The Worthgate School (formerly CATS College Canterbury, Stafford House College) is a coeducational
Independent
Independent or Independents may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups
* Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s
* Independ ...
day and
boarding school
A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. As they have existed for many centuries, and now exten ...
located in
Canterbury
Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour.
...
, England, catering primarily for foreign students. It is owned by the CATS Global Schools group. The school specialises in
preparing students for pre-university exams such as A-Levels and the
International Baccalaureate
The International Baccalaureate (IB), formerly known as the International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the IB Dip ...
as well as providing additional English tuition.
The Worthgate School has been authorized to offer the
IB Diploma Programme
The International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme (IBDP) is a two-year educational programme primarily aimed at 16-to-19-year-olds in 140 countries around the world. The programme provides an internationally accepted qualification for entry into ...
since April 2007; the programme is taught in English.
History
Established in 1952 by Harry Allsopp as Stafford House Tutorial College. It started out in the
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
location of
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
, but later was moved to Canterbury. After Harry Allsopp's death in 1959, his wife Joyce Allsopp ran the college until she retired 1992. Stafford House Tutorial College as it was then known was a founding member of "CIFE – the Council for Independent Education." It was the first school in the UK to offer University Foundation programmes for students wanting to go to university from overseas.
In 2010 it was voted LTM High School of the Year (See LTM website - past award winners)
The college became a member of the Independent Schools Association in 2010. The college was inspected in 2011 with no areas of the college rated below 'Good' by the Independent Schools Inspectorate. Boarding at the college was rated as 'Excellent' and leadership was described as 'Outstanding'. (See Independent Schools Inspectorate - ISI.net)
In 2016 the college was inspected with no areas of the college rated below 'excellent' by the Independent Schools Inspectorate. The quality of the pupils achievements and learning was excellent, the contribution of curricular and extra-curricular provision was excellent, the contribution of teaching was excellent, the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of the pupils was excellent, the contribution of arrangements for pastoral care was excellent, the contribution of the arrangements for welfare, health and safety was excellent, the overall quality of boarding was excellent, the quality of governance was excellent and the quality of leadership and management, including links with parents, carers and guardians was excellent.
In 2012 and 2014 the college won awards from the Independent Schools Association (See ISA website). In 2014 it won the Independent Schools Award from the Times Educational Supplement for Best Boarding Initiative and was shortlisted for Independent School of the Year (See TES online)
The school was renamed from CATS Canterbury to The Worthgate School in October 2022 with a new gold and green school livery being unveiled as part of an overall rebrand.
References
External links
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List of Business School
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Independent schools in Kent
International Baccalaureate schools in England
International schools in England
Educational institutions established in 1952
1952 establishments in England
Schools in Canterbury