Les Varendes High School

Les Varendes High School is a non selective, state-funded

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

in St. Andrew's, Guernsey. It takes in students from Amherst, Notre Dame, St Mary and St Michael, and Vauvert primary schools. It was formerly known as the

Guernsey Grammar School Les Varendes High School Les Varendes High School is a non selective, state-funded secondary school in St Andrew's, Guernsey, St. Andrew's, Guernsey. It takes in students from Amherst, Notre Dame, St Mary and St Michael, and Vauvert primary s ...

and Sixth Form Centre, which was a co-educational state-funded

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

. Since the

eleven-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardised examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academi ...

was removed by the States of Guernsey in 2019, the school has taken non-selective cohorts of students meaning whilst up to September 2023 it had some selective Grammar School students, it now has all high school students. The school was renamed to Les Varendes High School in September 2023 as the last selective Grammar group left the school and the restructuring of Guernsey's education system progresses.

The Sixth Form Centre

The Sixth Form Centre is a state-funded

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

located in

St Andrew's, Guernsey Saint Andrew (Guernésiais: Saint Andri; ) is located in the centre of Guernsey and as such is the only parish on the island to be landlocked. As it is customary to list the parishes round the coast, either clockwise or anti-clockwise, starting ...

. It is the only state-funded, free admission sixth form in the

Bailiwick of Guernsey The Bailiwick of Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Bailliage dé Guernési'') is a self-governing British Crown Dependencies, Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France, comprising several of the Channel Islands. It has a total land area of ...

. The sixth form is currently planned to relocate to the current La Mare De Carteret High School building from September 2025 until at least 2029 due to delays in the States of Guernsey obtaining funding for the construction of the new Sixth Form Centre alongside The Guernsey Institute at Les Ozouets.

History

Public sixth form education in Guernsey began in 1950, when the intermediate schools (boys & girls grammar schools) were given permission to keep students until 18. The Boys and Girls Grammar Schools merged at Sixth Form level in January 1972 with a new, mixed 11-18 Grammar School being built in 1982 and opened in 1985. Originally, the sixth form was located on the upper floor of the Grammar School building with this being where the lower and upper sixth common rooms were located. Guernsey Sixth Form Sign at Grammar School

Guernsey Sixth Form Sign at Grammar School

The current Sixth Form Centre building was completed in August 2005 and is linked to the rest of the building through a glazed walkway known as 'the link'. This building provided additional, specialist, teaching spaces for subjects such as sports, business, economics, media, film studies, psychology, and sociology. September 2023 saw the separation of The Sixth Form Centre, at least in branding, with it becoming a separate entity as it begins to transition into the new States of Guernsey post-16 vision.

Future plans

The Sixth Form Centre was previously planned to relocate to the current La Mare De Carteret High School building just for the 2025-26 academic year due to delays in the construction of the new Sixth Form College at Les Ozouets and the need to continue with the movement of 11-16 students from La Mare to Les Varendes. But, with new plans it is expected to stay there until at least 2029 due to budget concerns meaning only the main Guernsey Institute building will be constructed on the Les Ozouets site until further notice.

References

External links