Head's Newsletter 29 March 2019

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.