Weald of Kent Grammar School (Kent Test)

Weald of Kent puts something many schools only imply into plain words. As it tells parents, "we want our students to be happy and successful and understand that it must come in that order." It is a girls' grammar in Tonbridge, with a second site at Sevenoaks that opened in 2017, academically selective from age 11, with boys joining a mixed sixth form. The school describes itself as a happy and purposeful community with a reputation for high academic standards, built around three values, curiosity, courage and compassion.

That order of priorities runs through daily life. A house system gives girls a sense of belonging across the two sites, and reading for pleasure is encouraged from the start. Inspectors picked out a scholarship culture where pupils are pushed to think deeply rather than just collect marks, and described behaviour as calm and settled, with pupils valuing the caring ethos. The wider offer is broad: rowing, equestrian, cricket and triathlon on the sporting side, alongside orchestra, drama and debating, plus clubs that range from trampolining to robotics and cooking. With two sites to call home, there is room for a girl to find her people and her thing. It is a busy school, but a settled one.

Weald of Kent suits an academically able, curious girl who will be stretched but also looked after, and whose parents are happy for results to come second to her being happy first. It is led by headteacher Richard Booth, who took up post in 2023, in a school that means what it says about the order things should come in.