Welcome to the Third Year Blog!
Now that we are National School Football Champions, as a School (and a Third Year Blog) we can turn our attention to other things. For instance, last week’s relentless football-excitement-about-the-football meant that we entirely glossed over the fact that we were on the brink of entering a new Carolingian era with the coronation of King Charles. Regardless of your view of the monarchy, the coronation of a new King is a remarkable event and as a School, today was the day that we celebrated the coronation with a special lunch event including ice cream, games, a regal photo booth and, of course, football. More on this below.
Beyond this, as a tribute from the Third Year Blog, we thought we would offer a special Royal Coronation ‘two truths and a lie’ featuring the King himself. While the King surprisingly didn’t reply to my emails asking for his input, we were still able to pull together some intriguing truths with a lurking untruth.
– King Charles is the first British monarch to have gone to a school
– In 1974, King Charles visited Hampton School at the age of 26, with his highlight (according to local newspapers at the time) being ‘an exceptional sausage casserole lunch’
– King Charles has a frog named after him called Prince Charles Magnificent Tree Frog (for clarity, this is a type of frog, not just one individual frog with this name)
See if you can work out which of these ‘facts’ is not, in fact, a fact.
Yes, getting a new King is important, but is it as important as cricket? Is it as important as a new promotional film being created for the School? I will leave you to ponder your own answers to these questions, but they are the other elements comprising this week’s blog. We have an interview with the U14A cricket captain, talking about the challenging start to the season they have faced. We also have a report from a Third Year pupil who is the lead in an upcoming film promoting all that is wonderful about Hampton.
Let’s get into it!
Heads of Year Message
We look forward to hearing how the Third Year athletes taking part in the English Schools’ Track & Field Cup (round 1) got on today. The rest of us were engaged in a somewhat less athletic pursuit… eating coronation chicken burgers and ice cream!
Exams
Third Year Exams will take place during the week commencing Monday 22 May (the week before half term). Departmental study guides and/or revision check lists can be found in the respective departmental areas on SharePoint. If any pupil is uncertain where to find revision materials, they should speak to the relevant subject teacher as a matter of priority next week.
Absences
For medical absences, please notify your son’s Form Tutors via email (cc’ing absence@hamptonschool.org.uk) on the morning of each day of absence by 8:45am, or complete the absence form via the parent portal. For planned absences and appointments, please contact Heads of Year requesting the absence with as much notice as possible.
Boys – keep up the good work over this weekend and into next week. This is the time to make your preparations for exams count. Stick to your revision schedules. Continue to be thoughtful and kind to the people around you. As always, let us, your Form Tutors or the relevant subject teachers know if you are having any difficulties.
Have a lovely weekend.
Best wishes
Mr T Rigby & Miss M Bedford
Film Stars
A few of our Third Years experienced first hand what it’s like to be on the set of a film, as a professional film crew joined us all week to film an exciting new School Film. Omer O (3C) tells us more:
This week I had the privilege to be chosen to be one of the pupils to feature in a new School film. The film was not like any other ordinary advertisement video for a school, but it was done in Hampton Style! We had a professional production company come in with their massive cameras, microphones, lighting and even smoke machines to make it even more professional. The scene I featured in was set in The Writers’ Room and after thousands of takes the word “action” was ringing in my head all evening. Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience and I enjoyed it a lot. The end product looks amazing, and I am very excited to see it materialise and be released soon. So, keep your eyes peeled!
It’s a wrap!
U14A Cricket
The blog took the opportunity to speak to Aadi K captain of the U14A cricket team. This was the day after a defeat in the cup; part of a difficult start to the season for the team. Despite this, Aadi was willing to spend some time talking to us about the season so far and what lies ahead.
It has been a challenging start to the year for the team, but there have been promising signs. What gives you most hope for the rest of the season?
