Tonbridge Prep Schools

[MummaaBear2022]

We are considering local private pre-schools/schools for our daughter (age 3).

We are currently booked to view Hilden Grange, Hilden Oaks and Somerhill. We would be interested to hear thoughts/experiences of both the pre-school and prep aspects of these schools, and any other schools that we might have missed off our list!

We are based between Tonbridge and Tunbridge Wells, so would consider schools further that way as well.

It is all very new to us, and obviously a very important decision that we want to get right for our daughter (and in time our son as well).

Thank you in advance :)

We have a DD in Pre-Prep and we can’t sing Somerhill’s praises enough. Our daughter has completely transformed since joining. We moved from a large Tunbridge Wells prep where her lack of progress was causing us huge worry. She has gone from being months behind national expectations to absolutely rocketing academically — I still can’t quite believe the transformation! However, most importantly, she is now so incredibly happy and confident, and she just loves school. The teachers have been brilliant — very experienced, thorough with marking, and excellent at planning lessons — but also kind and nurturing. The learning environment is fun yet focused, and the co-curricular offering is top-notch.

The outdoor space is incredible, whether for woodland activities, PE, nature club, or playtime. Our previous prep had great grounds, but the children always played in the same rubber playground and rarely made use of the outdoor space except for sports lessons. At Somerhill, the children play in both the play areas and the fields, making use of the grounds every single day.

There is enough space that the school isn’t precious about the grass, grounds, or mud — whereas at some schools, during the wetter months, children can’t play on areas with pitches at all and end up confined to artificial surfaces. Somerhill feels like a school where children are both challenged and nurtured, but still have the freedom to explore and simply be children. Making potions in tree or hedge dens — where you can easily gather leaves, acorns, conkers, chestnuts, mud, moss, and petals — feels just that bit more magical in our experience.

Different schools will always suit different families, and I hope you find the right fit for yours. For us, Somerhill has been absolutely worth the longer drive — I just wish we had started sooner!

@ThisCyanQuail Your reply is so helpful, thank you for sharing your experience! I’m really glad your daughter is thriving so much at Somerhill.

We’re very much looking forward to our visit, and have only heard good things currently. I’m sure we’ll get a gut feeling at one of the schools, but hearing your experience makes me very glad that we’re visiting Somerhill! Thanks again :)

We absolutely love Hilden Grange’s small, family feel. Our children are very seen and nurtured, and the teaching quality is excellent. We have boys, and it is a major feeder school for Tonbridge, Judd, and Skinners. Our boys are quite quiet and musical and have really thrived here, although I think the school is also very strong in sports, particularly athletics, if your child leans that way. The main downside is the lack of an indoor pool for year-round swimming, so our children swim with Monson instead, which has been very straightforward. Personally, I’m not a fan of the very intense wood-shed classroom design choice, although it doesn’t bother my boys 😂. I’m also a big fan of the new headmistress, who comes across as warm, capable, and very on top of things.

We also looked at Somerhill and really liked it. It’s perhaps a bit less academically pushy, and I think the leavers’ destinations reflect this, but it has amazing grounds, a pool, and great facilities. It is a larger school, and it goes single-sex from Year 3, which isn’t for everyone. I think the choice between the two would have been much harder if Hilden Grange weren’t just a five-minute scoot from us. Friends with children at Somerhill all seem equally delighted with their choice, feel their children are academically stretched, love the co-curricular offering, and are very happy. Interestingly, in our circle, mothers of girls seem to sing its praises most highly, partly because the girls seem to keep that sense of childhood a little longer. Friends with daughters at some of the larger TW preps often find that the TikTok, Sephora, social media stage starts a lot sooner. That sense of youthful innocence also seems to last a little longer at Hilden Grange too.

Overall, I don’t think you can go wrong with any of the prep schools in Tonbridge. In my opinion, they outshine the larger TW preps and are academically quite far ahead, which mattered to us in such a selective area, as we want to maximise our secondary options. If I were to pick a school in Tunbridge Wells itself, I would choose The Mead.

