Welcome to the Third Year Blog!
It was a bit of a shock to the system for some of our Third Year boys on Monday morning, as they were ushered into the Hammond Theatre to hear all about their GCSE options and what subjects they could choose to study in the Fourth and Fifth Years. There was plenty of excited murmurs and whispering as Mr McBay took them through the process and when their decisions had to be made by. It’s January, in case you were wondering, but don’t worry, boys can still change their mind after the deadline if they email Mr McBay.
Thursday was another hard-hitting PSHE session on body image and stereotypes which really got the boys thinking about any biases and pre-conceived ideas that they have, without even realising it. It was important to discuss the role that social media and the internet plays as well, and how everything isn’t necessarily as it appears.
Heads of Year Message
Well done to everyone for maintaining high standards throughout this term. Report writing season is approaching, so it is an especially important time for the boys to commit to high standards in school – aiming to impress in all they do in the classroom and through co-curricular activities.
Covid testing
Please continue with the programme of self-administered asymptomatic LFD testing at regular intervals (twice a week) at home. A reminder that boys must not attend the School site if:
- they have symptoms of Covid-19 (a raised temperature; a new persistent cough; a change in sense of taste or smell)
- they have received a positive Covid-19 test result
Boys must take a PCR test if they have any of the symptoms of Covid-19, and receive a negative result before they can return to School.
Boys – Please remember to 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 V Smith
Bebras Challenge!
In Computer Science, Third Year boys took part in the Bebras Challenge this week. Alongside about three million other young people in over 50 countries they put their problem-solving skills to the test and we look forward to hearing their results soon.
Here are a couple of questions from a previous year to see how you would get on!
Cave game
As part of a game, Hale hides a present in one of several caves. Serge has to find which cave it is in. To do so, Serge has the map shown below and is only allowed to ask questions like: “Is the toy in cave X?”. If Serge guesses correctly, Hale will answer “yes”. Otherwise, she will tell Serge which of the neighbouring caves leads to the hidden toy. When Serge knows for sure where the toy is, the game is over and he will walk to the cave.
Serge wants to ask as few questions as possible to find the present. In the worst case, how many questions does he have to ask to be sure to have found the present?
Answer: 3 (Asking D first is optimal: if the answer is A, B, C, D, E, F or G then within two questions he knows. A third question may be needed for the H, I, J, K branch)
Bike paths
Cleveria explores the one-way cycle paths that pass through the villages in her district. Each village has a village stone labelled with a single letter. All the paths have a distance and a direction. The distance and direction are given by the yellow flags.
Over the course of many different trips Cleveria leaves blue notes with a number on under a stone in each village. The notes are about the distance from village A to the village stone with the note under.
What is the meaning of the numbers she has left under the stones?
- the shortest distance going through the least number of villages
- the shortest distance to this village
- the shortest distance to this village by taking a left turn at crossings if possible
- the shortest distance to this village by taking a right turn at crossings if possible
Answer: 2. the shortest distance to this village
Anti-Bullying Week
Across the country, this week is Anti-Bullying Week with the theme, ‘One Kind Word’. Here at School, the boys have been describing how they support each other with kindness and you can see what they said about this in the video below.
HELP!
The Hampton Extended Learning Project (HELP) Level 2 was introduced to the Third Year boys by Mr Wilkinson in Monday’s Assembly, and more information can be found on Firefly:
HELP projects are strongly encouraged for Academic Scholars, but all boys with a keen interest in exploring a particular topic or field in more detail, alongside their academic studies, are encouraged to apply!
Some successes to celebrate!
Monty S played the Last Post and Reveille at his local village Remembrance Service on Sunday. A couple of the local veterans commented that it was the best rendition they had heard and Monty was given a round of applause!
Monty then made a dash to his Ascot Utd football match where he played well, keeping the winger in his pocket all match. Top effort, Monty!
RICHMOND SCHOOLS’ CROSS COUNTRY
Over a 4.4km course in Richmond Park on Thursday afternoon, six Third Year boys battled to an uphill sprint finish in the annual Richmond Schools’ Cross-Country championship! Ollie S managed an excellent sixth place overall, with Reuben B coming in ninth, and both will go forwards to represent Richmond in the upcoming Middlesex championships. Well done also to Joshi RdM, Ewan M, Ben W and Sam T who also ran well and secured competitive finishes. Top stuff, boys!
Surrey Schools Ski Championship
At the weekend, the Surrey Schools Ski Championships were held at Aldershot ski slope. Over 150 skiers competed in the race and Hampton was represented by Third Year pupil, Erik D. Lots of schools entered the race and it lasted the whole day. It was a great experience to be involved in such a fun event. Each competitor had two timed runs down the slalom course to set their fastest time. The fastest run that they completed was put towards the overall ranking. In our category, Erik finished 26th. Well done, Erik!
Upcoming Badminton fixture
We are hosting KCS Wimbledon for a Badminton fixture on Monday 29 November at 4pm. We would like to select 12 boys to represent Hampton. If you would like to be considered it is important that you attend Badminton club at the start of lunch this coming Monday. A squad will be selected later next week.
U14 Sport
Great to see our budding sports reporters writing for the Hampton Sports Chronicle. Another great report this week from C team player Alasdair M reporting on the tight encounter that our U14C team had with Eton. Read more here.
J14 Rowing update
The rowers are making excellent progress in their quest for the perfect rowing stroke. We are now at the stage where we can row with the whole crew (mostly) balanced, which means that we can now put in some effort in preparation for racing!
Our first racing experience will be the ‘Christmas Pudding Races’ on Sunday 12 December, which involves us mixing into crews with boys and girls from Kingston Grammar School and Lady Eleanor Holles.
The video shows one of the four crews who were rowing on Thursday afternoon, firstly rowing the whole crew square blades (a pretty hard skill to master) and secondly rowing feathered blades (turning the oars).
Hampton Pledge
Mr Saul told us more about COP26 in this week’s assembly and reminded us all that small changes to our lifestyle can make a big difference in the fight against climate change.
The hope is that everyone at Hampton will make an environmental pledge that will be made into a mosaic and displayed in School. The poster below gives you a few ideas.
You can also take a look at some of the pledges that have already been made by the Hampton community:
Here is the link to the pledge form, so get your thinking caps on this weekend and take a moment to make your pledge. The deadline for pledges has been extended until Monday.
Question of the Week
Well done to all of you who correctly answered last week’s Chemistry question. 28 of you knew that energy is always needed to break bonds in a chemical reaction. A big shout out to Zaid A, Sam T, Tim E, Arun D, Oliver D, Richard P, Jeff L, Ruben BM, Sam B, Lewis W, Arjun W, Will M, Leo L, William S, Pablo B, Joshi RdM, Ian K, Thomas T-S, George B, Nathaniel C, Ralph Y, Viren A, Alex R, Zaidan A, Nathan N, Pedro CM, Harresh J and Rayan J. Bragging rights once again to 3G who had the most correct entries.
For the chance to earn another merit… This week’s question is related to Classics and set by our resident expert Mr McTernan!
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