Brighton College 2024 Entry Acceptance

Hi all, I got an offer from Brighton College for September 2024 entry, and I was wondering if any current or past pupils can offer me some insights about the school environment and boarding life.
I'm an international pupil and will be a full boarder. I have a few questions:
1. What proportion/percentage of sixth form pupils board at Brighton College full time? Will it mostly be international pupils, or will there be as many local boarders?
2. Diversity/integration: I have heard that international pupils often stick together and don't integrate with the rest of the student body. Has there been racial stigma or generally a lack of diverse friend groups?
3. Accelerated Maths + Further Maths: My subject choices are likely Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry OR Economics. I have been debating over which of the last 2 I should choose, but Brighton College offers Further Maths and Maths as one subject, where pupils with higher affinities complete both courses in the time allocated for one. I'm in the highest set in Maths at my current school, and I also just started Further Maths IGCSE, which covers some AS Level content, but I feel like 5 A Levels might be too much, especially given the challenging nature of all five subjects.
4. Sports and extracurriculars:
Will we be scheduled to do a chosen sport regularly, or will it be for free time and school teams only?

I'm looking forward to the change in Sixth Form, but I want to make sure whichever school I choose is right for me.

Thanks!

Reply 1

Random_Username2

Original post by tofuknight

Hi all, I got an offer from Brighton College for September 2024 entry, and I was wondering if any current or past pupils can offer me some insights about the school environment and boarding life.
I'm an international pupil and will be a full boarder. I have a few questions:
1. What proportion/percentage of sixth form pupils board at Brighton College full time? Will it mostly be international pupils, or will there be as many local boarders?
2. Diversity/integration: I have heard that international pupils often stick together and don't integrate with the rest of the student body. Has there been racial stigma or generally a lack of diverse friend groups?
3. Accelerated Maths + Further Maths: My subject choices are likely Maths, Further Maths, Physics and Chemistry OR Economics. I have been debating over which of the last 2 I should choose, but Brighton College offers Further Maths and Maths as one subject, where pupils with higher affinities complete both courses in the time allocated for one. I'm in the highest set in Maths at my current school, and I also just started Further Maths IGCSE, which covers some AS Level content, but I feel like 5 A Levels might be too much, especially given the challenging nature of all five subjects.
4. Sports and extracurriculars:
Will we be scheduled to do a chosen sport regularly, or will it be for free time and school teams only?
I'm looking forward to the change in Sixth Form, but I want to make sure whichever school I choose is right for me.
Thanks!

Hi! I’m a current pupil at Brighton College, I know this is probably a bit too late but I hope that you’ll still be joining BC this month! I’m not in the sixth form just yet, but this will be my 3rd year at the college, I hope some of my answers below will help :smile:

1) I’m not sure as there’s no published statistics, but I know that nearly half of the sixth formers board, majority are weekly as lots of them are local pupils who don’t live near school (mostly from London), but they sometimes stay until Saturday due to sports fixtures held at home pitches or somewhere near BC. Full boarders are typically all international pupils. There are 2 girls’ Boarding Houses (Fenwick & New), and 3 boys’ Boarding Houses (School, Head’s, Abraham), and there’s also a co-ed (boys and girls) sixth form Boarding House (Alexander) located outside of campus within a few minutes walk away. Each boarding House have about 10-15 pupils, but may vary depending on the year group and size of House. Day Houses typically have more - between 15-20 I think? There’s also one more House for girls (3) and boys (4) for Day pupils - there’s more Day than Boarding at BC.

2) It’s true the some of the international pupils especially in the boarding community tend to stick together, but this typically only is true for the beginning of the year. Once everyone gets to know each other better and settle down more into their classes, tutor groups, and Houses, friend groups are typically more mixed racially-wise. Brighton College is a predominantly ‘white’ school, so whilst there are integration and ‘mingling’ between international and local pupils, there will still inevitably be friend groups where there are only local pupils. And I haven’t seen or heard of any exclusion or stigmas in the school community - everyone is super nice and friendly to each other! Also if this does occur and school finds out, especially if it gets to the point where it’s just blatant racism, they will respond to it quite seriously.

3) I can’t really help with this question sorry as I haven’t started A-Levels yet, but I’m sure that you’ll be able to manage maths and further maths - lots of pupils who take maths does FM, and the teachers at BC will make sure they support you along the way to make sure you don’t fall behind and achieve the best possible grade you can! There are also a team of learning support, head of years, and wellbeing teachers etc. at school if you ever need help with anything. If you struggle with a particular topic etc. you can also go to the maths booster/support clubs during Period 7 (after lunch and evening registration, at 14:00) and Period 10 (after school at 16:00), where there will be at least one teacher there to support you and answer any questions you have. You can of course also ask anyone in sixth form and they will always be willing to help! Luckily, if you do join this year, you’ll be the first year to be in the new building (Richard Cairns’ Building), where there are sixth form only common rooms and study rooms where you can study and mingle with other pupils!

4) Everyone will have to choose a Games option which will be twice weekly during the school timetable. Some can choose two sports options per term, but this is less common and you’ll have to ask the sports department about this. There’s typically 3-4 school teams (though for the middle school (GCSE stage), some teams for example netball, has teams from A to I!). You can also do sports during activities period (P7 + P10) as there’s always some sort of club available, we have different clubs every term so you’ll get to experience lots of different activities! But of course you can stick with the same ones if you really like it, everyone has to choose at least 3 activities per term, but there might be some exceptions for sixth formers I’m not sure. I’d imagine you can also go to the gym during any free periods you have if there’s no lesson happening in there as there’s always a member of the sports department on-duty, usually one of the Strength and Conditioning teachers. The gym is open early every morning with staff on-duty before morning registration (08:20 for Day pupils, not sure about Boarders sorry) and after school (16:00), so you’re also able to go the gym once you finish lessons, I’m pretty sure it’s the same with the swimming pool, but you’ll need to double check with the sport department, your tutor or your HMM (Housemistress/master). Sports with school teams and are typically more competitive are rugby (boys, girls can also play separately but we don’t have a competitive team yet, as not many other schools nearby offer rugby for girls), football (boys, girls can also play separately but there’s only 2 competitive team right now I think, but the department is growing!), hockey (girls), netball (girls), cricket (both), athletics (both), tennis (both). These are the most common and popular sports, and are all only available for certain terms when it’s ‘on-season’, there are also other options which are available for both girls and boys but still participate in some matches: fencing, climbing, swimming, badminton, volleyball, cross country, golf, multi-skills, karate, and squash. If you don’t like any of these, you can also opt for gym/strength and conditioning (S+C), yoga, and zumba . I think these are all the options available - I might’ve missed some, as there might be other options available for sixth form. Also, I might be wrong, but I think for L6th (Y12), you’ll have games every Tuesday 13:55-16:00 and Thursday 09:00-10:35, and for U6th (Y13), you’ll have games every Tuesday 11:15-13:10 and Thursday 13:55-16:00.

Congrats on getting into BC, and I hope this helps - feel free to ask me any other questions! :smile:

(edited 5 months ago)