From the Headmistress

At Kent College we recognise not only that every girl is unique, but also that her needs will be unique and varying as her education progresses. That is why, above all else, we pride ourselves on catering for her as an individual and working with you, her family, to meet her individual needs during her time at school.

As you look through the pages of this prospectus, you will see evidence of exceptional pastoral provision. You will read of academic excellence from our teachers who care genuinely for both their subject and their pupils.

You will learn of our flourishing extra curricular programme which places opportunities in the arts and sport at the heart of personal development. We strive to support those who may be struggling and to stretch those who excel.

It is essential that girls have the chance to try new things and to grow during their secondary school years. At Kent College we believe firmly in the value of allowing young women to do this whilst in a single sex environment. This sense of personal growth goes beyond the classroom. Our beautiful site inspires girls and staff and gives us room to stretch both physically and personally. Our Christian foundation focuses all we do in a spirit of kindness and community and embraces those of all faiths and none.

An education at Kent College begins with us finding out all about the girl your daughter is now, and ends with her finding out all about the young woman she wishes to be. Please come and find out more for yourself, you will be met with a warm welcome.

Mrs Sally-Anne Huang, MA (Oxon), PGCE

A Unique Environment

Kent College is different from other schools.

On the surface, it is just what you might expect from a small girls' school: we make every girl feel important, we value good manners and we care about every girl's success.

But if you look just a little deeper, you quickly discover that Kent College has more in common with much larger schools. We have state-of-the-art facilities and a remarkable record of sporting success. There are over 60 clubs, societies and activities outside the classroom, whilst within the classroom our teachers are using forward-thinking and inspirational approaches, which consistently lead to excellent academic results.

The school is situated in 75 acres of beautiful green parkland and has been here since 1939, when it moved from its original home in Folkstone The school was founded in 1886 by the Wesleyan Methodist Schools' Association and our Methodist foundation underpins our caring, Christian community in which good manners, discipline and respect for each other are highly valued. Today, the Senior School and the Preparatory School (for girls aged 3 to 11), which share the same site, are part of a group of Independent Methodist Schools.

The schools are interdenominational, welcoming children of all faiths and backgrounds.

We have our own bluebell woods and ponds and are surrounded by farmland. It is an idyllic setting: healthy, safe and spiritually uplifting. Yet, on any day of the week, your daughter could be out of school visiting an art gallery in London, working with the local elderly, meeting partners of a management consultancy practice or visiting the Battlefields in France. We prepare girls for life, as well as for examinations.

In many respects, Kent College is quite traditional. We are a girls' school; teaching groups are usually as small as 16; there are Christian assemblies every week; we place great importance on courtesy. and good behaviour is the norm. Yet in so many other respects, the school is looking ahead to the future: we are recognized as pioneers in ICT (Information & Communication Technology); we are one of only a dozen schools in the country offering the Leith's prestigious food and wine qualification; we invite published novelists and journalists to run workshops with the girls; and a student-led initiative is moving the school towards Fair Trade food purchasing.

We have boarders from British Service families and from many different countries of the world, creating our own small community of global citizens. We have traditional values but take a fresh approach to education. We want your daughter to leave Kent College with a sense of purpose and with the confidence to pursue her ambitions. So much of what we do has that as its dual aim so that by exposing each girl to as many opportunities as possible, girls are able to grow in self esteem. When a girl at Kent College does well in an instrumental music exam, the whole school applauds her. If a girl wants to have a say in how the school's sports programme is run, she stands for election by her peers to the position of Sports Captain. When we put on a major drama production almost half the school takes part. Despite our caring ethos, girls are not over protected here - they are exposed to the challenges of life, but in an environment where they feel safe and secure. Kent College students are happy, confident girls; well prepared and well qualified for the future.

Our Curriculum

We aim to do the best by every girl: from the natural achievers who will succeed wherever they go as long as they are stretched and stimulated, to those who require extra support and the vast majority of girls lie somewhere in between.

The key to unlocking your daughter's academic potential is the teaching itself, of course: well-qualified men and women who have a real passion for their subject, who can bring it to life in creative ways and who will take a genuine, wider interest in the girls. So, there are history classrooms with the latest news headlines posted up daily, group discussions after school or at the weekend, two-day courses for the younger girls on using mind-maps and speed reading, and a member of every department on stand-by every Friday lunchtime for extra support. We work very hard to ensure that each girl succeeds and obtains the examination results she will need to follow her ambitions after school.

When girls first arrive in Year 7, the emphasis is on consolidating basic skills in the core subjects and introducing them to new ones, such as specialised science teaching, more advanced computer skills and foreign languages. We introduce them to the library and show them how to find and manage information. We get to know them well, as quickly as possible, so we can develop individualised approaches for the benefit of every single girl.

