Ph-antastic Photography, Football Frenzy & Fabulous Form Time!

Welcome to the Third Year Blog!

Another busy Hampton week for the Third Years was highlighted by last Friday’s ‘No Limits Lessons Day’. Of course, this is a slight misnomer as there are some limits. In truth, a more accurate name would be ‘Comparatively Few Limits Lessons Day’, but this doesn’t have quite the same ring to it. So, No Limits Lessons Day it is. Rumours that Mr Knibbs had asked Eurodance ‘legends’ 2 Unlimited to produce a revised version of the School song to celebrate the day were (sadly) unfounded.

No Limits Lessons Day involves teachers being encouraged to try to find different ways to bring their subjects (and pupils) to life. From a teaching perspective it can sometimes feel like a day that pushes you into a less comfortable place and you don’t necessarily look forward to it, but when the reality of the day is here and you are walking around the School seeing what’s going on, hearing the laughter from the classrooms and feeling the energy around the place, it all feels incredibly worthwhile.

Of course, there are the stories of teachers who choose to banish ‘limits’ by setting assessments which you are permitted to complete in coloured pen, or the danger of finding yourself being asked to participate in eight different debates during lessons throughout the day, but the vast majority of stories you hear make you marvel at the creativity of the staff here and what they are able to come up with, from poetry escape rooms, drawing biologically accurate brains on to the white swimming caps that your friends are wearing, to learning about the social history of the 1920s by dancing the Charleston, to navigating passport control entirely in Spanish.

It is a wonderful day to walk the corridors and get a real sense of the sheer vibrancy that a whole School of Hamptonians can generate – it is enough to put a spring in the step of even the most battle-hardened teaching veteran. What a day! If you want to get a sense of it, there is a video below…

Of course, this week, all the limits have been put firmly back in place and no one has been doing anything interesting at all… Or have they? Let’s find out!

Heads of Year Message

Well done to everyone for completing another action-packed week at School. We’re conscious that energy levels can dip in the final week of a long half term, so please make time for rest and proper sleep (without digital distractions) over the weekend – this will give you the best chance to maintain your standards and enjoy the week ahead.

Form Charity Mufti Day & Foodbank Collection

Friday 17 October will be a mufti day at school with funds raised being donated to support our three Form Charity partners. If you are able, please support the Feltham Food Bank collection on the same day. Items can be dropped off outside Reception between 8.15am and 8.45am. The Food Bank have told us they would particularly appreciate the following:

• Cooking oil (1l)
• Tinned fish and meat
• Coffee
• Tinned fruit
• Basmati rice (1kg)
• Dried pulses
• Washing pods

A reminder that all items should be nut-free.

Interform Competition

We are looking forward to the latest instalment of the Interform Competition next week. Thanks in advance to the PE department for hosting a Third Year Interform Volleyball Competition in the Sports Hall on Monday lunchtime. Please bring PE kit and indoor trainers if you would like to take part.

Co-curricular Activities

The full range of co-curricular activities have been up and running for several weeks now. One of the targets we set for Third Year pupils is to “get involved” in many different aspects of School life, and one of the best ways to do this is through the various co-curricular opportunities. It is not too late to try a new club, and we would encourage everyone to do this at least once more before the half term break. Details and timings of all clubs and co-curricular activities can be found here: co-curricular area of SharePoint.

October Grade Cards

Parents will be able to access their child’s grade card from the end of the school day on Friday 17 October via the online Parent Portal. The link to this will also be sent to parents via SchoolPost that evening. Pupils should not worry unduly about their grade cards. Form Tutors will pick up on any academic concerns after the half term holiday, with the aim of offering support if required.

Absences

If your child will be absent from School for any reason, please complete the absence reporting form, which can be found on My School Portal, on every morning of absence. For absences other than illness (e.g. if a pupil has a medical appointment during School hours) notice of this should be given in advance wherever possible. For planned absences, please contact the Heads of Year requesting the absence with as much notice as possible.

Third Year pupils – please let us, your Form Tutors or the relevant subject teachers know if you have any difficulties. Have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes

Mr T Rigby & Mr H Moore

No Limits Lessons Day 

No Limits Lessons Day 2025 was a big hit, with pupils from all year groups getting stuck into a day of creative, hands-on learning and exploring their subjects in new and exciting ways. Teachers took on the challenge to “do something different,” coming up with all sorts of fun and inventive activities — and the highlights video below shows the energy, creativity, and buzz from an exciting day of learning:

Football frenzy

There’s been plenty of action out on the football pitches this week, let’s hear more from Jayen and Caesar:

U14C 

The match started off slowly, trading possession between us and Bradfield. Soon however, Bradfield lobbed a phenomenal ball over to their striker who rapidly finished the easy 1-on-1 goal against Alex B. The match carried on without either team managing to develop an advantage until George C found himself with an opportunity to shoot, equalising the score with a ball in the bottom left of the net. The game went on for a few minutes without change before both teams scored, bringing the scoreline to 2-2 with no clear advantage.

