NEWS FROM

Autumn 2015

Desi

gned

by J

ody T

aylo

r, To

nbrid

ge S

choo

l Rep

rogr

aphi

cs D

epar

tmen

t

The Big Sleepout

Boys made over £10,000 for charity by sleeping rough under pieces of cardboard.

They were raising money and awareness for Porchlight, a charity supporting vulnerable and homeless people in Kent and Croydon.

120 Novi (first years) took part and were joined by 40 Scouts from the 17th Tonbridge Air Scouts and the 1st Hextable Air Scouts.

Provided with nothing more than a roll-mat, sleeping-bag and cardboard to build individual shelters in the school ‘Quad’, the experience provided an insightful perspective into the life of a homeless person.

Staff organised a soup kitchen on the Saturday evening and Porchlight provided educational workshops with guest speaker ‘Simon’, who currently lives in Tonbridge, who described how the charity helped him move away from a life on the streets.

Tonbridge student Rory McDowell (HS) said: “At the beginning of our evening we split into groups of roughly three or four people. We then collected our cardboard with which we planned to build our makeshift shelters. The enormous amount of cardboard was donated kindly by the local furniture store ‘Furniture Village’.

“The collection of the most valuable pieces of cardboard ended in a frenzy involving around 80 boys all rummaging through heaps of cardboard searching for the pieces that would give them the edge over their neighbours’ design.

“In the morning we had freshly prepared bacon rolls as half the boys traded stories of

how restful - or not - their night was, while the other half propped up against walls and tiredly ate their food.

“We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped or donated.”

Kate Boulding, Porchlight’s community fundraising officer, said that this year’s total surpassed all expectations. “We’re so grateful to Tonbridge School and the two Scout groups for raising such a fantastic amount of money – it really is an incredible achievement.”

Whole School Concert

All 791 boys in the School took part in a musical piece performed to a packed Chapel of St Augustine.

Every boy either had a singing or orchestral role in the music composed for Tonbridge by the well-known British composer Howard Goodall.

Psalm 122 ‘I Was Glad’ was written to commemorate the re-building of the School chapel in 1997 and had not been performed on the campus since 2010.

The work is scored for symphony orchestra, organ, chamber choir, choristers and a chorus for the whole school.

Boys joined their colleagues in the orchestra and choir to perform the piece and bring two consecutive evenings of performances to a memorable end.

The first part of the concert featured Tchaikovsky’s ever popular Nutcracker Suite.

Boys underwent extensive rehearsals to deliver an outstanding performance. Rehearsal pictures are captured on this page.

Child Action Lanka

Superb ResultsTonbridge celebrated another excellent set of A level results, with almost 42 per cent of all grades being an A*.

A record 26 boys scored a clean sweep of A*s for all of their subjects and 58 per cent of boys secured three As or better. The median average grades at A level for a Tonbridge student were AAAB.

37 boys holding offers for either Cambridge or Oxford Universities achieved their place, with more likely to apply post A level.

At GCSE, there was a 99.9 per cent A* to C pass rate, with 62 per cent of all grades being A*s, although re-marks could see this percentage rise further.

71 boys gained six A*s or better, with the rest of their grades all As. 44 boys achieved nine or more A*s and 16 boys claimed a clean sweep of A*s in all their exams.

The ‘average’ holding for a Tonbridge boy at GCSE is seven A*s and three As.

Tonbridge School Headmaster Tim Haynes said: “Congratulations to boys and staff for their efforts in achieving these results.”

Over the summer, boys from Tonbridge travelled to Sri Lanka to find young rugby players and mould them into teams to compete at a tournament held in the country’s national stadium.

The School was working with Child Action Lanka, a charity that transforms

the lives of disadvantaged children in the country.

Small groups of Tonbridgians were sent across Sri Lanka to coach players from different areas and then bring them back to Kandy.

But it wasn’t all about rugby. Members of the whole school community were in the country to assist with school

building, teaching, coaching, training courses and other volunteer work.

The trip took place under the School’s community outreach arm, Tonbridge Community Action (TCA).

Trip leader Jonathan Lewis said: “We calculated that each group provided at least 1,000 hours of happiness, fun and play for the children in our time there.”

@TonbridgeUK /TonbridgeUK

Boys who scored a “clean sweep” of A*’s.

Several hundred primary school children, along with groups of senior citizens and local residents, enjoyed a day of art, academic and sporting activities at the School.

