Head's Newsletter 26 November 2021

online chess during the lockdown. Our Music has been extremely busy recently. Not only did we have again our Oratorio, which includes pupils from Years 7 to 13 as well as parents and others from the wider Tiffin community, there have been a large number of other music events. These included our piano competition, the Ensembles ’ concert, and the Year 7 form singing competition. I ’ m very pleased that once again we are engaging in the mental health ambassadors ’ scheme and a group of pupils participated in training which this year was being held at the Kingston Academy. Our charity fundraising has also begun to take off again and we have our first mufti day of the year coming up, with money being raised for 2 charities chosen by the School Council: Movember, helping to combat prostate cancer, and ActionAid on Period Poverty raising money to provide hygienic menstrual products for girls globally. Our sports programme has really been extensive. Our Rugby goes from strength to strength and alongside the boys fixtures we have had our first girls ’ rugby fixture this term. Netball and cross country are very strong and we have participated and done very well in our first rowing competition of the year, the Kingston Head. In a sure sign of enthusiasm for cricket, we have already started our indoor nets in preparation for next season. I am delighted that we have once again been named as one of the top cricket schools in the country by The Cricketer magazine released this month. This is a terrific achievement and a testimony to the fantastic staffing and enthusiasm around the sport. Yours, M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

Dear Parents, It has been an exceptionally busy three weeks since we returned from half term, and there is plenty in this newsletter to read about. Last week we had our first live remembrance service for 2 years when Year 13 were able to participate in the poignant laying of the wreaths on our war memorials in the Main Hall. Other year groups also participated in an act of remembrance through the film we had put together on the

Tiffinians who died. We continue to monitor the Covid situation and this week we have hosted vaccinations for both flu and Covid. We will keep parents informed of any changes to our control measures.

It ’ s been great to see House competitions up and running properly again this term. The House Dance in particular is a wonderful competition involving students in the lower years led by the students in the sixth form. The participation, camaraderie, teamwork and quality of the performances was of a very high standard, and was appreciated by both the audience and the other participants. It ’ s also been great to see our students involved in other competitions such as chess and debating. The number of students participating in chess is huge and has undoubtedly been spurred on by

IMPORTANT DATES

Friday 3 December

MUFTI Day

Tuesday 7 December

ABRSM Exams & Autumn Soloists Recital 6pm Walden Hall

Tuesday 14 December

Year 12 Online Parent Consultations: School finishes 12.30 for KS3 and 13.20 for all others

Wednesday 15 December

Nine Lessons and Carols— 7 pm All Saints Church

School Carol Service 1.15pm or 2.30pm - by House. Details to follow

Thursday 16 December

Friday 17 December

Last day of term—school finishes 12.30

Particular credit to Amadeus Jeetla - Lang and Sanmay Parkhi who both delivered superb performances (in a competition that required significant preparation) despite being in the middle of their mock exams. Our Juniors had their online fixture against Putney High School, as well as attending a training workshop, which will be good preparation for their first in - person fixture next Friday when three Tiffin teams will compete against Tiffin Girls School in a Mace fixture.

DEBATING SOCIETY

NETBALL

The Tiffin Debating Society have had a busy and successful start to the 21/22 season. Two of this Year ’ s Debating Society Presidents, Ibrahim Ejaz and Bulcsu Diossi, secured Tiffin ’ s first tournament victory of the season in the ‘ Debating for Everyone ’ Online debating competition earlier this month. It was a fabulous evening as Tiffin ’ s second team, comprising year 12s Jess Devonald and Sammy El - Masri, also secured second place beating teams from a number of other top schools. A week later, two other Sixth Form pairs travelled to Francis Holland, Regent's Park to compete against 10 other teams in the in - person Sixth Form Debating Shield, the first in - person competition since the pandemic. Ibrahim and Elvis Addai came away having secured joint 3rd place, with Harrow, with Will Tilotson and Yva Baker doing remarkably well also. Our Intermediate teams had great success in the English Speaking Union ’ s (ESU) Public Speaking competition this week. The competition has been running since 1960 but this was the first time in more than a decade that a Tiffin Team has qualified for regional finals. Like busses, all our successes seem to be coming at once because, on the night, both Tiffin teams qualified for the regional finals.