This individualised approach continues as your daughter grows older and prepares for public examinations. GCSEs in Years 10 and 11 and then the A-level courses in the Sixth Form. When it comes to deciding which subjects to take, for example, we are unusual in developing our teaching timetable around the preferences of the girls. It means we are much more likely to be able to accommodate your daughter's subject choices.

If you choose Kent College, you will do so knowing that your daughter's academic progress will be carefully monitored and that a network of well qualified teachers and Form Tutors will put in extra time to ensure that she achieves her very best. Every term there is either a parents' evening or a written report, supplemented by regular effort and achievement grades. The teachers meet regularly to discuss each individual pupil's progress and devise strategies which will help each girl reach the next level, whatever her ability. The public examination results, which you can find on our website, speak for themselves, with Kent college being placed consistently among the very best schools in the south-east of England and beyond.

Investment in ICT (Information and Communication Technology) facilities and training of staff continues to be a priority at Kent College. In fact, we believe we have some of the best facilities in the south-east of England and we have an aspiration to be recognised as a centre of excellence for ICT. Most classrooms have networked PCs and the latest projection technology, enabling teachers to use a variety of media; Powerpoint presentations, video and live internet feeds. In addition, we have several suites of flat screen computers, an Apple Mac suite for music and media studies, and networked PCs in the Sixth Form Centre and boarding houses. Our pupils and staff have 24 hour access to the school network via remote access, anywhere in the world. The school is continually looking at ways to pioneer the use of technology in education and students are now using video conferencing. Our aim is to use ICT to make teaching more inspiring and learning even more exciting.

In fact, a lot of what we do in the classroom is quite innovative or pioneering, such as the way we incorporate learning preference theory so we can understand each girl's preferred learning style (for example, whether they respond better to visual, auditory or kinaesthetic cues). This forward-looking approach is echoed in the AS and A2 subjects on offer in the Sixth Form : Media Studies, ICT, Psychology, Design Technology and Physical Education alongside some 20 other, more traditional subjects. For those girls who find academic learning more challenging, there is a well-staffed Learning Support department who provide extra support and coaching in a welcoming and safe environment, when required. In addition, there is English Language support for international boarders. The same department also takes an active role in developing programmes for the most gifted and talented so that every girl feels valued and is stimulated to learn.

The Performing Arts

When the magnificent Judi Dench Theatre was opened in 2002, and the new purpose-built music school a few years earlier, we reaffirmed Kent College's reputation as one of the leading schools for the performing arts in Kent, and indeed beyond. The facts speak for themselves....

Drama

The full-time Head of Drama is supported by five specialists, often including a professional actor, 'Speech and Drama' experts (who between them have over 150 pupils!) and a professional theatre technician. For a school of our size - of any size -this is remarkable.

Every year, the girls perform in a number and range of productions, from modern classics such as Steven Berkoff's Agamemnon to Shakespeare, from Steven Sondheim musicals to Jacobean dramas, and often working with boys from local schools.

Not just the talented actors take part either. In one way or another, about half the girls at Kent college would normally get involved in our drama productions - proudly welcoming visitors and showing them to their seats, controlling the lights at the precise moment to make their friends appear or disappear on the stage. It is a unique and unforgettable experience for the girls who are involved. It makes them proud of themselves in a way that few other activities can. The sense of excitement and achievement runs through the whole school like electricity.

Of course, having a state of the art theatre with a 1,600 square foot stage does help. So too do the costumes we hire from the Royal Shakespeare Company BBC and National Theatre for all major productions. But, in the end, it is down to the teachers and the inspiration and confidence they give to the girls year after year. Whether your daughter joins Kent College or not, we warmly invite you to come and see our girls perform. We can promise you a wonderful evening. Music Music is a passport for life. It is such a fulfilling, communicative activity. We aim to give every girl a chance to take part, learn new skills, develop her confidence and, for some, reach great heights of achievement. There are two choirs, a senior orchestra, two string ensembles, two flute choirs, a soul band, a training band and other groups that come and go, depending on the enthusiasms of a particular year group. Each group meets on a weekly, basis, either before, during or after school. It is one of the liveliest and busiest parts of the school.

There are plenty of chances for girls to perform. Your daughter might take part in her form's assembly in front of the whole school or perform to residents at the Hospice in the Weald as part of our long-standing link there. She might join with students from other Methodist schools in the UK to perform with hundreds of boys and girls at Central Hall in Westminster or at Canterbury Cathedral. She might concentrate on passing her Associated Board examinations to take part in one or more of the twenty concerts we put on every year.