Our annual Community Day sees visitors use Tonbridge’s exceptional facilities in a relaxed and fun environment. Students from the school, as well as the Common Room, support staff and parents, volunteer their time to put on dozens of activities under the banner of the school’s community arm, Tonbridge Community Action.

This year the event focused on environmental responsibilities by featuring a Green Fair and raising valuable funds for Child Action Lanka, a charity supporting street children in Sri Lanka.

Visiting primary schools were; Bidborough, Borough Green, Cage Green, Cage Green Phoenix Centre, Hildenborough, Ightham, Long Mead, Pembury, Shipbourne, Slade, St Augustine’s, St John’s, St Magaret Clitherow, St Matthew’s High Brooms, St Stephen’s, Stocks Green, Sussex Road, Wateringbury and Woodlands Junior.

Just some of the activities available on the day included; athletics, art, basketball, a cadet force obstacle course, chess, climbing, dance, cricket, technology classes, football, frisbee, judo, language classes, music, science, history classes, swimming and touch rugby.

Other highlights were smoothie makers powered by bicycles and an ‘igloo’ made from recycled milk bottles. Visitors were encourage to leave a message in the bottles for world leaders about what they think should be done to make the planet a better, safer place. Guests also enjoyed a display of falconry by Hawkforce and a concert of film music by the Tonbridge School Symphony Orchestra.

Later the same evening, students lit up the dancefloor under the watchful eye of former ‘Strictly’ champion and TV presenter Chris Hollins.

Chris, a former pupil at the School, was on hand to judge the Community Day event, called ‘Dancing with the

Praes’, which saw Tonbridge praepostors team up with partners from other local schools to put on a competitive display of dancing.

It was a huge challenge, as many of the contestants had no previous dancing experience so had been perfecting their moves with the help of expert tutors.

The audience also enjoyed displays by the current national university-level champions, Fergus O’Neill and Kirsty Mackay. Fergus too is an Old Tonbridgian.

After several rounds of hugely impressive dancing from the ten pairs, Ella Gibson and Kieran Orr were crowned winners of the event.

The competition helped to raise funds and awareness for Cancer Research UK (www.cancerresearchuk.org) and type one diabetes charity JDRF (www.jdrf.org.uk).

Excellence For All Community Day

Tonbridge boys put in a strong showing at the RS Feva National Championships 2015 at Rutland Water.

The School had three boats out of five finish in the gold fleet (top half ) from 90 entries, with Tonbridge’s top boat, sailed by Rory Fulton (WH) and Joshua Holman (SH), in 14th place overall. This achievement is particularly noteworthy given the championship is not a ‘schools only’

competition and boys are facing the top boats in Britain for the class. Indeed, Tonbridge ranked higher overall than any other school team.

Tonbridge sailing professional Jonny Moss said: “The level of improvement from only a few months ago is staggering. After only a few years in Feva class, Tonbridge has certainly made a big impression.”

National Championship Sailing

New Tennis Courts

Tonbridge School is at an exciting stage in its long history and we have very ambitious plans to make sure that we continue to deliver a world-class education in the future. It is a long-term plan and at its heart is our commitment to excellence, for our boys and for the wider community to which they belong.

This development vision is called ‘Excellence For All’ and our aim is that it will benefit every boy at the School. Many of the projects will have a wider role in creating excellence for others outside of the immediate school community through our outreach and partnership activity.

We will continue to build on our world-class educational environment by delivering the most ambitious transformation of the school campus since the 1860s, which will significantly improve the boys’ experiences in collaborative learning and independent study.

Construction is due to begin shortly on a new library and learning centre, offering an inspirational space with a variety of flexible and adaptable teaching and learning environments, and which brings together in one home the services which our learners need to thrive, including IT support, Learning Support, and the Universities and Careers Service. The English department has undergone a major transformation to provide a brighter and more inspiring environment for boys, and we recently completed work on the Old Big School Gallery and the Chadwick Divinity Building. A world-class science centre that embraces the latest teaching methods and provides an environment where students can share their knowledge with the local community and take inspiration from industry-leaders is also in our plans.

We understand too that education is about far more than simply passing exams – it’s a culture that should stretch beyond the classrooms, libraries, laboratories and playing fields. A key ambition of Excellence For All is to continue to provide funding for projects and people that will greatly enhance the experience of the boys.

