Welcome to the Second Year Blog!
We’ve reached the end of our second full week of the year and life at Hampton is back in full swing! It’s been fantastic to see so many of you exploring all the clubs on offer here at Hampton and we’ll hear about some of your experiences in our instalments of ‘Club of the Week’.
On Thursday we had a PSHE session led by some of our Sixth Form mentors – they imparted an incredibly important message about bullying, thank you mentors! Last weekend saw some of our Second Years head out on their first residential trip of the year to Dorset! It sounds like it was a fantastic, adrenaline filled weekend, and we have a few reports in the Blog so read on to find out more!
Tomorrow is the Hampton School Open Morning. Thank you all in advance for supporting such an important day for the School and for sharing your enthusiasm and your fantastic stories about your time as a Hamptonian with our visitors tomorrow!
Tutor question of the week
Each week the pupils decide on a question to ask all the Second Year Form Tutors. This week…
What’s your favourite mythological creature?
- Pegasus – Mrs Owen, Miss Eamens, 2F
- Hydra
- Minotaur – Mr Harrison,
- Phoenix – Miss Tiller, Miss Winstock, 2H, 2P
- Other (please specify!)
2L voted for the Unicorn!
2P voted for Kitsune (that was a new one for me!)
2J voted for the Easter Bunny – which Miss Holt fully supports!
Have you ever had a burning question you’ve always wanted to ask your form tutors?! If so, then please send your suggestions for next week’s Tutor Question Time to b.tiller@hamptonschool.org.uk.
Meet Mr Hood!
Our weekly interviews are a great opportunity for you to find found out a little bit more about your Tutors! So, thank you to Reuben N (2W) who interviewed Mr Hood, Sports teacher and one half of 2W’s tutor team!
What would you be if you weren’t a teacher and why?
I would be a pilot because it’s something I’ve always had an interest in and if the opportunity came up, I’d definitely become one.
What is the naughtiest thing you did at school?
In an art class I threw a little bit of clay at my best friend across the room and that was when I was in third year. That’s not something I would expect of Hamptonians!
As you’re a sports teacher what is your favourite sport and why?
Rugby, there’s plenty of camaraderie. And you have to be tough both mentally and physically.
What hobbies do you have?
In my free time I like playing the drums, playing golf and rugby, photography and I enjoy travelling and go away most half terms.
If you had one million pounds, what would you spend it on?
I would buy my favourite car and go and see the seven wonders of world.
Rockley water sports trip
Some of our Second Years attended a fun packed weekend of water sports in Dorset last weekend – Alex B (2L) and Reuben N (2W) fill us in on all of their adventures:
This weekend I went on the Second Year water sports trip to Dorset. It took about two hours to travel down, so we unpacked quickly and got onto the water. We started off with WOBBLE WARS were two people got onto a surfboard and we tried to wobble each other off. After that we did some windsurfing which was very fun. But while I was walking along the bottom of the harbour one of my shoes got stuck in the mud, so it is now lost somewhere in Rockley Harbour. After lunch I went sailing and it was soooo fun, we went really quickly, and it was very thrilling. Once we had been back to our accommodation to clean ourselves off, we went back to the beach to do some crabbing, and I caught a crab! I called it Reuben Junior. The next day we did some team building and raft building, although we didn’t get very far our raft stayed together. Though this couldn’t be said for the other raft! The final thing we did was to go kayaking and then we jumped off the back of a massive paddle board into the water. It was a truly amazing experience.
By Reuben N (2W)
On Saturday the 14 to Sunday 15 September, I went to the Second Year water sports trip to Rockley in Poole. Upon arrival, the first activity we did was sailing. We got into our boats and went out into the open. Many of the boats capsized, the main issue being the wind, and the waves. I personally fell in, and I did not enjoy it because the water was freezing and quite deep, but other people seemed to be enjoying having a splash. The second activity was kayaking. The motorboat pulled us out to a shallower area suitable for kayaking when the tide was out, and we paddled through to the destination. After rowing our boats, we joined together by grabbing onto the side of each boat, and then pulling them together. We played a game with the joined kayaks where a daring course was set for some volunteers. They had to get out of their boat and walk across the connected boat like a bridge and back to their seat without falling from the slippery boats and into the water.
We made our way back to unpack for the night and have some sausages and mash. In the evening, just when the sun was about to disappear, we went back to the sea, and this time to the elevated platform to do some crab fishing. We used bacon as bate and sunk as nets into the water. At first, everyone was unsuccessful, however people started a to catch some small crabs. While waiting patiently, we decided to watch the crabs play some ‘Crab WWE’ and we were all shining our torches on the two crabs, cheering each crab on. Finally, after about thirty minutes, we caught not one, but two decently sized crabs. Almost all of us caught some crabs, and someone even managed to catch a large fish in their net! (I don’t know how they managed that) and we decided to play some hide and seek, Tag, and make sandcastles in the dark.
