Sevenoaks School
Global in Outlook, Rooted in Community
Founded in 1432, Sevenoaks School is one of England's oldest co-educational schools, and has built its modern identity around the International Baccalaureate, which it adopted in 1978 and has offered exclusively at Sixth Form level since 2006, following a decision taken in 1999 to move away from A-Levels entirely. Set in central Sevenoaks, Kent, the school draws pupils from more than seventy nationalities, giving it a genuinely international character among its boarding and day community alike.
Key Facts
Location : Sevenoaks, Kent
Type : Co-educational, boarding and day
Age Range : 11 to 18
Pupil Numbers : Approx. 1,200 pupils
Founded : 1432
Motto : Global in Outlook, Rooted in Community
Academic Profile
Pupils at Sevenoaks take their GCSEs alongside the school's own Sevenoaks School Diploma. Every Sixth Form pupil then follows the International Baccalaureate, which Sevenoaks has taught since 1978, and Old Sevenoakians proceed to Oxford and Cambridge, alongside Imperial College London, UCL, and Ivy League universities.
Co-Curricular Life
Music and drama are served by The Space, an award-winning performing arts centre built around the Pamoja Hall, a concert hall seating around 450 for orchestra and choir, alongside a recital room, the Sackville Theatre, a drama studio, and more than twenty teaching spaces. The music department mounts some fifty concerts a year, with chamber music a particular strength, and the Sevenoaks School Theatre Company stages several productions annually with an emphasis on wide participation. Sport is played across a broad range at the school's campus adjoining Knole Park, and the visual arts flourish alongside a co-curricular programme built on breadth rather than early specialisation.
Admissions Essentials
Pupils join Sevenoaks School in Year 9, at age thirteen, through one of two registration routes, an Early Decision route in the autumn term around three years ahead for pupils staying at their current school through Years 7 and 8, and a Later Decision route around two years ahead. Candidates sit the ISEB Common Pre-Test, followed by entrance examinations in Maths, English, Thinking Skills, and Science, alongside a group discussion activity and a school reference. At Year 9 entry, scholarships are available across academic, music, art, drama, and sport.
In Essence
For a child who wants an education that prepares them for a truly international life rather than only describing one, Sevenoaks has taught the International Baccalaureate exclusively at sixth form for decades, within a community drawn from across the world.