Welcome to the final Second Year Bulletin of the Spring Term!
MERITS
Congratulations to all these boys who have reached the following merit milestones:
20 merits – Edward Baxter
30 merits – Joshua Maisuria-Hull, Jack Farthing, Marcus Taylor
40 merits – Jamie Smith
80 merits – George Garofalo, Dominic Must
150 merits – Luke Trotman (Mrs Owen is running out of gold stickers!!)
Keep up the great work!
CREATIVE WRITING AWARDS
Last week we revealed that Luke Trotman had been chosen as the winner of the Junior Poetry Prize as part of the Hampton Creative Writing Awards 2018. This week I am delighted to publish his fantastic winning poem in full. You can read it at the bottom of this entry, below the Jokes & Trivia section.
CHARITY EVENT
Here is a report from Harry Spencer and Nick Murray on a this week’s fantastic charity event which was advertised here last week:
“This Tuesday a group of second years went to try to break wired and wacky world records. For example, the most sticky notes stuck to the face in a minute (the most was 28) Or furthest distance to blow a pea (7.54 metres was the record)!”
“Many attempts were made and even though we didn’t break any we managed to eat 14 M&M’s blindfolded (out of 19) and pull on 11 pairs of pants in a minute (again out of 19)! Overall it was all great fun and an enjoyable charity event and we all loved it.”
Well done and thank you to Mrs Samuel and all who contributed.
DRAMA
This week has seen all Second Year students perform as part of the Second Year Drama Evening. Boys have been working in groups to devise a play based on one of Aesop’s fables. The three nights of performances have been highly enjoyable and a big thank you goes to Ms Moore and Mr Kothakota for all their hard work organising. Thank you also to Nizar Al-Mill for these thoughtful reflections on his experience:
“On Wednesday 21 March my class was faced with the challenge of performing in front of our Form and parents. As well as being nervous, I was also quite excited as my group and I had spent a long time working hard to perfect our play and now was the time to show it off. After a couple of tough days attempting to construct our performance, the day to redeem ourselves had finally come. I enjoyed spectating the performances put together by other groups and found them all brilliant, but it was our turn next and I had a mixed feeling of nervousness as well as adrenaline and an urge to get on stage. Our play began and soon we had delivered our work and, despite the small mistakes which had occurred every now and then, we were proud of ourselves and relieved to let go of our fear of imperfections. I think that this has taught me that, in the end, everything should turn out well as long as put all your effort into it so you should just enjoy it.”
Thank you Nizar, wise words indeed!
SCIENCE (& MATHS)
There has been lots going on in the world of Science. Most notably, the excellent Hampton School Science Fair last week. Thank you to George Garofalo for sending in this report:
“The Science Fair was an extremely enjoyable event that took place this week with many students in the First Year, Second Year and from Hampton Prep School taking part. The amazing projects ranged from toast to DNA. The only common factor shown was that all competitors put a huge amount of work into investigating and learning about their chosen subject. On Wednesday lunchtime, the Science Fair commenced. Each project was judged by the relevant teaching staff; the results of the competition will be released very soon. Even though there must be a winner, all boys have worked hard to create a project that will enlighten many who look upon it. Overall, the Science Fair was a highly enjoyable project to undertake and I would strongly suggest that Lower School Boys try it if it takes part again next year.”
In addition, Toby Gwynne has been taking his work beyond the confines of the school. He sends us this report.
“Last Wednesday some of my friends from primary school and I headed up to Birmingham and the Big Bang Science Fair. Here we presented our project about artificial intelligence to some judges and some of the public. Although we didn’t win anything it was a good experience to present our work to other people. For the rest of the time we looked around the whole fair which had lots of different things to do. My favourite bits were the ones with virtual reality and one where some people controlled mini cars with their minds. Overall, I had a really good time and enjoyed learning about all of the different things you can do with STEM.”
Thank you, Toby and well done for earning the right to take part in such a great competition. All Second Year pupils also had a chance to visit the Science Museum (as part of a trip that was actually organised by the Maths department). Rory Gilheany reports on his Form’s experience:
“Recently Form 2P attended a trip to the Science museum in London. The trip was very informative, with many exhibits having detailed information about the chosen subject. This was further enhanced by the presentations and interactive exhibits that we saw, allowing the students to indulge in a variety of activities.”
Thank you Rory, and I’m sure all boys will echo a big thanks to Mrs Watson-Evans for organising the trip.
TABLE TENNIS
The U13 table tennis team concluded a smashing season last week – could they serve up one last victory? Pranav Santhosh reports:
“On Thursday, the Under 13A Table Tennis team had a match against Wilson’s School. The team consisted of Ed G-Z, Daniel E, Tim L and I. In the end it was a comfortable 9 matches to 1 win for Hampton with Ed, Daniel and Pranav winning all of their matches. It was a good finish to the season as Hampton secured third place in the Surrey League.”
QUIZZING
The Junior Quiz team had been in impressive form. This week saw them travel to South East London for the semi-final of the regional competition.
“On Tuesday, Connor M (2H), two first years, Mr Hitchings and I braved the traffic to play our general knowledge quiz semi final against Dulwich Prep. We arrived to find that their captain was ill, and from then, we knew that we could win. We started off with several good answers and gained a good lead. However, mid-way through, Dulwich mounted a comeback. We worked hard and pushed through and eventually won the match. Well done to all involved.”
Thanks to Nick Allen for sending that in and well done to the team. Next term they will have the chance to become regional champions and progress to the national phase of the tournament.
TRIVIA & JOKES
Well done to Nick Allen who knew that “effervescence” and “beekeeper” contain 5 Es. No wonder he’s on the Quiz team!
*(further research shows that “peacekeeper”, “teleconference” and “electrogeneses” are also acceptable – sorry, I should have used an answersheetchecker).
Trivia will return (properly verified) next term.
This week boys had to send in Easter-themed Jokes of the Week. As you can imagine, there were lots of cracking yolks, mostly involving puns such as “eggcellent”, “eggsample”, “eggsactly” eggcetera. For originality, this week’s winner is Charlie Murphy:
Q: Why did the Easter Bunny cross the road?
A: To go to the haredresser’s
LUKE’S POEM
What better way to finish the term than with this:
Memories
I remember an early morning bird singing up high,
To welcome the day,
The soft breeze caressed my face,
And rustled the leaves of the trees.
My steps made no noise beneath my feet,
I remembered the wonderful feeling of being alone,
And hearing the faint sound of waves on the beach,
The taste of salt on my tongue.
The dew of the grass was untouched,
Sparkled in the sunlight,
The leaves raced each other down the path,
As if alive.
I was alone in the wood,
I felt free,
Like the squirrels darting around the forest floor,
And the bird soaring through the sky.
Blackbirds hopped cautiously around,
Searching for unsuspecting worms,
The open fields lay before me,
And just in view the waiting.
On the horizon,
The azure blue of the sky,
Met the shining diamond of the sea Shining green of the sea,
The sunlight dancing on the waves.
I remember the sharpness of the long, dry grass on the dunes on the dunes,
As I took of my shoes,
And then the soft smooth touch of sand stroking my legs,
As step by step I sank slowly down.
Seagulls screamed up above,
Disturbers of the peace,
Soon drowned out,
By the crash of the waves against the beach.
I can feel the pull of the sea
As I remembered that day,
As it sucked in the pebbles of the shore.
The next wave rejected the unchosen.
The beach was mine alone,
The sea, sky, wind and me,
Together.
Thank you for all your contributions and have a great Easter!
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