Head's Newsletter 14 December 2018

Dear Parents Welcome to the final newsletter of the term. It is good to have Year 11 back, and I hope that their mock exams, and the return of their papers, will have provided a useful learning experience for them. A number of them have been away this week on the French trip to Lille, and also the Spanish trip to Valencia. You can see a write-up of the Lille trip in this newsletter, as well as other trips to Fishbourne, and the Imperial War Museum. The Music department have been very busy indeed with the choir singing at the Royal Opera House and the Coliseum over the past few weeks in La Bohème and Carmen . Once again, they have not only proved their outstanding quality, but have made the most of what are incredible opportunities. We are very much looking forward to them singing at our carol services. This year the School Carol Service is being changed: we are holding two carol services organised by Houses. As usual, the boys will be dismissed from the church afterwards, but obviously one cohort will finish before the next. The annual Carol Service is not only a fantastic tradition for the School, but a wonderful chance for all boys to experience the fantastic choir. In addition, the choir will also be singing to guests at our Evening Carol Service. On the sports front, there are reports here on Rugby, Rowing and Cross Country.

Special mention must go to two of our 1stXV rugby players have been selected for Surrey, and also for Wales: terrific achievements, and also to our boys selected for the Harlequins Development Player Programme. This newsletter has a special report from Mr Ingall on the operation of Chromebooks which have been successfully rolled out in the Autumn Term. We would like to thank parents for their support of this development. I hope parents also found the online safeguarding evening useful, following the talks to all boys in Years 7 to 11. At the end of term we sadly say goodbye to Mr Haley in the RP Department and wish him all the best in his new job. As we approach Christmas, we are more conscious of our aim to encourage empathy, generosity and a respect for others, so I am pleased to report that the School raised over £2000 last mufti day for the School Council’s chosen charity, Nerve Tumours UK, which works to improve the lives of those affected by Neurofibromatosis. This money will pay for one part time specialist advisor for six months. I wish all Tiffin students and their parents and families a very happy Christmas and best wishes for the New Year.

Yours, M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

IMPORTANT DATES

Tuesday 18 December

Y12 Parents’ Consultations; school finishes at 2.40 pm

Wednesday 19 December

Evening Carol Service, All Saints Kingston, 7.00 pm

Thursday 20 December

School Carol Services, 1.15 and 2.15 pm, boys dismissed from church in 2 cohorts, depending on House

Friday 21 December

End of Term—boys dismissed approx. midday

Start of term. Normal 8.30 am start

Monday 7 January

Y11 Parents’ Consultations; school finishes at 1 pm

Thursday 10 January

The Tiffin Boys’ Choir have had an even busier time of it lately than they normally do, performing in La Bohème at the Coliseum with the English National Opera and in Carmen at the Royal Opera House. Here are the boys (and girls from another choir) having had a Secret Santa visit on their final night at ENO.

the choir. The choir sang part one of this well-loved work, which tells the Christmas story through settings of both old and new testament texts. The quintet of orchestral players accompanied the choir and soloists through the many rapid, joyful movements which make up this work. Whilst technically challenging arias such as ‘Comfort Ye’, ‘Ev’ry valley’ and ‘O Thou That Tellest’ are familiar to us through performances given by experienced adults, the standard achieved in a few weeks by the young soloists performing these and other movements was outstanding.

And here they are preparing for the opening night of Carmen at the Royal Opera House.

The Choir’s monthly choral evensong at St. Luke’s Church was replaced, this December, with an unusually impressive offering: a performance of Handel’s Messiah, with period instruments and, most notably, student soloists from within

Soloists’ Recital

At the Soloists’ Recital on Tuesday 4 th December, eighteen Tiffin pupils, from Year 7 to Year 13, delighted the audience of families, friends and staff with an array of performances, from Beethoven to Black Sabbath, from Mozart to Freddie Mercury. Highlights included performances of Faure’s Elegie for Cello (David Mason), Chopin’s Heroic Polonaise for Piano (Alan Erdelyi) and Arnold Cooke’s Rondo for French Horn (Henry Studholme). Thank you to Dr Selig for his excellent support as accompanist. All are welcome, both to attend and perform in these soloist recitals. Acoustic performances of music from any genre are welcome. The next recital will take place on 12 th March.

gather stocking fillers for friends and family.

VISIT TO LILLE With the ink barely dry on their mock exams, 18 Year 11 students arrived slightly bleary-eyed but in good spirits very early last Monday for a seamless journey by coach and Eurostar to Lille.

An impeccably behaved group of boys produced an experience to remember!

