Introduction

The Skinners' Company has been involved in education since the Middle Ages and have around 7,000 pupils under our care today. They are proud to support an extremely diverse family of schools which encompasses primary and secondary, all ability and selective, state funded and independent, urban and rural. The eight schools in the family are in west Kent, on the Kent coast and in North London.

The aim of our schools is to provide all our young people with the opportunity to make the most of their talents and fulfil their potential. To do that we ensure that our schools have first-class teaching, management and leadership, and are supported and held to account by high-quality governing bodies.

The Skinners’ Company is responsible for eight schools: Tonbridge School and The New Beacon Preparatory School (both independent schools), The Skinners’ School, Tunbridge Wells, and The Judd School, Tonbridge (both voluntary aided grammar schools), The Skinners’ Academy, Hackney, The Marsh Academy, New Romney, The Skinners’ Kent Academy, Tunbridge Wells and Skinners' Kent Primary School (all academies).  The Skinners’ Company is proud of its schools and takes its responsibilities in the education sector very seriously. At each school its Foundation Governors provide a majority of the Governing Body, and all the Chairmen of Governors are members of the Skinners’ Company.

The Education Committee and the Education Office

The Company's Education Committee provides strategic guidance for the Company's work in education and oversees the activity of the Education Office. Members include several serving or former headteachers and Chairs of school governing bodies.

The Education Office at Skinners' Hall supports our schools in a range of ways. We organise opportunities for our school leaders to get together and share ideas and good practice. We promote efficiencies in joint procurement, so our schools can invest more into our students' education. We also provide a broad range of support to all our school governors.

Governing our Schools

Members of the Skinners Company make up a significant proportion of each of the governing bodies of all our schools and the Company recruits members who can commit the time and skills to the challenging, rewarding role of being a governor.

The Education Office offers a comprehensive training programme for governors, with recent sessions covering everything from strategy to finance and school data to panel training for exclusions, grievances or complaints. All governors also have access to "The Key for Governors" which provides access to an extensive library of articles and guidance and includes weekly email updates on the education sector. 

You can read more about the experience of one of our Skinner Governors, Chris Dearie (Skinners' Academy Hackney).

Our school governors make a big difference to the lives of the 7,000 students at our schools; if you think school governorship might be for you now or in the future you can find more information here.