Head's Newsletter 22 October 2021

fantastic, and it was brilliant that we were able to hold our Year 7 choir competition last week. I hope that Year 7 parents enjoyed the occasion. The Choir were also recording at Abbey Road Studios for another big film soundtrack; an amazing opportunity for those involved! Also in a return to normality, we ’ ve been conducting more trips. The Sixth Form Geographers went on a field trip to Dorset across several days, the Year 9 Classics students have done a day trip to Bath, and the Year 10 Art GCSE students enjoyed a fantastic trip to Kew Gardens as part of their GCSE portfolio work. I ’ m also delighted that we ’ ve recently been able to celebrate our diversity with our focus on Black History Month. So much of what we do would not be possible without the financial support of parents who give to the Tiffin Education Fund. Thank you to all parents who have signed up give regular voluntary contributions. If you have not yet done so, please do go to this link, if you would like to set up a donation: your support is vital in allowing the School to do all it does. As we approach half term, I wish all students and parents a restful and enjoyable two weeks, and look forward to seeing students again on Monday, 8 th November.

Dear Parents,

As we approach the end of the first half term of 2021 - 22, it has been great to see a gradual return to normality. We have had some disruption from Covid and there have been spikes of infection with different year groups at different times. At all times we ask parents to follow the advice of Public Health England, and we as a School are also guided and act by the advice for schools from the government. Thankfully however, any disruption there has been has been very limited, and we hope that this will remain the case for the rest of the year. Over the summer we spent a significant sum of money refurbishing two more science labs, which needed a more complete overhaul. I ’ m very pleased that we funded this partly through a grant from the Wolfson Foundation, and these labs are looking great and being extremely well used. What has been fantastic this term is to be able to put back as much as possible of our extra curricular programme. This programme is a crucial part of the Tiffin education and a vital part of fulfilling our vision and aims. In Sport especially, it ’ s been great to get back to a level of normality. We ’ ve been able to conduct regular Saturday fixtures again in Rugby, we have had a number of successful Netball fixtures, and the Running Club has been engaging in competitions, with our Year 7s doing fantastically to win The Surrey Relays. In the Performing Arts, Dance has once again taken off, and the House Dance competition being conducted this week looked better than ever. In Music, the orchestras and choir sound

Yours,

M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

“ For the right boy or girl, this is a magnificent school” Read our new review in the Good Schools Guide July 2021

IMPORTANT DATES

22 October— 5 November

Half–term (return Monday 8 November)

15 November

Year 13 Parents Consultations (2pm online) School finishes 12.30pm Yr 10 - 13 and 1.20pm for Yr 7 - 9.

22 November 17 December

Year 11 Mock Exams begin

Term finishes for pupils by lunchtime

NETBALL WINS

There has been a soar in attainment and engagement for Netball at Tiffin with over 40 students attending games in the first week of term. With that, students have shown their dedication and commitment by attending additional training sessions both during and after school. They first played Ibstock Place School away at Richmond where three teams were taken. Although the 1st team lost (32 - 14), the 2nds won (25 - 12) as did the 3rds (9 - 6). The following week they played Ursuline High School away at Wimbledon and although they were winning for the first three quarters, they were narrowly defeated in the last quarter (16 - 13). Their spirits were not defeated and they went onto win two matches against Kingston Grammar School last week away (16 - 0, 9 - 1 to Tiffin). They are improving week on week and really playing as a committed, talented and dedicated team. After the half term break, there are many more matches (and hopefully wins!) to come.

DANCE WORKSHOP

On

Wednesday

6th

October

Tiffin

Junior Dance Company participated in contemporary dance workshop with James Auden Kay from Traceworks Dance. Students were taught contemporary dance technique with travelling sequence and learned set choreography.

The company will work with James once a week till the rest of Autumn term on a performance piece which will be presented at the Secondary Schools Dance Competition in January.