The Tiffin Netball girls continue to strive in numerous matches played all away from Tiffin. A fixture against Grey Court 3 weeks ago saw the girls draw 7 - 7 despite the wet and slippery conditions. At Nonsuch Girls school a week later, two teams were played. The 1st team lost 15 - 7 but the 2nd team won narrowly 11 - 10. Finally this week, the girls played a tough and vigorous match against Coombe Girls School. With biting cold conditions and a slippery on court surface the result fluctuated throughout each quarter. Testament to TIiffin though, they brought the score back up to win 18 - 11. With an extremely busy fixture schedule, the girls are showing huge progress and really working well as a team.

Sayanen Sawmynaden, Yr 11, creating the Student Mental Health Website Layan Al - Azawi, dedication to her Deputy Head Prefect role and contributions to the Law Society Jake Sanders, contributions to school Volleyball

JACK PETCHEY ACHIEVEMENT AWARD

On Thursday 11th November nine Tiffin students were honoured for their achievements by the Jack Petchey Foundation. The Jack Petchey Achievement Award Scheme recognises the hard work and determination of young people across London and Essex. It was set up by Sir Jack Petchey CBE to inspire and celebrate young people. Since 1999, over £133 million has been invested in programmes to benefit young people and as a School we have benefitted enormously from generous grants. We regularly have the opportunity to confer this prestigious award on students here and this is largely due to the breadth of achievement in the School. Due to Covid restrictions the annual Awards Ceremony for the year September 2020 - June 2021 took place in a digital format which was in no way less special. The winners (listed below) along with their parents were able to tune in to watch a personalised Tiffin Ceremony in which the students' achievements were lauded through various accolades. Many congratulations to them all! Joe Gibson, ex - Yr 13, being a conscious friend and peer and supporting others with their mental health Ben Luca Quinton - Atassi, Yr 11, establishing the Voice of Tiffin Youth Humayhl Khan, Yr 9, growing and cutting his hair for the Little Princess Trust Sagnik Chatteree, contributions to School Chess Eric Turner, establishing a Lockdown Study Group Tristan Galvin - Sparks, ex - Yr 13, service to the Tiffin Community, especially through Tiffin broadcasting Network

GCSE SCIENCE IN ACTION TRIP

The GCSE Science in Action trip to Emmanuel Centre in Westminster for a lecture series was one of my most awe - inspiring experiences at Tiffin. The lecturers provided many pieces of information to help us with our GCSE science journey, but delivered it in an entertaining and engaging manner. I learnt that more complex sugars break down and burn slower due to their complex structure, and because of this the chocolate mini roll was the best snack for swimming the channel. I also loved the fact that we could ask questions and participate in polls about the lecture, and the tips for GCSE science revision were also very helpful. By Hamze Ali 10DO

and lost 4 - 2 in a match that looked like it could have been drawn for a while. However, with the A ’ s having autoqualified, we look forward to a record 3 tiffin teams playing in the regional final. The School ’ s chess club with more than 400 active members is also thriving. We are in the middle of the house chess season with the Year 7 and Year 10 competitions now complete. At this stage Darwin Wilberforce have a narrow lead over Livingstone and then Churchill Gordon. MENTAL HEALTH AMBASSADOR TRIP

CHESS

Tiffin Chess has had a wonderful month. In the Ivan Gromov League our A and B teams sit at 7th and 3rd respectively in a very strong field featuring teams with some of the best players in the country. We also entered a record 6 teams into the National Schools Chess Championship this year. On the 12th November, the B, C, and D teams went down to Wilson's school to fight for qualification. Either side of a close loss (2 v 4) to Wilson ’ s B team, the Tiffin B ’ s put in dominant performances (5.5 v 0.5 and 4.5 v 0.5) to beat two other Wilson ’ s Teams to qualify for the regional finals. Special mentions to Samvrit Subin and Anixton Linton for remaining unbeaten on boards 2 and 3 throughout the day with performance ratings over 1700. They were soon joined by the C team who, having started slowly against Wilson ’ s B team came back, beating Wilson ’ s F (4 - 2) and Sutton ’ s B (5 - 1) teams. Sadly the D team were not able to qualify in spite of great wins from Shriyans Muddana, Jake Bastow and Jack Spicer, the latter winning a nail biting endgame in the first round that came down to a single tempo. The E and F teams, composed almost entirely of year 7 students, also headed down to Kings on the 24th of November to try and qualify for the regionals. Despite excellent wins by both teams against JAGS ’ s B, the E ’ s came up against KCS ’ s U13B in the qualification playoff

