Head's Newsletter 5 May 2017

It is also fantastic to see the start of the cricket season, and we hope it will also signal the arrival of summer weather. We had some excellent first games on Saturday; it was particularly pleasing to see the U12 sides doing so well. In addition to the cricket report you will also see reports on cross country, and of rowing and fencing successes. Over the Easter holidays, many boys were lucky enough to go on what was another brilliant Classics trip, this time to Sicily. All boys had a great time and our thanks go to the staff, especially Mrs O’Connell, for leading the trip. On the Music front, the choir have again taken part in the most incredible opportunities, appearing at the Royal Festival Halls at the start of the Easter holiday, and at Westminster Abbey at the end of last term. We also had our concert at the Parish Church in which all Year 7 participated. We congratulate the Music Department on their achievements, including national recognition for the high number of students studying Music at GCSE. I hope for a very productive half term and especially pass on best wishes to Year 11 who go on study leave today. Yours,

Dear Parents I do hope that boys and their families had a restful and enjoyable Easter break. This is a very short half term but an extremely busy one, particularly with the start of public exams, and with internal exams for all the other years. We especially wish all those students taking the GCSE and A Level exams all the best, and I hope the revision programme is going well. Much to report since the last newsletter. Following the recent announcement, the Politics Department have flown into action with the calling of a snap mock election! Candidates have been selected, posters designed, adverts broadcast, and hustings held as the school moves into election fever. It is great to see so many boys enthusiastically participating in politics. The new building now seems to be making very fast progress (see below) and you can see the framework of it quite clearly as you drive in the one-way system.

M D Gascoigne Headteacher

IMPORTANT DATES

Y12 Study Leave commences Y13 Study Leave commences

Friday 12 May Friday 19 May Friday 26 May 29 May—2 June

Professional Development Day—no boys in school

Half term

Boys return to school after half term Twilight PDD—school finishes at 2 pm

Monday 5 June

Wednesday 14 June

services to Diversity and Inclusion in the Civil Service (where she worked for 28 years’ prior to joining Tiffin). She received the award at The Tower of London and it was presented to her by Ken Olisa OBE, FRSA, FBCS, a British businessman and the Lord-Lieutenant of Greater London, who, by coincidence, is married to a former Tiffin teacher, Julia. Next up for Tonia is a Garden Party at Buckingham Palace late in May.

We have been awarded the ISM Trust’s Gold Certificate. This means that more than 20% of all the school’s GCSE students achieved an A* to C in GCSE music, putting the school in the top 76 schools in England. James Berry, MP for Kingston and Surbiton, wrote to congratulate the school saying, “It is wonderful that pupils have the opportunity to pursue a wide range of subjects and interests at your school and to such high standards. This is a huge achievement and demonstrates a real commitment to music in the school.”

Tonia Hickman who works in our Main Office and is pictured below, received a BEM in the New Years’ Honours for

J14B 4x won their race in impressive style

J18 2x beat a strong Tideway Scullers crew

CLASSICS TRIP TO SICILY

The Annual Classics Trip went to the beautiful island of Sicily at the start of the Easter holidays. 47 boys from Years 8-13 enjoyed all that Sicily has to offer in terms of stunning Greco-Roman temple complexes, magnificent theatres and ruined towns. In addition, we saw Mount Etna in all its glory, took a glorious boat trip in the sunshine around Ortygia and enjoyed lots of Italian delicacies. The 6

day trip was enjoyed by all as per the review from Humphrey in Year 12 below. My thanks as always go to Mr Karski, Miss Sandhu, Mr Marley & Mr King who generously gave up their holiday time and, of course, to all the boys themselves whose enthusiasm was unwavering. Mrs O’Connell

The Tiffin school Classics trip to Sicily this year was a tremendous success and personally my favourite in an extensive history of very enjoyable Classics trips. From our operatic tour guide to the awe inspiring temple to Olympian Zeus, the span of the trip covered both the hilarious, for example a certain Y8 fervently denying he had lost his hat to Mrs O’Connell while she wore the hat in question, and the

fascinating, with some of the best preserved sites I have ever had the good fortune to visit. The trip was concluded by the as ever hugely popular and wide ranging talent show. Entries included card tricks, origami done behind the back, and the performance of a play written specially for the occasion. Overall a highly enjoyable experience. Humphrey Allen, 12SJC/PP

While the A team raised their game to match the Emanuel year 8s, the U12B team did likewise against the U13B. They chased the Emanuel total with a couple of overs to spare with Rasnaam Grover the stand-out performer with both bat and ball. It is with great excitement that we prepare for the season ahead, starting with fixtures against John Fisher and Hampton this week. Fencing British Youth Championships Luca Plastow came 2nd at the Fencing British Youth Championships on Saturday in the U16 foil category. En route to the final he managed to knock out the favourite in the semi-finals, only to fall just short at the final hurdle.