After we woke up on Sunday morning, we were up with an early start, and after breakfast, we hurried on to the beach. To our horror, the wetsuits were still damp, but in the end we all manged to squeeze into our kit. Then we did our first activity of the day, windsurfing. Despite spending most of the time chasing the surfboard that was floating away trying to escape from me, it was more fun than I expected. For the final activity of the entire trip, we did some team building exercises. These include making a causeway using only a regulated number of wooden blocks, using a drainpipe to pass along a tennis ball and belly flopping off a giant paddle board. On the bus home, we were all extremely tired, but we all had a very good experience at Rockley.
By Alex B (2L)
Take a look at some of the highlights from the weekend:
Club of the Week!
Every week we’ll try and feature a new co-curricular club, this week Michael C (2J) tells us all about Cryptic Crossword Club!
Cryptic Crossword Club!
Do you like daunting challenges? Do you like intricate puzzles? Or do you like the satisfying feeling of finally surmounting a seemingly impossible task? Then either mountain climbing, which unfortunately is hard to come by at Hampton, or Cryptic Crossword Club, which happens every Wednesday at 1:10pm, is for you! Just last year, there were only about six people that came every week, but now, there are more than 20 people who show up to the club every week, with more visitors every time it comes around. I am yet to meet a single Second Year who came and didn’t want to go the following week. It really is one of the most fun clubs I’ve ever been to. So, if you’re free during the second part of lunch on a Wednesday, feel free to come along!
By Michael C (2J)
Tawain Travels – part 2
Last week we heard from Ian L (2F) about Sun Moon Lake in Taiwan, this week he continues to tell us about his adventures exploring the night markets!
Over the summer holidays, I went to quite a few night markets in Taiwan. So today I am going to tell you about a few of the night market games and the food there.
Famous Night markets in Taipei and northern Taiwan: Shilin Night Market, Raohe Night Market, Ningxia Night Market, Keelung Night Market, Tonghua Night Market, Huaxi Night Market (I live near there, about 30 min walk time away) P.S. In the 1990s, tour groups were taken here to watch snakes being skinned for making snake soup and snake blood wine, Nanjichang Night Market (I live near it, about 15 min walk away). Nanjichang is often described as the most local of Taipei’s major night markets. One of the most delicious dishes are the stinky tofu from Smelly Boss (it is vegetarian and I love it).
Games in night markets:
- Fish scooping: you have to use the scoop made from rice paper. If you get a fish before the rice paper breaks, you get to keep it.
- Taiwanese pinball: there are two kinds. The traditional kind is when you use a plastic ruler to flick the glass ball up into a maze of nails. If you get it into a set hole, you win. The newer version is that there is a stick with springs in it. You need to pull the stick down and release it to hit the pinball into the maze of nails. There would be holes and in some of the holes, there are lights and if you hit it into a hole with lights, you get more marbles
- Claw machines: it is different from western ones as the prize won’t slip off. You need to use a joystick to manoeuvre the claw. Then press the button for it to lower and grip onto it. I would recommend shaking the joystick to shake the claw as the claw always lets go of the prize when it is at the highest point. So, shaking the claw can help you “throw” the prize into the hole.
Food:
- Stinky tofu
- Oyster omelette
- Bubble tea
- Popcorn chicken (it is Taiwanese not from KFC!)
- Taiwanese sausage with sticky rice
- Taiwanese String noodle soup
By Ian L (2F)
Special Shoutouts!
We love to hear about what you have been getting up to outside of school and to celebrate your successes in the Second Year Blog! Please do send any information about any of your achievements through to Miss Tiller. B.Tiller@hamptonschool.org.uk
Who’s that baby?!
Can you guess which member of the Second Year team this baby photo is of? Come back next week and find out who.
QUIZ OF THE WEEK
Welcome to the Quiz of the Week! Every week, we’ll post five general knowledge questions. 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 questions are written by Harry D and Oliver H (2W):
Why don’t you have a go and enter your answers here.
Here are the answers to last week’s quiz:
- What fruit is celebrated in the month of June? Strawberries
- What are June’s two zodiac signs? Gemini and Cancer
- Who is the all-time tope Euros scorer? Ronaldo
- The euros final this summer was in Berlin. Which city has hosted three finals before? Paris
- What is the month June named after?Juno
Well done to the following Second Year Hamptonians who answered everything correctly – Joseph G, Ridhaan G, Charlie F, Ethan W, Yule C, Ian L, Sasha B, Yousuf H, Shaurya D and Arjan C.
