Head's Newsletter 13 January 2017

There are a number of staff changes this January. We welcome to the school Mr Blackburn who is the new Head of Games and Rugby, and Ms Forrester who is teaching English. With Mr Whittaker's absence this term due to surgery, we welcome Mr O'Brien back to the School Chemistry Department. Mr Marley has taken over the running of 21st-Century Life, and Miss Bond is acting Head of Year Eight. As usual the term started busily with our first rugby fixtures last Saturday. Rehearsals are stepping up for the school play in February and are underway for the house singing. It is of course a particularly important time for the GCSE and A-level students. With only four weeks to February half term and then a further seven school weeks to Easter, there is a renewed focus for the exam classes. We are now in midwinter, but we hope that the weather will not bring too much disruption to games, sports fixtures, or the School; we will endeavour to inform you as soon as possible if there are any changes to arrangements. I wish all pupils a very successful term. Yours, M D Gascoigne Headteacher

Dear Parents, Welcome to the first newsletter of 2017, and may I wish a happy New Year to all pupils and parents. It is certainly tremendously exciting to finally see work commencing on the new building! Over the Christmas holidays the old dining hall was emptied and the new temporary arrangements were established in the Main Hall. We are now serving snacks, sandwiches, pasta, jacket potatoes and other food in the main hall at breakfast, break and lunchtime, and as we progress through the term, the menu will undoubtedly expand. The site itself has been cordoned off for the construction, and the old building is now being demolished. Once cleared, the contractors will soon be starting on the piling and foundations. It really will be very exciting to see the building going up. It now seems a long time ago since the end of term, and especially the fantastic Carol Service. It really was marvellous to hear the choir singing on Classic FM, and they rightly received many accolades for the quality of their performance, reinforcing the national reputation of the choir and School. We thank the special guests who participated in the service, and congratulate all the boys, as well as was Mr Day and Mr O'Malley.

IMPORTANT DATES

Thursday 19 January

Year 9 Options Evening at 7 pm

Tuesday 24 January

Y9 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 2 pm

Twilight PDD—school finishes at 2 pm

Tuesday 31 January

House Singing Final, Sports Hall at 7 pm

Wednesday 1 February

School Play: The Comedy of Errors (matinée and evening)

Saturday 4 February

School Play: The Comedy of Errors at 7 pm

6 February to 9 February

Friday 10 February

Professional Development Day: no boys in school

BEFORE

DONATIONS TO NEW BUILDING

As you can see we are well on the way towards our new building. Thank you to all those parents who have so far donated to the building appeal. If you have not yet had a chance to do so and would like to, the easiest way to donate is simply to log in to ParentPay , click on ‘pay for other items’, then ‘New Building Appeal’ and put in the amount you wish to donate. Alternatively you can donate by bank transfer or cheque; please see the form to do so. Please also remember to tick the Gift Aid consent if you are eligible to do so as we are able to then claim back from the Government 25p in every £1 donated!

DURING

GOING

GONE!

GOING

Antipholus of Ephesus, and false accusations of infidelity, theft, madness, and demonic possession. Please go to www.ticketsource.co.uk/ tiffinschool to book your tickets now. British Physics Olympiad competition Congratulations to the boys below who sat the British Physics Olympiad. This year over 1,680 students participated. Top 50 means in the entire country! So well done to Chris and also Navonil who is only in Year 11 and competing against boys 2 years senior to him.

This year’s exciting drama production, The Comedy of Errors, which is to take place in the Drama Studio (the Main Hall is out of action as it is serving as our temporary dining hall during the building of its replacement) will run from Monday, 6 February to Thursday 9 February at 7 pm with an additional matinée and evening performance on Saturday 4 February. The play, one of William Shakespeare's early plays, is his shortest and one of his most farcical comedies, with a major part of the humour coming from slapstick and mistaken identity, in addition to puns and word play. It tells the story of two sets of identical twins that were accidentally separated at birth, Antipholus of Syracuse and his servant, Dromio of Syracuse, arrive in Ephesus, which turns out to be the home of their twin brothers, Antipholus of Ephesus and his servant, Dromio of Ephesus. When the Syracusans encounter the friends and families of their twins, a series of wild mishaps based on mistaken identities lead to wrongful beatings, a near-seduction, the arrest of

Name

Award

Chris McDonald Arthur Morris

Gold (Top 50)

Gold Silver Silver

James Souter

Jim Tse

Bronze I

Navonil Neogi

Students who achieved a "Gold (Top 50)" award will be invited to participate in BPhO Round 2, the next round in the British Physics Olympiad competition, and BAAO Olympiad if they are interested in the Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad. These are set for Monday 30 th January 2017 and Monday 23 rd January 2017 respectively.

despite the long wait after the rehearsal and the late return home. The annual Christmas Service of Nine Les- sons and Carols at All Saints Church in King- ston was particularly special this year as Classic FM had agreed to broadcast the service over the Christmas period.

