The Judd School

Founded by the Worshipful Company of Skinners, it was named after 16th century merchant Sir Andrew Judde, whose endowment helped fund the school.

[12] The funds were provided by a loan of £13,000 repaid over the next 20 years with income from the Judd Foundation (of which The Skinners' Company were trustees), which rapidly increased when the leases on the Sandhills Estate in London were renewed in 1906.

As a consequence, it became necessary to introduce a composite governing board (including public representatives) and to offer free places, equal to 25 per cent of the normal number of admissions.

[24] Evans retired in 1928 and was replaced by Welshman Cecil Lloyd Morgan who beat 164 other applicants to a job which carried an annual salary of £650.

[27] Morgan continued as many of the Judd customs as long as he could, including the tradition of donating £20 per year to send a Barnardo boy to Australia or Canada.

[32] In a bombing raid that same year a rocket shell exploded in a neighbouring field, destroying more than 200 panes of glass and numerous doors and windows.

[35][36] Francis Hillier Taylor, previously senior history master at The Skinners' School, was appointed as Morgan's successor at the end of the spring term in 1946, a position that attracted 321 applications.

[46] The Judd School foundation document, which was approved by Queen Victoria on 15 October 1889,[49] stipulated that the Board of Governors had right of appointment and dismissal of the headmaster, who has the same powers over the rest of the staff.

The Kent Education Committee funded free dinners for some pupils, travel and maintenance grants and created a common entrance exam.

Shirts must be worn with a tie, which varies according to the house in which the student is placed; green for Rendall, light blue for Starling, purple for Taylor, red for Bryant, yellow for Morgan, and orange for Evans.

[47] The sixth form has its own Common Room in the main school building, including a dedicated cafeteria and study area.

[12][61] According to the foundation document, the conditions of entry were possession of a "good character" and "sufficient health";[61] sons of freemen of The Skinners' Company were given preference when the number of applicants exceeded the places available.

[71] During his tenure, William Bryant attempted to extend admission to boarders and estimated the costs to be £50 per term (including fees), but the Board of Governors rejected the idea.

[72] However, when a lack of public transport made day-to-day travel to the school impractical, boys were permitted to lodge from neighbouring villages and would stay at masters' homes or at hostels approved by the governors.

However, the foundation document stipulated that every boy had to be able to read, write from dictation and perform sums in the "first four simple rules of Arithmetic, with the multiplication table".

The first prospectus promised "religious instruction in accordance with the principles of the Christian Faith" and the following subjects: reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, history, English (grammar, composition, and literature), Latin, at least one other foreign European language, mathematics, bookkeeping, natural science, drawing, drill, and vocal music.

[77] At the turn of the 20th century, 15 subjects were taught and lessons lasted one hour; school began at nine, and the day included 15 minutes of hymns, prayers and roll calls.

[21] The governors provided £25 towards their initial expenses, and volunteers contributed haversacks, water bottles, dummy rifles and trips to summer camp.

[103] In the 2008–09 season, the under-15 rugby team advanced to the final of the national schools Daily Mail Cup at Twickenham on 1 April 2009 but lost 11–34 to Millfield.

[102] Burgess (2000) notes that The Judd School has a "fine reputation for its cricket teams",[105] and as the primary summer game, the sport remains popular today.

Upon its foundation, when – according to Green (1990) – it was said to be a "temporary expedient", the school was based at Stafford House, in East Street in the centre of Tonbridge.

[112] Previously used by private tutor Isaac Fleming in 1878,[71] it was a building whose central urban position was, Taylor (1988) said, a "major asset, and possibly the only one"; Headmaster Bryant "bore its numerous shortcomings, its bricked ambience and grasslessness".

[113] Positioned in a narrow street and originally designed for 20 boarders, traffic noise, awkward arrangement and low pitch of the classrooms and the distance of the school from its playing fields made the building far from ideal.

"Mr Beeching's field" was used – at what Taylor (1988) considered "an extortionate sum" – for games, but it was unavailable for four months of the year when it was used to grow hay.

[55][115][116] Plans, by Campbell Jones, were submitted to the headmaster in July 1883;[12] they included a covered playground, red-bricked buildings incorporating local sandstone, Broseley roof tiles and a small basement housing a boiler.

[115][117][nb 2] Nearly two years later, on 27 April 1895, the Foundation Stone was laid, at which time Lewis Boyd Sebastian, Master of The Skinners' Company performed a small ceremony.

The principal entrance was carved by Messrs Lornie of London and featured shields bearing the coat of arms of Sir Andrew Judd and the company, the only architectural flourish allowed by the low budget.

[114] The headmaster's house was completed at the same time as the main school building, and had five bedrooms wired with electric bells, and a bathroom plumbed with hot and cold water.

The site consists of 6.8 acres (2.8 ha) of level, dry land that requires little conditioning, making it ideal for the full-sized rugby pitches, which came into regular use in 1935.

Previously part of meadlow land termed the "Townlands", it was purchased by the Kent Education Committee from the Town Wardens and soon equipped with hedges, lavatories and a pavilion.

A red bricked building with a spired roof, windows and a black gate
Stafford House on East Street, the first site of The Judd School
A detached red bricked building, with two chimneys, behind a green hedge and a tree to the left.
10 Brook Street is known as Lawton's, after a former head of the Kent Education Committee who funded its purchase. [ 37 ]
A four-storey, white bricked building, with two black doors. A flag pole is protruding from the centre of the building.
Skinners' Hall, the headquarters of the Worshipful Company of Skinners
An L-shaped, red bricked building with a white bell tower. A tree is to the left of the photo.
The main school building, from the south of the site
A gated entrance lined with trees leads to a red bricked building with white windows and a dark roof.
The main entrance to The Judd School, with gates that were erected in memory of former pupils and teachers who died in the Second World War [ 70 ]
A grass playing field with buildings and tennis courts in the background
Playing fields to the west of the Brook Street site, with view of the Library Building and the Sports Hall
Through a wired fence, there is a grass playing field and a cricket pavilion to the right.
Yeoman's fields, a 10-minute walk from the school [ 79 ]