Headteacher's Newsletter - 25th September 2023

Parent Newsletter Autumn #3 - Monday 25th September 2023

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From the Headteacher

Important Notices

School Closure - 5th and 6th October

A reminder that there is no school for all students on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th October due to the 11+ exams taking place.

Important Notices

Games Afternoons Games is an integral part of the Tiffin education. Please do not organise medical appointments for your child’s Games afternoon, other than in emergencies. If your child is unwell or injured but in school, they are expected to attend all lessons including PE and they should travel to Games. If their illness/injury prevents them from taking part in physical activity, they will be given non-participatory roles, such as coaching or officiating. Special consideration may be made for students with injuries which make transport difficult (such as a broken lower limb that requires crutches for movement). In such instances, please email their Head of Year and the Director of Sport. Exam Notice A reminder that the deadline to request a review of marking for the candidates who took GCSEs in June 2022 (current Year 12) is Thursday 28th September. Please click here to complete the request form. Parent Partnerships

Parent Partnerships

School Development

Composing Competition

Heptathlon Finals

As I mentioned last week, in these first few newsletters we are going to be highlighting our three priority development areas for the year ahead. Having highlighted Teaching and Learning last week, our second priority for the year is engagement and communication. As I have discussed with parents who attended the Parent Welcome Evenings, we are looking forward to a new website being launched in November. Another area that I am keen to enhance is parent feedback. We value parent feedback very highly and I am exploring ways in which we can collate this more effectively and ensure that parents are able to feed back their thoughts to us. This week, we are going to launch a pilot called ‘Tell us at Tiffin’. The purpose of this platform is to enable parents to submit brief comments on any areas of school life. These will be read by myself and other members of the SLT and I will report back on our response to a collective common theme via this newsletter. Parents are of course at liberty to submit anything on their minds; however, I would like to emphasise the benefits of us hearing good news and things that you are happy about so that we know what to do more of. You can ‘Tell us at Tiffin’ by clicking on the link on page 5 of this newsletter which will take you to a sign in via Insight.

Running Club

Chess Success

Tiffin at Wimbledon

Sports Roundup

Together

for Tiffin

For many years, the generosity of parents such as yourself has helped us to provide a wide range of opportunities and activities to broaden and enrich the education of Tiffin students. From the performing arts to the sports field, in the classroom and beyond, the Tiffin Education Fund has been the cornerstone of the provision of an outstanding all-round education. Now more than ever, the assistance of the whole Tiffin community is crucial in helping us to continue to offer all of our students an exciting Tiffin education. Many families choose to give a regular gift of £43 a month (the equivalent of £10 per week); some families give more, some less and we are grateful for all contributions. Regular gifts by direct debit give us a predictable income so we can plan ahead to ensure that whatever their choice from our wider opportunities programme, each and every student will benefit from the Tiffin Education Fund. Donate Here

Contact Us

Queen Elizabeth Road Kingston-upon-Thames, Surrey KT2 6RL

020 8546 4638

Best wishes

Garth Williams Headteacher

office@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk

Thank you for your support – regular donations have the power to collectively make a huge difference. If you have any questions about donating to the School, please contact development@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk

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Tell us

School Development

at Tiffin

Strategic Priorities for 2023-2024

We want to hear from you!

Teaching and Learning

Engagement and Communication

Income Generation

‘Tell us at Tiffin’ is a new platform for parents to feed back positive comments and helpful suggestions across all areas of school life. Feedback will be reviewed regularly by the Senior Leadership Team and a collective response will be given via the Parent Newsletter.

Engagement and Communication

New Website We are delighted that our new website will be launching after the October Half Term. Alongside a fresh new look, we believe the new website will be clearer and easier to navigate, making it more efficient for parents to find key information. The website will also highlight the array of subjects and co-curricular activities on offer, celebrate achievements and detail recent news - demonstrating what makes Tiffin such a great community.

Click Here

Weekly Newsletter We hope you are enjoying receiving a weekly summary of life at Tiffin and feel informed of recent trips, sporting success and of other achievements across the school.