Earlier this month ten Year 9 students accompanied Mr Shaw and Mrs Mccondach to the Kingston Academy. We departed in a Tiffin School bus from Tiffin at 8:30. We then parked at the YMCA and walked the remainder of the journey to the Kingston Academy. Once we entered the premises of the Kingston Academy, we were guided to a Hall in which all the other schools ’ Y9 Mental Health representatives were situated. During the time we spent there, the Mental Health Staff of the Kingston Academy and many other Guests gave us a detailed and interactive presentation on mental health, how we can heal poor mental health as well as useful pointers when distinguishing Anxiety, an Anxiety Disorder and Depression. Gabriel (9MMB/MCM)

YEAR 7 INTER-FORM CHOIR COMPETITION

The winning form 7ASA

The first of three important annual events in the Year 7 singing calendar took place on Thursday 14 th October, when over 170 Year 7 pupils gathered at All Saints Church Kingston to represent their respective forms in the Year 7 Inter - form Singing Competition. Followed by the House Singing Competition and School Spring Concert, this is the first opportunity of the school year for all Year 7 pupils to sing in performance together, an opportunity embraced by Year 7 pupils with characteristic enthusiasm. The programme began with 7AE ’ s energetic performance of the Blues Brothers ’ ‘ Everybody Needs Somebody ’, followed by 7CH ’ s ‘ I Will Survive ’ popularised by Gloria Gaynor. Beginning with their backs to the audience, the drama of this performance as soloists turned to deliver each of the opening lines was second to none. Toto ’ s ‘ Africa ’ was the chosen work of 7JM, whose performance concluded with upbeat call and response, and some impressive head voice singing. 7ASA ’ s song was a medley of songs by the band Queen, including favourites such as ‘ We Will Rock You ’, ‘ Don ’ t Stop Me Now ’ and ‘ Bohemian Rhapsody ’. Remembering the lyrics and choreography for this performance was a feat in itself. 7OB immediately caught the audience ’ s attention with their flat caps, transporting them to Victor Hugo ’ s Paris of the 1830s, from where they sang with gusto ‘ Little People ’ of Les

Miserables fame. Perhaps the most moving performance of the evening was 7JXE ’ s A Million Dreams from The Greatest Showman. Beautiful solo performances and lyrical legato singing characterised this rendition. Between each choral item, a soloist was chosen to represent his form in an instrumental performance. Matthew (7AE, cello), Aarav (7CH, clarinet), Vanya (7JM, flute), James (7ASA, trombone), Samvrit (7OB, piano) and Lason (7JXE, violin) all performed with impressive skill and confidence to audience of over two hundred parents. The adjudicator for the evening was David Condry, director of music at All Saints Church who, so impressed was he by the performances, invited all pupils to join his choir. Nonetheless, a winning soloist and choir had to be chosen, and so the prizes went to Samvrit (7OB) for his brilliant performance of Beethoven ’ s Bagatelle in C and to 7ASA for their impressively engaging performance of their Queen medley ‘ Rock Don ’ t Stop ’. Thanks must go to our adjudicator, Mr Condry, the music teachers who prepared the performers, the form teachers who encouraged and supervised them, the prefects who arranged the performance space, the parents who supported so enthusiastically and, of course, the pupils who worked so hard to present their outstanding work.

RUNNING REPORT

Epsom : The Juniors and inters had an inaugural spin at the Surrey Downs League in the Half term holidays. Against Surrey Clubs the school put in a great performance with the Juniors team 9th and first school and the inters a barn storming 5th and again first school. Seni Adeyinka lead the Junior team home with Eric Matthew Sukandy doing sterling work completing the arduous 2.3 course with ease. The inters has the inspirational Atharv Pruthi in the top ten and the team was closed out by the pretorian guard of the team Andrew Tian in the top 20.

