Oustanding Facilities

To gain a further insight into some of our on-site facilities click here for our Virtual Tours.

Set in 75 acres of beautiful green countryside, the school campus comprises an elegant Victorian manor house and purpose-built modern facilities, including a 360-seater state-of-the-art theatre, modern boarding houses, a music school, a large well-equipped sports hall, Sixth Form study centre, a multi-media laboratory, art studios, dance studios, ICT suites and an indoor-heated swimming pool.

Many of the facilities are open until 9pm so students can make good use of them, whether they want to research a project in the library, play badminton in the sports hall or practise a musical instrument.

Kent College is committed to continual development across the school and facilities now include:

The Susanna Wesley Library & Arts Centre was opened on Saturday 16th March 2013 by Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy & musician John Sampson. This iconic cultural centre named after 'Mother of Methodism' Susanna Wesley and designed by Hazel McCormack Young Architects; comprises a ground floor open plan library space, cafe area and large IT suites. Upstairs the art centre includes three large art studios, an art resource area and screen printing facilities.

The well-stocked Library Resource Centre (LRC) houses thousands of non-fiction, fiction and reference books, newspapers, journals and audio-visual material, plus a suite of networked computers. Open 7 days a week with hours beyond the school day, the LRC is made fully accessible for research and quiet private study and is fully utilised by the girls during lunchtimes and after school. Using the LRC students can practise skills that they are taught in the information skills study programme.

The Darbyshire Wing Science laboratories were opened on Saturday 20th September 2008 by Vice Chancellor of the University of Kent: Professor Julia Goodfellow CBE. This building

comprises 4 new laboratories and a specialist area for Sixth Form students, as well as a bigger area for staff to work in. The Darbyshire Wing takes its' name from the former Chair of Governors June Darbyshire MBE who retired in 2009.

The Kent College Confidence Course was completed in the summer of 2008 and offers students a fantastic range of apparatus for outdoor education in amongst the woods of Kent College. Apparatus includes zip wires and rope walks over the lake, an abseil wall, monkey bars, postman's walk, scramble net and many others.

The Countess of Wessex Theatre was opened in March 2002 by former pupil and husband, Their Royal Highnesses' The Countess and Earl of Wessex and was originally named The Judi Dench Theatre. Following a technical fire in 2011 the Theatre was refurbished and reopened in March 2012 by The Countess of Wessex who also gave permission for the school to re-name this much loved facility 'The Countess of Wessex' Theatre.

The Theatre has a modern, flexible performance space that is a first class venue for traditional theatre and theatre in the round. Raked seating provides comfort and excellent lines of sight with a maximum capacity of 360, as well as a stage that is 40 foot wide and 40 foot deep. Computerised lighting and sound equipment is managed from a control room on the first floor.

Sports facilities include a 20m indoor-heated swimming pool, tennis and netball courts, a hockey pitch, athletics field and dance studio. A large well-equipped sports hall was built in 1999, and provides an excellent multi-sport facility for badminton, indoor hockey, gymnastics, basketball, trampolining, tennis, netball, football and volleyball. It was officially opened by Olympic gold medallist, Roger Black MBE.

A modern Dance Studio with sprung floor was built in 2010 and provides a much needed space for this subject, as well as the countless performing arts productions that Kent College is well known for.

The school is continually investing in IT facilities and a campus-wide network of computers provides the latest software, email for every student and member of staff, broadband Internet access and CD-ROM databases. New IT suites have been developed, and the boarding houses and Sixth Form study centre provide networked IT facilities. Apple Mac computers, scanners, colour printers, digital cameras and digital video cameras are available for use by the students and staff.

The purpose-built Music Centre provides teaching rooms, several practice rooms and storage for instruments. A modern Apple Mac suite with specialist software and keyboards is used by music and A-level Media Studies students.

Textiles and Food Technology are offered in well equipped rooms offering a modern and forward thinking approach to design and creativity linked to ICT including computer controlled machinery and a sublimation printing system.

A multi-media laboratory with 22 PC-based workstations in an air conditioned room. It is used predominantly by modern languages students.

In recent years the Sixth Form study centre, Tilley, has been redeveloped to provide more study rooms, sixth form teaching rooms, a large comfortable common room with kitchen, and networked IT facilities. In 2012 Tilley was refurbished and expanded, making room for the growing Sixth Form.

The boarding bedrooms and communal areas are modern and homely. The school is committed to an ongoing programme of refurbishment in both boarding houses (Hawkwell & Hargreaves - Junior Boarding and James & Osborn - Senior Boarding) with new furniture, carpets and curtains being added continuously. In the Senior boarding house all study bedrooms are fitted with internet links.