Kent College Pembury

[Aretheysellingpolishedturd]

Does anyone currently go here and willing to talk about the huge recent drop in academic performance? We went to the chat last week and were concerned about the talks; one seemingly pushing parents to do pastoral care via an app and another saying most girls are happy with just average grades. We came away feeling that there was zero impetus to push any girl to get top grades and that the school has become a "sporty" school foremost. A lot of talk on value added which doesn't seem to help the girls long term, just the school, who now accept less academic students to keep these value added scores high. We have a lot of people leaving in our year group and are wondering whether to join them in jumping ship as at the talk several parents from other year groups we talked to said the same.

We also had the Big Brother style email about not using WA groups to talk negatively about the school, which is why I am posting here as it feels safer.

Sorry to jump in, but could you provide a bit more info about how the school have explained this? We have applied for year 7 entry for next year and are slightly concerned by this. Wondering whether to pull DD’s application and focus on the other schools applied to. Thank you!

We have decided to leave and will be handing notice in before the end of the term.

Met with several parents who are concerned as the school is struggling with SEN and pastoral care in every year. Communication with parents is one-sided and very "sell the value added" focused, which is great if your child only wants a few 5/6's but seems to be largely for their charts as a school. A lot of parents are happy with their girls getting average grades as they are not academic, so there is little push to keep subjects that may be challenging. All clubs are in half hour slots at lunch which is problematic with girls missing lunch and not signing up for extras as a result.

General consensus amongst the 10 or so parent's I have been in contact with is that if you have an average or above average child they let them coast. You as a parent have to kick up a fuss to get the "stretch". SEN department (of 1) seems over-stretched which is having an effect on the behaviour and then the pastoral care. They have 2 counsellors but they are only in for part of 2 days a week (in total, not combined) with a very long waiting list. Now they are outsourcing care to parents via an app. They don't do well at disciplining girls who bully, instead moving the girls who are bullied around so there's less fuss. The student contract states threats to life will include exclusion which never happens. No support for children who are bullied due to long waiting lists to see counsellors.
I recently heard of an issue in a boarding house which was hushed up using the new headmistresses technique of hiding from the problem rather than confronting it, which has lead to a few boarders leaving.

In general the teaching staff are great, but the school hasn't put money into the support, SEN and pastoral that it needs and instead replaced a perfectly functional pool with one that doesn't even have hair dryers!

Oh crikey! Thank you for the further info. DD is pretty academic and it sounds as though it is not the school for her on that alone. (And the rest sounds terrifying, frankly.) Obviously the school do not tell you any if this on the open day!
We’ll be withdrawing the application.

I would say that if she can get an academic scholarship the scholars are treated very differently but the majority of scholarship places go to sports scholars who are not academic. If she's just academic it may not be the place to push her to get her very best.

We visited Kent College Pembury again yesterday and was hugely impressed again. Our dd had a “brilliant” Big Dig morning and really enjoyed the whole experience. The staff were great and it was lovely to chat with the Head who was very down to earth and lovely with the girls. We were also impressed with the ex-student who was at yesterday’s event. She couldn’t speak highly enough of the school; she clearly loved her time at KC and was encouraged all the way to follow her dream.

Friends and friends of friends have been extremely happy with their varying experiences of KC under different heads and have been seriously impressed with the support from the school when dealing with problems either academic or pastoral. They have all valued the hard work and support of staff and felt that additional needs were well and kindly met. I note KC has also very recently achieved an excellent in the recent ISI inspection. On reading the report, we noted the number of comments concerning excellent academic achievement, the stretch and challenge provided, along with the provision for the boarding community.

I think you have completely misunderstood the concept of value added, which is a key measure of any school’s performance. Of course it is of value to students as it reflects how well students achieve. All schools use baseline data as a blunt tool; VA shows how well above that they achieve. It is reasonable to expect lower ability children to achieve lower results; that does not keep VA high. What keeps VA high is excellent teaching and motivated students. We all know that not every child is highly academic nor has the potential to be so it’s a better message to push than purely grinding out the numbers of A*s and As or 9s and 8s, especially given the government determination to push grade levels back to pre-Covid years with Covid affected cohorts. KC has been in the top 7% of schools nationally for VA which seems excellent to us. I would be interested in seeing evidence of “the huge recent drop” in academic performance in GCSE or A level results as results look great.

