 when he declined to join the Lions’ South African tour in a stance against apartheid. Sadly, we shall soon be bidding farewell to Mr Slater as he retires after 23 years of loyal, distinguished service at Hampton. More on him and our other Common Room leavers in our final e-assembly of term and other end-of-year communications.

I wish you a restful weekend ahead of the final five days of a truly remarkable summer term.

With kind regards and best wishes