Tonbridge School, founded in 1553, is a boarding and day school for boys which has expanded steadily since the middle of the nineteenth century to its prominent position as one of the leading senior independent schools in the country. The school is a member of HMC and currently has some 425 boarders and 275 day boys in seven boarding houses and four day houses. Occupying 150 acres of land in and around the old market town of Tonbridge in Kent, some thirty miles south east of London, the school offers its pupils a blend of both urban and rural environments.
The magnificently restored School Chapel is at the heart of the school, emphasising and supporting Tonbridge's aim to provide a Christian community within which boys may develop their own individuality and every aspect of their own personality, skills and character in such a way that they can stand on their own two feet when they leave. This is achieved through a wide-ranging and busy programme, sensible discipline leading to self-discipline, and a corporate life based on membership of individual houses each under the direction of a Housemaster.
Tonbridge has a long-standing record of high academic achievement. In addition to the usual academic subjects, there is particularly rich provision for general education in the Sixth Form. A รบ20m development programme was started in 1992 and is now two-thirds complete, with the opening in 1996 of a superb Arts and Technology complex providing outstanding facilities for Art, Music and all aspects of Technology, Electronics and Computing. About half the boys learn a musical instrument, there are numerous concerts and recitals, and some six to nine plays a year are performed. Tonbridge also enjoys a high reputation for its athletics, cricket and rugby football, and offers fine facilities for a wide range of sports to a high level, together with many other extra-curricular activities to accommodate and stimulate the varied talents and interests within its vibrant community.
Alumni - Sir Colin Cowdrey; Christopher Cowdrey; Maurice Denham; Richard Ellison; Frederick Forsyth; Sir Patrick Mayhew; Vikram Seth; David Tomlinson; Ben Whitrow.
