Head's Newsletter - 17 January 2020

Dear Parents,

Within this newsletter you can also read about some of the superb trips that have taken place recently. Our senior Spanish and Art students enjoyed a fantastic trip to Madrid before Christmas, and this week Year 9 Art students had a great trip to Oxford. The winter sports season continues despite the wet weather, with our January rugby fixtures. Mention must go particularly to the U14 and U13 teams who had excellent results against Hampton. We have also had some very good badminton fixtures recently, and there is a write-up of cross country. Amazingly, we have also started indoor cricket nets! We are very much looking forward to the annual school play to be performed in the week before February half term. This year we are putting on ‘ Around the World in 80 Days’, and it is promising to be another superb production, complete with our now renowned staging and lighting. Do make sure you purchase tickets once they go on sale! It was very good to see Year 11 parents at the consultations last week, especially as the year group enters the last term before they start their GCSE exams. We also look forward to seeing Year 9 parents on Wednesday. I wish all students an excellent spring term.

May I first of all wish all students and their families a very happy New Year. I do hope that you enjoyed the Christmas break and that the pupils have returned refreshed for the new term. I would also like to welcome new members of staff, Ms Scott as my new PA, Ms Buckland to the Drama Department, and Mr Carroll and Ms Shaba to Additional Needs. It now seems far away, but the end of term finished with our superb carol services and it was great to see different choirs performing in the two separate services we held for the whole school, split according to Houses. The music department were very busy right up to Christmas: we were delighted that our orchestra was able to perform for the Bedelsford School Christmas concert, and the Thames Youth Jazz Orchestra Christmas jazz evening was another highlight of the season. The choirs’ activities did not cease with the end of term; in January our choirs stayed in Oxford to record a Christmas CD which will be released next December: an ideal present for all the family! Not only did the choirs enjoy recording at Merton College, but it was a fantastic opportunity to bring all our choirs together including the chamber choir, the trebles, the Tiffin children’s chorus which includes the primary school children who sing with Tiffin, and the Cambiata and Oratorio trebles: 120 singers, boys and girls, from the ages of 8 to 18, a superb representation of the Tiffin community.

Yours, Mr M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

IMPORTANT DATES

Wednesday 22 January Tuesday 28 January Tuesday 4 February

Y9 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 1 pm Twilight PDD—school finishes at 1pm House Singing Final, Sports Hall at 7 pm School Play: “Around the World in 80 days.”

10-13 February

Friday 14 February

Professional Development Day: no students in school Half Term. Students return Monday 24 February at 8.30 am

15-23 February

A relatively quiet start to the year concerning sport not helped by the atrocious weather which no doubt will play its hand in the next few weekends if forecasts are right. One fixture for rugby saw us take on the old adversary Hampton. With the Hampton 1 st XV ranked third in the country, it was always going to be a tough match for the seniors, the final score finishing up as 52-12 to Hampton does not do Tiffin any justice. A brave display against an exceptional side with Tiffin’s two scores resulting from brilliant sets of phases and good finishes to match. There were wins for the unstoppable U14As in a tense and hard fought game, 5-0, and the U13As who have been going from strength to strength and have come a long way this season under Mr O’Connell and Miss White. Three weekend fixtures to go until the end of the season, one that has been great for development of the lower school. The future looks bright! No other results to report but with rugby fixtures this week against Glyn, mixed doubles badminton against Christs Hospital and a truckload of house competitions this week alone, it is set to be a busy term yet again. Winter cricket nets are in full swing and there is great attendance at training for basketball, badminton, table tennis all in anticipation of upcoming fixtures. Girls’ sport is as popular as ever, with Mr Brown taking Monday evening sessions for rugby and Miss O’Connell taking the netball during the week not to mention those involved in badminton, cross-country and rowing. We look forward to the spring term unfolding, hopefully offering more opportunities to grow in participation and strength, as the days get longer but no doubt a little colder!

On Tuesday 14th January fifty Year 9 students went on a day trip to Oxford with the Art Department. The trip was a fantastic success, despite the grey January weather. The first stop was the Pitt Rivers Museum, which houses over 26,000 objects donated by Augustus Pitt Rivers, a British Army, ethnologist, and archaeologist. There are now over half a million objects donated and purchased within the collection. During the visit, students enjoyed photography and drawing tasks. Students went on a walking tour past Oxford University’s Bodleian Library, the Radcliffe building and the Bridge of Sighs and enjoyed lunch at the Covered Market; a lovely food market. In the afternoon, students visited The Modern Art Gallery, viewing an exhibition by Kiki Smith, followed by a trip to the Ashmolean, the Museum of Art and Archaeology, founded in 1863. Gallery visits are key to students studying Art, as they are able to direct their own learning and see objects and works of art in the flesh. The trip was an opportunity for students to experience what an Art GCSE trip is like. It was great for students to visit a city, in which they might study in the future .

