Tonbridge School and the Skinners’ Company Involvement

Tonbridge School has been hugely involved in the development of the pilot programme in Kent, and has provided an incredible amount of support, advice and resource to help get the programme off the ground and which represents a significant contribution in kind to the programme. The Headmaster, Tim Haynes, has been a key supporter of the programme.

Tonbridge has hosted 4 of the 5 residential weeks that have been held so far, and has also hosted a number of meetings for both staff, students and mentors. Skinners’ Hall has also been used a venue for some of these meetings. All of these facilities (accommodation, board, rooms, etc) have been offered either for free or for significantly reduced rates and have helped us to keep our costs low.

In addition, Tonbridge has given an enormous amount of staff time to the programme, releasing key members of school staff whenever necessary to organise the programme and to develop the organisational infrastructure needed to get the programme off the ground. This includes the significant time given by the Headmaster’s secretary to the programme, and the time of the Headmaster’s Deputy Head. Tonbridge School also took on the accounts of the scheme, the payroll and the safer recruitment processes required to ensure that all those who work on the pilot have been through the correct safeguarding checks. All of this has been done pro bono.

Tonbridge School remains a key supporter of the programme and many of the teaching staff at the school have offered their time on the residential weeks for free.