Judd:The seniors had a fabulous result at the South East Final of the National cup placing 4th . Conor Foley started along with the fresh from the river Oscar Luck. Jack Hartrey put in a Captains performance matched by Alistair Brendon in imperious form. Euan Sinclair completed the inspired effort .

The but circumstances dictated that we could not gain further invaluable performance time for this strong squad that allows the confidence that builds up over many fixtures. Ladies team qualified

The Senior team then had a great return To the St Albans fixture with a good strong performance by Tong Wu complemented by another startling performance from Jack Hartrey, Owen Jenkins , Euan Sinclair and Connor Foley producing again a good top half dozen performance in the south.

RUNNING REPORT

At Harrow : Alistair Brendon stormed round the two lap course. The intermediates were led home by an impressive 4th in south east by Connor Foley. Jacob Lee , Arthav Pruthi, Daniel Bevan and Andrew Tian coped with the two lap course with ease. Performance of the day was from the valiant Jasper Jones who impressively completed though injured.

The Juniors were led by Enzo Brown with year 7 Daniel Cummings not far behind. Year 8 Maestro Erik Bertheussen ran well looking strong after a cavalry style charge by the rest of the field. Jasper Holz ran well as did Tristan Hughes and Felix Young amongst many other strong performances by Tiffin runners . The team won the most important race of the day to tea before decanting back to school . Our Own Judge cup On Wednesday saw us produce two bronze medal winning performances. Captain Charlotte Harmer turned out a very creditable team performance for the ladies team gaining 3rd position in our own Dorothy Judge (MBE) Ladies relay. The Boys teams was just as successful in the A team performance with Daniel Cummings starting off proceedings, Enzo Brown running the tricky 4th leg though a year younger than his direct competitors. Oscar Luck powered on in the penultimate leg. Other individual medals were won by the impressive Thomas Wharton. Eric Bertheusser, Jesper Naisby and Connor Foley. Special mention to super sub Daniel Bevan who clocked a great performance for the B team only beaten by impressive legs from Captain Jack Hartrey and final leg Alistair Brendon .

BATH TRIP

Yr 9 Latinists visited the ancient city of Aquae Sulis, modern - day Bath, on Thursday 21st October. This was the first Classics Trip in almost two years and spirits were high. During the course of the day the students explored the baths themselves and the museum, and had informative sessions with local experts which included handling original artefacts. The boys' behaviour was exemplary and their enthusiasm for what they saw and did infectious. My thanks, as always, go to the boys who were uncomplaining about the long journey and the staff without whom such days would not be possible.

ART DEPARTMENT NEWS

We are delighted to introduce Industrial techniques to our repertoire, namely plaster mould making and slip - casting ceramics. Two of our Year 13 students are using this technique for their self - directed projects. Wahaj Khan is preparing a large - scale installation based on Islamic geometric motifs whilst Stan Luo has designed his own range of porcelain tea - ware based on Russian Constructivism and early Soviet designs.

Our evening Life - drawing sessions involving our Year 12 and Year 13 students continue on a weekly basis. Every student has the opportunity to develop their own style. Thank you to Mrs Payne and Mrs Read for their contribution.

Marcus Vilay - Underhill Year 12

Nick Basire Year 12

PIANO COMPETITION 2021

With over 30 competitors, this year ’ s piano competition showcased outstanding playing of an especially wide range of music from piano players across the school, from Year 7 to Sixth Form. Inspired by last year ’ s online competition, this year ’ s preliminary round was not only adjudicated in person but also recorded, allowing every entrant ’ s performance to be enjoyed by an audience. Along with many other virtual concerts, the preliminary round of this competition can still be seen and heard here: Choosing just twelve competitors to go through to the final round was more difficult than ever. So much so, a new intermediate class was created, leading to a final with three performance categories: junior (Y7 - 9, grades 1 - 5), intermediate (Y7 - 9, grades 6+) and senior (Y10 - 13, grades 6+). Constance Chow, international touring pianist and adjudicator of our final round, chose two performers to commend highly: Borimir (10AB) for his Moment Musicaux by Rachmaninov, and Sam (12MS) for ‘ Merry Christmas Mr Lawrence ’ by Ryuchi Sakamoto. But, of course, only three pupils could be chosen as winners, and so Daniel (7AE) for his performance of Ben Crosland ’ s ‘ I Hear What You Say ’, Hansen (8MAG) for his Impromptu in A flat by Schubert, and Alan (11KBA) for his Hungarian Rhapsody No.6 by Liszt were declared winners of the junior, intermediate and senior competitions respectively. Congratulations to all who took part.

