Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
It has been an action-packed start to the second week of the half term here at Hampton, filled with inspiring assemblies, dramatic sporting fixtures, musical highlights, and plenty of academic and creative endeavours. In this edition, we reflect on our moving Remembrance Assembly, look ahead to the upcoming No Limits Week, dive into the Bebras Challenge, and hear all about Code Ninjas, Physics practicals, and weekend football trips from our Second Year reporters.
Merit milestones
A big shout out to the following Second Year Hamptonians:
Arjun N – 10
Thomas D – 10
Zain I – 10
Al M – 10
Zac K – 10
Arthur C – 10
Enoch H – 10
Zac N – 10
Isaac R – 10
Finley S – 10
Rayan S – 10
Ahrin K – 20
Noah P – 20
Divam J – 20
Leo H – 20
Arthur S – 20
Seung-Hoo K – 30
Ronak B – 50 (he’s off to see Mr Knibbs!)
Remembrance Service: A moving tribute
This week, the Hampton community gathered for a poignant and memorable Remembrance Assembly to honour those who have made the ultimate sacrifice in conflicts past and present. From the thoughtful readings and musical tributes to the unified two-minute silence held across the School, the service was a deeply respectful occasion.
Here is what Jamie O (2B) had to say about the assembly:
Lest We Forget: Hampton’s Remembrance Day assembly
Yesterday, our School paid respects to those who sacrificed their lives in the devastating events of World War One. But we also made sure to recognise that they were not the only ones who deserve commemoration. Those who have sacrificed their lives in previous and ongoing conflicts deserve their recognition just as much.
During the two minutes silence, in which everybody paid their respects, a sense of unity was brought, from First Years all the way to Upper Sixth, the School stood in complete silence maybe thinking about an ancestor who lost their life in the war, or everybody who made a sacrifice that day and therefore shaped the beautiful world we live in today. Without them risking their lives, we would not be in the position we are today. Everyone showed exceptional levels of maturity during the beautifully sung songs, the wonderful speeches said by teachers and the calm, peaceful, unified two minutes silence.
The assembly truly captured some beautiful moments and was, in simpler words, a moving, heartfelt tribute to those that will never be forgotten.
By Jamie O (2B)
get ready for No Limits Week!
Get ready to step out of your comfort zone, because No Limits Week kicks off next week!
While many Second Years are already heavily involved in Hampton’s co-curricular life, the aim of the week is to challenge yourselves with something completely new. Whether it is a sport, a creative society, or an academic club you have never considered before, every pupil is challenged to try out three new clubs or activities during the week that they wouldn’t normally attend. Who knows, you might just discover a brand-new passion!
Bebras Challenge
This week, Second Year pupils put their computational thinking and problem-solving skills to the test in the annual Bebras Challenge, an international competition that sees over 500,000 pupils take part across the UK and 4 million globally.
Taking a break from their normal timetable, the pupils headed into the Main Hall to tackle a series of fast-paced, interactive logic puzzles designed to stretch how they think about algorithms and patterns. Well done to everyone for approaching the challenge with such focus and determination, we look forward to seeing the results when they arrive!
Pitch Perfect
On Monday the U13As played St John’s School in our first ISFA game of the season. ISFA is basically the same as ESFA but for independent schools.
Both teams looked like they wanted to win right from the start. Luckily, Hampton scored two goals early on to take control of the game. Ten minutes later, St John’s scored an incredible goal. Thankfully, we didn’t show any signs of throwing the game away and scored another goal right on half time. We went into the break 3-1 up. St John’s showed signs of a comeback in the second half but around 15 minutes later, we had scored another three goals! As St John’s pushed more players up the pitch, we were able to counter quickly and finish our chances with a win.
By Freddie C (2F)
landscape lens
This week I got my result that I had was a runner up in this year’s Geography Photo Competition! The category this year was ‘Changing Landscapes’ and my photo was a picture of a dead tree with white cloud trials and a blue sky. It was from a place called Snape Maltings. As a runner up in the competition, I received a £10 Amazon Voucher. Thank you to Mr Harrison who organised the competition and well done to Max O (3H), Rishi S (3E) and Alp O (5D) who were also the winners/runners up.
By Ruben V (2F)
What a fantastic achievement! Take a look at Ruben’s photo below:
Code Ninjas Update
Hello, I would like to talk about Code Ninjas! It is run by Mr Hui and a few Lower Sixth mentors, and it is a wonderful club to attend. Me and my friends having lots of fun with the creative coding that they encourage us to attempt. Some friends and I had first visited the club in First Year, and we haven’t stopped going… To my surprise, this year was crammed with many more First Years compared to last year, regardless which day you go on. Currently, we are using the turtle module in Thonny, and we will be moving onto some form of robotics, which is of course very exciting! If you do want to find out more, please do come along at 12.35-1.10pm G66 Monday. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
By Arav B (2L)
Language Lyrics
Here is a picture of the proud winners of the Modern Languages Second Year Poetry Recital. Huge congratulations to Divam J, Avyan A, Edin H, Lewie G and Rayan L!
