Head's Newsletter 18 March 2016

Dear Parents Welcome to the final newsletter of the Easter term. It has, as always, been a fantastically busy last two weeks, and this bumper newsletter gives a taste of some of the many events that have taken place. A great occasion was had by all at the Kingston Parish Church last night when the choir (consisting of over 60 boys) sang the St John Passion by Bach, accompanied by the Brandenburg Sinfonia, and two singers who were former members of the Tiffin choir! The quality of Tiffin music is outstanding by any measure, and congratulations must go to all students and staff involved. The choir’s list of engagements continues next week when they are performing at the Barbican! You can also read more about the choir in the newsletter and in particular the amazing success of Ben Knight performing at the Opera House. On the sports front, the U14 Basketball team have seen tremendous success becoming Surrey champions and hopefully winning the league as well. The rugby sevens competitions have continued apace and it was a great pleasure to present gold (25 win ties) and red (10 win ties) in the senior assembly, as well as the Jack Petchey awards. Last week we also hosted the Borough Literary Quiz final. Against opposition from many top schools I'm delighted to report that I was able to present the winning trophy to Tiffin.

Attending the Oxford and Cambridge reunion dinner on Saturday was an opportunity to meet up again with many Old Tiffinians who themselves were once the beneficiaries of the Tiffin education. These occasions remind us of the educational heritage and the wider family that all Tiffin students belong to. With privilege comes responsibility, and yesterday was an opportunity for the boys to raise money for those less fortunate than themselves. One of our aims at Tiffin is to foster empathy, generosity and a respect for others; following a series of excellent assemblies by Sixth Form students, we held a mufti day to raise money for Oxfam's appeal for the Syrian refugee crisis. The focus for many boys now, is of course upon the public exams, which are rapidly approaching. I do hope that those boys in years 11 to 13 will use the Easter break most productively as they look towards the first exams in May. We break up at lunchtime next Thursday. We hope the Classics students have a great time on their trip to Sardinia, and the Basketball squad are successful on their tour to Chicago. I wish everybody a very happy and restful Easter break and look forward to seeing all the boys on April 11 when we return for the summer term.

Yours, M D Gascoigne

IMPORTANT DATES

Boys break up for Easter by 12.30 pm

Thursday 24 March

Boys start back after Easter, normal 8.30 start

Monday 11 April

Wednesday 20 April

Y10 Parents’ Consultations; school finishes 2.40 pm

Monday 2 May

BANK HOLIDAY

Friday 6 May

Year 11 Study Leave commences 3.30 pm

Lower 6th Study Leave commences 3.30 pm

Wednesday 11 May

Upper 6th Study Leave commences 3.30 pm

Friday 13 May

Lower School exams

Friday 20—Thursday 26 May

Professional Development day; no boys in school

Friday 27 May

Year 10 student, Ben Knight, successfully auditioned for the role of Fyodor in the current production of Boris Godunov starring Bryn Terfel as Boris and conducted by Antonio Pappano. Ben has been commended for his professionalism by his fellow singers and his hard work during rehearsals is evident from the positive reviews following the opening night on Monday: ‘…….outstandingly mature performance of young Ben Knight as Boris's son Fyodor’ WhatsOnStage ‘…….clings to his son Fyodor (sung forthrightly by Ben Knight)’ The Guardian ‘Ben Knight from Tiffin School sings beautifully and is deeply touching as Boris’s son’ The Telegraph ‘……and a nod to the future in the outstandingly mature performance of young Ben Knight as Boris's son Fyodor. A role that's often taken by a woman packs an especial punch here thanks to the teenager's touching vocal and dramatic strengths.’ The Stage The production runs until the 5th April and can also be seen at cinemas live on Monday 21st March and on Easter Sunday. Next term the school’s association with the Royal Opera House continues with 30 boys singing in Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser .

It was a great delight to give Jack Petchey awards to the following boys: James Cook for contributions to Drama, Oliver Bowles for contributions to Badminton, and Sam Butler for his contribution to Dance.

