Welcome to the First Year Blog!
With only four weeks left of this school year, we have a packed programme and First Years hit the ground running with rehearsals, the Project Explore prizegiving and a tough Maths competition this week. We have reports from the four First Year finalists from Project Explore in this week’s blog as well as a rundown on the Adventure Society’s trip to Dorset over half term.
Next week First Year Hamptonians have the Physics trip to the Winchester Science Centre & Planetarium, and one half of the year group will also visit the Neasden Mandir and Southall Gurdwara on their RS Trip, with the remainder of the year visiting the following week. What joy! Two days of wearing your comfiest trainers all day!
Please send in any sports reports to v.whitwam@hamptonschool.org.uk as we all love to read about the triumphs and disasters on the cricket pitch or tennis court.
Have a good weekend!
Project Explore
For Project Explore I made the Kaaba of Mecca. My ambitious project had a spinning feature where the wooden characters performed tawaf (one of the acts of worship the Muslims do when they reach the Kaaba). I also added four pillars which surrounded the Kaaba. Long sticks of wood emerged from the pillars and poked into the Kaaba to support it so it was stable. There was also an audio feature where the pillars were: when you pressed a button the Adhan (the Muslim call to prayer) would play. To one side of the Kaaba, you could see the black stone (I used a piece of jewellery to create this). I am pleased that I managed to come in the top four finalists of our year group.
By Nidall A (1J)
For my Project Explore, I decided to pick the London Wetland Centre because I love wildlife, and the London Wetland Centre is full of it. Being only 25 minutes away from my house I go there quite regularly, and I really enjoy it. I decided to write about its founder, Sir Peter Scott, as well as the wildlife and the centre itself. I also drew some pictures of the birds that could be found there, and I painted a small landscape of the reserve. I then built a LEGO display of the wetland habitat that covers the reserve. When the entries were being judged, we had a super tasty lunch and told the judges about our entries, it was really fun, and I had a great time. I am really pleased I got highly commended as there were so many amazing entries and the competition was stiff.
By Edward R (1F)
Project Explore was a fun, optional project that we could do over the Easter holidays. I made a board game called ‘The Playgue’, in which the aim of the game was to reach the countryside to escape the plague while acquiring three survival items along the way: a plague mask, a fart jar, and a bag of grated unicorn horn. All three were things that the public in 1665 wrongly believed helped keep away the plague. I was really proud of it because it took about a month of coming up with ideas and about three weeks of construction. So, you can imagine how happy I was when they announced that I was the winner!
By Hayk F (1B)
Throughout the long easter holiday, countless First Year Hamptonians were coming up with creative responses to the project explore competition, set just for First Year. I decided that due to my love of cooking, it would be a great idea to create a tiramisu (an Italian coffee cake), which is favourite desert. My next step was identifying how I may alter a tiramisu in a way where I was able to discover new ingredients which I could possibly use to create an exotic version of this desert. For me, I found identifying a place to visit the easiest step. Which place in London can provide me with information about countless fruits and plants which will be necessary for my project? I thought of Kew Gardens immediately for its Palm House, home to many exotic fruits and even the oldest pot plant in the world. From my visit, I had encountered many new fruits, but I narrowed down my ingredients to banana, starfruit, Arabica coffee and vanilla pods. By using the Arabica coffee and vanilla pods in the cream and sponge, with the starfruit and banana as toppings. The banana and starfruit gave a sweet exotic flavour, which balanced perfectly with the arabica coffee and the sweet vanilla pods. That is how I had created a tiramisu I recommend to anyone looking to cook a new desert.
By Hugh H (1L)
Dorset Adventure
Dorset is a fun and exciting trip for everyone interested in an adventure. Throughout the trip, we experienced exhilarating raft building, tranquil night walks and a fresh and upbeat hikes followed by a soothing campfire. The food was great! Especially the day we arrived, they cooked us a tender chicken curry. It was delectable. The place we stayed in was warm and comfortable, apart from when my friend banged his head on a ledge whenever he tried to get up! One day we created rafts by ourselves, with a bit of help from our instructor. Once we set sail, our raft floated while the others sadly sank and did not stand.
As well as this, we enjoyed some high and low ropes. Firstly, we climbed a wooden pole and attempted for three or four people to stand together balanced on top. It was TERRIFYING but extremely fun! In the low ropes, we entered a zipline through some bushes and scaled through many exciting paths. At the end of the session, we climbed up to a horizontal, round, wooden plank to balance on. It was great as we all tried to be a koala and hang upside down.