Seems to me that attempting to regulate adults on WhatsApp is a sad state of affairs and usually only happens when parents are unable to be the role models they should be. If there are problems between schools and parents, WA is not the place to sort it out. It’s a pity that schools have to waste their time regulating adults. Schools are quite within their rights to pursue legal action concerning comments made online. Likewise, I consider the pastoral care of my dd to be my responsibility and not the school’s. I am firmly a parent and not a best friend! I asked about the app and they use the Wellbeing Hub. I googled this and it seems to offer impressive support and advice. They emphasised that it is an additional resource and is also used by staff which does not replace the pastoral care on offer. The “heard of an issue that was hushed up” seems like gossip and rumour. You can only speak as you find I suppose, but friends have attended several drop in sessions with the new head and have found her very approachable, kind, caring and realistic. 10 so unhappy parents (note no apostrophe as it’s a plural) seem a very small number when there are 480ish girls in the school.

Our dd hates sport and would rather die than swim, but the new pool looks great. We were told that the old pool had a huge leak and so it was better value to future proof and build a new pool. There are parts of the school that look tatty and in need of some tlc and a refresh, but ultimately it’s all about the education and care. Not sure what we’ll do yet for dd. Fees are highish and finances are tight but won’t hesitate to join KC if we can make it work.

And I sincerely hope that your dd enjoys it if she goes and you do not have the multitude of problems with almost every aspect that we did.
We and many in our year, have left. Good luck!

@KidsAreAllRight thank you for your post, we too had a positive feel after attending an open morning (senior school) a while ago and are planning to attend another soon. Yes the presentations were “all singing, all dancing” with lots of charts and slides and emphasis on VA but our tour showed us a happy school with bright, articulate girls and engaging teachers. And why wouldn’t you want to push VA, I’d be delighted if my daughter came out with a higher grade than originally predicted. Our only concern was whether our DD would fit in as she’d be joining from a small state primary and be in the minority with most girls coming through from the prep or other independents. Regardless, the school is still very much on our possibles list.

If you are going back I would ask some questions about counsellor availability, if they have had any exclusions and what for (kids know they can get away with a lot), how they deal with bullying, SEN provision (there are multiple issues with this across all years but if not applicable you may not care until another child acts out), availability of clubs and timings of the clubs in coordination with lunch times - often only 1 or 2 depending on year group a week and largely sport, do they keep a record of girls who haven't turned up for lunch and what do they do if this happens, how many boarders each year has and what they do with them in the evenings as flexi-boarding is an option but there are no after school clubs, how they apply their "stretch" and really talk to the girls about bullying in their years. If you talk to parents ask what the communication is like and how many apps you will need to download and whether they talk to each other or become confusing, resulting in parents needing to use WA across the school and often becoming annoyed but unable to voice this.

By all means, choose it but I would be remiss not to point out why so many parents currently there are leaving, without breaching specific confidences.

Also ask the children how much of their homework gets marked by an actual teacher rather than a computer system and whether their termly reports are detailed in how they can improve for each subject.

@MumOfStarWars I would always be inclined to go with how a school feels during a working day - I too thought the girls looked happy in class and break-time - and the feeling of the school has been friendly from the start.

I think all schools have problems and finding the right fit for dds is important. We don't take having a degree of choice for granted. May be that some have unrealistic expectations of how schools should manage teenagers!!

As I said, by all means send your dd's there but I am raising concerns that many parents I know have had, without some quite disturbing facts as they are too personal and it is not my place to disclose.

All of the parents who have left are far happier and have noticed marked improvements in their children's academic achievements and mental health since starting at new schools. All of the parents feel they have made the best decision, not a single regret among us. It is an expensive decision and robustly deciding not to listen to any potential negatives from people who have actually had children at the school, is of course your choice. You sound remarkably like the school whenever issues were raised, actually, so maybe it is the right fit.

I don’t normally comment on such posts but felt the need to.

We are at the stage of looking for secondary schools, we are fortunate that our dd is at KC Prep. We have gone down the 11+ route but have decided after viewing both grammar and independents that KC is the right fit for us.

We have been to many events in the senior school, just this weekend at the Big Dig. We always come away with the same feeling from the pupils that toured us to the pupils helping in the activities that it is a community that looks out for each other. We always walk out talking about how positive our time at the senior school has been.

