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Benenden School

School rating 4 / 5 by

Cranbrook Road Cranbrook Kent TN17 4AA United Kingdom
Boarding
4th to 12th
Gender
Girls only

Academic

Benenden School review by .

Benenden School has excellent teachers in every subject, whether languages, humanities, sciences or arts. They are always encouraging, and do their best to ensure the best exam results. Every student is assigned with a personal tutor who looks after academic and general aspects of her life in Benenden. Since Benenden is a full boarding school, every student is allocated into a house (there are four separate houses known collectively as the "Founders" for sixth form students). The housemasters/ mistresses would, in addition to the personal tutor, make sure that every student is managing academic work well. In junior school (Year 7-11), classes are usually of the size of 20. In sixth form, there are, in average, 12 people per class. However, the school seems to have expanded since I left so I am not entirely sure now. I think that the school strikes a good balance between focusing on exams and developing students' academic interests and potential. My knowledge has often grown beyond the exam syllabus.

College Counseling

Benenden School is extremely good at college counseling. I can't stress this more. ....

Sample insights on college counseling

  • They have contacts at most of the major universities and feel perfectly comfortable picking up the phone and advocating for a student to get accepted somewhere they feel is a good fit for that student. However, these counselors are certainly not magic bullets. They cannot guarantee that a student will get into an Ivy League university...
  • For those wishing to move on to Oxford or Cambridge, the provision is second-to-none. In the months running up to application and interview, every subject faculty offers classes (often run by former Oxbridge tutors) exploring further areas of their subject as well as offering advice on personal statements, interview technique and more...

Admissions - Getting Accepted

Apply early! Things has changed since my time, but I heard that the school....

Sample insights on admissions

  • For the interview, dress conservatively. Try to be very clean and put together. Also, I was a tour guide for two years and at the end of every tour, we were asked to evaluate the candidate so if you think the tour is not apart of the process, you are very wrong. Ask questions and be interested. Also, tip for the parents: the kids speak on the tour. Do not ask their questions for them...
  • Most younger siblings have an easy time in the admissions process. I can only think of one case of a younger sibling not being admitted. About half of the students who entered with me had come from public schools. The remainder came from private K-6 schools, or had transferred from other New York private schools The Elizabeth Morrow School and St. Bernard were two of the larger feeder schools...

School Life

All students at Benenden board (reside) in school - but students can take two weekends per term away from school, in addition to the fixed exeats. (Less restrictions for sixth form students). The school dinning hall is amazing. Standard of food (especially puddings!) is extremely high and seconds are almost always allowed. In addition to the three meals, the school provides tea/coffee and cakes for the morning and afternoon breaks. Geographically, Benenden is indeed in the middle of nowhere. The school is about 20 minutes walk away from the Benenden village, where there is a church, a pub,....

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