by the Board of Management in the 1940s to finance it). Before Kent College acquired the house it had been rented for convalescence by Virginia Woolf, who complained in one of her letters that "we had our windows prised open. The decay of centuries had sealed them. No human force can now shut them. Thus we sit exposed to wind and wet by day and by night we are invaded by flocks of white moths. The rain falls, and the birds never give over singing, and hot sulphur fumes rise from the valleys, and the red cow in the field roars for her calf...". The house was used as the headmaster's residence until the late 1970s, when it was sold by the school to finance the construction of Wesley House. School Kent College is a Methodist school, although it accepts pupils of all religions. Originally established as a boys' school, it took girls into the sixth form in 1973, and since 1975 it has been fully co-educational. Kent College has thirteen independent "sister schools" in Great Britain, most of which are co-educational though three, including Kent College, Pembury, are girls' schools. The school badge shows the three black choughs taken from the arms of Thomas Beckett and 'invicta' the white horse of the county of Kent. Inspection In 2009 the school was subject to an independent school inspection. The report observed with regard to the Senior School that "the school provides an excellent quality of education"; "the school is able to adapt the curriculum to suit the learning needs of individual pupils"; "the school achieves its aims to enable pupils to maximise their potential and to attain high levels of achievement"; "the quality of teaching...is high"; "pastoral care and the provision for the welfare, health and safety of pupils are outstanding"; "links with parents and the community are excellent, as is the boarding education"; and "the school has no major weaknesses". In 2015 the school was subject to another independent school inspection, in which all areas of the school were judged to be 'excellent in every aspect'. Houses The School introduced separate boarding and sporting Houses during the 1990s. Boarders are sorted into both a boarding House and a sporting House, whilst day pupils are only sorted into a sporting House. There are four sporting Houses: Marlowe House Chaucer House Becket House Augustine House There are five boarding houses at