Motto |
Deus Dat Incrementum (God Giveth the Increase) |
---|---|
Established | 1553 |
Type |
Public school Independent day and boarding |
Headmaster | Timothy Haynes |
Founder | Sir Andrew Judd |
Location |
Tonbridge Kent England Coordinates: 51°12′00″N 0°16′35″E / 51.2000°N 0.2765°E |
DfE URN | 118959 Tables |
Students | c. 800 |
Gender | Boys |
Ages | 13–18 |
Houses | 7 boarding, 5 day |
Colours |
Black, white and maroon |
Publication | The Tonbridgian |
Former pupils | Old Tonbridgians |
Website | www |
Black, white and maroon
Tonbridge School is an independent day and boarding school for boys in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelled Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group, and has close links with the Worshipful Company of Skinners, one of the oldest London livery companies. It is a public school in the British sense of the term.
There are currently around 800 boys in the school, aged between 13 and 18. The school occupies a site of 150 acres (607,000 m²) on the edge of Tonbridge, and is largely self-contained, though the boarding and day houses are spread through the town. Since its foundation the school has been rebuilt twice on the original site. For the academic year 2015/16, Tonbridge charges full boarders up to £12,096 per term and £9,072 per term for day pupils, making it the 4th and 6th most expensive HMC boarding and day school respectively.
The Headmaster since 2005 is Tim Haynes, previously Headmaster of Monmouth School and Deputy Master at St Paul's School.
The school is one of only a very few of the ancient public schools not to have turned co-educational, and there are no plans for this to happen.
The school was founded in 1553 by Andrew Judde, being granted its Royal Charter by Edward VI. The first headmaster was the Revd. John Proctor, a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. From 1553 until his death in 1558, Judde was the sole governor of the school, and, at some time, he framed the statutes that were to govern it for the next 270 years. On Judde's death, the school was passed to the Skinners' Company, after a dispute with Judde's business partner Henry Fisher.
For the next hundred years few details of the school survive apart from rare records in the Skinners' Company books. Headmaster Proctor died in 1558, and was succeeded by a series of headmasters, usually clergymen and always classical scholars. They included the Revd. William Hatch (1587-1615), the first Old Tonbridgian Headmaster. According to the Skinners' records, the Revd. Michael Jenkins (1615–24) was appointed because 'he was the only one who turned up'. During his time as Headmaster, the school received a series of generous endowments from Thomas Smythe, the first Governor of the East India Company and son of Andrew Judde's daughter Alice.