04
TONBRIDGE SOCIETY
IMPACT REPORT 2021
HEADMASTER’S WELCOME
It is surely no overstatement to say that back in 2020 the world suddenly became a very strange and unfamiliar place for us all. Here at Tonbridge, the onset of the Covid pandemic, and the resulting closure of the School for two lengthy periods, brought no end of challenges. Remote learning, the cancellation of public examinations for two years running and the eventual explanation of Teacher Assessed Grades, the complex roll-out of lateral flow testing, track and trace, household bubbles, social distancing and other strict health and safety measures: these all became part of life for staff, parents and boys. Such challenging circumstances, however, brought about an extraordinary response from our entire School community. First and foremost, the boys showed incredible character and resilience in adapting to the new world around them, engaging fully with online lessons and working their way through the difficult times with honesty, energy and, on many occasions, a touch of much-needed humour. When the School was open for the Michaelmas 2020 and Summer 2021 terms, albeit with restrictions in place, I was similarly impressed with their positive approach. In a wellbeing survey, for example, a very large majority of the boys said they felt confident in adapting to changes and that they were coping well with School life. It was clear from their responses that family, friends and the support provided from within their Houses all played a valuable part in their lives in these times. Indeed, ‘friends and football’ was often mentioned when boys reflected on what they were going to miss most during the national lockdown in early 2021. Their superb efforts were matched by our staff, who remained committed throughout the past year to ensuring a high-quality learning experience for all,
as well as providing individual pastoral care and, when needed, inventive ways of keeping up the boys’ interest and involvement in a virtual environment. The success of Tonbridge Online, the educational programme we designed to support pupils and parents throughout the periods of distance learning, was due, in part, to the quality of interaction between boys and staff, with most lessons live and fully interactive, assisted by some outstanding digital learning resources. Another characteristic of Tonbridge Online was the fact that the co-curricular life of the School carried on, too: we were able to provide fitness classes, music lessons, cookery sessions and drama activities, and there was even charitable fundraising and voluntary work at the same time. Far from just being about survival, and absorbing the impact of the pandemic, the School year of 2020-21 saw many successes and gave us much to celebrate. Our Upper Sixth leavers continued the Tonbridge tradition of securing offers from leading universities around the world, in courses ranging from Experimental Psychology, International Relations and PPE to Mechatronics, Computing and Earth and Planetary Science. We saw an
“ Far from just being about survival, and absorbing the impact of the pandemic, the School year of 2020-21 saw many successes and gave us much to celebrate.”
