Headteacher's Newsletter - Monday 9th October 2023

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Parent Newsletter Autumn #5 - Monday 9th October 2023

Engage · Aspire · Excel

From the Headteacher

Important Notices

World Mental Health Day Sixth Form Open Afternoon Sixth Form Open Afternoon for our current Year 11 students will take place on Tuesday 17th October. The afternoon will run from 1430-1630 and parents are encouraged to come with their son and explore the A Level subjects on offer. Compressed Day - 17th October Please note that, due to the Sixth Form Open Afternoon and Open Evening events, lessons will be compressed on Tuesday 17th October. Years 7-9 students will be dismissed from school at 1250 and Years 10-13 at 1300. 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. We can all struggle with how we’re feeling, but sometimes things get tough and it can be difficult to cope. For so many young people, when this happens, they don’t get the help they need, when they need it. But together we can change this. That’s why we’ve signed up to take part in HelloYellow on the 10th October. By taking part and wearing a small yellow accessory, we’re showing young people that we’re with them. We’re showing them that they matter and deserve the support that they need, when they need it, no matter what. To take part, students can wear a yellow accessory to school (think socks, tie, hair band), and we ask parents and carers to consider making a donation to YoungMinds. We will also be trying to raise funds for this charity by putting on a cake sale at break time on the 10th of October. Please note that these cakes must not contain nuts and students who have allergies need to check the ingredients if they are purchasing. We recommend that your child brings in some coins (£1, 50p, 20p) if they want to purchase.

Important Notices

Mental Health Day

School Development

Cross Country

Diamond League

Clubs and Societies Fair

It has been great to receive nearly 30 comments from parents via the new platform Tell us at Tiffin , all of which have been either been appreciative, and helped us think what we should do more of; or constructive and helped us consider what we can improve on. I said that I would keep parents up to date on our responses; and one change we have made already is in regard to blue blazers. There was a helpful comment about blazers in Tell us at Tiffin , and also in last year’s parent survey. I am keen on the idea of each Key Stage of the school having their own identity, and the unform/dress code can help with that; and so, from September, Year 10 will wear blue blazers, along with Year 11. The feedback suggests that parents will welcome this change and it will prove more cost effective. In addition to parent feedback, I am also very keen to hear feedback from your sons and daughters; and I recently spoke to all students in assemblies about Student Voice. One aspect of Student Voice is that during the course of the year I will see every Tutor Group in the school in my office for a lunchtime discussion, to hear their ideas and suggestions. I was slightly concerned about whether 30 students could fit in my office at once (!), but we got underway with 11AB last week and it worked well. The students were extremely articulate and constructive in their comments, and I look forward to meeting the other 50 forms in the school in similar fashion in due course.

Sixth Form Production

Memorial

Comedy Night

SEND Board

020 8546 4638

If you would like to make a donation, please visit our JustGiving page by clicking below.

#HelloYellow

Best wishes

office@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk

Garth Williams Headteacher

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School Development

Chess Success Congratulations to everyone who took part in the National Chess League on Monday. The A team came in 1st in division one, with the B and C teams coming 1st and 2nd respectively in division two. A special well done to Lucas who won every game despite playing some very tough opponents. Cross Country

‘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. To submit your comments, please click the link below and log into Insight. You will find the ‘Tell us at Tiffin’ page under the ‘General’ tab.

Submit Feedback Here

Together

for Tiffin

Tiffin’s strongest team this side of the year 2000 set out across Wimbledon Common on Wednesday 4th October to take part in the King’s Trophy. With 20 athletes taking part, it was an auspicious start to the senior season. The team ran exceptionally alongside 160 other runners, with the scorers on the day as follows:

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 £70 a month; 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.

Haruki – 61st Joshua – 60th Cathal – 52nd Oscar – 29th Artahav – 28th

A special congratulations to Connor who won the whole event on his maiden outing of the senior season this year. This is only our second individual victory in the 44 years of the South England event. Well one to our new Year 11 star signings – Eric, Issac, George, Elvin, Krish, Arash, Ivan and Saahil. With the Pretorian guard of Andew, Nathan, Constantin (in spirit!), Ralph and Akaran, the runners powered through the middle order of the field. The team came 4th which was a fabulous start to the senior season after the 4th place awarded to the Juniors in the South England Junior Relay Haskell Cup last Wednesday. It was wonderful to see the team taking part in a collective warm down and they all demonstrated the great strength and depth of the club.

Donate Here

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.

TEF Parent Partners

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Diamond League

On the day when the Diamond League rolled back into town to deliver world class athletics to the London Stadium once again, the Hercules Wimbledon Athletic Club’s U20 Men’s 4 x 100m relay team , including Tiffin’s Daniel Guiness, seized their moment to shine on the track. As the arena began to fill to its 50,000 capacity, announcing the biggest audience for a one day athletics meeting in the world, the team came home clear winners in 40.52 to set a new all time club record in the process. Seen with a check for recognition for the clubs great coaching programme.