Log in to Insight via the link above..

Tell us at Tiffin Launching today, ‘Tell us at Tiffin’ is a platform for parents to provide general feedback to the school. We will be regularly reviewing how best to improve the accessibility of this platform to make it as easy as possible for parents to submit their comments.

Click on the ‘General’ tab where you will see ‘Tell us at Tiffin’.

Once you have clicked on the link, you will be taken to the form where you can provide the school with feedback. Submissions are unlimited, so please do provide your thoughts and comments throughout the year.

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Engage · Aspire · Excel Please note, submissions will not receive an individual response, so please do contact your child’s Form Tutor or Head of Year if the matter is urgent.

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Running Club

BBC Young Composers’ Competition

Congratulations to Advaith (12LMO) who has been selected as a prizewinner in his category of the BBC Young Composers’ Competition. From the many entries submitted by young composers nationwide, Advaith’s work was selected as one of only six winning compositions. Advaith shares first prize in the Upper Junior Category with just one fellow young composer - an outstanding achievement in this national competition. Advaith writes of his experience: ‘My piece, Saturn Devouring his Son, is inspired by Francisco Goya’s painting of the same name and the Greek myth behind it. The influences shown in my piece are found in the 20th century with composers such as Ravel and Stravinsky (particularly when the music becomes violent). In the beginning, it was incredibly difficult finding inspiration for my piece until Francesca Goya’s painting inspired me to write something based on his art. I wanted to explore the contrast between the innocence of the child and the violence of Saturn. I did this by juxtaposing two different sections with completely different moods. In between these sections I had a recurring ‘fate’ motif (which is heard at the very start in the saxophones) as if it sits in the forefront of Saturn’s mind. Each repeat of this motif changes, reflecting on what has just happened’. Heptathlon Competition Ava John joined the school in September and competed in the National Schools Multi-event final last weekend at the Bedford International Stadium . The two-day competition saw some fierce competition in the 7 events. The trickiest was the Javelin where Ava held her nerve and recorded a good third round throw. Showing extra determination in the last event saw her distance her rivals in the 800m . This culminated in an England selection for her in the International Multi-events match in Cardiff in December. Incidentally, 8 school records were set or bettered over the two days.

Listen Here

Chess Success Last week, the A and B chess teams travelled to RGS in Guildford to take part in the Russell Trophy. Congratulations to the B team who were champions of the minor competition – great play all round! With the Running Club amounting to over 35 Year 7-9 students (20 of those from Year 7) and with unprecedented number of Seniors (nearly 20 students for the first time in over 37 years), the Running Club continues to show great strength in numbers. The ladies section looks to build upon their 3 trophies in 3 years and, coupled with their numerous representative medals, they are still one of, if not the most successful, ladies teams we have had in the short but illustrious open Sixth Form era. The third annual Year 7 relay was a great success; at least 9 students from each form took part. Great fun was had by all - both those running and those organising the event. Well done to all the Captains who organised their teams immaculately and well done to everybody who took part and did their best to represent their forms. 7JM were first over the line and were the quickest of any team over the previous 3 years. Overall, it was amazing to see so many enthusiastic runners representing their form with pride and trying their best.

Overall, it was a good competition to end the season with. It had highs (the high jump-no pun intended) and lows (the javelin) but I’m happy with my performances despite not achieving any personal bests. Now starts the dreaded winter training and the learning of new spacings and throwing weights for the 2024 season! -Ava

New school records set:

New school records bettered:

5009 Heptathlon 200m: 25.98 80H: 11.90s Shot: 11.93m

800m: 2.18.91 High Jump: 1.62m Long Jump: 5.48m Javelin 28.50m

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Tiffin BBGs at Wimbledon 2023

