Benenden School

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Beneden School
Established 1923
Type Boarding Secondary All-Girls
Students 500 (approx)
Grades Kindergarten-Sixth Form
Location Cranbrook, England
Website Benenden School

Benenden School is a traditional boarding public school, which remains exclusively all-girls. It is located in heart of the Kentish countryside, between Cranbrook and Tenterden. Approximately 500 girls are enrolled, between the ages of 11 and 18, and all are boarders. Current fees stand at £8,225 per term. The headmistress is Claire Oulton, (previously head of St Catherine's School, Bramley, near Guildford) who took over from Gillian duCharme in 2000. The school was founded in 1923 by three mistresses from Wycombe Abbey who aimed to create a "happy school with personal integrity and service to others always in mind, where everyone would be given the chance to follow her own bent". It hence maintains sister school ties with Wycombe Abbey, as well as Godstowe Preparatory School, High Wycombe, and St Leonards School.

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The school itself encompasses a Victorian mansion, set in 250 acres of pastoral grounds. There have been, and continue to be, many improvements to the site. There is now a Sports Centre (known as "SPLASH"), a science block ("Leelands"), a Design Technology centre and a new energy-efficient Study Centre. The latter comprises the Eugenia Leung library as well as new-age classrooms, featuring "interactive whiteboard" technology and IT clusters known as "break-out spaces". A new theatre and drama teaching complex is currently in construction, at the cost of £2.3 million. Building work is due to be completed in February 2007.

There is a traditional school hall where Morning Prayers are taken. The entire school must assemble for this every morning, except Wednesday, at 8:30. There is also a small chapel. About half of the Sunday Services are taken in the village church, about 15-20 minutes walk away.

Lessons at the school start at 8:50 am and carry on until 5:00 pm; there are ten periods in the day. Sports practices take place during the lunch break as well as after lessons end. In addition there are lessons on Saturday mornings. Younger students will take a mixture of all subjects offered, as well as sports, music and PSHE classes.

Pupils studying for their GCSEs must generally take 9-11 subjects, including Mathematics, Science and English as well as a language. Classes average around 15 students at this point, and 8-10 during A-levels. Drama and the Arts are popular; the School's annual play has on occasion been performed in London theatres such as the Palladium (Me and My Girl; 2002).

The school years are known, in order, as follows: IVths, Upper IVths (UIVths), Lower Vths (LVths), Vths, Upper Vth (UVth), Six Ones and Six Twos. School prefects are classified as Upper Sixths. Instead of wearing the normal navy blue Sixth form uniform, they wear white and red striped blouses and grey jumpers.

The Benenden Lacrosse team at the National School Tournament 2000
The Benenden Lacrosse team at the National School Tournament 2000

Benenden offers a strong range of extracurricular activities. The belief is that these lead to a more rounded education and strongly favour individualism.

Main school sports include, lacrosse, netball and tennis. Girls often play these at county (and sometimes national) levels; a new lacrosse coach was introduced from America in 2001. Other activities include fencing, volleyball, swimming, golf, horseback riding, judo, hockey, rounders, football, aerobics and squash. Tours abroad are occasionally organised.

  • Layer: The group of girls in a particular house in the same year.
  • Slips: Handed out for good (pink) and bad (blue) behaviour.
  • Baps: Sixth Form evening snacks.
  • Grey Jumpers: Prefects.
  • Floating: An exeat which can be taken on any weekend.
  • Socials: The girl's disco that they have with boys from other schools.
  • The ville: The local village that the girls visit from time to time to purchase food or any other essential items.
  • LASS: The school shop where the girls can buy everyday essentials and stationary.
  • Lax: Lacrosse

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