Head's Newsletter 18 May 2018

and produce a water filtering system for a building including a moisture sensor, filtering system, pump and water supply. The students worked competitively in teams and they rapidly produced designs and constructed suitable structures to support their mechanisms. Based upon the information from the speaker they proceeded to solder their circuits, test effective positions for the pump and construct an efficient watertight structure to collect rainwater. After 4 hours of hard labour their concepts were tested and the group marketed their idea. It was pleasing to note the ingenuity of design and enthusiasm of the groups. Their presentations were invariably to a professional standard and gained high praise from the STEM representative.

On 26 April 260 boys sat the UKMT Junior Maths Challenge but we have recently received the excellent results of the Intermediate Maths Challenge. The improvement in the schools results over the last few years has been quite remarkable. The UKMT Challenges are only aimed at gifted and talented mathematicians with almost every school in the country entering their best students. Only the top 6% of those entering receive Gold medals. 102 Tiffin boys achieved Golds Certificates.

The results were equally pleasing with a record 47 boys achieving merits or distinctions in the prestigious follow-on rounds including four boys who were in the top 50 nationally in their year groups winning book prizes.

The Design & Technology Department have maintained our links with STEM. This is a body which actively promotes awareness and opportunities within the field of engineering. 60 Year 9 boys took part in a STEM activity day with a guest presenter. The boys were issued with a brief to design