Christmas Cheer, Sports Galore & Lots of Trips!

With mock exams on the horizon, the Christmas holidays will look a little different this year. I am sure you have read Mr Neville’s emails about revision timetables and Miss Bellingham’s super useful top tips document in SchoolPost this week, so I won’t go over them again. Instead, let’s see what you’ve been up to this term! Autumn has flown by and you’ve all been incredibly busy squeezing in sport, drama, music, clubs, trips, co-curricular challenges and social lives amongst the workload of a Fifth Year Hamptonian. That is no mean feat! The pace of life here is exceptional and you all continue to amaze me with your achievements, which is why I love compiling the blog and hearing about all you have been up to! I am sure I have missed many of your personal achievements and you are just being shy and humble but thank you and well done to everybody who has helped bring this all together! Grab yourself a hot chocolate and mince pie and do read to the end – it’s a long one!

We also would like to wish Mr Neville a belated, but very big, congratulations on his wedding during the half term break, and wish him and his wife a wonderful honeymoon over the Christmas holidays!

All that’s left to say is Happy Christmas from everyone in the Fifth Year team!

Take a look at some of the action from this week’s hotly-contested Interform Basketball competition:

The Arts

Christmas Concerts and carol service

Over 320 pupils from across the year groups took to the Hammond Theatre stage to showcase the outstanding talent in our ensembles and choirs in the Christmas Concerts, and our Fifth Year musicians played their part, with many of them squeezing in rehearsals alongside sports commitments too! The School Carol Service was equally as wonderful, as the community gathered together at St Mary’s Church Hampton and a huge number of Fifth Year pupils were involved.

A Christmas Carol

Charlie H (5H) performed excellently in the joint Senior School production and Gregory M (5E) helped backstage to make the many scene changes run super smoothly. It was an excellent production that certainly got Miss Brown in the festive spirit and wiped out any of those ‘bah humbug’ vibes in the audience!

Inside and outside of School

Half Term Trips

October 2024 saw some of our Fifth Years travel to Barcelona with Spanish, Dorset with DofE, Portugal with Tennis and the Rowers to Seville. The linguists brushed up their Spanish at language school, but looked to squeeze plenty of sightseeing, football (what a surprise!) and even some taskmaster challenges. Our DofE groups looked to have a slightly cooler and soggier experience down in Dorset, but their spirits remained high (at least for the photos!) and I hear many participants are looking to complete their Gold! The Tennis tour looked to be a fantastic opportunity to mix training with some winter sunshine – I’d love to know where mascot Sid the squid is now? I hope he’ll be out umpiring some games on our courts in the summer! More about Seville in Johnny’s report below! Thank you to all the teachers who gave up their holiday time to take our Fifth Years away!

French debating success

Alex W (5C) and Henry S (5J) won the regional French debating competition at Ibstock Place earlier in the term – a huge success and they can be very proud of their achievement and attitude – bravo!

Top of the Bench Chemistry competition

Anirudh S (5F) was in the top Hampton Team scoring 35/43 and placing sixth in a competition which had at least 80 teams participating – a fantastic effort! Three of the other Hampton teams placed joint 8th with 32/43. A huge well done to Max T (5H), Albert S (5H), Emir E (5E) and Advait B (5F) who all participated in those teams!

Bebras results

The Fifth Year chalked up some fantastic results in the Bebras computing challenge! 33 pupils in the year group scored within the top 10% of the country, achieving a Gold certificate.  A special mention to Eli H (4D) who achieved 220/220! Out of 40,848 entries there were only 88 pupils in the country that scored this! Amazing work, Eli! The next two spots on the scoreboard were awarded to Adrian S (5D) and Max F (5B) with 209 and 208/220 respectively.

Tennis is my passion and I have been playing for as long as I can remember. Earlier this month, I played in a men’s grade 3 tournament in Portsmouth and had a great experience. I got to the semi-finals losing narrowly in a match tie break against a tough opponent however on the way to the semis I managed to beat the 31st ranked player in 16&U nationally 4-1, 4-1 playing some fantastic tennis. Not only this, but I was lucky enough to get some international experience last month playing in Bordeaux, France in my first ITF J30 qualifiers. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to win however I managed to win a set and my coach said that I played at a good level. I look forward to continuing to get more international experience and representing Hampton in the Summer term fixtures. 

