More pupils in Royal Tunbridge Wells pass English and maths at grade 5 than in Kent’s towns or towns in England: 70%
That puts Royal Tunbridge Wells above both Kent’s towns (36%) and towns in England (45%). 19 state-funded schools are located in Royal Tunbridge Wells’s built-up area. Royal Tunbridge Wells grades A for schools, on Department for Education Key Stage 2 and GCSE results: #9 of 87 in Kent. Ofsted is shown, not graded.
Royal Tunbridge Wells’s secondary results beat 97% of English towns; its primary results beat 74%. 66% of the large town’s 11-year-olds meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% at the average school in England and 62% across Kent. The spread between primaries is wide: 79% at Claremont Primary School, 48% at Skinners' Temple Grove. Every school’s result ↓
Popular schools are full
10 of 18 mainstream schools have at least as many pupils as their official capacity, including Bennett Memorial Diocesan, St Gregory's, The Skinners', Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar and Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys among the secondaries. A full school gives places by its admissions rules, usually by distance after siblings. Getting a place ↓
Grammar schools in town
The Skinners' School, Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar School and Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys admit pupils by a test at 11. Their results count in Royal Tunbridge Wells’s School Grade, as they are state schools many local children attend. After 16 ↓
Written from the Department for Education and Ofsted data on this page.
School Grade
Royal Tunbridge Wells grades A for schools
Against every town in England with results; Wales publishes none.
Primary: reading, writing and maths at 11 (66% meet the standard)Better than 74% of towns in England
Secondary: Attainment 8 and grade 5+ English and maths (58.2 and 70%)Better than 97% of towns in England
The secondary figure lifts Royal Tunbridge Wells; the primary figure holds it back.
Each of Royal Tunbridge Wells’s 12 primaries: % meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (2023–25)
Each of Royal Tunbridge Wells’s 6 secondaries: Attainment 8 (2025/26)
England’s average schoolKent’s average school
The primary figure: 12 primaries in the town, 1,687 pupils in results over three years. The secondary figure: 6 secondaries in the town, 1,249 pupils in results. Mainstream state schools only (grammar schools included); special schools, alternative provision, nurseries and 16–19 colleges are listed below but not graded. Each school’s results are compared with every school in England, then weighted by its pupils.
Map
Where Royal Tunbridge Wells’s 19 state schools are
Each school at its address, coloured by its own letter and sized by pupils. Open a school for its own page. The dashed shape is Royal Tunbridge Wells’s built-up area.
PrimarySecondary (named)Special, nursery, 16–19Size: pupilsABCDNo letter
Most schools give places by distance once siblings are in, so the schools nearest a home matter more than any league table. The 6 secondaries are named.
Results and intake
Which schools do better than their intake suggests
Schools with more pupils on free school meals tend to get lower results. The dashed line is the typical school in England for each level of free school meals; the band holds the middle two-thirds. A dot above the band is doing better than schools like it.
Primaries: KS2 reading, writing and maths against free school meals
Secondaries: Attainment 8 against free school meals
The share of pupils on free school meals runs from 4% at Claremont Primary School to 53% at Skinners' Temple Grove. Against schools with the same intake, The Skinners' School does best: 73 with 5% on free school meals, where a typical school would reach 56. 6 of 11 primaries and 3 of 6 secondaries are above the line.
Free school meals: pupils eligible now, DfE January 2026 census. The typical-school line is a straight-line fit across every graded school in England. It describes; it doesn’t grade: the School Grade uses results alone.
Getting a place
How school places work in Royal Tunbridge Wells
Kent County Council handles applications for every state school in Royal Tunbridge Wells, academies included. You apply to the council where you live, even for a school in another area.
Secondary (starting at 11)Apply by 31 October of Year 6. Offers on 1 March.
Primary (starting in Reception)Apply by 15 January before the September your child starts. Offers on 16 April.
Moving mid-yearApply to the council for an in-year place; it tells you which schools have room.
When a school is full
Every school publishes its admissions rules. Children in care come first, then, at most schools, brothers and sisters of current pupils, then those who live nearest. 8 of Royal Tunbridge Wells’s 18 mainstream schools have a religious character; some of them give priority by church attendance, so check each school’s rules. Infant classes are limited to 30 by law. If you’re refused a place, you can appeal to an independent panel.
Pupils on roll as a share of the school’s official capacity. The black tick is 100%; 10 schools are at or over it.
Tunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys143%
Bennett Memorial Diocesan132%
The Skinners'122%
The Wells Free101%
St Gregory's101%
Skinners' Kent101%
St John's100%
St Augustine's100%
Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar100%
Claremont100%
Show all 17 schools
St James'100%
St Peter's99%
St Barnabas96%
Bishops Down incl. nursery92%
Skinners' Kent88%
Skinners' Temple Grove78%
Broadwater Down52%
DfE register of schools (GIAS), January 2026 census. Capacity often excludes a nursery class, so a school with a nursery can show over 100%.
The schools
19 state schools in Royal Tunbridge Wells
Each school’s own letter compares its results with every state school in England of the same phase: Key Stage 2 for primaries, GCSEs for secondaries. Open a school for its results, how its letter is worked out, Ofsted and a map.
Letters of Royal Tunbridge Wells’s schoolsA7B7C4D01 without a letter
Key result: Attainment 8 and grade 5+ English and maths (GCSEs, 2025/26 provisional) for secondaries; the share meeting the expected standard in reading, writing and maths (KS2, DfE’s three-year average) for primaries. Pupils: the January 2026 school census. No letter: an infant or first school (no KS2 tests), a new school, a small cohort DfE suppresses, or a special school, nursery or college. Independent schools aren’t included.