U12 Cricket The 2017 season, and indeed the Year 7s involvement in school cricket, got off to a very positive start last Saturday against Emanuel School. Following a minor mix-up in communications, instead of the U12A team, we faced their U13A. Unfazed, we took to the field and bowled and fielded superbly well, restricting them to 74 all out in 25 overs. Alex Cormack bowled a particularly impressive and aggressive opening spell of quick bowling. He was well supported at the other end by Shivan Aggarwal. Alex came back on for the penultimate over and took three more wickets to return figures of 4 overs, 2 maidens, 4 for 4. Iain Westbrook and Matthew Bennett bowled very frugally and it was pleasing to see Chirag Patel and Farhaan Shaikh flight the ball with confidence against the more powerful U13 opponents.

The jubilant U12A team on completion of an 8 wicket win

Datta Vasireddy and Ashwin Bose then made light work of the run chase. They put together a partnership of 46 in 10 overs and it fell to Iain Westbrook to hit the winning boundary in the 15 th over of our innings. Datta batted with great style and confidence throughout, finishing not out 41.

CROSSCOUNTRYYEAR8REPORT

The 2016-17 season has seen a once-in-a- generation Year 8 team have another fantastic year. Whereas other years might have one or two committed runners the current Year 8s have around 10 excellent runners who have shown staggering ability and love of cross country. At the centre of the action were the series of shorter races and relays that Tiffin competed in alongside a select number of other Surrey schools: John Fisher, Trinity, Whitgift and Oxted. The season started in September with a race at Shirley Park hosted by Trinity and was followed by a fixture on our own soil at Grist’s. The John Fisher individual race followed the week after, a circuit which winds through Roundshaw Downs. This race is a favourite of the year Captains and saw Will Murphy come 1 st and Alistair Brendon 7 th . The action continued with sub-six minute miles at the Oxted relay by Matthew O’Donovan and Tom Armstrong. October welcomed the much-esteemed Charterhouse race: a brutal encounter ran along precarious paths and up a super-steep hill, compensated at the end by a superb tea. The season really heated-up in the winter with Will finishing 8 th and a particularly strong performance by Jack Hartrey in the Junior Knole Run in Sevenoaks. Only Matthew, Jack, Luis and Alistair braved the almost 10km senior version in January which was run on the usual gruelling course and featured, as an added extra, snow and ice. Nevertheless, the real challenge at both events was racing dozens of other schools from across the country to the legendary post-race banquet! To add to the list, there were also a multitude of Wednesday relays during the winter

months. Alistair ran in the Hampton Paarlauf (a strange term for this race where a team of three run as far as they can in 24 minutes) and Matthew, Jack and Alistair all put in excellent performances at the King Henry VIII relay in Coventry before dashing back to school for house singing. Supersonic times were also run at the Goater Cup Relay hosted by Haberdashers School in Aldenham Country Park, not to mention Will who outpaced some of Tiffin’s esteemed older runners in the Judge Cup. The most enjoyable race has to have been their complete domination in the Kingston Borough stage of the English Schools Cross Country Championship where Tiffin earned 1st place. Individual positions: Eyoel Abebaw Mesfin 1 st (from Y9), Tom 2 nd , Will 3 rd , Euan 4 th , Matthew 5 th and Joe 8 th in a race competed against Y9s as well. Tom, Euan, Matthew, Joe and Alistair all ran in the Surreys at Reigate Priory whilst Tom and Euan made it to the Inter Counties. The highlight of the season however, were the exceptional performances in the English Schools Cross Country Cup. The seven-strong squad of Euan, Tom, Will, Matthew, Joe, Jack and Alistair started their journey at the counties with 6 th and 7 th finishes from Tom and Will, before the same people managed 9 th and 10 th respectively at the Inter Counties in Tonbridge. Progression into the Grand Final at Formby in Lancashire meant an early morning train journey but Will coming 32 nd and Euan 45 th helped Tiffin to secure 16 th in the whole country. In summary, a scintillating season of super speed, stunning scenery and tremendous teas! By Alistair Brendon, 8RC

MUSIC NEWS

The beginning of the Easter holidays was delayed for 20 trebles who spent an intensive few days rehearsing for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8. The piece is otherwise known as the Symphony of a Thousand for good reason with the London Philharmonic Choir, London Symphony Chorus and Choir of Clare College, Cambridge, with the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Vladimir Jurowski.

