News from Hampton Spring 2018

the musical THE NE WSLETTER FOR HA MPTON SCHOOL SPRING TERM 2018

Inside this issue: • • • • • • • •

A View from the Bridge BBC Young Musician Character Day French Debating Final Iceland Trip Swimming Champions U15A Rugby Schools Cup University Offers

This year’s Junior Musical saw 51 young actors from Hampton and Waldegrave Schools bring to life the famous story of Oliver Twist, the orphan who finds himself out on the streets and part of a band of street urchins.

Accompanied by 24 Hampton musicians and a score of catchy tunes, the high-tempo production was full of energy, verve and fun. Head of Drama, Mrs Jo James, congratulated the young dramatists: “After 12 weeks of intense rehearsals we had two nights of exceptional theatre. The boys and girls should be very proud of themselves and definitely left us all wanting more!”

Photos: Big Image Photographry

oliver!

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Model United Nations Hampton’s debaters enjoyed all-round success in their first appearance at the Magdalen College School MUN conference in Oxford.

Representing Poland, Syria and the Democratic Republic of Congo, the level of debate from all the Hamptonians was impressive, securing them 11 individual delegate awards.

University Offers Hamptonians have received over 60 offers so far from global top 10 universities.

19 Hampton boys have secured conditional places at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, including School Captain Harry O’Loughlin, who hopes to read Engineering at Gonville & Caius College.

Hamptonians are also receiving offers from a number of other world-leading educational institutions, including University College London and Imperial College, ranked 7th and 8th in the world respectively. In addition, nine members of the Upper Sixth have applied to continue their studies at top US universities.

French Debating Finalists Hampton linguists have reached the final of the National French Debating Competition for the second year running.

In a tense semi-final against opposition including St Paul’s School and King’s College School, two Hampton teams debated on a range of topics, including French private education and the banning of bottled water sales.

We wish ‘bon courage’ to our Upper Sixth orators, who advanced through to the national final, to be held at the French Institute on 20 March.

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Second Year Character Day Character Day once again proved a fun opportunity to promote reading and raise funds for Form Charity.

Second Year boys arrived in a range of impressive costumes based on their favourite book characters.

Literary figures walking the corridors ranged from detectives Poirot and Sherlock Holmes to Iorek Byrnison, the armoured bear in The Golden Compass. Mr Phillips was a convincing Huckleberry Finn.

The winner of the ‘Best Costume’ was Thomas Banks, who made an excellent Hercule Poirot.

Organiser of the day Mr Paul Thomas said: “There were plenty of imaginative outfits on display today and lots of money was raised for good causes.”

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Maths Competition Hampton’s junior mathematicians have reached the national final of the UK Maths Trust Team Challenge Competition.

Third Years Sandy Mitchell and Daniel Morgan combined with Luke Trotman and Akshat Mathur from the Second Year to finish top of the table at the regional finals.

The final will take place in June at the Royal Horticultural Halls, London, where teams from over 65 schools will battle it out to claim the UKMT Team Maths Challenge trophy.

Holocaust Memorial Evening The grandmother of Fourth Year pupil Ben Green visited Hampton to talk about her escape from Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport, at the onset of the Second World War. Mrs Bea Green, now in her nineties, spoke to over 300 local schoolchildren and community members at the School’s Holocaust Memorial Evening, recounting the horrors of Kristallnacht and the persecution of her lawyer father by the Nazis in Munich.

Art Private View Lower School artists were proud to see their work on display in this term’s Art exhibition.

Second Years produced paintings inspired by German Expressionist August Macke.

Bauhaus artist Paul Klee inspired the colourful lino-prints and paintings based on the theme of ‘The Natural World’ from our First Years.

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Careers Events At the annual Careers Convention, held across the Hampton and LEH sites, alumni and parental delegates offered guidance and insight into a wide variety of sectors.

Sixth Formers have also enjoyed a number of talks and lunches with alumni. These have included Ben Southwood, who spoke about careers in economics and politics, entrepreneur Dr Noman Khawaja, and Sam Ellis, who discussed the world of branding and marketing.

Hampton Court Chorister For the second year running, a Hamptonian has been appointed as Head Chorister at the Hampton Court Chapel Royal Choir.

Third Year Jake Costen, one of two Head Choristers, will lead the singing during choral performances and act as a mentor to the younger choir boys. At 14, this is Jake’s final year with the Chapel Royal Choir and he says that he is delighted to have been chosen: “This is a wonderful way to mark my last year and I am honoured to have been appointed.“

Paintballing A group of 46 First and Second Years happily immersed themselves in a muddy day of paintballing in the Surrey countryside.

Playing games such as Zombies’ Crypt, Tomb Raider and Speedball, a fun time was had by all.

After some hardfought battles, the Purple team won the day.

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BBC Young Musician Upper Sixth Former Will Thomas has been named as a category finalist in the BBC Young Musician 2018.

He will now compete in the Brass Finals in the hope of reaching the overall finals taking place in May at the Birmingham Conservatoire.

Will started playing the Cornet at the age of eight, and soon added the Trumpet and then Flugelhorn.

By the time he was 12 years old, Will was the youngest member of the National Youth Brass Band of Great Britain. No stranger to the BBC Young Musician competition, he also reached the category finals at the age of 13.

Woodwind Concert Musicians performed a range of solo and ensemble pieces at the Woodwind Concert.

There were outstanding contributions from Thomas Knollys on Clarinet and Oskar Jones on Saxophone, alongside pieces by the Flute Group, Clarinet Ensemble and Wind Quintet.