Autumn ensembles concert 2021

The Autumn Ensembles Concert on Tuesday 16th November 2021 was our first opportunity of the new school year to hear the school ’ s instrumental groups perform together, some of them rehearsing and performing together for the first time since restrictions were lifted. The Swing Band opened the concert with energetic performances of the Peanut Vendor and Floral Fury. The String Orchestra, having welcomed many new members at the beginning of the academic year, gave an impressive performance of Warlock ’ s Pavane from the Capriol Suite and the James Bond theme by Monty Norman. The Wind Chamber Ensemble is the first of two new ensembles formed this year. Performing Serenade in E flat by Richard Strauss, this group has given us some of the best wind playing heard at the school in recent years, an achievement in which pupils joining Tiffin in Year 12 from neighbouring schools have played a huge part. Autumn Leaves and The Chicken were the two numbers performed by the Jazz Combo, including some impressive solos, not least those by Taro and William on drums and bass. The student - led piano trio performance, for which Tong, Alan and Lois selected and prepared Schubert ’ s Trio No.2 themselves, was especially memorable. The second of our newly formed groups, the Concert Band, includes our dedicated former Wind Band members who have graduated to ever more challenging music. Following their reprise of three numbers by Stevie Wonder, with the Wind Band they performed arrangements of spirituals Swing Low, Sometimes I Feel and Go Down Moses. The Chamber Orchestra then followed with the opening movements of Purcell ’ s incidental

music to Abdelazer. The finale to the concert was two movements from Dvorak ’ s Symphony No.9 ‘ New World ’ played by the orchestra, ending with the most famous of this symphony ’ s quasi American - folk melodies played by solo woodwind.

Composition competition

Borimir Ivanov 10AB entered his piece Prelude in Eb minor in the annual MusicFirst Young Composers Competition, which is open to students in the United Kingdom ages 11 - 18 who compose their own original scores. As a finalist in the 11 - 14 age group he took part in a live, virtual Masterclass with renowned composer Judith Weir CBE during which she provided commentary delighting in his aptitude for composing for piano and announced him as the winner of his category. Borimir will receive a professionally engraved and bound score of his composition. Congratulations!

Borimir on the Piano

ORATORIO

Last Sunday pupils from Years 7 to 13 as well as parents and others from the wider Tiffin community came together for our Oratorio. It was a beautiful evening and the music and singing was of an extremely high standard.

The Chamber Choir Performing

The junior tiffin trebles performing

THE CRICKETERS SCHOOL GUIDE 2022

We are proud to announce that once again we have been included in the Good Schools Guide. It will be on sale from Friday 26th November alongside the December issue of the magazine. A digital version of the guide will also be available on thecricketer.com from Wednesday 15th December.

Gymnastic success

Congratulation to Thomas Powell—Yr 9 whose team recently won his gymnastics national final competition . Thomas came 6th in the country and he earned a spot at the national trials for the GB squad, in December.

SPORTS

1st XV Rugby Spotlight

We start off this catch up where we finished the last newsletter, with Tiffin flying in the cup! Tiffin travelled to London Oratory School and put in their best performance of the year to overcome London Oratory 41 - 20. A performance which exemplified the hard work the team and Mr Blackburn have been putting in at training, and saw the team progress through to the next round. Next up in the fourth round of the cup Tiffin welcomed Wallington County Grammar School to Grists. Unfortunately the weather conditions were not helping Tiffins usual free flowing passing game, and the physically dominant Wallington side were able to take a grip of the match through some tactical kicking from the opposition's fly half. Tiffin put in a spirited second half performance, but just fell short with the match finishing 21 - 10 to the visitors.

