Hilden Grange School, Tonbridge

Want the convenience of a town-based school, but without compromising on the sports and facilities? Introducing Hilden Grange Prep School…

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WHAT? WHERE?

Hilden Grange is a friendly, co-educational prep school, on the northern fringe of Tonbridge, with 298 children aged between 2 – 13 years old currently on roll.

A strong contender of a school, sitting conveniently in Tonbridge, not far from the station – and close to one of the UK’s leading senior schools, Tonbridge School. There’s a modern, industrious and diverse (so refreshing for suburban Kent) feel about this prep.

FACILITIES

Firstly, it’s a real Dr Who‘s Tardis of a school – appearing to be a smart urban period house (admittedly a rather large one) when you see it from the road at the front. But step through the original building and look out the back and what opens up is a surprisingly spacious panoramic view of the large acreage of grounds and new buildings bustling with busy school life.

It’s a school in the Inspired Education Group (a portfolio of 16 top swanky schools, nurseries and colleges in the U.K. and currently another 100 or so other schools spread across six continents), which in real terms basically means the school benefits from good funding and backing with development schemes.

An extensive development project transformed the school and created new spacious modern buildings that consist of play areas, new teaching spaces for Nursery and Reception and Years 1-5 and new facilities including Science Labs, an Art and Design area, a Library and a Dining Hall. The existing school hall became a largely dedicated sports facility.

The school uniquely provides subject specialist teaching in all subject, academic and non-academic, from Year 3 onwards, and the children from Year 3 to 8 move around the main house and new buildings from lesson to lesson.

Being a town based school, there is no onsite parking for parents at Hilden Grange School but they provide parents with a number of alternatives to parking on the roads around Dry Hill Park Road, including a drop-off facility, park and stride from Tonbridge School and a minibus service.

SPORTS

Despite the town setting there’s plenty of outside space and sports fields (some 22 acres) and lots of opportunities for sporty kids. In fact, the school has built up an excellent reputation for sporting success – including a large number of tournament highlights and unbeaten seasons for both boys and girls. 

One stand out fact is that Hilden Grange have had more boys qualify for the National Athletics Finals in each of the last five Kent Championships than any other school in the county whilst fifteen girls have won sports awards to their chosen secondary schools since 2015.

Although standards are high, the ethos is very much on participation and enjoyment of sport, with all children given the opportunity to represent their school in a very full fixtures list. All successes are celebrated equally, with plaques celebrating unbeaten seasons for the D teams sharing pride of place alongside the A teams.

ART & DT

With specialist Art teachers, and a smart Design and Technology area to complement the existing Art room, are strong subjects for the school.

MUSIC

Music is particularly popular here – with two thirds of all pupils learning an instrument. Many take part in groups including Strings, String & Piano trio, Big Band and recorder consort. The ensemble groups start in the Pre-Prep with Ocarinas and Boomwackers which team them the fundamentals of reading music and playing in a group. In the last three years Hilden Grange has won ten music awards to Tonbridge School.

Hilden Grange School Music

It’s as much part of the boy’s culture as girls in this school, which is always refreshing to see; one of the choirs is 70-strong (I said music was popular) and many are boys.

DRAMA

As for Drama – there’s a big production that takes place every year in Tonbridge School’s E.M. Forster Theatre, in which children get involved from Y4 upwards both as members of the cast and the backstage crew.

Hilden Grange School drama

Outside of school hours, children enjoy a decent range of After School Clubs, from ballet to gardening, chess to fencing.

LITTILIES

Little ones are very well catered for at this school. Sheena Sowerby is Head of Pre-Prep and Early Years and Tracy White is Nursery Leader. And what an impressive Nursery it is. Heard of Hygge? It’s the buzz word for warmth and a sense of community – and it’s being very successfully incorporated into classrooms by the more progressive thinking schools, like Hilden Grange.

Hilden Grange Nursery girls

At the start of 2023 the Nursery was completely redesigned. It has been expanded and transformed into a beautiful, spacious area for the youngest children to learn and explore and facilitates the a creative curriculum.

Different areas invite the children to use their imaginations through role play, to explore shapes, numbers and sounds, to create and construct and to explore the world around them. So far so good – lots of Nurseries have this – but the difference is at Hilden Grange everything is authentic.

Here, the EYFS has a totally Scandi feel – lots of wood and natural material – no plastic in sight. The little tea sets are real china, the imaginative play areas contain a record player, a typewriter and a telephone (how antique!) Each pupil even has a pair of slippers at school that they wear in the classroom – and putting them on (as they come in from running around outside) immediately instils a sense of calm in the child.

Hilden Grange School Nursery

It is a comforting space and although the children are very active and busy it has a real feeling of calmness as they are so absorbed in their play.

In one end of the room sits a large sofa / white board area which can only be described as a mini Media Centre. Children can learn using the large smartboard that is perfect height.

Not surprisingly the popular Nursery was over-subscribed, but the new developments will open up spaces for prospective parents. Little ones foster just the kind of confidence and love of learning that leads to academic success higher up the school.

It’s an impressive space and concept – and Nursery Leader Tracy White is absolutely passionate about her vision and has personally planned every detail.

OUTDOOR LEARNING & FOREST SCHOOL

While the inside of the Nursery is a cosy, home-from-home here, outside learning is warmly encouraged too. Risk-taking, trying new things and building independence is all done within this secure environment.

Complementing the approach taken with the indoor Nursery, the Early Years Foundation Stage Outdoor Learning Area (pictured above and below) is also expertly designed.

It sits right at the heart of the school and the ethos is very much that outdoor learning is a vital, integral part of the curriculum for the Early Years.