They each learned a challenging poem in French, German, or Spanish entirely by heart and recited it in the Hammond Theatre in front of their peers and teachers. They did an exceptional job, displaying incredible courage to speak publicly and showing fantastic talent in memory and pronunciation. Very well done to all of them!
Evensong at Guildford Cathedral
On Wednesday, Chamber Choir was lucky enough to have the opportunity to sing Evensong at the beautiful Guildford Cathedral. After a rehearsal in the nave, including practising processing to and from the choir stalls, we had time for a quick break before the service. We sang the whole service, including a Magnificat and Nunc Dimittis by Stanford and a Psalm. It had a nice echoey acoustic that made our voices carry very well, I enjoyed it! It is one of the newest cathedrals in the UK, only finished in 1961 and is the most spectacular place I have ever had the opportunity to sing in. Thank you to all the teachers who organised this visit, it was a fun evening!
By Sam P (2P)
Middlesex Festival Journey
On Monday, I achieved my main sporting goal for the year and something I have wanted to do for a long time…a cap for the U13A rugby team. I found out at lunchtime rugby training last week that there would be a rugby festival for the A team the following Monday, and that they would be bringing 20 pupils! I was really motivated to be chosen.
On Saturday, we were playing against St Benedict’s School from Ealing, and I was determined to play the best I could to prove to the coaches I was deserving of an A team cap. I played my heart out on the day, making good tackles, being strong at the breakdown, and even scoring a try! After the game, whilst we were having match teas, Mr Haynes, the A team coach, called me aside to tell me I would play at the festival. I was delighted, I had finally done it and was going to the Middlesex Festival.
After being able to think about nothing else all weekend, the day finally came. As I got on the team coach, I repeated my cousin’s advice which was: you got selected because of your game, so don’t change anything now. It helped to settle my excitement and calm my nerves.
The tournament commenced with three group matches, each lasting 12 minutes. Our first match was against University College School. After going 15 – 0 up, Mr Haynes brought me on for Thomas D with about five minutes left to play. I didn’t have to wait long for my first opportunity, after a brilliant carry from Eric L on the left wing, Barney D spread the ball to me, and I dove over the line and placed the ball down. Yes! Within a minute of playing in the A team, I had scored my first try. It was bittersweet, however, as I went to finish, I banged my knee and I signalled for Mr Haynes to substitute me. Luckily, I was able to come on in our next match vs Teddington School. We cruised through this match winning by a comfortable margin, and we then beat a strong Orleans Park side 10-0 in our next game.
Having won our group, we were through to the semi-final’s vs Richmond Park Academy. After two minutes in, we went 5 – 0 down when their scrumhalf picked from a ruck and scored through a gap on the blindside! Not long later, Lucas B made a brilliant run down the wing, handing off a defender before finishing in the corner. Yes! 5 – 5! After a nervy period, the match ended up going to sudden death: the next try wins. We dominated extra time, but they defended with strength and their speedy scrumhalf managed to score against the run of play. It was all over.
After five minutes of resetting, we were back on the pitch for the third place playoff against a familiar opponent, University College School. We dominated them in the match and were unlucky to concede early in the game but pulled it back to 10-5 to Hampton. I passed the ball to Benny B who kicked the ball out, we had won.
Third place was satisfactory, but we felt we could have done better. Well done team and thank you to the coaches. It was an honour to play for the A team, a day I’ll always remember.
By Alex B (2L)
High-Voltage Physics with 2G!
Do you ever get lots of worksheets or have to write lots of notes in Physics? Yeah… well… so do 2G! But instead of receiving our test marks today and writing notes, we spent the entire double lesson being practical whilst learning about lightning and electricity! Our teacher, Mr Walsh, wanted to spend 10 minutes at the start of the lesson showing us how electricity can move through lots of people when they are holding hands – the person at the front ends up getting a small shock! We spent the whole lesson doing many fun and exciting practicals!
We started off with this mini-Ferris wheel-like object, and we rotated it very quickly to try and produce electricity. Although, it didn’t create any electricity sadly, probably implying that we needed more force to spin. The next item we had was a shiny, metal ball-like object which when held onto and switched on, you would have 10,000 volts running through your body! For example, one person would have their hand held on the ball-like object, which sends lots of electricity into your body. When another person hovered around the body of the person holding the metal, there was an odd sense of vibration that happened between them, and if you got too close…an electric shock would occur! On top of this, some of your hairs would individually stick directly up into the air because of the electricity inside your body!