For more information please visit www.excellence-for-all.org

Satellite in a Drinks Can

A dozen gold medals have been won by Tonbridge boys in the UK Biology Challenge.

The challenge is an online competition which takes place in schools and consists of two 30 minute papers.

Questions are set on the topics covered in most general biology courses, but the Biology Challenge also rewards those students whose knowledge of the subject has been enhanced by reading books and magazines, watching natural history programmes, taking notice of the news media for items of biological interest and students who are generally aware of our natural flora and fauna.

The gold medallists are: Henry Forster (PS), Harvey Dovell (PH), Robbie Featherstone (Sc), Alex Huang (JH), Henry Weston (JH), Alex Froud (Sc), Matt Hayes (OH), Will Miller (MH), Guy Sharpe (PH), Dylan Taylor (PS), Chris Hughes (JH) and Toby Goldhill-Watts (WH). A further 28 boys received silver medals.

Physics Olympiad medalsTonbridgians have won six gold medals in the GCSE Physics Olympiad.

The national competition is designed to test the knowledge and understanding of physics students.

The gold medallists are Nick Wan (SC), Adam Howden (SH), Oscar Brown (JH), Matthew Moore (WH), Charlie Sneddon (PS) and Philip Magee (SC). This is a great achievement, with just 114 gold medals being awarded nationally.

Additionally, eight boys received silver medals, which places them in the top 287 students in the country.

Guests enjoyed a superb exhibition of tennis at the official opening of our new high performance courts.

A champagne reception and lunch was held before Headmaster Tim Haynes cut the ribbon and opened the courts. This was followed by four pairs of Old Tonbridgians and current boys taking on the School’s coaches in a ‘friendly’ exhibition match. Later, the School first team played Wellington College.

The three competition standard clay surfaces were completed late last year. This new floodlit facility allows boys to play on dedicated courts and in the longer term, will enable the School’s best players to compete with top county players,

while offering tennis enthusiasts of all levels a superb surface on which to learn, practice and play whatever the weather. The courts form part of the School’s wider ‘Excellence for All’ campaign, an exciting development plan designed to benefit every boy at Tonbridge and the wider community.

Mr Haynes said: “The building of these courts was only made possible through the generous support of the current parents, past parents and Old Tonbridgians, who are all vital in ensuring Tonbridge remains able to provide an education of breadth and depth for years to come.”

Tonbridge boys won a European Space Agency competition to build a satellite in a drinks can.

Recent leavers Justin Fung, Alex Hooper, Ed Knaggs, Mihir Melwani, Kian Patel and Walter Tso (JH5), the ‘CANonneers’, won the beginners category of the national final of CANSAT.

A CANSAT is a simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drink can.

The finals were held at the National Science Learning Centre

in York, where the Tonbridge ‘satellite’ was dropped from a balloon at 170m and successfully transmitted data to a laptop on the ground.

CGI image of Smythe Library.

Tonbridge CANSAT team.

Biology Challenge

Several hundred primary school children, along with groups of senior citizens and local residents, enjoyed a day of art, academic and sporting activities at the School.

Our annual Community Day sees visitors use Tonbridge’s exceptional facilities in a relaxed and fun environment. Students from the school, as well as the Common Room, support staff and parents, volunteer their time to put on dozens of activities under the banner of the school’s community arm, Tonbridge Community Action.

This year the event focused on environmental responsibilities by featuring a Green Fair and raising valuable funds for Child Action Lanka, a charity supporting street children in Sri Lanka.

Visiting primary schools were; Bidborough, Borough Green, Cage Green, Cage Green Phoenix Centre, Hildenborough, Ightham, Long Mead, Pembury, Shipbourne, Slade, St Augustine’s, St John’s, St Magaret Clitherow, St Matthew’s High Brooms, St Stephen’s, Stocks Green, Sussex Road, Wateringbury and Woodlands Junior.

Just some of the activities available on the day included; athletics, art, basketball, a cadet force obstacle course, chess, climbing, dance, cricket, technology classes, football, frisbee, judo, language classes, music, science, history classes, swimming and touch rugby.

Other highlights were smoothie makers powered by bicycles and an ‘igloo’ made from recycled milk bottles. Visitors were encourage to leave a message in the bottles for world leaders about what they think should be done to make the planet a better, safer place. Guests also enjoyed a display of falconry by Hawkforce and a concert of film music by the Tonbridge School Symphony Orchestra.

