Motto | "To God Only Be All Glory" and "In Christo Fratres" |
---|---|
Established | 1887 |
Type |
Grammar school; Academy |
Headmaster | Edward Wesson |
Founder | Worshipful Company of Skinners |
Location |
St John's Road Royal Tunbridge Wells Kent TN4 9PG England Coordinates: 51°08′33″N 0°15′40″E / 51.1425°N 0.261°E |
DfE number | 886/5418 |
DfE URN | 140595 Tables |
Ofsted | Reports Pre-academy reports |
Students | 940+ |
Gender | Boys |
Ages | 11–18 |
Houses | Sebastian, Atwell, Hunt, Knott |
Colours | Red and black |
Publication | The Leopard |
Website | www |
The Skinners' School (formally The Skinners' Company's School for Boys and commonly known as Skinners'), is a British grammar school with academy status for boys located in the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, England. Established in 1887, the school was founded by the Worshipful Company of Skinners (one of the 108 livery companies of the City of London) in response to a demand for education in the region. Today Skinners' remains an all-boys grammar school, recently awarded specialist status in science and mathematics in recognition of these disciplines' excellent teaching. The current enrolment is more than 940 pupils, of whom around 230 are in the sixth form. The first headmaster was Reverend Frederick Knott, after whom Knott House is named. The current Headmaster is Roger Bee who succeeded Edward Wesson in March 2017.
Skinners boys generally take eleven General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) tests in Year Eleven (aged 15–16), and they have a choice of four or five A-levels in the sixth form. An Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) inspection in 2007 graded The Skinners' School as "outstanding". The majority of students go on to higher education following the completion of their A-levels at the end of Year Thirteen (aged 17–18), and in 2011, one in ten Year 13 students gained an Oxbridge offer.
Foundation
The first school to be associated with The Worshipful Company of Skinners was Tonbridge School. This 'Free Grammar School' had been founded in 1553 by Andrew Judde a wealthy London fur trader and native of Tonbridge. On his death he passed over governance of the school to the Skinners Company where he had been Master for many years. Subsequently, the Skinners Company, like many other City Guilds, took an active interest in supporting education. For many years this took the form of charitable grants and scholarships. However, by the late nineteenth century, there was rising pressure to expand educational provision beyond that currently provided by the existing 'endowed schools' like Tonbridge and the relatively basic, local 'state national schools'. Skinners Company proposals for a second school "at Tonbridge or at some adjacent locality" first emerged in 1870, and after a prolonged row between the two towns Royal Tunbridge Wells was chosen as the location.