Highlights on day two were a superbly detailed walking tour of the old town and a visit to an artisan Flanders waffle maker, who interacted well with the boys and was able to reward them with a sample of his work, which they greatly enjoyed. Returning by bus to the city centre, we headed to a local restaurant for dinner; the boys were impressively polite and used French with the restaurant staff at every available opportunity. Rounding the trip off on day 3 were visits to the Palais des Beaux Arts (fine art gallery) and a trip the Christmas market to

entertaining and engaging debate, it was the hosts who claimed a narrow victory. The judges praised our boys' listening and reactive skills, as well as their ability to include their own personality in their contributions, and were impressed by their confidence, range of ideas and use of eye contact. Wellington were impeccable hosts and a good morning for all finished with a tour of the school and lunch in the impressive dining room. 180 Year 8 Tiffinians enjoyed a day at Fishbourne Roman Palace on Thursday 29 th November. They revelled in the opportunity to admire the site's extensive archaeological remains, including some of Europe's finest Roman mosaics. Students enjoyed a Technology & Construction Workshop with an archaeologist and some even had the opportunity to dress up as a Roman! Students also undertook extensive research and filming in preparation for their group CAT; they have been tasked with producing a 'Grand Designs' style documentary about the Palace and the Classics department is thoroughly looking forward to seeing what the boys produce.

The and spectacular setting of Wellington College played host to a first-round match in the national Goethe Institut schools’ German debating competition, pitting a team of four immaculately prepared Wellingtonians against Tiffin's experienced Year 12 quartet of Abiram Uthayakumar, Apratim Shastri, Euan O'Connor and Will Robson. hallowed

The motion to be debated was whether it should be compulsory for school students to spend a year abroad. Both Tiffin (nominated to argue in favour) and Wellington (nominated to argue against) presented convincing arguments with fluency and spontaneity, but after an

At Fishbourne Roman Palace

rugby teams so far this season with 103 out of 186 year 7s playing a competitive match this year over 7 teams. This can only pay dividends when they get to the senior end of the school. The Senior Squad have been building on each performance and have a record of played 15 won 7 lost 8 at the end of the term, which, considering the amount of injuries the squad has endured, is an impressive achievement. Performance of the season so far was in the Daily Mail Trophy game against Gordon Rugby Club where the 1st XV won a thrilling encounter 34 – 29. Two individual success stories of the season so far are Seb Asbridge who is representing Surrey U18s a year young and Huw Morris who is not only representing Surrey U18s but also Wales U19. A truly impressive achievement. (photo of both below)

Tiffin rugby has had an enjoyable and fruitful term. New Saturday block fixtures against Halliford and Royal Albert and Alexandra proved resounding successes with balanced fixtures across the board. The U12s are starting to find their feet with notable performances from Marcus Beran, Jacob Landau and Chibuikem Anaele who are developing into fine players. The U13s continue their unbeaten season including 14 wins, 1 draw and 2 tournament wins. Each year Tiffin nominates up to two promising players for Harlequins Development Player Programme. Schools are able to nominate a maximum of two players yet Tiffin have been allowed to nominate five. This demonstrates the strength of this squad and huge credit goes to the boys. Special mention must also go to the B, C and D teams in this year group, without whom the A team would not be so successful. The U14s have had a good season so far, the B team leading from the front and continually pushing for places in the A team. The U15s have enjoyed a couple of Natwest Vase fixtures against high calibre schools such as St Paul’s, on high calibre pitches at Rosslyn Park and Championship side Ealing Trailfinders. The U16s have had a mixed season but had a very notable performance against St George’s Weybridge where they won in a thrilling encounter for the first time in four years. Special mention goes to the U16 boys who have represented the 2nd XV on various occasions and also Matt Cormack who has solidified himself in the 1st XV backline. Almost 400 boys have represented the

Tiffin is currently fielding an incredible 20 teams across all years – but with that comes extra demand on resources, kit, transport, first aid, Refs … which is why we’re reaching out to you to become part of #TeamTIPRA (Tiffin Parent Rugby Association) If you are able to, a one-off, annual payment of £40 or a monthly standing order of £4 can make a HUGE difference to the amount of additional support we can provide for our boys. So, why not sign up this term (referencing your son’s name and year group)? Thank you!! TSBC have started the 2018-19 season by entering Kingston and Teddington Heads, both rowed on our home stretches from Hampton to Kingston. With more boys and girls rowing again this year we fielded a number of crews across all age divisions. We had some solid mid-table results, an impressive 2 nd in J18 singles from the captain of boats, Jonathan Bennett and an impressive win in J15 doubles from Nathan Bott and Hajun Chung ( see photo below). Account Name –TIPRA Account No – 43474585 Sort Code – 20-46-76 ROWING

CROSS COUNTRY After a strong showing in our own Judge Cup the team moved on to The Hampton 24 min 3 man continuous Paarlauf relay. Teams in multiples of three set off to try to defend the Junior title we won last year. In this section the Year 8 team battled against Year 9s from other South East of England schools and still managed a rather splendid set of Bronze medals for Connor Foley, Zach Storey and super-sub Ben Coats. The seniors did very well to place 4 th with Kai Pischke and Jamie Krammer being joined by Udit Tuteja in the As, and the Bs, matched their position in their category with George Birch and Max McGarrigle joined by senior debutant Nic Lan. The performance of the day was by a Year 10 team against Year 11s with Joe Murphy and Will Murphy joined by yet another last minute sub, Ben Couzens, gaining a much valued second set of Bronze medals.