Eventually, however, a ball through a gap in their defence led to a fantastic goal bringing it up to 3-2. We held this position for a while, Bradfield taking many chances but just missing each time. Eventually, subs came on and our tired back four rotated out for a break. However, Bradfield quickly pounced on this opportunity and successfully landed two balls in the back of our net. Our tired attackers tried their best to score one back with multiple chances in the box however they didn’t manage to score leading to an unfortunate loss at 4-3. A tough defeat, but an enjoyable contest!

By Jayen L (3G)

U14D 

On the 4 October the Hampton U14D team faced Bradfield college in our third game of the season. Right before kick-off, captain Caesar C took the coin flip, and we started the game with the ball. 

As we started the game on the side against the wind, we knew that we would have to try to hold out for a stroke of luck if we were to take the lead. Surprisingly we had a few opportunities against their keeper, however they all ended in nothing. Again, because they were playing with the wind on their side, they could easily lob the ball straight to their attacks and we had a few close moments where they had shots in the penalty box where our goalkeeper, George W, managed to stop all of them. With the first half ending we were still at a stalemate. Before we headed back on to the pitch, we had a stirring team talk with our coach, Mr Bailey, where he provided tips for us to improve on in the second half.  

In the second half we had the advantage of the wind, which meant we were more aggressive than the first half. After we were awarded a corner, James C took it swiftly for Marvin K to head the ball in for his first goal of the season. After going 1–0 up the moral was at an all–time high, so we got a bit carried away which allowed them to lob the ball over to their striker. As Caesar C chased him down, he managed to kick the ball out of play before their striker pushed him into the ground where he took a few minutes off to get rid of the shock.

After the restart, we had to have a few players playing out of position so when one of their players was through on goal, Dillon G handballed it (we were unsure whether it was intentional or not!) stopping a guaranteed goal, but also giving George W a chance to try to save a penalty. As George W stared down their attacker, the whistle blew and he shot. Immediately, our team erupted in cheers as George W had managed to save it, keeping our morale high for more and allowing us to settle down defensively a little. Building on this, after a few minutes we managed to get the ball to Joe W, who calmly slotted the ball into the bottom corner, giving us a lead at 2-0.  

Heading into the final minute of the game with the wind blowing behind him, Ioan P volleyed the ball seemingly as an attempted pass, but the ball flew all the way into the goal where their goalkeeper couldn’t reach it. After the moments of shock evaporated and everyone processed what happened, we all gathered up to Ioan, ecstatic. Soon after the moment, the game ended: a great 3–0 win to Hampton School! 

By Caesar C (3D)

History – the Kindertransport

This week in history, has been fascinating and impactful. As part of the topic on the Holocaust, in one of our lessons, we were lucky enough to meet a special person (Karen Kruger) willing to talk about the Kindertransport and how their close family survived an unimaginable situation.

The Kindertransport was a rescue effort that took place before the start of WW2. This led to thousands of children escaping Nazi-occupied countries – in this case, Czechoslovakia – and fleeing to Britain. Whilst there are several sources regarding this particular subject, hearing this from a child of a survivor made everything more meaningful and enhanced our understanding of the difficulties undergone at the time.

She also showed us a documentary in which she openly spoke about how the Kindertransport affected her closest of kin, and what her thoughts were. This visit reminded us of how this event still has lasting effects on certain people, like Karen. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed listening from a different perspective and hope to learn more.

By Riyaan G (3E)

John Locke Global Institute Essay Competition

Before the summer break, I entered the John Locke Global Institute Essay Competition in the Junior Category, answering the question “Why do humans become more boring as they grow older?” I spent weeks planning, writing, editing, and rewriting my essay, doing lots of research to make sure it was the best it could be, and even meeting up with some professors to discuss how to approach the essay. Then, just two days after my birthday in August, I received an email saying I had been shortlisted for the JLI Gala Dinner in London. I was so happy and surprised. Since it was a black tie event, I had to buy a tuxedo and bow tie especially for the occasion!

On Saturday 4 October, I attended the award ceremony and sat at my assigned table with four other young thinkers from around the world. The evening began with a delicious starter, followed by speeches from the organisers. One of them reminded us that being shortlisted was already an incredible achievement, as only around ten percent of participants from all over the world had reached that stage.

