Welcome to the First Year Blog!
What a week it’s been for our First Years, who swapped classrooms for the great outdoors at Avon Tyrrell – and put all four pillars of LION into action along the way!
There was Leadership in action during the egg drop challenge, as pupils built contraptions to protect an egg from a two-storey fall. Teams had to organise themselves, delegate jobs, and make quick decisions together – with results that were nothing short of egg-cellent, though not every design held together, and a few eggs sadly met a scrambled end. Still, it was great to see everyone coming out of their shells.
Inclusivity was on full display during the catapult building and space hopper races, where everyone cheered each other on, regardless of who came first.
The high and low ropes were a lesson in being Open to new opportunities, with plenty of “I can’t look down” moments giving way to real bravery and many personal bests.
And as dusk fell, the night walk called for some careful Navigating right from wrong, and at the time, right from left in the dark!
All in all, a week of fun, laughter, and the occasional broken egg – and a brilliant demonstration of what LION looks like in action. Keep an eye out for some first-hand accounts from the pupils themselves, both this week and in the weeks ahead.
Food Glorious Food
Period five had just ended after forty minutes. Packing my bag hastily, I couldn’t wait for the lunchtime luxury. The lush spice from the curry and the warm scent of today’s soup swirled into a sweet aroma, the scent so strong it almost felt palpable. After a short minute of queueing, the time had come…
The variety of food was endless, and my stomach felt like a bottomless pit. From the traditional fish and chips, to the renowned spaghetti bolognese, the incredibly benevolent and considerate kitchen staff kindly asked which food I wanted. A moment of silence filled the room: which one was I to pick? All were incredibly great choices. After a long pause of thinking, I chose the spaghetti bolognese. The steaming pasta and mince heavenly touched my plate.
After a joyous ten minutes of dining, I was finally full. Moments after cleaning my plate, I rushed outside to the 3G where even more was about to come…
By Max K (1W)
Sports Aplenty
Sport at Hampton has been amazing! It’s only been a few weeks since the term started but sports are already in full swing with Rugby, Football and even Badminton fixtures underway. Training sessions in the week are filled of energy and fun, everyone is included and contributes to the fun and games. I really enjoyed sports myself and, in the Rugby matches you really feel the Hampton spirit coming together. I’m super excited of what is coming in sports this year.
By William S (1L)
Avon Tyrrell Adventure
I was bouncing up and down on my coach seat checking my watch now and then checking if it was time to arrive. It was Monday and today I was going to go to AVON TYRRELL. I squealed and even though the coach was two hours away I was playing cards with my friends, so time just flew by. As we arrived the Head of Years gave us a brief talk about safety rules and passcodes and then we went cracking onto our activities. My favourite activity between morning and dinner was the high ropes where we balanced on a wooden beam and also did the leap of faith onto a metal bar suspended in the air. Then came dinner. Personally, it was one of the best dinners I had ever eaten in my life. They served us a steak pastry which was honestly better than Greggs. They served cookies as desserts and squash to drink. After finishing dinner, we went to do the night walk which made me really relaxed and calm. We also did some starwatching while lying on the grass. After we did some very fun arts and crafts about this very eggsciting topic ‘eggs can’t fly’ where we used an A4 piece of paper tape and a balloon to protect an egg from cracking after being dropped from the second floor.
After this exciting day we went to our bedrooms and got ready to sleep. I was with five people including myself and that night I could hardly sleep thinking about all the fun things we were going to do tomorrow. Waking up at 5:30 on my own I tidied everything up for the day ahead and by the time I was finished it was only 6:00 so I decided to relax until the rest woke up. After everyone woke up, we headed down to breakfast to find a full English breakfast laid out in front of me and I devoured every single piece. Now with only four hours left at Avon Tyrrell, we did a points activity where we went around doing every activity and managing to get points for it. Luckily, we were third on the leader board and with one thing left to do we hurried outside where long planks and logs and ropes were laid out. Apparently, we were making a huge catapult and trying to hit barrels. Even though the process of making it was tiring, the fun of it is still left in my head forever. After finishing up, it was time to leave and before boarding the coach I looked one last time at this humongous building and bid farewell to a place I may not see ever again.
By Juwon K (1W)
Excitement was flying through the air, once we arrived at the annual trip to Avon Tyrrell. Awaiting us were the many unforgettable activities that made our hearts leap into the air. Our adventure began with all the problem-solving activities where our groups had to work together to do various challenges like transporting a tennis ball to the other side of the field with four poles, I particularly enjoyed this because we got to know each other better and had to communicate between ourselves. After this we had some low ropes where we had to solve and complete challenges such as an obstacle course and balance ourselves equally on an enormous seesaw despite failing many, many times! We continued endlessly to reach the right result. Finally, we had a high ropes course where we had to walk up vast, scissor-like, wooden poles each step giving us thrill and motivation to reach the top. After this, not even that activity matched up, to the one and only leap of faith! Where we had to climb a tall wobbly pole making each step a milestone, once we reached the platform, we had to jump to reach the metal bar, leaving us only in happiness to complete this amazing experience. Getting to know each other and doing all these incredible activities, really made this the best trip ever!
By Julian C (1W)
TUTEE OF THE WEEK
Every week, the First Year Tutor team nominate a Hamptonian who they have been particularly impressed with and Mr Hill and Mr Fuldner present him with a certificate and a tasty treat to eat!
Congratulations to Ethan N (1J) on being named this week’s Tutee of the Week!
Ethan has showed willingness to support his classmates, helping everyone with their padlocks! He is a calm and caring pupil – well done Ethan!
SPECIAL SHOUT OUTS!
Hector T (1J) completed his first Park finishing third place out of a field of 94 parkrunners. He was the first male and came first in his age category. Great running, Hector!
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 Mr Harrison (ch.harrison@hamptonschool.org.uk).
THE HAMPTON HUNT
Each week I will set you a challenge where you need to find out a random fact, number or indeed anything else around the School – you won’t be able to do this from home! You have until the end of Wednesday to complete the challenge; you will find out in next week’s blog if you’re correct, and you will be given a LION merit by your Form Tutor the following Monday. And who knows – you might get to know the School better in the process!
Last week’s challenge: How many football and rugby pitches are there in total, excluding the 3G? The answer was 11, and the sign on the Sports Pavilion was a big hint! Big shout out to Damon N, Christian A, Auryn V, Ali K, Archumam V, Arjun P, Freddie F, Muhammad K, Arjun I, Thomas F, Juwon K, Kareem A-H, Oliver V V, James Z, Ahaan K, Lucas C, Aryan P, Rocco K, Joey L, Siddarth M and Matias R C. Don’t forget to collect your merit!
This week’s challenge is a special one: your answer is not at Hampton but somewhere in the New Forest!
How many windows does the Avon Tyrrell house have?
HINT: you didn’t need to count them, you just needed to listen very carefully!
