Cranbrook School is a mixed state grammar school with 922 pupils aged 11-18 years, including around 224 boarders. It was founded in 1518. Day pupils come from within 5.28 miles of the school, following a test to judge their suitability for a grammar school education. 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. We provide a challenging and supportive curriculum so that students of all abilities are catered for. The value-added scores that are achieved each year bear testimony to the success of our provision.

Pupils join at the age of 11 or 13, and in Year 10 they start GCSEs 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 take at least three A levels and can choose the EPQ and other qualifications in addition.

For a state school, the facilities are 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 large library and lecture theatre. Sports facilities include a large sports hall, dance studio, cardio gym, weights room, heated outdoor swimming pool, squash courts and extensive playing fields and facilities for games - hockey, rugby, cricket, netball, tennis and athletics – as well as an astro-turf pitch. The school also possesses a Performing Arts Centre that houses a drama studio and music practice rooms, and a vibrant Sixth Form Centre. The school boasts an Observatory named after Dr Piers Sellers OBE, an Old Cranbrookian and NASA astronaut.

Cranbrook is keen to educate the whole person and to this end it runs a wide programme of extra-curricular activities, including the 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, and southern India for sports tours, exchanges, adventure, and to work on projects.

Cranbrook’s boarding houses each have their own ethos and identity and a marked sense of house pride. There is a full fixture programme on weekends and a variety of trips and activities on Sundays, for which a number of staff give up their time. The boarding life of the School offers both staff and students new and enriching experiences and makes this an exciting and fun place to work.

Cranbrook is an active school which will appeal to those prepared to give generously of their time and to take the progress and development of their students very seriously. The school seeks to appoint staff who will 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. We welcome Early Careers Teachers and have a number of experienced mentors on our staff. ECTs and their mentors are offered additional support via Teach in Kent to help ensure a positive experience during the two-year training.