At Benenden we recognise the important role that sport plays both in the school career of a student but also the benefits of participation and exercise in adult life.
Sport England's Active People Survey revealed that participation figures for Netball have increased markedly. There are now more than 156,000 adult netballers across the country who are playing the sport for at least half an hour every week.
Benenden prides itself on offering a wide opportunity for girls to participate in Netball. It forms part of the curriculum whilst being one of the major sports played competitively. We are able to field an impressive 28 teams with strength at every age from under 12 to under 19. We have worked hard to develop the fixtures calendar so that our teams compete regularly against challenging opposition, this in itself helping to develop the standard of both the individual and the team.
National and County Competitions
We are also annually participating in two National Cups; the Independent School's Netball Cup and the School Sports Magazine Cups, allowing the under 19, under 15 and under 13 squads the opportunity for strong competition against schools that would normally not feature on our fixtures calendar.
We compete annually in the County Competitions, aiming to achieve Kent representation in the London and South East competition and National Finals. Benenden hosts InterNet festivals for U12, U13 and U14 C/D/E/F/G teams and an annual U15 and Senior event. The Inter-House Netball events offers an exciting opportunity for Houses to field many players in the quest to become House champions! Any girl who wishes to play competitively, whatever her level, is encouraged to do so.
Benenden is fortunate to have a partnership with the National Super League (NSL) Surrey Storm Netball franchise. This has allowed the Benenden players the opportunity not only to attend NSL matches but also to act as ball girls at a game and receive visits and coaching days from NSL and International players.
Our Key Achievements
Benenden features strongly in the County competitions, qualifying regularly to represent Kent at the London and South East Netball Tournament. In 2018/19 we were runners up in the Regional Finals and are competed in the National Finals in March as one of the top 16 schools in the country.
Benenden girls often achieve representation at County level and as well as that, we run our own Benenden Elite performance programme which has proved to be valuable. Many girls also enjoyed and benefited from the Benenden Netball Tours with the most recent being to the US and Barbados.