Later the same evening, students lit up the dancefloor under the watchful eye of former ‘Strictly’ champion and TV presenter Chris Hollins.

Chris, a former pupil at the School, was on hand to judge the Community Day event, called ‘Dancing with the

Praes’, which saw Tonbridge praepostors team up with partners from other local schools to put on a competitive display of dancing.

It was a huge challenge, as many of the contestants had no previous dancing experience so had been perfecting their moves with the help of expert tutors.

The audience also enjoyed displays by the current national university-level champions, Fergus O’Neill and Kirsty Mackay. Fergus too is an Old Tonbridgian.

After several rounds of hugely impressive dancing from the ten pairs, Ella Gibson and Kieran Orr were crowned winners of the event.

The competition helped to raise funds and awareness for Cancer Research UK (www.cancerresearchuk.org) and type one diabetes charity JDRF (www.jdrf.org.uk).

Excellence For All Community Day

Tonbridge boys put in a strong showing at the RS Feva National Championships 2015 at Rutland Water.

The School had three boats out of five finish in the gold fleet (top half ) from 90 entries, with Tonbridge’s top boat, sailed by Rory Fulton (WH) and Joshua Holman (SH), in 14th place overall. This achievement is particularly noteworthy given the championship is not a ‘schools only’

competition and boys are facing the top boats in Britain for the class. Indeed, Tonbridge ranked higher overall than any other school team.

Tonbridge sailing professional Jonny Moss said: “The level of improvement from only a few months ago is staggering. After only a few years in Feva class, Tonbridge has certainly made a big impression.”

National Championship Sailing

New Tennis Courts

Tonbridge School is at an exciting stage in its long history and we have very ambitious plans to make sure that we continue to deliver a world-class education in the future. It is a long-term plan and at its heart is our commitment to excellence, for our boys and for the wider community to which they belong.

This development vision is called ‘Excellence For All’ and our aim is that it will benefit every boy at the School. Many of the projects will have a wider role in creating excellence for others outside of the immediate school community through our outreach and partnership activity.

We will continue to build on our world-class educational environment by delivering the most ambitious transformation of the school campus since the 1860s, which will significantly improve the boys’ experiences in collaborative learning and independent study.

Construction is due to begin shortly on a new library and learning centre, offering an inspirational space with a variety of flexible and adaptable teaching and learning environments, and which brings together in one home the services which our learners need to thrive, including IT support, Learning Support, and the Universities and Careers Service. The English department has undergone a major transformation to provide a brighter and more inspiring environment for boys, and we recently completed work on the Old Big School Gallery and the Chadwick Divinity Building. A world-class science centre that embraces the latest teaching methods and provides an environment where students can share their knowledge with the local community and take inspiration from industry-leaders is also in our plans.

We understand too that education is about far more than simply passing exams – it’s a culture that should stretch beyond the classrooms, libraries, laboratories and playing fields. A key ambition of Excellence For All is to continue to provide funding for projects and people that will greatly enhance the experience of the boys.

For more information please visit www.excellence-for-all.org

Satellite in a Drinks Can

A dozen gold medals have been won by Tonbridge boys in the UK Biology Challenge.

The challenge is an online competition which takes place in schools and consists of two 30 minute papers.

Questions are set on the topics covered in most general biology courses, but the Biology Challenge also rewards those students whose knowledge of the subject has been enhanced by reading books and magazines, watching natural history programmes, taking notice of the news media for items of biological interest and students who are generally aware of our natural flora and fauna.

The gold medallists are: Henry Forster (PS), Harvey Dovell (PH), Robbie Featherstone (Sc), Alex Huang (JH), Henry Weston (JH), Alex Froud (Sc), Matt Hayes (OH), Will Miller (MH), Guy Sharpe (PH), Dylan Taylor (PS), Chris Hughes (JH) and Toby Goldhill-Watts (WH). A further 28 boys received silver medals.

Physics Olympiad medalsTonbridgians have won six gold medals in the GCSE Physics Olympiad.

The national competition is designed to test the knowledge and understanding of physics students.

The gold medallists are Nick Wan (SC), Adam Howden (SH), Oscar Brown (JH), Matthew Moore (WH), Charlie Sneddon (PS) and Philip Magee (SC). This is a great achievement, with just 114 gold medals being awarded nationally.

Additionally, eight boys received silver medals, which places them in the top 287 students in the country.

