Skinners V Judd

[Moby]

Hello,

I’m hoping you can help me decide between Skinners and Judd.

We live close to Skinners but got a much higher score than expected (over 400) so we are considering Judd. Although I’m slightly feeling like we are falling into the common “higher score required for Judd therefore it’s better” mindset... For us it would be a 5 min walk for Skinners (and isn’t that why they changed the criteria? To get the local boys?!) or a 30 minute bus ride to Judd.

Any insights would be helpful. He’s a bright boy who enjoys sports.

Is it a no-brainier to go to the local school?? Or is Just better? Academically better?

Thanks!

[Sorrel]

I'd go for Skinners if it was me. My older son is there and loves it, and my younger son will hopefully join him next year, unless he qualifies for St Olave's which is walking distance for us.

Skinners is a great school both academically and for sports, and it would be an hour a day sitting in Tunbridge Wells traffic versus ten minutes walking.

[Gcse69]

Personally, I would go with the school your son prefers as at the end of the day, it should be his decision. The bonus is it's hardly far to either (traffic in the mornings is much worse going into T Wells than towards Judd in Tonbridge).
My son is in Year 8 at Judd and loving it. We feel like he has been given a golden ticket going there, but I know many boys who equally happy at Skinners.

[mum24]

That’s a very common story this year Moby!

High scoring TW boys are considering Judd for the first time, although the majority I know of have then decided on Skinners’.

[PanicMode]

I'd vote for Skinners' - we are v close too, and also had the choice of both when my boys were deciding, but not having to get a bus means they do loads of stuff outside of school (Scouts/sports etc) because they have done their homework before others have even got home - and it's a really fabulous school, academically and pastorally. My daughter has an equally short commute to TWGGS (even though she could have gone to TGS) and it means after matches or CCF trips or other stuff she does, she only has a 5 minute walk without worrying about buses or being picked up. And, most of their friends are within walking distance too, which is invaluable now they are teens and I don't have to ferry them all over the county because their friends are commuting large distances.

[KentDad001]

For context I have a son in Y7 at Skinners' who didn't score high enough for Judd's very high cut-off last year. I think the usual recommendation to choose the school that you prefer is still the right one. The selection criteria for a school don't necessarily mean that student will get a better set of teachers or a better educational experience.

If you look at the scores from 2018, Skinners' ended up taking boys who scored in around the top 40% (360+ score) of in-county assessed suitable for grammar. Judd took those in the around top 20% (~375+). Keep in mind that the pass rate is normalised to mean around the top 25% of students in Kents are assessed as suitable for grammar. Therefore Skinners' took from the top 10% of students, and Judd from the top 5%. This is NOT to say that Skinners' has the top 6-10% and Judd has the top 5%. You may also consider the small portion of OOC students at Judd, who scored in the top 1-2%.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that once those slight differences in abilities make their way up to GCSEs and A-levels that a slight gap in scores may open too. However, that doesn't mean your son who scored in the top few percent will do any better in his exams at Judd than Skinners'.

If you prefer Judd, go for it, but I also think there's a lot to be said about ease of travel to/from school. The long commute from Sevenoaks is the one thing my son doesn't like about going to secondary school.

[Herewego1]

I also have this quandary.
My son has I think scored high enough for Judd. I don’t think the journey from TW to Tonbridge is too bad. I imagine from an academic point of view they are probably similar but this surely will change with the new Skinners admission policy and Judd will be able to stretch the whole class further? (I may be wrong!)

I think I am mostly sold on the huge amount of space and sports facilities that Judd has. They both look like amazing schools.

Hoping that there will be lots of TW boys at Judd for local friends too.

Not a very structured post! A bit of a braindump!

[Moby]

Thank you all! My son prefers Skinners but openly admits that is due to location. Although that in itself isn’t a bad thing...!

I don’t know...! I appreciate any further feedback. I like the idea of a local school. And so does my son.

Best of luck everyone

[Sevenoaks mum]

I have a son at Skinners who loves it there. We live in Sevenoaks, so he has a 40 minute door to door journey visa bus. This means he doesn't join after school clubs unless he is really keen on them as it becomes a pain to get home. Whereas my daughter goes to the Sevenoaks Annex at Weald and joins every club possible just to give them a go. Picking her up after clubs takes me 5 minutes and makes such a difference. All her friends are local too which makes it great for her social life. I'd definitely choose local every day.

We also had to choose between Judd and Skinners and our primary school teacher told me to let my son choose. He quite rightly pointed out that he was choosing between two excellent schools and that he would thrive at either one of them.

[Magnet]

For context I have a son in Y7 at Skinners' who didn't score high enough for Judd's very high cut-off last year. I think the usual recommendation to choose the school that you prefer is still the right one. The selection criteria for a school don't necessarily mean that student will get a better set of teachers or a better educational experience.

If you look at the scores from 2018, Skinners' ended up taking boys who scored in around the top 40% (360+ score) of in-county assessed suitable for grammar. Judd took those in the around top 20% (~375+). Keep in mind that the pass rate is normalised to mean around the top 25% of students in Kents are assessed as suitable for grammar. Therefore Skinners' took from the top 10% of students, and Judd from the top 5%. This is NOT to say that Skinners' has the top 6-10% and Judd has the top 5%. You may also consider the small portion of OOC students at Judd, who scored in the top 1-2%.

I don't think it's unreasonable to expect that once those slight differences in abilities make their way up to GCSEs and A-levels that a slight gap in scores may open too. However, that doesn't mean your son who scored in the top few percent will do any better in his exams at Judd than Skinners'.

If you prefer Judd, go for it, but I also think there's a lot to be said about ease of travel to/from school. The long commute from Sevenoaks is the one thing my son doesn't like about going to secondary school.

Yes Judd needed 373 against 360 for Skinners' in 2018 but that has nothing to do with the Gcse and A level results for that year . If you go back a couple of years or more Judd and Skinners' 11+ entry score were roughly the same for quite some years , whereas Judd's GCSE and A level results are significantly better than Skinners' every single year. (Minimum score doesn't indicate average score but then we dont have access to this information , Judd publish it but Skinner's don't) .