Admissions Arrangements 2026 Consultation Documents
Consultation on changes to The Skinners’ School’s admissions arrangements
Skinners’ School is consulting over proposed changes to admissions arrangements for 2026.
The Governors are seeking to make a change to its Admissions Policy for 2026, namely to allow girls to apply for admission the Sixth Form from September 2026.
The Governors also wish to adjust their offer of priority places for children in receipt of the Pupil Premium and to adjust the offer of West Kent area Governors’ places :
- To ensure that the Pupil Premium priority can be included in our Sixth Form Admission Criteria.
- For admission to Year 7, to remove the Pupil Premium priority in the Outer Area, transferring those places to the West Kent Area.
- To increase the number of Governors’ places in the West Kent area to 16 (currently 14)
The consultation will last until 4pm on 20th December 2024. If you wish to comment on the proposed change that can be done by responding via the online form (link below).
You can also respond by letter addressed to the Admissions Secretary at Skinners’ School, St John’s Road, Tunbridge Wells, Kent TN4 9PG.
Rationale behind the consultation
Why admit girls to the Sixth Form?
We submit that the admission of girls will provide a richer sixth form experience for everyone involved and will respond to a perceived demand. Furthermore, by admitting girls to fill only up to a quarter of the total of sixth form places, we will retain the integrity of a boys’ school. Limited Sixth Form expansion will also allow us to retain almost all of the boys in Year 11 who want to transfer to our Sixth Form, as is currently the case.
Why change the Pupil Premium priority?
In Year 12 introducing a Pupil Premium priority would bring our admissions criteria at Sixth Form level in line with our criteria at Year 7.
In Year 7, by putting our entire 10% Pupil Premium priority into the West Kent Area, we can avoid a trend that is developing for pupils in receipt of the Pupil Premium travelling what we regard as unrealistic distances to come to school.
Why change the Governors’ places allowance?
Our furthest distance offered in the West Kent area reduced from 10.5 miles in 2023 to 8.5 miles in 2024 due to the number of applications received. We want to ensure that high scoring applicants who live beyond the furthest distance we are able to offer, have an opportunity to gain a place. It is also logical to match our Governors’ places offer to the offer made to Pupil Premium children (10%)
2026 Proposed Admissions Arrangements
Edward Wesson
Headmaster