We have meet teachers who are passionate about their subjects, that spiked dds interest in a variety of different subjects. The welcoming pastoral team who at the big dig buddied up girls that were feeling slightly anxious about not knowing any one. We’ve met the Head on these events and got a good understanding what she wants our dd and other girls to achieve at KC.

As a Prep parent the wellbeing hub has been a useful tool alongside the pastoral team and teachers not to replace. KC does have children from all backgrounds and we believe that’s what makes its so
welcoming to all!

We are very happy with KC and will be continuing our dds journey there.

I have heard very good things about Aultmore, the prep school and some of those who have left were there before and couldn't fault it.

I really hope that you find the senior school as good, unfortunately we did not.

I also remembered another issue which was how work is found if the child is off sick. Again, just trying to raise issues that we weren't allowed to voice and never got addressed when there, as per my previous posts. Do ask to see an end of term report though.

I know several people with DDs at KC senior school. They all love it. The school offers a balanced education of academics, combined with strong sports, arts and West-End standard drama. The school facilities have improved massively over the past 15 years (new science wing, theatre, two sports halls, astro pitch etc), a process started by then headmistress Sally Ann Huang (now head of top school St Pauls Boys, London). The current headmistress is from an academic Nottingham girls’ school and has good degrees herself, so she is sure to continue to build on this and seek the best for her pupils. The new pool was required because of structural issues with the old pool.

A number of girls are able to move to grammar schools at Sixth Form – so KC has clearly educated them to the high standard so that they are able to do this. The icing on the cake for KC would be a more dynamic and innovative Sixth Form Centre. This would help with pupil retention in the Sixth Form. Tilley House is not as inspirational as Sixth Form buildings you find elsewhere.

Also, I hope they keep the striped shirts as part of the senior uniform. There have been enough uniform changes for now.

I think the results show it is a very middle of the road school academically, hardly a big hitter in the top 100. Luckily for KC it is one of the few remaining private girls schools in the local area.

Mr Ashdown who used to be head of Drama has left. The theatre was built in the days of Miss Crompton, so is now relatively old.

There are far more sports scholars than academic in most years, which speaks for itself. We know of at least one academic scholar who is leaving.

For someone who only has friends kids at school there you do seem to know a lot of the history and daily detail of the school.

I, too, don’t often comment on these threads, but feel I have to.

KC has been nothing but good for my dd. I feel the previous comments about value added scores are clearly based on misunderstanding.

dd is a scholar (double scholar, actually), and I don’t think that the scholarship pool is biased towards sports at all.

there was a major issue with a WA group within one year group, which was indeed whipping up dissent amongst parents, and causing an issue for the school. There was one letter sent (as a parent not in that year group), reminding parents to perhaps approach the school with any problems, rather than complaining on a forum where the issues cannot be addressed.

I would agree that a better sixth form centre would be good, but the swimming pool replacement was very much needed - the previous pool had been out of service for a number of years, and was not cost effective to repair. The building of the new pool had to be brought forward in order to replace the old pool.

SEN provision has been good, with a number of issues sorted out for my dd.

I dislike the new app that the school has chosen to go with, but that’s a personal issue with the set up and interface. I’m certainly not being asked to do any kind of pastoral support through an app, and my dd has access to support staff and counsellors as needed (she has always found the support to be excellent).

there are multiple clubs both at lunchtime and after school- dd has always had an incredibly busy schedule of clubs, and while they do clash with lunch, moving lunch allocation is easily possible. I don’t think dd had a single day of her usual lunch allocation in year 8, but a lunch pass was easily obtained, and that has been the case since then as well. There is also a record kept of girls going into lunch (did you actually have a child at KC, as this is really basic information), and I would assume that steps are taken if the school feels it is necessary (hasn’t been an issue for my dd).

the head of drama did leave at the end of last year (Mr Ashton, not Ashdown), but staff do move on. Whilst he undoubtedly produced some amazing shows during his time, he was not the only one involved in doing so, and the department will continue to aspire to impressive shows.

To anyone looking around KC, who has had their interest sparked by recent open days, please do know that (in our experience, certainly), the school really does deliver what it promises.

The WA issue was a school wide issue - you can see on the letter it was sent to the whole school and every year group - and certainly the parents I spoke to were aware of incidents in multiple years (parents often have more than one child and the school trying to hide these issues is part of the problem). The problems in each year group were not being listened to by the school, who don't seem to like to hear criticism. There was an incident in I think Y7, with a huge safeguarding concern for multiple children that was not fully addressed openly by the Head, as well as the concerns that you are alluding to in other years. This was not simply one or two parents causing problems but multiple year groups having issues that were not being looked into or fixed.

