Making Music, Perfect Poetry & Swimming Success!

Welcome to the Third Year Blog!

A comparatively unheralded moment in the Hampton calendar is the point at which the pupils start getting into their Hampton Extended Learning Programme (HELP) projects. This is a scheme that pupils can choose to take part in (over 50 Third Years are doing so this year) where they have the opportunity to spend some of their own time producing a piece of work investigating and exploring a topic of their choice. They have the support of a teacher acting as a supervisor, but fundamentally it is something that is driven by the pupil themselves. Apart from encouraging pupils to explore things that they are interested in, it is a great opportunity for them to learn how to plan and complete a longer project comparatively independently – while their supervisor is there to support, it is the pupil who will be driving the project. It is a great thing to do and it is wonderful to see so many Third Year pupils getting involved.

Beyond celebrating the basic principle, the Third Year Blog was astonished by the list of project titles. If ever something was indicative of the incredibly broad range of interests here at the School, it is this list. From ‘How music has influenced youth street fashion’ to ‘Viral Pathogenesis’ to ‘The evolution of the Rowing Boat’ to ‘Pascal’s Triangle’ to ‘Designing a new Ferrari’ to ‘Ancient Megafauna’ to ‘The Top 5 Greatest Companies of all time’ to ‘Politics in Ancient Greece’ to ‘Developing a Hampton Carbon Footprint Calculator (HCFC)’ to ‘The History of Korean Music’ to ‘Government Bonds’, there truly is something for everyone.

While the HELP project is about academic enquiry, independent learning and just being interested in the world and everything in and about it, there are also prizes on offer for those projects which are deemed to be the very best. This means that the Third Year Blog is both jealous of and pities Dr Flanagan who will have the task of casting his eye over them all. He warrants our jealousy because it must be fascinating to be able to see all the wonderful work and thought that is ultimately produced. But he certainly warrants our pity as the Third Year Blog can only imagine how difficult it is to judge whether the project about a project about ‘Designing a Ferrari’ is more successful than one dissecting ‘The evolution of Darts’, or the one that is attempting to cover the small matter of ‘Quantum Physics’.

Fortunately, the Third Year Blog is not faced with such a challenge. This is genuinely fortunate as the Third Year Blog may not even be able to successfully understand a HELP project focused on Pascal’s Triangle, so we are far better off leaving that to the Drs in the Common Room.

The challenge the Third Year blog does face is getting a year group who is coming up with so many wonderful HELP project ideas to write enough blog articles to keep the insatiably blog hungry public satisfied and, we fear, this is a challenge that has been more challenging this week than it normally is. But this creates opportunity as, this week, alongside a few excellent reports, we also have a couple of wonderful pieces of art that the pupils have created. It goes without saying that the doors of the Third Year blog are always open to any contributions that celebrate the remarkably broad skill set and interest range of the Third Year pupils of Hampton, so if you have anything to share, please email it to Mr Green (tj.green@hamptonschool.org.uk).

In the meantime, let’s get on with it!

Heads of Year Message

Third Year Parents’ Evening
We hope that parents have all been able to make video call appointments for Third Year Parents’ Evening on Tuesday 28 January. We will write to parents separately next week with a progress report on the year to date to accompany your Parents’ Evening feedback from subject teachers. Please read the guidance on how to join the video call appointments carefully in advance of Parents’ Evening. Please contact Mr Gray (s.gray@hamptonschool.org.uk) if you have any queries regarding your Parents’ Evening appointments on Tuesday.

DASH and Lucid testing
We wrote to all parents at the start of term explaining that DASH and Lucid testing will take place this term. These tests are nothing to be worried about – the boys cannot and should not attempt to revise for them. There is no pass or fail, and the tests will not affect grade cards. The DASH tests will take 15 minutes during Form Period on Thursday 6 February, whilst Lucid testing will occur during period 3 on Monday 3 February – boys should bring headphones to use with their school laptops for this.

Co-curricular activities
There are some fantastic co-curricular activities taking place during lunchtimes at the moment. Form Tutors remind the boys about these via notices at morning registration and there are further reminders on the digital displays around school. Boys can view the full range of activities in the co-curricular guide here.

Absences
If your son 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 son’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.

Boys – Please let us, your Form Tutors or the relevant subject teachers know if you have any difficulties. Have a lovely weekend.

Best wishes
Mr T Rigby & Mr H Moore

Swimming Success

Fantastic to hear that Nathaniel O (3G) has been selected by English Schools’ Swimming Association (ESSA) to join the team representing England at the U15 World School Games in Serbia during the Easter holidays. The event will feature 25 sports with athletes coming together from across the world.

This is a superb achievement by Nathaniel and a great opportunity to experience swimming at the highest level of competition. We can’t wait to hear how he gets on in April – swim well Nathaniel!

Poetry

As part of the Third Year English Reading Scheme, the pupils are asked to write a poem prompted by a book they have read on the scheme. Some of these poems are outstanding, and we thought we would share one with you here. It was written by Aatheshan R (3G) and is inspired by the novel The Fat Kid Rules the World by KL Going. Below is the poem itself, preceded by Aatheshan’s description of what the poem is about:

The poem displays the change and development of the main character Troy Billings. From self doubts to someone with great confidence through the impact of both music and friendship, which helped him overcome his troubles. Here’s the poem that I’ve written about the book:

There I stood, at the edge,
an empty shadow, under the light,
weighed down by words with meaning,
a name: the fat kid. Too fat to fit in,
too invisible to be seen.
At the edge I was,
no longer trying to stand and wondering,
wondering if falling
felt like freedom.
Then you crash in
Wild-eyed and grinning,
Echoes of laughter,
and jeans as tattered as your dreams.
Play the drums he says,
like he sees a spark in me,
one that nobody saw,
one I thought was lost.
A punk rock king,
broken but alive (unlike me),
Lifting me from the edge,
with laughs and drive.

Sticks in grip,
slow and unsure,
each strike breaking through years of shadows and doubts,
a rhythm of my own,
clumsy but alive,
and a heartbeat to break the silence within.

I am not just weight,
an empty shadow,
I am a rhythm,
a voice that raises bold,
I stand unbroken, complete, alive.
No longer at the edge,
but in the light.

Making Music

Over the Christmas break, Hampton pupils get up to all manner of things; some unexpected (admittedly some are largely sofa and console based, but everyone needs their down time, right?) During this break, Rohan K (3G) got really interested in using his computer for music recording and production, resulting in him producing a series of recordings.

Take a listen to the fantastic piece of music Rohan has created:

If you are interested in finding out what is possible in electronic music production, come along to Music Production Club on Wednesday lunchtimes with Mr Walden. Contact him for more information!

U14B Football

Last Saturday the U14Bs faced off against Dulwich College in our first game after Christmas. Unbeaten until then, we put on a good game against an accomplished side. During the game we didn’t play as we usually do and made some unneeded errors and so therefore faced the consequences.However, to improve we have to learn from our mistakes and sometimes that will include losing! Overall, even though we lost I know that the whole team is improving, and we hold our heads high going into the next game.

Report by Joshua S (3J) and Elijah T (3J)

Careers Week

Next week is an opportunity for Third Year Hamptonians to start thinking about the what interests them and the options open to them in the future. This year’s Careers Week will hear from 24 professionals who are all leaders in their field, ranging from Computing, Law, Medicine and Creative Careers. Find out more here.

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.

Two truths and a lie

Last week Mr Green clambered out of his pit in order smear filthy lies across the pristine pages of the Third Year Blog. These were his claims:

• Mr Green cannot whistle
• Mr Green drinks a minimum of five cups of tea a day and has a page in his mark book devoted to ensuring that he hits that level
• Mr Green was once attacked by a swarm of amazonian hornets

As a man who spends some of his time coaching on the sports fields of Hampton, you would sort of assume that a powerful whistle would be of use. Well, it would be of use, but he is unable to produce one. Mr Green was once attacked by a swarm of amazonian hornets. The full story is that they attacked his head as he foolishly chose to use a toilet which had a cistern which was covered by that swarm at the time. It is unclear as to whether his baldness is directly attributable to this. Maybe Mr Langton could offer a view. What this means is that Mr Green does not drink a minimum of five cups of tea a day. In truth, he probably does drink at least five cups of tea a day, but the lie is the idea that part of his mark book is used to record the data relating to his tea obsession. That would be weird.

This week, Mr John steps in to try to deceive us:

• Mr John has had afternoon tea with King Charles
• Mr John is a speed-cuber – he can (consistently) solve a Rubik’s Cube in under eight seconds
• Mr John has written a book focused on tank gunnery drills

Which is the lie? Find out next week!

CONNECTION CORNER

A big shout out to everyone who had a go at the very first Connection Corner of 2025 and well done those of you who answered all the questions correctly. The correct connection was that they’re all related to the phonetic alphabet! Merits go to Manilo C, Matthew L, Liam C, Seb W, Vayun J, Gordon L, James G, Dean B, Joe B, Arha D, Daniel S, Luke F, Leonard H, Alex G and George S.

Another tricky one this week, have a go over the weekend and see if you can spot the connection:

Connection answer: All part of the phonetic alphabet (India, Charlie, Quebec, Lima)

Have a great weekend!