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.

fall for. Apologies for the typo!

Firstly, on a positive note, KC’s 2024 A level results were good for a non-selective school. 43% A-A, 18% A and around 75% A-B. If this is compared to TWGGS A level results (48% A-A, 16.8% A and 81% A-B) KC actually outperformed the grammar on the percentage of A* passes.
Unfortunately, at GCSE, KC’s % of Grade 7-9 was only around 33% this year. This has fallen since previous years (for example in 2015 they scored: 52% A-A, 82% A*-B). In comparison, at Walthamstow Hall this year 34% of GCSE grades were 9s, 57% were 8-9 and 74% were 7-9!
Day fees at Kent College now almost £27,000 per year.

I think it’s hard to gauge a true picture when the data isn’t comprehensive enough and subjects aren’t declared. All I know is, KC is not renowned for being an academic school and from what I gather there aren’t many pupils taking particularly taxing academic subjects at A-level. It is much harder to achieve an A in a subject like further maths, than film studies, for example. *

My comment above should have read that 18% of KC’s 2024 A-level results were A STAR (their highest % of A Stars for 9 years). And 43% A Star-A.
This year’s university destinations are fine. The website confirms that places include:
Bristol (Maths), Bristol (Civil Engineering), Durham (Maths), Durham (Philosopy and Psychology), Nottingham (Architecture), St Andrews (Theology), UCL (English), UCL (Spanish & Management).
Places also awarded to Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds and Sheffield. Good universities and some STEM subjects.
It is at GCSE were the percentage of 9-7 grades really declined this year.

My daughter is in year 10 at the school. She’s very happy there and is doing well academically. We love the school!

After reading another thread on here, I was interested to see what was said about Kent College on mumsnet and have come across this thread which shows a mix of views. But I can’t get over OP’s sentence “The student contract states threats to life will include exclusion which never happens” as it’s never occurred to me that schools have to make such statements! Is it common to have this policy or contract in place? A normal part of modern schooling?

We haven't had similar wording in our current school but they don't have the same issues with the children as they had at KCP. Current school is not as fearful of letting disturbed children get properly helped or excluding children who are not reflecting school values or using violence. Our DD is far happier and in the top set and flourishing in a school with a far better academic history and infinitely better pastoral care. We still have zero regrets about leaving and I hope that KCP actually has begun to listen to parents to sort out the multiple issues that were there when we were.

The problem KC has is they accept riff-raff. Riff-raff with a bit of money! Unlike other private schools in the region, KC Is basically known as an “11+ reject school”.

@Appleblossom0864 Can you define "riff-raff" please?

Not particularly intelligent or classy. Badly behaved girls and overly indulgent parents. The vast majority seem to have a mental health problem of sorts! If the general cohort of families/girls are of that ilk, there are bound to be lots of problems!

Also, these parents that are bowled over by the all singing, all dancing open mornings with bells on, need to see through it! It’s a sales
pitch where they want your £££

don’t be fooled by it.. the ground might be nice but don’t let that fool you!!

Funny how Kent College Pembury have removed their reviews option on Google Reviews.. they had some pretty bad ones, but of course removing it means it’s easier to cover things up!!

@Appleblossom0864

You sound charming and non-judgmental! Anywho, riff raff with a bit of money, you can’t escape that! Arguably, you’ve just defined most people with money, not particularly intelligent or charming!! Traders and Russian oligarchs for example!! 😂

All private schools have kids of that ilk.. Not sure what category you feel you fit into, perhaps ‘entitled and British’ but again, that’s majority of private schools in the ‘burbs..

Just to add some context here, I was on the same WhatsApp group that the original poster referred to and we had to raise with the school this lady’s behaviour as she was acting very inappropriately. Some people do find it hard to get over the fact their children don’t thrive at a certain school but it’s always best just to focus on them being happy elsewhere. We have two daughters at the school and absolutely love it, it’s an amazing school with caring teachers and staff and lots of wonderful opportunities for the girls. Please don’t be put off by one person’s experience.

It's not just 'one person’s experience' is it though? Sounds like multiple people are choosing to leave and take their kids elsewhere. I can absolutely and say with clarity, it is many more than one person's experience! Also, some kids/families do get pushed out or managed out of these private school settings. Not enough people talk about this!

I would welcome sharing some observations and experiences of KC Prep and a SEN child being targeted by staff but concerned about any backlash in doing so - it’s really important that parents be allowed to speak up especially as regards safeguarding concerns and frankly any school that seeks to silence parents on the subject is dangerous. 😞

Haha not much has changed in the 50 years since I was there then! Me and my mates were the riff raff

Don’t have personal experience of the Prep school, as my dd didn’t go there, but I have heard from other parents that there are similar problems with it.

It is a tragedy, in my view, that Nigel Ashton has left the school. Why has he gone? He is responsible for a level of excellence pretty much unmatched in other schools. My guess is that he yelled once too hard at a child who (with good reason) wasn’t ready for his rigour. However, without his rigour aka yelling, children would not have been able to memorise whole swathes of difficult texts, which they might well have balked at in English lessons, say. I fear Kent College might close down because it has no endowments etc. What a tragedy! Also, it must be incredibly challenging to teach there now, given the multiplicity of SEND needs and emotional fragilities in young people. One parent’s complaint on here that there is not enough free therapy in the school should, in my view, take responsibility for her own child’s therapy.

Nigel Ashton was at the school since the 1990s. So, surely his reason for leaving must have been retirement. It is a great shame that he has gone. His productions were exceptional (acting, scenery, costumes etc).

He’d been at KC for, I think, 33 years so certainly a well-earned retirement but as far as I know that wasn’t the reason he left. An absolute genius of a teacher!

The secondary school has today announced that it will turn co-educational in all year groups from next September 2026. A terrible shame.

Mr Ashton was and is an absolute genius!!!