3 Impressive Areas of Benenden School

At the start of the year 2024, Ms Louisa Shen, our Chinese Principal, and Ms Winnie Tsoi, Business Admin & Operations Head, embarked on a week-long visit to Benenden School in the UK (Benenden).

The schedule of their trip was quite full, visiting classrooms, boarding houses, and sports fields, as well as meetings with Mrs Samantha Price, Headmistress, Ms Helen Semple, Deputy Head – Academic, Mr Steve Miller, First Deputy, Mrs Anna Wakefield, Deputy Head for Boarding and Pastoral Care, and some of the academic heads and Housemasters. A wide range of topics between the two schools have been discussed, experienced and ideas exchanged, including daily schedules, student leadership mechanisms, academic synergies, pastoral care, and more.

Ms Shen and Ms Tsoi summarised their visit to Benenden in three keywords which, supporting Benenden’s century-long success, define where the “newborn” BBSG is heading.

Keyword 1: Personalisation

As one of the leading boarding schools in the UK, Benenden places great emphasis on how to cater to student's individual needs and development in their journey with the school, from admissions to enrolment, from teaching activities to performance assessment.

Admissions: Students are encouraged to apply three years beforehand, allowing ample time for the families and the school to know each other and make sure the demands from both parties will be well supported.

Enrollment: Each student is supported and supervised by an average of 5-6 teachers and staff every week, focusing on their progress in academics, boarding life, and personal growth, to ensure that Complete Education is put into practice in all respects.

Assessment: Comprehensive assessment provided by academic teachers, tutors, housemasters, and university counsellors for every single student, to provide personalised and tailored advice and guidance to the students throughout each stage of their education journey.

Ms Shen said, “Academic rigour and pastoral care, like two wings of an aircraft, function in harmony to efficiently carry the aspiring dream of every student up to the broad sky and the future.”

At BBSG, the admissions team engages with prospective families that share the same education ethos and philosophy with the school, while academic, moral education, pastoral care, boarding, child protection, and university counselling teams take good care of the learning, activities, and experience, as well as the wellbeing of students. With all efforts spent based on the needs and talents of every single student, BBSG devotes itself to ensuring that students take on the most personalised development path.

Keyword 2: Courage

The century-old Benenden School boasts a well-organised structure and productive operation system. Over the years, the school has never stood still, continuously making bold innovations to adjust to the needs of the market and changing society. From daily schedules to electronic device policies and student leadership mechanisms, optimisation in policies and operations takes place in time for students. Cross-function departments collaborate closely to ensure that changes and innovations are effectively implemented.

“Responding to demands for safeguarding and community management, Benenden was the first girls’ school in the UK that employed male housemasters. The pioneering spirit is also what BBSG is pursuing as a school that prepares students to be Future Ready,” said Ms Shen.

“Benenden maintains an open-minded and inclusive culture, with flexibility for innovation. The whole school team, from the Management Team to teachers and staff, is committed to growth with all students,” added Ms Tsoi.

Keyword 3: Collaboration

Ms Tsoi shared, “The majority of Benenden faculty have been with the school for 10-15 years. They work extremely hard in their roles while closely collaborating, to provide comprehensive support to every student’s development in academics, characters, behaviours, and potential fields.”

The communications between the two schools' senior management teams lay a solid foundation for more engagement and joint programmes for faculty teams or students in the future. Students from the two schools may have the opportunities to take part in a friendly soccer game or an intense debate, work on a creative handicraft together, play a piece of traditional Chinese folk music or dance to the latest pop songs together, make dumplings or watch films in the boarding house together, and even administrative staff could be able to stand a chance of exchanging ideas in shared expertise fields...

This is only the opening chapter of the story between the century-old Benenden and months-old BBSG. We look forward to creating more for our shared journey of Complete Education.