Welcome to the Second Year Blog!

Welcome to our first blog of 2025! I hope you all had a lovely festive break and got to spend time with your family and loved ones. It sounds like some of you got up to some exciting things and went on amazing trips. This week Second Year Hamptonians have been reflecting on their first term of Second Year, celebrating successes and identifying some targets for 2025. We have a lot to look forward to this term; the Form Charity Quiz is next week, and I can’t wait to see which form’s quizzing prowess will come out on top! The pupils have also enjoyed their language taster sessions this week, so they have all had the opportunity to try out a variety of languages before picking their options later this year.

Next week is the Second Year Form Charity event, please see the details below:

  • Date: Friday 24 January
  • Time and Location: 1pm at LEH (12:50pm departure from reception)
  • Teams of three per form
  • £2 to play per person or £6 as a form.

Merit Milstones

Another bumper week for merits:

David Tam – 10
Robert Wrigglesworth – 10
David Tam – 20
Charles Brain – 30
Rey Jaiswal – 30
Josh Don Carolis – 30
Aaron Janoo – 30
Rey Jaiswal – 40
Aaron Janoo – 40
Ian Lu – 40
Ruaan Vamadevan – 40
Leo Syverson – 40
Colin Yeung – 50
Ethan Sharma-Wadeson – 60

TUTOR QUESTION OF THE WEEK

Each week the pupils decide on a question to ask all the Second Year form tutors.

If you were playing The Traitors, would you rather be a Faithful or a Traitor?

  1. Faithful – Mrs Owen, Miss Winstock, Miss Eamens, Miss Tiller
  2. Traitor – 2W, 2F, 2L, 2H

Miss Holt said ‘Traitor would be so much more fun! (Hopefully I’d be better than Linda…)’ and Mr Harrison has his game plan all sorted, he wants to ‘Start faithful, get recruited, betray them’. Miss Mattinson has a similar plan and said ‘Faithful, recruited at a late stage as a Traitor!’

Have you ever had a burning question you’ve always wanted to ask your form tutors?! If so, then please send your suggestions for a future Tutor Question Time to b.tiller@hamptonschool.org.uk.

Meet the Teacher – Miss Allocco

Riyaan G, Ethan W, Nirvaan B (2B) interviewed one half of 2B’s tutor team Miss Allocco

What inspired you to become a Spanish teacher?

I have a passion for languages and different cultures, I studied social anthropology at university, and travelled to South America and Europe, which developed my interest in different cultures.

Apart from Spanish, what other subjects are you interested in?

I am very interested in history, as well as political and social sciences. I am also interested in arts and music as I used to play the violin.

What are your hobbies/interests?

I like to swim as well as walking around and seeing nature and I also love to travel.

What are you most excited about being a form tutor and a teacher at Hampton?

I love to get to know pupils, finding out more about my form, and also finding out how inquisitive and curious they are.

What’s your favourite Argentinian dish?

I love Empanadas (similar to a Cornish pasty) and ‘Asado’ (Argentinian barbecue).

Language Taster Sessions

This week everybody in Second Year has had their language lessons slightly differently. The change is that we having been doing completely different languages from normal! It has been a very nice change from normal and has also been very interesting to learn about languages we may not have studied before. (We also haven’t had to do much writing in our books)! It has been very enjoyable and interesting to get an idea of the languages we might do in third year.

French

On Wednesday, this week, my form (2W) had their French taster where we learnt about the basic French phrases such as ‘’je’mappelle’’ ‘’Ca va’’ and other phrases like that. We also saw some pictures of famous French people and went through some slides about how useful French can be in the future. After that we did some French roleplays and watched a video about some places in France. Not only this, but we also heard about some of the exciting trips you can go on if you study French at Hampton including exchange trips and visits to Paris and other French cities. It was a very interesting taster and has certainly tempted me to choose French.

