‘High-achieving’ Tonbridge rates highly in Tatler Guide
Tonbridge has received a glowing review in the Tatler Schools Guide 2021, which has just been published.
Described as an impartial guide to the best independent and prep schools in the UK, Tatler praises Tonbridge’s successful approach to teaching and learning, co-curricular life and pastoral care.
The Tatler Schools Guide review is as follows:
Astronomical ambitions continue at Tonbridge, with boys winning the International Space School Trust’s Mission Discovery competition. Working in partnership with Tunbridge Wells Girls’ Grammar, they designed a scientific experiment that was taken into space by NASA astronauts and tested at the International Space Centre.
But such achievements are commonplace for this ‘below the radar’ school that shuns any hint of entitlement and, according to many enamoured parents, ‘ensures the boys fully appreciate their opportunities’.
Academics are also sky-high with 46 per cent of all results at GCSE being grade 9 and the ‘average’ Tonbridge leaver gaining AAA. A seamless mix of 60 per cent full boarders happily co-exist with day boys, many of whom capitalise on the easy 40-minute train journey from central London to savour the 150 acres of Kent countryside and award-winning facilities.
‘Energetic and motivational’ Head James Priory is ‘genuinely one of the friendliest people I’ve ever met, says one happy pupil. ‘I am often moved by the profound sense of community, support and camaraderie that we have here,’ says Priory. Boys also love the sense of community and family their houses offer.
House Music is an unquestionable annual highlight with boys raving about ‘this kind of “battle of the bands”, with many groups rehearsing up to two months in advance! A staff ensemble performs on the night too, which is always great fun’.
At the more high-brow end of the artistic spectrum, the Sixth Form production of Macbeth, transmogrified as a horror film on the front lines of a World War I battlefield, was performed to huge acclaim. ‘The Argo’, an oratorio by Composer-in-Residence Hywel Davies, which the school is currently working on, will undoubtedly be met with a similarly high level of praise.
Tori Cadogan, Tatler’s Education Editor, adds: “To go into the Tatler Guide, schools must offer the whole package – holistic pastoral care, a focus on character education as much as pure academics, and the ability to accommodate and nurture all their pupils, resulting in well educated, but most importantly, happy children.”
Pictured above: Tonbridge School.