Guests enjoyed a superb exhibition of tennis at the official opening of our new high performance courts.

A champagne reception and lunch was held before Headmaster Tim Haynes cut the ribbon and opened the courts. This was followed by four pairs of Old Tonbridgians and current boys taking on the School’s coaches in a ‘friendly’ exhibition match. Later, the School first team played Wellington College.

The three competition standard clay surfaces were completed late last year. This new floodlit facility allows boys to play on dedicated courts and in the longer term, will enable the School’s best players to compete with top county players,

while offering tennis enthusiasts of all levels a superb surface on which to learn, practice and play whatever the weather. The courts form part of the School’s wider ‘Excellence for All’ campaign, an exciting development plan designed to benefit every boy at Tonbridge and the wider community.

Mr Haynes said: “The building of these courts was only made possible through the generous support of the current parents, past parents and Old Tonbridgians, who are all vital in ensuring Tonbridge remains able to provide an education of breadth and depth for years to come.”

Tonbridge boys won a European Space Agency competition to build a satellite in a drinks can.

Recent leavers Justin Fung, Alex Hooper, Ed Knaggs, Mihir Melwani, Kian Patel and Walter Tso (JH5), the ‘CANonneers’, won the beginners category of the national final of CANSAT.

A CANSAT is a simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drink can.

The finals were held at the National Science Learning Centre

in York, where the Tonbridge ‘satellite’ was dropped from a balloon at 170m and successfully transmitted data to a laptop on the ground.

CGI image of Smythe Library.

Tonbridge CANSAT team.

Biology Challenge

Several hundred primary school children, along with groups of senior citizens and local residents, enjoyed a day of art, academic and sporting activities at the School.

Our annual Community Day sees visitors use Tonbridge’s exceptional facilities in a relaxed and fun environment. Students from the school, as well as the Common Room, support staff and parents, volunteer their time to put on dozens of activities under the banner of the school’s community arm, Tonbridge Community Action.

This year the event focused on environmental responsibilities by featuring a Green Fair and raising valuable funds for Child Action Lanka, a charity supporting street children in Sri Lanka.

Visiting primary schools were; Bidborough, Borough Green, Cage Green, Cage Green Phoenix Centre, Hildenborough, Ightham, Long Mead, Pembury, Shipbourne, Slade, St Augustine’s, St John’s, St Magaret Clitherow, St Matthew’s High Brooms, St Stephen’s, Stocks Green, Sussex Road, Wateringbury and Woodlands Junior.

Just some of the activities available on the day included; athletics, art, basketball, a cadet force obstacle course, chess, climbing, dance, cricket, technology classes, football, frisbee, judo, language classes, music, science, history classes, swimming and touch rugby.

Other highlights were smoothie makers powered by bicycles and an ‘igloo’ made from recycled milk bottles. Visitors were encourage to leave a message in the bottles for world leaders about what they think should be done to make the planet a better, safer place. Guests also enjoyed a display of falconry by Hawkforce and a concert of film music by the Tonbridge School Symphony Orchestra.

Later the same evening, students lit up the dancefloor under the watchful eye of former ‘Strictly’ champion and TV presenter Chris Hollins.

Chris, a former pupil at the School, was on hand to judge the Community Day event, called ‘Dancing with the

Praes’, which saw Tonbridge praepostors team up with partners from other local schools to put on a competitive display of dancing.

It was a huge challenge, as many of the contestants had no previous dancing experience so had been perfecting their moves with the help of expert tutors.

The audience also enjoyed displays by the current national university-level champions, Fergus O’Neill and Kirsty Mackay. Fergus too is an Old Tonbridgian.

After several rounds of hugely impressive dancing from the ten pairs, Ella Gibson and Kieran Orr were crowned winners of the event.

The competition helped to raise funds and awareness for Cancer Research UK (www.cancerresearchuk.org) and type one diabetes charity JDRF (www.jdrf.org.uk).

Excellence For All Community Day

Tonbridge boys put in a strong showing at the RS Feva National Championships 2015 at Rutland Water.

The School had three boats out of five finish in the gold fleet (top half ) from 90 entries, with Tonbridge’s top boat, sailed by Rory Fulton (WH) and Joshua Holman (SH), in 14th place overall. This achievement is particularly noteworthy given the championship is not a ‘schools only’

competition and boys are facing the top boats in Britain for the class. Indeed, Tonbridge ranked higher overall than any other school team.