TIFFIN CHESS TEAM

The Tiffin Chess Team participated in the first over - the - board tournament in 2 years. The A team achieved a commendable score against opponents from RGS Guildford, Hampton and King's College School: 3/12 points, a 200% increase since our last tournament! A fantastic win from Sagnik Chatterjee in Round one and Tong Wu in the second, demonstrated a dominating team performance against tough opponents. Thanks to the draws from Vladimir Kalashnikov and Samvrit Subin, Tiffin managed to secure a respectable score. On the B team, Humza Qadir was able to secure a win in the first round and was well on his way to a second but was caught out by the infuriating rule of touch move in the second round. Gavin Tsui was also able to secure a win for the B team, well done. Thanks to all who played and special mention to Ron for holding his best against absurdly strong opponents, one of whom is the strongest U18 in the country. The Ivan Gromov league which features both Tiffin A and Tiffin B in the same online league - both playing against other schools ’ A teams, has seen a solid start for the A team with a 3 - 3 draw against Brentwod school A and a narrow 2.5 - 3.5 defeat to local rivals KCS Wimbledon A. However, remarkable performances have been pulled off by the Tiffin B team who have clinched two narrow 3.5 - 2.5 victories against Altrincham Grammar School A and Eton College A and remain unbeaten in an A team league.

UK ROCKET FINALS — October 2021

In June we asked our Year 12 students to complete an extended project to help with their UCAS applications. One of the groups designed and built a rocket to enter into UKROC - the UK's national rocketry competition. Towards the end of the Summer term we took the bus to Grists to launch the rocket. The bus driver was suspicious of what looked like a ground to air missile but eventually allowed us on after a brief inspection. The launches went well but only three of the four motors fired and this caused the rocket to veer off and not reach the required altitude. At that point I breathed a sigh of relief that we hadn't hit any of the neighbouring houses and went on summer vacation. The students were undeterred though. They continued to work on the

rocket over the Summer, and soon into the Autumn term had arranged another launch at a farm somewhere near Leatherhead. This time all four motors fired thanks to Ash's new and improved ignition circuit and this allowed the rocket to reach the qualification altitude. We were on their way to the finals!

The finals were held in Buckingham at the BMFA headquarters. After an early start and a long but comfortable journey we met five other schools and listened to the safety briefing. Following on from that the students made a presentation to the judges which was scored and then added to their rocket altitude score. Each team had only one flight to qualify. Our motors all ignited but after about 20 metres the rocket suddenly broke up. We could not

understand how this happened but suspected that one of the motors had malfunctioned. We were out of the competition and it wasn't even our fault! After pleading with the judges to give us a second launch, the second rocket took off

beautifully ... but then also broke up mid - flight just as the first did. As we sat on the minibus home scratching our heads there were no regrets - just more challenges to overcome and then hopefully more launches!

TIFFIN ART DEPARTMENT NEWS On the 24 th September 60 GCSE art students visited Kew Gardens as part of their Observational studies research. Our students had the opportunity to practise their photography skills outside the classroom, whilst studying structure and pattern in plants. Their photographic investigation is going to provide inspiration for the further development of art - pieces throughout the year.

Our Year 12 and 13 A - Level students are currently half - way through a seven - week Life - drawing workshop, taking place in the evenings, at school. Students are introduced to a number of different representational techniques and art styles; this body of work will further assist them in expanding their repertoire, as well as developing strong work for their University applications and art - portfolios.

was covered in splendid isolation. No other year 9 or younger athlete was in sight of the year 7 winner Thomas Whorton. To win at Charterhouse is not unprecedented but to do so against athletes who were at least two years older was nothing short of remarkable especially given the quality of opposition.

RUNNING CLUB WINS

Congratulations to the whole squad and to Thomas who beat a field of athletes up to two years older than him ( yr9s) . Not only were the athletes older they were also from schools that are regularly in the top

The running club ran the Kings Trophy on Wed 6th October. The Ladies team placed 6th in the South East the Gentlemen placed 10th. Two brilliant results.

half dozen in the south and two of which regularly win national titles. We are looking forward to our inaugural appearance at the Epsom Downs league on Sunday 7th Nov. In addition, Jonny Schafer completed a grand slam of minimarathon appearances placing in the top 220 in the under 17 event. He has represented Kingston every year he was eligible, a considerable achievement to get selected for Kingston once, let alone 5 times. Thomas Whorton helped Wandsworth into a fine 9th place and Matthias Poeizi helped Kingston into a good 20th place in the country. We hope their representation continues as Jonny has done.

