Tonbridge School - boarding houses

[svevush]

Our DS has an offer at Tonbridge for sept 2024.

We visited 3 boarding houses and are undecided between Ferrox Hall and Hillside.

DS is a cricketer (plays county level) so Ferrox Hall seems the obvious choice (and the HouseMaster is young and dynamic).

We also liked Hillside -both the housemaster and, very importantly for our 10 year old DS, the house seems more spacey and the common room is bigger!

Any insights would be appreciated.

Thank you in advance

Sveva

The experience your DS will have at Tonbridge is mostly going to be down to the roll of the dice on Day 1: the other 11 or so boys in his house-year and how will they get on. That said, there is some scientific work you can do to choose the right house. Some definitely have characteristics - sport, acting or whatever - and it would be good to tune it to that.

The housemaster is something else you can make decisions about. I would always aim for someone you feel you can get on with both socially and 'professionally' and whose judgement you trust. There is no better sounding board for this than to ask boys around the school what they think of him. Also, try to get a feel for whether the HM will retire during your son's 5 years. Not the end of the world, but it can be something of an upheaval.

Sorry not to answer more specifically about Tonbridge.

Hi @svevush , I know this thread is probably long dead but in case you are still thinking I would not go for Ferrox (I would probably be inclined to go for Hillside tbh) and whatever you decide do not go for Judde – supervision where there is non-existent. They have just thrown out 5 boys from a single year (all 5 from Judde) - very sad and seriously alarming situation. Amazed it did not end up in the newspapers thou.

May I know what’s wrong and what have the 5 boys done, that they are being expelled from
Judde? I heard that the Hm is quite good? We have picked Judde as my son’s third choice. As we are staying at overseas, we haven’t visit any of the houses. Would be grateful if you are more specific.

my son is going tonight in 2023, I have extended my deadline so I just confidmed to them of my choices recently. may I know when they will confirm you with the house ?

thanks,

@LadyMcakes
sorry my previous message was addressed to you.
thanks

We got our house confirmed when DS was in Year 7, some others did in Year 8, I think it all depends. Which other houses have you listed?

@Kw779
my son have both offer also and I m also worrying about the incident at judde. Pastrol care should be very good and all my friends have good comments on the school. But after hearing the incident, I m a bit shock and now reconsidering also

You are absolutely right @Kw779 , how did it get to this point? Tonbridge is one of the top fee charging schools in the country, surely must be in the top 10, and practically zero pastoral? Honestly?! My friend’s DS is at the school, the stories her boy sometimes tells are horrendous!
I might be wrong but the Judde HM was also Head of Anti-bullying (or something very similar in the school)? I do get the impression it is a wider cultural issue in the school, the current school head comes from the day co-ed school environment, lack of leadership it might well be….

Actually my sister's DS is starting school at Tonbridge next year. Based on what's been happening recently, She's been feeling unsure of the decision to bring him there. Should she consider another school such as Seven Oaks? Can anyone give us some advice on what to do?

Wow, what happened? Why did the kids get expelled?

There was a news article about a murder and a Tonbridge student being arrested, but I thought the others involved weren't at Tonbridge. I could be completely off the mark though and you're all talking about something completely different. My ex lives practically next door to the school

sorry for the late message but can someone please say what the expulsions were for? There seems to be a lot of deleted messages so the thread doesn’t make sense. Why would you not recommend Ferox?

I have heard about this incident now too. Quite scary :(

As a fairly local person in this area ,and yes I have friends whose boys were at Tonbridge,but not as boarders ,I do wonder what the boys do in the evening?
I personally wouldn’t be comfortable if my children were wandering around there after dark .
Definitely something I would consider.

Is there anyone with boys currently at the school who could pipe in with first hand pros/cons about pastoral and any insights into houses at Tonbridge?