Awesome Athletics, Giving Day & Green Week!

Welcome to the Third Year Blog!

The Third Year Blog is slowly melting as it tries to generate itself this week. Lordy beans, it is hot!

Normally, the Third Year Blog tries to come up with something interesting for the start of the blog, before you get into the stuff that’s actually important, like what the Third Years have actually been doing.

Today, it is too hot.

So, the Third Year Blog is going to sub-contract the thinking to someone else.

In this instance, it is not a piece of his fiction, and it is something that you can read. The Third Year Blog would like you to read it and to reflect on it, as it is another example of something that might prompt you to look at the world slightly differently, even if you disagree with it. Either way, have a read, see what you make of it and how you could apply it to your experience.

Heads of Year Message

PSHE

We are asking all Third Year pupils to reflect on their exam preparations, processes and performance during Form Periods this week or next (depending which Form). Everyone will note down things that they feel went well, lessons learned about revision planning and exam technique, and any areas to focus on for improvement in Fourth Year.

In the alternate session, Mr Moore is speaking to pupils in Year Group Assemblies about the importance of friendship & socialising, adhering to the School Code of Conduct right until the end of term, and the need to follow personal safety advice when outside school and into the holidays.

RS and Philosophy Talk

We are looking forward to welcoming back Global Acts of Unity on Tuesday 17 June. They will give a very powerful talk to all Third Year pupils that morning. This is a Religious Studies event at which Global Acts of Unity will speak with compassion and wisdom about challenging life experiences and the theme of forgiveness. We anticipate that all our pupils will very much engage with this talk, which has been running for several years now at Hampton. Please do notify us, or the RS and Philosophy department, in advance if you have any concerns about this talk.

Laptop return and collection

Forms 3A-3E will return their existing laptops and collect their new laptops from the atrium at lunchtime on Monday 16 June, followed by Forms 3F-3J on Tuesday 17 June. We will write to parents separately with further details, but we can confirm here that there is no additional charge for the replacement laptops. An important section from the letter to parents reads:

• Pupils will receive their new laptop (with setup guide), charger, and stylus.
• The new laptop should be setup that evening and brought into School for use in lessons from the next day. No attempts should be made to configure the laptop at School.
• The IT department will offer drop-in sessions during morning break and lunch break in the Lecture Theatre on Wednesday 18 June.
• Please note that the laptop comes in a box with instructions, charging cables, etc. The box is unlikely to fit in a packed school bag and it is preferable to keep all elements together until the set up at home. For safety reasons, we advise all pupils to avoid carrying the new IT equipment so that it is visible on their journey home from School. As such, we strongly recommend that all pupils bring a separate bag to carry the new IT equipment home in. 

Prior to attending:

• Pupils must make sure that all documents in the Documents folder and on the Desktop are synchronised with OneDrive (the cloud icon in the Task Bar should be blue. If there is a red cross on it, this indicates a synchronisation issue). They should also ensure they have synced their Class Notebooks.
• If there is any uncertainty, please see the IT department prior to Monday 16 June.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: There is software loaded onto the school laptops that enables safeguarding monitoring to take place at all times. Any online searches, social media interactions, or other digital activities undertaken on the school laptop that meet the threshold of concern will be picked up by the school’s network filters when the laptop is brought back into school. Pupils should recognise the need to use the laptops for school work and school purposes only (including when away from school). Pupils may face a sanction if they fail to adhere to the IT Acceptable Usage Policy.

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 your child’s absence.  For absences other than illness e.g. if a pupil has a dental or medical appointment during School hours, notice of this should be given in advance. For planned absences, please contact Heads of Year requesting the absence with as much notice as possible.

We hope that everyone makes the most of the remaining weeks of term. Please throw yourselves into the activities on offer and keep supporting one another with kindness. As always, do reach out to us or your Form Tutors if you are having any difficulties.

We hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Best wishes

Mr T Rigby & Mr H Moore

Track and Field Cup Regional Final

On Wednesday 11 June, the Hampton Junior and Inter Boys Athletics teams competed at the Watford Athletics track in the Track and Field Cup Regional Final.

The field events got underway with high jump starting us off. Jojo O’S jumped well scoring the team lots of points. Moving on to javelin, Eric R threw an impressive distance of 32.28m.

Following a great team performance in the morning, the Hampton athletes turned their attention to the track. The afternoon started with the 80m hurdles and Luke M earning lots of points for the team. We moved onto the 1500m, Seb W ran a determined race in the time of 4mins 53sec. The four Third Year athletes were brilliantly supported by the Fourth Year athletes who all performed very well. Particular standouts were: Joe T (80m hurdles and HJ), Ethan M (100m & LJ) and Ollie M-H (Javelin and 300m).

