Head's Newsletter - 21 January 2022

and despite Covid we were able to run a Carol Service for the junior students, and also our evening guest service before Christmas. These were excellent and it was great to be back in the Church for these events. The Senior Chamber Choir then followed this up with a residential trip and three days of singing performances at Winchester Cathedral at New Year, and I hope some of you were able to watch this live through the YouTube stream. It ’ s been a particularly busy time for our dancers. We were able to successfully host the Kingston schools ’ dance competition, and I ’ m delighted to report that we won that competition and have gone through to the next round of the London Youth Games on the 10th of February; we wish our dance company all the very best for their performances in a few weeks ’ time. In this newsletter, you can also read about the local history excursion exploring the role of the Hawker aircraft factories in Kingston, which started just around the corner from the School in Canbury Park Road. The Psychology Department also hosted a very exciting ‘ Brain Day ’, which included Guest speaker, and visiting schools. Sport has not been too disrupted by winter weather so far and we have been able to operate most rugby fixtures since the start of term, and have recorded some very good wins. On top of this cricket training is now regularly occurring as well as rowing training, which also includes significant numbers of girls who are part of our boat club from Tiffin Girls ’ School. I look forward to seeing parents at the Guys and Dolls production.

Dear Parents,

It ’ s great to see everybody back this term. Having started the term with some uncertainty around Covid, it now appears that the peak of infection has passed, and we welcome the relaxation of control measures announced by the Government this week. Having had a rising number of cases in the week before we broke up for Christmas, with the spread of the Omicron variant, the actual number of Covid cases in school since January has been extremely low, and is now the lowest it has been since the September return this year. Although of course we are aware that the situation could yet still change, the low number of cases is excellent news indeed and hopefully means that we will avoid any further disruption from Covid, and be able to continue school as normally as possible. What is most exciting about the return to normality is that the full school production of Guys and Dolls is proceeding apace. The huge effort being made by the students involved whether they are on the stage, behind the scenes, or in the orchestra, will lead to another fantastic performance in the history of great Tiffin shows. Tickets have been selling rapidly but there are still some available. Please do come and watch what will be a terrific show and support the students in this fantastic work. Particular thanks go to Ms Hughes, the Head of Drama, and Mr O ’ Malley, the Director of Music for the incredible efforts they are making. We look forward to the performances. Within this newsletter you can also read about other performances that have taken place. The Music department have of course been active

Yours,

Mr M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

IMPORTANT DATES

Wednesday 2 February

House Singing Final, Sports Hall at 7 pm School Production “ Guys and Dolls ”

7 — 10 February

Friday 11 February 14 — 18 February

Last day of this half term school finishes normal time Half Term. Students return Monday 21 February at their normal times.

Click here to buy tickets or scan the QR code opposite.

MUSIC NEWS

Highlights from the Autumn Term music calendar can now be found here in the Autumn 2021 edition of The Baton Music Newsletter: Festivals of Lessons and Carols The Tiffin community celebrated the end of the Autumn term and the beginning of the Christmas season with two carol services on Wednesday 15th and Thursday 16th December. On Wednesday, the service sung by the Tiffin Boys ’ Choir began, as is tradition, with a solo treble leading the congregation in the first carol: Once In Royal David ’ s City. There followed both choir and congregational carols which included beautiful choral singing of Britten ’ s Hymn to the Virgin, Pearsall ’ s In Dulci Jubilo, Darke ’ s In The Bleak Midwinter and a setting by John Walker (former Director of Tiffin Boys ’ Choir) of Away In A Manger. Outstanding was the choir ’ s rendition of Rutter ’ s What Sweeter Music, in which the trebles, especially the many new Y7 members, sang with impressive poise and expression. Thursday ’ s carol service, led by the Chamber Choir, was sung to a congregation of Year 7, Year 8 and Sixth Form pupils most of whom, given the challenges of 2020 and 2021, were attending their first Tiffin Festival of Lessons and Carols. They were not disappointed thanks to the

impressive singing of the Chamber Choir, their repertoire that day including Ding Dong Merrily arr. Wilberg, My Lord has Come by Will Todd, In The Stillness by Sally Beamish and O come Emmanuel arr. David Nield (former Director of Music at Tiffin School). The choir sounded perfectly prepared to begin their residency at Winchester Cathedral. Cathedral Residency The Chamber Choir ’ s residency at Winchester Cathedral between 3 and 5 January 2022 led to beautiful singing and excellent musical development for all involved. Fresh from the Christmas holiday, this was an ideal time for pupils to work together over an extended period to develop their skills as choral singers. Choral Evensong was sung in the cathedral by the choir on the first two days of their stay, followed by a Choral Eucharist on the third. The choir sang with style and confidence the challenging settings of the canticles by Leighton and Howells, along with a mass setting by Darke. Recent OT, Daniel Blaze, who will join Clare College Cambridge as Organ Scholar next year, provided impressive organ accompaniment. The services can be enjoyed again here., here and here. Chamber Choir Winchester

