Head's Newsletter - 10 February 2023

In other sporting achievements, you can, in particular read about our netball team coming 3rd in the Borough Tournament and our rowers who saw success at the Hampton head, beating a number of prestigious schools and clubs. The cricketers have also been regularly training in preparation for their very exciting tour to Dubai over half term. We wish them all the best and hope they enjoy the tour. We ’ ve also been able to put back in other trips during this half term including the German trip to Berlin, and French exchange to Caen. Indeed, our French partners have been here this week experiencing life at Tiffin. I must finish by congratulating those Year 13 students who have been offered an Oxbridge place this year. I am very pleased to say that it is a record year with 38 students receiving an Oxbridge offer; this is the highest number ever, placing us among the very top schools and colleges in the country, both state and independent. We congratulate the students, as well as all Year 13s who are currently receiving offers following their university applications in the Autumn term. When we return after half term Year 13s will have their mock exams which will hopefully prepare them to achieve the grades they are hoping for.

Dear Parents,

There have been so many things recently which really demonstrate how special Tiffin School is, and show the quality of the overall education offered here. I must start by praising everybody who has performed and contributed to the amazing school musical, ‘ A Tale of Two Cities ’ this week. In particular, Mr Moodie as Director, and Mr O ’ Malley as Director of Music take much credit. To have a superb orchestra, filled with Tiffin students, providing the music for a very large cast from all year groups, really is an outstanding achievement. The collective effort and the quality of such a performance shows the School at its best. This performance followed on from the incredible House Singing Final held last week, allowing so many students to perform, as well as conduct and arrange pieces. It is one of the highlights of the House calendar, and I am glad so many parents were able to come along to hear it. It was also fantastic to be present at Grists last Saturday for our festival of rugby culminating in the Dave Morris cup, presented in memory of the former director of sport and rugby. It was great to see so many parents at the matches, and great to finish the season on such a high. I would like to thank the parents in TIPRA for their support of rugby throughout the season. We now look forward to the Sevens tournaments, and to the football after half term.

I hope all students and their parents have a restful half term.

Yours, M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

IMPORTANT DATES

13 February - 17 February 20 February - 02March 23 February - 26 February

Half term holiday Year 13 Mocks exam

Year 12 Art Trip to Barcelona

3 March

Professional Development day - no pupils in school

7 March - 10 March 13 March - 17 March

Year 12/13 Spanish Trip

Year 10 Exams

14 March 31 March

Open Concert— 6 pm Walden Hall

Term ends at lunchtime

RuGBY AT TIFFIN

Rugby Season Finale

The final block fixture of the season saw Tiffin compete against St George's Harpenden School. A fiercely contested block which saw the spoils shared overall with 5 wins apiece for both schools across the year groups. Notable victories for Tiffin included the 1st and 2nd XV who put in two great performances in what were testing conditions to secure victories away from home. A special mention to all of the leaving Y13s who played their final match for the school in this fixture. Without your hard work and dedication over your years at Tiffin it would not have been possible to create such an enjoyable and inspirational rugby programme. From all of the coaches at Tiffin Rugby we send our thanks and we look forward to seeing what steps you take next in your sporting career.

Dave Morris Cup

The Inaugural Dave Morris Cup was held over the weekend and was a roaring success. An event held in the memory of our much loved and missed former Head of Rugby Mr. Morris the Dave Morris Cup offered us a chance to celebrate all of your achievements over the past season. A fantastic crowd turned out to watch the morning's fixtures, with internal mixed games for year groups 7 - 9, accompanied by two good spirited grudge matches between the Y10 vs Y11 and the showcase match Y12 vs Y13. The main event saw the Y12s narrowly edge out the departing Y13s in what was their final fixture in the theatre of dreams (AKA Grists Playing Fields).

