Drama Teacher KS2/3

Ours is a very special school with a unique structure in this part of the world. We have a coeducational pre-prep of 200 boys and girls aged three to seven. At the end of Year Two, in the same way as for ‘diamond model’ schools, our girls join Derwent Lodge, (136 girls from Year Three to Six) and the boys join Yardley Court (250 boys from Year Three to Eight). Our pupils are, therefore, taught in single sex classes from the age of seven but very much in a coeducational setting. More details can be found on our website: www.somerhill.org.

The school is based in a stunning Jacobean mansion, set in 150 acres of beautiful parkland. You will be hard-pressed to find a more glorious setting for a school! Somerhill is an estate just to the south of Tonbridge and is readily accessed by a slip road off the A21. We have excellent facilities including a multi-purpose sports hall, astroturf, new dining hall, indoor swimming pool complex and music centre built in 2014.

Ours is a mixed ability school. We have very bright and capable pupils and are one of the largest 11+ grammar school feeders in Kent. We also have a strong record of obtaining scholarships to top independent secondary schools, such as Tonbridge and Sevenoaks, at 11/13+. We also have boys and girls who find aspects of their learning more challenging and currently approximately 60+ pupils receive some measure of additional support.

When girls leave Derwent Lodge, many of them go to the Kent grammar schools and others go on to Sevenoaks School, Kent College, Walthamstow Hall, Mayfield, and other independent and state schools. Of the boys who leave Yardley Court at 11+ many go to the local grammar schools. For boys leaving at 13+, Tonbridge School is the most popular destination. Others join Sevenoaks School, Bede’s, Eastbourne, Caterham, and Sutton Valence.

Whilst Somerhill has some 600 pupils, the division into three separate sections means that each section can tailor its teaching to best suit the children within it. Parents feel that they have the best of both worlds with small care and linked pupil/teacher ratios but with larger school facilities and social opportunities. They are very supportive of the idea behind a coeducational pre-prep leading to single sex prep sections, but within a mixed gender environment.