On Saturday 9th Oct the club ran at Charterhouse. A numerous and talented year 7 team came 4th in the Pan London Competition against many other schools including two of the top 5 schools in the country. This was an even more remarkable result as the other schools fielded year 9 runners against them. The senior team ran well to place 6th. The most remarkable result was an individual success. The seniors ran two laps including a monster hill. The juniors had the pleasure of doing only one lap. When the top 10 seniors appeared for the first lap there was one Tiffin athlete amongst them. A year 7 athlete had matched runners for pace who were up to over 6 years older than him. The last part of the finishing lap of the 500m field

Jesper Naisby in the English School Cup

RUNNING

The Running club was pleased to return to it ’ s successful ways in the first national face to face competition. The Kings Trophy (incidentally run by former staff Mr B Reekes ) on Wimbledon common was the venue for a great undulating course. The mens team came 10 th school in this section. The B team was 7 th in their section . The ladies team were even more successful with a great 5 th place. Well over 20 schools competed in the south of England event

YEAR 7 WIN THE SURREY RELAY SERIES

After 7AE won as a form in the first race of the year at Oxted the school put out a combined year 7 A team which duly won again. Under the watchful eye of both Miss Eva and Mr Latham they clinched the title from a close second Oxted, and John Fisher third. This time we had 8 teams representing the school. The year 8s battled on to fine third place and just clinched second overall in the series on total quickest time. Congratulations to all who represented the school so magnificently in the two race series.

NEW SCIENCE LABS

BLACK HISTORY MONTH CELEBRATIONS

Over the summer we spent a significant sum of money refurbishing two more science labs, which needed a more complete overhaul. I ’ m very pleased that we funded this partly through a grant from the Wolfson Foundation, and these labs are looking great and being extremely well used.

October signalled the celebration of Black History Month across the school. The History Department created a weekly bulletin highlighting key figures from across the faculties ranging from pioneers of space exploration and cancer treatments from the Sciences and modern day activists in the Arts to the invaluable contributions of hundreds of men and women in the endeavour to explore Africa in the Humanities. The LGBT+ Society also created a fantastic

display to spotlight trailblazers from the Black community who have sought to challenge discrimination and prejudice across

gender, sexuality and race boundaries. The display can be found by the JLT, so please do drop by to find out more!

ARKWRIGHT ENGINEERING SCHOLARSHIP

Thank you to all students and staff who have contributed to this year ’ s Black History Month and we hope that the focus and understanding on the importance of diversity continues well beyond this month.

Congratulations to Ojas Gulati who has been awarded a Arkwright Scholarship. The scholarships are awarded in recognition of outstanding potential as a future leader in Engineering.

RUNNING RUGBY

opportunity to edge out their opponents with a last minute penalty from 35 yards out, however the ball sailed narrowly wide and the game finished 21 - 19 to the visitors. The disappointment from this defeat was compounded by the next result which saw Haliford School take the spoils 15 - 5 when they visited Grists the following week. A feisty game in which Tiffin couldn't play their usual expansive running rugby won't be one to remember. With the quality in the squad Andy Blackburn demanded a response, and that demand was answered a week later when Tiffin travelled to Gunnersbury Catholic School. Tiffin were fast out of the blocks and scored four first half tries with some impressive backs moves seeing Tiffin take a 26 - 0 lead into half - time. In the second half with the win secured the team couldn't bring the same energy, with the score finishing 26 - 12 in a comfortable win. Tiffin took this momentum into a big mid - week cup fixture against Grey Court School in the second round of the National Vase. Tiffin were again on the road but that didn't phase the first XV and the team put in a comprehensive performance to win comfortably 29 - 12. Stand out performances from centres Tom Armstrong and Soloman Yamin who both got a try apiece and looked a threat all game with ball in hand. The week later saw Tiffin slip to a narrow defeat against a strong Wimbledon College team in some terrible conditions. All focus is now on the third round of the National Vase which is this Wednesday away to London Oratory. Best of luck to the whole squad.

