Staff and students at Tonbridge Grammar School returned for the start of a new academic year to not one but two new facilities.

The IBarn for Sixth Form is a new building at the heart of the school campus, offering flexible teaching spaces suitable for the International Baccalaureate.

There are three teaching classrooms, a conference room, a lecture theatre, offices, and a cafe on the site, in Deakin Leas.

To the rear of the new building are changing rooms for outdoor sport and fitness, which is the focus of the school’s next phase of development.

The spaces previously occupied by Sixth Form have been redesigned for a significantly expanded department for Music, which features nine soundproof practice rooms, as well as a recording studio.

Headteacher, Rosemary Joyce, said: "The impact of these facilities will be seen across the whole school community because they will be fully utilised for curricular, co-curricular, as well as by our collaborative partners.

"The impact of these facilities will be seen across the whole school community because they will be fully utilised for curricular, co-curricular, as well as by our collaborative partners" - Rosemary Joyce

"We are extremely pleased to have the endorsement and a significant grant from EFA that got these developments off the ground. I am deeply grateful to every single contributor to our capital fundraising campaign.

"These projects have been realised fully thanks to their energy and generosity, alongside some substantial supplier discounts and an award from The Garfield Weston Foundation."

The new building will be opened officially by Adrian Kearney, IBO Regional Director for Africa, Europe and the Middle East, at a Reception on Wednesday 16 September.

It will be hosted by students in their final year of the IB Diploma. The event has received the generous sponsorship of Roan Building Solutions, the School's caterer Chartwells and TGS parent T.L.Claridge.

Tonbridge Grammar School was nominated by The Times Parentpower, as Top State Secondary School and as Top IB School 2015.