Head's Newsletter 16 November 2018

before half term. The competition and trophy are named after Matt Cragg, a wonderful former pupil and rugby stalwart who very sadly and tragically passed away aged just 21; we were delighted his mother was able to present the trophy, and everybody was very pleased at Tiffin's fitting victory. There is plenty to read about in this newsletter, reflecting the enormous amount of activity that goes on at Tiffin. In particular there have been lots of trips recently,

Dear Parents Remembrance is always a poignant time at Tiffin, but even more so on the 100 th Anniversary of the Armistice. In the Main Hall we laid wreaths at our war Memorials commemorating the 243 former pupils known to have died in the First and Second World Wars, and we were pleased to welcome guests to this occasion, including relatives of one of the Tiffinians we specifically remembered. Being at Tiffin, the students are part of a wider community that

has a rich heritage; this was further celebrated in the evening when the school hosted the annual alumni dinner in our brand new dining hall. Many alumni who had contributed to our appeal were present, and a most enjoyable evening was had by all. Meanwhile, our choir had been invited to sing in Berlin Cathedral over the Remembrance weekend,

including the Year 9 trip to Bath and the half term Art trip to Venice. We have also seen some great success in cross country, and in addition you can read about the Piano competition. Over half term, we were delighted and proud that Dr Frost was recognised for his incredible Maths website and resources at the prestigious Pearson teaching awards, broadcast

representing the UK alongside choirs from Germany and France, commemorating the Armistice. We were delighted that their performance was covered in The Times beside the news articles on the international European commemorations. It was great to be present at Grist’s on Saturday to see the Rugby teams perform so well against St George's, winning all five of our home matches. The U13s are a particularly impressive side and it was great that they won the inaugural Cragg Cup just

on the BBC, where he was the recipient of the award for The Outstanding Use of Technology in Education. The Tiffin students are truly fortunate to be taught by so many staff of such calibre, and Dr Frost’s award is richly deserved. I hope that all students felt fully refreshed after the new two week break. We look forward to seeing Year 13 parents at the first of the consultations on Monday. Yours, M D Gascoigne, Headteacher

IMPORTANT DATES

Year 13 Parents’ Consultation; school ends 2.40 pm

Monday 19 November Sunday 25 November

Oratorio Concert, Sports Hall 7 pm

House Public Speaking Final, JLT at 7 pm

Friday 29 November

Professional Development; no boys in school

Friday 7 December

Every year Tiffin marks the Remembrance weekend in our own commemoration with the laying of wreaths on our Memorial tablets. Each year we specifically pick out and remember different names from the war Memorials, and this year we remembered 3 of those Tiffinians whose names were not initially included on the First World War Memorial, but who have been added over this Autumn half term. David Potts was only 17 when he joined up, and died as a prisoner of war aged 19 in 1918, having been captured during the German Ludendorff Offensive. John Wakefield volunteered with the East Surrey Regiment in 1915, and died in the assault on Messines Ridge, outside Ypres, in 1917, also aged 19. Charles Cook attended Tiffin in the 1880s, and is one of the oldest known Tiffin casualties: having previously served with the East Surrey Regiment in the Boer War, he re -enlisted in 1915, and died in Murmansk, Russia, in 1919, aged 45.

From World War Two, we were very pleased to remember Peter Bevis (photo bottom left), who attended Tiffin in the 1930s, and joined the RAF. Flying with Bomber Command, he died aged 21 when his Lancaster was shot down over the Dutch coast in 1943, following a raid on Germany. We were delighted that Peter’s nephew, also called Peter after his deceased uncle, was a guest in our service (with me, below). During the war, Peter Bevis had flown under the command of Guy Gibson, later to achieve fame leading the ‘Dambusters’ Raid, and his nephew had brought in his flying log book with Gibson’s signature (below).

The greater privilege though, was that we were able to read out in the assemblies the extraordinary letter that Peter had written to his parents when he joined the RAF aged 19, only to be opened in the event of his death; a truly remarkable and deeply moving piece of writing.

A little over a century ago the Berliner Dom echoed with sermons rousing the German people to redouble their efforts in the First World War. On Sunday 11 th November the arches of Berlin’s cathedral were filled with the voices of 150 choristers from Britain, Russia, France and Germany in a symbol of reconciliation.

James Day, our choir director, said: “The first interesting thing was a thought about whether we should be wearing poppies or not, because it separates us out as a British choir. We decided that because it’s our tradition it was right to do it. The boys were quite interested to see the lack of military presence at the service, as opposed to the way it is back in the UK.”

The Tiffin Boys’ Choir were fortunate to be there and sang an arrangement of the Justorum animae by Charles Villiers Stanford, the Irish composer: “The souls of the just are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them. In the eyes of the ignorant they appear to die, but in truth they are at peace.”