After the bell signalling period 5 had begun occurred, we went outside and discussed lightning. You know the flagpole at the top of the School, which has Hampton’s logo on it as well? It has got two purposes: to show that we are Hampton School and to attract lightning. Lightning always wants to find the fastest way to get to the ground, a small electrical pipeline connects the flagpole to the ground, so when lightning strikes the flagpole, the electricity from it gets carried down into the ground. The electrical pipeline is quite hard to see; it is brown in colour and merges with the bricks and is located just right off the main entrance. After discussing more about lightning, we went back into our classroom where we sat down, and the teacher began marking our tests. Then the bell rang for lunch!
Overall, this lesson was one of the best ever lessons we’ve had in both First and Second Year!
By Arman H (2G)
A thrilling trip to watch Fulham in Coventry
In the half term I didn’t leave England, but I did go and watch my favourite football team Fulham play in Coventry with my Dad. To start the journey, we took the underground train to Euston Station where we looked to get on our train to Coventry, but it was delayed 15 minutes. Thankfully, it came in the end and only took 45 minutes. When we arrived in Coventry, we were met by cold weather and hard rain. We then needed to take a seven-minute train to the stadium because otherwise we would have to walk in the rain for 15 minutes. It seemed like everyone who was going to the game, took the train to Coventry Station because all the others before the game were cancelled due to the bad weather. Everyone had to stand with no space and some even struggled to get on the train. After that, we got to the stadium, and I got a sausage roll to have for lunch and waited for the match to start. Well before the game started, in the warmups, I noticed Josh King (one of our alumni) practising! He is my favourite player. Our seats were in the second deck by the corner flag. The first half was actionless with no goals and not much action apart from when Josh King fired a shot at the crossbar early in the game. That was true until Fulham had a corner in the 45th minute (the last play before half time) when Alex Iwobi took it and as he crossed it in, the defender pulled on a Fulham player’s shirt! I thought it was an obvious penalty, but the referee didn’t agree. In the second half the first big chance came around the 70th minute when a Coventry player had a free header after a corner, but it was saved by the goalie. The game remained goalless until the 80th minute when Josh King passed to Oscar Bobb (a Fulham winger) who passed one player and from a tight angle scored to put Fulham in front. I jumped out of my seat! I was so happy to see the ball go in the back of the net. If it stayed 1-0 Fulham would get their 2nd win of the season meaning they have a lower chance of getting relegated. After a nervy 10 minutes there were 5 minutes left of added on time where Fulham managed to stop Coventry from scoring! They won the match! My Dad and I rushed out of the stadium to catch the next train back home.
By Jack D (2H)
Form spotlight
Each week, we check in with one of our Second Year forms to find out what has been making them tick, and this week, the spotlight shines on 2P!
What is their highlight of the week?
2P came up with quite an eclectic list of “unique” moments. After much lively debate and careful whittling down, one clear winner emerged as the form’s undisputed favourite: playing analogue Wordle with their Upper Sixth mentors before registration!
Forget screens and keyboards, 2P have taken the viral word puzzle back to basics with good old-fashioned pen, paper, and a whiteboard. Every morning before the register is called, the form teams up with their Upper Sixth mentors to battle against the clock, throwing out five-letter guesses, debating tricky vowel combinations, and celebrating those green squares. It has become the ultimate brain-warming ritual to kick off the school day, proving that a bit of friendly competition (and teamwork with the Sixth Form!) is the best way to wake up the brain before period 1.
Well done to 2P and their mentors for keeping the morning energy high, we wonder which five-letter word will stump them next!
Quiz of the Week
Welcome to the Quiz of the Week! Each week, we’ll be putting your knowledge to the test with five general knowledge questions. Why not have a go yourself and see if you can get full marks, or challenge family and friends at home to see how they fare?
Merits are awarded to all those who get five correct answers.
Why don’t you have a go at this week’s tricky questions:
Here are the answers to last week’s Halloween-themed quiz:
- In what year did the Gunpowder Plot take place? 1605
- What was the name of the man most famously associated with the Gunpowder Plot? Guy Fawkes
- Which building were the plotters planning to blow up? The House of Parliament
- On what date is Bonfire Night celebrated each year in the UK? 5 November
- Why do people traditionally light bonfires and set off fireworks on Bonfire Night? To commemorate the failure of the Gunpowder Plot and the survival of King James I
Well done to the following Second Year Hamptonians who answered everything correctly – Rowan F, Hiu Yeung K, Barney D, Sam P, Guy H, Owen M, Kevin W, Aryun R, Arivat P, Tom W and Arman H.
