insideKENT Magazine Issue 48 - March 2016 | Page 122

EDUCATION

IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Bronte School
Bronte’s single form entry gives a truly family feel: where each teacher knows all 130
children in the school, ranging in age from 4 to 11. Close care and support are given to
each child, amidst a commitment to quality of education. Strong academic teaching is
blended with a rich extra-curricular life of sports, drama, music and art. Located
conveniently near the centre of Gravesend, and a stone’s throw from the swift train links
to St Pancras and Charing Cross, Bronte helps as well with the more practical sides of
school, family and working life. There is easy access and parking, good road and rail links,
and homely wrap-around care before and after school.

When a 4-year-old in brand new blazer first
crosses that threshold into Reception, just starting
to learn to read and write, it’s hard to imagine
him or her in 7 years’ time at age 11, about to
move on to a senior school. Those years of
growth are times when a child’s malleability, and
the combined influence of home and school, are
at their greatest.
Bronte School recognises how formative
and precious those years are. Headmaster
Nicholas Clements often talks of the quiet influence
of school traditions and routines, and the way in
which children’s relationships with their teachers
and peers gradually build their confidence about
how to relate with others, and how their
relationship with their own learning influences
their future potential.
Sally Gordon is the deputy head, and deals
both with the school’s daily routines and the
more distinctive events, like concerts, plays,
sports day, Prizegiving and the Christingle service
at St George’s Church. The school year is thus
whole and complete, the stage for learning and
growth.
At the other end of the school journey,
Bronte’s leavers head for a variety of destinations.

Many attend local grammar schools (around 75%
on average), with others going to non-selective
state schools as well as independent schools.
Wherever they go, the aim is that they will be
able to look back on their junior school years as
ones filled with inspiration and engagement, with
plenty of fun thrown