Head's Newsletter 29 March 2019

Dear Parents It was great to be at All Saints Church, Kingston for our Spring Concert last night. The event showcased a large number of our talented musicians, participating in ensembles ranging from the whole school orchestra to the fantastic jazz combo, and culminating in the whole of Year 7 singing numbers from the musicals Oliver and Wicked . Coming on the back of the ensembles concert last week, as well as soloist recitals, it has been a busy few weeks for the Music department! This is on top of their usual choir commitments, and it was excellent to be able to watch the choir sing at the Barnes Festival two weeks ago. Many congratulations to all students who performed so well on all these occasions.

Easter break. We wish them all the best as they revise and prepare for their exams. I was delighted that during National Science Week we were able to attend one of our local primary schools, St Joseph's, with staff and Year 12 students to demonstrate Science experiments. You can also read in this newsletter about a large number of science, and other competitions and that we have entered during the course of this half term. In addition, there is a summary of the Rugby Sevens competitions as well as the impressive Dance performance at Hampton. Particular congratulations to Huw Morris for his debut as scrum half for Wales U19 side, playing against Japan: a terrific achievement! There have been a number of trips out recently and there is a report of the excellent sixth form trip to Rouen. We were very pleased to put on for parents the emotional well-being workshop last week, and I hope that the many parents who attended this event found it useful. I hope that all pupils and their parents have a very relaxing and enjoyable Easter holiday. As the weather now begins to pick up, we look forward to the Summer Term. Yours, M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

As we enter the final week of this term, Year 11 and Year 13 students are increasingly focused on the public exams that they will be taking shortly after the

IMPORTANT DATES

Wednesday 3 April

Y10 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 1 pm

Friday 5 April

Break up for Easter holiday: School finishes at 12.40 pm

Tuesday 23 April

Start of Summer term—usual 8.30 start (week A)

Y11 Study Leave commences from 3.30 pm

Friday 3 May

Monday 6 May

Bank Holiday—School closed

visit to the remarkable Musée Flaubert was less about Flaubert the writer, far more about Flaubert’s father and the gruesome exhibits of early surgical technique. The constipation stool leaves a lasting impression. I have rarely seen Tiffin boys so totally absorbed in their work as in the drawing class that followed the Musée Flaubert. 2 hours of dogged determination to try to produce something of value. All efforts were memorable but not necessarily for the right reasons. The short trip went some way towards compensating for the absence of a French exchange this year. We hope that this will be reinstated for the next academic year.

TRIP TO ROUEN The Upper and Lower 6 th French students enjoyed 3 intensive days’ study in Rouen last week. The boys heard a variety of talks from the Station Manager at the beautiful Gare de Rouen to the erudite guide at the Musée des Beaux Arts where the magnificent impressionist collection was so well introduced.

Mr Williams

Add to that visits to violin makers, wine merchants, sculptors, French polishers and the extraordinary Aître St Maclou and there was something for everyone. If Rouen is the birthplace of Gustave Flaubert, there is more than enough in Rouen to remind us of the fact. Thursday’s

CHESS

CLASSICS SPELLING BEE On Thursday 14 th March, a team of six Year 8 boys and one Year 7 boy competed in the 3 rd annual spelling bee, held at Chafford Hundred academy. These boys represent some of our finest latinists and went through a rigorous selection process in preparation for the event. The team consisted of Praneeth Lakshman, Prabhas Aenegu, Lucas Bowman, Armaan Khan, Sayanen Sawmynaden, Aarav Bhati and Luca Desai. The event itself was very flamboyant. We were first treated to a choreographed dance routine, complete with pyrotechnics, which was followed by a musical number sung by one of their students. The tasks themselves began relatively easy and quickly progressed to a very challenging level. The boys displayed excellent teamwork in the face of these tasks and although they did not achieve a podium finish, it was a very novel and stimulating day for all involved.

Tiffin qualified for the National Finals in July at Uppingham School after a fantastic win over King’s College School, Wimbledon, in the Regional Finals National Schools Chess Championships (having already beaten Wilson’s School and Royal Grammar School (RGS), Guildford, in earlier rounds).

This year, only the top 48% of students who sat the test nationally received a Bronze certificate or higher and only the top 15% received a Silver or higher, and we congratulate the 6 Tiffin students who earned a Bronze and the 6 who earned a Silver. However, particular congratulations must go to the three students who have shown themselves to be at the top of this already elite group by earning Gold Certificates, awarded to just 5% of competitors. So well done to Geethaartha Vagga (11RA), Chin Wei Tang (11RCG) and Sebastian Pereira (11AB) who all achieved gold certificates. Chemistry The science department have had a very busy few weeks. To recognize National Science Week we took part in two different events. Mrs Molyneux, Miss Bond and Miss Grant took nine Year 12 boys to help with an event at St Josephs’ primary school, the site of the original Tiffin School! We had a great time showing lots of whizz bang science (see pic) and they then took part in a science investigation – ‘Who stole the trophy from the Tiffin office?’. The second event was to watch ‘Energy Live!’ at Surbiton High with some of Year 9. This showed the Year 9 boys lots of fun ways that energy is transferred. On top of this in the next few weeks we have