The final week of last term saw the equiva- lent of a music marathon. On Monday evening Children’s Chorus performed at the Rose Christmas Concert, singing a medley of seasonal music and a treble from Richard Challoner School was select- ed to open the concert with ‘Walking in the air’. Tuesday saw 40 trebles at the Royal Albert Hall for the BT Christmas Concert. The concert was presented by Chris Hollins and included a wide range of Christmas music from traditional carols, opera solos to fa- vourite hits. The boys were joined by the London Concert Chorus, the Band of Her Majesty’s Marines and the London Concert Orchestra. There was also plenty of audi- ence participation with conductor John Rigby leading the entire audience in ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’. For many of the boys this was their first taste of a packed audience at the Royal Albert Hall and they certainly enjoyed themselves,

This was a very exciting prospect especially as the readings were delivered by a mix of celebrities and boys. Readers included ex- Tiffin students Gethin Anthony (actor), Arun Harinath (cricketer), broadcasters Anne Robinson and Griff Rhys-Jones and actress Jenny Seagrove although the long- est and hardest first reading was delivered fluently by Joshua Cruice (8RH). To advertise the concert a short promo- tional video was produced by Tiffin Music Assistant, Isa Khan, which can be seen at https://youtu.be/15EekdqcyDE featuring Choral Director, James Day, and the choir.

Houghton-Flory Y10, Ashwin Sajeev Y11 , Christian Cases and Priyansh Mahajan, both Y9.

The term’s music events drew to a close with the ever popular evening of Christmas Jazz directed by Leo Appleyard, Jake Fryer and Simon Ferris. Both the Swing Band and Thames Youth Jazz Orchestra have un- dergone considerable rebuilding since the departure of key personnel last year but they kept the audience wanting more with several encores. There was plenty of the well-known big band repertoire finishing with a latin section which saw a few brave dancers take to the floor. Congratulations to new vocalist, Henry Saywell (12KD), who clearly made his mark on his debut and will no doubt grow in confidence the more he performs.

TOP OF THE BENCH COMPETITION On Thursday the 8 th December an elite team of 4 of our finest Chemists from Year 9, 10 and 11 competed in a regional heat of the Royal Society of Chemistry’s – Top of the Bench competition at Reed’s School in Cobham and there was strong academic competition on the night. The competition itself consisted of a practical exam and written exam sat individually by all the boys. In the past we have always came sec- ond but for the first time this year we won this regional heat. We are waiting to see if the boys will pro- gress to the next round but what a fantas- tic result! Congratulations to Callum

The first weekend fixtures of the year were against Glyn and Ibstock Place. Whilst it wasn’t the greatest conditions for rugby, the 1 st XV played very well against a tough Glyn side, adapting to the conditions and defending magnificently. Sam Cockroft was immense in his ball carrying and tackling work rate whilst man of the match Hugo Whittaker scrummaged, lifted, tackled and carried relentlessly all morning. Tiffin even- tually won the game 14 – 8, a great start to 2017. Results: Saturday 7 th January 1 st XV v Glyn 14 – 8 W 2 nd XV v Ibstock Place 36 – 5 W

As an Old Boy of the School I fully under- stand the importance that rugby has to play at Tiffin and fully enjoyed my time as a pupil. Now returning as a member of staff I hope to continue the excellent work Gerwyn Wilson had done as Head of Rugby and Games, create as many opportunities for boys to play as possible and move Tiffin Rugby forwards. The season’s return was swift, with the boys training hard on the first two days back and playing the traditional annual fix- ture against the U21 Old Boys team at Im- ber Court under floodlights. It was great to see so many recognisable faces and the game was played with a great spirit. The numerous spectators were treated to a great game of running rugby, testament to how the boys, old and new, have been coached in the past. The U21s, with a strong side including old boys Max Talman and Sharif Dougramaji, eventually ran out 31 - 20 winners. A great evening for all in- volved. Andy Blackburn Head of Rugby and Games

U16A v Glyn 7 – 24 L U15A v Glyn 0 – 33 L

U14A 29 – 12 W U14B 32 – 24 W U13A 25 – 10 L U13B 20 -20 D U12A 15 – 30 L U12B 15-10 W

School XV v Old Boys U21 XV 4th January 2017 at Imber Court