The boys spent a fascinating four days in Berlin, and gave most impressive performances. The whole event was covered by The Times newspaper and featured among their main news articles on the European commemorations. Link: Tiffin Boys' Choir in Berlin

Enormous congratulations to Dr Jamie Frost, Maths teacher at Tiffin, on winning the Pearson Teaching Award for Outstanding Use of Technology in Education. Pictured below with Anita Rani, one of the presenters on the night.

The @DrFrostMaths online platform provides teaching resources, videos and a bank of exam questions, all for free. Watch Dr Frost receive his gold Award here (at 56 minutes): https://www.bbc.co.uk/ iplayer/episode/b0bq15jq/britains- classroom-heroes-2018 …

108 Year 9 Classicists visited Bath on Thursday 29th November. The lengthy coach journey was more than worth it given the quality of the museum, the ruins and the teaching session the boys attended on the day.

As always, the students impressed me with their engagement and curiosity.

The teaching staff at the Baths Museum also complimented the boys on their ability to translate difficult Latin inscriptions. My thanks go to the boys themselves and to the staff who accompanied us on the day. Mrs O’Connell Head of Faculty of Languages

The afternoon of the inaugural Cragg Cup could not have been better scripted, almost as if there was a celestial influence over events. Firstly, as if arranged by above, the weather was glorious. And secondly, the significance of the background to the event was appreciated and it felt like the spirit of ex-1st XV captain Matt Cragg was alive. Debbie Cragg, Matt’s mother, addressed all participants to explain the sad story of his sudden death at the age of just 21. She also spoke of how important playing rugby at Tiffin was to Matt and how special it is for her and the Cragg family that the tournament is played in his name. She struck the right chord prior to the start of the first matches and certainly inspired the Tiffin teams.

Tiffin A began well, winning both group games against Rutlish and Gunnersbury and progressed to the Cup semi-final where we faced Wallington. At full time in that game, the teams were locked at one score each and the match went to sudden death overtime. The robust Wallington defence that we had struggled to break through in normal time, showed a rare weakness and we advanced into their 22, probably for only the second time in the match. Good support and continuity meant that Tiffin applied extended pressure during a passage of play in which we kept the ball for 8 or 9 phases. Following strong attacks down both flanks, the more direct route proved effective and prop, Felix Turner, barged through the middle, with two defenders hanging off him, to score the decisive try.

Tiffin U13A team; Inaugural Cragg Cup winners, with coach Mr O’Connell, and Debbie Cragg

John Fisher awaited in the final and Tiffin got off to a flying start, scoring three unanswered tries in the opening couple of minutes. Fisher scored either side of half- time to get back into the contest, but the Tiffin response was ruthless. Resilient defence kept any more Fisher threats out and two more tries of our own put the game beyond them. The Cragg Cup replaces the Brown Trophy that has been a permanent fixture on the Tiffin calendar for decades and it was in 1989 that Tiffin last won that tournament. Furthermore, given how difficult it was for Mrs Cragg to come back to Grist’s for the first time since Matt’s passing 4 years ago, it was so nice for her to see such a spirited and successful performance from the Tiffin side. Better still was the manner in which both Tiffin A and B teams engaged in conversation with her during the event. At the end of the day, she said that on an afternoon of mixed emotions, it was so nice to feel at home at Grist’s again and that she had supported them with the same energy that she used to support Matt’s team.

Each of the 15-man squad was outstanding and played with courage, camaraderie, skill and most importantly, enjoyment. On so many levels, it was a performance to be proud of and it is so pleasing that the first name to be engraved on the Cragg Cup will be Tiffin. YEAR 7 HOUSE FOOTBALL As the sun set over Fairfield on the evening of Wednesday 14 th , so it did over the inaugural after-school Y7 house football tournament, with the oranges and blues reflecting the colours of many of the boots worn by some of the wannabe Lionel Messis on show. The tournament, in which all sides distinguished themselves for the collective spirit of fair play and good sportsmanship, was won in style by DW, who beat TN 2-0 in a competitive final. The second-placed team had played brilliantly to edge past an obdurate KM in their semi-final, and KM’s quality was again on display as they narrowly fended off a stout performance by Livingstone to secure the bronze medal. Well done to all the boys involved and thanks to the prefects who set the example for budding referees of the future!

The wonderful drawings and photography during their visit and conducted night time photoshoots, visiting Rialto bridge and St Mark’s square. students produced

Over the October half term, a group of Year 10 Art GCSE students went to Venice, luckily missing the floods the following week.

The students were overwhelmed by the beauty of Venice and learnt a lot about its history and culture. The group visited the Architectural Biennale and the Peggy Guggenheim Museum and visited the colourful island of Burano. It was a very productive trip, which truly engaged the students in the most contemporary architectural practices. It was a good insight into this field, as many Tiffin Art students go on to study architecture.