Tonbridge sailing professional Jonny Moss said: “The level of improvement from only a few months ago is staggering. After only a few years in Feva class, Tonbridge has certainly made a big impression.”

National Championship Sailing

New Tennis Courts

Tonbridge School is at an exciting stage in its long history and we have very ambitious plans to make sure that we continue to deliver a world-class education in the future. It is a long-term plan and at its heart is our commitment to excellence, for our boys and for the wider community to which they belong.

This development vision is called ‘Excellence For All’ and our aim is that it will benefit every boy at the School. Many of the projects will have a wider role in creating excellence for others outside of the immediate school community through our outreach and partnership activity.

We will continue to build on our world-class educational environment by delivering the most ambitious transformation of the school campus since the 1860s, which will significantly improve the boys’ experiences in collaborative learning and independent study.

Construction is due to begin shortly on a new library and learning centre, offering an inspirational space with a variety of flexible and adaptable teaching and learning environments, and which brings together in one home the services which our learners need to thrive, including IT support, Learning Support, and the Universities and Careers Service. The English department has undergone a major transformation to provide a brighter and more inspiring environment for boys, and we recently completed work on the Old Big School Gallery and the Chadwick Divinity Building. A world-class science centre that embraces the latest teaching methods and provides an environment where students can share their knowledge with the local community and take inspiration from industry-leaders is also in our plans.

We understand too that education is about far more than simply passing exams – it’s a culture that should stretch beyond the classrooms, libraries, laboratories and playing fields. A key ambition of Excellence For All is to continue to provide funding for projects and people that will greatly enhance the experience of the boys.

For more information please visit www.excellence-for-all.org

Satellite in a Drinks Can

A dozen gold medals have been won by Tonbridge boys in the UK Biology Challenge.

The challenge is an online competition which takes place in schools and consists of two 30 minute papers.

Questions are set on the topics covered in most general biology courses, but the Biology Challenge also rewards those students whose knowledge of the subject has been enhanced by reading books and magazines, watching natural history programmes, taking notice of the news media for items of biological interest and students who are generally aware of our natural flora and fauna.

The gold medallists are: Henry Forster (PS), Harvey Dovell (PH), Robbie Featherstone (Sc), Alex Huang (JH), Henry Weston (JH), Alex Froud (Sc), Matt Hayes (OH), Will Miller (MH), Guy Sharpe (PH), Dylan Taylor (PS), Chris Hughes (JH) and Toby Goldhill-Watts (WH). A further 28 boys received silver medals.

Physics Olympiad medalsTonbridgians have won six gold medals in the GCSE Physics Olympiad.

The national competition is designed to test the knowledge and understanding of physics students.

The gold medallists are Nick Wan (SC), Adam Howden (SH), Oscar Brown (JH), Matthew Moore (WH), Charlie Sneddon (PS) and Philip Magee (SC). This is a great achievement, with just 114 gold medals being awarded nationally.

Additionally, eight boys received silver medals, which places them in the top 287 students in the country.

Guests enjoyed a superb exhibition of tennis at the official opening of our new high performance courts.

A champagne reception and lunch was held before Headmaster Tim Haynes cut the ribbon and opened the courts. This was followed by four pairs of Old Tonbridgians and current boys taking on the School’s coaches in a ‘friendly’ exhibition match. Later, the School first team played Wellington College.

The three competition standard clay surfaces were completed late last year. This new floodlit facility allows boys to play on dedicated courts and in the longer term, will enable the School’s best players to compete with top county players,

while offering tennis enthusiasts of all levels a superb surface on which to learn, practice and play whatever the weather. The courts form part of the School’s wider ‘Excellence for All’ campaign, an exciting development plan designed to benefit every boy at Tonbridge and the wider community.

Mr Haynes said: “The building of these courts was only made possible through the generous support of the current parents, past parents and Old Tonbridgians, who are all vital in ensuring Tonbridge remains able to provide an education of breadth and depth for years to come.”

Tonbridge boys won a European Space Agency competition to build a satellite in a drinks can.

Recent leavers Justin Fung, Alex Hooper, Ed Knaggs, Mihir Melwani, Kian Patel and Walter Tso (JH5), the ‘CANonneers’, won the beginners category of the national final of CANSAT.

A CANSAT is a simulation of a real satellite, integrated within the volume and shape of a soft drink can.