Brighton College Block Fixture

An historic Saturday followed the Wallington game which saw Tiffins first ever competitive fixture against one of the best rugby schools

in

the country - Brighton College.

1st XV vs Brighton College 1st XV

After conceding an early try, the result of a well executed chip and chase from Brighton College, Tiffin raised their game and had Brighton penned inside their own 5 metre line for the next 10 minutes. This pressure resulted in two yellow cards for consistent infringements at the breakdown. However, Tiffin failed to take advantage of these sin bins and Brighton now playing with confidence scored 3 consecutive tries to take the game away from Tiffin. In the second half the boys showed great heart to continue to play running rugby against an excellent Brighton side, and eventually got their reward. After a strong carry from Ricky P, Aran dotted the ball over the line from close range, with Alex C adding the extras from the conversion. This performance highlighted the improvements this team and school have made over previous years, and the squad can take great belief that future performances at a similar standard will bring with them positive results.

SPORTS

2nd XV vs Brighton College 3rd XV

A closely contested game saw Brighton narrowly edge out Tiffin. The boys could have won it with the last play of the game but a knock on saw the opportunity be taken away from them. A fantastic result against a very strong Brighton side.

U16 As vs Brighton U16 As

A fantastic victory for the unbeaten U16s who put in a strong second half performance to seal the victory. This victory makes it 7 wins from 7 games this season, the future of Tiffin Rugby is looking very bright.

Girls Rugby Catch Up

Well done to the 1st XV girls rugby team who have played their first fixture of the year away to Reigate Grammar. After a fiercely contested game the result finished 10 - 10, with Tiffin scoring two well worked tries. The girls now look to build on this positive start to the season when they face the Oratory School in their next fixture.

Kings College School WImbledon Block Fixture

Following on from the excitement of Tiffin's trip to the seaside, the following saturday saw a fixture which is slightly closer to home as Tiffin faced Kings College School (KCS) Wimbledon. A fantastic week of rugby saw the year 8s put out 6 teams on Tuesday, followed by a further 7 teams competing from Year 7 on Friday, topped off with a further 9 teams competing on Saturday from the 1st XV to the U14s. Overall that is a total of 22 teams and 266 students representing the school, and most importantly enjoying playing sport!

Tiffin great Britain honours

Congratulations to Y10 student Nathanael for his inclusion in the American Football Youth Great Britain Squad.

Badminton

After many weeks without any fixtures, the school badminton teams are again under way.

The U19 senior team has recorded 3 wins from its 3 fixtures against KCS Wimbledon and Reed ’ s. With 12 players representing the school at A and B team level, the standard of play has been very impressive. All will be tested though in a week ’ s time when Wilson ’ s arrive with their fearsome reputation. The Under 14 team travelled to KCS last week but lost to a more experienced King ’ s A team by 3 games to 6. The Tiffin B team however recorded a victory by the same margin.

The unbeaten pairing of Leo Fernandes and Harshil Shah in action for the U19 team v KCS

Rowing

T

Kingston small boats head

TSBC has started it ’ s season with good numbers of both boys and girls taking up the sport. Crews have trained hard this term with a view to racing at Kingston Head. All racing crews acquitted themselves well, in what for some was there first ever race. At Kingston Head our seniors placed 3 boats in the top 10 in the J18 class which is the highest level of competition, narrowly behind the likes of Hampton and Molesey.

The top crew then managed to better this at Teddington Head, producing a fine race from the Golden Gates of Hampton Court to the boat club, winning their division of J18 quads. This builds hope for the future as these boys were racing above their own age category. TSBC has also relaunched it ’ s Instagram which can be found at https:// www.instagram.com/tiffinrowing/

Duke of Edinburgh

Year 11 finally had the chance to go on their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh trip earlier this month. We had some cold and wet weather but the students fully embraced camping outdoors. They impressed the supervisors with a mature attitude and excellent navigation skills. They walked for six hours a day around the Chilterns and enjoyed portions of the Thames Path. Their culinary skills were put to the test as they came up with menus for themselves for the three days. Some were very ambitious and attempted heating naan breads and making pancakes, others stuck to porridge and noodles. One group did manage to burn their pasta, showing how difficult outdoor cooking can be! We hope that they enjoyed this experience, and many continue with the next level of the Duke of Edinburgh Scheme.