I witnessed a group building with blocks, another telling stories in the Hobbit House, some were whizzing round the little lanes (under green archways) on scooters, others were playing with the incredible water feature (complete with an interactive waterwall…) One little boy was mixing ‘potions’ in the outdoor kitchen/laboratory. It’s a bit of a magical kingdom.

Since my last visit, there’s a newly developed Forest School, pictured above, used every week, complete with specialist teacher and easily accessible, sitting just at the bottom of the playground area.

ACADEMIC RESULTS

I don’t get the impression that Hilden Grange is a pushy school – it’s more about getting pupils to fulfil their full potential. But children are very focused and the school does maintain high expectations academically – and sees results.

Hilden Grange learning

On the one hand learning support is strong and all abilities are welcome here, at the same time. The last three years have seen 100%, 92% and 100% of those who have taken the Kent Test (the majority of the year groups) selected for Grammar schools.

Pupils have gained 100 scholarships in the past 5 years and 2023 was a highly successful year, with 20 awards won across the board, in Academics, Music, Drama, and Sport to schools including the top five academic awards to Tonbridge and seven in total, with other scholarships given to Sevenoaks, Caterham, Kent College and Walthamstow Hall.

Hilden Grange School boys learning

While other schools are moving away from this model to a new programme of study, Hilden Grange is proud to stick to the trusted structures of the past with the curriculum delivered nonetheless in a forward-thinking way, making good use of technology.

The argument for retaining this traditional model is maintaining intellectual rigor and preparing students for subsequent examinations. Which basically means pupils will have to develop these techniques for GCSE, so why not start now?

Hilden Grange girls

And the school is certainly retaining healthy numbers into Year 7 & Year 8, which is no mean feat when you consider all the grammars and independent secondaries on the doorstep.

Although with its location and strong links to all-boys Tonbridge School – while many local girls schools start at Year 7 – it’s boys that tend to stay and girl numbers do tend to drop off after Year 6.

PASTORAL CARE

It’s carefully thought through with the policy very much being – as every parent knows – only happy children will learn and thrive. Head of Pastoral Care is Natalie Brown and she encourages open communication between parents, staff and pupils.

They also have a group of older pupils that meet weekly in the Nurture Hub (a dedicated room where children can come to chat in a relaxed space – we even host Nurture Clubs – involving games and a biscuit!) These older pupils have now been trained to be Mental Health Champions.

THE HEAD

Personable and easy to talk to – with over 34 years in education under his belt (30 of which have been as a senior leader and nine as a head), and several years spent at other well-known Kent preps, like Somerhill School and Sutton Valence Prep – Malcolm Gough is an experienced, capable leader.

The wellbeing of his flock is very important to Gough – but also he expects a lot of them. The word academic is mentioned unashamedly. And why shouldn’t it be? The school does well on that front, and has proven it’s possible to be focused on the learning while keeping happiness levels high too.

As someone that has been inspecting schools for over 20 years Mr Gough is open to the idea that there is always something new you can learn from others – that you can use to fine tune your own school – a good open-minded approach.

USP & QUIRKS

One stand out feature that makes this school special is that, as mentioned above, from Year 3 every subject is taught by specialist teachers, meaning that from as young as 7 the pupils need to move around the school from lesson to lesson.

Hilden Grange moving lessons

I’m trying to imagine how my kids would have managed this at that age (think organisational and navigational skills of a gnat) but I’m reassured this is a concept which pupils are gradually introduced to in Year 2 – so the kids are fully supported during this process. Before long all pupils display the levels of personal management and responsibility most parents dream of.

Hilden Grange School children

This, says Mr Gough, keeps children interested and engaged and means you fill your school with teachers who are truly strong in each specialist area and are passionate about that subject. Also Every child from Year 3 has an iPad or Surface Go here as standard.

FEES

On the more reasonable side of average for a prep school in this area, I’d say. 

Prep School (Year 5 – 8) – £5,925 per term
Prep School (Years 3 – 4) – £5,325 per term
Pre-Prep (Years 1-2) – £4,320 per term
Reception – £3,745 per term
Nursery – £1,295 per term (minimum five sessions per week)

Sibling discounts on third and subsequent children (whilst all children are in attendance): 10% off the tuition fees from Reception.

WORD ON THE GROUND

This school has a pretty impressive track record for academics but parents are quick to point out it is not pushy. Pastorally excellent is the feedback from families, who delight in their happy, thriving kids. Most seem to cope just fine with the lack of car park and say the Drop Off Facility works.

Big support for the specialist teachers across every subject, from Year 3. A particularly loved feature is the way the school celebrates the successes of all sports teams equally – with one parent describing how their son’s cricket team (the Under 8 ‘C’ Team) was awarded a plaque on the wall of the hall for an unbeaten season. As a not particularly sporty child, he was absolutely thrilled! ‘Nurturing’ and ‘each child’s needs being met’ are common phrases.

THE MUDDY VERDICT

Good for: Anyone that wants the convenience of a town-based school, but without compromising on the sports and facilities. A good choice if you’ve got little ones that love to learn outdoors – it’s not wild bush craft exactly but it is a great structured external play area. Hilden Grange brings the tradition of prep school into the modern era and would suit any child that’s prepared to have a go and a parent that wants a down-to-earth, family-focused education for their child.

Not for: Anyone who wants old school tradition and ceremony – this school has more than a 90-year history of its own but is definitely about looking to the future. And not for anyone who wants acres of rolling hills as far as the eye can see, while the school has done well to obtain as much outdoor space and sports facilities as it does, it is not a rural setting.

See for yourself: Attend their upcoming Open Day on Fri 21 June, 9am – 12pm.

Hilden Grange Preparatory School, 62 Dry Hill Park Road, Tonbridge TN10 3BX, Tel: 01732 351169, hildengrange.co.uk

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