Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
As the autumn term draws to a close, Hampton’s Second Years have truly rallied together for a week packed full of celebration, kindness, and community. From the soaring harmonies of our Christmas Carol Service at St Mary’s Church on Tuesday, to the generosity shown through the Solace Shoebox Appeal, it’s been a wonderful reflection of what makes this season so special.
Midweek brought a burst of energy and friendly rivalry with the Interform Table Tennis and Badminton competitions, where forms battled it out for glory and a few smash hit performances – 2L were certainly jingling their bells and bragging about beating my form, but don’t worry, it’s all in good fun because everything is still to play for in 2026!
There were plenty of net gains, spin-credible rallies, and some truly ace serves as everyone gave their best. Thursday was all about festive feasting as we gathered for a delicious Christmas lunch, sharing laughter and good cheer around the tables.
And today? The perfect finale! A mufti day filled with colour and personality, complete with plenty of Christmas jumpers adding extra sparkle to the school halls; a half-day of fun, and a chance to give back through our Feltham Foodbank collection. It’s a wonderful reminder that the true magic of this time of year lies in helping others.
Whether or not you’re celebrating Christmas, we hope you enjoy a wonderful, restful break and return refreshed for an exciting new term in January.
Thank you for all your hard work and enthusiasm this term – it’s been fantastic to see everything you’ve achieved. Have a brilliant holiday, and I look forward to hearing all about it in the New Year.
And all that’s left to say is Happy Christmas from everyone in the Second Year team!
Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree
Hampton School’s fantastic male voice choir Voices of Lions accompanied by lots of pupils and staff members from across the Hampton Trust, ensured everyone is feeling festive as we come to the final day of term. Enjoy the 2025 Christmas video and see if you can you spot anyone you know! 🎄 🎁
MERIT MILESTONES
And the final merit count of 2025 – big shout out to:
Luke Bennett – 10
Arun Brar – 20
Oliver Jones – 20
Eddie Lee – 20
Eden Jung – 20
Luke Bennett – 20
Daniel Fitzpatrick – 30
Theo Rainey – 30
Felix Hedin – 30
Rayan Amiri – 40
Timothy Mountain – 50 (he’s off to see Mr Knibbs!)
Ojas Prabhu – 50 (Fantastic!)
Ryan Arami – 70 (Wow!)
Interform Showdown: Serving Up Some Seasonal Spirit!
Wednesday lunchtime saw the Second Years swap pens for paddles and rackets in the much-anticipated Interform Table Tennis and Badminton competitions. The Sports Hall was buzzing with energy as forms battled it out for bragging rights with a sleigh-load of sporting spirit in tow.
While we’re still waiting for Mr Hooper to confirm the Table Tennis results, the Badminton scores are in, thanks to Mr Lee – and what a showdown it was! A huge congratulations to 2B, who smashed their way to first place! Here’s how the leader board shaped up:
1st – 2B
2nd – 2L
3rd – 2H
4th – 2F
5th – 2P
6th – 2G
7th – 2J
8th – 2W
Well done to everyone who took part – your competitive spirit and sportsmanship made it a cracker of an event. Come back in January for the Table Tennis results, which promise to be just as exciting!
Deck the Halls with Hampton Harmonies
On Tuesday, I was lucky enough to attend St Mary’s Church to sing carols in our annual School Carol Service. After enjoyable rehearsals in the morning, it was finally 7.45pm when we started to sing carols in this beautiful church.
The church was immaculate, packed with parents and adorned with pretty Christmas lights and a beautiful organ that produced a warm, lovely sound. Me and my friend Moksha were next to each other, and we thoroughly enjoyed singing the carols from ‘Behold, I bring you glad tidings by Benjamin Rogers’ and ‘Sans Day Carol’ to the well-known carols, ‘O Come All Ye Faithful, Hark the Herald Angels sing, Oh Little Town of Bethlehem’ and many more!
It was a fantastic experience from brass fanfares at the start of carols to string accompaniments and beautiful organ accompaniments for all carols, including the congregational carols.
Personally, my favourite song was the Sans Day Carol because of it’s catchy tune and outstanding harmonies and I also thoroughly enjoyed listening to the Chamber Choir, ROAR, Voices of Lions and being part of the School Choir! All in all, I really enjoyed singing in the Carol Service: the sound produced by the Hampton School Choir and accompaniment was immaculate and it was a fantastic experience.
What a perfect way to lead us off into a happy and enjoyable Christmas. Merry Christmas to all and a happy new year!
