# Varndean School — Brighton, United Kingdom > School profile on SchoolBrowse, based on verified parent reviews. > HTML version: https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/brighton/varndean-school-5791 ## At a glance - **Type:** Secondary - **Parent rating:** 1.8/5 from 18 published reviews - **Students:** 1200 - **Founded:** 1956 - **Principal:** Andrew W. W. B. Smith ## Contact - **Address:** Balfour Road - **Phone:** 194.6590 - **Website:** http://www.varndean.co.uk - **SchoolBrowse profile:** https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/brighton/varndean-school-5791 ## About Varndean School is a secondary school located in Brighton, United Kingdom, known for its commitment to academic excellence and personal development. Established in 1956, the school has a rich history and has evolved to meet the needs of its diverse student population. Varndean offers a broad curriculum that includes a wide range of subjects, allowing students to pursue their interests and strengths while preparing for their future careers. The school emphasizes a holistic approach to education, fostering not only academic skills but also social and emotional growth. The facilities at Varndean School are modern and well-equipped, providing students with access to state-of-the-art technology, science labs, and creative arts spaces. The school has built a strong reputation for its supportive environment, where teachers are dedicated to helping students achieve their potential. Varndean also encourages extracurricular involvement, offering various clubs and activities that promote teamwork, leadership, and community engagement. ## Official rankings - **Ofsted (Behaviour and Attitudes):** Outstanding — Oct 2022 - **Ofsted (Leadership and Management):** Outstanding — Oct 2022 - **Ofsted (Overall Effectiveness):** Good — Oct 2022 - **Ofsted (Personal Development):** Outstanding — Oct 2022 - **Ofsted (Quality of Education):** Good — Oct 2022 ## Recent parent reviews - **1/5** — Terrible school: At first this school was really good, But there is a few people in my year including me who has adhd which sometimes you can not control, The teachers as soon as you walk in Target you. To me this is vile targeting 11-16 year olds, they do not care about ur mental wellbeing what so ever, and care more about uniform, some of the teachers are nice and try and help you in base but the heads of the base tell them not to. Terrible school *(Dec 2023)* - **1/5** — shit school: shit school only ever car about the year 7s once your older they hat eyou *(May 2023)* - **1/5** — Varndean: I’m still at varndean high school but I wouldn’t recommend going because it is terrible the teachers ignore racism and have a go ag the victims of it giving them isolation and your expected to wear a blazer even in the hottest weathers *(Mar 2023)* - **1/5** — varndean prison: More like a prison than a school. So awful even the students try to burn it to the ground. *(Sep 2022)* - **1/5** — Disappointing: Hi I want to share a honest review of varndean I thought it was amazing until I got to year 11 and to the end of year 10, I was struggling with mental health issues that the school was aware of meaning my attendance would decrease because of my well being and they tried to support me until they started making me feel guilty for not wanting to attend or wanting to go home, it is no way to treat any students in a school that’s supposed to have a welcoming and supportive system and I feel I can say… *(Jan 2022)* - **2/5** — Invalidating uncaring school: Varndean was great with me up until Y11. Before then, I was supported with my anxiety and it was decent, but I was completely discarded in year 11 after dealing with some really quite bad emotional issues with another student. The school completely sided with the other student, blaming me for their issues and is the reason I am in therapy now because they invalidated my experiences so much I felt like I was making it all up. I recently found out that my experience actually included s3xual harass… *(Nov 2021)* - **3/5** — Meh….: The school is okay and so is the food but they need to focus more on student well being *(Oct 2021)* - **4/5** — varndean secondary: I'm about to go in year 8.the first year was pretty ok. the food is pretty good though ngl, and some of the teachers are nice. also the outside and inside areas are mostly good *(Aug 2021)* - **1/5** — Literal Purgatory: Awful school with pretty gross moral values. They only care about the way they are seen more than the health and wellbeing of their students. I couldn't tell you how many times me and my group of friends were forced to sit outside during winter as, for some benign reason, the building which had rows of seats on every wall was ‘not for sitting in’ and the size of the canteen was no where near big enough for 5 school years. On the complete opposite end, during summer, they refused to let people ta… *(Jul 2021)* - **1/5** — Traumatised: Absolutely awful pastoral care. I am in trauma therapy now. Literally. *(Jul 2021)* ## Other schools in Brighton - [Dorothy Stringer School](https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/brighton/dorothy-stringer-school-5792) — 1.4/5 (15 reviews) - [Brighton Aldridge Community Academy](https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/brighton/brighton-aldridge-community-academy-11966) — 2.3/5 (10 reviews) - [Portslade Aldridge Community Academy](https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/brighton/portslade-aldridge-community-academy-12683) — 2.0/5 (9 reviews) - [Longhill High School](https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/brighton/longhill-high-school-5793) — 1.3/5 (9 reviews) - [Stanford Junior School](https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/brighton/stanford-junior-school-5671) — 2.0/5 (6 reviews) - [City Academy Whitehawk](https://schoolbrowse.com/gb/brighton/city-academy-whitehawk-14782) — 4.8/5 (4 reviews) --- Source: SchoolBrowse (https://schoolbrowse.com) — reviews and ratings are user-submitted by parents. 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