RuGBY AT TIFFIN

After the fixtures the Rugby Awards were presented by Mr. Blackburn, Mr. Bala and Mr. Gascoigne. A list of everyone who received an award can be found below:

Kai Smith accepting the Dave Morris Cup from Jeanette Morris

Ernie Robinson accepts the Y7 A Team Most Improved Award

ROWING CLUB

The rowing club competed at Hampton Head race over 3.2km. The ensemble of Vlad Markov, Lucas Wilde, Jesper Naisby and Shawn Dickson with cox Thivi Ravi ( of TGS ) produced another outstanding performance to beat some of the best rowing crews in the country. Our second boat – Shan Liew, Vlad Soin, Tom Nelson, Michael Dennis & Leo Bullinger also showed great promise finishing 6 th overall. We also had decent representation from our seniors and in our girl ’ s section from TGS.

YEAR 8 MINIBRIDGE COMPETITION

On Friday 3 rd February, Ayan, Aditya, Rafi, Haris and Isaac in Year 9 and Finley and Reuben in Year 8 took part in the Minibridge competition in the Surrey Schools Cup at Richard Challoner School. This was Tiffin's first appearance in the competition and all played with fantastic concentration over three and a half hours to achieve creditable scores all round. Particular congratulations to Finley and Reuben who won the

competition by a large margin. They will be presented with the David Garfit Clowes Trophy for Minibridge.

TIFFIN BADMINTON

NETBALL

Another outstanding result over Charterhouse last week. A 12 games to 4 win for Tiffin leaves the team unbeaten at both A and B level.

On Thursday 9 th February, the Tiffin Netball team took two teams to the Kingston Netball Borough Tournament. There were 7 teams competing with both state, private and grammar schools. A lot of outstanding netball was played back to back across the course of the whole day. The 1 st team played exceptionally well winning a total of 5 out of 7 matches placing 3 rd place overall. The 2 nd Team placed 6 th place. Everyone played exceptionally well but a special thanks special to Anna Hagan though : she led the squad today with clear communication, patience and positivity throughout the day.

CROSS COUNTRY

Connor Foley won the Surrey Senior Cross country Champs on Saturday 21st January at Reigate Priory.

Traditionally the hardest County race to win. He is a year young for the age group, and his exploits so far this season, include Kings Trophy Wimbledon 2nd (South of England , long course). Haskell cup Guildford fastest leg 1st and inaugural relay leg record 4 person relay,

3rd English schools National final Leeds. These superlative performances have been founded on his brilliance and perhaps more significantly the best team spirit seen in 35 years engendered by Johnny Schaffer and Dhruv Simmonite and the year 11 stars Andrew Tian and Atharv Pruthi and whole squad. Without the team behind him we would not qualify for such prestigious races. Thomas Whorton also placed 8th putting him in the frame for a county vest. Again he is a year young for the junior age group.

TIFFIN PRODUCTION

DANCE AT TIFFIN

On Wednesday 8th February Tiffin Dance Company rehearsed their new piece 'The Pack' with a professional choreographer James Aiden - Kay from Tranceworks Dance. The piece will be performed at Trinity Laban as part of National Youth Dance Festival - representing London region after half term.

This week, the whole school production of ‘ A Tale of Two Cities ’, Jill Santoriello ’ s musical adaptation of the Dickens ’ classic, took place. The team of over one hundred students, who formed the cast, prod team, filming crew and orchestra, performed to over seven hundred audience members across all four nights! The show brought drama, romance, death and revolution to the Main Hall, with everything from a guillotine to a graveyard with some very familiar names … From the orchestra conducted by Mr O ’ Malley, to vocal coaching by Ms Cadogan and Dr Selig (also show pianist), to directing and producing by Mr Moodie, the show was a team effort throughout. The turnout for every performance was testament to the supportiveness of the wider Tiffin community, and both Music & Drama look forward to welcoming audiences to their next performances!

DANCE AT TIFFIN

On Thursday 19th January Tiffin Dance Company and The Glee Club performers attended 'Boy's Day' at the BRIT School. Students took part in a workshop delivered by current Applied Theatre, Musical Theatre and Dance students. They then watched Khronos Dance Company perform.

