School History
The school’s beginnings date back to the wills of brothers Thomas and John Tiffin, two wealthy Kingston brewers who were born at Yalding in Kent. In their wills in the 1630s they left a combined sum of £150 and hoped to support ‘some honest poor man’s son’ through one of the local private schools.
The Tiffin Charity also provided £5 for each pupil to be apprenticed at the end of their education. By the mid 19th century, between 30 and 50 pupils per year were being supported by the Tiffin Charity. The Endowed Schools Act of 1869 allowed the various local Kingston educational charities to be combined and by the 1870s, and with their bequest being the largest in the borough, the decision was taken to amalgamate the charities into one Kingston Schools Endowment. Plans were drawn up for two new schools to be built, one for boys and one for girls, each taking 150 pupils. Work began to build a school in Fairfield (now St Joseph’s RC primary school) and was completed at the end of 1879. The Tiffin Girls’ School opened on 20 January 1880 under the first Headmistress Miss Rhoda Ward Fysh.
