Established 1956 Acting Headmaster Simon Marsh DfE number 886/4045 Number of students 1,194 | Type Grammar school Chair of Governors Dr Philip Drew Phone +44 1892 529551 Founded 1956 | |
Location St John's Road
Tunbridge Wells
Kent
TN4 9XB
England Address St John's Rd, Tunbridge Wells TN4 9XB, UK Motto Faber est quisque suæ fortunæ; ("Every man is the maker of his own fortune") Similar Tonbridge Grammar School, The Judd School, The Skinners' School, Weald of Kent Grammar, Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar Profiles | ||
Tunbridge wells grammar school for boys bbc school report 2014
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, also known as Tunbridge Wells Boys' Grammar School, TWGSB or "Tech", is a community grammar school located in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England.
Contents
- Tunbridge wells grammar school for boys bbc school report 2014
- Tunbridge wells grammar school for boys
- Academic standards
- School identity
- Facilities
- Extracurricular activities
- Notable former pupils
- References
Founded as a technical school in 1956, TWGSB became a grammar school in 1982. It is a state school, and one of the largest of the remaining grammar schools in England.
The school has over 1,200 pupils ranging from 11 to 18 years of age, and more than 100 staff members. Entrance is selective, with pupils falling within the top thirty per cent band of ability upon entrance. Prospective students are required to take the 11-plus in order to gain a place.
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys has a mixed sixth form. A minimum of eight grade B GCSEs is required and although priority for places is given to TWGSB students, the school welcomes applications from both boys and girls from other schools.
Headteacher, John Harrison retired in December 2016 after 10 years at the helm. Simon Marsh is acting headteacher. He has taught in a range of schools including seven years at Medina High School in the Isle of Wight, the Judd School, and Hayesbrook School as Head of Science. He joined TWGSB in 1997 to run the much larger Science Department here and became a Deputy Headteacher three years.
The school is recruiting for a permanent headteacher to start in September 2017.
Tunbridge wells grammar school for boys
Academic standards
The school offers a broad range of subjects right through to A2-level. Seventy five to eighty five per cent of pupils remain at the school and study A-levels after taking GCSEs.
TWGSB became a Humanities College in September 2007. This meant that the school received additional funding from central government for three different areas:
Following their inspection on 30 April – 1 May 2008, Ofsted rated the school's overall effectiveness as Good, Grade 2 on a four-point scale. The effectiveness of the sixth form was also rated as Good. In their report Ofsted said "This is a good and improving school; it is well led and provides students with good standards of education, guidance and care.... Students make good progress from their starting points to achieve high standards. ... Teaching is good overall and sometimes outstanding... but there is more work to do in developing a common approach so that best practice is shared in a systematic way... an effective and hard-working senior leadership team.... There is variation in the quality of leadership at some levels; this is evident in the unevenness of students' performance across subjects, particularly at Key Stage 4 and in the sixth form."
School identity
The school's Latin motto, Faber est quisque suæ fortunæ, means "Every man is the maker of his own fortune". The school has a strict uniform policy, which involves the use of a "uniform and conduct card". Students are required to have this card with them at all times. However this is mainly prevalent in the lower years, from Year 9 onwards rarely being used by teachers or students. Every time the student violates the code of conduct, the card is signed by a member of staff (or sixth form). In theory failure to produce the card results in an immediate after-school detention, but this very rarely happens, with teachers tending to be lenient if the student is not a repeat offender. The official school hymn, Jerusalem, was traditionally sung on the afternoons of the individual year group award ceremonies but this practice has been rarely observed since 2006 (when John Harrison became headteacher).
A house system was established from September 2007:
These houses compete throughout the year in sport and academic competitions, especially on Sports Day. House points are usually awarded to the winning House in these events and are also given out for good work within classes. The Houses compete for the House Cup (awarded to the House with the highest number of House Points) and the Sports Cup (awarded to the House who wins Sports Day).
The school makes use of a prefect system, whereby responsibilities are given to the upper school to keep the school's rules of conduct in effect.
Facilities
The school has the following main buildings:
The school also has cricket, rugby, football and softball pitches, and use of the adjacent Tunbridge Wells Sports Centre, as well as their own "3G" pitch.
Extracurricular activities
The school has a wide range of clubs and societies (including sporting, acting and music related activities). In addition there is a school orchestra (and Jazz Band). They publish the Eclectics Magazine annually. The school runs teams in several sports.
The school also has two student councils: the School Council and the Sixth Form Council. The School Council consists mainly of lower school students who meet once a term to organise trips and discuss their views on the school. The Sixth Form Council consists of Year 12 and 13 students. The main aims of the Sixth Form Council are organising social events for the Sixth Form and for the school as a whole.