Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, Tunbridge Wells

Ofsted's report card from its 17 March 2026 inspection grades Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys on 7 areas: 4 strong standard and 3 expected standard. Report cards replaced single-word judgements in November 2025, on a five-point scale from exceptional to urgent improvement.

Achievement - Strong standard. "Pupils achieve consistently well across all areas of the curriculum."

Attendance and behaviour - Strong standard. "Leaders' work to ensure regular attendance is resoundingly successful."

Personal development and wellbeing - Strong standard. "Leaders ensure there is a highly effective approach to supporting pupils' development and readiness for the future."

Post 16 provision - Strong standard. "The sixth form offers a very wide range of A-level subjects."

Curriculum and teaching - Expected standard. "Leaders have developed an ambitious curriculum which is well planned, logically sequenced and builds pupils' knowledge securely over time."

Inclusion - Expected standard. "Leaders see to it that pupils who face barriers to their learning and/or wellbeing, those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), disadvantaged pupils and any known to children's social care, have their needs identified accurately."

Leadership and governance - Expected standard. "Leaders and governors know their school well."

Safeguarding standards were met.

Ofsted's next steps for the school: "Leaders should strengthen further the support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities by ensuring teachers have a detailed understanding of pupils' needs and the strategies to use to remove barriers, that they apply consistently and review regularly"; "Leaders should ensure the best practice in how teachers check pupils' understanding of new learning and tackle any misconceptions is consistent across the school".

From the headteacher's welcome: "At Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys all round excellence underpins our focus on developing the individual to be well rounded and possessing the skills to make a full and positive contribution to modern society."

Clubs and activities named on the school's website include football, rugby, tennis, badminton, dance, drama, choir, orchestra, Lego and STEM.

In 2026, pupils at Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys averaged an Attainment 8 score of 64.5, the average grade across their best eight GCSEs. The average state school scored 48.1 in Kent and 47 across England.

88% passed English and maths at grade 5 or above, against 49% in Kent and 47% in England.

That is in line with 2025, when the score was 63.7.

Its most recent Progress 8 score, for 2024, was 0.46: pupils made above average progress compared with pupils nationally who started secondary school at the same level. Progress 8 was not published for 2026.

Disadvantaged pupils averaged an Attainment 8 of 63.2, against 64.6 for other pupils at the school - a gap of 1.4 points.

Pupils sat GCSEs in 22 subjects; after English and maths, the most popular were Biology, Physics and Chemistry.

Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys is a grammar school: places go to children who reach the required standard in its entrance test, and only then are the oversubscription criteria applied.

For September 2026 entry, 297 families put Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys as their first choice and 1179 named it as one of their preferences, for 300 places offered. It had fewer first-choice applications than places. 158 families who put it first were not offered a place there.

Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys admits pupils through an entrance test - in Kent, the Kent Test. Children have to be registered for it in advance, normally in the spring or summer of Year 5; the test itself is usually sat in September of Year 6, and results come out in October, before the 31 October deadline for naming secondary schools.

Passing the test makes a child eligible rather than guaranteeing a place: when more children pass than there are places, Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys ranks them by the criteria in its admissions policy, which can include test score and distance. Check Kent's admissions pages and the school's own policy for this year's registration deadline - a child who is not registered in time cannot sit the test.

Kent has 32 state grammar schools in all, so a child who passes may have several selective schools to choose between.

The nearest other state secondary schools to Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys are St Gregory's Catholic School (under 0.1 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 44.8); Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School (0.4 miles, Outstanding, selective, Attainment 8 72.5); The Skinners' School (0.6 miles, Good, selective, Attainment 8 72.7); and Bennett Memorial Diocesan School (0.8 miles, Outstanding, Attainment 8 53.4).

Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys's 2026 results were higher than 2 of these 4 schools.

356 parents answered Ofsted's Parent View survey about Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys (as of April 2026): 78% would recommend the school, 83% say their child is happy there and 65% of those with a view say bullying is dealt with well.

The strongest agreement was that their child feels safe (88%); the weakest, that the school deals with bullying well (among parents with a view) (65%).

Of the 235 pupils who finished Year 11 in 2023/24, 96% stayed in education or training for at least two terms, including 4% to a further education college, 0% to an apprenticeship and 1% into work.

Of the 175 students who left the sixth form in 2023/24, 67% went on to university or other higher education, 2% to apprenticeships and 21% into work. 40% went to one of the most selective third of universities.

5.5% of pupils are eligible for free school meals, well below the average state school (25%), according to the 2026 school census.

In 2026, 62 pupils (3.3%) received SEN support and 4 (0.2%) had an education, health and care plan, against 16.2% and 4.6% at the average state school. The most common need among them is social, emotional and mental health needs.

The nearest railway station is High Brooms Rail Station, about 1150 metres away (roughly a 14-minute walk).

7 bus stops are within a five-minute walk; the closest is Tunbridge Wells Boys' Grammar School (in), 60 metres away.

Measured by the 2025 English Indices of Deprivation, the neighbourhood Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys stands in is among the 10% least deprived neighbourhoods in England. This describes where the school is, not where its pupils live.

In August 2026, police recorded 152 crimes within a mile of the school, most often violence and sexual offences, anti-social behaviour and criminal damage and arson. That is well above the typical figure around schools in Kent (101), as is usual near a town centre.

In 2024/25, Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys issued 53 suspensions, 2.9 for every 100 pupils (the average state school: 6.3), and no permanent exclusions.

The primary schools closest to Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys are St Augustine's Catholic Primary School (0.2 miles), St John's Church of England Primary School (0.3 miles), St Matthew's High Brooms Church of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School (0.5 miles) and Southborough CofE Primary School (0.5 miles). Admission does not depend on which primary a child attends unless the school's policy names feeder schools.