High Street, Tonbridge,
Kent, TN9 1JP
Vere Hodge Centre
The Vere Hodge Arts and Technology Centre, planned and built as part of the development programme and opened in 1996, includes spacious accommodation for Art, Computing, Electronics, and Technology, a substantial extension to the Music School, a reprographics centre, and an exhibition area, and it is now linked in one complex with the new E. M. Forster Theatre. The complex has been designed to enable maximum interaction between the various practical and creative departments within the Faculty, and the contiguous Theatre. The range and quality of the equipment, which is constantly updated, is of exceptionally high standard, bearing comparison with the provision in many universities.
There are opportunities here for boys to explore their interests, under expert guidance, to a very high level of attainment. Each year the most advanced students are entered as candidates for the national Arkwright Scholarships.
These Departments and their facilities also of course provide rich opportunities for boys to develop and pursue interests and talents outside the curriculum. Most of the facilities are open all day and at the weekends.
Art
The Art School comprises two vast, superbly equipped studios; a ceramics suite with numerous power wheels and kilns for firing all types of ceramic material; a printmaking area in which there are facilities for Intaglio , relief printing and screen printing, as well as large, well equipped dark rooms for traditional photography.
The Art School has an Art Library with a comprehensive collection of books, videos, films and digital resources from which the students can acquire images to enhance and inform their artistic practise. The library boasts comprehensive facilities for digital manipulation with 12 networked computers all equipped with up to date editing software, a colour photocopier and scanner, and a slide scanner. The department also possesses 20 high quality digital cameras which are used extensively by the students in the creation and recording of their work.
There is an exhibition space where boys' work can be seen regularly, and parents, staff and members of the general public are encouraged to attend the opening private views.
Information Technology
The computer laboratories in the Vere Hodge Centre are equipped with about 70 industry-standard PCs, running an extensive range of sophisticated software. Other hardware includes black-and-white laser printers, colour laser printers, scanners, and a variety of specialised peripherals like dye sublimation printers, A3 copiers and bar-code readers.
The computer centre is open from 7.30 a.m. to 10.00 p.m. on weekdays and from 10.00 a.m. until 10.p.m. on Sundays. All pupils are free to use the facilities at any time for general or more specialist work.
Design Technology
The extensive open-plan Design Technology workspace offers comprehensive facilities for the design and manufacture of artefacts, systems, and devices in a wide range of materials, at any level from the simplest to the most sophisticated. Facilities include CNC lathes and milling-machines, full casting and brazing equipment, and a paint-spraying booth. The facilities allow gifted pupils to take project work, sometimes with industry sponsorship, far beyond A level.
The John Langhorne CAD Suite
The John Langhorne CAD suite was open for business at the start of the Michaelmas term 2004. John was a Parksider from 1936 to 1941. He was visiting the school and the DT workshop in the summer of 2003, when he gently enquired what the department needed next. The result of his thoughtfulness and generosity is the magnificent facility we now enjoy.
The resource includes 20 state of the art networked personal computers with internet access and computer aided design software. These are all linked to a colour photocopier/scanner/printer. Teachers have the use of whiteboards and screen projection of either computer or desktop camera images, DVD and VHS.
Boys are also able to use the ample work surfaces for design sketching, hand rendering and card modelling, thanks to space saving flat screen monitors. The space conversion and workbenches were all done in house to save money, and the final outcome has proved a massive success for the department. Teaching and learning are all improved, and the boys increased presence in spare time sessions demonstrate how well received it has been by them.
Electronics
The two main Electronics laboratories are equipped with a full range of test and measuring equipment of professional standard, including oscilloscopes, multimeters, signal generators and logic probes. There are individual workstations for each student, each equipped with low voltage power supplies, soldering iron and fume extractor. The smaller third laboratory is similarly equipped, and in addition includes equipment suitable for work at advanced level. Students can simulate the behaviour of electronic systems on the computer, then construct and test the simulated circuits, and the facilities allow gifted pupils to take project work, sometimes with industry sponsorship, far beyond A level.