Kent Grammars

[piplongstock]

Looking for insight into Tunbridge Girls Grammar School, Tunbridge Grammar and Weald of Kent - impressions of educational achievement, pastoral care & extra curricular provision would be really helpful. Plus any local knowledge on 'true' rather than published catchment area. Thank you.

I have friends with girls at Weald and at Tonbridge (not Tunbridge). They both love the school. Weald has come out as far as Orpington in the past few years partly due to extra classes. No one knows the true extent of the ‘true’ distsnce for Weald under the new regime with the annexe, that will become clearer after National Offer Day. Weald have traditionally included a map in their admissions pack showing where children have got place from. Tonbridge has the priority parishes and then it is score so that is the ‘true’ in-county catchment. Then for anyone outside those defined parishes there is a separate out-of-county score which has no distance criteria, you could be anywhere in the country. The only time distance comes in for OOC candidates for Tonbridge is as a tie-breaker. When we went to open day at Tonbridge they explained that most extra-curricular took place at lunchtimes due to many of the girls travelling long distance. Note Tonbridge do IB instead of A-Level and there is a lot of movement in and out of the school at this stage depending on what programme is most preferred. I don’t have experience of Tunbridge Wells grammars. You may find more information on the elevenplusforum. Depending on location in West Kent DCs often also take Kent and Bromley grammar tests.

Thank you. Really helpful.