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A View from the Bridge There were rave reviews for this year’s Sixth Form production of A View from the Bridge.

Hampton Drama teacher Mr Ravi Kothakota had particular words of praise for the two Sixth Form directors, Henry Bunney and Jonny Fryer:

“To see them command a room of their peers in rehearsal and to then elicit such mature and sensitive performances from the actors has been impressive to say the least.

I am sure that they will have learnt a tremendous amount from this experience.”

Rock Concert The Hampton Rock Concert saw over 50 artists performing to a packed crowd in The Hammond Theatre.

The show opened with the Junior Rock Band followed

by First Year Felix von der Geest’s performance of an original song, You’re in Love.

The concert showcased the wide range of musical talent at Hampton, from Will Priddis’ DJ performance to Bruno Dimitroff’s piano cover of Imagine by John Lennon.

Photos: Big Image Photographry

Staged by 18 senior pupils from Hampton and LEH, the Arthur Miller classic was performed in the intimate setting of the Drama Hall.

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Iceland GCSE Geographers headed to the land of ice and fire, to see first-hand the amazing geographical landforms that Iceland has to offer.

Starting in Reykjavik, the group of 45 made their way around the Golden Circle enjoying spectacular waterfalls, glacier hikes, active volcanoes and explosive geysers. There was also time to warm up in the geothermal baths. The snowy conditions added to the breathtaking geography of one of the most tectonically active places on Earth.

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Armentières Work Experience Lower Sixth students honed their linguistic skills on a work experience trip to Armentières in northern France.

Work placements ranged from primary schools to bakeries and restaurants. Overcoming first-day nerves, all the boys settled in well and the local businesses praised their work ethic and commitment. The Francophiles returned exhausted, but delighted with the noticeable improvement in their language skills.

Junior Ski Trip A group of 60 skiers headed to Les Menuires in France for the Junior Ski Trip.

Senior Ski Trip Hampton boys enjoyed a taste of ‘la dolce vita’ as they took to the slopes on the Senior Ski Trip in Gressoney, Italy.

Boys of all abilities made the most of the stunning conditions as they improved their skiing, as well as enjoying the Italian cuisine in the evenings.

By the end of the week, all the boys had successfully navigated the notoriously difficult Moos Black Run.

Among them were 28 novices, who progressed so well that they soon graduated from the nursery slopes to venture on to the blue and red runs, aided by superb weather conditions.

There was plenty of fun après-ski entertainment too, including sledging, basketball and trampolining.

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Hampton Head

Tennis Success Hampton’s tennis players have reached the final of the Senior Schools Team Tennis Championships.

Over 600 crews raced in the 2018 Hampton Fours and Eights Head.

Despite wet weather and testing river conditions, there was high-quality racing on display across the age groups, with Hampton performing well in a number of categories.

Hampton won the J18 Coxed Fours and the J14 Octuples came second, fifth and eighth in their first ever race. Captain of Boats Matthew Turner praised the Hampton oarsmen:

After strong performances in the previous rounds, Fraser Barclay, Gustav Durlind, Hamish MacCormick, James Hughes and Jamie Harris travel to Bolton Arena to compete in the national finals. They will be up against Colston’s School, Sevenoaks School and Watford Grammar School for Boys in the opening group stage.

“We enjoyed a very successful Hampton Head, with plenty of medals, demonstrating our strength in depth across all years.”

In other tennis news, Joss Connell, Harry Vincent and Heath Whittington reached the semi-final of the Surrey LTA Winter tournament.

ISFA Representatives

Eight Hampton boys have been selected to play for their Independent Schools Football Association Representative Squads.

In the U13s, Sam Brewster, Archie Kimble, Ben Robinson and Joseph Treacy will represent the London ISFA Regional Development Squad. Alex Dinan has been nominated to play for ISFA U14s, while Oli Burke and Sami Omaar have been selected for the U15 ISFA national team.

Sixth Former and 1st XI footballer George Maxwell played an instrumental role in ISFA’s 2-1 victory over Sheffield United’s U17 team.

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Oscar Winners Upper Sixth Swimmers Oskar Jones and Oscar Jameson had a successful year in the pool.

Oskar Jones won the Middlesex County Championship in the 50m Freestyle Open Age Group, as well as being selected to race at both the Edinburgh International and the Fédération Française de Natation competition in Paris.

Oscar Jameson has also impressed. He holds a British national medal and is a multiple regional and county champion across freestyle and backstroke. Oscar has also been selected to join the London team at National Schools Swimming Championships later this year.

Photos: Gerry McManus

Schools Cup Semi-Finalists The U15s starred at Allianz Park, in a tightly fought Schools Cup semi-final against Whitgift School.

A total of 256 teams competed in the RFU national tournament.

Hampton clinched victories over heavyweights including Wellington College, Marlborough College and Millfield School to book their place in the final four.

The team put on a skilful and spirited display against Whitgift School, whose size and strength eventually helped them to victory.

Congratulating the Hamptonians, coach Mr Ravi Kothakota said they have much to be proud of:

A large crowd of Hampton supporters travelled to Allianz Park, the home of Saracens.

“Each member of the squad has made huge progress and it will be exciting to see what they can achieve moving forward.”

Football The strength in depth of football at Hampton has been evident to see this season, with four of Hampton’s B teams reaching the final stages of their English Schools Football Association Cup competitions.

The 2nd XI bowed out at the semi-final stage but the cup run continues for our U14B and U15B teams who have booked a place in their respective ESFA finals.

The U12Bs also progress to their ESFA semi-final.

NEWS FROM HAMPTON

SPRING TERM 2018