On 3 rd April Tiffin Boys’ Choir enjoyed the privilege of singing Evensong at Westminster Abbey. Only visiting choirs of a high standard are allowed to sing there. Before rehearsal time in Cheyneygates, the medieval house of the Abbots of Westminster, the

The annual School Concert, involving members of Tiffin’s instrumental ensembles alongside all 180 pupils in Year 7 took place on 30 th March. The evening got off to a rousing start with Wind Band setting the mood with ‘Happy’ and a Lennon/McCartney medley. This was followed by sets from the String Orchestra, Brass Ensemble, Swing Band and School Orchestra, which gave a moving rendition of the second movement of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 8. After a quick stage reset a very enthusiastic Year 7 assembled for ‘Assyria’s Concern’ or ‘The Adventures of Henry Layard in Mesopotamia’, written by the school’s Composer in Residence, Simon Ferris. The boys, after only a limited amount of time practising the chorus pieces in class, produced an excellent performance particularly from soloists, Joe Desmond, Daniel McCarthy, and Georgiy Lesyuk.

boys were given the opportunity to follow an audio guided tour of the Abbey which has been the coronation church since 1066 and is the final resting place of 17 monarchs. In addition Westminster Abbey is also the place where some of the most significant people in the nation's history are buried or commemorated. Evensong itself was a profound and memorable experience, especially following the week of the tragedy on Westminster Bridge and outside the Houses of Parliament.

TIFFIN HOUSE CHAMPIONSHIP Since the last newsletter both the Basketball and the Table Tennis competitions have concluded. The Basketball was won by Darwin Wilberforce and the Table Tennis was shared by Turing Nightingale (winning their first title) and Kingsley Montgomery. Scott triumphed in the Senior Bridge Competition to put themselves in a strong position to win that title. In the overall championship Raleigh and KM are tied at the top of the table on 278 each which underlies how close the competition is. In a new venture the House Table Tennis competition concluded with a Finals Day where the best performing players in recent house table tennis competitions competed for the title of school champion. The school has recently acquired four new tables which has enabled these competitions to run far more efficiently. The final ended up being contested by Darshan Kumaresan and Ashrith Behara. Darshan eventually triumphed 21-19 in a gripping and highly entertaining match.

DEBATING The debating society, which meets every Monday lunch in the Judge Lecture Theatre, picked eight younger boys (ranging from year 7 to year 10) for their fourth fixture of the year. This was a friendly fixture hosted at Coombe Girls School and run by Marymount International School which followed the British Parliamentary format. Our boys were highly commended for their arguments both for and against the motion "This house believes the UK voting age should be lowered from 18 to 16" and performed with great maturity against opposition who were in some cases many years their Senior. FUNDRAISING APPEAL This term has seen Mr Brown and the Tiffin Charity Club start a fundraising drive for the Ambitious about Autism charity. Ambitious about Autism seeks to support young people with Autism to access education and participate in society. To raise funds for this cause Mr. Brown will be embarking on the annual Rapha Manchester to London bike ride on 3 rd September. This single day event will see Mr Brown complete 220 miles and some 14,000ft of climbing, the equivalent of 4.5 Burj Khalifa’s (world’s tallest building). Twice the average distance of a Tour de France stage, this ride should take approximately 16 hours starting at dawn from the Manchester Velodrome and ending at the TreeHouse School run by the charity in North London. In short, a very long way! To sponsor please use the following link: uk.virginmoneygiving.com/dbrownm2l . You can follow training and fundraising for this event on Twitter @DBrownM2L.

Photo shows the top four players competing in their final matches and receiving their medals and certificates

TIFFIN JUNIOR DANCE COMPANY NEWWORK

OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE AT INTERMEDIATE MATHS OLYMPIAD

On 16 th March, 30 students took part in the UKMT Intermediate Maths Olympiad, the follow on round for students, usually in Years 9-11, performing within the top 500 in each year group nationally in the Intermediate Maths Challenge. The paper was 2 hours, consisting of 6 demanding maths questions. Have a go at one of them below! The results were our best on record by a considerable margin, with 8 boys achieving a Distinction, of which 6 boys achieved a ‘medal’ and 4 boys achieved a ‘Book Prize’. The last of these achievements is particularly exceptional, reserved only for the top 50 in each year group nationally. These were awarded to Ojas Gulati (Year 7), Christian Cases (Year 9), Vincent Trieu (Year 11) and Navonil Neogi (Year 11). We particularly congratulate newcomer Ojas Gulati, who achieved a perfect score of 60/60. We are, as ever, incredibly proud of the boys’ achievement.

On Tuesday 2 nd May Tiffin Junior dance company (Year 8 dancers) started working with choreographer Shaun Dillon on a specially commissioned piece, which will be performed at Rose Theatre Kingston on Saturday 17 th June. Watch this space!

A question from this year’s Year 9 Olympiad: We write ‘pq’ to denote the two-digit integer with tens digit p and units digit q . For which values of a, b, and c are the two fractions ‘ab’ and ‘bc’ equal and different from 1? ‘ba’ ‘cb’