Social Life at Tonbridge

The Sixth Form Centre (opened in September 1992) offers social and recreational facilities for all boys in the Sixth Form on all days of the week and in the evenings. The Centre - three main rooms and a kitchen area - is equipped with two televisions (complete with Sky), hi-fi equipment, and a variety of popular games (pool, darts, etc.): a snack bar offers a range of refreshments at most times. Within the Centre the Sixth Form bar, open at set times of the week, serves beer and wine, subject to closely controlled limits, to those aged 17 and over. The Centre is run by a Committee of representatives from each House, chaired by a member of staff. The Committee regularly organises dances, discos, and social evenings in the Centre.

Each year Sixth Form dances are held in Big School, and a formal Fifth Form dinner dance is arranged in the Lent Term. There are also several Saturday evening discos, either for specific sections of the school or open to all, usually in aid of a charity supported by the school. A Leavers' Ball is held on the last evening of the Summer Term.

The Orchard Centre includes an excellent café, with its own bakery, open throughout the week and also at weekends, which offers boys from all Houses the opportunity to meet and talk together, in comfortable surroundings, at the centre of the school. Together with the contiguous Arts, Technology, and Theatre Complex, the Orchard Centre is the focus of much activity, especially at the weekends.

The school has close links with three local girls' schools, and there is much cooperation, especially in the fields of music and drama. A pleasing development in recent years is the establishment of links between individual boarding Houses at Tonbridge and at Benenden School: the "twinned" Houses organise a variety of social events at both locations.