Oliver! - is coming to Tiffin School in February 2019! Rehearsals are now underway for what we are hoping will be a repeat of the stunning success that the school had in 2016 with Les Misérables . With lead roles played by boys from the youngest to the oldest year groups, it’s sure to be a very exciting production! Tickets are now on sale at www.ticketsource.co.uk/tiffinschool? , or email boxoffice@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk to reserve your tickets.

TSBC is expecting two new boats to accommodate our growing membership. These will arrive in the New Year. The quad will be named the Spirit of '65 after those Tiffinians that raced so impressively at Henley Royal in 1965 and who have continued to support and help fund the boat club. The Parents’ Committee have also worked hard to support the club and raised funds for our new double.

A significant proportion of our Year 12 Economics cohort were able to attend the Royal Economic Society Public Lecture at the Royal Institution on 21 st November. This year’s lecture was given by Oriana Bandiera, Professor of Economics at the LSE who addressed the question, “What do Economists Really Do?” Professor Bandiera used the frequency of terms used in the titles of academic articles to show how the focus of academic economists has shifted in the last 50 years from “money” to “people”. Economists over time have shifted their approach from one based in economic theory to one based on empirical evidence, with increasing use of small-scale randomised control trials to identify the effectiveness of economic interventions. Using data, methodology and theory that was accessible to novice economists, Professor Bandiera showed how economics has been used in Zambia to recruit and retain nursing staff in rural areas, and that good economics leads to effective social policy. Royal Economic Society Young Economist 2018 Congratulations to Harjyot Anand on his submission to the Royal Economic Society Young Economist Essay Competition 2018. This year’s competition had an unprecedented number of entries from schools worldwide which meant that the judges had to delay their announcement of results. Harjyot’s essay, “What explains the UK productivity puzzle” was highly commended by the judges and it is a fitting tribute to all his efforts in Economics at Tiffin.

In the first week of December our Year 9 students visited the Imperial War Museum and this helped them to consolidate the work they have been doing on the First World War. The exhibition on WW1 covers the outbreak of war, the early misconceptions about this new mechanised and industrial war and the development of weaponry during the war. It has a comprehensive section on the Battle of the Somme (they recently debated whether Haig should be remembered as ‘the butcher and the bungler’ of this battle) and it explores how the home front was affected by the demands of ‘total war’. In addition, they were guided through the Holocaust exhibition with an audio guide and a teaching session by museum staff. We cover this challenging unit at the end of the Year 9 History course but students already displayed a high level of knowledge from their own research, from primary school and from poetry, novels, films and images studied in other lessons. It is always pleasing to see students drawing on prior knowledge to inform their understanding!

The Introduction of Chromebooks We are very grateful for the very significant parental support given in purchasing Chromebooks for Tiffin boys. Every boy in Years 7 to 10 now has their own Chromebook and this has had a very significant and positive impact on teaching and learning so far this term. I wanted to write to update you on the progress we have made as we have integrated the use of these devices into the everyday routine. General use: We have been very impressed by the way the boys have got into the routine of bringing their charged Chromebooks to school every day. Most boys are using their Chromebook every day in a variety of ways and the feedback from boys and teachers has been very positive. After a few teething problems the school's wireless network has performed very well and there have been very few connection problems recently. The batteries are also easily providing enough charge for a full day’s use. Filtering and Monitoring: The school has purchased software (GoGuardian) that filters and monitors the activities of all boys' Chromebooks at all times, both in school and at home (although the settings are slightly different). The filtering policies took longer to properly implement than we had initially hoped but have now been up and running since mid-October. Access is restricted to unsuitable sites, all 'extensions', 'incognito mode' and 'developer mode'. As the Chromebooks are intended to be work devices they also restrict access to most gaming websites. The list of banned sites is continually updated by our suppliers and Tiffin IT are also able to block/enable specific sites. However, no filtering technology is fully robust so we advise parents to keep an eye on what their sons are doing on their Chromebooks. They are encouraged to let Mr Ingall know if there is particular content that is accessible and should not be or vice versa. Homework: Last year it was possible for parents to access the homework set for their sons on Insight; however, this term homework has been set on Google Classroom. Although this has been a much more efficient system for staff and boys it has not been accessible to parents. It is now possible for parents to receive weekly or daily email summaries of the homework their son is being set. Parents who would find this helpful should email Chromebooks@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk and they will then be emailed an invitation to be a 'guardian in google classroom' within a couple of days and instructions on how to set this up. Parents should feel under no pressure to sign up for this but we are aware that it may be useful in some circumstances. Repairs: All boys have been issued with their own lockers, instructed to use these and told to take particular care of their Chromebooks. Although the numbers have been relatively small, perhaps inevitably some Chromebooks have been damaged. Frustratingly there are supply-chain issues with the replacement screens which have led to delays in repairing some Chromebooks. If a boy has a problem with his Chrome book he should take it to the IT office. IT will email parents asking for payment. Loss or Theft: If a Chromebook has been stolen, or left on public transport, IT support should be contacted as soon as possible so that the theft recovery tracking can be enabled – this locks and tracks the Chromebook but only when it is opened and an attempt is made to use it. If a reply is not received from ITsupport then Mr Ingall can also be contacted.