Archery, Athletics, Fencing, Hockey, Modern Pentathlon

Tonbridge School in Kent ranks among the premier independent boarding schools in the UK and is highly respected both nationally and internationally. The School owns and operates an extensive site of 60 hectares in Tonbridge, Kent. Its buildings include an historical chapel, meeting rooms of various size, lecture halls, integrated IT infrastructure, indoor sports facilities together with international standard outdoor artificial and natural playing surfaces.

The school has built and maintains its sports facilities to a high standard. We can offer the exclusive use of some world- class outdoor sporting facilities, including a floodlit water-based astroturf hockey pitch, plus two sand-based astroturf pitches, a first-class International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) certified six-lane athletics track (Dame Kelly Holmes completed much of her training at the school), jump and throwing areas, extensive flat grassed playing fields comprising 28 ha, 21 good-quality tennis courts, and a small bore 25m shooting range and armoury. Additionally, we are able to offer a sports and media centre (completed April 2008) which includes a 25m swimming pool, large and small multi-use halls and conditioning/fitness suite.

The media centre incorporates a fully sound-proofed studio and control room where interviews can be recorded and produced to a professional specification. Alongside the studio and control room there are editing suites allowing coaches to edit training film in order to replay to a team or individual athletes and offer advice on how to improve their performance.

Tonbridge School can provide over 300 bed spaces, located over seven boarding houses of different sized units, with up to 50 beds per unit. Access to boarding houses is via electronic key pads at each entrance and all have integral fire alarm systems. The campus is situated on the edge of a residential district and the area has a crime rate below the UK average. We have security patrols in operation daily until 0200 and strong links already exist between the School and local Police. The security and privacy of visitors can be confidently assured.

A fully-equipped and staffed, in-house catering operation is available and we regularly produce over 11,000 plated meals every week during term time. The main school kitchen has its own bakery and butcher, and the quality of ingredients and food preparation is subject to our own exacting standards. In recognition of its commitment to nutrition and hygiene, the Catering Department has received Healthy Eating and Clean Food Awards from the local environmental health authority. Catering standards were inspected by the UK Schools Inspectorate (Ofstead) in March 2008 and classed as “outstanding”. Infrastructure support is also provided by the School’s own qualified tradespersons who are tasked to repair faults. All facilities and buildings are serviced and cleaned by our own staff. All facilities meet current UK health and safety requirements. Quality of service can therefore be assured.

The school’s ancillary facilities also include a professional theatre, large assembly/lecture rooms fitted with projection equipment. Full technical support for information technology and audio-visual equipment is also available. All facilities offered are maintained and supported by the school's own staff. Therefore, we can provide a flexible and rapid response to any short notice requirement that arises.

Tonbridge is close to major roads (the M25 is 16km away) and has a railway station nearby, with a direct transfer into London Charing Cross in 44 minutes. All London airports are accessible within two hours; Gatwick is the closest airport (45 minutes). Dover Port is 90 minutes away by road. An extensive public bus transport system operates from Tonbridge to other local towns. Taxi services are available across the area.

We have extensive experience of hiring facilities out to commercial organisations for conferences, courses and meetings.

We consider our outdoor sporting facilities to be amongst the best in the South East, in in order to accommodate training needs immediately prior to the Games we are in a position to discuss moving school term dates to accommodate Olympic Teams.

Hosting experience

Our facilities are used by many outside clubs to coach and train athletes. More teams play hockey on our astroturf surfaces than at almost any other school in the county. Throughout the year we host events for Hockey, Rugby, Football, Athletics and Cricket, hosting an average of 10 matches each Saturday. Our athletics track is used extensively by local athletics clubs, which hold UK league meetings here. England youth hockey squads and Sevenoaks Hockey Club also train at Tonbridge. We believe there are local sports clubs of sufficient quality to provide good training opposition for friendly competition.

We have experience of hosting major sports events including:

- Oxford vs Cambridge University Varsity
- Modern Pentathlon (60 competitors and officials)
- Kent County Cricket matches (26)
- Tonbridge Athletics Club league matches (200 participants)
- England hockey squad training (50 participants).

We regularly accommodate at least 250 foreign language students and staff each year. We have hosted at least 400 BBC television broadcasts from the school and we organise and host a week-long community arts festival every October, at which numerous internationally renowned artists perform.

To date we have yet to host Archery competitions; however, our extensive grounds and playing fields provide a superior environment in which to conduct training prior to the Games.

All events are serviced and supported by trained and trusted staff, employed by the school throughout the year.

Sport facility specifications
Olympic sports
Archery
Archery Training area
Training area length: 200m
Training area width: 100m
Number of targets on site : 5
Athletics
Athletic Areas
Number of jumping areas: 1
Number of throwing areas: 2
Athletic Track
Number of track lanes: 6
Number of track lanes in sprint straight: 6
Floodlights
IAAF CertificationFencing
Pistes
Number of pistes 14m x (1.5m-1.8m): 11
Hockey
Floodlights
Hockey Pitches
Number of water-based pitches 91.4m x 55m: 1
Modern Pentathlon
Access to Equestrian Facilities
Cross Country Running Course
Number of fencing pistes : 11
Number of indoor shooting ranges : 1
Track Running courseBack to top
General facilities
Pool 1
Pool length: 25m
Pool width: 13m
Pool depth max: 3m
Pool depth min: 1.2m
Lane width: 2m
Sports Hall 1
Length of Sports Hall: 44m
Width of Sports Hall: 11m
Clear Height: 7.6m
Internal area of Sports Hall: 880m²Sports Hall 2
Length of Sports Hall: 17.8m
Width of Sports Hall: 11m
Clear Height: 3.6m
Internal area of Sports Hall: 195m²