RCSU SCIENCE CHALLENGE The RCSU Science Challenge is the Royal College of Science Union's annual science communication competition. It is open nationally to all school students and requires entrants to demonstrate their skills in scientific debate and reasoning. This year, Sir Robert Winston asked the question “How will A.I. turn art into science?”. Among the entrants were two of our students, Igor Sterner and Minseok Ryu. Their essays were of such a high standard that they were both invited to the final at Imperial College, where Minseok was announced as a runner up in his category and Igor was picked as the overall winner! Congratulations to both. Year 11 Physics Challenge This year 23 Tiffin students chose to sit the Year 11 Physics Challenge. This exam is designed to stretch students to their limits, and to encourage students to push themselves in physics. The paper is set to differentiate the strongest pupils at this stage of their studies, from an already select group of students that sit the test, with only the best in the country taking this paper. The paper also requires rather more of a sprint than a typical paper that they would find in a public exam as it is designed to be very difficult to reach the end in the allotted time. All students that took part in the Challenge should be very proud of their achievement and those that may think they have not done so well should remember that it is no disgrace to be amongst the lower levels of the astonishingly smart bunch who take this test. The Physics Department encourages all of you to continue to challenge yourselves and to continue problem solving.

students taking part in the finals of the BP STEM challenge - Reimagine, and the regional final of Royal

Society of Chemistry’s – Chemistry Challenge. We also have a new solar telescope arriving into school.

of the ruck. His running game also came to the fore with a number of snipes and breaks catching the eye of all the spectators who were at Taffs Well Rugby Club to watch the game under lights. As a collective unit Wales put in an impressive performance and came away worthy winners defeating Japan High Schools by 33-12. Massive congratulations to Huw on what is an outstanding achievement. AFTER SCHOOL BASKETBALL CLUB There will be an after-school basketball club in the Sports Hall on Tuesdays between 5 and 6 pm starting after Easter, run by Wayne Martin, who was previously Head of PE at Tiffin. If your son in Year 7 or 8 is interested, please email Mr Martin hello@spartansbasketballacademy.com. KINGSTON YOUTH COUNCIL The Kingston and Richmond Youth Council is a group of young people that ensure the voice of young people is heard and acted upon in both boroughs. Praneeth Lakshman in Year 7 has been elected to the Kingston Youth Council. He has undertaken training to equip him with the skills and knowledge to be a confident candidate, who will represent the area where they live or go to school.

Having suffered a serious injury in Year 11, Huw had to sit out school rugby for the best part of 18 months. However being named as Vice-Captain for this year was testament to his professionalism in rehab and determination to get back on the pitch. This hard work was rewarded even further when after a number of camps and opportunities with the Welsh Exiles, Huw was named in the Wales U19 squad for an international fixture vs Japan on 19 th March. Huw started the game at scrum half and impressed on debut, showing great control and distribution at the back

Very well done, Praneeth!

DANCE Amazing feedback from the audience and organisers about the boys and quality of their performance at the RichDance festival on Sunday, 24th March at Hampton School Theatre, when the Tiffin Dance Company performed their piece ‘Energy Within’. Throughout the day dancers participated in a contemporary dance workshop and managed to meet and greet other likeminded young people.

Thankfully the Sevens season this year has taken place free from the drama caused by last year’s Beast from the East and the boys have had lots of success across a range of year groups. The Year 8 Sevens team performed exceptionally well at the Surrey tournament beating prestigious sides such as Dulwich College and St John’s Leatherhead. This success was transferred into the Rosslyn Park National Sevens where they played 2 games on the main pitch which was livestreamed on YouTube. This year’s Year 7 will look to replicate the success of the year above next year, and our newest intake of boys performed well in their first taste of Sevens with wins against Harrodian and Wallington in the Surrey tournament. The Year 9 team continued their success after a ground-breaking win against John Fisher at the back end of the 15’s season as they won 4 out of their 6 matches at the Surrey Sevens including a thumping 33-5 win over Trinity School. The Year 10s performed very well to win the Borough Sevens tournament, the quality of their play being recognised by the promotion of Josh Hazelden and Tom Armstrong into the U16 Sevens squad for the prestigious Rosslyn Park National Sevens. For the 1st VII the highlight was a very respectable 2nd place finish at the Ibstock Sevens narrowly being squeezed out by Hampton. This was matched by a well-deserved 22-21 victory over Emmanuel at Rosslyn Park, helping to avenge the defeat suffered in the normal season. Special mention must go to captain Sam Gunman, for scoring a hat-trick in this match and also for leading the side with aplomb throughout the year, and to Josh Clough for being one of the outstanding Sevens players for the seniors despite only being in Year 11. With the end of the Sevens season, we now look forward to the Leaver’s dinner on Friday 29th March and the beginning of preparations for the 2019/20 season. Tiffin is currently fielding an incredible 20 teams across all years – but with that, comes extra demand on resources, kit, transport, first aid, Refs…which is why we’re reaching out to you to become part of #TeamTIPRA (Tiffin Parent Rugby Association) If you are able to…a one-off, annual payment of £40 or a monthly standing order of £4 can make a HUGE difference to the amount of additional support we can provide for our boys. So, why not sign up this term (referencing your son’s name and year group)? Thank you!! Account Name –TIPRA / Account No – 43474585 / Sort Code – 20-46-76