SECONDARY

SCHOOLS

DANCE NEWS

DANCE COMPETTION charge of the overall task (that would involve finding timings, organising costumes and pointing out various tips to help us improve). After a week or so, we were informed of an even more daunting task where we would actually be performing the piece in a competition. At first, my heart skipped a beat at the idea, although I believe that this only led to more determination to polish up the

piece. Eventually, the day came. The day of the Kingston Dance Competition. Many other schools posed flawless pieces with extravagant touches and a real sense of emotion. The judge, Claire Guntrip of the Dance Faculty at Richmond College, pointed out their natural dancing flair. Shortly it was our turn to perform; the walk to the stage felt endless as we routinely assumed our starting positions. All round, I believe our performance went tremendously and that reflected in the results: I am proud to declare that we have been selected to represent Kingston Borough at the next round of London Youth Games (South London) at Langley Park School on 10th February! Enzo Brown

Tiffin has opened my eyes to many opportunities, one of those being dance. Having never before competed, practised or even learnt dance before, originally, I was sceptical to venture into this new language of motions. However, with support and endless patience from Mrs Brittain (my fabulous dance teacher) and James (a professional dancer), I, alongside 10 others from KS3, undertook the challenge of learning a choreographed piece for the Tiffin Dance Company. This consisted mainly of regular rehearsals, where we would repeat various phrases and explore new techniques. James was predominantly responsible for teaching us the choreography, which was based on building up tension, while Mrs Brittain was in

one and everyone's efforts came together to produce an almost flawless performance. We were lucky enough to do well enough in that event to qualify for the London Youth Games which has given us a boost of confidence that we are hoping to take forward into more events. So far it has been an amazing experience performing for tiffin as we have had the chance to improve so much and learn so much more about dance. Ethan O'Keeffe THE NUTCRACKER

TIFFIN DANCE COMPANY — NEW PIECE “REPEL”

Since the beginning of this academic year, the tiffin junior dance company has been working on a new piece of choreography with the assistance of James Aidan - Kay, from Traceworks Dance. The piece is contemporary and centred around the theme of magnets, and tension between body parts much like how we were almost repelled away from each other during the pandemic. The piece is to music by Ludovico Eunaudi. It was performed by a group of 11 year 7s, 8s and 9s. We have been rehearsing every week, along with some 2 - hour long workshops during school time. Working with James on this piece has been amazing as he has taught us how to be more professional with our movement and how to make the piece more emotional. Given all the rehearsal time we have spent a lot of time polishing the smaller aspects which overall made the piece so much clearer and more meant we performed accurately and in unison. For me one of the highlights of this whole process was in our first performance for an audience when we were all moving as

Daniel Houghton took part in a production of The Nutcracker at Esher Theatre with his dance company, Dance Direction, in December 2021. The show ran from 15 - 18 December with two performances on the 18th. Daniel had the role of the Nutcracker and was in a pas de deux (ballet duet) and a street dance reimagination of the Sugar Plum Fairy dance. Rehearsals lasted nine weeks including two technical rehearsals before the performance. The production contained different dance styles, including street dance, jazz, tap, contemporary and ballet. It was an exciting and thrilling experience performing with his friends.

about determinism versus freewill, and mused over mental health. Dr Sutton challenged the students on a vast array of topics from biological perspectives on criminality to epigenetics. Some of the most engaging discussions were when students were asked to consider the nature of consciousness and the impact of recreational drugs on vulnerable brains. Dr Sutton reported that he was impressed by the students' level of thinking on complex issues and was more than happy to answer questions from the flood of students who stayed behind after each session.

PSYCHOLOGY “BRAIN DAY “

Dr Guy Sutton arrived early on Tuesday morning, armed with his pointy neuron model and cold box of sheep brains. Dr Sutton had agreed to host a thrilling ‘ Brain Day ’ for psychology students culminating in a ‘ Future Brain ’ lecture after school to extend students' understanding of the most recent developments in neuroscience.

