# Varndean College

Varndean College is a sixth form college in Brighton and Hove that serves the needs of sixth form students and adults.

## Location

Varndean College is on Surrenden Road, in the northern part of Brighton. It shares the Surrenden campus with Balfour Junior School, Balfour Infants School, Dorothy Stringer School and Varndean Secondary School.

## History

The college was founded in 1884 in York Place, Brighton, as a boys' secondary school and moved to its current site (overlooking the city and the sea) in 1932, later attaining grammar school status, becoming Varndean Grammar School for Boys, administered by the Education Committee for the County Borough of Brighton. In 1972 the first girls were admitted to the school (a small number of girls attended A level physics classes at the school in 1970–71), and in 1975 it became a sixth form college under its first principal, David A.G. Turner.

## Former Headmasters and Principals

Varndean Grammar School for Boys
* 1884–1901 Edwin H. Lethbridge (died 1932)
* 1902–1932 William J. Stainer (died 1937)
* 1932–1963 Eric J. Hutchins (died 1972)
* 1963–1970 John E. Mollison (1916–2003)
* 1970–1975 David A.G. Turner (died 1997)
Varndean College
* 1975–1988 David A.G. Turner (died 1997)
* 1988–2006 Alan Jenkins (died March 2020)
* 2006–2020 Philip Harland
* 2020–present day Donna-Marie Janson

## Notable alumni

The Old Varndeanian Association exists to maintain a network between former pupils and students of both the school and college, as well as former pupils of Varndean Girls' School. The association maintains contact with thousands of Old Varndeanians and organises regular reunions and other functions.
* Alfie Deyes, YouTuber
* Celeste, singer
* Bobby Barry, musician
* Darius Danesh actor, singer, reality star.
* Tommy Fraser, footballer (Brighton and Hove Albion)
* Darren Freeman, footballer (Brentford, Fulham and Brighton and Hove Albion)
* Lucy Griffiths, actress
* Natasha Kaplinsky, television presenter
* Toby MacFarlaine, rock musician
* Russell Martin, footballer (Wycombe Wanderers, Peterborough, Norwich City)
* Lisa Francesca Nand, journalist and broadcaster
* Dan and Tom Searle, twin musicians from the Brighton based band Architects
* Rebecca Stephens, musician
* Gwendoline Christie, actor

### Varndean Grammar School for Boys

* Desmond Lynam, broadcaster
* Walter Hubert Baddeley, bishop of Melanesia, Whitby and Blackburn
* David Blanchflower, Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Economics, Dartmouth College and University of Glasgow
* Frank Bridge, composer
* David Collings, actor
* Anthony French, professor of physics 1964–1991 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, worked on the Manhattan Project
* Dave Greenfield, The Stranglers (keyboards) 1960–1967
* Harold Foster Hallett, philosopher
* Norman Hammond, archaeologist and archaeology correspondent of The Times since 1967
* Ralph Hone, governor of North Borneo 1949–1954
* Eric James, Baron James of Rusholme, high master of the Manchester Grammar School (1945–62) and first vice-chancellor of the University of York (1962–73)
* Steve Ovett, Olympic athlete
* Ian Ritchie, architect
* Simon Schaffer, historian
* Paul Scofield, actor
* Peter Sharpe, chief constable 1994–2000 of Hertfordshire Constabulary
* Eric Shepherd, professor of investigative, security and police sciences at the City University, London
* Martin William Wallace, bishop of Selby 2003–2013
* Mike Winch, Commonwealth Games shot-putter and national coach