Well, we have a very talented and strong unit. We have had some early hiccups but we are looking forward to coming back stronger. As they say, ‘minor setback major comeback.’ We go again on Saturday against Reed’s School which hopefully will result in a Hampton win.
You have excellent coaches in Mr Hooper and Mr Banerjee. What guidance have they offered to the team to help it reach its potential this year?
Our fielding has not been up to the Hampton standard. We are working on it in our Friday sessions with lead coach Mr Hooper. We will keep working as a unit and try out best to win games.
What have been the highlights of the season so far?
We won round 1 of the county cup by a big margin. It was a great team victory. Also, just being able to play cricket again is exciting. I think the boys and myself are enjoying it. It’s been a bit of a rocky start so far, but we can’t wait to change that.
Coronation event
As mentioned at the start of the blog, the Coronation lunch event was quite the way to end the week. Despite the rain, the pupils were able to get involved in penalty shoot-outs, games, cake eating and were all able to grab an ice cream from the three ice cream vans stationed at the front of the School.
The intention was to interview members of the Third Year to get their thoughts on the event itself, the concept of the Monarchy, the validity and relevance (or otherwise) of the pomp and ceremony associated with the coronation and their hopes for the reign of King Charles.
As it was, most of them were too busy eating their ice creams, as the accompanying photos demonstrate.
Not willing to give up on our journalistic integrity, the blog was determined to bring you some sort of scoop (ha). This takes the form of an entirely scientific study of the ice cream eating habits of 3B.
Of the class, all except one had an ice cream of some form.
Only two of the class chose ice lollies. The rest had ice cream.
Only one boy eating ice cream had no topping on that ice cream.
The most popular topping was Biscoff with eight pupils choosing it.
I admit, this doesn’t make for fascinating content, reading more like the start of a tortuous primary school maths problem as opposed to a lively blog post.
The biggest bombshell was probably that when asked how many double ice creams they believed they could eat in 30 minutes, over a third claimed they could eat MORE THAN FIVE. It is hard to know whether to be impressed by this or not, but it certainly speaks of the ambitious and optimistic nature of the average Third Year Hamptonian.
Suffice to say that fun was had by all…
Two truths and a lie
Last week’s temporarily rebranded ‘four truths and a lie’ came from Mr Leafe. He suggested these things were all true. Of course, they weren’t.
– Once Mr Leafe met Harry Maguire at a black-tie function and strongly felt that at that moment they were essentially equals
– Mr Leafe has never eaten a yoghurt
– If Mr Leafe hears the phrase ‘sweet treats’ he physically shivers
– Mr Leafe used to be called Mr Leaf, but changed his name by deed poll as he felt his original name was ‘too common’
– Mr Leafe once won a head-to-head mascot race dressed as a duck, defeating a crocodile
Incredibly, all these things were true, apart from the idea that he changed his name by deed poll. What a life this man leads!
This week, Third Year tutor Mr Wong steps up to the plate.
Here are the three statements:
– Before he was a teacher, Mr Wong was a game developer
– Mr Wong is a Freemason
– Mr Wong is an experienced Handball coach
Which is the lie…
CONNECTION CORNER
Well done to the everyone who had a go at last week’s Connection Corner. Merits go to all those who correctly guessed that the answers were all Patron Saints of Great Britain. Big shout out to Max M, Samuel H, Kiran P, Yaseen M, Felix B, Stanley A, Adam M, Ben B, Joshua R, Johnny R, Oliver A, Albert S, Aditya K, Prabodha A, Agalyan S and Ollie W.
Another tricky one to have a go at over the weekend:
In case, you’re still perplexed here are the answers from the last week’s conundrum:
Who is second in line to the throne? Prince George
Which actor played Spiderman before Tom Holland? Andrew Garfield
Which author wrote Gangsta Granny? David Walliams
Who was sacked as the manager of Crystal Palace earlier this year? Patrick Viera
Connection: Patron Saints of England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland (George, Andrew, David and Patrick)
Have a great weekend!
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