By Reuben N (2W)

German

We did German as one of our language tasters this week in the Language Taster Week. The idea of the week is to give opportunities to us to figure out what we would like to do in Third Year for languages. We learnt some letters in German such as the ß which is pronounced as ‘ss’ so Football in German would be Fußall pronounced foosball in German. We learnt some phrases in German like how to say your name or how to ask how you are. We also learned some facts about German such as the fact that 200 million people in the world that can speak German. We ended the language taster session with a funny rhyme called Barbarabara about Barbara’s Rhubarb Bar which goes like this in German:

Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbier meist mit den Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbaren in die Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbierbar zu Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbierbarbärbel um sie mit zur Rhabarberbarbarabar zu nehmen um etwas von Rhabarberbarbaras herrlichem Rhabarberkuchen zu essen und ein Rhabarberbarbarabarbarbarenbartbarbierbier

It was a very fun session.

By Rishi K  and Shaurya D (2L)

Mandarin 


These are some of the most used words in Chinese. Mandarin is one of the most spoken languages in the world. There are many different dialects in China, but the main one spoken is Mandarin. During our mandarin taster, we learned about the four most important inventions, paper, compasses, printing and gunpowder. At the start of the lesson, we did some fun actions, to make the memorisation process more fun, along with a song. 再見,我希望你有美好的一天

By Colin Y (2L)

Take a look at the video below to see how Second Year Hamptonians got on during their language taster sessions:

Swimming Gala!

Recently, I did a swimming gala representing my club Elmbridge Pheonix SC and I heard a lot of commotion about this gala being held at our home venue with many clubs participating as well. It is always helpful when a sports excursion is held at your home venue as you are already familiar with the vicinity and when it comes to swimming, it is very helpful to know the feel of the water and the pool beforehand. Before entering, a sense of excitement ran down my spine as I heard my dad telling me, ‘Son, we are very proud of you just go out there and shine!’ However, lining up in the changing rooms waiting for your warm-up to start, there is bound to be a little sense of anxiety upon the realisation that there were many other kids there who also wanted to get fantastic times in their events. As the warm-up passed, I felt ready to just ‘shine’ and put my all into my event. Before I knew it, I was called up to line up with the boys I was racing against and as I looked into their eyes, I could see the fear in their eyes as well so I knew that I wasn’t the only one but I just focused mainly on visualising me at every point in the race and telling myself what I need to do in certain points in the race so that going into it, I knew exactly what to do; as I stood confidently behind my lane’s diving block, I just kept telling myself that ‘I’ve got this’. The official for my lane wished me good luck as I stepped onto the blocks. Take your marks. Go!

I was in the water. I tried to pound my legs as fast as I could and going into the turn at the wall, I was poised about my first 25 metres of my race. Then as I swam on the length back, I knew that this was my time to put all the effort possible left in me. I wanted to make sure that all my hard work leading up to this race paid off. Bearing that in mind, I reached to the wall in my last stroke and looked above at the timing board. I had a new personal best time (PB)! As a wide grin spread across on my face, I looked up in the stands to see my dad smiling at giving me a thumbs up indicating that I had done well. I changed quickly and jumped in joy seeing the time I had got for another time on my phone. It was official. I had done it! Reviewing my race, I was contented with it but after analysing it closely, I know what to do for the future galas and in my training sessions to make that possible. Hopefully next time we can get an even better time, I told myself in my head but for now, I was very happy seeing that I had done a one second improvement in a 50-meter race as in the long term, that is an excellent development.

By Vairaj M (2P)

Trip to Malaga!

In the Christmas holidays my family and I went to Malaga in Spain. My first day in Malaga was all about discovering the city. I wandered through its vibrant streets and admired the mix of historic and modern architecture. In the afternoon, I went on a sunset boat ride. Watching the sun dip below the horizon was the perfect way to start my trip. On my second day, I explored two of Malaga’s iconic landmarks—the Gibralfaro Castle, the Alcazaba and the Roman amphitheatre. The Alcazaba, an ancient Moorish fortress, was designed with intricate architecture and had stunning views of the city. Adjacent to the Alcazaba were the last remains of a Roman amphitheatre. A short walk uphill brought me to Gibralfaro Castle, where I learned about its fascinating history. I enjoyed panoramic views of the coastline and got to see the Malaga’s amazing bullring in the heart of the city.

