Head's Newsletter 11 December 2015

Dear Parents As the term comes to an end it is amazing to reflect on how much has been done in these last two weeks alone! We have had not only all the usual high quality classroom teaching, and sports fixtures, but also among other things, visits to the Imperial War Museum for year nine, GCSE mock exams, dance performances, and the House drama competition, featuring some very impressive productions written and performed by students within the Houses. We also held a fantastic ‘Voices for Christmas’ concert featuring the Tiffin Oratorio Trebles and Cambiata , as well as the Thames Youth Choir (which we run for students from different schools as well as Tiffin), the Tiffin Children’s Chorus, (which we run for students in primary schools and Year 7), and our own superb Tiffinians, a close harmony group. We also kept up our programme of visiting speakers with a fascinating talk on the origins of life from Dr Nick Lane, one of the most prominent British scientists.

TIPRA is supported by parents, like other parent groups such as FOTM (Friends of Tiffin Music). They need your support! They are active in raising funds, and are requesting your help. The money they raise goes towards the post-match food, among other things. If your son is involved in the rugby matches, can I urge you to read and respond to the letter that was sent home yesterday from TIPRA; in this way we will continue to improve the sport at the School, which is so important to the education of Tiffin boys.

We look forward in the last week of term to our wonderful Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols for guests, parents and Alumni on Wednesday evening, and for boys on Thursday afternoon. Parents are most welcome to attend the traditional Festival at the Parish Church on Wednesday evening; if you would like to come, please contact the school office as there are still some tickets available; entry is by ticket only. I am afraid that we cannot accommodate guests or parents on the Thursday. On Thursday boys will be dismissed about 3.30 from the Kingston Parish Church. We finish term on Friday and boys will be released from School by midday. I would like to thank parents for all of their support during this term and I would like to wish boys and their families a very happy Christmas and refreshing break. Term starts again for all students on Monday 4th January at the usual time of 8.30. Yours, M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

Many parents who have been to Grist's recently to watch the rugby will have noticed the investment in the new kitchen facilities, which have been partly paid for by TIPRA, the Tiffin Parents Rugby Association. If you haven’t had the chance to see for yourself, no doubt your son, if he has been playing a match, would have told you about the dramatic improvement in post-match food! Luke Leeves, Head of Biology with Dr Nick Lane, UCL, and Deputy Head Boy, Ahmed Alhussni

thoughtfully, with each member of the team contributing and outlining their own position on rate rises. Despite a creditable performance from Tiffin, the heat was eventually won by a very strong team from Tiffin Girls' School. Overall, our students considered their visit to the Bank of England to have been worthwhile, having learned much about economics as well as having the opportunity to discuss with like-minded students from neighbouring schools. Ifs Student Investor Challenge A team of four from Tiffin School outperformed more than 30,000 students nationwide to become the first monthly winners of the 2016 ifs Student Investor Challenge. The “BUYMYECONOMIXTAPE” team, consisting of Lucas Tishler, Aditya Shrimanker, Michael Tallent and Arjun Popat made a virtual profit of nearly £25,000 in just four weeks of the stock market investment competition. As the first monthly prize winners the team have secured an initial prize of £100 and stand a good chance of reaching the second round of the competition. The ifs Student Investor Challenge is the largest competition of its kind for schools in the UK. Run by financial education specialist ifs University College over a period of five months, the competition helps teenagers learn about financial investing through trading in virtual shares. Each team starts with two portfolios in which to invest, a £100,000 share portfolio and a longer-term strategic portfolio, with the eventual winners earning an all- expenses paid trip to New York City.

ECONOMICS NEWS On Wednesday, 25th November, four Year 13 Economics students competed in the Bank of England's prestigious Target 2.0 competition. Each team selects appropriate data in order to produce a fifteen-minute presentation on monetary policy. In particular, the students must justify their choice of the most appropriate rate of interest for UK and whether to continue with the policy of quantitative easing. After giving their presentation, each team then faces fifteen minutes of questions from three of the Bank's economists. Competing against seven other teams, the event is a rigorous test of the students' knowledge of macroeconomics.

Tiffin team: Joghi Sidhu, Michael Tallent, Geshopan Tharmarajah, Aranan Wijayasooria

The Tiffin team gave a compelling presentation concluding that, despite international uncertainty, there is sufficient domestic demand to justify raising interest rates from their current levels. The subsequent questions were answered

H ouse Drama 2015-16 was a roaring success. The quality of writing and standard of performing was some of the best we have seen. With plays dealing with issues as diverse as political correctness to the demise of Nigel Farage and the danger of the spy game, we were witness to some highly intelligent and satirical pieces of work. This year's judge, Rebecca Brown, who has worked for 25 years in the industry commented on the breadth of talent and the quality of drama at Tiffin, saying there were many future actors and writers amongst the performing students. In the end it came down to a mighty clash between two houses, Raleigh and KM, with the plays 'Information Withheld' and 'Britain First' respectively leading the charge. In the end Raleigh took the crown with their hysterical take on the world of spies and espionage. Fantastically written and produced by the triumvirate of Tom Mills and Will and Ollie Appleby, it really encompassed all ages in a great cast. Ollie Appleby was also triumphant as best actor with his portrayal of the unhinged 'Reg'. An all-round fantastic evening with great support from families and friends. A spectacular evening on Thursday 10 December consisted of dance performances from :  Year 11 GCSE Dance students show- casing their choreographic works as well group performance.  Year 9 Tiffin Dance Company performed choreography in progress, for the Rambert Elements project and National

Dance Festival  Year 8 Junior Dance Company dancers showcased a Martial Arts piece , also in progress , to live music, in preparation for the London Youth Games Dance Competition.  Year 7 club performed a Michael Jackson medley. All dancers worked very hard showing incredible commitment.

