Benenden School

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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 480 girls are enrolled, between the ages of 11 and 18, and all are boarders. Current fees stand at £7,850 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, St Andrews, Fife.

1 The school
- 1.1 Curricular activities
2 Extracurriculars
- 2.1 Sports
3 Benenden slang
4 Notable alumni
5 External links

[edit] The school

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 library as well as new-age classrooms, featuring "interactive whiteboard" technology and IT clusters known as "break-out spaces". A new stage is currently in construction, at the cost of £2.3 million.

[edit] Curricular activities

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 is performed in London theatres such as the Palladium (Me and My Girl in 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.

[edit] Extracurriculars

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.

[edit] Sports

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.

[edit] Benenden slang

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.
Slosh: Sixth Form drinking time.
Grey Jumpers: Prefects.
Floating: An exeat which can be taken on any weekend.
A crush: Like a younger sister. Younger girls can "crush on" older ones by writing notes along with sweets or food of some sort, and then they are "affiliated" if the elder one accepts.
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.