Music at Sevenoaks/ King's Canterbury/ Benenden/ Brighton College/ St Swithun's

[thestarryplough]

I have name-changed as I post a lot on here and I think that this may be quite outing. I have a very musical and academic DD and we are currently looking at Y9 2024 entry. I am curious as to what people think of the above schools - in particular if they have particular strengths - for instance I know that King's is good for music but would it have the academic strengths/ opportunities for a very academic child? I know that Sevenoaks and Brighton College get amazing academic results, but are they also good musically - particularly with respect to choral opportunities?

I can comment on Sevenoaks because I have a child who is a music scholar there. Yes, it is very good at music. Yes, the current head of music is very much into choral opportunities including Oxbridge scholarships. However, of course it does not have a Cathedral right next door to the school. How important is that to you or your DD? I think you need to call up the director of music in each school and see how nice they are etc. and what they actually do for their singers. For example, I do not know if the girls at St Swithun’s sing in Winchester cathedral (I know the boys from Winchester and Pilgrims do).

Sevenoaks is great academically and the kids tend to be naturally bright. Pastoral care is excellent. They are encouraged to think on their own and it has a modern ethos. Top musicians are allowed to miss Saturday school for London orchestras, if they want to. I suspect some will not want to in Year 11 and Year 13.
Kings Canterbury is a lovely school but not as academic as Sevenoaks or Brighton College.
Does your DD prefer co-ed or single sex? I would start from there. Benenden is very different from Sevenoaks …

Have also name changed for this as quite outing.

We looked at a similar list of schools for DD in 2013 and chose King’s Canterbury though we also had offers from Sevenoaks and Brighton.

What swung it for us was the music offering at King’s combined with the outstanding setting. The choral opportunities are outstanding - probably only Wells Cathedral on a par.

We were also overseas and wanted full boarding. Our impression of both Sevenoaks and Brighton College was that many students went home to London at the weekends - particularly in Years 9 - 11. They have mellowed a bit on full boarding but if you want her home every weekend Sevenoaks or Brighton might be a better choice.

I agree with Ad Astra that the average student at Sevenoaks (and probably Brighton College too) is more academic than the average at Kings. But the top students at King’s also do extremely well - in DCs final year 20 or so went on to Oxbridge - so there is no doubt that the brightest students fulfil their potential.

We were also put off by the then Head of Sevenoaks emphasising perfect IB scores in talks to prospective parents. We thought that might play badly to our DC’s perfectionist tendencies. I realise it might incentivise others though! We liked what we saw as the more rounded approach of Kings.

I do not know Benenden. We only looked at co-ed. But you cannot go wrong with any of these schools.

Thank you both so much for such detailed comments.

@Adastraperaspera I don't think that singing in a cathedral is a particular must but she is rather keen on sacred songs and I did wonder if the absence of a chapel choir at Sevenoaks and indeed a chapel meant that there wasn't much of this type of singing? With respect to the academic side I can really see how Sevenoaks would benefit her, as she is certainly coasting currently in some areas and would love to move at a faster pace generally. I don't think she minds co-ed or single sex. She does care about the science facilities though and was really impressed by the science centre at Sevenoaks and to a lesser extent at Benenden (still amazing but smaller). It is very hard to arrive at a conclusion on King's given they still aren't allowing anyone in to look around.

@Muesliforbreakfast I agree the surroundings are impressive at King's but we haven't seen inside so can't really judge on that basis. I did wonder though if maybe there was a slight shift towards children playing orchestral instruments (DD does both) - I may have picked this up wrongly but it was just the impression I had. We don't mind weekly or full boarding as we are not that far from the school. I appreciate that King's do take a much broader range of students than Sevenoaks (given their intake it's not hard to see why they get such impressive results) and that they do send a lot of children to Oxbridge every year. I suppose my concern is the pace/ breadth of teaching - is everything taught in sets? At her prep there have definitely been instances of derision of academic performance/ knowledge and we really would like to get away from that. I too would have been concerned about someone talking about perfect scores - that sounds rather stressful for everyone. I have had an opportunity to hear the new head speak and he came across very well.

www.sevenoaksschool.org/music/choirs/choirs/
There are plenty of choirs. My DD seems to do at least one music thing a day (orchestra, choir, chamber group, piano duet etc) plus a range of sports and fixtures as well. She only started singing properly (as in daily) when she joined the school, hence I believe the singing must be good.
She too is very academic and musical and seems to be very happy and busy. What she likes is that the lessons are taught to invoke thought and independent opinion. The homework load is manageable. The teachers are given freedom to teach without too much constraint. The new head is inspirational and holistic. I don’t like schools who teach too much to results and exams and I do not think Sevenoaks is like that. However, I believe Kings is not either. They are both lovely schools, a difficult choice. Good luck!

I believe those in the Winchester Cathedral girls choir attend a variety of schools so there are likely to be some at St Swithun's. I know a girl who went there and sang in the choir but she is now in her 20s.

@thestarryplough OP, we're in a similar situation and I imagine that you might have already had your visit to Kings in the meantime. Please update us as to what you've seen, and your thoughts about King's vs Sevenoaks vs Brighton and why?

Ave you considered Roseanne?

@KingsCan we haven't actually made it to an open morning visit yet due to clashes with other things so far. We're aiming for the next one in March now. Still haven't made a decision, but probably leaning more towards Sevenoaks.

Interesting @thestarryplough can you share with us why exactly you are leaning Sevenoaks?