| chair_label =
| chair =
| founder = Lady Elena Bennett
| founder_pl =
| specialist = | specialist_pl =
| street = Culverden Down
| city = Tunbridge Wells
| county = Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

| country = England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

| postcode = TN4 9SH
| LEA = Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

| ofsted = yes
| urn = 118841
| staff = 102
| enrollment = 1480
| gender = Coeducational
| lower_age = 11
| upper_age = 18
| houses = Audley, Chavasse, Fisher, Gundolf, Justus, Langdon, Merton, Ridley
| colours = Green
| publication =
| free_label_1 =
| free_1 =
| free_label_2 =
| free_2 =
| free_label_3 =
| free_3 =
| website = http://www.bennett.kent.sch.uk
| website_name =
}}

Bennett Memorial Diocesan School is a Church of England

Church of England

The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 Aided Comprehensive School

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 in Royal Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells

Royal Tunbridge Wells is a town in west Kent, England, about south-east of central London by road, by rail. The town is close to the border of the county of East Sussex...

, Kent

Kent

Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. It was founded in 1951 as a Church of England school for girls. The original school building was purchased by the Church using funds donated by Lady Elena Bennett and the school subsequently opened in 1953.

In 1976 Bennett became a comprehensive school, welcoming students of all abilities from a large part of the Diocese of Rochester

Diocese of Rochester

The Diocese of Rochester is a Church of England diocese in South-East England and forms part of the Province of Canterbury. It is an ancient diocese, having been established in 604; only the neighbouring Diocese of Canterbury is older in the Church of England....

 rather than just Tunbridge Wells. It was shortly after this time that the Bennett sixth form

Sixth form

In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...

 was developed for A-Level students. Over the years students have travelled from as far away as Aylesford

Aylesford

Aylesford is a village and civil parish on the River Medway in Kent, 4 miles NW of Maidstone in England.Originally a small riverside settlement, the old village comprises around 60 houses, many of which were formerly shops. One pub, a Post Office and four small independent shops remain...

 and Robertsbridge

Robertsbridge

Robertsbridge is a village in East Sussex, England within the civil parish of Salehurst and Robertsbridge. It is approximately 10 miles north of Hastings and 13 miles south-east of Tunbridge Wells...

. Bennett started to accept boys in 1993 and in 2003 achieved specialist school

Specialist school

The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...

 status as a technology college

Technology College

Technology College is a term used in the United Kingdom for a secondary specialist school that focuses on design and technology, mathematics and science. These were the first type of specialist schools, beginning in 1994. In 2008 there were 598 Technology Colleges in England, of which 12 also...

. It also has the silver Artsmark

Artsmark

Artsmark is a national award scheme managed by Arts Council England. The scheme, that is open to all schools in England, recognises schools with a high level of provision in the arts.There are three levels of award:* Artsmark Gold* Artsmark Silver...

 award, the Sportsmark

Sportsmark

Sportsmark is Sport England's accreditation scheme for secondary schools. The scheme recognises a school's out of hours sports provision.Sportsmark awards are given to secondary schools for provision for sport and physical education. They are currently being reviewed along with Activemark awards...

 award and is a Language College

Language College

Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages...

.

Facilities

The school has the following main buildings:

• The Mansion Block (R.E classrooms)
• The Palmer Building (Maths, Psychology)
• The Webster Block (ICT, Modern Foreign Languages, Geography)
• The Cutbush Building (History)
• The Music and Drama Department
• The Ann Scott Wing (English, Science)
• Technology Department (Electronics, Textiles, Food Tech, Graphics, Resistant Materials)
• The Art Department

House system

The school holds a house system used in every year, the name of the house is usually named after bishops of Rochester:

• Audley
• Chavasse
• Fisher
• Gundolf
• Justus
• Langdon
• Merton
• Ridley

Notable alumni

• Douglas Booth
  Douglas Booth
  Douglas Booth is an English actor.Booth rose to prominence following his portrayal of Boy George in the BBC Two television drama Worried About the Boy. He has more recently appeared in Christopher and His Kind...
  
  , model and actor (BBC's Worried About The Boy
  Worried About The Boy
  Worried About the Boy is a 2010 television drama centred around the life of George O'Dowd . It starred Douglas Booth as George and Mathew Horne as lover Jon Moss. It was shown on BBC2 as part of 80's season...
  
  )
• Scott Wagstaff
  Scott Wagstaff
  Scott Andrew Wagstaff is an English footballer who plays for Charlton Athletic.-Personal life:Born in Maidstone, Wagstaff attended Bennett Memorial Diocesan School in Tunbridge Wells, which he left in 2006 so he could concentrate on football...
  
  , footballer for Charlton Athletic F.C.
  Charlton Athletic F.C.
  Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, in the London Borough of Greenwich. They compete in Football League One, the third tier of English football. The club was founded on 9 June 1905, when a number of youth clubs in the southeast London area,...
  
  

• Jonathan Williams (footballer)
  Jonathan Williams (footballer)
  Jonathan Peter Williams is a Welsh footballer currently playing for Crystal Palace.Williams made his debut coming on as a second half substitute at home to Coventry City on Tuesday 16th August 2011. A week later he made his first team full debut in a League Cup game at home to Crawley Town...
  
  , footballer for Crystal Palace F.C.
  Crystal Palace F.C.
  Crystal Palace Football Club are an English Football league club based in South Norwood, London. The team plays its home matches at Selhurst Park, where they have been based since 1924. The club currently competes in the second tier of English Football, The Championship.Crystal Palace was formed in...
  
  

External links

• Bennett Memorial Diocesan School - Official School Website