Students were left buzzing as they learnt about emerging technologies such as the cerebral organoid, brain computer interfacing and cyborgs, alongside an exploration of the latest challenges for NASA in terms of space travel. Indeed I am sure Dr Sutton ’ s infectious enthusiasm has left Tiffin with a number of new brain nerds and a few students who will be taking onboard the next neuroscientific challenges in the future.

As an Honorary Professor in the Division of Psychiatry at the University of Nottingham School of Medicine, Dr Sutton regularly lectures at postgraduate and graduate level at medical and forensic conferences, as well as for schools and universities. Tiffin psychologists and some keen biologists were lucky enough to experience his university - level lecture across the day and took part in an interactive sheep brain dissection. Students chatted about connectome; debated

Mrs Shoebridge, Psychology

LOCAL AVIATION HISTORY WALKS WITH YEAR 9

could be finished off and flown out. Sopwith chose an ice rink at the end of Canbury Park Road and he converted this into Kingston ’ s first aircraft factory.

A Sopwith Camel

Our tour then took us down Canbury Park Road, which is just seconds from the school. We were shown where the ice rink factory was (which made the Sopwith Camel) and where the Hawker ‘ Island ’ Factory was, which made Hawker Hurricanes in WW2. This site is now a housing estate but some of the original buildings have been preserved, including Sir Sydney Camm ’ s design office. He designed 52 aircraft in total and at one point in the 1930s, 84% of RAF planes were designed by Camm, and that all happened on our doorstep in Kingston!

In the first week of December, Year 9 went on local history walks to see the sites, and the remnants of the sights, where the legendary planes used in WW1 and WW2 were built. Our first stop was the Bentalls furniture depository which is at the back of the Rotunda. The government used this building in WW2 to store components for the planes being built in the Hawker ‘ Island ’ Factory down Canbury Park Road. The most important aircraft being built at this time was the Hawker Hurricane as it played a vital role in the Battle of Britain to stop Hitler launching Operation Sealion. Our second stop was the dip in the road, next to the train station that was intentionally put there to allow trams to pass underneath the railway. This handy dip influenced Thomas Sopwith, when he was looking for a site to build the first fighter planes in WW1 as he wanted to take the planes by road (minus their wings) to Brooklands aerodrome where they

Arnav Shinde 9FA

The NHS has produced guidance on how to support your children during exam periods. Please click here to read the guidance .

1ST RUGBY CATCH UP

It appears that the much needed rest provided by the Christmas break was exactly what the 1st XV needed. Since the break the performance level of Mr Blackburns side has stepped up significantly, with improvements across the board; in intensity, skill accuracy and overall performance. After the mini - break Tiffin restarted their campaign with a triangular block fixture against Hampton School and Brighton College. In what were terrible weather conditions and playing against two of the best rugby schools in the country Tiffin played some excellent rugby, highlighting the improvements that have been made over the past couple of months. Next up Tiffin faced a new challenge in Reigate College. After a slightly late arrival time and rushed warm up the coaching staff feared a slow start from the team. However, the opposite happened and with some free flowing backs moves supported by a physical pack Tiffin found themselves comfortably in the lead through tries from Sam Clough, Alex Cormack and Tom Arm- strong amongst others. The second half continued in a similar vein with some slick strike moves of scrums resulting in two more tries for Tiffin - the game finished in a comfortable win, but more importantly a complete team performance from the squad. Most recently a strong Glyn side were the hosts at Grists. Glyn have had an impressive season and would be a strong challenge even for an in form Tiffin side. However, Tiffin took control of the game early on through an Alex Cormack try after a somewhat fortunate bounce. Nonetheless they say fortune favours the brave and Tiffin were play- ing with bravery and confidence. The forward pack led by Sam Jones provided a strong base for the backs to play with pace and skill. A special mention must go to Alex Cor- mack for scoring a hat - trick of well executed tries, including a superb individual effort. The game finished with a victory for Tiffin who continue their strong vein of form.

RUGBY ACROSS THE BOARD

Brilliant Year 7s

The return to Saturday fixtures has been met with great excitement and commitment from all year groups, but none more so than the year 7s. The year 7 A & B teams have had an ex- tremely successful season and carried on their string of great performances by recording victories against Hampton and Glyn School post Christmas. This weekend sees Tiffin face John Fisher School in our annual block fixture in which nearly 80 students will be repre- senting the school!

Victorious Year 11s

The undefeated year 11 side faced their toughest two fixtures of the year when they came up against Brighton College and Hampton School. The boys put in two hearty performances to maintain their undefeated run. Congratulations to the whole squad..