The Skinners' Kent Academy (formerly Sandown Court then later renamed to Tunbridge Wells High School) is a
secondary school
A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...
Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Rocks. ...
. The academy is rated outstanding by Ofsted.
Tunbridge Wells High School became The Skinners' Kent Academy in September 2009, when the school became an
academy
An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...
, and independent of local authority control.
History
The original school was called Sandown Court and was opened in 1968. It was then renamed to Tunbridge Wells High School which closed on the 31st August 2009 and was then renamed to Skinners Kent Academy. 2010 was when the new building was built. Before In the five years before becoming an academy, the school was consistently ranked in the top 5% nationally for adding value and was the top secondary school in West Kent based on CVA scores.
In September 2010, it was on the shortlist for the 2010
Kent Design Awards
These awards were created to celebrate design excellence in Kent and were first staged in 2003 and are usually held every two years. They were then renamed 'Kent Design and Development Awards' in 2012. Then have stayed as the 'Kent Design and Deve ...
.
Curriculum
The school offers the
International Baccalaureate
The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...
Middle Years Programme (Years 7-9) and Career-related Programme (Sixth Form). While all maintained schools in England must follow the
National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with Federated stat ...
, and are inspected by Ofsted on how well they succeed in delivering a 'broad and balanced curriculum'. Schools endeavour to get all students to achieve the
English Baccalaureate
The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a school performance indicator in England linked to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results. It measures students' attainment by calculating an average score from specified subject grades. ...
(EBACC) qualification- this must include core subjects a modern or ancient foreign language, and either History or Geography.
The Skinners' Kent Academy does this within the framework of the IB
Middle Years Programme
The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) is an educational programme for students between the ages of 11 to 16 around the world as part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum. Middle Year Programme is intended to pr ...
. Up until this year Kent Academy operated a two-year,
Key Stage 3
Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the ...
where all the core National Curriculum subjects are taught, followed for three years preparing for GCSE exams. This was reversed on the intervention of Ofsted who announced that was not the intention and were restricting the target 'outstanding grade' to schools who followed the traditional path.
In 10 and 11, that is in
Key Stage 4
Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31. ...
students study a core of English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Science, Core PE , PSHE (Sex and Relationship Education with Enterprise Education)) and Religious Education. All students do French. History is more popular than geography, Computing/Computer/Science are taken in equal numbers by a third of year group each. The English Baccalaureate is achieved by 61% of the students against 40% nationally.
Buildings
The old buildings were replaced in 2010 with an award-winning design. The contractors were
Willmott Dixon
Willmott Dixon is a privately owned contracting, residential development and property support business.
History
The company was founded in 1852, by John Willmott.
The school required extra capacity to host its new one form entry, 3-11
primary school
A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary e ...
. They worked closely with KCC and the appointed contractors, Baxall Construction. It is a bespoke two-storey timberframed, sustainable, offsite, factory construction. The building was designed using 3D CAD software, by Willmott Dixon in discussion with the staff. The components which included the floors and the walls with the windows already in place, were all delivered at the same time as flat packs on lorries.
Non-Selective Entry Criteria
The Skinners' Kent Academy is the only one of the five secondary schools in the
borough
A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely.
History
In the Middle Ag ...
of
Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in Kent, England, southeast of central London. It lies close to the border with East Sussex on the northern edge of the Weald, High Weald, whose sandstone geology is exemplified by the rock formation High Roc ...
that does not impose any entry criteria other than the child living within a reasonable travelling distance to the school.
The three local
grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...
s select their Year 7 intake according to the child's academic achievement or aptitude as measured in the "
eleven plus
The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academ ...
" examination. In the case of the two other local secondary schools:
Bennett Memorial Diocesan School
Bennett Memorial Diocesan School is an all ability co-educational academy in Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England, which caters for students from age 11 to 18.
History
The school was founded on 17 October 1951 by Lady Elena Bennett of Matfield ...
requires to provide evidence that their family regularly participates in an act of collective
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
worship and St. Gregory's Catholic School selects its pupil intake mainly from nearby Catholic feeder primary schools.http://www.sgschool.org.uk/site/Information/index.html