Remembrance

The Tiffin Memorial was put up in 1919, and initially listed 117 names of Tiffinians known to have died. Since then, more ex - pupils names have been discovered and a further 11 names have been added. There are a further 115 names of those who died in World War Two. Many of these students who died in the wars were barely any older than students in the Sixth Form. Each year we specifically pick out and remember an individual name from each of the two war memorials. These names are engraved on the tablets.

This year, from the first World War we remembered Arthur Charles Bennett 1899 - 1918 (Tiffin 1912 - 1914) who lived in Kingston Road, Merton Park and his journey to school was by tram from Wimbledon to London Road in Kingston. He left Tiffin in July 1914 aged 15 and became a clerk, working at the rapidly expanding Sopwith aircraft factory in Canbury Park Road, round the corner from the present Tiffin School. The remains of the factories can still be seen today. By 1917 Charlie had reached enlistment age and in March of that year wrote to the Commanding Officer of the Royal Flying Corps to ask about becoming a pilot. Shortly after his birthday in 1917 he was accepted for training in the RFC on Salisbury Plain. By early 1918, he was sent to Egypt where the British army was involved in a campaign against the Ottoman Turks, who were Germany ’ s ally. During the battle of Megiddo , north west of Jerusalem, on 17 September 1918 Charlie ’ s plane was hit by Turkish ground fire. Although wounded he managed to land his plane but died of his wounds on the 23 September, 6 weeks before the end of war, aged just 19. He was buried in the Jerusalem War Cemetery and besides being commemorated in the School Hall is also remembered on a plaque in Raynes Park Methodist Church.

The Original Tiffin School in 1912

Jerusalem War Cemetery

Remembrance

From World War two, we remembered John Curtis Jackson, 1922 - 1943 (Tiffin 1933 - 1940) He lived in New Malden and first went to Christ Church Junior School. He joined Tiffin in September 1933 and the school magazine described him as having a brilliant career at school being a first - rate scholar and sportsman. In his last year at school he was Captain of Livingstone House being a member of the House Soccer, Cricket, Swimming and Chess teams. He was also House Captain of Rugby and Shooting and obtained School Colours for Rugby, Swimming and Diving, and Water Polo.

John joined the newly formed Air Defence Cadet Corps when the first unit to be formed in Kingston was established at the School in 1938. He was a prefect and Deputy Head Boy in 1940. Not only would John have experienced going down the shelters along the gym path in 1940, but he would have witnessed the large anti - aircraft guns sited on the school field to protect the Canbury aircraft factories. The bases and wiring for the guns were removed when we put in the MUGA in 2011, and the last remains of the gym path air raid shelters were removed when we built the recent sports hall extension.

Having left Tiffin in December 1940, aged 18, he went straight into the Royal Engineers under the Special Entry Scheme. He was sent as a Cadet officer to Jesus College, Cambridge, on an intensive course of constructional engineering. On completing this course he was offered a place to complete his degree course once the war was over, but did not survive to do so. In November 1942 he was part of the Anglo - American invasion of North Africa, led by American General Dwight D Eisenhower, fighting against Germany and her Italian allies. Having landed in Algeria his unit was employed in improving the roads and the use of Bailey Bridges. In the spring of 1943 his unit was clearing land mines from abandoned Italian defences prior to the major assault upon Tunis when he was killed in action. John Curtis Jackson was just 20 years of age when he died. He is buried in the CWGC cemetery at Oued Zarga in western Tunisia, and remembered on our war memorial. On the news of his death his mother wrote a poignant letter to the Head, Mr Dean, with words which are still relevant today.

“ School to him was only second to his home and we appreciate the happy atmosphere which always seemed to be Tiffins. It must be a great sorrow to you that so many of the boys are in this ghastly war, and our hope is that the young ones will be urged to take sufficient interest in seeing that their sons and daughters are not so called upon. ” No better epitaph to the importance of remembrance could be expressed.

