Beeches is the original Founders House, built for Six Twos in 1983. The house consists of four dorm-areas leading from a light and airy central corridor that runs the length of the house and joins with Elms. Each dorm-area contains purpose-built study bedrooms.
Every corridor has two large, well-equipped bathrooms and at least one kitchen with a large table where the students can eat together and socialise. Each floor also has a laundry area for the students wishing to do their personal laundry.
During their time in Beeches we encourage the students to develop essential life-skills and independence with the help and support of the house team. In the Beeches section of Founders there is the Founders Bar, which is a large social space with a wide screen TV, pool table, a notably retro Nintendo wii and an array of seating.
We encourage the students from all the four Founders houses to use this space to socialise. As well as organised house activities, the girls often arrange their own socials, including open mic nights, old-school wii tournaments and bake-offs.
Housemistress
Kay Price joined Benenden in September 2020. Her principle subjects are History and Politics. Prior to joining Benenden, she was a Housemistress in a 13-18 house at Lord Wandsworth College, a Deputy Housemistress at Uppingham and Head of History at Leicester High School for Girls. She spends much of her free time off travelling in her camper van with her three dogs, Ralph, Digby are Arlo, while her two tame pygmy goats – Tim and Albie – stay at home! She also fosters an assortment of animals from piglets to lambs which the girls enjoy looking after.
House Team
The Deputy Housemistress is Ms Sarah Leeds. She has worked at Benenden since 2017 and teaches Mathematics. Sarah lives on-site with her two children and her cat, Pippin. She spends her spare time practicing yoga, hiking, and going to the cinema or theatre, as well as supporting her children at various sporting and dance competitions.
We share our superb and very experienced matron team with Elms, our Day Matron, Mrs Carol Battson who is very much the mum at school taking care of the students day-to-day welfare and Resident Matron, Mrs Margaret Barnett. We are also blessed with a superb group of ladies who run the domestic side and our Sunday Evening Matron Mrs Hayley Eggleshaw completes our team.