KNOLE RUN—10KM

Last Saturday, Tiffin students took on the infa- mous Knole Run, facing the likes of St Albans, The Judd, Sevenoaks, RGS and other schools from across the country. The Knole Run gains its fame from its notoriously hilly and lengthy course - 10km featuring 6 major hills. Notable performances include: Jack Hartrey (a year 11 veteran of the course), who paced his race to perfection, coming in in the early 40 minutes; Jonny Schafer (year 10), who smashed his previous year’s time by a good 8 minutes; and Alistair Brendon (year 11) who finished just behind Jack having also rowed 10km that morning! The other members of the team include: Charlie Krammer (year 12) leading the Tiffinians and Euan Sinclair (year 11) a newcomer to the course, who graced his way to the finish. In the end, despite the trials and tribulations, Tiffin came through to rank 17th School overall Nationally . Afterwards we were met by a fabulous tea prepared by Sevenoaks, which Tiffin took full advantage of. Euan leading the way with 11 flapjacks and brownies, followed up by Charlie and Alistair tying for second with 8 each. A special Thank You to Mr Shaw for giving up his Saturday to drive us there and supporting us along the way, and to Sevenoaks for that delicious tea! Charlie Krammer

The Astronomy Club met to observe the sun and its sunspots a number of times using the solar telescope kindly on load from the Rich- mond Scientific Society. We tested the new solar finder for the telescope, which proved to be extremely useful to quickly locate the sun. This is the astronomy club with the solar tele- scope.

On rainy days, the club used the National School Observatory remote telescope in Ca- nary Islands to carry out observations of the Moon, planets and galaxies. In particular, Tom Nelson and Alfred Warne carried out most of the observations and image analysis. Below, Jupiter with three of its moons, as seen by the School National Observatory.

España’ . That evening, on ‘Gran Via’ itself, the students had dinner at ‘Museo de Jamón’; feasting on typical Spanish tapas- these may have been tiny, but they were wholly filling! ¡Qué ricos! The students then took the metro to the bowling alley! It was an entertaining evening! The third day was spent in admiration of Spanish art, visiting Museo Nacional Centro de

9 th of December 2019, 21 Spanish and Art student (YR11—13) met early in the morning at school to catch the coach to Gatwick airport for the flight to Madrid. The students were staying at ‘Toc Hostel’, a beautiful and homely hostel, with fabulous facilities in Madrid. The first evening, Monday the students ventured out onto the crowded streets of Madrid to explore ‘La Plaza del Sol’ and ‘La Plaza Mayor’ before dinner. These were two amazingly decorated squares with giant Christmas trees and Christmas markets and costumed characters like Spiderman and Mickey Mouse. Dinner at Fresco, an enormous buffet was truly fulfilling and saw a close to a tiring, but great day. The following day, Tuesday, a treat for football fans entailed. A tour around the Real Madrid Stadium and exhibition. Perhaps the most thrilling part of the day was when the students got to sit on the luxurious seats of the players’ dugout at field level.

Arte Reina Sofia’ and ‘El Prado.’ Two different perspectives of Spanish art, a fantastic insight into the creative minds of Spanish artists. The sun had come out by late afternoon so the perfect weather for a stroll in the famous Retiro Park in Madrid. In the evening, the students took the metro to ‘Hard Rock Café’ for scrumptious burgers, ‘American style.’ The next morning, a half an hour train ride brought the students into Toledo; a gorgeous town- the religious capital, so to speak, of Spain. Full of captivating architecture, and a combination of Islamic and Christian architecture. The final day, the students had a Tour of the ‘Palacio Real de Madrid’ an exquisitely decorated palace belonging to the royal family before making their way back to the hostel to collect their bags and travel to the airport. It was truly an amazing trip.