The President of the Alumni then spoke about scholarships to summer schools at Oxford, Princeton, and Cambridge, and other speakers shared inspiring messages about acting on ideas rather than waiting for the “perfect time.” The main course was a perfectly cooked steak and was amazing, and the dessert, an expensive-tasting chocolate dish with cake on the side, was a perfect ending.

When it was time for the awards, I didn’t expect to win anything major since most of the finalists were older, around 15 or more. But to my surprise and pride, I received an Award of Recognition, along with a £500 scholarship to Oxford Summer School. Even though I’m one of the youngest shortlisted students, I feel incredibly proud of what I achieved. This experience has motivated me to come back even stronger next year – aiming for an even higher prize and continuing to grow as a writer and thinker.

By Liangxu Z (3F)

What a fantastic achievement! Have a read of Liangxu’s essay here.

Photography Club

On Monday this week, we hosted the second session of Photography Club, where we introduced different types of lighting (overhead, 45*). Additionally, we investigated how the colour wheel works and how it affects your photos.

The colour wheel is extremely important – it can make or break an image. For example, if you were taking a photo of an orange water bottle on a black backdrop – you wouldn’t use white (cool) light, as it would blend in with the orange. Instead, you could use a warmer light and/or a blue coloured light as it would directly contrast the orange (according to the colour wheel).

Next week, come along to Monday F62 1.15pm where we are going to be taking pictures of moving objects – helpful when taking pictures of sport action or planes!

By Sasha B (3D)

Fabulous Form Time 

Form time in 3F is never dull.

We kick things off with the classics, aptly provided by Mr Berezhnoi: sharing our favourite number (mine’s seven, obviously, because it’s both lucky for me and a prime number) and colour (a strong case was made for ‘forest green’ last week, which I respect, but prefer teal as it reminds me of the ocean which I love). There’s something oddly brilliant about hearing why someone loves the number 12 or insists that orange is underrated. It’s a small thing, but it gets us talking, laughing, and occasionally debating whether beige counts as a colour at all!

Then the typically Hamptonian competitive spirit kicks in. We’ve got a running Wordle challenge, and yes, we did guess it in three on Thursday with our guesses ranging from: ‘Traps’ (chosen by Charles B, we’re moving down the register to select the starting word) and ‘Range’ to the winning word, ‘Hardy,’ beating the bot for the first time!

The New York Times mini crossword is another favourite; our current record stands at 2 minutes and 18 seconds, which is frankly heroic. On Friday, we guess the flag, which is sometimes harder than it looks. Turns out, knowing the difference between Slovakia and Slovenia is a niche skill, but our resident vexillologists are thriving.

It’s all low-stakes, high-fun, and a surprisingly good way to start the day!

By Mrs Pickford Scienti

Biology Week

The final week of the half term is going to be a good one…it’s Biology Week, and there’s a whole host of activities for you to get involved in. Take a look at the poster below to find out more:

Two truths and a lie

Last week we had Assistant Head of Third Year, Mr Green. He took the opportunity to lie to you, but only once. So which of these claims was that lie?

• Mr Green has an irrational dislike of men wearing scarves indoors
• Mr Green makes his own butter
• Mr Green’s favourite colour is green

Mr Green is not a man who is well dressed enough to cast aspersions on other people’s sartorial choices, but he still struggles to avoid a sense of disquiet when he sees a man wearing a scarf indoors. This is a fault on his part, but not one he has managed to overcome. Fortunately, the School code forbids scarf wearing in lessons, or else he would probably need to leave altogether. Mr Green does make his own butter. Why would he not? So, the lie is the idea that Mr Green’s favourite colour is green. It is blue. But is it actually the case that it is green, but he is unwilling to admit it to himself as he doesn’t want to accept the idea that his favourite colour is the same as his name, which could somehow be seen as undermining? No one will ever know.

This week, Mr Moore, one of our esteemed Heads of Year is besmirching his elite reputation by lying on the internet. These are his claims:

• Mr Moore went to Bath University
• Mr Moore is a fan of ABBA
• Mr Moore supports Fulham Football Club

Which is the lie? Find out next week!

Connection Corner

A big shout out to all the Third Year Hamptonians who had a go at last week’s Connection Corner. Well done to everyone who guessed the correct connection was Sweets! Merits go to Seb M, James C, George T, Naiveyda A, Ollie S, Asher C, Reuben N, Charlie F, Ian L, Milan S, Liangxu Z and a bonus merit to Rishi V who correctly identified that they are all names of retro sweets sold by Swizzels!

Another tricky one this week, have a go over the weekend and see if you can spot the connection:

Have a great weekend!