Head's Newsletter 13 November 2015

has proved highly beneficial to the sixth formers involved. We also held moving services on 11th November to remember the many Tiffin students who have died in service of their country, laying wreaths on the memorials in the School Hall, including the new memorial that has been put up by TAL. This contains the names of Tiffin students who it has since been discovered died in the wars, but were not put on the original memorials, as well as the name of a more recent student, Day Moran, who died in 2013.

Dear Parents, I do hope you and your sons had a refreshing half term, and that your sons have settled back into what will be a very busy half term. It was great to finish half term with the Year 7 Inter-Form Singing competition, and to see so many parents at a packed Kingston Parish Church, to witness their sons singing. There were some very good group performances demonstrating how far they had developed musically in just half a term! At the other end of the school, we also enjoyed the Sixth Form play before half term; it was great to have a full house to witness some most mature and impressive performances from the sixth formers. It has been a busy time on the sports side as well. Many of our rowers were successfully competing in the Kingston Head; the Badminton and Basketball teams have been competing against other local schools, and before half term we hosted, in Richmond Park, the Judge Cup for Cross Country. Rugby fixtures have started again and it was a great pleasure to watch a number of sides winning against St George’s College last Saturday. We would encourage parents to come and support their sons at Grist’s, as well as get involved with TIPRA. It was good to see so many parents at the Upper Sixth parents’ consultations, our first academic progress consultations of the year. It is a very important time of the year for the Upper Sixth, as they apply for university and begin to receive offers. Others have been involved in pre-interview tests for university entrance, and are preparing for interviews. As well as the many practice interviews we do, I am also pleased that we currently have a number of ex-Tiffin students conducting specific practice interviews for our Medical and Dental applicants, an annual event that

We will also see another dimension to the Tiffin community when we host the annual Reunion Dinner tonight for ex-Tiffin students; this year’s dinner is focused on the leavers of 2005, and we look forward to welcoming many of them back after 10 years. Finally I would like to remind parents of our Careers Fair for Years 10-13, next Thursday 19 November from 6.30-8.30. Please see the notice further in to the newsletter, and do please come with your sons. I would point out that for this event, you will not be able to park on site (except disabled parking); please use the town centre car parks.

Yours, M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

C ongratulations to our Senior team in the Team Maths Challenge run by the UK Mathematics Trust. In the recent Regional Final they achieved a perfect score of 180 out of 180, sailing through to the National Final in February. The team consisted of (from left to right) Cameron Ruiz (U6), Jim Tse (L6), Hosouk Lee (L6) and Bemin Sheen (U6). An incredible achievement, which they hope to match in the final!

On Thursday 5 th November 120 of the school's top mathematicians elected to sit the UK Senior Maths Challenge. With the current U6 containing some of the strongest mathematicians the school has taught for several years, expectations were high. And they delivered, with our best set of top scores on record. Congratulations to the 10 boys who have qualified for the prestigious British Maths Olympiad. Two boys, Bemin Sheen (with a perfect score) and Cameron Ruiz (120/125) beat the previous school record of 117, with Hosouk Lee in L6 and Maxi Purewal in Year 11 matching the record. Two Year 10 students, Vincent Trieu and Navonil Neogi, also qualified, despite entering two years early!

Dr Frost, Teacher of Maths, was the Featured Author in the Times Educational Supplement where his lessons and activities were described as “brilliant”. Do follow this link to read about him: Dr Frost - Featured Author

Dr Jamie Frost

GEOGRAPHY FIELD TRIP TO DORSET

As ever we managed to get every Year 12 student into the field, covering a number of activities including fording and measuring rivers, disturbing angry rutting deer, crossing bogs and mires and climbing Dartmoor tors!

65 Year 9 boys visited the Roman Baths in Bath last Thursday. The boys toured the Museum and had a lecture on the ancient town of Aqaue Sulis from an archaeologist which involved handling some genuine Roman artefacts. Despite the hours spent on the coach, the boys thoroughly enjoyed the day and benefitted enormously from the experience. My thanks go to the boys for their enthusiasm and patience, and to all the staff members who accompanied us on the day. Mrs C O’Connell, Head of Classics

Thanks must go to my colleagues Messrs Brittain and Langrish, for their patience and commitment to the joys of early starts and delivering twelve continuous days of teaching, also involving long drives and evening supervision. Abiding memories of the year, other than the laughter and fun that so many students found in learning so much geography, will be the need of students to eat colossal amounts of food at every opportunity and the joys of walking the moors in darkness to get some stunning night views! As always, I want to offer a big thanks to all the staff for their help and/or forbearance. The students could not do so well in the subject without their support to make the trips happen, and we appreciate that greatly. Mr M Horwood, Head of Geography

Over the October half term, the Art and Spanish Departments joined together to take 25 students to visit the art & cultural sights of Barcelona. decorative architecture by Gaudi; experiencing the undulating rooftops of Casa Batlló and having a guided tour of the Sagrada Familia, which when completed will become the tallest church in the world, were definite highlights. Students experienced the current art scene in Barcelona, enjoying the cryptic minimalism of the MACBA, Barcelona’s contemporary art museum. A visit to the Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya showed over thousand years of art in Barcelona. Art students witnessed Hokusai’s “the Great Wave” in person, leaving many of them surprised by its small size in reality. The Art Visiting the stunning

students basked in the sun, taking in panoramic views over the city, as the Museum is situated on top of the slopes of Montjuïc. The Spanish students used their excellent language skills whenever possible, ordering authentic Catalan Tapas and experiencing local Catalan markets. Needless to say the most popular food destination of choice remained the Hard Rock Cafe. A visit to Camp Nou enabled the students to gain

essential knowledge of the Barcelona football stadium and an insight into famous footballers’ experience before matches.