On the last night, we had a campfire when our main instructor told us some riddles which were impossible, and we sang some songs in the end with hot chocolate. The next day came the mud trail. There were difficult tasks and obstacles to get through. My favourite was the mud zipline where you sat down and held on to a pole before splashing muddy water. After a nice shower, it was time to head back. Overall, the trip to Dorset was full of smiles, chuckles and laughs, with friends all around you!
By Akshaj A (1B)
Take a look at some of the photos from the trip – can anyone spot Mr Fuldner:
Awesome Art
First Year Hamptonians had lots of fun practising their art skills during Art Day this week. Ahead of an installation to commemorate 80 years since the end of World War II and Remembrance Day in November, the budding artists have been exploring monoprints and creating sculptures of poppies. Take a look at some of the amazing art work they produced:
Super Sport
During Assessment Week, First Years had chance to let off some steam when they enjoyed a morning of Interform sport – ergo bikes, hockey, indoor football, basketball and a plank challenge were enjoyed by all.
Summer Show
When Sir Charles Baskerville is found dead on his estate, with a look of terror still etched on his face, and the paw prints of a gigantic hound beside his body, the great detective Sherlock Holmes is summoned from Baker Street, with Dr Watson in tow, to unravel the mysteries surrounding his death, and investigate the ancient curse of the Hound of the Baskervilles…
There’s still plenty of time to get your tickets for the dazzling Summer Show The Hound of the Baskervilles. Book by clicking the link here. Performances are on the 17 and 18 June and start at 7.00pm. There are over 40 pupils from the First, Second and Third Year involved, so why not come along and support them in Arthur Conan Doyle’s classic.
GOLF
Hampton is organising a golf competition for various schools in the borough and we would like to enter some boys from First Year. The competition will take place on the afternoon of Tuesday 17 June at Fulwell Golf Club. Please email Mr Worrall or find him in the Physics office if you’re interested. You will need to bring your own clubs, be familiar with golf scoring and etiquette, have a handicap, and have plenty of experience on a full-length golf course. This last point is really important. Spaces are limited!
Special Shoutout
Well done to Ansh R (1G) in achieving the top monthly score in EnergyTown and winning a £50 voucher. Ansh’s job was to build and manage a thriving city, ensuring a sustainable energy future until the year 2050.
Sebastian D (1F) ran a 5km Pretty Mudder run on Saturday with his cousin to raise money as part of Race for Life on behalf of Cancer Research. He personally raised £120 which included donations from his Hamptonian friends. He came first in his heat wave and got very muddy.
Fantastic to hear that Isaac C (1P) is trying new things, find out more below:
This year, I decided to try something new and signed up for an online dinosaur course. It was made for college, so some parts were a bit challenging, but I really enjoyed learning about fossils, different dinosaur species, and how they evolved over time. The videos and activities were interesting, and I liked being able to explore topics I don’t usually get to study in school. Overall, it was a fun and rewarding experience, and I’m glad I gave it a go.
Tutee of the Week
Every week, the First Year Tutor team nominate a boy who they have been particularly impressed with and Mr Hill and Mr Fuldner present him with a certificate and a tasty treat to eat!
Congratulations to Thomas D-L (1B) on being named this week’s Tutee of the Week.
Thomas is always a kind and thoughtful presence in class – well done Thomas!
THE HAMPTON HUNT
Each week I will set you a challenge where you need to find out a random fact, number or indeed anything else around the School – you won’t be able to do this from home! Points for the interform competition will be awarded to the Form with the most correct entries over the course of the term! You have until the end of Wednesday to complete the challenge; you will find out in next week’s blog if you’re correct, and you will be given a merit by your Form Tutor the following Monday. And who knows – you might get to know the School better in the process!
The last challenge before half term: Most rooms in the school start with the letters F, G or S – but what do the letters stand for? The letters of course are G for ground, F for first and S for second floor!
Well done to Tom C, Freeman W, Joshin F, Nico A-G, Jack W, Isaac L, Akshaj A, Max D, Ashveer C, Frankie D, Yuvan M, Harri C, Sophus W, Mohamed T, Vivaan K, Theo R, Ediz Y, Kaarthikan M, Arjun J, Kyle O, Yuchen L, Eli M, Emre K, Ojas P, Rahim K, Noam C, Smyan M, Benjamin M, Edward G, Toby S, Kamran C, Timothy M, Max K, Milan S, Aryan T, Oliver J, Rahul P, Edward J, Jonathan G, Ishaan J, Armaan R, Moksha K, Ryan A, Ethan C, Ralph L, Nico A-G, Diego C G, Ansh R, Edward R, Raff O-Z, Arthur Hm James C, Jesse G, Jia W X, Max O and Reyansh K.
This week’s challenge:
what shape has an infinite perimeter but finite area?
Look in the department you’d expect to find the answer!
Enter your answers here:
