Head's Newsletter 5 February 2016

Dear Parents, As we approach the end of this Half Term, we reflect upon what has been a very exciting last couple of weeks. In particular we congratulate the many members of the Upper Sixth who have been receiving university offers; special congratulations also go to the 21 students who received offers from Oxford or Cambridge this year; a really fantastic achievement. We wish all the Upper Sixth every success as they strive to achieve the offers they have been set. Outside of the lessons the amazing range of co-curricular activities continues to offer opportunities. It was fantastic to be able to watch the House singing competition, which brings out the best in the boys. Many congratulations to all who took part and special thanks to the Music Department for putting on such a good show, which was appreciated by the many parents present. We are also now coming to the end of the performances of Tosca at the Royal Opera House; what a wonderful opportunity it has been for the boys to perform at such a prestigious venue. We are of course very excited about the performances of Les Misérables which will take place next week. Over 1000 tickets have been sold and there are now very few left so if you haven't purchased one yet, you must hurry! The staging is set and the rehearsals have sounded splendid.

On the sports front, this weekend sees the final block fixtures of the rugby season as we take on St George’s School, Harpenden. After half term we look forward to the Sevens and other competitions. Special mention must also go to the basketball players as we wish them luck in their forthcoming matches. It was good to see so many parents at the Year 9 Parents’ Consultations and we look forward to seeing Year 7 parents just after half term. It was also brilliant to be present for the Burns Night celebration, superbly put on by the TPA. With 150 parents present, a great night was had by all, whilst raising money for the School. Thank you to all those parents whose hard work made the evening possible; please do support the TPA and other groups in their efforts for the School. We break up for Half Term at the end of next week and after we return there are only just over 4 weeks until the Easter holidays; the GCSE, and A Level exams start in May, so if these affect your son, I hope you will encourage him to use the break productively as he looks towards the future. I hope those participating in the ski trip over Half Term have a fantastic time in America, and I wish everybody a restful break. Please note the key dates below. Yours,

Mr M D Gascoigne

IMPORTANT DATES

Friday 12 February

Break up for half term; normal 3.30 finish

Monday 15 – Friday 19 Feb Half Term holiday Monday 22 February

Staff Inset Day; no boys in School

Boys start back after Half Term, at normal 8.30 start Y7 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 2 pm Y8 Parents’ Consultations: School finishes at 2 pm

Tuesday 23 February Wednesday 24 February

Thursday 3 March Thursday 24 March

Break up for Easter holidays

It has been a busy start to 2016 for Tiffin dance. On 11 January twelve year 9 dancers travelled to Trinity Laban to take part in a creative class and workshop as part of The Centre for Advanced Training (CAT) Programme. This is an intensive training programme for young people aged 13-18, who have exceptional talent and potential in dance. Part of a national initiative funded by the Department for Education, the CAT aims to identify young people with exceptional talent and potential and provide them with the highest level of dance training regardless of their personal circumstances.

On Wednesday 3rd February Tiffin Junior Dance Company (Year 8 dancers) competed in the 2016 London Youth Games, part of the School Games Dance Key Stage 3 competition at the Copper Box Arena, Olympic Park.

On Wednesday 20 January Year 11 dancers and Tiffin Dance Company performed at the Edmund Kean Theatre at Richmond upon Thames College as a part of the IGNITE dance event.

Huge congratulations and well done to all dancers who represented school in the above events and who worked so hard throughout Autumn term in order to perfect their skills.

S ince the last rugby update the 1XV have played High Wycombe, John Fisher and Hamp- ton School. In High Wycombe they came up against probably the best side they had

Shown below (from left to right) are George Price, Max Tal- man, Ben Chan- dler and Shane Jayakrishna who have all received their gold ties. With 1 game to go Ben has

played all season. Due to the wet weather the game was moved onto the 3G pitch at Maidenhead RFC and the home side really enjoyed the flat and fast track. Tiffin were 21 – 0 down before even getting their hands on the ball! However the resilience that has been ever present this season kicked in and the boys started to play. The final score of 44 – 12 was probably about right. Against John Fisher it was the opposite and we started well and at half time a 10 – 10 score line and Tiffin on the ascendancy looked promising. However two early scores in the second half by Fisher made a difficult job even harder. Again defeat by 31 – 22 was a bitter pill to swallow. Last week was the last time that the U6 players would play at Grist's and it was against local rivals Hampton. The boys were determined to finish strongly, and even though Hampton were slightly under strength due to their run in the NatWest Cup, to win 22 – 0 was a very pleasing way to finish the home season. The game was in some doubt due to the wet pitches however the (muddy) photo shows the delight of a number of the boys who played. We are nearly at the end of what has been a very successful season that has seen a num- ber of both red and gold ties being awarded for both 10 and 25 1XV wins respectively.