Overall, it was a hugely successful trip.

refreshments will be served by the Friends of Tiffin Music. The concert will end at approximately 8:30pm.

Wittgenstein Seminar at Oxford On 4th November, the Upper 6th Philosophers went to Keble College, Oxford) to attend a seminar led by the Chair of the Board of the Faculty of Philosophy, Dr Edward Harcourt. The seminar focused on the work of Ludwig Wittgenstein, perhaps the greatest, if not most influential, philosopher of the 20 th century in the Anglophone world. In particular, Dr Harcourt attempted to provide a more nuanced understanding of Wittgenstein’s difficult philosophy of language than is permitted by the confines of the A Level course. The day ended with a chat with current Oxford undergraduates and a guided tour around the College itself, shown below, which was founded in memory of John Keble, a founding member of the so-called ‘Tractarian’ movement which sought to recover the Catholic heritage of the Church of England.

Congratulations to Adam Meyer who has gained a place in the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain. Adam auditioned successfully and was selected from thousands of applicants. This year, Adam will perform in venues around the country in broadcast performances with world-renowned conductors. This is an outstanding achievement.

Adam played The Last Post beautifully at the School’s Remembrance Service this last Wednesday.

Gig Night Next Friday (20 th November) at 6.30pm Gig Night returns to the school. This is a fantastic event, where the boys can showcase their rock bands and play to a packed crowd of their students. There are some very strong bands and it is sure to be a memorable evening!

AUTUMN INSTRUMENTAL CONCERT 7:00 pm on Tuesday 17 November 2015 You are invited to the Autumn Instrumental Concert taking place at 7:00pm on Tuesday 17 November in the Main Hall at Tiffin School. All are welcome to attend, admission is free of charge, seating is unreserved and no ticket is required to enter. During the interval,

The Reigate game was a much tighter affair with Tiffin very much being seen as the underdogs. Having gone a couple of scores down early in the game, two tries from Matthew Hinks and one from Ben Chandler along with an excellent kicking performance from Ben saw Tiffin hold on for a 22 – 20 win. An excellent effort from the entire squad and a well-deserved victory.

1st XV Rugby Report

Leading into the half term break the 1st XV played two important matches. The first was against St George’s Weybridge in the National Cup and the second against a very strong Reigate Grammar side.

I am happy to report that they won both in confident manor. The side showed impressive progress and discipline in defence; and they were consistently more accurate than in previous matches in attack. Max Talman, George Griffiths, Joe Mills, Ben Chandler and Joseph Ahan all got over the try line against St Georges with Ben also converting 4 of these tries to make the final score 38 – 10 to Tiffin.

It was also very pleasing that we are able to award two more red ties. These go to players who have won 10 games in the 1st XV. These two ties are quite an achievement as both were being presented to Lower 6th boys who since the Tour to Canada have been ever present in the Senior Squads. Both Hosouk Lee and Conor Fulton should be very proud.

Y e a r 7 L ond on Zoo t r i p Year 7 undertook their first major expedition last week with our annual visit to London Zoo. Concerns about the weather proved unfounded as we were blessed with a fine day allowing us to fully enjoy the experience. We were able to explore the whole zoo and it was wonderful to see the boys so excited yet so well behaved. They loved the tigers and gorillas but the favourite experience was the close up encounter with the squirrel monkeys and emperor tamarins. In addition to the simple fun of meeting the animals, the boys were able to take notes and speak to zoo staff to help them with their task of evaluating the role of zoos in conservation. Many thanks to Miss Bond for organising the day and to the parents who proved such enthusiastic and

TIFFIN CAREERS FAIR – 19 NOVEMBER A reminder that the second of our biennial Careers Fairs will take place on Thursday 19 November between 6.30 and 8.30 pm. We have over 70 contributors, including representatives from some of the major banks, law firms, engineering companies and medical professionals. The Fair is open to all students in Years 10, 11, 12 and 13. We expect that all boys will attend this superb event and we hope as many parents as possible will attend with their sons. This event offers an opportunity to find out about a wide variety of different careers across a range of sectors from finance to the creative arts, medicine to technology. (see chart of contributors below).

capable helpers.

‘Selfie’ with penguin!

M ilestone —The U14s reached a milestone last week when they attended their 400 th basketball session since the start of Year 7. Their dedication, perseverance and team cohesion has led them to win all but 4 matches since the start of Year 7 losing by no more than 4 points. They have a perfect record this season and beat Harris Academy Crystal Palace on Wednesday evening away from home 70-47. Harris Academy is a phenomenal basketball team who defeated Tiffin in the Surrey Cup final last year by 4 points, and compete at national level. The U14s will take on Glyn at home on Tuesday 1 st December at 4pm.

There will be two time slots; however there is flexibility between these times if required. 6:30pm – 7:30pm - Year 10 and Year 11 7:30pm – 8:30pm - Lower Sixth and Upper Sixth There will also be a range of talks running throughout the evening, which you and your sons are free to attend as you wish.