Welcome to the Third Year Blog!
What a moment – the sort of moment they don’t tell you about in the Hampton Prospectus, but probably should. A moment to cherish. A moment to remember. Your first foray into the sunlit uplands of the Third Year Blog.
And what will you find in this magnificent (MAGNIFICENT) publication?
Well, the Third Year Blog is very similar to the Second Year Blog except that it is for Third Years. Every week we will bring you the BIG NEWS from the Third Year (not the Second Year – that would be the ‘Second Year Blog’). This is the level of insight that the Third Year Blog will be bringing you week in, week out.
Of course, on one level, what you will find in the Third Year Blog depends entirely on you all.
Without your articles and stories, the Third Year Blog is merely an empty vessel.
A digital emptiness.
And we don’t want that, do we? (‘Nooooo’ etc).
So, what you all need to do is make sure that whenever you have done anything interesting (in School or not), or been somewhere sensational, or enjoyed a memorable victory in a School sports fixture, or learnt a valuable lesson in defeat, or created something fantastic, or experienced something awesome, or done or seen anything else that you think could feasibly be of interest to a group of people hungry for Third Year news, then you must write it up and email it to the Third Year Blog via Mr Green at tj.green@hamptonschool.org.uk.
What’s more, if you have an article published that is of sufficient quality, you will receive 2 (two!) merits. This may sound like bribery, but if the President of the United States can promise $5,000 dollars to EVERY AMERICAN if his party wins the midterm elections that are looming, then I think the Third Year Blog can bribe its own electorate with merits.
Now, for all this, you would think that after only one week of Third Yearing, there wouldn’t be a great deal of Third Year news. There is an element of truth to this, but there has still been plenty going on. Of course, the primary excitement was about all the learning that you were all going to do in your lessons (of course it was), but there were other exciting elements too.
In particular, we had the Co-curricular Fair, which was a chance to find out about all the various clubs that are on offer. Suffice to say that whether you want to keep bees, learn to knit, become an expert in body popping or improve your speed cubing, the Co-curricular Fair was the place to be. Interesting people tend to have a lot of interests and the Third Year would be a great time to find some more, so make sure you throw yourselves into what there is on offer.
The other big ticket event this week was the Teambuilding Day on Thursday, which was an obvious success, even if there are some members of the year who, from the looks of it, might still be trying to successfully walk 30 yards as a group of five on two planks as they move into the Sixth Form.
There is much more on this magnificent day below. This includes the first update on the points scored in what is (unofficially) the most prestigious Interform Cup in the south of England – the Williams Cup.
So, there you have it – Third Year news (multimedia Third Year news, no less) awaits you.
But that isn’t all!
We also have a weekly quiz – Connection Corner….
We also have a weekly feature where we persuade a member of our outstanding, upstanding staff body to lie through their teeth, offering you two true things about themselves as well as one lie. We have a special guest to the Third year blog for that this week…
So, what are you waiting for?! There is enough blog for everyone!
Heads of Year Message
We were delighted to see the smiling faces, energy and enthusiasm as Third Year pupils returned to School this week after a well-deserved summer break. Whether a returning Second Year pupil or joining from a Prep School, all have started the school year remarkably well. The boys have also responded well to the challenge of familiarising themselves with a new timetable, new classrooms, new Form Tutors and new subject teachers, so we hope they will enjoy some much-needed rest over the weekend.
There are a few important pieces of advice that we want to emphasise to the boys at this early stage of the year. Firstly, they are always welcome to speak to us, their Form Tutors and/or their Sixth Form Mentors on any subject, but especially if they have a question or a problem relating to School life that they need help with. In particular, they can find us in the Third Year office during morning break time on any Thursday when we operate an “open door” session for pupils. We will also be available on Friday morning break times to sign off Academic Merits and Lion Merits. We ask all Third Year pupils to be themselves and be kind to themselves over the coming days and weeks. The exertions of starting a new term in a new environment are very challenging, so they must give themselves time and space to rest, sleep at night, eat well and stay hydrated. It may take a little time to feel completely settled (and this is to be expected), but the boys should be calm and authentic in their interactions with teachers and peers. Finally, we want to set the boys some aims for the year, and we will re-emphasise these at Year Group Assemblies. We hope these aims will act as guiding principles for their time in the Third Year:
- Aim for personal best in everything you do at School – academic endeavour; co-curricular engagement; interactions with teachers and peers.
- Be kind to everyone in the School community.
- Get involved in as many aspects of School life as you can.
- Speak up if you or someone else needs assistance, or if you get things wrong – be an “upstander” not a bystander.
