Varndean School

More like a prison than a school. So awful even the students try to burn it to the ground.

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 harassment and r@pe, but because of the invalidation I experienced from the school it took 2 years to realise this because they made me feel stupid and that it was my fault. Don’t rely on your school base, they deal with serious issues with tick boxes and unsympathetic ignorance. As long as you pass your exams they don’t care.

The school is okay and so is the food but they need to focus more on student well being

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 take off there black chinos and blazer causing many people I know to get sunstroke. They eventually did let you wear shorts, however, anyone that had worn shorts prior to them allowing it were still kept in internal exclusion. To top this all off, one of my siblings, who is autistic and has ADD, was mistreated so badly by staff that she couldn’t face going there and dropped out which I guess Varndean thought was an excuse to make my family’s life hell. They completely ignored all our emails and whenever we did have a chance to talk to them, they disregarded my siblings disabilities completely. They even refused her extra time in the exams because she hadn’t been in school enough for the teachers to ‘monitor’ her. A legal document stating her disabilities was apparently not enough evidence for them purely on the basis that they were butt hurt because of her low attendance. The cherry on the cake was when the tried to wash their hands of this whole situation basically blanking all of my parents phone calls and messages meaning we had to pay for outside tutoring despite legally being entitled to free education. As you can probably imagine, I am beyond infuriated with they way they had handled the situation with my sibling and I’m glad I had finished just before it happened or I would have gone absolutely mental at the teachers. Not to mention that a majority of these teachers are actually sexual predators, with four of them being arrested within two years, leaving many students traumatised. You may think that these poor students would be entitled to counselling and therapy. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the help they need as the mental health support is absolutely abysmal, only having one therapist who was basically never in. As upsetting as it is for me to write, and for you to read, this has led to a pretty large number of suicides and I can’t even begin to describe how the families of those children must feel. I could probably go on forever about all the issues I’ve personally experienced, but I really don't want to detract from these few points as I feel they perfectly pin point the mistreatment of students at this school.

Absolutely awful pastoral care. I am in trauma therapy now. Literally.

Very supportive and helpful staff. Food ok and good variety.

the school is terrible drugs and bullying are one of the worst things there but there's also a lot of sexual assault that doesn't get dealt with and they don't really care. the only thing they care about is the goats or grades not about the students

Honestly, the worst experience ever, like literally ever. Left after 2 years. Wasn’t a ‘typically’ weird kid, had horrible teachers and awful people in my year.

A wonderful and caring school with a varied and interesting curriculum.

Pretty average. Probably should focus more on student well being rather than just putting on some google slides why bullying is mean.