Sport

Hockey is one of the flagship sports at Kent College, for both boys and girls. The programme itself is designed to engender a lifelong love of the sport, whilst encompassing the school's own core values.

All pupils have the opportunity to develop through an exciting, ambitious programme that promotes resilience and curiosity. Our belief is that positive engagement, enjoyment and respect are directly linked to personal growth and outstanding performance.

Kent College has 20 hockey teams across the school, ranging from A to C at various year groups for both boys and girls. An extensive fixture list including county, regional and national competitions afford students with the opportunity to develop their skills on a regular basis.

Our programme is organised and delivered by a team of 10 dedicated staff and additional external specialist coaches. Within the coaching team there is a variety of skill sets with experience of national league and international hockey.

Kent College has a strong link with local national league club Canterbury. This allows our students to continue heir development outside school hours in a high performance environment. Notable past pupils include current internationals Grace Balsdon (GB) & Lizzie Neal (GB) along with numerous England U16 & U18 players.

Hockey at Kent College gauges its success based on how many former students continue to play, at any level, once their time at the school has ended.

Cricket has a long and rich tradition at Kent College boasting England cricketer Sir Godfrey Evans as one of its illustrious alumni and more recently many pupils that have represented the county at all age groups. In the recent past Kent College has been successful in many County Competitions and the girls won the National U13 Lady Taverners tournament at Lords.

College Field is an idyllic venue with views across the historic city of Canterbury providing the school with an ideal setting for developing the skills and more importantly the enjoyment of playing cricket.

Cricket is one of the flagship sports at Kent College and has strong links with Kent County Cricket Club also having their base in Canterbury. Kent College also has strong links in the local community, hosting training and matches for the local area team, the Eastern Vikings. Our coaches are all experienced at coaching and playing at County level and provide regular 1:1 and group coaching sessions throughout the year. Every term pupils receive a cricket masterclass from a current professional and this encourages pupils to have ambition and be curious.

All pupils at Kent College have the opportunity to play cricket in lessons and after school clubs and then represent the school in matches at weekends. The school has over 14 boys and girls teams and plays against Independent Schools and local state schools. The highlight of the year is playing the MCC team during cricket week.

All pupils are encouraged to play with respect, resilience and humility in line with the values of cricket and of the school.

Rugby has been reintroduced for the boys at Kent College from the 2022-23 season. The programme aims to provide students of all ages and abilities the opportunity to partake and learn.

Our programme aims to follow the RFU values of Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship, most of which correlate with our own school values at Kent College. Each year group has the opportunity to attend one of our rugby clubs after school, where we aim to provide further game understanding and technical knowledge, largely through varying conditioned games and smaller technical drills.

Rugby is currently compulsory within our games curriculum for year 7 and 8, both of whom have fixtures planned for this season, which we hope to grow in the coming years. Year 9 and 10 get the option as to whether they wish to take Rugby or Football within games lessons and it is our ambition for them to have competitive fixtures next year as they continue to develop their skills.

As part of our programme, we compete in several Rugby Sevens tournaments during terms 3 & 4 which aids in ongoing development of our students.

Kent College has an established link with Canterbury Rugby Club, a large proportion of its students representing the club at a variety of levels. Additionally, the school has several players within the Saracens Development Pathway, which provides students that have the desire to test themselves with the opportunity to develop further.

Football is a well established sport at Kent College for both boys and girls. The programme itself is highly attuned to the College's core values, especially ambition, resilience and curiosity.

All students are encouraged to participate and have fun, regardless of ability. The College values football for everyone as well as focussing on the performance end of the spectrum. This ethos is outlined in the progressive coaching model which is employed by the excellent Uefa B licensed coaches.

Boys and girls from year 7 to 13 enjoy an extremely competitive fixture programme against some of the top independent schools in the country, as well as competing in the National Cup. The fixtures that students participate in are an extremely important opportunity to enable students to experience playing against other schools and develop their technical and tactical skills.

The football programme runs predominantly in the Winter term for the boys and the Spring term for the girls. Football also plays a key role in the house competition programme, with all students participating. As football continues to develop at Kent College the emphasis remains on enjoyment and participation, whilst helping students to realise their potential.

Netball is played throughout Kent College with A, B and C teams in most year groups. The fundamental skills learnt playing netball encompass the core values that run through the school. All pupils are encouraged to play respectfully, with resilience and humility. As well as the skills needed to build independent young individuals.

The girls get the opportunity to play in county tournaments, within their year groups, as well as playing friendlies against local schools. There is also a strong link between Pilgrims Canterbury, where a lot of the girls currently play outside of school. Pilgrims train at Kent College making it very easy for girls to train both at school and at club level.

Our programme is organised and encourages all abilities to participate in the sport. The pupils at Kent College have the opportunity to play netball inside of lessons during games as well as after school. There is also the availability of working on specific court positions during clinics on a Saturday morning. This programme typically runs in the Spring term from January to March, as well as being a key component in the house competition, with all students participating.

Tennis is one of our main summer sports at Kent College and is offered year-round for our senior players and tennis scholars. We are passionate about tennis being for all, and have a team of coaches prepared for all levels of ability.

On campus, we have the facility for 12 courts on our astro turf and 3 brand new purpose built outdoor courts behind the Great Hall. We are also lucky to have access to the indoor tennis facilities at the University of Kent, and Appeti Tennis Centre.

We enter both boys teams and girls teams for U13s, U15s and U18s, combining year groups for both training and fixtures. We enter teams into LTA leagues and fill the rest of our summer calendar playing friendly fixtures with other schools in the county.

Our Tennis programme is delivered by an enthusiastic and dedicated team of coaches who run training sessions, team and recreational clubs and fixtures.

We have pride in our students' success in the sport both within and outside of school.