I'm glad your dd as a scholar is enjoying her time. Other children have found the lunchtime hobbies very stressful, with little concern over girls who miss lunch as a result.

We are just glad to be out of the whole thing and in a thriving school with wonderful communication, happier girls, more co-curricular options and better academic results. I think I have been clear on issues future parents should look into.

KC parent here x3 (one now at Durham… straight As)

All so happy.

2 very academic and certainly feel / felt
stretched
1 with mild SEN and enormously supported

my DD there
loves it
she’s both academically strong and sporty and KC challenges her and bring out best

fellow parents all seem very happy

it’s clear the OP has a very poor relationship with the school and an axe to grind

It is well known that many have left, and continue to leave, KCP. All the points ‘aretheysellingpolished turd’ raised are factually correct.

Taken on a parents walkabout of this school. Everyone seemed friendly but the facilities looked tatty.

Many newbies coming in! Prep is NOT the same as secondary! I read many ‘incoming’ parents talking about first appearance, defending the ‘unknown’. You will do well to listen to those who are telling you a raw experience at KC. I regret sending mine there too. My children struggled a great deal. Moving to a different school was the best decision I made albeit too late for the older one. I always tried to convince myself it will get better. It never did.
Academics are at its lowest point ever this year. But I am sure they will find a way to promote the school with statistics. Don’t get persuaded by any schools’ statistics! If you only have a handful (6 students) in a class and you promote 50% got A-A* then it means 3 did well…they never mention the rest, the ungradables or rewrites.
Ask for real numbers, how many kids had to do foundation vs higher for example.
Regarding value added: parents pay so much for extra tutoring after mocks. The value (for us) was us paying outsiders to close gaps…KC only finished some of the curriculum just before study leave. Study leave is early, other schools were organising holiday sessions, and kept going with papers all the way to the start of GCSE exams. We paid full money for a term that showed little to nothing! We organised more tutoring on top of private bills from April onwards.
Also consider: How many kids left in one academic year, how many teachers left etc.
Also whatsapp groups get shut down only when there is perhaps too much truth and genuine concern expressed. A school can’t tell parents they can’t talk about concerns. I remember KC shutting parents up. It was an unfortunate situation as parents had genuine concern. It was awkward for school trying to tell parents not to talk to each other.
The bully gets promoted, the quiet child got pushed in a corner…I can honestly say you pay for extra help but little to no extra sen was really given. Just got bill after bill for extra support.
New school are very much on top of SEN.
My only advice is this: if your gut tells you to move after joining, then MOVE!
One child may be happy but if you are not, it does not mean you or your child did wrong. Some kids will flourish but if yours are struggling (spoil alert…usually year 9) don’t hesitate to visit other schools. If not, you bite the bullet to the end of year 11.
Good luck to all!

Ps: you will never hear parents promoting VA (value added) as bottom line for uni or A-levels will be the grade you achieved. I read this one ‘reply’ assuming a KC rep/or insider (the writing is familiar) wrote with such passion about VA.
also regarding parents talking on this forum or whatsapp: it’s exactly why people talk to get an opinion, or a feel for something.
The parent pay extortionate amounts of money, and bottom line remains that we are paying customers. Imagine you open on results day a paper with U or 3’s on it. Funny how legal rights got mentioned… it goes both ways.
After 5 years of paying fees no child deserves a U or 3’s on GCSE results day. Transparency goes both ways! If a child fails GCSE especially maths and english the school got to own their mistakes, lack of teaching, lack of support. Lack of performance. If your child is unfortunate on this day school failed you whilst pocketing on average 25k per year x 5 years (if you started in year 7)
It’s not ‘what’ they promote, it’s all about what is disguised, hidden or silenced - that goes for all schools!
new school had no failures for english
just wondering if schools should show the entire picture for results day? That will help parents making decisions wouldn’t it?

I completely agree with everything you’ve said. And I do feel awfully sorry for those families that fool for the school’s false marketing. KC is very desperately trying to promote itself as something it isn’t. Smoke and mirrors. Once they reel you in, the only thing they really care about is your fees.

Cost cutting is very apparent. So, If you’re looking for a no frills, rip off, private education, Kent College Pembury is the place to go!