Cranbrook School is a mixed state grammar school with 872 pupils aged 11-18 years, including around 240 boarders. For its first 400 years the school was known as Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School with strong roots in the small town of Cranbrook. Day pupils come from within 10 kilometres (6.2 miles) of the school, following a test to judge their suitability for an academic education. Boy and girl boarders are admitted from a wide area, having sat the same test. Although it is a selective school, Cranbrook admits a wider ability range than many other grammar schools. It provides a challenging curriculum for the academic high flyers whilst at the same time catering to the requirements of those of more relatively modest abilities. The value-added scores that are achieved each year bear testimony to the success of the provision.

Pupils join at the age of 11 or 13, and in Year 10 they start their two-year GCSE courses in nine or ten subjects. Most students then qualify for the Sixth Form, this being supplemented by a healthy intake into Year 12 from other schools. All Sixth Formers follow a two-year GCE course, leading to A level exams in Year 13.

For a state school the facilities are very impressive. Within the seventy acres of school grounds are found the six boarding houses, the Queen’s Hall Theatre (used for assemblies, school productions, visiting theatre companies and concerts), a well-stocked library and lecture theatre. Sports facilities include a large sports hall, dance studio, gymnasium, weights room, heated outdoor swimming pool, squash courts and extensive playing fields and facilities for the boys' and girls' games - hockey, rugby, cricket, netball, tennis and athletics – as well as an astro-turf pitch. The school also possesses a purpose-built Performing Arts Centre which houses a drama studio and music practice rooms, and a Sixth Form Centre which was recently refurbished to very high standards and features a large and sound-proofed study area as well as informal seating and kitchen facilities. The school boasts an Observatory and Science Centre named after Dr Piers Sellers OBE, a former student and NASA astronaut.

As a school, Cranbrook is very keen to educate the whole person and to this end it runs a wide programme of extra-curricular activities, including the voluntary CCF (combined cadet force) and Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme, as well as a broad range of sports, music and drama, both during the week and at the weekend. We have a long tradition of overseas trips and in recent years groups have travelled to South America, Portugal, Nepal, Southern India and The Battlefields of Flanders and. These visits have been for sports tours, cultural exchanges, adventurous activities and to work on projects.

Cranbrook is an active school which will appeal to those prepared to involve themselves fully in the life of the school and applicants are invited to indicate areas where they would be able to make a contribution.