Head's Newsletter 7 February 2020

students performed exceptionally well at the Surrey County Championships and also put in some excellent performances at the National cross-country relays in Coventry. The main Saturday rugby fixtures have now finished, with some very tight matches against St George’s Harpenden, and we are looking forward to the Rugby Sevens. The U14s have undoubtedly been the standout side of the season, but we have also watched some terrific performances from the other teams. We’ve also had some excellent badminton fixtures, including success for our first mixed pairs. The transition from winter to summer sports has already begun with indoor cricket nets in full flow, and we are looking forward to the Dubai cricket tour in a week’s time Many pupils have recently been involved in the UKMT maths challenge and we look forward to the results. There have of course been trips going on and you can read about the very successful German exchange to Neuwied, as well as a careers trip to Animation Studio. I wish all students and their families a restful half term holiday.

Dear Parents,

It’s been a very exciting half term at Tiffin with a huge amount of activity. On the academic side Year 11 have been making their A Level choices and having course option interviews, and Year 9 have been making their GCSE option choices. In addition, Year 13 mock exams commence straight after half term. There’s been plenty going on in the performing arts. In particular, the fantastic staging and lighting is all set and the rehearsals are being completed for the superb School play Around the World in 80 days . Please do come and watch the play, and support the students involved. It promises to be an excellent performance with a great spread of students from sixth form to juniors. Buy tickets here. We’ve also had some tremendous music activity. The choir were recording at Abbey Road Studios for a film, which we cannot reveal the details of yet! We also enjoyed the spectacle of house singing involving up to 400 pupils in what is always a highly competitive event. Our dancers have also been performing in Richmond, showing off a new piece. On the sports front there has been a huge amount of activity. In cross country, Tiffin

Yours, Mr M D Gascoigne

IMPORTANT DATES

10 February to 13February

School Play: “Around the World in 80 Days” at 7.30pm Professional Development Day: no students in School except YR11 Students start back after Half Term, normal 8.30 start Y7 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 1 pm Y8 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 1 pm

Friday 14 February

Monday 24 February Wednesday 26 February

Thursday 5 March

Other successes versus St Georges included the U15A and B sides, who are developing into a formidable squad, with the B team also recording a great victory over John Fisher, and the As over a physical Glyn side the week before that. A special mention must go to Lucas Murtagh who has been selected to play for Surrey U15 RFC. The U13s and U12s have fought valiantly this side of Christmas on often marsh like pitches without success but with so much competition for places there is no doubt both sides will continue to grow in confidence as the years go on. The unstoppable U14s played brilliant rugby to brush aside John Fisher but were halted slightly by St Georges Harpenden. The game finished 26-26, with Tiffin having been three scores up in the first 15 minutes; they will feel as though they have missed another win there. The U16s after a tough game against a very strong John Fisher side finished the season strongly against Box Hill’s 1 st XV with the final score 25-5.

The final weekend of rugby fixtures took place on the 1 st of February with some great games against Farrell and Itoje’s old hang out, St Georges Harpenden. The 1 st and 2 nd XV played away in better conditions than expected for this time of the year. Both teams were within a score at half time but let a couple of scores in towards the end of the game as the legs became heavy in the thick Harpenden mud. The 1 st XV having come off a good win against Isleworth and Syon have had a mixed season this year, playing quality rugby with great structure, but often displaying heroic defence one week , and fragile the next. The leavers this year can be very proud of their progress through their years at Tiffin and have conducted themselves excellently this year. We wish them all the best for their future rugby endeavours and hopefully we will see some of them back at Grists representing Old Tiffinians RFC. We look forward to the Curry night hosted by Tipra on the 26 th March and the leavers’ dinner the day after on the 27 th March.

The staff played the prefects in the annual touch rugby exhibition match held at school on the Muga, which proved to be a great event. The staff were just beaten 14-11 which just proves what a great job they have done coaching these boys over the years. Well done prefects!

Last week, a group of Year 11 and Year 12 students visited animation studio Blue Zoo for a careers visit, organised by Ms Varley. The studio’s director and recruitment & talent co- ordinator introduced the group to a couple of Blue Zoo’s animated characters and took them through the animation process from beginning to end, which showcased the blend of creative and technical talent required. With the animation and visual effects industry growing in the UK, it was useful to learn which skills and subjects are sought after in these jobs and ask questions about an industry that is hard to access.

Many of those who came along were already experimenting with drawing and relevant software in their own time and they learned the importance of practice and building a portfolio, as well as seeing what it would be like to make an interest into a career. Perhaps we will see their names in the credits in the future! Thank you very much to everyone who donated to the campaign just before Christmas. We raised a total of £2,320 including gift aid. This has been the third year we have organised a crowdfunding campaign for rugby, and the total raised over the three years is now £7,077 - a fantastic achievement for which we are very grateful!

Thank you for your continued support. The TIPRA team

It was the ladies first appearance at the national relays with 37 teams present.

There was an exemplary cross country performance at Henry VIII national relay. All teams ran 3.7 km. This year we achieved a record breaking outcome of 25th place; the most impressive so far. Sophie Leng, Charlotte Whiteman, Bella Bridge; and Emily Jones represented the sixth form in a stunning performance. Congratulations to the girls!

The boys teams had a record breaking A team first three all clocking under the magic 13 min barrier; the latter legs also ran well though cold and mud takes the edge off their performance. The school recorded 13th school in the National competition equalling the record for this or the last decade. The B team matched the best every performance placing 6th against other school B teams.

A long day and top performance was book ended by some first rate singing on the bus. Many thanks to the coaches who have kept the team going over the term and special thanks to the team managers on the day, Neve and Ryan.

