The Skinners' School A GSG School
- The Skinners' School
St John's Road
Tunbridge Wells
Kent
TN4 9PG - Head: Mr Edward Wesson
- T 01892 520732
- F 01892 549356
- E enquiries@skinners-school.org.uk
- W www.skinners-school.co.uk
- A state school for boys aged from 11 to 18.
- Read about the best schools in West Kent and East Kent
- Boarding: No
- Local authority: Kent
- Pupils: 1,121; sixth formers: 315
- Religion: None
- Review: View The Good Schools Guide Review
-
Ofsted:
- Latest Overall effectiveness Good 1
- 16-19 study programmes Outstanding 1
- Outcomes for children and learners Good 1
- Quality of teaching, learning and assessment Good 1
- Personal development, behaviour and welfare Outstanding 1
- Effectiveness of leadership and management Good 1
- 1 Full inspection 16th November 2021
- Ofsted report: View the Ofsted report
What The Good Schools Guide says..
After the question, ‘What’s the difference between you and The Judd?’ (answer: more pastoral and slightly less academic), the main enquiry at open evenings is always, ‘Can I play football?’ (answer: not until sixth form). ‘If football is your thing, start looking for a local club,’ confirmed our guide. Once a school with specialist status in science and maths, these subjects still dominate as A level choices and remain (especially physics and maths, according to the boys) ‘the best departments’ at all levels. Results, as you’d expect, are impressive though this is not a school to rest on its laurels and is determined to…
What the school says...
Skinners' is a high-achieving boys' grammar school with a strong ethos and outstanding pastoral care
High achieving students develop a love of learning and curiosity about the world, building the capacity and self-confidence to strive with ambition to reach their full potential.
The school’s ethos and activities are inclusive and diverse, and help develop character, leadership, compassion, collaboration and interests for life. ...Read more
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School associations
State grammar school
Sports
Shooting
What The Good Schools Guide says
Head
Since 2013, Mr Edward Wesson MA (mid 50s). Previously head of King’s Tynemouth for three years and before that deputy head of Reigate Grammar for four years. Educated at Tonbridge, where he was head boy, and at Cambridge, where he read law. ‘Dabbled in journalism’ and worked on the Sevenoaks Chronicle before training as a teacher. Taught at New Beacon, Sevenoaks and Wellington School, Somerset, followed by 12 years at Hampton, where he became head of sixth form and master in charge of cricket. The move to the state sector not quite as radical as it sounds, he insists, as Skinners has ‘the DNA of an independent school.’ Still teaches politics at A level, admitting to finding days ‘quite difficult if they’re not punctuated by time in the classroom. I probably teach too much...
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Overall school performance (for comparison or review only)
Results by exam and subject
Subject results
Entry/Exit
Special Education Needs
We are a selective boys’ school, with a large sixth form. The most common support is with literacy, including help with improving handwriting. Typically pupils identified for SEN support have mild dyslexia or dyspraxia. Pupils are assessed as necessary, not just for additional help, but to ensure they receive extra time in public examinations. A few boys have additional on-site support from the Dyslexia Institute. Some use lap-tops. In recent years we have observed an increasing frequency of boys with ASD, most notably Asperger's. As a school we have had to learn appropriate teaching strategies to support these children. We will disapply elements of the national curriculum, if appropriate, to meet the needs of the individual. Pupils with behavioural challenges such as ADD and ADHD (Ritalin not a problem), may participate in a pastoral support programme, which includes anger management. We have experience of pupils with Tourettes and with physical difficulties. We have supported a boy who was profoundly deaf and one who was visually impaired but the hilly, Victorian site, is not ideally suited to wheelchairs. However, school has parents who use wheelchairs and we will always endeavour to work out a suitable route or system to ensure they have necessary access to the site and to staff.
| Condition | Provision for in school |
|---|---|
| ASD - Autistic Spectrum Disorder | Y |
| Aspergers | Y |
| Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorders | Y |
| CReSTeD registered for Dyslexia | |
| Dyscalculia | Y |
| Dysgraphia | Y |
| Dyslexia | Y |
| Dyspraxia | |
| English as an additional language (EAL) | |
| Genetic | |
| Has an entry in the Autism Services Directory | |
| Has SEN unit or class | |
| HI - Hearing Impairment | |
| Hospital School | |
| Mental health | |
| MLD - Moderate Learning Difficulty | |
| MSI - Multi-Sensory Impairment | |
| Natspec Specialist Colleges | |
| OTH - Other Difficulty/Disability | |
| Other SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| PD - Physical Disability | |
| PMLD - Profound and Multiple Learning Difficulty | |
| SEMH - Social, Emotional and Mental Health | |
| SLCN - Speech, Language and Communication | |
| SLD - Severe Learning Difficulty | |
| Special facilities for Visually Impaired | |
| SpLD - Specific Learning Difficulty | |
| VI - Visual Impairment | Y |
Interpreting catchment maps
The maps show in colour where the pupils at a school came from*. Red = most pupils to Blue = fewest.
Where the map is not coloured we have no record in the previous three years of any pupils being admitted from that location based on the options chosen.
For help and explanation of our catchment maps see: Catchment maps explained
Further reading
If there are more applicants to a school than it has places for, who gets in is determined by which applicants best fulfil the admissions criteria.
Admissions criteria are often complicated, and may change from year to year. The best source of information is usually the relevant local authority website, but once you have set your sights on a school it is a good idea to ask them how they see things panning out for the year that you are interested in.
Many schools admit children based on distance from the school or a fixed catchment area. For such schools, the cut-off distance will vary from year to year, especially if the school give priority to siblings, and the pattern will be of a central core with outliers (who will mostly be siblings). Schools that admit on the basis of academic or religious selection will have a much more scattered pattern.
*The coloured areas outlined in black are Census Output Areas. These are made up of a group of neighbouring postcodes, which accounts for their odd shapes. These provide an indication, but not a precise map, of the school’s catchment: always refer to local authority and school websites for precise information.
The 'hotter' the colour the more children have been admitted.
Children get into the school from here:
regularly
most years
quite often
infrequently
sometimes, but not in this year
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