Here is trip report from Xavier Flambert: After a long journey to South Croydon, our day at the world renowned Brit School started off with a workshop with some of their Y13s. We worked on using creative movements within a piece and interesting techniques. We then learnt a section of one of their pieces they performed to recruiters, it had some difficult choreography but we nailed it in the end. After lunch, we were then lucky enough to see a 20 minute dance performance by various students. It was absolutely stunning and something absolutely brilliant and I feel blessed we saw it for free. It was a superb day out and thank you to the Brit for having us.

FRENCH DEBATING COMPETITION

St Paul ’ s Girls ’ School was once again the venue for this year ’ s Joutes Oratoires (‘ oratory jousts ’) French debating competition, in which four A - level students from Tiffin competed on Tuesday 31 January. Organised by the Institut Français, France ’ s global association for cultural outreach, the debating competition takes place each year, pitting Year 12 and 13 students against each other in topical debates. Students of bilingual heritage are excluded from the competition for fairness, giving all participants an excellent opportunity to engage with other like - minded Francophiles – but also to improve fluency and spontaneity. This was the Central London heat, and a place in the regional final was the prize for the winners of each pool of six teams. The debates comprise four initial speeches followed by four minutes of lutte acharnée (literally

‘ fierce combat ’) during which the two teams lock horns in free debate, and are concluded by a short summary speech from each side.

Participants had to be prepared to argue for either side when debating the following three motions:

• The rise in energy prices is a good thing.

• International sporting events should only be hosted by countries that respect human rights.

• Voting should be made compulsory.

On the day, there was just time for a final practice before the long taxi journey to Hammersmith.

Armed with a few pages of notes, the students faced such prestigious opponents as King ’ s College School Wimbledon, Eton and Winchester College, as well as local rivals Hampton and Ibstock Place. Both teams acquitted themselves well, scoring progressively better with each round, with James and Nikolai awarded 23 points out of 30 for their three debates, a Tiffin record. Refreshments followed, during which the results were announced: despite the vehement arguments of both Tiffin teams, we were unfortunately unable to secure a place in the next round. Nevertheless, the competition was both enriching and entertaining, and it was undoubtedly an evening well spent!

SIXTH FORM BERLIN TRIP

Early on the 17 th of January seventeen Sixth Form Germanists, accompanied by Mrs Evans and Mr Atkinson, set out for their trip to Berlin. After transferring to centrally located “ aletto Hotel Kudamm ” we started exploring Berlin with a long walk to the restaurant “ Route 66” where we enjoyed our first meal in the city. Next morning a trip up the TV - Tower “ am Alexanderplatz ” in the former East Berlin gave a great overview of the city. The view from 200m high was impressive to say the least. After a quick lunch break we dove straight into a more highbrow topic and had a guided tour at the “ Neue Nationalgalerie ” (new national gallery) covering the connection between art and society in the first half of the twentieth century. The day was rounded off with a well - deserved and tasty meal at a restaurant.

SIXTH FORM BERLIN TRIP

Thursday was another busy day, the guided tour of the Hohenschönhausen prison, a former GDR secret police prison, was the absolute highlight of the Berlin visit. The tour brought the level of observation and secret surveillance in the GDR to light. The prison tour and the afternoon visit to the Stasi Museum – the Stasi were the East German secret police – linked in well with the curriculum film “ Das Leben der Anderen ” and this direct connection made the visits even more memorable. Friday was our last day, and we began the day with a visit to the German “ Reichstag ”, the German parliament with its famous Sir Norman Foster glass dome. The views from the top were definitely worth it. Completing the final morning were visits to key historical landmarks in Berlin – the Holocaust memorial, the Brandenburg gate and the Memorial to commemorate the persecution of the Sinti & Roma. Four days had flown by and we landed in Gatwick on Friday evening. Despite the cold weather – and maybe because of it (and the respective lack of tourists) – we were able to grasp a glimpse of the versatile nature of Berlin, which has enriched our cultural knowledge and will surely give us food for thought beyond the A - Level Exams.