With rugby season now in full swing the weekly buzz of rugby at Grists on a Saturday morning is a welcome return to a sense of normality. After our opening three fixtures, TIffin has since come up against three tough block fixtures in Haliford School, Gunnersbury Catholic School and Wimbledon College. Special mention must go to both years 7 & 8 for their fantastic start to the year and performances at rugby festivals. Year 7 have regularly been fielding 6 teams per fixture, with over 72 students participating which is a fantastic achievement. Year 7 also put in a fantastic outing at the Surrey Rugby Festival which was held at RGS Guildford, with two wins, two draws and a loss against a selection of very competitive school teams. Year 8 continued this trend of strong performances at rugby festivals, with 3 wins, 3 losses and a draw at the U13 Surrey Rugby Festival held at Trinity School.

1st XV Spotlight - Everyone loves a cup run!

After Tiffin successfully defeated Emanuel School in the Daily Mail Trophy they next faced a visit from Gordon ’ s School. A scrappy game against a physical Gordons School saw the visitors take a narrow two point lead into the last 5 minutes of the game. Tiffin had the

Swanage before setting off for the famous Old Harry ’ s Rocks, our next destination, where despite strong wave energy we even caught sight of a dolphin! Later that afternoon, with ice creams in hand, we experienced geography in action through our study of the sand dune succession at Studland bay.

GEOGRAPHY TRIP

The year 13 Geography class had the excitement of visiting Swanage and exploring the landforms and geology of the surrounding areas on a 3 - day residential from the 29 th September to 1 st October 2021. We were greeted with glorious weather on day one of our residential, as we headed to Durdle Door, our first destination. It was

On our final day, despite the damp weather, we pulled on our raincoats and ventured to the scenic Arne peninsula nature reserve, exploring mudflat succession amidst a host of wildlife and wetlands.

captivating to experience the coastal landforms that we have studied in lessons, enabling us to apply our A - Level knowledge and bring the classroom to real - life case studies. We hopped back on the minibuses and headed for stop two, Lulworth cove. Having explored the area and enjoyed ice - cream and fish and chips at the beautiful Lulworth cove, we finished the day with a visit to Kimmeridge Bay along the coastline, where the class had great fun fossil hunting as the sun set. Evening lectures over, the class spent some time exploring Swanage Sea front, a full - on and exciting first day. We had an early start on day two but having fuelled up on a full - English breakfast, we were ready to head off to Worth Matravers, our next stop along the coastline. We enjoyed a picturesque walk, through rural Dorset before reaching the blustery coast at Winspit where we admired the remnants of a limestone quarry and the incredible geological landscapes - a geographer's dream. Next, we assessed the coastal management schemes in

The trip was greatly enjoyed by the A - Level geographers, allowing for group bonding, and taking our learning outdoors, to enable us to deepen our geographical understanding and knowledge - a brilliant trip all round!

MUSIC PERFORMANCES

Concert Band perform at the Mayor ’ s Retirement Dinner

In September, the Concert Band were invited to perform for the Mayor of Kingston at her Retirement Dinner. Taking place at the DoubleTree Hilton Hotel by Kingston riverside, the Concert Band performed for the Mayor ’ s guests, including councillors and other members of the Kingston community. The programme featured arrangements of music by Stevie Wonder, Labelle and Abba, alongside American spirituals. The band performed at the special request of the Mayor whose son was a band member at Tiffin some years ago. It was a delight to see the newly formed Concert Band on great form.

Thames Chamber Orchestra Concert

The Chamber Orchestra were pleased to be invited once again to perform in the Thames Concert Series taking place at St. Andrew ’ s Church in Surbiton. This was the first concert in the series, which features musicians from around London. The programme centred on Purcell ’ s Abdelazer Suite: incidental music written for Aphra Behn ’ s play of the same name. Purcell ’ s music, now more famous than the play,

includes the familiar Rondeau quoted by Benjamin Britten in his Young Person ’ s Guide to the Orchestra. Alongside this suite, the orchestra members performed movements from a suite by Telemann, a Baroque contemporary of Purcell. Three impressive solo performances given by members of the orchestra completed the programme: Tong (13CD) performing Paganini ’ s Caprice No. 20, Nina (12EW) performing Squire ’ s Tarantella and Alan (11KBA) performing Bach ’ s Sarabande from Partita No. 2.

SSSSHH….

The Choir recording at Abbey Road Studios for another big film sound track …….