By Juan-Leonardo SH (5J)

Sailing Instructor journey

Leander K-B (5J) qualified as an assistant sailing instructor and completed his power boat level 2 course back in the Summer – so is now qualified to drive powerboats on the open waters like the Solent! After GCSEs, you’ll find him working hard to gain his full sailing instructor qualification so he can teach alone and I’m sure he’ll be in high demand thereafter!

Talk!

We were all very lucky to receive the Lord Patten of Barnes for our first Hampton TALK! of the academic year. Lord Patten of Barnes addressed a packed Hammond Theatre, who were all eager to learn a little bit more about his life and the varied number of roles he has held. From serving as the Chairman of the Conservative Party, the last Governor of Hong Kong, the Chairman of the BBC Trust, and the Chancellor of the University of Oxford, the life peer has had one of the most prolific careers in British Parliament. It was fascinating to listen to Lord Patten talk about the numerous different roles he has taken up within British politics. Working in Margaret Thatcher’s government, he oversaw the introduction of the controversial Poll Tax and Hong Kong’s return back to Chinese rule in 1997. Hearing from a politician with so much experience working in international affairs was so interesting, and his overall message of the importance of trying to go out into the world and making a positive difference in society, no matter how small, was definitely an inspiring one.

It was a real privilege to listen to his expertise, and I would urge you to come and listen to the different TALK! speakers. A huge thank you to the Lord Patten, and everyone involved in organising the fantastic event.

By Josh R (5E)

MUN

Since the start of term, we have had some great success in the battleground that is Model United Nations, in the school and at external conferences. We have had two conferences so far this year: Reigate MUN and The London Oratory School MUN. Our Conference at Reigate was our icebreaker for the year, with 15 delegates, six of whom were from the Fifth Year representing a diverse range of nations: The DPRK, Mozambique and Jordan. I enjoyed fruitful debate representing North Korea in the “Disarmament and Security” Committee, most prominently debating the prevention of genocide in conflict. Amidst tough competition, Hampton did well to secure two Highly commended awards. In the more Recent London Oratory School MUN – which was a debut for Hampton debaters – more experienced delegates debated on topics as broad as The Question of the Territory Dispute in Kashmere to The Question of rising sea levels on the US coast. Fighting against top delegates from across London, Hampton came away with two awards, continuing our streak of success, which will hopefully carry through to our next conference, LEHMUN, in January and beyond.

By Leander K-B (5J)

Sports Round Up!

Cross Country

The Cross Country team have enjoyed a good start to the season with promising results in various events recently. Hampton athletes achieved a great result in the recent Richmond borough school’s cross country with many progressing through to the Middlesex schools’ event at Harrow later in the season. Another notable success was the advance of the junior and senior teams to the regional schools’ finals held at Dulwich College after displaying excellent performances in the first round at Harrow School – a particular mention to Rafi B who won his junior event. The Cross Country team look forward to an exciting season ahead with many events still to come. Good luck!

By Marcus S (5E)

Big shout out to Marcus who won not one, but two Bushy Parkrun events this term, with a superb personal best of 15.41 – a phenomenal achievement!

Badminton

During the course of the year, the Badminton squad have played a number of cup games representing the School. They progressed through to the third round of the cup after being heroically knocked out by Skinner’s School, one of the best in the country. The closest game was that against Rutlish School where two singles were won and two were lost. It all came down to the doubles, but with close wins from both teams they qualified. Overall, the badminton season has been a positive one and we are looking forward to seeing our teams develop further in the future.

By Arush J (5H)

Table Tennis

This season started off with our recent Richmond Borough tournament. Out of the 20 games played, Hampton won 14 but unfortunately lost the decisive match to Turing House A after a 2-2 draw in matches. We won nine games to eight to secure second. The overall tournament was won by Turing House B and we were disappointed as we felt we had a good shot at winning. Nevertheless, the team are looking to bounce back and are currently training hard for the upcoming league matches starting in January and National championship in March.