On Wednesday 22nd January Tiffin Dance Company performed at Richmond College Theatre as part of an annual performance event IGNITE.

Joe Allgar, YR11 who is sponsored by STELLAR SQUASH Australia, competed in The Inter County Junior Squash Championships in Nottingham on 18- 19 January. He won all his matches and his BU17 Surrey Team won in the National final.

Dancers performed their new piece ‘Premena’ (Transformations). The piece explores different forms of change, modification, variation, transfiguration, remodelling and reshaping.

Well Done Joe!

The under 19 badminton team’s trip to Christ’s Hospital last week although not the first time Tiffin has played there, was certainly the first time that Tiffin has competed with 2 mixed doubles pairs. The 12-4 margin of victory was in no small measure due to the excellent mixed doubles pairings of Aaran Suriyakumaran with Thalia Bloch and Varun Hanchinal with Sakshee Ramakrishnan. Isaac Ma and Peter Wojciechowski completed a perfect score of 4 wins from 4 matches whilst Daniil Shmelev and Anirudh Neti made up the remaining 2 wins .

Some of our students on their way to record at studio 1 at the Abbey Road Studios, on the iconic crossing! All to be revealed in due course!

welcoming. They organised all kinds of social gatherings, meals, parties and went on a number of excursions! Together, we visited the famous Cologne cathedral, even climbing to the top to get a view of the city. We went to the Lindt chocolate museum and even managed to make an exit from an Escape Room alongside the Rhein. We visited the birthplace of Ludvig van Beethoven in Bonn, visited the museum of calculation, and got to saw an exhibition at the German House of History about how the Germans are viewed by the British. There was even time to visit the home of Haribo! We also went to the fabulous town of Koblenz and saw the famous Deutsches Eck at the confluence of the Rhein and Moselle rivers. A huge thank you must go to all the families who hosted the German students. Here’s what some Tiffin parents and pupils said about it: “It is so much easier learning German in Germany.” “So many more positives than just the language part.” “My German has improved considerably.” Planning for next year’s trip has already started, so watch out for more information Year 9!

14 adventurous Year 10 German students ventured to the town of Neuwied, in Rheinland-Pfalz, Germany to spend a week with their German exchange partners. They all had a wonderful time! Tiffin School has had an arrangement with the Rhein-Wied Gymnasium (Grammar School) in Neuwied for more than 12 years, and the students shared a fantastic week together experiencing the

delights of the region. The Tiffin students got to observe German life close at hand, staying with a German family for a week, attending lessons in schools, and (crucially) eating large portions of German food! They improved their German listening and speaking skills, kept a written diary in German of their efforts, and made great friends. Our hosts were wonderfully

At the Surrey Schools Cross Country Championships on Saturday 18 January, 15 Tiffin students were there to compete for the Kingston Team against the best athletes Surrey has to offer. Although the day itself was thankfully dry, the course was treacherous following heavy rain during the week, and with approximately 100 athletes running the narrow course in each age group, it quickly became a mud bath. In the Senior Girl’s race, Neve Husaini, Charlotte Whiteman and Emily Jones navigated the 4 km course safely to close out a highly impressive 3 rd place for Kingston, remarkable given that these girls only took up running in September, and were racing against girls who had competed in this race for years. In the last three years Tiffin has only had one student compete in the year 7 boys race for the Kingston team, so to have three qualify this year was already a success. Yanis and Chadi Falla continued to demonstrate their clear running potential both with good performances and Jesper Naisby meanwhile, was the first athlete from Tiffin on the day to qualify for the Surrey team by finishing in 20 th place. Congratulations to him for this achievement. In the Junior Boys category, two Tiffin students took to the field alongside 92 other athletes. Connor Foley gave it his all but was unfortunately bested by the conditions. He fell twice during the race, but nevertheless persevered to reach the finish line covered in mud and with a number of cuts and bruises as well. Given all that, finishing in 26 th place was highly impressive. Oscar Luck meanwhile had a phenomenal race. Moving to the front of the field early on, he was able to stay out of trouble and finish the race in a triumphant 4 th

place. Not only was it easily his best ever race, but it is also the best result by a Tiffin student in a County Championships race for at least a decade. By finishing in the top 6 he has been selected to represent Surrey in the English Schools Championships, which only 3 other Tiffin students have qualified for in the past decade. Both boys also contributed to another 3 rd place for Kingston in their age group. Tiffin had its greatest representation in the

Intermediate Boys category, with Wil Murphy, Jack Hartrey, Alistair Brendon, Matt O’Donovan and Euan Sinclair all putting in strong performances. Will Murphy was the highest finisher in 15 th place, securing selection for the Surrey Inter County team. That race was last weekend (1 st Feb) and Will contributed to the Surrey B team finishing as 1 ST B team in the event with a 26 th place finish. Finally, in the Senior Boys category, both Tiffin athletes, Ollie Coppellotti (11 th ) and Charlie Krammer (18 th ) qualified for the Surrey Inter- County team, though only Charlie was available for that race. Competing in the Inter County race as only a Year 12 was a great experience for Charlie (all other Tiffin athletes that qualified were at the top of their age group), and hopefully one that he will learn from so that he can do even better next year. He finished as the 63 rd best athlete in the South East, and was part of the 4 th placed Surrey B team.

Phileas Fogg, a man of mathematical precision, makes a bet with some fellow whist players that he can travel around the world in 80 days. Question is, can he success- fully achieve this feat? Tiffin School invite you to watch our adaptation, written by Laura Eason, of Jules Verne’s fictional classic. www.ticketsource.co.uk/tiffinschool

Kingston’s Achieving for Children is offering these very good parenting sessions.