After the exhilarating tour of the Real Madrid stadium, the students travelled by metro to ‘Gran Via’ which is a famous street in Madrid full of designer shops and enthralling decorations. At either end of the Gran Via there are ‘Plazas’ ‘Plaza de Cibeles’ and ‘Plaza

Muchísimas gracias a Doctora Moore, Señora Medel y Señor Kyriakides.. Shakshee Ramakrishnan Year 12

Our recording venue was the beautiful chapel of Merton College, in the centre of the Oxford, which also allowed the singers to visit a number of other bits of the city during their breaks. Right next to Merton is Christ Church Meadow, an enormous park-like area, which the Trebles made the most of, playing football between sessions and not taking quite enough notice of the times when the Meadow gates are locked. Being ‘rescued’ from the Meadow by both school and college staff was voted a highlight of the trip, closely followed by the evening ice-creams provided by Dr Selig while the Chamber Choir were still hard at work in the chapel. The recording took three days, during which the choirs stayed at a YHA next to Oxford Station. On the third day we were joined by another 60 singers from the school’s other choirs: Tiffin Children’s Chorus, Cambiata and the Oratorio Trebles. After a morning rehearsal with Mrs Cadogan in the chapel of Magdalen College, these singers joined forces with the Chamber Choir and Boys’ Choir in Merton to record four traditional Christmas carols: Once in Royal David’s City, O Little Town of Bethlehem, O Come All Ye Faithful, and Hark the Herald. The sound of 120 singers between the ages of 8 and 18 joining together was really special, and made for a wonderful finish to the recording before we all travelled back to Kingston to be ready for the start of term the following morning. The CD will be released this autumn, ready for Christmas 2020. Look out for more news!

Thanks successful Crowdfunder and a large number of very generous donations, the school choirs were able to undertake the very exciting project of recording a CD of Christmas music during the holidays. The Chamber Choir and Boys’ Choir travelled up to Oxford early on the morning of January 3 rd , and jumped straight into recording a number of Christmas favourites, including music by ex-Tiffin staff John Walker and David Nield, and the Tiffin-traditional Riu Riu Chiu . There were also Christmas classics, such as Harold Darke’s In the Bleak Midwinter , and more contemporary carols by Bob Chilcott and James MacMillan. Recording is extremely hard work: an initial sing-through of a piece is followed by listening through carefully, and singing bits over and over again until the producer has a number of takes where it is exactly right. It was a fantastic experience for the singers, most of whom had never recorded before, and all of whom rose the challenge of singing better and better each take. The countertenors, tenors and basses, who sing with both the Chamber Choir and the Boys’ Choir, had especially long days, and the Chamber Choir produced some fantastic performances, especially given that they have only been singing together since September! to our extremely

The autumn term was full of musical events. During the term Tiffin pupils performed Mozart’s Requiem and Mendelssohn’s Hebrides Overture, appeared at the Royal Opera House, Royal Festival Hall and Barbican, and released a recording with the Dunedin Consort. The Baton , Tiffin’s music newsletter, includes details of these and many other recent musical events. The latest edition can be found at: https://sites.google.com/tiffin.kingston.sch.uk/music/home/news/the-baton-

opportunities to ask current students about the application process which will no doubt prove invaluable. After some time exploring Cambridge, students returned to the Union for the evening's entertainment. First came the emergency debate carried out by students of the Union. Rather timely, this debate tackled the controversial topic of America's assassination of Qasem Soleimani. This was followed by the main event, chaired by our very own Gabriel. This complemented the emergency debate well, addressing the motion 'THB that Western military intervention in the Middle East has done more harm than good'. A heated and impassioned debate, including reflections of a first year Vietnamese student on the impact that American intervention had in his own country over many decades, clearly captivated our students who continued the debate long into the night on the minibus journey home. In what was a long but thoroughly interesting and enjoyable day our students were able to see first hand the opportunities that studying at an institution like Cambridge would offer. With any luck, we will see one of their number in the President's chair in the not too distant future.

On Thursday 16th January 14 Yr12 Politics & History students visited the Cambridge Union by the invitation of Old Tiffinian Gabriel Barton-Singer who has recently taken on the Presidency of the Union. The day started with a 2 hour debating workshop hosted by Gabriel in which students (and staff) participated in a spirited and often fairly confrontational verbal joust on the proposition: THB that the minimum voting age should be abolished. Touching on issues of political liberty, political engagement and even developmental psychology; students revelled in the opportunity to express themselves at the dispatch boxes as some of the great speakers of the last two centuries had done so before. After a fiery debate the motion was defeated by the smallest of margins, 9 to 8 with 1 crucial abstention. After this students were given the opportunity to tour some of Cambridge's colleges visiting Corpus Christi, Peterhouse and Trinity. During these tours students were given the inside track on life as a Cambridge student and given