Exhibition to answer a series of worksheet questions before an afternoon session handling artefacts and investigating the personal stories that lay behind them. The trip gave Year 9 a chance to improve their understanding of the ‘Great War’ as well as an opportunity to reflect on the sacrifice made in their name by earlier generations. Mr O Bryan-Williams, Head of History & Politics A CHRISTMAS CAROL On Thursday 3rd December, Year 7 got into the Christmas spirit with a performance of A Christmas Carol at The Rose theatre in Kingston. The boys already know the story well as they have been studying Dickens' texts this term and enjoyed seeing his well – known characters being brought to life on the stage. Highlights for the boys included the very scary ghost of Jacob Marley and the snow falling on us throughout an outdoor scene. Both staff and boys alike were left feeling very festive and I would like to say a huge thank you to Kingston Library for providing us with tickets and giving the boys such a great experience. HENRY SAYWELL

SCHOOL BADMINTON

This has been a brilliant term for the U19 Badminton players. Led by the captain, Oliver Bowles, the School 1st VI has beaten Charterhouse,

Glyn, RGS Guildford and the mighty Wilson’s School to win their section of the league. The standard of the badminton has been exceptional and both Wilson’s and Glyn provided terrific opposition. Play-offs and a Knock-Out tournament will take place next term when it would be a fitting tribute to the team if they could pick up some silver- ware! Oliver Bowles has just been awarded the coveted Jack Petchey Award for his services to school badminton; services which include a lively coaching session during senior games afternoons. Lower down the school, results have not been quite so spectacular but to judge from the noise coming from the U12 Munchkin club sessions on a Wednesday evening, there is no shortage of enthusiasm! IMPERIAL WAR MUSEUM VISIT Year 9 visited the Imperial War Museum this week as part of their course of studies on the First World War.

Congratulations go to Henry Saywell in Y11 who won the Advanced Class in the Instrumental section of Kingston Festival of the Performing Arts. He was

also awarded the Stuart Ward cup which will be presented to him on 12th December at the Concert and Presentation of awards. Henry plays the guitar and is pictured above with the adjudicator, Ivan Scott.

The visit was split into two parts. First, students used the new First World War

Award of the Waterloo New Dispatch In summer we entered a competition called 'Timeline 200' which asked students in Year 9 to write about their chosen Defin- ing Moments in history of the last 200 years from 1815 – 2015. Peter Warwick of the New Waterloo Dispatch visited Tiffin last Friday to present the School with our own special New Waterloo Dispatch (the only school in the country to receive it) in a Y10 Assembly, as well as Certificates for the many boys who entered an essay, “in recognition of their outstanding contribu- tion to the Timeline 200 competition”. We also received a letter from Historian & Broadcaster Dan Snow recognising the out- standing contributions the boys had made.

Fishbourne Roman Palace 145 Year 8 Tiffinians enjoyed a day at Fish- bourne Roman Palace last week. During the course of the visit, they had the oppor- tunity to admire the site's extensive ar- chaeological remains, including some of Europe's finest Roman mosaics. In addi- tion, they received a lecture on Roman plumbing and participated in a Technology & Construction Workshop with an archae- ologist. Students also undertook research and filming in preparation for their project work for which they have been tasked with producing a 'Grand Designs' style docu- mentary about the Palace. My thanks, as always, go to the staff and parents who ac- companied us on the trip, as well as the boys themselves whose behaviour was im- peccable and enthusiasm unmistakable.

Above: Owen Bryan-Williams, Head of History; Lieutenant Colonel Graham Jones, Musical Director, Household Cavalry; Victoria Nielson, Campaign Director, Hungry for History; and Peter Warwick, Chairman, New Waterloo Dispatch.

IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday 15 December

L6 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 2.40

Wednesday 16 December

Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols for guests, parents and Alumni; tickets available from the Main Office Normal school, but Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols in afternoon for boys who will be dismissed from Kingston Parish Church about 3.30

Thursday 17 December

Friday 18 December

Break up for Christmas holiday: School finishes by midday

Monday 4 January

Start of Spring Term; 8.30 normal start

Thursday 7 January

Year 11 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 2.40

Tuesday 26 January

Year 9 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 2.00

Tuesday 2 February

Afternoon staff INSET: School finishes at 2.00 (or earlier for sixth formers depend- ing on their timetables)

Friday 12 February

Break up for half term; normal 3.30 finish