Head's Newsletter 31 March 2017

Easter Concert held last night at All Saints Kingston was a great success, and it was exciting to see the many different ensembles performing, as well as all of Year 7 in the Jazz Cantata to a full audience; once again, the quality of the music was outstanding, and many congratulations go to all the boys and staff . Work on the new building is truly in full swing. Having now laid all the foundations and the ground floor concrete slab, the building is rising as the contractors now prepare for the first floor. Shortly after Easter they will begin to connect through from the current building to the new. It is certainly exciting to see the daily changes on site. The house competitions continue apace and many of the boys have been engaged in the different activities. As we break up for Easter there is still much going on; we especially wish everyone going on the Classics trip to Sicily a very good time when they depart next Friday. We are obviously approaching an important time for years 11 to 13 in particular, and I hope you and they find the reports they will receive useful. I do hope that the Easter break is productive for those pupils who are preparing for exams, and I also hope that all pupils have a restful and enjoyable time with their families. Yours, M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

Dear Parents The Easter term seems to have gone extremely quickly as we now enter into our final week. There is much to celebrate, and plenty going on within the school. The rugby sevens season has come to an end and it is a great pleasure to report on a terrific performance by the senior squad at the Rosslyn Park National Sevens. For the first time in over 20 years, Tiffin succeeded in getting through to the second day of this most prestigious national competition. Although we then lost to the eventual winners, the players involved deserve many congratulations for a great end to the season. It is good to also note our success in the cross country, and it is great to see the rowing competitions now underway with both the boys and girls squads performing very admirably. It was also marvellous for our Choir to be able to perform with the Tiffin Girls’ School Choir and the Tiffin Children's Chorus in the concert last week. The Choir’s extraordinary performances continue to the end of term when they are appearing with the London Philharmonic Orchestra at the Royal Festival Halls. In addition we are also looking forward to the Choir singing Evensong at Westminster Abbey on Monday evening at 5pm; do come and join them for the service if you are able. On top of this the School

IMPORTANT DATES

Break up for Easter—School finishes just after midday Start of Summer term—usual 8.30 am start (week B) Y10 Parents’ Consultations. School finishes at 2.40 pm.

Friday 7 April

Monday 24 April

Wednesday 26 April

Bank Holiday—School closed Y11 Study Leave commences Y12 Study Leave commences Y13 Study Leave commences

Monday 1 May Friday 5 May Friday 12 May Friday 19 May Frdiay 26 May

Professional Development Day—no boys in school

TIFFIN HOUSE CHAMPIONSHIP

Since the last newsletter there has been a flurry of activity in the house competition. After 140 inter-house football matches involving over 600 boys Churchill Gordon have successfully defended their title. Even more boys have represented their houses in the demanding house run over a 3km course and again last year's holders, this time Kingsley Montgomery, were the victors. Basketball is in full flow with Livingstone and Darwin Wilberforce currently unbeaten in the Seniors and the school's four new table tennis tables were christened with a Raleigh win in the senior table tennis led by individual champion Matt Stevenson. Scott triumphed in the Senior General Knowledge after 20 matches, KM took the Intermediate Lit Quiz by storm, Senior House Bridge starts on Tuesday. Thanks to the event organisers and the 8 Heads of House who give up their time on an entirely voluntary basis to run such a varied, interesting and positive competition. THE NEW BUILDING The building work progresses nicely (see below). You can of course make donations to the building appeal if you have not already done so by going to ParentPay .

CHOIR CONCERT The evening of Wednesday 22 March saw a collaborative concert between the choirs of Tiffin School, The Tiffin Girls’ School and Tiffin Children’s Chorus at All Saints Church, Kingston. The concert included repertoire from Victoria, Morley, Vaughan Williams, Kodály and Tallis with the second half culminating in a joint performance of the Fauré Requiem. Despite the logistical issues of managing over 300 performers and their parents, the evening was a great success and we look forward to working again with Philp Viveash, Director of Music at TGS, in the future.

Next week the choir looks forward to singing Evensong at Westminster Abbey and on 8 th April 50 trebles sing in Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the London Philharmonic Orchestra and a star studded soloist line up at the Royal Festival Hall.

TIFFIN RUGBY 1ST VII REPORT

The School’s 1st VII had huge potential this year with a core group of very skilful players committing to training for three tough competitions. With schoolboy rugby increasing in professionalism every year, the Middlesex, Surrey and National tournaments become harder and harder to compete in with the likes of AASE (Achieving Academic and Sporting Excellence) teams dominating a lot of traditionally big schools. However this year’s Tiffin squad had the ability to more than compete with Hinks and Fulton pulling the strings as link players and Griffith, Hyde and Frost finishing the scoring opportunities. Hyde was especially impressive as an U16 playing up two years and appearing more than comfortable, scoring twelve tries in two competitions. After winning two pool games at the Middlesex 7s against Dulwich and Gunnersbury, the squad progressed into the Plate Semi Final where they secured a comfortable win over Wimbledon College. In a tight final against Merchant Taylors the boys were unlucky to lose by a score.

quarter finals. Onwards to the Nationals which had been the target all 7s season. The National Competition is always tough due to the sheer size of it and the calibre of teams who participate. Entering the Vase, Tiffin were in one of thirty four groups of five teams. First up, a potential banana skin against Shrewsbury School. Some excellent 7s pattern play, a couple of Hyde tries later and the first victory was secured 38-21. Next up were Latymer who were brushed aside 43-0.

Another dominant victory over Liverpool College 42-5 set up a pool decider against Maidstone Grammar who had also won all their games so far. The most impressive performance of the day saw the squad canter to a 38-14 win. The squad had secured another day off school and a place in day two of the Nationals, a feat not achieved for 22 years when Messrs Anstey and Lynch reached the final of the competition. Unfortunately this is where the dream ended as the boys couldn’t quite manage to be on the right side of three tight losses, one of which was against the eventual finalists Stockport Grammar. This was still a historic achievement by the boys and one they should certainly be proud of. Senior 7s Squad: Back Row - Studdert, Hyde, Sharp, Ful- ton, Whittaker, Cockroft Front Row – Hinks, Prentice, Tay- lor, Griffith, Frost, Lieu

Captain Will Sharp on his way to touch down

The Surrey 7s is a hugely competitive tournament and with the likes of Millfield, Hampton and Beechen Cliff in the mix it was always going to be tough. A day at the office to forget as the boys were off the pace and could not progress further than the Plate

Chiswick regatta on the 29th April.

ROWINGNEWS The boat club has recently entered 2 events: Kingston Head and, on a national scale, The Scullery at Dorney Lake. Crews faired well in both events.

Good progress from TSBC.

CROSSCOUNTRY Tom Armstrong and Euan Sinclair were awarded their Surrey county vest last weekend in the Year 8 v the home Counties. The Surrey team were convincing winners. Well done to Tom (pictured below) and Euan.

At Kingston Head the J18 (senior) boys came 4th and 5th in their division. The J15s came 5th and 7th in theirs. Our Tiffin girl members entered a scratch crew and put in a reasonable performance for a crew with no training time. The Year 9 contingent's B crew came 3rd in their event. The A crew suffered a technical fault when the bow man shattered his oar doing a "Power 20" hence denying themselves a top 2 finish—there’s always a next time! At The Scullery we fielded a bigger contingent from the Year 9s through to senior squads. Most events had 60 plus entries and TSBC came in the top 3rd of results in most cases. All crews produced some great technical rowing with strong performances. All the big schools were there fielding their top athletes and we punched above our weight despite being many kilos lighter. Our development girls put in a decent showing which bodes well for the future of girl's rowing at TSBC. Our next race is