Given the aim to “get involved”, we were very pleased to see a full turnout at the Co-Curricular Fair on Tuesday lunchtime. Third Years should resolve to try out at least two new clubs (beyond sports practices) this half term.
Teambuilding Day was a great success on Thursday. We were delighted to see all Third Year pupils taking part in teambuilding activities so energetically and enthusiastically throughout the day. We know that this is just one step in the integration process, but it was great to see the boys having fun whilst learning about effective communication, problem solving, and working as a team. Congratulations to Form 3G for taking the early lead in the Interform Competition by winning the event!
Parents will have received separate communication about Open Morning (Saturday 19 September) and will receive a letter from us in advance of Parents’ Pastoral Forum (Monday 28 September). All Third Year pupils are expected to attend Open Morning to assist (unless they are involved in an away sports fixture on that day). Please email Dr Hendry (s.hendry@hamptonschool.org.uk) and us if this presents an issue. Pastoral Forum presents parents with an opportunity to meet with their son’s Form Tutor(s) along with the parents of other pupils in the Form Group. We will facilitate discussions about pastoral matters pertinent to this Year Group and present a range of information to parents. We hope that many parents will be able to attend this event – sign up details will be included in the letter.
We have high hopes for the boys in Third Year, and we are looking forward to supporting each of them and helping them to achieve their potential this year.
Best wishes
Mr Rigby & Mr Moore
Summer Shoutouts
At the start of the week, your tutors will have asked you to send in your thoughts on ‘what was the most outstanding thing you did over the summer holidays?’ It seems that not as many of you did outstanding things as the Third Year Blog imagined. However, Armaan R certainly did…
During the summer, I went on a trip to Indonesia. Our trip started in Bali, where we met with family that had flown in from India and Australia. It was the first time we had seen our cousins in four years!
On our first day, we went on a walk and had to cross a narrow bridge made from just 5ive planks of bamboo! During the rest of our stay in Bali, we went on a swing and zipline over a valley and also sat under a waterfall.
Next, we went to an area that has more beaches, called Lombok. We stayed there for three days and started doing a little snorkelling, before going on a three-day boat trip where we did snorkelling and a walk on Komodo Island where we saw seven Komodo dragons.
On the way back home, we stopped in Singapore and saw a giant light and sound show, before coming back to London a week before school restarted.
By Armaan R (3A)
Teambuilding day and the Williams Cup (The Interform Trophy)
As referenced earlier, Teambuilding Day took place on Thursday. Below we have a video that capture the spirit of it all.
But, while everyone was building teams, each individual Form was also trying to defeat the others…
So, who scored what points??
Below is the full update, showing the position, the form, the points scored in teambuilding day and, most importantly, the points each form earned towards the Williams Cup. Of course, there are many, many opportunities to earn more points in the terms ahead, but markers have been set!
Teambuilding points
1st – 3G – 412 – 9pts
2nd – 3B – 374 – 8pts
3rd – 3A – 349.5 – 7pts
4th – 3J – 333 – 6pts
5th – 3E – 323 – 5pts
6th – 3H – 310 – 4pts
7th – 3C – 307 – 3pts
8th – 3F – 285 – 2pts
9th – 3D – 272 – 1pts
What was the experience like? We have a report from Daniyal A (3F)…
Teambuilding Day’s goal is to properly get to know your classes strengths and weaknesses and work on those to make a cohesive team! There were lots of great activities ranging from plank racing to global warming. 3F had a fantastic teambuilding day and showed a positive attitude throughout all of the activities. We worked well together and had the opportunity to build on our teamwork skills. The whole day in Teambuilding we were tested in our communication and teamwork skills with our classmates.
In conclusion I think this day was a good break form the whole day of lessons and would definitely want to do it again if we had the chance but definitely change some of our strategies.
By Daniyal A (3F)
Two truths and a lie
Each week, we get one member of staff to undermine their credibility by lying to you. As the first liar for the year, we have a Second Year legend that the majority of you will be very familiar with – Mrs Owen.
So what is her web of deceit? What does she want us to believe? Two of the statements below are true; one is a lie. See if you can guess which is which.
- Mrs Owen went to school with Paddy McGuiness
- Mrs Owen is a lifelong Oldham Athletic supporter
- Mrs Owen used to play darts for her university darts team
The answers will be in next week’s blog!
Connection Corner
Introducing you to the very first Connection Corner of the year, our fiendish weekly Third Year Quiz! Have a go at answering the following quiz questions! Once you’ve got your answers, see if you can spot a connection that links them…