Oliver! - the musical that everyone knows and loves - is coming to Tiffin School in February 2019. Rehearsals are now underway for what we are hoping will be a repeat of the stunning success that the School had in 2016 with Les Misérables . With lead roles played by boys from the youngest to the oldest year groups, it’s sure to be a very exciting production! Tickets are now on sale at www.tiffinschoolticketsource.co.uk, or you can email boxoffice@tiffin.kingston.sch.uk to reserve your tickets. Consider yourself invited to the best musical in Kingston! SIXTH FORM DRAMA PRODUCTION This year’s Sixth Form Production of The Ladykillers by Graham Linehan was performed just before the half term break. From starting this process on 11 th September the twelve cast members managed to juggle their consistently packed schedules to fit around the rehearsals of this play. Audience members left each performance with huge smiles on their faces, praising the boys’ efforts as they were thoroughly entertained by this classic black comedy. The cast equally had

a lot of fun producing the play, making sure that they turned the most challenging of rehearsals into an atmosphere of positivity and mirth. I am pleased to say the show was a huge success and in turn has seen a lot of the cast members get involved with the upcoming School Production of Oliver!

PIANO COMPETITION Congratulations to Sam O’Neal (13LMO) and Tony Ge (8KBA), winners of the Tiffin Piano Competition 2018. Sam gave a brilliant performance of the challenging but beautiful solo ‘In the Silent Night’ (Rachmaninov/Earl Wild) to win the senior category (see photo). Tony was the winner of the junior category with his delicate and controlled performance of an Allegretto by Vanhal. International soloist James Kirby (who specialises in Russian music) praised these and the many excellent performances given as part of the competition, illustrating his feedback with excerpts, anecdotes from Moscow and, finally, a performance of movements from Tchaikovsky’s seasons. Credit to all performers who participated and, especially, those who were selected to perform in the final.

HOUSE DANCE

House dance finals took place on Thursday 11 th October during lunch time in the Dance studio. Each house had a challenge to choreograph and perform pieces in 3 different categories: Set piece, Free piece and a bonus solo.

I was impressed with the originality and creativity of most of pieces during the heats. During the finals the judges, Mr Balasubramaniam, Mrs O’Sullivan and Miss Hughes, were looking at the following criteria: performance and technique, choreography and creative development of idea as well as use of dancers and space. After intense deliberation KM came first with 51 points (photo above). Congratulations to all dancers, choreographers, organisers, spectators and supporters for yet another fantastic House Dance. Mrs Brittain

PUBLIC SPEAKING Please join us on Thursday 29 th November at 7 pm in the JLT for the House Public Speaking Finals—quality entertainment and a glass of wine. Everyone is welcome—and it’s FREE!

CROSS COUNTRY BOROUGH CHAMPIONSHIPS

In the end, the Senior team showed just why Tiffin have not lost this race in two school generations with the ten Tiffin runners making up the entire top ten (second place went to Kieran Desmond and 3 rd place to Kai Pishke), securing a perfect score and the team win as well. In the intermediate competition Tiffin continued their dominance by claiming every spot on the podium (Will Murphy finishing just behind Tom Armstrong for 3 rd ) and very nearly locking out the top 10 as well, with finishing positions of 1 st , 2 nd , 3 rd , 4 th , 5 th , 6 th , 8 th and 9 th and another emphatic team win. It certainly looks like it will take a miracle to stop Tiffin claiming the senior trophy again next year for the 15 th time! The Juniors also performed brilliantly and Tiffin won the cup overall with four of our Year 8 runners in the top ten, with Connor Foley finishing 2 nd and Oscar Luck closely behind in 3 rd . Well done to everyone for representing the School in this competition.

60 students took part in the Borough cross country championships on Thursday 8th November to battle it out for the crown and went into the race as defending champions for the last 13 years in a row. New Year 12 student, Ollie Coppellotti, went off like a rocket, quickly distancing himself from the pack. Behind him, a pack of Tiffin runners was forming as the boys moved their way up through the field. At the end of the first lap there were just two students in the top 20 who were not from Tiffin, and none in the top 10. The race culminated in a thrilling three man sprint for the finish around the final field of the course with Ollie being hunted down by Eyoel Abebaw-Mesfin in Year 11, and Tom Armstrong in Year 10. Ollie did enough to secure the race win and earn the gold medal, while Eyoel was also awarded a gold medal as winner of the intermediate (Years 10 and 11) race and Tom the silver medal in the intermediate race, though they had beaten every senior runner bar one as well.

Members of all Tiffin teams with their trophies and medals

Made with FlippingBook Annual report