Head's Newsletter 5 May 2017

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