Visit them all, ideally more than once, and see if you can do a stay-and-play. I’m sure you’ll get that “this feels like my child” moment at one of them. How lucky to have so many great choices. Good luck!

Thank you so much for taking the time to share your experience, and those of your friends at Somerhill as well. It sounds like Hilden Grange has been the perfect fit for your boys.

We’ve now visited all the ones we had hoped to, and are torn between Hilden Grange and Somerhill. They actually seem very different surprisingly, but both have so much to offer. You can’t not be impressed by the facilities at Somerhill, but as you say, the academics side of things did seem more relaxed, which I think will work for some children but not for others. With our daughter still being so young, that’s a hard one to guess currently!

The swaying factor for you choosing Hilden Grange is actually the opposite for us - we live about 20 minutes away on a clear run, so I’m already dreading what that would look like during school drop off/pick up hours. Friends of ours with children there have said it’s an absolute nightmare. Somerhill is the right side of town for us (under 15 minutes without traffic) and obviously has a better parking system when you get there. Whilst I understand the logistics of getting to and from a school shouldn’t be a deciding factor, I can’t help but keep coming back to it.

A stay and play session is a great idea, and something I’m definitely going to look into. Our daughter is currently on the shy side until she warms up to people and the environment, so I think that would help us and her get a feel for it all. Otherwise, that gut feeling just hasn’t happened in the way I’d hoped… but the fear of the Hilden Grange traffic is niggling!

Thanks so much again!

I think I visited my shortlist schools three or four times between the open days, private tours (I did two for each), and stay-and-plays. Don’t feel awkward about visiting as much as you need to!

Often, your first visit just gives you a general feel for the layout and ethos, so you can create a shortlist. On subsequent private visits, I asked to see specific things such as classrooms versus grounds. This gave us a better sense of the classroom environment and behaviour, and also more time to look through the books at a slower pace. This was crucial, as the books at some of the TW preps were at a very different level and quite far behind the London school we were moving from, and we looked at both areas initially as we were also house-hunting.

I also asked to speak with the heads of pre-prep to discuss their curriculum choices in more detail, for example which maths programme they follow, why they use it, and how they differentiate for different abilities. On some visits, I requested tours that overlapped with playtime so I could see how the children interacted and treated one another. I still found open days helpful, as they give you the chance to speak with actual parents and teaching staff, rather than just admissions or marketing. Stay-and-plays were great too, as they allowed me to see how the staff interacted with my own child.

A friend who is starting at Somerhill next year is doing a parent and toddler or forest school session one afternoon a week, which might be worth investigating. Because we were moving from a London school, we also arranged for my eldest child to do taster days at both schools before finalising our decision. They liked both, the logistics simply worked better for one. Since we were moving from a small, very selective London prep, Hilden Grange felt like a more natural fit, although I was still torn as both were very good schools. I also think that if Tonbridge is your long-term goal, Hilden Grange is very hard to beat.

In terms of logistics, I would do trial runs at the main drop-off and pick-up times, park, get out, and actually walk to the school. It will either be perfectly doable and not as bad as you fear, or you will find it too much.

Good luck, both are fabulous schools, and it is really just a matter of finding the right fit for your child.

Our children have thrived at Hilden Grange School. Work is regularly and thoughtfully marked, maths and English are stretching and well differentiated, phonics is taught consistently, and boosters are provided when needed. Progress is shared clearly, along with guidance on how we can support at home, and the pastoral care is excellent, so children feel known and valued. We like the fact it feeds to top grammars and independents like Tonbridge.

Sport is a real strength, particularly athletics, alongside strong team sports. The school benefits from its own grounds and access to Tonbridge School’s outstanding facilities.
The quality and experience of the teaching staff truly stand out, and it shows in the classroom and in leavers’ destinations. The school invests in excellent teachers who tend to stay. We are also delighted with the experienced, caring and academically focused Headmistress.

We travel from Tunbridge Wells, having previously attended a well regarded local TW prep that did not meet our expectations academically or pastorally, and for us the drive is absolutely worth it.