Ms. Rachel Bailey

FROM BENENDEN SCHOOL, KENT

In this episode of Education Corner Podcast we spoke to Ms. Rachel Bailey, Headmistress of Benenden School in Kent. Benenden is an all-girls’ boarding school with a strong emphasis on inspiring future leaders and thinkers to shape a better world. Rachel discussed Benenden’s Complete Education, their supportive community and how they are preparing girls for the future.

Rachel told us how she came to education: “I didn’t really fall into education, but I’d always known it was probably likely to be in my future.” Her mother was a teacher and when Rachel herself began teaching in the 1990s, she described the feeling as: “The light bulb went on, I’d found my passion.” Rachel’s teaching career began at an all-boys’ grammar school, and she worked in the maintained sector for almost twenty years, “I just progressed up the ranks,” she explained. Despite not looking to move on from her previous headship at the Royal Masonic School for Girls, Rachel recalled: “The Benenden post came up and I thought, ‘Well, why not?’ It was a school that chimed with me again, educationally and in terms of the ethos of educating young women who were going to shape the future.”

Rachel described her ethos for education as: “Education should be about inspiring and equipping students.” This is certainly present at Benenden, with emphasis on “learning to achieve balance in their lives.” Rachel elaborated on this: “We want to equip them, we do want to open doors for them. That means things like getting brilliant exam results, but it also means equipping them with skills and character traits that- when they go on into adult life, they are ready to take up challenges and they’re not fazed by that.” At Benenden, this means a focus on the process of learning, not just on exam results and outcomes. Rachel explained that this is particularly significant for girls, who tend to be more inclined to perfectionism, and are so put off by the fear of not succeeding that they may not even try - so, the school nurtures a supportive culture where pupils are not afraid to try new things. Rachel summises the ethos and aims of Benenden as: “It’s not just about exam results. It’s about those interpersonal skills. It’s about creativity, innovation, the team working together, problem-solving and being able to work with others, compromise, listen well, disagree well and build the confidence that goes with that. Essentially, we want them to be comfortable in their own skin, we want them to be able to articulate their ideas in a way that is genuine to them.”

Equipping students for life beyond Benenden

Benenden School, Kent also includes dedicated careers support and social and community work through PSHE and co-curricular activities. Rachel told us how the school’s PSHE curriculum teaches “skills of awareness of each other and different views and perspectives” as well as the importance of “disagreeing well”. In the older years, pupils take part in community work including with “local schools, we have retirement homes, we have a local community shop and a range of different activities in the local area.” As well as supporting their community, the aim of this is to teach girls “awareness of their skills base, how they can demonstrate what they know and how all of the things they do will help them in future life.”

“Complete Education”, which Rachel explained as: “A challenging and rigorous academic curriculum. But alongside that, we are embedding skills and we’re embedding global awareness, we want them to think creatively as well.” In the lower school, pupils study for the Benenden Diploma, which follows a different theme each term and encourages girls to explore this theme across subjects and beyond the classroom. “They’re learning, they’re having fun, but really, we’re challenging them, even at a young age,” Rachel explained.

The curriculum at Benenden is described as a

As an all-girls’ school, Benenden believes strongly in the power of a single-sex environment for their pupils. “They are more likely to take up STEM subjects and subjects in traditionally maledominated areas. Girls are more likely to continue in competitive sport,” Rachel described. She also explained the impact on their confidence, as well as skills and attainment: “Girls are more likely to go into leadership positions, because they’ve been in an environment where women take the lead all the time; they do not question their right to be in the room.” This is evidenced by the school’s excellent attainment as well as feedback from pupils, with exam results well above the national average. Rachel shared: “What we’re doing at the school is really making a difference to the outcomes for these girls.”

A strong sense of community and sisterhood is also nurtured in this environment. Each girl has a ‘big sister’ in the older years as well as a ‘house mother’, who help them with day-to-day tasks as well as providing sisterly emotional and personal support. Rachel explained: “We know that older students actually have far more sway on younger students than we do as adults.” The impact of this strong sense of community is evident in the school, Rachel described: “You have a genuinely supportive environment where they encourage and cheerlead each other, which is just brilliant to be a part of.”

The school also offers opportunities for co-educational socialising, with socials as well as academic and co-curricular activities taking place with all-boys’ schools such as Tonbridge School. Rachel shared more about this collaboration: “We’ve done some great empathy days, where some of the older students have looked at viewpoints from the different genders, which is really interesting and has caused some interesting debate. [...] that’s a relationship that’s developing all the time.”

As a boarding school, Benenden offers a wide range of activities on the weekends - Saturday mornings begin with lessons, followed by sports matches. Parents are encouraged to visit the school on weekends to support sports matches or join the girls for lunch or Sunday brunch. For older girls, academic opportunities such as university application support are available, as well as trips to Bluewater Shopping Centre. This is supported by the school’s ‘best of both worlds’ location, with over 250 acres of Kent parkland, as well as easy access to London by train. Rachel told us of the many benefits: “It means we’re connected to the big wide world nicely, but also they’re in this gorgeous rural setting.” With both the distraction-free countryside setting and opportunities to visit towns and cities, girls at Benenden thrive across the board. This continuous busyness throughout the week is undoubtedly part of the school’s appeal for Rachel: “There’s a lot going on, the girls have a lot of choice at the weekends. So there is still that real community feel.”

After her first term at Benenden, Rachel is looking forward to continuing to embrace “the principles on which the school is based: the complete education, the importance of all-round education for girls,” as well as looking towards the future in regards to AI, technology and the wider curriculum. Rachel concluded: “We are and need to remain experts in all things to do with girls and women, and encouraging the girls so that we set them up for the future.” www.benenden.school

We would like to thank Ms. Rachel Bailey, Head of Benenden School, for giving up her time to speak to us.