WELCOME TO THE FIRST YEAR BLOG!
With two weeks to go of the academic year remaining, we’re in a bit of a strange position. We’re celebrating the year that our current First Years have had, as well as looking forward to meeting all of the upcoming First Years in tomorrow’s New Pupils’ Morning. If you are reading this and you’re joining us in September, I hope that you’re excited to meet us and the rest of your form! Whilst having a few nerves is absolutely normal, do remember that everyone is in the same boat, and the entire First Year team are here to help. We can’t wait to meet you all tomorrow!
Moving onto our current First Years, and I can’t believe that it’s already been a year since we first met – time flies! This week we had the final of a very competitive interform quiz. Well done to all of our semi-finalists and finalists, and most of all congratulations to 1P on their outstanding performance! Whilst this week started off a little chilly, the sun came out to play just in time for a wonderful afternoon of activities with LEH on Thursday. Both schools got to know each other well, while learning how to juggle balls, race on planks and space hoppers, and solve some difficult cryptic crosswords and Dingbats (more on this later)! Out of lessons and in the sun with some ice lollies, what more could you want! Enjoy the sunny weekend ahead, and let’s hope that the weather keeps up for next Friday’s Form Charity Fun Run!
HAMPTON and LEH ACTIVITIES AFTERNOON
As we sat outside in our groups we waited and got to know our group leaders. Our mentor was called Asa, and he was going to be leading our group, group 18. The LEH pupils came, and we introduced ourselves to each other. Our first challenge were Dingbats, we got on quite well with the puzzles however there were two we struggled with. Our next event was Cryptic Crosswords, one was about different types of weather, and the other was more general. Surprisingly this was one of the hardest yet the easiest to understand.
We moved into the practical parts with juggling (this was by far our worst event). The plan was to throw the balls into the buckets however we were throwing the juggling balls a bit too hard. We were throwing the ball so hard that one of them even broke! When we moved onto the plank walk (a lot less scary than you would think) and the space hoppers. The plank walk we had one foot on each plank and two ropes to grab onto to move. We won this against the other mini groups. The space hoppers on the other hand were a struggle because when we gave the space hopper to the other person it often rolled away due to the wind so unfortunately, we came fourth for that event.
In the end we were short of the podium by six points meaning we came. But in the end, we thanked Asa and received orange Calippo’s. So, in the end everyone had a great day as we got to know some of our neighbours for the next six years.
By Caesar C (1P)
On Thursday, we had an activity teambuilding afternoon with LEH. Each team consisted of some Hamptonians and pupils from LEH. It was very fun and energetic. Our group did a puzzle where we had to guess the phrase by the pictures given – these are called Dingbats. Then we proceeded to take part in the Cryptic Crossword puzzle. From there, we played a game where you had to throw a juggling ball into the cardboard bucket that was being held by a teammate. This was very hard as the teammate holding the bucket was blindfolded, making the activity even harder. Our penultimate activity tested our coordination in walking a plank in time with our other teammates. Our coordination was, honestly, not great, but we had fun nonetheless. Our final activity was the space hopper race. This race was the most fun and we all found it hilarious every time someone fell off the space hopper. We may have come second last, but we all enjoyed it. In the end, the main mission was accomplished, and the awkwardness we had at the beginning, seemingly vanished!
By Rishi K and Shaurya D (1L)
RARE COIN COLLECTION
I am a coin collector who collects coins that have designs on the opposite side of the queen or king. A simple 50p or 2 pound coin could be worth more than its face value. For example, the circulated Kew Gardens 50p coin could be lying in your change but it’s not worth 50p; it is worth a whopping £140 (that is 280 times its face value).
Recently, I was checking through my three years box of coins (there is 103 coins in total) and I found a £2 coin and I checked how scarce it was because I had never seen that coin before. And then it said that its scarcity index was 89 which means very scarce. Once realising that this was a lot, I checked its value, and it was £30! That is a £28 profit. The name of this £2 coin that I have collected is Commonwealth Games Scotland coin.
The 2002 Commonwealth Games were held in Manchester, and prior to the Olympic Games in London in 2012, it was the largest multi-sport event ever to be held in the UK. There are four unique designs of the £2 commemorative coin – all are similar except that the central cameo features a different flag for the four constituent countries of the UK.
By Shaurya D (1L)
RUBIK’S CUBES – FUN FACTS
Recently, I was practising to solve the Rubik’s Cube faster. So I decided to research the cube. The Rubik’s Cube was invented on the 19 May 1974. It was widely reported that the Cube was built as a teaching tool to help his students understand 3D objects, his actual purpose was solving the structural problem of moving the parts independently without the entire mechanism falling apart. The Rubik’s Cube ranges from various sizes, from 1×1×1 to 33×33×33 cubes. For a 3×3×3 standard cube, there are 43 252 003 274 489 856 000 combinations (or roughly 43 quintillion) while the 5×5×5 cube would have 282 870 942 277 741 856 536 180 333 107 150 328 293 127 731 985 672 134 721 536 000 000 000 000 000 combinations, getting close to the number of atoms in the known universe. The most expensive Rubik’s Cube was created in 1995, with white diamonds, red rubies, green emeralds, purple amethysts and blue and yellow sapphires set in 18-karat gold. It is believed to be worth $1.5 million. Robots can solve the Rubik’s cube in under one second. The Rubik’s Cube also shaped pop culture as it resonated with an icon of intelligence and intellectual achievement. It provided a great tool for artistic creations like street art, tattoos, etc. In fact, it has also become a part of the movie culture.
By Ian L (1F)
TUTEE OF THE WEEK
Every week, the First Year Tutor team nominate a pupil who they have been particularly impressed with!
This week’s tutee of the week is Eddie W (1P) for getting stuck into everything, being absolutely lovely, kind, and caring to others! Well done Eddie!
SPECIAL SHOUT OUTS!
Daniel S (1L) had a fantastic performance swimming at the South East London Summer Championships earlier this May. Daniel had an amazing championship, winning two gold medals in the 800m and 1500m freestyle, two silver medals, and three bronze medals. He achieved personal best times in every single swim! His hard work has paid off, earning him a spot in the top 10 rankings in England. We’re thrilled to announce that Daniel has been selected to compete in the English Nationals in Sheffield this July and August. Way to go, Daniel!
We love to hear about what you have been getting up to outside of school and to celebrate your successes in the First Year Blog! Please do send any information about any of your achievements through to Mr Jimenez (v.jimenez@hamptonschool.org.uk).
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!
Last week’s challenge: How many flags are hung up outside the Geography Office? 100!
And only one of you managed to count them all! Well done to Ocean Y (1B).
Where would you find this mosaic lion?
Enter your answers here:
