WHAT? WHERE?

Kent College Junior School can be found in the charming village of Harbledown, just a mile outside Canterbury so you have the benefits of the great outdoors yet close to the city with those all-important transport links.

The school is located within 14 acres of English countryside so there is plenty of space for its 220 pupils to embrace work and play. Good job that they have that extra space as the post-Covid world has meant that they are close to full capacity with a two-form entry for most school years.

This progressive school takes on a bespoke tailored learning experience for each child that passes through its doors through its Accelerated Learning and GREAT (Gifted, Really Enthusiastic, Able and Talented) Programme which was begun under the previous Head and evolved and further developed by its current Head when he came into position in 2020 and helps to celebrate each child’s individual talents.

The school also places a strong emphasis on nurturing its pupils’ talents as part of its Christian Methodist principles. Throw in some extensive and recently renovated facilities, including a lovely new ampitheatre launched last year, with a choice of over 60 after-school clubs and activities, and you have all the winning ingredients here for a leading Independent School.

Further music to your ears may be the fact that Kent College can accommodate your children from the age of 3 months to Year 6 (plus offers boarding from Year 4) and beyond if you want to extend the education onto the equally impressive Senior School (which was founded in 1885) positioned on a different campus within the city environs. There’s no need for more exams or to look elsewhere once you have ensconced your children here. Phew!

FACILITIES

There’s plenty to like at Kent College as the school is the former home of the Victorian artist Thomas Sidney Cooper R.A., (it was purchased by Kent College in 1945) and this home-away-from-home culture is very much part of the school’s charm and culture.

The facilities are extensive and include a new astroturf (opened in 2022), tennis courts, swimming pool (which not many local schools have), Sports Hall, Music Studio, rehearsal rooms, plus acres of playing area for the children during break time: including an outdoor amphitheatre, treehouse, and stream for pond dipping, which is one of the many winning aspects about the place.

Outside each classroom are rows of muddy wellies which the pupils are encouraged to bring and wear each break time and get back to basics and play in the woodland in front of the school, be it climbing trees or the giant Connect 4 games – it’s one of the best natural play areas that we have spied in our school travels and they are constantly evolving their outdoor offering with a fresh new playground which arrived this year to the pupils’ delight.

The Dining Hall is another hero feature with its outdoor terrace overlooking the gardens below which is especially lovely in the summer. Where possible, food is sourced locally including meat from Kent College’s own working farm and the menu can be catered according to dietary requirements – whether it’s vegan, gluten-free or lactose intolerant, they’ve got it covered. We stayed for lunch on our visit and can recommend the beetroot soup even if the younger pupils were more interested in the stir-fry option on the day.

Mr. James, who is now well-settled in his position having joined in 2020 from the Senior School, has plenty of innovative ideas about how to enhance the school’s offering with a new performance studio planned as well as a new athletics track on its way so this is a school that is constantly evaluating its facilities and looking to enhance and improve its offering.

SPORT

Sport is a huge part of school life here with a busy schedule of sporting activities and fixtures on Saturdays. Its sports teams regularly feature in County and National competitions and the Boys Hockey have been winners five times in the last seven tournaments for the Kent County Championship with the Girls Hockey runner-ups in 2021.

Boys play football, hockey and cricket and girls play netball, hockey and cricket but there are plenty of other sporting options within its thriving clubs such as table tennis, basketball and gymnastics so there is something for everyone.

There are specialist cricket machines and nets and like the Senior School, the Junior School has the luxury of Rob Key, an English former cricketer who has also represented Kent County Cricket Club and is a former member of the England Test match and One Day International sides, to help with training as well as Sean Kerly MBE, an English former field hockey player, who is another sports specialist at the school. Daly Thompson even visited to put the students through a Decathlon training day.

Cross Country is also part of Kent College’s heritage and regular Cross Country runs or athletic mornings are held within the school’s grounds with a variety of local primary schools participating (well there is a lot of ground to cover) plus local primary schools are invited to host their Sports Day at Kent College, which is a great way to connect with the local community. For both the boys and girls, they have won the Kent Cross Country Championships in a number of year groups over the past few years. Kent College also always scores highly in the IAPS Kent County Championships across a medley of disciplines.

The outdoor heated swimming pool is kept open during the weekend, and in the evenings, during the summer months so families can enjoy the benefits of the pool and garden after-hours with a swim. The recently renovated changing rooms within the Sports Hall also got a big Muddy stamp of approval with inspiring words written across the walls made from a collage of British sporting greats in action.

ICT/DT/ART

All children from Year 3 take part in the GREAT Programme which enables them to increase their performance even further in their chosen area and is another good method of identifying your child’s hidden talents if academia does not come naturally to them. You can choose two curriculum lessons that are dedicated to the GREAT Programme with specialist teachers and coaches, allocated areas such as Art and Design, Technology as well as Drama, Music, Sport, Academic Challenge and Test Practice.

They have recently launched the Sidney Cooper Art Studio in the heart of the school and will blend with Design and Technology where practical and creative learning takes place, developing problem-solving skills. Children can also participate in Robotics Club up at the Senior School (good for getting to becoming more acquainted with the school up there too) and they use robotics technology to design a vehicle that will help to combat the problem of plastic waste polluting our shores, with proposals sent in for a competition.

From Year 1, many lessons involve iPad’s as a function of teaching and much of the marking is made through the Google platform. Coding is also taught and pupils can sign up for Computing Club where they can use laptops in its ICT suite and use a variety of formats to produce their own work, as well as iPad explorers and Touch Typing Club.

MUSIC & DRAMA

Kent College is rightly proud of its musical reputation and its’ Choristers recently won Junior Choir of the Year 2022 in the largest schools choir competition in the UK as well as reaching the finals of the Barnardo’s National Choir Competition for the past four years.

Two thirds of KS1 and KS2 are learning musical instruments and the Junior Choir numbers over 90 children but there’s also an inclusive culture so everyone is encouraged and welcome to take part. The pre-school has access to four specialist music teachers which is very rare for that age group and gives you an indication about how much they rate this aspect of the school.

Most performances are held on the stage within the Sports Hall but pupils can also use the fancy new Great Hall up at the Senior School, which is a state of the art professional theatre which can seat up to 600 guests, at full capacity, but also neatly works for smaller intimate performances and social events. It was opened with a big fanfare with a production involving 350 pupils on the stage at the same time – that should give you an indication of the sheer scale of it.

The clubs also incorporate a wide range of performance disciplines including Film & Fun, Pop Choir as well as Drama, Dance and Orchestra, so lots of different ways to nurture your child’s enthusiasm and talent.

ACADEMIA

As you would imagine from an Independent School, the class sizes are small to allow teachers to give individualised attention to each child and within the Early Years, they aim for an adult/pupil ratio of 1:4 rising to 1:5 and 1:8 for Years 1 and 2 and in Years 3 to 6, class sizes average around 15/16 pupils. There’s a healthy balance here as there are three chapters of each day with academic mornings, creative afternoons followed by extra curricular activities.

There is a non-selective admissions policy throughout the Junior and Senior School with approximately 80% going onto the Senior School each year. This year, 13 out of 15 pupils passed the Kent Test. In general, a large chunk remains with the Kent College system as once you have embraced that individual approach to learning, it must be hard to consider leaving it behind and the scholarship opportunities also help matters.

For 2024 entry, 45 children from the Junior School applied to join the Senior School alongside another 80 external candidates. Five students from the KC Junior School ranked in the top 10 for academic scholarships in assessments, five students received drama awards, and 80% were in the top ten for music awards.

The school initiated its Accelerated Learning Programme in 2014 and even from the early years, you can see how the children are separated (in a really natural and non-divisive way) according to their development to allow them to learn at their own pace and this is constantly reviewed to ensure that children are moving up when they are ready. Classrooms have been cleverly modelled to help with this with inter-connecting doors used within the space to create two individual learning environments for the pupils.

Where possible, subjects are taught creatively, and they make full use of the grounds to conduct some of these lessons with pupils in waders in the pond for an interactive science lesson. French and Spanish are the two foreign languages offered and the school believes that ‘every child is unique’ and deserves the best possible support.

There is a dedicated SEN centre at the top of the school and pastoral meetings are regularly held between the staff to share learning and practises so they can adapt their teaching to each individual child. On good authority, we are told that the support in this area is second to none and this is continued throughout the Senior School so if you need help in this area, this could be the school for you.

THE HEAD

Simon James took over the reins in September 2020 as Head of Kent College Junior School and was in a good position to lead the way as he was already the Deputy Head, as well as leading Business and Economics at the Senior School for a number of years alongside running a Boarding House.

Simon’s two young children are at the school and our tour was a fact-filled mission around the campus and his passion for its unique approach to education is hugely infectious. I don’t think we have come across a more animated Head in our Muddy travels!

He believes that one of the successes of the school is born from the teachers’ vocational passion to do all the good they can for every individual child, ultimately providing the awe and wonder to learn and prepare their pupils for an exciting, dynamic and challenging future. In his words, “our mission is for every child to come in every day excited about the day ahead and to leave already looking forward to tomorrow.”

Simon credits the teaching team at the school and the can-do culture that has been instigated throughout the school. That attitude is evident as the bespoke timetabling for each pupil is led by Mr. James so you can be guaranteed a very hands-on approach when it comes your child’s education.

A recent impressive recruit is Anouska Blaza who joined the school in September 2020 as Deputy Head who is Oxford educated and was previously Head of Modern Languages at a London prep school, and she has done a great job to date to enhance the pupils’ and parent’s voice ensuring a 360 degree synergy with the operation of the school as well as an audit of its inclusivity programme.

Blaza was looking for a role outside of London after the first lockdown for her and her two children and was attracted to the ‘warmth of Kent College where there is a genuine family feel and the staff really know all the children plus its personalized academic programme is unlike anywhere I have ever taught.”

BOARDING

Students are based at the school’s Senior School for Boarding in Austen House for girls, or Guildford for boys, which is a good way to getting to know the next stage of the school too. Day pupils are often heard to plead with their parents to let them board for the night so they can join in the fun at events such as Fun and Fireworks, Christmas Parties, Chinese New Year, and summer BBQ’s which are celebrated in style throughout the year.

As you can imagine, there is plenty laid on at the weekends to keep everyone happy and occupied such as weekend trips to London, excursions to Thorpe Park or Disneyland Paris plus local fun at the school’s own farm, riding stables and the local ice-skating rink.

LITTLIES

As we mentioned, one of the additional selling points of the school is that your child can start their education journey from as little as three months in the Garden Cottage Nursery Lodge as The Lodge was opened in February 2018, and was formerly the gatehouse to the estate.

This has now been refurbished to be a homely environment for babies and toddlers, with a dedicated and all-weather learning area. The Lodge accommodates up to 12 babies and toddlers at any one time, and dream coracles and sleep mats are used for those needing a nap during the day. And yes, they even help with potty training – hurrah!

There is a separate parking area for those just using the Lodge and the Cottage (opened in September 2018 and for the pre-school crowd) so parents don’t need to get involved in the drop-off system for the Infant and Junior School.

It’s an idyllic setting for the pre-schoolers within the Cottage as it overlooks the school grounds and neighbouring fruit orchard, and they have their own all-weather play area. Drop-off can be from 7.30am and for the parents that can’t stick around for daily updates, they can monitor their child’s progress via the app, Tapestry which keeps a track on what their child has been up to during the week.

15 hours of FEE funding is available from the age of 3 and uniform is a requirement from the point of joining Pre-Reception (which helps prepare them for the big school). Alongside the teaching staff, there is a French and Spanish specialist who will visit and help your child expand their language repertoire!

QUIRKS

We love the encouragement to get out and play during the breaks and embracing those wonderful moments of childhood, plus of course the chance to get ‘muddy’ with parents telling me that they love the fact that they pick them up from school knowing that they have had a really good run about during the day.

We mention it within our review of the Senior School but a very charming and community spirited event is Kent College’s annual Carol singing at Moat Farm where pupils from Junior and Senior school, plus parents and teachers, congregate to sing carols and hear nativity readings set amidst a real-life stable with goats, lambs, horses and piglets watching on with fairy lights and tinsel to really set the scene.

Children can spend time at Moat Farm with a wide array of farm animals and learn to ride or look after horses at its own riding school which can be incorporated into the sports’ programme which you don’t find at many schools.

We also love the idea of KC Book Day held in the Summer months where alongside the obligatory fancy dress element for the children and staff, professional authors are invited for readings of their novels in the garden with rugs laid down on the grass for that picture perfect scene. Plus each teacher, from sport right through to computing, hosts story stations where pupils can listen to them reading from their favourite books.

ANYTHING ELSE?

You may also scream Hallelujah at the fact that there is a KC Holiday Club, run by Super Camps, during school holiday weeks, which covers a wide range of activities so the kids don’t feel like they are being bundled into school during holiday time and you have reliable cover during the long school holidays.

Charity plays a big part at Kent College with regular events hosted throughout the year in aid of charity and there’s even a Junior Charities Club. The school raises money for Farms for City Children, Sir Michael Morpurgo’s charity and the staff at KC also work for free to host events for charities such as Porchlight, Kent’s largest charity for homeless and vulnerable people.

WRAP AROUND CARE

KC refers to this as ‘extended day experiences’ which is a nice touch as it feels more of a learning and fun opportunity rather than elongated childcare. It is a big selling point for the school as pupils can start their day from 7.30am with the option to stay until 6pm plus the occasional boarding and supper clubs should you need to extend your working day at short notice.

They offer over 60 clubs and activities so there really is something for everyone and they run from 4.00pm – 5.00pm and 5.00pm – 6.00pm so you can choose for your children to complete their homework in a supervised room each evening which means that their time at home is family time to be enjoyed rather than an extension of their school day. It was refreshing to see that the majority of children do stay on for these clubs, with teachers encouraged to run at least one club, so no lonely TV watching here for any pupil having to linger on.

FEES (per term)

Pre-Reception (5 Full days per week): £4,615
Reception: £5,028
Year 1: £5,450
Year 2: £5,480
Year 3: £6,872
Year 4: £7,478
Year 5: £7,838
Year 6: £7,928

Boarding – Full-time £10,676 per term
Boarding – Weekly £8,480 per term
Boarding – Occasional £85.00 a night

WORD ON THE GROUND

We met up with a wide-range of ages over lunch who were all super confident and eager to share their thoughts about the school with the food listed as one of the best things about school life with donuts on a Friday getting a special mention alongside themed dinners for Halloween and such like.

Sports tour and school trips also got the big thumbs up with a a trip to the Black Country Living museum being a highlight for one child and a raft building and kayaking adventure holiday in France getting the most kudos from another. The buddy system was also talked about as a positive aspect of school life whereby you are partnered with another child from another year to help them integrate with each other.

Parents are a mix of local (with school buses going up to 30 miles away to help with travel arrangements) and international (if boarding) and one cites the ‘small nurturing environment with a variety of opportunities for your children to experience and thrive in’ as one of the driving factors for choosing Kent College.

Another commented that, ‘I like how the subjects are linked to an individual child’s ability which encourages those who excel whilst looking after those who need more input. As a parent I have been welcomed and actively encouraged to participate in all aspects of school life. There is a definite focus on improving the confidence of children in sport and drama at a young age with hockey, netball, cross country and regular drama performances being held throughout the year. The beautiful grounds also offer an idyllic setting for a child to develop.”

THE MUDDY VERDICT

GOOD FOR: Those looking for a well-rounded school with plenty of space and opportunities for the pupils plus a bespoke and hands-on approach when it comes to education. Due to its proximity to Canterbury and extensive wrap-around care, it’s also a very good option for those working in London and in need of a local school that will accommodate the long commute.

NOT FOR: It’s hard to evaluate who the school would not suit as it caters for all abilities but the cost will be prohibitive for some, and the facilities are maybe not as swish as other prep schools within the area but there is lots in the pipeline to upgrade its look without compromising on the homely quality of the school which is a key winning point.

Kent College, Harbledown, Canterbury CT2 9AQ, +44 (0)1227 762436, prepenquiries@kentcollege.co.uk, kentcollege.co.uk

Kent College Junior School, Canterbury

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