Cobham Hall School

Cobham Hall School is an independent day and boarding school for girls in the English parish of Cobham, Kent. It is a Round Square school[1] and a member of the Girls' Schools Association. The school is housed in Cobham Hall, a Tudor era Grade I listed manor house situated in 150 acres of historic parkland on the edge of the Kent Downs. The school featured in the film Wild Child in 2008, as the fictional school that the characters attended, called Abbey Mount.[2]

Cobham Hall
Location
Gravesend
,
Kent
,
DA12 3BL

England
Information
TypeIndependent day and boarding school
Established1962
Local authorityKent
HeadmistressWendy Barrett
GenderGirls
Age11 to 18
Enrolment180 (2017)
AffiliationsGSA
Round Square
Websitewww.cobhamhall.com

School

Cobham Hall was founded as an international boarding school for girls aged between eleven and eighteen in 1962. The school now accepts both day girls and boarding students. The school has a large contingent of international students, with approximately 25 nationalities represented. Just over 50% are British.

Curriculum

Girls in Years 7 to 9 follow the English National Curriculum. Girls in Middle School (up to Year 11) follow the GCSE curriculum.[3] From September 2018, Sixth Form pupils will be studying A Levels. The A Levels will be the academic portion of a broad curriculum, which also encompasses the Extended Project Qualification, PSHE, Theory of Knowledge, The Duke of Edinburgh's Award or Service, and Sport. The school has a specialist EFL Department, as well as a CReSTeD accredited Student Support Department.

The school also offers a one year GCSE/IGCSE course, a Pre-A Level Course and an Intensive English Support Programme for those whose first language is not English.

Boarding

There are three Boarding Houses. Bligh House is home to girls in Years 7 to 10, while Year 11 live in the original Manor House. Sixth Form pupils live in Brooke House. Just under half the student body board. Boarders are often taken on trips out including local outings to restaurants, bowling alleys and the cinema, as well as further afield to London or the seaside.

The building
Cobham Hall, circa 1880
Main article: Cobham Hall

There has been a manor house on the site since the 12th century. The current building consists of a pair of 16th-century Tudor wings and a later classical central block, the 'Cross Wing'.[4] Alterations were made by Sir William Chambers, c. 1767–70[5] The most notable feature of the interior is the two-storey Gilt Hall, c, 1770–81.[6] The fourth earl of Darnley, who inherited in 1781, employed the architect James Wyatt extensively.[7] The landscape designer Humphry Repton was hired to draw up a plan for the estate and two of his sons designed features of the building.

Cobham Hall remained the family home of the Earls of Darnley until 1957 and is now home to the school. As of 2014 it was open to the public on a limited number of days each year.[8]

The building has been used as a film set. A scene in Agent Cody Banks 2 in which Frankie Muniz fights Keith Allen in a room full of priceless treasures was filmed in the Gilt Hall. Scenes from an adaption of Bleak House were filmed outside the building, and it was used in a few scenes in the comedy sketch show Tittybangbang. The Hall is used as the school 'Abbey Mount' in the 2008 film Wild Child starring Emma Roberts and as the Foundling Hospital in the CBBC adaptation of Hetty Feather.

Notable alumnae

References
  1. Round Square Archived 26 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  2. "Wild Child Film Locations". Kent Film Office. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  3. Academic Archived 5 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  4. Howard Colvin, "Peter Mills and Cobham Hall" in Colvin and John Harris, The Country Seat1970.
  5. Colvin, A Biographical Dictionary of British Architects, 1600–1840 3rd ed. 1995, s.v. "Chambers, Sir William".
  6. John Cornforth, in Country Life, 3–10 March 1983, citing documents in Kent Archives Office, noted in Colvin 1995, s.v. "Shakespear, George".
  7. Colvin 1995, s.v. "Wyatt, James".
  8. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 15 March 2014. Retrieved 15 March 2014.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
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