VISITING SPEAKER

presentations socio- economic impacts of El Nino; the geopolitics of water security in Egypt; and the changing nature of hotspot theory. These projects were the result of months of independent research and analysis; a process that the students found very constructive and very good preparation for university. The audience was highly engaged by the presentations and rewarded the students with very positive feedback. included: the

After Lord Winston’s and Dr Nick Lane’s fascinating lectures earlier this academic year, our latest scientific guest speaker was just as anticipated. Professor Steve Jones, a world renowned geneticist and popular science author, gave a talk to a group of sixth form students on the balance between nature and nurture. He discussed how intimate the interaction between our genes and environment are, and how heritability depends on both these factors. His talk was highly accessible even to those not studying biology, yet still involved thought-provoking science. He also kept us all very entertained with his humour throughout the talk. We appreciate the time he took to speak to us, and I’m sure all those who attended learnt a huge amount from his wise words. Professor Jones is pictured below with Patrick Rennie, Assistant Head and Head of Faculty of Science and Ahmed Alhussni, a Deputy Head Boy, who invited the Professor.

VISIT TO CLARE COLLEGE, CAMBRIDGE

On Monday 7 th March fifteen Classicists attended a lecture on Ancient Democracy given by the eminent historian, Professor Paul Cartledge of Clare College, Cambridge. The students found the talk most enlightening and were very animated in discussing the issues raised upon their return to school. Moreover, the Professor seemed to be impressed by our boys' knowledge and enthusiasm. Thank you to Alex Games for organising this event and giving the boys the opportunity to experience academia at its finest.

VISIT TO ROYAL HOLLOWAY On Thursday 25 th February, ten students from Year 13 presented their geography extended projects to academics and university students at Royal Holloway, University of London. The three

BASKETBALL

week compared to Tiffin’s U14’s 6 hours a week. The U14s can hold their heads high that they managed to reach the last 16 of the nationals, but have been reminded that there is a lot more to do to defeat teams such as Barking Abbey.

The U14s have almost come to the end of this year’s season and there was a great victory for them to be proud of last week! The U14s had won all 11 of their games and the reward for this was reaching the last 16 of the national school competition. The U14s travelled to Barking Abbey School in Essex, but Barking Abbey was far too strong and had far too much experience. This was always going to be a

Ray Holding driving forward against Barking

Abbey School

Following the defeat in Essex, the U14s hosted Richard Challoner School in the semi-final of the Surrey Cup. Having defeated Richard Challoner in the semi- final last year by only 3 points, the U14s

Sam Taylor fighting for the ball against Barking Abbey School in the National Cup

tough game against a basketball academy where their U14 team train 12.5 hours a

CHAMPIONS!

The U14s are now Surrey Champions defeating many top schools along the way. Their final game of the season is against last year’s cup winners Harris Academy Crystal Palace. A win here will see the U14s win the league as well as the cup and clench their first double. The U14s have already defeated Harris away from home by 23 points this season, but finals always bring added pressure, and Harris won’t want to lose to Tiffin again. A big thank you must go to all of the parents that have supported the team during the season at home and away. This U14 team have currently won 33/39 games since Year 7. They have only lost 1 game at home since Year 7 and haven’t lost against a school in Surrey since April last year. Congratulations to all boys on a tremendous season and good luck in Chicago next week and in the league final on April 11th against Harris Academy. All pictures are taken by Mrs Lucy Spiers.

knew they would have to play well for the win. On this occasion the hard work and hundreds of hours of training set them apart from Richard Challoner and the U14s won comfortable by over 20 points. The loss at Barking Abbey also fuelled the U14s for success in this game. The reward for defeating Richard Challoner was a cup final game against Hampton School at Surrey Sports Park in Guildford.

Saarujan Sivananth taking on the opposition

Again the U14s were far too strong for Hampton and their pedigree showed, with the U14s winning 49-31 (Ray Holding 15 points, Saarujan Sivananth 14 points).

Omar Alqasem’s teardrop for 2 points in another Tiffin victory

LITERARY QUIZ

On Thursday 10th March 2016 Tiffin hosted the Inter Borough Literary Quiz, with teams representing the school in both the Junior and Senior rounds. The quiz involved rounds on set books, general literary knowledge and a picture round and the boys had already beaten five schools in the qualifying round to get to the final. The Junior team made up of Theo McDermott- Roberts 8ALK, Seb Pereira 8ALK, Mukund Pandey 8ALK, Martin He 8ALK, Vishrut Singh 8ALK and Abhijit Shidlagatta 8ALK, came a very impressive fourth in their round.