Ofsted
Ofsted report cards
Each school’s latest inspection; report cards replace one-word judgements as schools are re-inspected.
Outstanding 2Good 5Report card 4Inadequate 1Ungraded inspection only 7
Ofsted stopped giving one-word judgements in 2024. Until a school is re-inspected, its last overall judgement is its most recent single grade; a school judged years ago may have changed a lot since.
Since November 2025 Ofsted gives each area of a school one of five grades (exceptional, strong standard, expected standard, needs attention, urgent improvement) and says whether safeguarding is met, instead of one overall word. 4 of Royal Tunbridge Wells’s 19 state schools have a report card so far; the others show their last inspection under the old framework. Ofsted is never part of the School Grade.
Academies are state schools run by a trust rather than the council: the trust employs the staff and can set its own curriculum and term dates. Admissions still go through the council.
Tenax Schools TrustBennett Memorial Diocesan, St Mark's
2
1,913
A−B−
Kent Catholic Schools' PartnershipSt Gregory's, St Augustine's
2
1,334
B−C
Wells Free SchoolThe Wells Free
1
213
B
Olive AcademiesOA Tunbridge Wells
1
0
—
Kent County CouncilTunbridge Wells Grammar School for Boys, Tunbridge Wells Girls' Grammar, St John's, St James', Claremont, St Peter's, St Barnabas, Bishops Down, Broadwater Down
9
5,408
A+A+B−A−AA−B−B−C+
After 16
Where Royal Tunbridge Wells’s teenagers go at 16
In England young people stay in education or training until 18: a sixth form, a college, or an apprenticeship.
Every state secondary in Royal Tunbridge Wells has its own sixth form.
Secondaries with a sixth form
6 of 6
state schools in Royal Tunbridge Wells
Colleges within 12 miles
0
further-education and sixth-form colleges
Grammar schools in Kent
32
selective state secondaries
Special needs
Special schools and alternative provision in Royal Tunbridge Wells
Royal Tunbridge Wells has 1 alternative provision school, for pupils who can’t attend mainstream school for a time. A special-school place isn’t applied for like a mainstream one: for a child with an education, health and care plan (EHCP), Kent County Council names the school in the plan, after asking the family’s preference. These schools have no letter, because their results don’t compare with mainstream schools’. Their cards ↑
Kent County Council’s SEND Local Offer lists support beyond these schools.
Towns its size
13th of 123 English towns and cities of 36,000 to 69,000
Ranked by School Grade, best first: the towns and cities either side of Royal Tunbridge Wells, and the top and bottom of the group.
Leigh 1 school · uses schools within 3 km · 4.7 mi
A+
74%
67.2
Five Oak Green 0 schools · uses schools within 3 km · 4.9 mi
B−
67%
41.9
Rusthall and Langton Green has the best-graded schools nearby (A+). Small places often use the schools within 3 km, so neighbours can share schools.
How to read these numbers
What this data can and can’t tell you
•
Expected standard at Key Stage 2. The share of 11-year-olds who reach the expected standard in reading, writing and maths together, in tests and teacher assessment at the end of primary school. We use DfE’s three-year average (2023–2025) to steady small schools.
•
Higher standard. The share working at greater depth in all three. In Royal Tunbridge Wells: 13% (England’s average school: 8%).
•
Attainment 8. A pupil’s GCSE grades across eight subjects, with English and maths counted twice, added up. 50 is roughly a grade 5 in every subject.
•
Grade 5+ in English and maths. A strong pass in both. Grade 4 is a standard pass.
•
Provisional. 2025/26 GCSE figures are DfE’s first release; revised figures follow in February, usually within a point.
•
Progress 8. Not shown: there is none for 2025/26, because these pupils sat no KS2 tests in 2020 (Covid).
•
Free school meals. Pupils eligible for free school meals now, from the January census: the usual measure of how many pupils come from low-income homes.
•
Independent schools. Not included: they publish no results comparable with state schools’.
Questions about schools in Royal Tunbridge Wells
Are schools in Royal Tunbridge Wells good?
Royal Tunbridge Wells’s state schools earn an A against schools across England: primary results beat 74% of towns in England; secondary results beat 97% of towns in England, on Department for Education Key Stage 2 and GCSE results. School places are handled by Kent council.
What is the best secondary school in Royal Tunbridge Wells?
On 2025/26 GCSE results, The Skinners' School: Attainment 8 of 72.7 and 97% with grade 5+ in English and maths, against 47.3 at the average school in England. Results are one measure; distance decides most places.
What is the best primary school in Royal Tunbridge Wells?
On Key Stage 2 results over 2023–25, Claremont Primary School: 79% of pupils meet the expected standard in reading, writing and maths, against 62% at the average school in England.
Do Royal Tunbridge Wells secondary schools have sixth forms?
Yes, all 6 do.
How do I apply for a school place in Royal Tunbridge Wells?
Through Kent County Council, for every state school including academies. Secondary applications close on 31 October (offers 1 March); primary on 15 January (offers 16 April).
How many schools in Royal Tunbridge Wells are full?
10 of 17 mainstream schools have at least as many pupils as places, on DfE’s January 2026 census. A full school still admits by its rules, usually distance after siblings.
How many state schools are in Royal Tunbridge Wells?
19 open state-funded schools are located in Royal Tunbridge Wells’s built-up area: 12 primary, 6 secondary and 1 other (special schools, alternative provision, nurseries and 16–19). Independent schools aren’t included.
Sources: DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), Key Stage 2 performance tables (2023–2025, three-year average) and Key Stage 4 (2025/26, provisional); Ofsted state-funded school inspections as at 30 September 2026 · DfE Get Information about Schools (16 October 2026), further-education and sixth-form colleges · TownRatings grades: our own summary of the data, ranked against UK towns only. All under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