The finals were held at the National Science Learning Centre

in York, where the Tonbridge ‘satellite’ was dropped from a balloon at 170m and successfully transmitted data to a laptop on the ground.

CGI image of Smythe Library.

Tonbridge CANSAT team.

Biology Challenge

NEWS FROM

Autumn 2015

Desi

gned

by J

ody T

aylo

r, To

nbrid

ge S

choo

l Rep

rogr

aphi

cs D

epar

tmen

t

The Big Sleepout

Boys made over £10,000 for charity by sleeping rough under pieces of cardboard.

They were raising money and awareness for Porchlight, a charity supporting vulnerable and homeless people in Kent and Croydon.

120 Novi (first years) took part and were joined by 40 Scouts from the 17th Tonbridge Air Scouts and the 1st Hextable Air Scouts.

Provided with nothing more than a roll-mat, sleeping-bag and cardboard to build individual shelters in the school ‘Quad’, the experience provided an insightful perspective into the life of a homeless person.

Staff organised a soup kitchen on the Saturday evening and Porchlight provided educational workshops with guest speaker ‘Simon’, who currently lives in Tonbridge, who described how the charity helped him move away from a life on the streets.

Tonbridge student Rory McDowell (HS) said: “At the beginning of our evening we split into groups of roughly three or four people. We then collected our cardboard with which we planned to build our makeshift shelters. The enormous amount of cardboard was donated kindly by the local furniture store ‘Furniture Village’.

“The collection of the most valuable pieces of cardboard ended in a frenzy involving around 80 boys all rummaging through heaps of cardboard searching for the pieces that would give them the edge over their neighbours’ design.

“In the morning we had freshly prepared bacon rolls as half the boys traded stories of

how restful - or not - their night was, while the other half propped up against walls and tiredly ate their food.

“We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped or donated.”

Kate Boulding, Porchlight’s community fundraising officer, said that this year’s total surpassed all expectations. “We’re so grateful to Tonbridge School and the two Scout groups for raising such a fantastic amount of money – it really is an incredible achievement.”

Whole School Concert

All 791 boys in the School took part in a musical piece performed to a packed Chapel of St Augustine.

Every boy either had a singing or orchestral role in the music composed for Tonbridge by the well-known British composer Howard Goodall.

Psalm 122 ‘I Was Glad’ was written to commemorate the re-building of the School chapel in 1997 and had not been performed on the campus since 2010.

The work is scored for symphony orchestra, organ, chamber choir, choristers and a chorus for the whole school.

Boys joined their colleagues in the orchestra and choir to perform the piece and bring two consecutive evenings of performances to a memorable end.

The first part of the concert featured Tchaikovsky’s ever popular Nutcracker Suite.

Boys underwent extensive rehearsals to deliver an outstanding performance. Rehearsal pictures are captured on this page.

Child Action Lanka

Superb ResultsTonbridge celebrated another excellent set of A level results, with almost 42 per cent of all grades being an A*.

A record 26 boys scored a clean sweep of A*s for all of their subjects and 58 per cent of boys secured three As or better. The median average grades at A level for a Tonbridge student were AAAB.

37 boys holding offers for either Cambridge or Oxford Universities achieved their place, with more likely to apply post A level.

At GCSE, there was a 99.9 per cent A* to C pass rate, with 62 per cent of all grades being A*s, although re-marks could see this percentage rise further.

71 boys gained six A*s or better, with the rest of their grades all As. 44 boys achieved nine or more A*s and 16 boys claimed a clean sweep of A*s in all their exams.

The ‘average’ holding for a Tonbridge boy at GCSE is seven A*s and three As.

Tonbridge School Headmaster Tim Haynes said: “Congratulations to boys and staff for their efforts in achieving these results.”

Over the summer, boys from Tonbridge travelled to Sri Lanka to find young rugby players and mould them into teams to compete at a tournament held in the country’s national stadium.

The School was working with Child Action Lanka, a charity that transforms

the lives of disadvantaged children in the country.

Small groups of Tonbridgians were sent across Sri Lanka to coach players from different areas and then bring them back to Kandy.

But it wasn’t all about rugby. Members of the whole school community were in the country to assist with school

building, teaching, coaching, training courses and other volunteer work.

The trip took place under the School’s community outreach arm, Tonbridge Community Action (TCA).

Trip leader Jonathan Lewis said: “We calculated that each group provided at least 1,000 hours of happiness, fun and play for the children in our time there.”