T iffin is lucky to be one of a select few part of the Ball Boy and Girl (BBG) programme at Wimbledon. It is an incredibly exciting opportunity for these young students who work incredibly hard all year, as well as during the Wimbledon Championships. These talented young people get to mix with some very well known sports people, meet new friends and develop skills for life. On an early morning in October 2022, a total of 39 students from years 9 and 10 embarked on a challenging but exciting process, training and attending selection sessions at school in order to hopefully become a Wimbledon BBG. Many of the students showed brilliant commitment and effort in these training sessions, which continued until early january. Students had to show commitment and dedication, getting to school extra early and working very hard both during and outside secondary schools in the area to annually nominate a small group of students to be

of the training sessions in order to progress through the selection stages. Students were judged on their agility and speed, as well as their general conduct and attitude in lessons and around the school. Students learnt a variety of skills during the training at school, with the help of our dedicated BBG recalls. We were very lucky to have several students who have previously worked as BBGs give up their own time in order to support and guide our keen new applicants. Skills required to be a BBG include precise, powerful and fast rolling skills, as well as accurate overhead feeding skills. BBGs must be able to pass balls around the court accurately and swiftly, provide new balls to the tennis players, stand incredibly still and do all this while making it look effortless. By mid January we had nominated a small group of students to trial at Wimbledon. They attended a 2 hour selection session at the Raynes Park AELTC site. Students were ranked in terms of their

agility, ball skills, court skills and general neatness. Expectations at Wimbledon are very high and all students did incredibly well, setting a great example of our school. I am very happy to say that 7 of our new applicants were successful in joining the programme. After that, these students continued their training with experienced Wimbledon trainers, attending weekly 2 hour training sessions and practising in their own time, in order to be ready for the 2023 Wimbledon Championships. By June 2023, the training had ramped up and students were anticipating the imminent Championships. BBGs received their distinctive stripey kit, completed grass court training, and honed their skills. Students were allocated to teams, with several of our BBGs being assigned to the show courts, an impressive feat. Some of our older students also trialled at Wimbledon and did incredibly well to succeed again, given the very

high numbers and expectations at this stage.

Finally the Championships fortnight arrived! Our BBGs worked long shifts at Wimbledon, often working late and maintaining absolute professionalism and 100% effort at all times. The BBGs work an hour on, an hour off until it gets dark and are allowed one day off during the whole two weeks. Staff visited to see our students in action and we were truly impressed with their efforts and skills. If you visited you may have seen them! All students have been a credit to the school and have no doubt had an incredible experience that they will remember forever, working alongside some of the top tennis players of the world! Look out for them again next year!

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Sports Roundup

The new academic year has only just started, but sport here at Tiffin has hit the ground running with some impressive results and many fixtures in multiple sports already! Our 1st XV Rugby team have started the season very well, undefeated in our opening three fixtures firstly against Reigate (38-8), Ewell Castle (42 0) in the National Vase where the winners of Harrodian and Royal Alexandra & Albert await, and most recently a 29-12 win against Gordon’s in apocalyptic conditions at Grists in the Daily Mail Trophy. A special mention to Year 11 Oliver playing up in the seniors and scoring three tries in three matches, one for the

future as well as the present. Unfortunately due to the drier conditions earlier in the month, we await our first scores for rugby in the lower school - with the atrocious rain we had, it looks like future fixtures will go ahead as planned with block fixtures against Halliford and Gunnersbury on the horizon. We especially look forward to Year 7’s first time representing the school in rugby against Halliford - congratulations to those selected and good luck! Our 1st Badminton team hosted KCS Wimbledon in their first senior fixture, comfortably and impressively winning 8-1. The B team also won 7-2 - well done to all involved. We have also hosted Thomas’ Putney Vale across two age groups (Y9 and Y11) in Basketball which were tightly contested but unfortunately Tiffin were on the wrong side of the result in both games, the performances still bode well for the rest of the season. The 1st Netball team have started the season extremely well, beating Coombe Girls’ School 44-10 with Jess and Flora being the standouts, scoring with ease! The girls looked very strong and will hopefully come up well against a tough Wimbledon High match next week.

This caps off the Tiffin Sport round-up - best of luck to everyone participating in fixtures over the next week!

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Tiffin School 020 8546 4638 · office@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk · tiffinschool.co.uk