Malaga is the birthplace of Pablo Picasso, so visiting his museum was a must. Later, I experienced traveling through the city in a horse-drawn carriage. It was such a fun and traditional way to take in the sights and sounds of Malaga. Day four was an adventure-packed day! I ventured to the Caminito del Rey which was once considered one of the most dangerous hikes in the world before a new pathway was built. It is a famous 8km cliffside walkway with breathtaking views that I took pictures of. Walking along the narrow paths and towering cliffs were thrilling and unforgettable. In the evening, I immersed myself in Spanish culture by watching a Flamenco dance performance. On my final day, I took a short trip to Marbella, a glamorous coastal town not far from Malaga. I strolled through the picturesque old town and relaxed by the beach. It was the perfect way to end my adventure.

By Shaurya D (2L)

Trip to Birmingham!

Birmingham is the second largest city in England and has many different places to visit such as the library of Birmingham and the ceramic factory. Birmingham is a large modernised industrial city with lots of warehouses and factories. The city centre is full of beautiful fountains and has many different restaurants of different cuisines such as Malay, Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, Thai and many more. It is also a home to a large array of bubble tea shops. The city of Birmingham also has a lot of universities. Over the holidays, I visited Birmingham where on the first day, we went to the city centre. We explored and went to a café. After, we saw lots of trams and went through the train station to the other side of the city centre where we dined at a restaurant. It was delicious! One of our dishes did not arrive so we went to cancel the order but as my mother asked to cancel it, the manager quickly asked for it to be made so we have to ask for a takeaway box to put it in. For the rest of the evening, we stayed in our hotel rooms. On the second day, we went to the library of Birmingham and visited some of the fountains. Then, we went to a Malaya restaurant for lunch where I ordered a Hainanese chicken with rice. It was so good! After, we went to Chinatown where we brought some cakes from a bakery for breakfast the next day and we also went to meet fresh, a Taiwanese dessert shop selling traditional Taiwanese shaved ice and a sweet, soft tofu-like dessert. Then we went back to our hotel where I watched some television. After some rest and time to digest my food, I went to the gym for some workout. After, I was too tired so we ordered pizza and ate it in our hotel room. 

By Ian L (2F)

Plane spotting!

On the first Sunday of the holidays me and Albert K went plane spotting at Heathrow. We were incredibly lucky as the first plane we saw when we got to Myrtle Avenue (a green space downwind of runway 27L) was the Sultan of Brunei’s Boeing 747-8 and it wasn’t on Flightradar, so we had no idea it was coming! In the next couple of hours we saw a Delta Boeing 767 Skyteam livery, an Icelandair Boeing 757, the Saudia Boeing 777 Formula E, a Cathay Pacific Cargo Boeing 747-8F and two Loganair Embraer E145s. After lunch we headed over to the other runway 27L as they had switched the landing runway. While there we saw a lot of planes touch down as after they flew right over our heads. A Korean Air Boeing 747-8 (the last one to Heathrow until the summer! Unfortunately, it was dark then though) and an assortment of other common but interesting aircraft and we got some amazing pictures. In the end it was an incredible day and we saw an unprecedented number of rare aircraft and my personal favourite was probably a Turkish Airlines Airbus A350-900.

By Kaya K (2P)

Who’s that baby?!

Who do you think it could be this week? Don’t forget, I make all the photos black and white to make it that much trickier!

Whiteboard cartoon of the week

This week’s cartoon comes to us from Ethan C (2L):

Talk!

The first Talk! of the spring term will take place on Thursday 28 January when we welcome Christina Lamb OBE, who is recognised as one of the world’s top foreign correspondents and is currently the chief foreign correspondent for The Sunday Times. Christina has covered conflicts across the globe for the past 35 years, and will join us to discuss her years as a war reporter.

There’s no need for Hamptonians to book, find out more here.

QUIZ OF THE WEEK

Welcome to the Quiz of the Week! Every week, we’ll post five general knowledge questions. Take a look at this week’s questions, have a go yourself or challenge people at home and see if they know the answer.

Points for the Interform Competition will be awarded to the form with the most entries over the term.

This week’s questions are on the theme of TV quizzes. Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here. 

Have a great weekend!

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