Everyone had a very enjoyable afternoon and the boys are already preparing to take on the challenge again next year. TIFFIN SCHOOL OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE REUNION DINNER 2016 Tiffinians, who left the School as long ago as 1951, congregated at Emmanuel College for the latest of the five-yearly dinners for alumni of both Tiffin School and Oxbridge colleges. The evening included speeches by Mike Gascoigne, Headteacher, and Phil Phillips, Chairman of Governors. The School was delighted to welcome a good number of ex-Tiffin teachers, including Tony Dempsey, ex-Tiffin Headteacher, and Simon Toyne, the last Director of Music, in addition to alumni.

The Senior team went on to come first, beating teams from Lady Eleanor Holles School, Kingston Grammar School, Claremont Fan Court School, Surbiton High School and Hampton School. The winning team are Archie Herbertson 10KO, Max McGarrigle 10PD, Alex Hobbs 10NG, Dhruv Sengupta 10NG, Manuj Mishra 10PD and Harry Lambert 9EWS.

MUFTI DAY THURSDAY 17 MARCH

KGS CLASSICS DINNER On Tuesday 15 th March senior Classicists from both our school and Tiffin Girls were treated to a convivial evening, courtesy of Kingston Grammar School. The Annual KGS Classical Society dinner involved a delicious dinner, but, more importantly, a fantastic speech from esteemed Classicist Dr John Taylor who regaled us with stories from Herodotus and waxed lyrical on the value of Classics today.

For the spring term MUFTI day, a large proportion of the Tiffin community chose to support the Oxfam Syria Crisis Appeal. Four million refugees, many of whom are young children, have escaped the warfare and destruction in Syria, and are now in desperate need of food, clean water, shelter and basic living essentials. Oxfam is providing help directly to the refugee camps in the neighbouring countries, and the school donation will certainly make a difference to these people’s lives. We hope that students give generously to this very worthy cause, and that we can raise even more money than the last MUFTI day, which was a school record. Below is the link to the Oxfam website where there is more information about the appeal, and a form if students/parents which to donate at home: https://donate.oxfam.org.uk/ emergency/syria . Ahmed Alhussni and Gabriel Barton-Singer, Deputy HBs Frisbee club starts up for year 9s and 10s with two taster sessions and hopefully more to follow. 30 students attended the second session and looked to be having a good time (see below)! FRISBEE CLUB

Cormac Molloy , stroke of our first quad, has made it through the first two stages of doubles trials,

with his partner from Globe RC, in his ongoing mission for GB junior selection.

They placed as the 6 th fastest double in the UK. A great result which will spur on the rest of the senior squad.

It is the end of another successful senior rugby season and the squad finish with 22 red ties and 6 gold. This is an outstanding achievement for these boys. Both the 1XV and 2XV had winning seasons with the 1XV wining 15 out of 25 scoring 647 points and the 2XV having an outstanding season and winning 14 from 18 and scoring 470 points. Looking forward to next year, eight of the red ties awarded this year were to Lower Sixth pupils and the pressure will be on these boys to build on the season just gone. I would like to take this opportunity to wish the Leavers of 2016 good luck and I hope we see them on the field again at the annual Old Boys fixture in January 2017. Gerwyn Wilson, Head of Rugby

On Monday 14 th March Tiffin Junior Dance Company performed at Rambert Dance Company Theatre at the South Bank. This was their final performance of a high profile Rambert Elements choreography challenge that the company has managed to secure alongside 25 other schools across the country. We have been given a challenging contemporary music by Tamsy Davies as our stimuli. The piece focuses on the signatures and identities of the individual dancers.

The music has been a driving force of this choreography. The dancers follow musical cues and dynamic changes as well as its layered structure. It was fantastic to see other interpretations of the same music performed by other schools. Tiffin dancers were the youngest dancers on the night. They performed superbly and managed to adapt to a much larger space than they are used to.