Overall, it was a very successful day with both the Junior and Inter boys team winning their competitions. The Inters (Third and Fourth Years) scored an impressive 503 points which is the highest score achieved by any Hampton Inter Team in the Track and Field Cup.

Green Week

Next week Hampton’s Environmental Society have organised ‘Green Week! The objective of the week is to raise awareness of environmental issues with a focus on positive change-making. There will be various activities in and out of lessons that week. Take a look at the poster below and see how you can get involved!

Summer Show

When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on his estate, with a look of terror still etched on his face, and the paw prints of a gigantic hound beside his body, the great detective Sherlock Holmes is summoned from Baker Street, with Dr Watson in tow, to unravel the mysteries surrounding his death, and investigate the ancient curse of the Hound of the Baskervilles…

There’s still time to get your tickets for the dazzling Summer Show The Hound of the Baskervilles. Book by clicking the link here. Performances are on the 17 and 18 June and start at 7.00pm. There are over 40 pupils from the First, Second and Third Year involved, so why not come along and support them in Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic.

Giving Day

Join us for Giving Day 2025! Over 36 hours, the Hampton community will come together and make a difference. Through interform challenges, staff vs pupil events, exhibitions, performances, as well as many online challenges, everyone can take part and make their contribution to the Fitzwygram Foundation for Free Places.

Take a look at all the exciting activities you can get involved in on Tuesday 1 and Wednesday 2 July.

The Williams Cup

We find ourselves at the pointy end of the battle for the Williams Cup (yes, THE Williams Cup).

This week we have the results from the Victor Ludorum Event, run by Mr Towl. Each pupil in each form was challenged to complete as many different athletic events as possible and fill in their results. The forms were then ranked by a combination of the number of responses and the best results in each form.

The results are below. Mr Towl reports that the School may well have found some hidden athletes in the Third Year, which is exciting news!

Victor Ludorum Results
1^st  – 3B – 9pts
2^nd – 3D – 8pts
3^rd – 3E – 7pts
4^th – 3C – 6pts
5^th – 3J – 5pts
6^th – 3F – 4pts
7^th – 3H – 3pts
8^th – 3G – 2pts
9^th – 3A – 1pt

So, where does this leave the overall standings?

As you can see, there is competition for places throughout the table, but it is impossible not to be drawn to the grapple for top spot between 3B (who have, incredibly, come in one of the top two positions in the last six events!) and 3D (who have been solidly consistent throughout the year).

It is also very hard not to look at 3G and 3H. in the words of the Sergeant in Macbeth: ‘Doubtful it stood;/ As two spent swimmers, that do cling together/ And choke their art’. Which Form is less spent? Which Form’s art will be less choked? The final events will tell us…

1^st – 3B – 87pts
2^nd – 3D – 83pts
3^rd  – 3F – 66pts
4^th – 3A – 65pts
5^th – 3E – 61pts
6^th – 3J – 54pts
7^th – 3C – 53pts
8^th – 3G – 38pts
9^th – 3H – 37pts

Two truths and a lie

Last week, our liar was Mr Bradley.

• Mr Bradley got to the final auditions to be a member of Take That
• Mr Bradley once took part in a month-long sausage eating competition
• Mr Bradley is an excellent drummer

So, what was truth; what was not? Well, one only has to watch Mr Bradley walk down the corridors of the School to know that he has the innate sense of rhythm that would make for an excellent drummer. Equally, one only has to watch Mr Bradley eat a sausage to know that it is certainly possible (indeed, likely) that he would once have taken part in a sausage eating competition. One only has to hear Mr Bradley sing to know for an absolute FACT that he did not make the final audition to become a member of Take That.

This week, the Drama department (all inveterate liars) sent Miss Tiller in the direction of the Third Year Blog in order to spread untruths.

Here are her (outlandish) claims:

• Miss Tiller was a Morris Dancer for 5 years
• Miss Tiller is unable to eat anything red due to a traumatic childhood event involving a tomato
• Miss Tiller had a seagull emotionally attach itself to her while she was at university. It even went to lectures with her

Surely all of these are lies? We will find out the truth next week.

Connection Corner

Well done to the everyone who had a go at last week’s Connection Corner. Well done to everyone who correctly guessed that the answers were all British Monarchs (bonus merit if you spotted that they were the most recent British monarchs in chronological order). Big shout out to Sebastian W, David W, Matthew L, Gordon L, James G, Oliver Y, Vayun J, Joe B and Josh B.

Another tricky one this week, see if you can spot the connection: