WELCOME TO THE SECOND YEAR BLOG!

This is my last blog for our wonderful Second Year and it’s a bumper edition. The last two weeks have been chock-a-block with trips, sport, concerts and plays. I hope you enjoy the reports from our trusty bloggers.

Highlights include a report on a Brothers Grimm project studied by the German pupils in Second Year and a review of the Rock Concert. It was very uplifting to look back on the year in our assembly on Wednesday; we celebrated boys’ successes on the Help project as well as hearing pupils from choir sing Go the Distance. 2H also convincingly acted a scene from Blood Brothers which was their assessment piece for Drama this term.

Next week we have Founders’ Day and we will be at Hampton Pool for our gala on the last morning of the year. Don’t forget to pack a towel and wear your swimming trunks under your tracksuit. It will be a fabulous opportunity to let off some energy and cool off!

Happy holidays!

Merit Milestones

Well done to everyone who has collected a merit certificate this week:

Sion Kim – 30 (Good job!)

Danyal Pasha – 60 (Great work!)

Patrick Hobbs – 80 (Super!)

Jonty Gwynne – 90 (Fabulous!)

Oliver Yang – 90 (Tremendous!)

Oliver Yang – 100 (Fantastic!)

Oliver Yang – 110 (Wow!)

Siddhant Shetty – 120 (Amazing!)

Rock Concert 

Last Friday was a day of eager anticipation for Hampton’s musicians, as the long-awaited Hampton Rock Concert was finally here. After auditions and countless rehearsals, the stage was set for what promised to be an unforgettable evening of music and celebration. At 4pm, the pupils gathered at the Hammond Theatre, where they were informed of their scheduled sound checks. These sound checks were crucial, providing the talented theatre crew with the opportunity to fine-tune the lighting and volumes for each band and performer, ensuring a flawless show.

As the clock struck 7, the Hammond Theatre was a hive of excitement, filled with rows of friends and family, all eager to witness the culmination of everyone’s hard work. The evening was a celebration of another successful year of music at Hampton, showcasing the incredible talent of its pupils.

The concert opened with a classic, as the Sacred Band of Thebes performed “Sultans of Swing” by Dire Straits, setting the tone for the evening. The atmosphere was electric as the audience settled in for a night of fantastic performances. The Junior, Intermediate, and Senior Rock Bands also delivered outstanding performances. The youngest of these bands energised the crowd with their performance of “We Are the Champions,” a song that everyone in the audience knew.

I had the pleasure of performing with Junior Rock Band B, where we rocked out to “Live and Let Die,” “Black Hole Sun,” and “Rocky Mountain Way.” Additionally, I performed with the band November, where we delivered our rendition of “Smells Like Teen Spirit” by Nirvana. There were several other highlights throughout the evening. For example, the band Eclipse performed an original song they had composed, and Polyphony wowed everyone with their rendition of “Look Don’t Touch” by Polyphia, demonstrating their technical skills. The night also featured some memorable solo performances. Bailey’s rendition of “More Than Words” by Extreme was moving alongside Monty Fletcher’s performance of “No Surprises”.

The Hampton Rock Concert was a night of extraordinary music, filled with passion, talent, and a sense of community. It was a testament to the hard work and dedication of the students and staff, and a fitting celebration of a successful year of music at Hampton.

By Devam K (2P)

RS Trip 

Last Thursday, we had an RS trip to the Hounslow Mosque and St Anne’s Church in Kew Green to learn more about the beliefs and practices of Islam and Christianity.

We had a worksheet which had questions to help us understand more about the mosque, e.g. When is the last time of the day that Muslims are meant to pray? The Imam (the Muslim priest) told us about the five Pillars of Islam (Shahadah, Salah, Zakat, Sawm and Hajj), which all Muslims need to follow to be close to God. He described the term ‘pillars’ is used because if a pillar was broken or was taken away from a building, then it would collapse, just like your faith in Allah (God in Islam) will also start to deteriorate. He also read the first chapter to us from the Quaran (the holy book of Islam) and it was fascinating to hear what it sounded like in Arabic. Muslims pray five times a day and always face Mecca in Saudi Arabia when praying.

After a picnic in the sunshine, we visited the calm and beautiful St Anne’s Church, where the Rev Giles Fraser talked about the problem of evil, exploring the Christian and Greek views on this question. This was a very interesting topic to have a discussion around and the talk gave a good insight to the different perspectives of one belief.

By Oliver Y (2P)

And here is another point of view from Gabriel K-S (2B)

I thought the Hounslow Mosque was a very impressive structure with a dome, multiple halls, a library and a place to do Wudu (a Muslim cleansing before prayer). There were many people on the floor reading the Quran and it felt like a very special place to these people. We went into the main worship hall where we met our Imam. He taught us about the core tenants of Islam and explained how you must uphold every one of them to be a true Muslim. He also talked about the special features of the mosque such as the pulpit area and the special Muslim prayers on the walls of the mosque.

The Church was extremely ornate and contained lots of engravings in the walls and memorials to famous local people. You can see the difference in how they decorate their holy places. In the church, we had a talk from a former Guardian writer. He said that the Bible never says God is omnipotent, but it is rather God’s love that gives him his power. In my opinion, I think this was a great trip which showed us the differences between these two cultures and told us a bit more about religion.

Golf tournament

Last Tuesday, a group of us from Hampton went to represent our School at the Richmond Schools’ Golf Tournament. It was a 9-hole event, and we played at different courses based on our age. The First and Second Years played at David Lloyd Hampton, while the Third and Fourth Years played at Fulwell Golf Club. This was my first golf tournament, and I was super nervous at first, but I managed to stay focused during the match. I made some great shots, but I didn’t win in the end. After the golf, we all met up at Fulwell for some food and the award presentations. It was a fun and exciting experience!

By Inwoo Y (2W)

Trip to Portsmouth’s Historic Dockyard 

This week we travelled down to Portsmouth in glorious sunshine to view the Mary Rose. After a long coach journey, it was good to be greeted with the re-assuring smell of the seaside and the cry of seagulls. In the museum, we watched a video explaining how the Mary Rose was brought up from the sea nearly 500 years after it sunk in 1545 in the Solent. Not long after, we watched an amazing 4D film that helped us imagine what it was like to see the Mary Rose underwater from the viewpoint of one of the divers. Subsequently, we were able to view the ship in all its glory. We were all taken aback by the divers’ skills to keep the ship intact while it was being brought up – an incredibly challenging task.

One half of the cavernous hall was filled with the remains of the ship, the other half was all the items that were found, including nit combs, weapons, plates, shoes and gold coins. Our workshop leader encouraged us to analyse eye witness accounts of the sinking and think about the cause of the Mary Rose’s sinking. We heard about the different views of the events from people of different nationalities (English, French, and Spanish). Lunch was not long after followed by another quick view of the Mary Rose. Overall, the day out was extremely popular with everyone having a great time!

By Laurie L-T (2W)

The 2B experience of the Mary Rose by Joe B:

We had a workshop first on how the ship sunk and what was found on it. It turned out that the ship did not sink on its maiden voyage, but rather had been part of the Navy for 34 years. It sunk by a French shot knocking it, and water getting in through the open cannon port holes. Once that was finished, we had lunch, and we had a view of a Prince of Wales aircraft carrier that was under maintenance. Mr Roberts gave us a higher or lower quiz about the aircraft carrier. It turns out that is cost £6 billion, weighs 65,000 tons and will hold over 600,000 eggs at any one point in time!

We then went into the museum, where we saw many amazing artefacts, including knives, bows, arrows and even real skeletons! We got to see how firing a long bow would have felt like with a little physical simulator that they had. I liked the viewing platform where we could see the Mary Rose itself. Despite being only half a ship, it was massive, and the rudder was about four metres long! It was quite a poignant moment because we were looking at a magnificent set of timbers where around five hundred people had died five hundred years ago. The room also smelt strongly of salt, wood and sea from the boat. Finally, we got to take part in a 4D experience, where we watched how the divers extracted the Mary Rose in 1982. It was a great trip, and I would like to thank the History department for setting it up. I would like to thank all the teachers who came with us and supervised us on the trip as well.

The Brothers Grimm Project

Frau May and Frau White are delighted to report that their German form 2P have impressed them with their enthusiasm, hard work, curiosity and creativity while working on the Brothers Grimm projects for the last few weeks. The end results of their research into various fairytales have brought a variety of drawings capturing the important scenes of the fairytales, translations, comic strips, stop motion animations and videos. One of the highlights of the presentations enjoyed by everyone was George’s, Vihaan’s and Lucas T’s video on Rotkäppchen. They starred in their short film demonstrating excellent German and acting talent and we were absolutely impressed with the level of effort the boys put in to produce the film. Superarbeit, 2P!

The Playhouse Apprentice

After three and a half months of preparation, show night was finally here. Our play, The Playhouse Apprentice, was an Elizabethan story about a young apprentice named Pygge, who needs to find a way to save his theatre before it closes. I played Gilbert, an actor and friend of Pygge. My main scene involved (unintentionally) making Pygge feel as scared as possible when he fails to convince the Lord Chamberlain (who was responsible for closing down the playhouse) to keep the theatre open.

Despite nailing the dress rehearsal the night before, there were still many nerves throughout the cast. Despite this, the show starting off excellently, and soon it was my scene. As the 150 people crammed into the Hammond Theatre watched me deliver my lines, the nerves started to disappear and my scene went excellently. After the final scenes crept away, we all stepped onto the stage of the Hammond in front of the audience to do our bows, topping off a night none of us will ever forget. On behalf of myself and everybody in the production, we would all like to thank Mrs Richardson, Miss Thomas and Mr Thompson as well as the crew who all made this show possible.

By Isaac d Q (2W)

QUIZ OF THE WEEK

Well done to everyone who had a go at last week’s quiz. Merits go to:

2J: David W, Siddhant S, Joshua A

2W: Isaac d Q

2B: Sebastian W, Alex G, Joe B

2H: James G

2P: Sion K

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 brain-busting quiz questions come to us from Edison Y (2L) and are everything to do with June!

Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here. 

Here are the answers to last week’s questions:

  1. Who won the French Open in 2024? Carlos Alcaraz
  2. What are the 4 different Grand Slams in tennis? Australian Open, French Open (or Roland Garros), Wimbledon, US Open
  3. Who has won the most Grand Slam in the history of male tennis? Novak Djokovic (24)
  4. In what month and year did former tennis player Roger Federer retire? September 2022
  5. When will the Wimbledon Championships 2024 begin? Monday 1 July

HAVE A GREAT WEEKEND!

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