Weald of Kent Grammar School is a selective or

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 ...

with academy status in

Tonbridge Tonbridge ( ) is a market town in Kent, England, on the River Medway, north of Royal Tunbridge Wells, south west of Maidstone and south east of London. In the administrative borough of Tonbridge and Malling, it had an estimated population ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, for girls aged 11–18 and boys aged 16–18. Selection is by the

Kent test 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 academic ...

. The school holds specialisms in languages and science. On 15 October 2015, the government gave permission for the school to create an "annexe" in Sevenoaks. Before this time no new grammar schools were permitted so Sevenoakes which was non selective, was not permitted to create one. This judgement was controversial.

Buildings

Weald of Kent is a fairly modern school with many additional extensions. In 2003, a canteen operated by independent catering contractors was built called 'La Wokerie' - a pun derived from the school's name "WOK". In 2006, a new English and Humanities Block was built, referred to by most students as 'the new building' It offered larger classrooms, some of which have false walls between two of them which can open up to create one large room. A new Arts and Drama suite was completed in early 2008. In the beginning of 2014, another two storey building was built for Maths and Examinations, and an extension to 'La Wokerie' was added by converting the adjacent classroom into a diner style restaurant with extra seating and a salad bar. Following the conversion of the old gymnasium into the 'Sixth Form Hub', accompanying the 'Sixth Form Café', the school opened a new sports hall towards the end of 2016. The opening was attended by British gymnast

Max Whitlock Max Antony Whitlock (born 13 January 1993) is a British artistic gymnast. With fourteen medals and six titles in Olympic and world championships, Whitlock is the most successful gymnast in his nation's history, and the most successful pommel h ...

Sevenoaks annexe

On 15 October 2015,

Nicky Morgan Nicola Ann Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Cotes, (; born 10 October 1972) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities from 2014 to 2016 and Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, ...

, the Education Secretary, announced that government would give permission for the school to create an "annexe" in

Sevenoaks Sevenoaks is a town in Kent with a population of 29,506 situated south-east of London, England. Also classified as a civil parishes in England, civil parish, Sevenoaks is served by a commuter South Eastern Main Line, main line railway into Lon ...

, which had no grammar schools. The site for the 'annexe' is that of the former

Wildernesse School The Knole Academy is a secondary school in Sevenoaks, Kent, England that was opened in September 2010, as a result of the amalgamation of the Wildernesse School (for boys) and Bradbourne School (for girls). The site The former Bradbourne site w ...

on Seal Hollow Road, preparations started on the site soon after planning permission was granted in 2014. The decision is controversial; as 1998 legislation barred any new school from adopting selective admissions. This action was seen as a way round this legislation. It was supported by

Kent County Council Kent County Council is a county council that governs most of the county of Kent in England. It is the upper tier of elected local government, below which are 12 district councils, and around 300 town and parish councils. The county council h ...

and an active group of parents, but opposed by others. An earlier attempt had been rejected by the then Education Secretary

Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...

in December 2013, as a single-sex school could not legally open a co-educational annexe. Parents had been balloted on whether the school should change its status and they had chosen to remain a girls only school. Kent County Council revised the scheme so the units became modular, and the application was resubmitted. It is this application that was approved. The annexe opened in September 2017.

Results

Exam results for the 2013 academic year showed that 100% of pupils attained 5 GCSE grades A* to C (including English and maths). 99.1% of the A level grades were A* to E. The school was judged by OFSTED to be academically 'outstanding' prior to its conversion to an academy. OFSTED state that you are not the same entity and have no previous inspection grade once converted. It was first inspected in 2022 and found to be 'Requires Improvement'. It has National Teaching School status since 2014.School Prospectus 2015.

Alumni

Nina Ridge Nina Ridge is a British weather forecaster on the BBC. Early life Ridge was born Nina Humphries. Her great-grandmother was Sylvia Payne. Ridge grew up in the west of Kent, and went to a girls' grammar school. She studied Mathematics with Manage ...

, weather forecaster on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

* Abbie Hutty, mechanical engineer

Notes and references

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External links