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.”

increased number of Oxbridge offers, evenly shared across the Sciences, Arts, Languages and Humanities. Two of our boys gained places to read Maths at Trinity College, Cambridge, where the course is world renowned, and two others received sought-after Oxbridge Organ Scholarships.

Our boys have performed in International Olympiad teams, presented research in International Science Conferences alongside pupils from Australia, Mexico and the US, and won university college and national essay competitions. A Tonbridge team was awarded first place in the South East in the Royal Society of Chemistry’s Schools’ Analyst Competition, where they had to pit skills and knowledge against many other students in the region.

There was a great sense of excitement once we were able to come back together safely as a School in the Summer Term. Seeing the campus coming to life once more with a renewed sense of energy and purpose was a huge highlight of my time as Headmaster. In the absence of inter-school fixtures, House sport flourished, with hundreds of boys participating in competitions ranging from cricket to tennis, and from climbing to badminton and fives. The sight of the cricket nets back in use, with the unmistakeable sounds of balls being hit and boys having fun, gave everyone here an enormous lift.

With Into The Woods, originally the Michaelmas Term production, we were finally able to enjoy some theatre again, albeit of the open-air variety; and for the House Music Competition, performances were filmed in the Theatre and then put together in a special show, streamed on YouTube. More than 100 boys demonstrated their musical innovation and creativity: all involved, including the production team, were determined that the show must go on.

Another outstanding aspect of the Tonbridge year was the staging of our inaugural Giving Day at the end of June. We attracted more than 800 donors – many of whom were Old Tonbridgians and parents – and managed to raise in excess of £420,000, making this, we believe, the most successful event of its kind for any school in the UK. These funds take us a step closer to achieving our ambition of doubling the number of Foundation Awards by 2028, when Tonbridge celebrates its 475th anniversary, and we were extremely grateful for the support we received along the way. It was also wonderful to have more than 400 children joining us from primary schools, enjoying activities ranging from drama and art to pond dipping and orienteering.

Our revised Sixth Form Curriculum, offering multiple A-level pathways and introducing a ‘life skills’ programme, goes from strength to strength; and our merger with The New Beacon Preparatory School in Sevenoaks, sees us combining our experience and expertise with one of our major feeder schools, giving us the potential to provide an educational pathway for boys from prep to senior school. It is particularly exciting to be welcoming a new school into the Skinners’ family.

I would like to close by paying tribute to the work of Robert Elliott, Chair of Governors, who is stepping down in the summer of 2022 after an association with the School spanning more than 25 years – as a parent, member of the governing body and Chairman since 2017. Robert has been a tremendous source of wisdom, intellect and good humour and I have really valued his support and guidance. You can read about Robert’s reflections of Tonbridge overleaf.

James Priory

Headmaster