Welcome to the First Year Blog!
After all the excitement of Avon Tyrrell last week, this has been a quieter week for our First Years, but there has still been plenty for them to get stuck into! Thursday saw the first Pens Down Day of this year, which focused on learning in different ways. The boys loved trying different activities in their lessons, including an escape room in Latin, measuring mass in Physics, and an exciting debate on robots and AI in Computing! The boys also had a useful session on resilience in their PSHE lessons this week, and enjoyed discussing resilient role models such as JK Rowling and Eric the Eel.
AVON TYRRELL
Alexander S (1H) reports on his two day stay at Avon Tyrrell
At Avon Tyrrell we all had great fun and enjoyment; we all found ourselves with different people and different teachers / mentors surrounding you and helping me in all the activities I did. All the fun activities I got to do were to help me pass my fears and to reach for new achievements.
The long bus journey to Avon Tyrrell took us about two hours and all of us were really excited to see what Avon Tyrrell was really made of. The bus took us straight from Hampton to Avon Tyrrell where our lovely Heads of Years, Mrs Halford and Mr Hill, and other staff members were waiting for us.
The breathtaking activities did really take my mind and blow it. We all had to work as a group and trust each other on what we were doing as all of us were depending on each other. My first activity consisted of team work to find out the two missing pieces out of the selection. We were all blindfolded and had to talk to each other one by one. My next activity was all about listening to each other. One person with a whistle had to gather all the sheep (his partners) into one barn.
Food at Avon Tyrrell was great as well, and the catering staff served everyone very quickly. The most impressive meal was the full English breakfast, which was mouth-watering. There were also a variety of cereals. The lunches and dinners included pizza, chicken bake and shepherd’s pie with sweetcorn. The drinks consisted of a variety of juices including orange and blackcurrant (there was also water).
After lunch, we were separated into our dorms. The rooms had up to 10 people, but many dorms only had two. The beds were comfortable, and you had to make your own bed.
The high ropes and the climbing wall were very interesting and fun. We all climbed up to the highest points of Avon Tyrrell and everyone, climbed to the top! My favourite activity was leap of faith where you had to climb up to the top and jump off from a wooden pole. Mr Hill held the record for climbing up to up in a whopping 19 seconds.
The low ropes / teamwork was very hard to complete in our groups. We had to do a series of activities like pass the spider web and the famous see saw, and we had to talk to each other to work out a method for solving these tasks.
One of my personal favourites was building your own obstacle course out of rope, bamboo sticks and some string. Me and my group made a rope swing and a bamboo stick course which people had to go through blindfolded – you had to climb and crawl over things.
The night walk was one of the most intriguing moments of Avon Tyrrell – it was cold but fun. We started it about 8:30pm and came back about an hour later to get a drink of tea which we made from a tree! We went to get ready for bed: change into our pyjamas, brush our teeth and wash. The lights were out about 10 o’clock in the evening.
The brand new day started at 7am the next morning. We got dressed into our swimming costume and a Hampton t-shirt and went to breakfast. After breakfast, we split into groups in different forms and set out on adventurous activities like archery, assault course and rafting.
Rafting for me was the most fun activity out of all. The water was really cold! It was enjoyable and fun, I wish I could go there again!
Take a look at some of the photos from the First Year trip to Avon Tyrrell in the gallery below:
CLUB OF THE WEEK!
Every week, we will be looking at one of the many clubs that Hampton has to offer, and what the boys get up to. This week, Charlie E (1W) and Sam C (1W) tell us about History, Archives and Archaeology Club:
In this club you get to delve into the history of Hampton by translating authentic documents and looking for clues on why and how our school is like it is. And if this doesn’t sound like your cup of tea we will be using metal detectors to find out even more about the history of the school…
This week in History, Archives and Archaeology, we have been having our first look at our project for this term, the founders. In particular this week we have been looking at Captain John Jones and his grandson-in-law Nathaniel Lacey. We deciphered a copy of the will of Captain John and found he left around £1246 to Hampton School which would be a whopping £224,280 today! He also left money for the grounds, of which the amount we are not certain of but we believe that it was even more than the last amount. He also said in his will “I counsel that thou shall choose a schoolmaster and 6 poor men for thou to teach the basic skills of life.” Although he said “6 poor men” it is obvious from the amount of money that he intended for the school to grow larger and that is exactly what happened.
Tutee of the Week
Each week Tutors in the First Year team nominate a boy who they have been particularly impressed with and Mr Hill and Mrs Halford will provide the boy with a football to use on the 3G for the week!
This week’s Tutee of the Week is Aarav D (1P). Owing to a period of isolation, this is Aarav’s first week at Hampton, and he has really impressed us with his resilience and positivity. Well done, Aarav!
Clubs Galore
With two more weeks until half term, there is still plenty of time for First Years to try out some new and exciting lunchtime clubs that are such a part of what makes Hampton so brilliant – have a look below and pick a club to try out before the break!
Why not have a go and try something new!
SPECIAL SHOUT OUTS!
We love to hear about what you have been getting up to outside of school. Please do send any information about any of your achievements through to Mrs Ziegler (h.ziegler@hamptonschool.org.uk).
FIRST YEAR 5 QUESTIONS
We had an impressive 57 entries for this week’s First Year 5 Questions. 1L are our weekly champions with an enormous 18 submissions! Well done to everyone who entered!
1P: Ozan B, Ryan W, Luke F, Rufus L, Thomas Q, Ned L
1F: Ivan S, Ben W, Ishaan A, Siddharth S, Theo T, Jamie H, Alexander B, Rahul B, Tom S, Arshan N, Dean F, Alfie K,
1J: Licas Z, Jack H, Jake O, Alexander M
1B: Kiran G, Dylan L, Salah S, Rory M, Daniel M, Theo L, Alex M, Habib T
1W: Amar G, Oliver S, Ethan P, Sam C, Kian W, James P
1L: Dominic N, Jaime R-B, Oscar M-C, Alex C, Zachariya I, Rafe M, Kai W, Zen N, Umair M, Zaki C, William O, Luke T, Max P, Olly P, Dylan C, Alexey M, Max D, Josh G,
1H: Alex S, Huw P, Darshan S
Take a look at this week’s questions – have a go yourself or challenge people at home and see if they know the answer. Merits are awarded for everyone who has a go! Just click on the link below and enter your answers; points for the Inter-Form Competition will be awarded to the form with the most entries every week.
- What is the most sold flavour of Walker’s crisps?
- What does the Latin Tempus mean in English?
- How many Grand Slam singles titles has Serena Williams won?
- Which UK city is situated further west – Bristol or Edinburgh?
- Which country was the first to give women the right to vote, in 1893?
Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here.
Remember to write your name in the form so you can be credited with merits!
Take a look at next week’s blog to find out the answers and which Form is crowned our weekly champion.
And here are the answers to last week’s 5 questions:
- What is the smallest planet in our solar system? Mercury
- Which country in the world is believed to have the most miles of motorway? China
- What are the five colours of the Olympic rings? Blue, Yellow, Black, Green and Red
- Name the first actor to play Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films. Richard Harris
- Divorced, beheaded, died, divorced, beheaded, survived – who was Henry VIII’s last wife? Catherine Parr