The facilities for music are what you would expect of a school of our stature - practice rooms and specialist teaching rooms, which include a drum studio, a new Apple Mac suite, sequencing and notation software installed on all the computers and up-to-date keyboards and sound equipment to match.

Individual music tuition is, of course, available from a wide range of visiting specialists from violin and flute to trombone and percussion.

Art & Design Technology

Art

When you first arrive at Kent College, one of the things to strike you will be the sheer amount of creative work on display around the school. This not only makes the girls feel proud of themselves but is a clear indication of how important the creative arts are here.

The art department is a constant source of activity with our teachers believing instruction and influence should not necessarily be confined to within a classroom environment. Our art students frequently visit London art galleries and exhibitions, and there are weekly drawing classes with live models for senior girls. Our Sixth Formers have a dedicated north-facing studio where they have their own individual work space and storage so that they can work on their artwork at any point in the day. Along with our excellent facilities, the art department has specialist staff on hand enabling girls of all ages and levels of interest to paint, draw, sculpt, carve, photograph and work with ceramics throughout the school day. It is not necessarily what visitors expect from a small school tucked away in the countryside on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells.

Artists at Kent College have access to professional design software and make regular use of digital cameras and high quality scanning and printing equipment. In year 8 the girls begin learning computer design and use it increasingly as they progress through the school.

The girls and staff take their work very seriously and standards are extremely high. Students receive specialist drawing classes and every year several of our most talented girls take up places in prestigious art schools in London and further a-field. 'Art and Contextual' (History of Art) is also on offer at A-level. Girls learn research and analytical skills as well as developing the use of technical language within art. Our students come to understand art and architecture in a social, cultural and historical context. Visits to galleries are a fundamental part of the course to give students first hand experience. Design Technology Design Technology used to be about 'making things' but at Kent College Design Technology is much more than that. It is offered as three separate subjects: Textiles, Food Technology and Product Design. We still teach the skills of the craft but set out to make the subject relevant to every day life; being both challenging and meaningful. Our course reflects the skills required for design in the 21st Century and our national awards from Brighton University suggests we are getting it right.

Girls from Year 7 up to A-level will carry out research in shops or on the internet to gather ideas. They need to ask people for their opinions on product ideas and show how their investigation has led them to make their choices. Visiting speakers demonstrate the modern commercial and social context of the textile design, like the Fireman who comes to talk about the different materials used in his clothes and equipment. As the girls progress through the school, they learn about test-marketing prototypes and the feasibility of scaling up for mass production, costing and sales forecasting. Visiting costume museums, entering technology design competitions and running fashion shows are all part of the course.

Did you know that the food industry is the biggest employer in the world? And did you know that we are only one of a dozen schools in the country that offer the Leith's Basic Certificate in Food and Wine? This widely respected qualification teaches girls about nutrition, how to create menus, buy ingredients, as well as to prepare, cook and 'plate up'. If your daughter attends Kent College, she can take part in the Sainsbury's Taste of Success Certificate and perhaps join the ranks who have gone on to compete at the regional finals of the national Future Chef Competition.

Sports & Fitness

Sport is so important when a child is growing up. Sport keeps girls healthy and fit, teaches them the importance of the team, gives them a much-needed break from the classroom, creates an incredible sense of camaraderie and strengthens friendships. sport gives your daughter a chance to shine and be looked up to, to be an ambassador for the school or to achieve something important just for herself. For all these reasons, sport is a vital ingredient of life at our school.

Over the past few years, we have developed an approach which ensures two things; that the keenest and most talented young sportswomen are given every chance to compete and win at the highest level while those who are less competitive have fun keeping fit with their friends. It is a recipe that seems to work for everyone.

We do not believe in pushing our older girls onto the playing field if they do not enjoy traditional team sports. The less sporty girls keep interested and fit through other means: trampolining, aerobics, circuit training, synchronised swimming, water polo, badminton, Taekwon-Do, Pilates and horse riding are just some of the options on offer.

Of course, all girls take part in the main sports, too, and have regular P. E. lessons; particularly lower down the school where they learn the basic skills and rules of our major sports. These include netball, hockey and swimming in the winter and athletics, rounders and tennis in the summer. If your daughter does have a sporting talent or is just keen to take part she will be encouraged to compete in competitive matches against other schools. This is often twice a week and there will be extra practice after school on some days. We work them hard! In recent years out younger girls have won the finals for Kent Schools in netball, beating over 50 schools on the way! The story for athletics and swimming is similar - thanks to dedicated coaching from specialist staff and, of course, our heated, indoor six-lane swimming pool. Kent college is the perfect choice for a girl who has a passion for sport

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