@TonbridgeUK /TonbridgeUK

Boys who scored a “clean sweep” of A*’s.

NEWS FROM

Autumn 2015

Desi

gned

by J

ody T

aylo

r, To

nbrid

ge S

choo

l Rep

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The Big Sleepout

Boys made over £10,000 for charity by sleeping rough under pieces of cardboard.

They were raising money and awareness for Porchlight, a charity supporting vulnerable and homeless people in Kent and Croydon.

120 Novi (first years) took part and were joined by 40 Scouts from the 17th Tonbridge Air Scouts and the 1st Hextable Air Scouts.

Provided with nothing more than a roll-mat, sleeping-bag and cardboard to build individual shelters in the school ‘Quad’, the experience provided an insightful perspective into the life of a homeless person.

Staff organised a soup kitchen on the Saturday evening and Porchlight provided educational workshops with guest speaker ‘Simon’, who currently lives in Tonbridge, who described how the charity helped him move away from a life on the streets.

Tonbridge student Rory McDowell (HS) said: “At the beginning of our evening we split into groups of roughly three or four people. We then collected our cardboard with which we planned to build our makeshift shelters. The enormous amount of cardboard was donated kindly by the local furniture store ‘Furniture Village’.

“The collection of the most valuable pieces of cardboard ended in a frenzy involving around 80 boys all rummaging through heaps of cardboard searching for the pieces that would give them the edge over their neighbours’ design.

“In the morning we had freshly prepared bacon rolls as half the boys traded stories of

how restful - or not - their night was, while the other half propped up against walls and tiredly ate their food.

“We would like to say a massive thank you to everyone who helped or donated.”

Kate Boulding, Porchlight’s community fundraising officer, said that this year’s total surpassed all expectations. “We’re so grateful to Tonbridge School and the two Scout groups for raising such a fantastic amount of money – it really is an incredible achievement.”

Whole School Concert

All 791 boys in the School took part in a musical piece performed to a packed Chapel of St Augustine.

Every boy either had a singing or orchestral role in the music composed for Tonbridge by the well-known British composer Howard Goodall.

Psalm 122 ‘I Was Glad’ was written to commemorate the re-building of the School chapel in 1997 and had not been performed on the campus since 2010.

The work is scored for symphony orchestra, organ, chamber choir, choristers and a chorus for the whole school.

Boys joined their colleagues in the orchestra and choir to perform the piece and bring two consecutive evenings of performances to a memorable end.

The first part of the concert featured Tchaikovsky’s ever popular Nutcracker Suite.

Boys underwent extensive rehearsals to deliver an outstanding performance. Rehearsal pictures are captured on this page.

Child Action Lanka

Superb ResultsTonbridge celebrated another excellent set of A level results, with almost 42 per cent of all grades being an A*.

A record 26 boys scored a clean sweep of A*s for all of their subjects and 58 per cent of boys secured three As or better. The median average grades at A level for a Tonbridge student were AAAB.

37 boys holding offers for either Cambridge or Oxford Universities achieved their place, with more likely to apply post A level.

At GCSE, there was a 99.9 per cent A* to C pass rate, with 62 per cent of all grades being A*s, although re-marks could see this percentage rise further.

71 boys gained six A*s or better, with the rest of their grades all As. 44 boys achieved nine or more A*s and 16 boys claimed a clean sweep of A*s in all their exams.

The ‘average’ holding for a Tonbridge boy at GCSE is seven A*s and three As.

Tonbridge School Headmaster Tim Haynes said: “Congratulations to boys and staff for their efforts in achieving these results.”

Over the summer, boys from Tonbridge travelled to Sri Lanka to find young rugby players and mould them into teams to compete at a tournament held in the country’s national stadium.

The School was working with Child Action Lanka, a charity that transforms

the lives of disadvantaged children in the country.

Small groups of Tonbridgians were sent across Sri Lanka to coach players from different areas and then bring them back to Kandy.

But it wasn’t all about rugby. Members of the whole school community were in the country to assist with school

building, teaching, coaching, training courses and other volunteer work.

The trip took place under the School’s community outreach arm, Tonbridge Community Action (TCA).

Trip leader Jonathan Lewis said: “We calculated that each group provided at least 1,000 hours of happiness, fun and play for the children in our time there.”

@TonbridgeUK /TonbridgeUK

Boys who scored a “clean sweep” of A*’s.