House dance competition

On Wednesday 20th October, one of Tiffin ’ s brand new Dance studios was filled to the rim with spectators for the House Dance Finals. After an incredibly competitive round of heats just the week before, the final was spectacular and the bar had been raised so much that it surpassed the expectations of the Judges. In the Free Piece Category, there were a few houses who were particularly good in the heats and in other years, they may well have gotten through to the finals. However, in terms of choreography, precision, timing and sticking to the theme of Geometry, Livingstone were head and shoulders above everyone else. They were so good in fact, that they were the only house to get through to the finals. Despite the guaranteed win, their performance was excellent and every move was concise and perfectly timed. The Set piece was much more competitive. With ‘ Children ’ by Tokio Myers as the assigned

piece of Music for all houses, it was surprising to see the variety and difference in creative ideas for the choreography. Darwin Wilberforce (DW), Kingsley Montgomery (KM), Raleigh (R) and Scott (S) all had performances in the Set Piece categories. DW ’ s piece was well timed and contained the most participants from Junior years, which they were commended for by the Judges. It had a big finish and ended in a human pyramid followed quickly by an uproar from the crowd. KM ’ s piece was tremendous, two of the major highlights worth mentioning are the conclusion and a lift. The lift saw a dancer perform an incredible solo in the air containing hypnotic hand gestures. The end of this piece, however, blew the socks off everyone in the dance studio with an incredible

stunt consisting of a series of lifts followed by a dancer jumping and rolling through the set of carefully positioned dancers. Raleigh ’ s piece made the best use of the stage and had the most variety with different sections, passages and solos. It had a complex storyline showing the force and fragility of power. Raleigh used ties to represent who was in power through the piece with four dancers taking turns to control everyone else. In the end, representative of a revolution, they all wore their ties, symbolising that they were sharing the power. They ended their

House dance competition

dance with an effective freeze frame using levels and body language to show status and power. Scott ’ s dance used short, sharp and fast movements using different beats in the music to time the piece. Scott undoubtedly made the best use of the music with a dance reminiscent of tutting.

Scott ’ s dance was carefully choreographed and rehearsed which made it very effective. This piece also included the most participants with a wide range of year groups represented. Deservingly, KM won the Set Piece. To see this performance along with the highlights of other dance performances; or to watch the extended finals, go to the TBN (Tiffin Broadcasting Network) Youtube Channel. In the Solos/Duos Category there were 2 entries that got through to the final. From DW were Mia Ward and Brianna Murphy who did an

elegant, contemporary ballet dance. This dance was very graceful but the winner was inevitably KM ’ s solo Daniel Houghton in year 7 who did a spectacular job. Daniel breakdanced to the song ‘10 bands ’ and his confidence and attitude blew everyone away. It was a truly amazing performance to watch and his knee slide celebration at the end of the event was also a highlight.

Congratulations, overall, to Kingsley Montgomery who won a well deserved victory. Their 2nd House Dance victory in just 4 years. A spectacular achievement. Follow videos by TBN can be watched here: Thanks to TBN you can now watch videos from the finals of House Dance Competition . Click here for the highlights. Click here for the Full performance. Arjan Dhatt 11 MJG

Year 8 capoeira workshop

On Monday 8th November year eight participated in a capoeira workshop for dance. The workshop was spread over the day, so each class got to have a period in the workshop. The instructors were Julio and Fu, from Capoeira Senzala London https://senzala - london.co.uk/. The first half hour of the workshop was spent learning as a form all together, then we made a circle and started singing and clapping a traditional song, with

the handmade instruments that Julio and Fu brought, while some of us improvised in the middle. We all had fun and it was a very cool experience. Over the course of the half - term, we learned a lot about the history of this incredible martial art, the movement involved and had a lot of fun doing it. In dance lessons, we learnt about the history behind the martial arts, and why it sometimes seems like a dance. It was created in Brazil, by escaped

sugar cane slaves who created little hamlets for themselves. They had to be able to defend themselves, so they created a new martial art, Capoeira.

It was still very primitive, and when some of the slaves were captured and brought back to the farms, the other slaves refined it. But as their masters would not allow the slaves to practise a deadly martial art, they made it seem like a dance, all huddled up and clapping and singing loudly, and that was how the basis for modern Capoeira started. Tennyson Collins 8PT