Clubs and Societies Fair

Tiffin’s inaugural Clubs and Societies Fair, held on Thursday 28th September, was a brilliant showcase for the incredibly diverse range of clubs and societies at Tiffin—from The Rocketry Club to Model United Nations, Bridge Club to The Literature Society, Arduino and Raspberry Pi Club to British Sign Language Club, there is truly something for everyone. To encourage more students to get involved and to introduce our new Year 7s and Year 12s to many of the amazing clubs and societies on offer at Tiffin, all students were invited to drop by the Main Hall to visit tables promoting various clubs and chat with their representatives to find out more about them. The energy and excitement was fantastic as enthusiastic club members chatted up prospective new members, competed to entice visitors to their tables, and encouraged students to come along to meetings to try something new and meet fellow students of all year groups. There were queues down the hallway, the Hall was packed and the noise level was remarkable—all in all, a wonderful well attended event that is sure to become an annual fixture.

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Memorial

David Nield, Director of Music and Tiffin teacher from 1965-2002, sadly passed away in July. He had such a huge influence over so many Tiffin students’ lives, that he will always be fondly remembered by the Tiffin community. His life and reach extended far beyond Tiffin though: he was also Organist and Director of Music at Kingston Parish Church from 1967-1994, and was one of the founders of the National Youth Music Theatre, responsible for so many of today’s talented crop of actors and performers. As a composer, his works were performed worldwide (including at Sadler’s Wells Theatre) and broadcast on BBC1, BBC2, Radio 3 and ITV. In commemoration of his extraordinary life, a special Memorial Day is being held in Kingston on Sunday 15th October, to which all members of the Tiffin community are invited. It would be great if as many as possible from the Tiffin community could come together to celebrate the life of a remarkable man. There will be 2 events, and you are very welcome to come to one or both, but please book the tickets, which are free, in advance so we are aware of numbers. The first event is a memorial service in Kingston Parish Church at 2.30pm. Led by Revd Joe Moffatt, Rector of Kingston, and with the address given by the Very Revd Dominic Barrington, Dean of York, the service will include a number of David’s pieces performed by the choirs of Kingston Parish Church and Tiffin School. The service will begin with ‘Light’, an introit that David composed for his final Founders’ Day service in 2022 - all of David’s Directors of Choral Music will be involved (including Roderick Williams as baritone soloist) in this remarkable piece. International organist Christopher Herrick will play Bach before the service; David’s old organ pupil Richard Pearce (the organist at Last Night of the Proms) will play Messiaen at the end. A reception at the Rose Theatre will follow the service. This will be followed by an hour-long concert at 5pm in the Rose, devised by Jeremy James Taylor, presented by Roddy Williams, involving the Tiffin Boys’ Choir and special guests, and featuring performances from some of David’s extraordinary “junior jazzes” and musicals - including Up the Odyssey, The Ragged Child, Tin Pan Ali, Drake, and The Roman Invasion of Ramsbottom.

Tickets are still available for ‘katzenmusik: a play told backwards’ – this year’s Sixth Form Production.

A darkly comic story about social inequality and upheaval, told in reverse. A viral video, a company capitalising on fear, prank calls, class divide and a cat memorial. The increasing income gap between rich and poor has pushed the residents of Burnside Town to breaking point. ‘katzenmusik’ is a play told ‘backwards’ (as the scenes continue, it goes further and further backwards in time). It’s all about ‘cause and effect’, and as the story is told in reverse, we see the consequences before the cause. It is a contemporary, genuinely original play that pushes our incredibly talented Sixth Form, in the balance it finds between dark comedy and earnest drama. ‘katzenmusik’ offers the chance to see the exceptional dramatic talent of the Sixth Form. The cast and production team are made up entirely of Year 12 and 13, who have worked so hard to put this production together in just four weeks. The play is challenging, both in style and subject matter, and as such there is an age guidance (though not a restriction) of 15+, given some of the content (more information can be found on the ticket page, and this is left to parental discretion).

Because we’re anticipating considerable interest, both the service and concert are ticketed (free). The links are

Church Memorial Service

Rose Theatre Concert

Please do come along and celebrate David’s life, but please book tickets so we are aware of numbers.

Tiffin Rugby Comedy Evening We are delighted to be hosting the 2023 comedy event of the year at school on Friday 13th October, starting at 7pm (what could go wrong?). Come and join us for an evening of fun and laughter with four cutting edge comedians. Tickets are just £15 per person and can be bought here. There will be a bar with soft and alcoholic beverages along with a wide selection of snacks and savoury bites.

There will be four performances, on October 10th-13th, starting at 7pm in the Drama Studio, and the show runs at 90minutes.

Buy Tickets Here

All profits from this event will benefit every rugby player at Tiffin in the form of tour bursaries, merchandise, wellbeing and training equipment. Please join us if you do not already have plans!

Engage · Aspire · Excel

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

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