scored 18 tries, 31 conversions and 12 pen- alties, amassing a staggering 188 points. He has been an extremely dangerous player with the ball in hand, and on his day his ac- curacy with the boot has been the downfall of a number of teams. Max is now on 28 1XV wins, and for 18 of these wins he was leading from the front as Captain. He is an extremely powerful individ- ual who can be enormously destructive in midfield. Throughout the season he has led by example both on and off the field. With one game still to play this Saturday there are still a number of boys on the cusp of both red and gold ties, so even with the end of the season so close the pressure to perform is still on.

Tosca

Basketball

20 boys from the Boys’ Choir sang in Jonathan Kent’s production of Tosca at the Royal Opera House which ran between 9 January – 5 February. The highly acclaimed production featured a star studded cast, including international soprano Angela Gheorghiu singing the title role. Duncan Tarboton, a Year 10 at the school, was cast as the solo role of Shepherd Boy beating stiff competition from a number of schools across London. It has been an immensely fun and rewarding experience for all involved, with the chorus spanning four year groups!

The U14s have had a great start to the season this year. Having lost the Surrey cup final last year to Harris Academy Crystal Palace by 4 points, the U14s beat them away from home 70-47 earlier in the season. The U14s are currently 9 wins and no defeats since the start of the season. They top the Surrey league and are in the Surrey cup and league play-off semi-finals over the next few weeks. More importantly they face Christ’s School, Richmond in the 3rd round of the national cup away from home next Tuesday 9th February. This will be a tough draw as this is where Richmond Knights Basketball Club are based. Christ’s School in Richmond are also undefeated this season, and with no draws in basketball, somebody’s ‘O’ has got to go. The U16s & U19s also have Surrey Cup semi-finals over the next few weeks. Good luck to all teams over the next few weeks! Mr WMartin Head of PE & Head of Year 7

Later in the term Ben Knight (Year 10) sings the role of Feodor in the new production of Boris Godunov (14 March – 5 April) and 30 boys will be singing the children’s chorus in Tannhäuser (26 April – 15 May).

VISIT TO QUEEN MARY’S

SPANISH STUDIES

On Monday 25 January, Mr Horwood and Mr Reekes accompanied 16 enthusiastic Year 9 pupils to Queen Mary’s University, in East London, to take part in a day of talks and lectures concerning the Human Rights Act and its links to Britain.

Year 12 and 13 Spanish students attended a conference at James Allen’s Girls’ School in East Dulwich on the evening of Tuesday 2 February to learn more about the work of the leading Spanish film director Pedro Almodóvar, who they are studying as part of their Spanish A level cultural studies. Hosted by Professor María Delgado, who has interviewed the director several times for the international media, our students learnt about Almodóvar’s work from his own point of view. Professor Delgado provided a comprehensive overview spanning the course of Almodóvar’s film career drawing upon quotes from her interviews with him to give the students a fresh perspective on his work. The boys also enjoyed the tapas kindly provided by James Allen’s, prior to the event beginning!

The day had been organised by the British Institute of Human Rights (BIHR) in conjunction with Surbiton High School, who took 16 of their girls. It was fantastic to see the Tiffin boys engaging so well with the material and activities they were presented with and really enjoying working with the girls on tasks linked to the value of the Human Rights Act. They will now be tasked with competing against the girls in groups of four, for a chance to win a range of awards in a presentation evening in April. In the coming months, boys will be split into their groups and will set about producing a dissertation on a chosen topic, and a presentation to give to their friends, parents and judges from the BIHR too. We hope to do as well as last year, when Tiffin won two of the four prizes and performed outstandingly across the board; with such a talented group of boys we’d hope to do even better!