Benenden’s Upper Fourth (Year 8) students have had much to celebrate as they reached the end of the School’s bespoke, two-year Lower School curriculum course.
Celebrations started with an energetic party in the Centenary Hall, complete with mocktails, some old-fashioned games in the Rose Garden, a photo booth and an amazing array of party food.
After an evening of joyous singing and dancing, the students then gave their final presentations the next morning to families and staff as part of their Diploma Graduation Ceremony, reflecting on all the knowledge they had gained and skills they had developed as they navigated their way through the programme.
Before passing the Benenden Diploma, each student will have studied more than 10 subjects and achieved a progress level out of 10 for each of them; taken part in co-curricular activities in Music, Art, Drama and Sport; participated in a range of Weekend Programme activities; explored six distinct themes and taken part in boarding life in some capacity – all of which were covered by the students in their presentations. They also spoke about the work that went into their final, dissertation-style projects as part of the Benenden Project Qualification – a research project on a topic of their choosing that forms the final assessed piece of their Benenden Diploma course.
The presentations were characteristically assured and insightful, and showcased perfectly the depth and breadth to which Benenden’s Lower School students are taught to research and analyse. Demonstrating the impact that the Benenden Diploma has had on them not only as young scholars, but also as independent and considerate members of the School’s vibrant boarding community, the students proved themselves excellent ambassadors for the programme to the delighted audience, comprising their families and friends. They then proudly took to the stage to receive their certificates and congratulations from Headmistress Ms Bailey.
The Benenden CREATE Diploma is a mapped and progressive two-year programme for the School’s Year 7 and 8 students, focused on developing skills for life drawn from the World Economic Forum’s Skills for 2025: Collaboration and communication, Resilience and adaptability, Empathy and global outlook, Analytical thinking and problem solving, Technological literacy and innovation and Empowerment and leadership.
Each half of a term students will focus across all their subjects on strengthening another of the above skills, while exploring a broad range of themes encompassing everything from sustainable food production to the concept of endangerment. Subject teachers, who have a thorough awareness of the content taught across lessons, facilitate cross-curricular, enquiry-based learning that is at its most fluid during dedicated ‘Enquiry Days’. On these days, students will work off-timetable to explore topics in greater depth, drawing on a huge range of perspectives and disciplines coordinated across departments and faculties, ultimately encouraging awe and wonder and an enthusiasm for discovery.