Bethany School

About Bethany School

In addition to being a registered charity, Bethany is a co-educational, independent boarding and day school for pupils aged 11-18 years. There are 330 pupils in the School, including boarding pupils. The majority of pupils remain in the School until they are eighteen and most proceed to University. There are 74 pupils in the Sixth Form and the A Level pass rate in 2024 was 96%. The 2024 GCSE pass rate was 94% at 9-4 grade.

Bethany enjoys an ever-growing reputation, both locally and further afield, for the quality of its teaching and pastoral care. As a result, pupil numbers are very buoyant. In recent years the School has undertaken a programme of building development, including the construction of an indoor swimming pool, an extension to the sixth form building as well as a dedicated fitness building. The construction of a purpose built performing arts centre was completed in September 2024. The Music School was also relocated to central Campus this year.

The School is a Christian foundation with a strong community life. All members of staff are expected to be in agreement with the Christian values and to attend Chapel with the pupils. The School is well known for its high level of pastoral care for pupils. In addition, it enjoys an international reputation for the education of dyslexic pupils. Class sizes are small, rarely reaching more than eighteen pupils, and considerably less in the Sixth Form.

The School is set in beautiful Kent countryside and the 60-acre campus is spacious and attractive. It lies in the hamlet of Curtisden Green, mid-way between Goudhurst and Marden. Central London is less than an hour’s journey from Marden Station, as are Dover and the Channel Tunnel. For a small School, the high standard of sporting success and the extensive games programme are made possible by the expertise and commitment of the teaching staff outside normal lesson time. The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme also enjoys remarkable success, as do the Performing Arts.

The School is forward-thinking in all aspects of teaching, learning, and curriculum and has created a 10-year vision, Bethany 2026, for its education provision.

In its most recent inspection in 2023, Bethany was judged to be excellent in all respects.

Bethany 2026 is a School, which is:

• Providing an innovative education relevant to the 21st century;
• Encouraging the virtue of learning in young people delivering 21st century learning habits;
• Living our Christian values through excellent pastoral care;
• A flourishing School investing in the future.

Furthermore, the School has a unique philosophy of learning centred on developing excellent learning habits in its pupils in order to instil in them the ‘Virtue of Learning’. All teaching staff are encouraged to undertake their own action based research through a teacher-led Professional Learning Community model. In recent years the curriculum has been enhanced further and now includes GCSE Dance, and level 3 courses in Economics as well as a T level in Computing. In addition, all full-time staff are provided with a laptop computer and all pupils from Year 7 have their own laptop. This is complimented by a Computing curriculum in Key Stage 3 which includes coding and the opportunity for pupils to develop core computing skills. As a School we make use of Microsoft 365 for supporting teaching and learning and have a number of staff who are Microsoft Innovative Educators.

In September 2024, Bethany retained its Microsoft Showcase status which makes us one of a small number of schools worldwide to have this accolade. Showcase Schools like Bethany create IT rich experiences that inspire lifelong learning, stimulating the development of essential life skills so students are empowered to achieve more. This makes Bethany not just a local school, or a Kent school or even a UK school but a truly global school.