MUSIC PERFORMANCES

House Singing The House Singing Final involved as many performers as ever, with an estimated 200 finalists chosen from 250 participants performing to an audience of 400 or so, with standing room only

in the Tiffin Sports Hall. The final began with the Soprano, Alto, Tenor and Bass Soloists ’ category. From the first performance of the evening, the high standard of these performances was immediately evident, which led to an unusually large number of eight performers to be selected for the final. Of these, it was three performances which excelled: Lia ’ s (Livingstone) engaging rendition of Cole Porter ’ s Kiss Me Kate earned her 3 rd place, along with Conor ’ s (Scott) lyrical ‘ Music for a While ’ by Purcell gaining 2 nd place, with Barney ’ s (Drake) Is My Team Ploughing? by Butterworth winning this category for its expressive storytelling. This was followed by the Partsong category, including choirs ranging in size from 7 to around 27 singers. In joint 3rd were Drake and Darwin - Wilberforce with their successfully directing this hugely ambitious arrangement – the highlight of the evening in my opinion. The Treble Song category followed, with the three winning performers chosen from five finalists being Jacob (Scott) in 3rd place, Lucas (Drake) in 2nd and Iason (Turing - Nightingale) in 1 st for their songs Linden Lea, Where ’ er You Walk and The Jaguar respectively. As always, it is the Unison Song category that provides the grand finale to the evening, and this year ’ s performances did so not only with energy but also precision. In 3 rd place for their ‘ Mamma Mia ’ was Raleigh, with 2 nd place awarded for Livingstone ’ s ‘ My Neighbour Totoro ’, and 1 st place to Darwin - Wilberforce for their exceptionally expressive and varied ‘ Sweet

energetic performances of Blue Shadows on the Trail and Signed Sealed Delivered respectively. This led 2 nd place to be awarded to Kingsley - Montgomery for their rhythmic performance of OT Daniel Blaze ’ s arrangement of Just The Two Of Us. Winning this category was Livingstone ’ s impressive performance of My Favourite Things, with great credit to Henry for creating and

Caroline ’, with Arjan winning the Conductor ’ s Baton. Thanks go to Mark Williams, Informator Choristarum and Fellow of Magdalen College Oxford who, as adjudicator, gave the performers much positive feedback, especially on the subject of selecting unison songs in the singable vocal range.

MUSIC PERFORMANCES

T iffin Boys ’ Choir perform Tannhauser with the Royal Opera Between the 29 th January and 16 th February 2023, members of Tiffin Boys ’ Choir will have given six performances of Wagner ’ s opera ‘ Tannhauser ’ with the soloists, chorus and orchestra of the Royal Opera. Having attended many singing and acting rehearsals with the Royal Opera ’ s star soloists and chorus, the pupils prepared to appear in the finale to the opera on stage at Covent Garden. Reviewers have praised the performances of the ‘ excellent ROH chorus and superb Tiffin Boys ’ Choir ’ , (The Times)

JLT EVENT

Secretary of state for Northern Ireland and ex - Tiffinian Chris Heaton - Harris visited Tiffin in January for a talk to the Tiffin Politics Society on his experience of politics. Chris Heaton - Harris has had a dramatic career since he left Tiffin: initially working as a wholesaler of fruit and vegetables, he became an MEP and later an MP. He has now served in Government under Boris Johnson, Liz Truss and now Rishi Sunak. It was thrilling to talk to such an esteemed politician; but, perhaps more interesting, was to hear about his fond memories of Tiffin, many of which were not only heart - warming but hilarious. During our tour, he noted the changes to the school, but he was also impressed that Tiffin had retained so much of its unique atmosphere. During his talk to the society, he mentioned how the lessons he learnt from his wider Tiffin life were invaluable: he learnt humility, for example, from cricket; public speaking and debating have been crucial for his career too. It was also exciting to watch him grapple with a series of very challenging questions from students in the audience. Chris Heaton - Harris ’ s visit made for fascinating afternoon.