By Adhrit P (5D)

Rowing

This year is off to a flying start for the J16 rowers, with the new addition of our Saturday morning training with the Sixth Form rowers giving an opportunity to improve skills and build the squad spirit. In October, J16s headed to Seville for a tough training camp of 8 days, where they worked on fitness and technique (and enjoyed the city). Kingston and Teddington Small Boats Heads both turned out impressive results for Fifth Year rowers, testing their steering and ability to row well in smaller boats over a 5km course. J16s have also completed 2km and 5km tests on the ergos, achieving impressive scores, with five J16s heading to Boston, Lincolnshire for GB’s Early IDs in November, where they completed time trials in singles alongside rowers in the senior squad. Again, they achieved great results and this was a new experience for the squad. Currently, the J16s are training on land most of the time due to fast river flow but getting stronger every session and looking forward to strong performances in the coming races.

By Johnny R (5G)

Rugby

The U16As have had another positive start to the season, by recording wins over some big names; including RGS High Wycombe and Trinity School. We have made a positive start to our cup run as well by beating our old rivals in St Richard Reynolds Catholic College, by a convincing 59-26. It has been an exciting first few months of the season to watch for a talented group of players, who have shown what they are truly capable of. We are also very proud to still hold five academy players in our U16 side: Seb H, Hayden E and Fraser K are at Saracens, whereas Harry D and Stan A remain at Harlequins.

The rest of the season also looks exciting for our squad. With an eventual goal of winning a National Cup this year and many 7s tournament after Christmas, the future is looking very bright. The boys have a lot to prove after falling agonisingly close last year, losing by four points to eventual National Champions; Radley College. Although a few losses have been taken, the positives remain stronger as we have overturned some losses from recent years, showing we are team continually evolving to be better. Good luck to all our players in the remainder of the season!

By Stanley A (5A)

The U16B season started with a disappointing loss against King’s College School leaving a lot of room for improvement. Although we built upon this loss and improved significantly over the subsequent weeks, a combination of injury and difficult opponents prevented a win for the next two games – a tough start to the season. However, we persevered and were able to secure three wins in a row over subsequent games, one being as the result of a last-minute kick from Samuel M to put us one point ahead of Trinity.

Unfortunately, this winning streak was not to last, as challenging opponents, in the form of St James Senior Boys A team and Cranleigh led to a draw and a loss. Nonetheless, with five games left this season we hope to secure a number more wins and are looking forward to some close contests and thrilling games. We will be working hard!

By Alessio C (5D)

Football

The season start for the U16A team has been nothing short of perfection. Playing multiple strong U18 sides as well as impressive sides from their own age group, they have overcome all potential obstacles to end up on the winning side of every game so far this season. As a result, they stand firmly still in both the County Cup and the notorious ESFA Cup which the side had previously won at U13 level. With Mr Mills’ ball flowing smoothly and the side playing some attractive football, they will be sure to be aiming high this year. Notable wins include a 10-0 win in the opening County Cup game and well-fought 4-2 wins over strong Ibstock U18 and Eton sides.

By Seb R (5A)

Throughout the season, the U16B team have played outstandingly, being completely unbeaten up until our final game of the year so far. With a great 5-0 win over Drayton Manor U18Bs, with Nick, Omer, Robert, and Louis on the scoresheet, and an 8-2 win over visiting Brisbane Grammar School we’ve had some really strong performances. We have all developed a lot through the season, having played against many older age groups, allowing for a physical challenge, whilst also building our team trust and chemistry.

The team has scored a whopping 55 goals this season, whilst only conceding nine! We also progressed to the third round of ESFA, which was against Kingsdale Foundation School, last week. We knew this would definitely be one of our tricker challenges, bearing in mind that they won the whole competition last year, but unfortunately our winning streak was over and we lost 1-0. Nonetheless, we are looking forward to the rest of the season and will bounce back stronger.

By Robert B (4D)

By Emir A (5E)