Centenary Vision  Completed Projects

In June 2022, completion of the Centenary Hall and Sir David K.P. Li Music School was marked by the first Music lessons held in the new facilities, and the first whole School service to be held in the breath taking new hall.

The new buildings have quickly become a centre point of Benenden School life, supplying venues for Prayers services, Co-Curricular events, and Music education with exceptional facilities and stunning spaces, while the Jat Atrium is now the go-to hangout and study space for Sixth Formers. What’s more, the new spaces have facilitated an exciting commercial arts venture, enabling the School to host a diverse range of performing arts events.

At the end of the 2017-18 academic year we remodelled the area of the School known as the West Wing.

Accessed through Cloisters, the West Wing is a purpose-built area for Academic Support, with three further general classrooms, one of which will be a high tech centre from which lessons can be recorded and broadcast.

Due to increased numbers, and the consequent need for more classroom space for larger groups, we have converted and extended the top floor of West Wing into a modern open plan study area for staff. This has freed up three rooms in the Study Centre to become large, refitted classrooms and has provided four much-needed smaller rooms suitable for small group, special educational needs and one to one teaching, and a study space for Sixth Formers.

The West Wing has been completely refurbished to bring it up to the standard of the Centenary Hall and Sir David K.P. Li Music School.

After a series of washout winter sports seasons, with record rainfall creating constantly waterlogged pitches, we cannot forget the disappointment of so many cancelled fixtures and a scramble for local all-weather venues to enable at least some play for our sports teams. Benenden now has a top quality all-weather pitch and pavilion, which was officially opened in September 2016.

Sport, fitness and student well-being are a vital part of Benenden’s curriculum and we have a longstanding aspiration to allow as many girls as possible to participate in sport. The School simultaneously wants to encourage girls to compete at national and international level.

The All-Weather Pitch provides an alternative to grass for lacrosse and enables the development of hockey at Benenden. It also allows the School to meet the demands of a complete programme of competitive sport to remain competitive with its peer institutions.

The All-Weather Pitch is on the west side of the campus, complementing the West Wing area of the School encompassing the Centenary Hall, Sir David K.P. Li Music School and teaching and learning facilities.
The floodlit All-Weather Pitch significantly enhances the teaching facilities for the Sports Department at the School and ensure Benenden remains comparable with its closest competitors.
The sand-dressed artificial turf all-weather pitch houses flexible pitch formats: both an international size lacrosse and hockey pitch.

Eight floodlights have been erected around the all-weather pitch to allow evening use throughout the winter season and an electronic scoreboard has been put in place. Landscaping of the area has been enhanced with new tree lines and protected hedgerows.

The accompanying pavilion includes changing rooms for players and officials, as well as catering facilities, together with covered and terraced spectator areas, which the School hopes will further attract support from families and friends at matches.

To help Benenden to recruit and retain the very best staff we have built new staff accommodation on the campus. Benenden has a strong boarding ethos and the new staff housing will help to strengthen our community.

For any school, excellent staff are crucial to its success and no more so than at a boarding school, the best of which really thrive when staff live either on-site or very close to the school.

As part of Benenden’s strategy to attract and retain high calibre staff we want to be able to offer more housing on site to those moving into the area. This will also support and retain staff who would otherwise have to travel long distances to school. Housing more staff also enables the School to create a more comprehensive boarding community, benefiting the School and girls alike.

Benenden is a wonderful place to work, set in a rural location in the High Weald Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty. Local towns and villages have expensive property prices and so to attract, recruit and retain the best teaching staff we are pleased to be able to provide our own range of accommodation options.

Adding to the existing units of staff accommodation are the eight new units of housing, named Weston Crescent. Centrally located near the Victorian Walled Garden the Crescent comprises a variety of three and four bedroom homes for single and family accommodation.