By Rahul P (2B)
Rockin’ Around the Hammond Stage
On Wednesday 10 December, the Rock Concert auditions took place! My band was called RADIO-ACTIVE and we played the song Seven Nation Army. At first, it was quite nerve-wracking to be on the Hammond playing in front of all the other people auditioning for the concert. However, after the first half of the song was done and nothing went wrong, it became fun and exciting to play on stage with my friends – we sounded so good!
The other auditioners were amazing and the amount of talent presented on the Hammond was unbelievable. There were cool guitar solos and great singing. Overall, it was a lot of fun to be in a band and play the drums in front of an audience and I hope to get the chance to play in front of more people in the Rock Concert.
By Yakub A (2P)
Ho-Ho-Hope You Like Your Present!
On Monday, during PHSE, we held Secret Santa in our form. The Christmas songs rang out; the room was filled to the brim with joy, and the main event of our Secret Santa gifts was to come.
To start, we did a Christmas knowledge quiz. Our group was joint winners with 16/20. We played Christmas songs chosen by us and then came the presents. I received two crisp packets and a chocolate selection from my classmate. I got my secret Santa a South African hat and some Biltong (dried meat).
Overall, the experience was really exciting and enjoyable, warming up the Christmas spirit. I think everyone had fun and were grateful of what they received.
By Bertie E (2G)
Santa Shoots… He Scores!
This term, in the F and Recreational football teams, we have been doing a tournament where Sixth Formers coach us to help us win. There are two Sixth Formers for every group, and there are four groups/ teams. The teams are based off Serie A (the Italian football’s top league); it includes Juventus, Napoli, AC Milan, and Atalanta. It happened over the course of five weeks, and we were told the standings at our last Games/Sports lesson.
In first place, with a few of my friends in it, was Juventus; Napoli in second; Atalanta (my team) came third; and AC Milan came last (fourth). When my team (Atalanta) played Juventus, it was quite unfair, as they had an ‘underdog advantage’, meaning that if it were a draw, they would have won, as they were lower than us in the table at the time! Apart from that, it was incredibly fun and most of the games were quite close (apart from one where we won 8-1). Merry Christmas!
By Benjamin A (2G)
Picture Perfect in a Winter Wonderland
I am writing about photography because I have been getting into it for a while now and I think that it is a fun and relaxing hobby. I find photography so amazing because it gives me a reason to go round Richmond Park at sunrise whilst the mist is rising of the ground, and the sun reflects off the brown bracken creating a magical golden aura. Photography helps me find more joy in simple things and it makes me see the world in a different way than I usually would as now I would go around and analyse what I see around me. I think that photography benefits me in so many ways, and it is a healthy and exiting world to dive into so I would recommend that you have a go at photography and then you might understand what I am talking about.
By Will Y (2G)
Goals Galore and Festive Football Fever
For last weekend’s Premier League games, there was lots of drama, goals and upsets. I have picked out my top three matches of the weekend:
- Liverpool 3-3 Leeds United. This one was a thriller! Six goals all in the Second Half! Liverpool were leading 3-2 with a Hugo Ekitike brace and a nice finish from Dominic Szoboszlai only for Japanese international, Ao Tanaka, to score a 96th minute goal to draw the game.
- Wolves 1-4 Man Utd. This was another home defeat for Wolves as they have failed yet again to secure a Premier League win this season. For Man Utd this was a big boost, pushing them into sixth place in the league. The only goal for Wolves was scored by Bellegarde. Meanwhile, Man Utd had Bruno Fernandes on the scoresheet twice as Mbeumo and Mount scored one each.
- Aston Villa 2-1 Arsenal. Not the highest scoring game but a dramatic last few seconds! Aston Villa took the lead with a nice goal by Matty Cash in the first half. Leandro Trossard came back with an equaliser for Arsenal in the first seven minutes of coming on. In the 90+5th minute, Emi Buendia scored an amazing goal as the stadium lit up with joy, closing the gap between the title leaders and 2nd and 3rd place.
By Vivaan K (2J)
QUIZ OF THE WEEK
Quiz of the Week is having a well-earned rest over the Christmas break. Come back in 2026 for more fiendish questions!
Here are the answers to last week’s quiz:
- In which mythical world is Lord of the Rings set? Middle Earth
- Who is the protagonist of Holes by Louis Sachar? Stanley Yelnats IV
- Which Agatha Christie novel is set on a famous river? Death on the Nile
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time was written by which British author? Mark Haddon
- Who is the famous detective living at 221B Baker Street? Sherlock Holmes
Well done to the following Second Year Hamptonians who answered everything correctly – Yakub A, Joshim F, Diego C-G, Armaan R, Reyansh K, Emre K, Rayan A, Juan AVdS, Raff O’C-Z, Isaac L, Ansh R and Arthur H.
