Welcome to the Fourth Year Blog!
Wow! Fourth Year has come and gone, and I have loved putting together our termly reports of your achievements and successes. This time, we reflect on the whole year – as we did in our recent prizegiving event, and Mr Neville has done a great job of summarising all your achievements in this issue. As Mr Neville notes below it has a been fantastic and hugely successful one! Enjoy the summer break – and we look forward to seeing you well-rested and ready for facing all that Fifth Year has to offer!
Miss Brown
A Message from Mr Neville
What a fantastic year it has been! You may remember, at the very start of the year I spoke about Fourth and Fifth Year being a two-year process. In reality, it’s a little less than a two-year process and, as we sit here today, you are well over halfway through that process. In fact, it’s approximately ten months until you will be sitting your first GCSE exams! The key is not to panic, but instead make sure you use each of those ten months wisely to build steadily towards success next summer. Have a plan in place and stick to it. Give yourself every possible chance of achieving your potential. And work hard, nobody can ask more of you than that.
You may also remember from that first assembly of the year that I spoke about helping to foster a collaborative and supportive team, a team that includes you, your Form Tutors and your teachers – Team Fourth Year, if you like, or a more imaginative name of some sort! Within that team, I asked you to consider how you wished to be treated and perceived by others, and to model your own demeanour and attitude on this. I am happy to report that I think you’ve done a sterling job, and the positivity, commitment, inclusivity and dedication shown by all team members – that’s you! – has been clear to see throughout this year. Very well done indeed to each and every one of you
It is important that you recognise the contributions of your Form Tutors in your achievements this year. They have always been there, day in, day out, looking after you, keeping you up to date with what’s going on, and generally being fantastic supporters of you. They work tirelessly behind the scenes as well, doing so many things that you don’t see. Our team would not function without the vital contributions from your Form Tutors, and the AHOY team.
Mr Neville
Interform Competitions
Well done to all Fourth Year Hamptonians who have participated in interform events in such good spirits, and thank you to Miss Singleton for continually putting on such an exciting programme of events and all the other members of staff involved in organising and running of the events this year. Miss Singleton’s tireless enthusiasm to organise this all important Year Group activity is much appreciated.
Final standings for the year as follows…..
| 9th | 4G |
| 8th | 4A |
| 7th | 4D |
| 6th | 4B |
| 5th | 4J |
| 4th | 4C |
| 3rd | 4H |
| 2nd | 4E |
| 1st | 4F |
Big shout out to Form 4F, this year’s winners!
Sports
Starting with sport, our football teams played well and enjoyed much success, with the U15As scoring more than 100 goals and ending up with a goal difference of 63! They made it all the way to the ISFA semi-finals, before falling to Whitgift in a very tight game that was well fought to the end. The U15Bs had a great journey to the ESFA quarter-finals and played some excellent football, with plenty of teamwork on display. The Cs and Ds played 26 games between them as well this season, with 16 of these being victories.
The J15 rowers went from strength to strength this season. After early season wins at Hampton Head for the 1st and 2nd VIIIs, a long and tiring training camp in Soustons, France laid the groundwork for the summer. Both 1st and 2nd VIIIs raced outstandingly well at the National Schools’ Regatta in May to take home silver medals in what were exceptionally hard-fought races. Second place in the country for both crews, our best J15 results for some considerable time, was just reward for their efforts this year.
The U15A, B and C Cricket teams have had a super season so far, with wins against KCS Wimbledon for all three teams, and against St Paul’s for the As and Bs. The U15As also made it to the last 16 of the Nat West Cup competition, and will be keen to show what they can do again next season. Not to be outdone, our U15 Basketball team has really come on strongly this year and they made it to the semi finals of the Surrey School League in April. The Junior Swim team won the Richmond Borough Schools’ Swimming Championships in March, and our Tennis players have also got in on the action this term, with some fantastic matches won and most recently an absolutely superb victory in the Eton Junior Pairs competition.
The U15 Rugby players have pushed themselves hard again this year, with the U15Bs playing 14 games this season and winning half of them. The U15As had a super season, culminating in one of the most competitive National Cup quarter finals that I’ve ever watched. In a pulsating game, it is fair to say that every single member of the team extracted the most from themselves and they were exceptionally unlucky to lose to a Radley side that went on to win the competition overall. They weren’t to dwell on that result though, and the U15A Sevens team made it to the Surrey Cup semi final and won the trophy at the John Fisher 7s with a fantastic 47-0 victory.
Drama, Music & Quizzing
It has been thoroughly enjoyable to watch all the Fourth Year actors excel in their various productions this year, and I was thrilled to watch superb performances in the Little Shop of Horrors and Bleak Expectations. A Fourth Year team made the final of the Interschool Physics Quiz and, fantastically the Intermediate team comprising three Fourth Year pupils became National Schools’ Quiz champions – quite the feat!
Musically, there have also been some notable performances this year. Ralf S received offers from the Royal College, the Royal Academy and the Guildhall to study music on Saturdays, and Harry N won the H R Charitable Trust Piano Prize and the Beethoven Junior Cup at the Sutton Music Festival back in the autumn term.
Continuing with some individual achievements this year, Harry N was again successful, this time as a winner of the Young Reporter’s award. Jihwan M made it through to round 2 of the UK Linguistics Olympiad after receiving a Gold Award in the first round, a rare achievement for a Fourth Year pupil. Agalyan S won a Highly Commended award in the Stephen Spender poetry translation competition and Omer O has been raising thousands of pounds organising fundraising events for a clothing and lifestyle brand he has created, raising money for the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
We are sure there are many more notable successes to mention that we have missed so please do tell us what you have been up to over summer for our next blog!
Prizegiving and pupil nominations for Unsung Hero Awards
Well done to all of you who were awarded prizes at the event on Monday and for excellent performances from Harry N and Daniel T, William M, Lucas S-T, Fabio T-P, Gabriel S, Boris D, James N (Second Year) and Oliver A for speaking in front of the year group about life in the Fourth Year.
It was particularly rewarding to read through all of your wonderful nominations for the prizes – they showed real support and respect for each other. The Unsung Hero Awards this year were nominated by pupils to those who have made a big impact with their peers and are respected for their leadership, inclusivity, open-mindedness, their moral compass and their kindness and respect.. The following words came up many times in the 94 nominations for 34 pupils within the year group.
If you did not win a prize, it does not mean your efforts have not been noted and appreciated by your tutors and teachers – believe us – they were hard choices to make!
Geography photo competition
This year brings the return of the Geography summer holiday photo competition. We would like you to send us a snap of anything geographical whilst you were on your summer holidays, home or away.
You could have been inspired by a visit to London and its urban landscape, a walk along your local park or by the sun shining down upon a beach. The choice is yours!
There is a limit of one entry per pupil, so do think about which snap you’d like to submit carefully. Thank you to those who have already sent in their entry. The photo must be emailed to ch.Harrison@hamptonschool.org.uk by the end of the first full week back (Friday 13 September).
There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and the winners will also be displayed along the Geography corridor.
We look forward to seeing your entries.
