Brighton College


Brighton College is a fee-charging, co-educational, boarding and day independent school for boys and girls aged 3 to 18 in Brighton and Hove, England. The school has two sites: Brighton College and Brighton College Preparatory School.
Brighton College was named School of the Decade in 2020 by The Sunday Times, after also having been named England's Independent School of the Year in 2019 by the same publication. In 2024, it was ranked first in the country for A-level results, with 99.3% of grades being A*–B and 87% of grades A*-A. The College also received three accolades in The Sunday Times Parent Power Schools Guide – UK Boarding School of the Year 2025, Top School of the Year for A-levels 2025 and Top Academic School in South East England 2025. The Sunday Times rankings place Brighton College as the Top Co-Educational School in the UK. It has also been listed in the Spear’s School Index Top 100 leading private schools since 2021.
Brighton College has been listed in The Carfax Schools Index since 2021 as one of the world's leading 150 private schools and one of the top 30 in the UK senior schools category.
In 2011, Brighton College opened its first international school in Abu Dhabi. Brighton College International has subsequently opened schools in Al Ain, Bangkok, Bangkok, Dubai, Singapore and Hanoi. Brighton College Abu Dhabi is also listed in The Carfax Schools Index as one of the top 15 schools in the Middle East.
In September 2023 the college opened a prep school in Kensington, central London and in September 2025, Handcross Park School opened as Brighton College Prep Handcross.
In September 2025, Brighton College was shortlisted for the 2026 'Tatler Schools Guide', along with Eton, Caterham, Canford and Gresham's, as one of the five best public schools in the country.

History

Founded in 1845 by William Aldwin Soames, Brighton College was the first Victorian public school founded in Sussex. Soames originally planned for use of the Brighton Pavilion, but after refusal by Queen Victoria built the school in the suburb of Kemptown, Brighton.
Brighton College led the legal fight to secure the charitable tax status currently enjoyed by all registered charities. A long-running legal action between the school and the Inland Revenue from 1916 to 1926 produced a series of changes to tax law in the 1918 Income Tax Act, the 1921 and 1922 Finance Acts and, above all, section 24 of the 1927 Finance Act. The case went to the High Court in 1924, the Court of Appeal later that year, and ultimately the House of Lords in 1925.
It was the first independent school to introduce compulsory Mandarin Chinese from the age of 13, and in 2006 was the first public school in England to sign a deal with the Chinese government to encourage the teaching of Mandarin and Chinese culture.
Large numbers of Brighton College boys fought in both World Wars, with 149 Old Brightonians fallen in World War I and 173 during World War II.
During research for her 2006 novel Wicked!, author Jilly Cooper spoke to former pupils.

Houses

The pastoral system at Brighton College is house based. There are 16 houses. Staff of both sexes can be attached to any house. Houses contain between 48 and 85 pupils and are supervised by a house master or house mistress and a team of personal tutors. Boarding houses also have a matron and house keeping staff. The HMM appoints Upper Sixth Formers as house prefects to look after and mentor younger members, and one as head pupil to represent their house at house events and competitions.
In September 2017, Brighton College's 14th house was opened, Alexander House and is only for the Sixth formers, who decide during their Upper Fifth year if they wish to move into this house, with all members coming from other boarding houses. In their final two years, roughly half of boarders choose to enter the house. For years 7–8 there are two Houses, Hamblett and Owton. Theses Houses do not offer boarding and are for both boys and girls. For those wishing to board, Brighton College Prep Handcross offers boarding from Year 4.

Awards

  • England's Independent School of the Year 2012 – The Sunday Times
  • England's Independent School of the Year 2019 – The Sunday Times
  • Independent Secondary School of the Decade – The Times
  • England's Public School Headmaster of the Year 2012 by Tatler magazine
  • England's Public School Headmaster of the Year 2023 by Tatler magazine
  • UK Boarding School of the Year 2025 – The Sunday Times
  • Top School of the Year for A-levels 2025 – The Sunday Times
  • Top Academic School in the South East 2025 – The Sunday Times
  • Best Sixth Form 2025 – The Week Independent Schools Awards

    Site and buildings

Brighton College is located in Brighton's Kemptown area, in the east of the city. It is immediately to the east of the site of the former Kemptown railway station, across Sutherland Road. Its principal buildings are in the gothic revival style by Sir George Gilbert Scott RA. Later buildings were designed by his pupil and former student at the college Sir Thomas Graham Jackson RA.
George Bell, Bishop of Chichester created the school grounds as an extra-parochial ecclesiastical district. Placed outside the parish of St. Matthew's, Brighton, the school chapel holds an episcopal licence to perform weddings.
Under the stewardship of Head Master Richard Cairns, several new buildings were added to the college campus:-
  • 2008: Alexander Arts Centre
  • 2011: Skidelsky Building
  • 2011: New Pre-Prep school
  • 2012: Diamond Jubilee Pavilion, a new cricket pavilion at the school's fields near East Brighton Park, opened by the Earl and Countess of Wessex in July 2012.
  • 2012: Simon Smith Building
  • 2013: New House
  • 2014: Cairns Tower
  • 2015: Music School and Sarah Abraham Recital Hall
  • 2017: Alexander House
  • 2017: Kai Yong Yeoh Building
  • 2020: School of Sports and Science – a £55 million building, comprising 18 university-standard laboratories, a rooftop running track, swimming pool and double-height sports hall, was designed by the Rotterdam-based Office for Metropolitan Architecture.
  • 2024: Richard Cairns Building – this building consists of a performing arts centre, the 400 seat 'Cairns Theatre', social spaces and subterranean studios. It completes a 15-year expansion programme and was designed by Dutch architecture firm krft.

    Sister schools

As of today, Brighton College has 10 sister schools world-wide, one each in Handcross, Hove, London, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, Bangkok, Bangkok, Singapore and Hanoi.

Policies

In 2017 the school invited Stonewall Ambassador Ian McKellen to share its anti-bullying message. The school has regularly made headlines for its pro-LGBT stance, emphasizing the right of all pupils to feel safe and supported. For the 2013–14 academic year the school appointed the first openly gay head boy of an English independent school. In August 2017 the school participated in the Brighton Pride Parade, becoming the first public school in the United Kingdom to do so. The float was backed by Ian McKellen. This has become an annual event for the school, with pupils and staff designing and making the float.
The school positions community service as a "vital part of school life". Pupils are involved in 328 days of community service a year – which includes visiting elderly people, teaching pensioners about technology, and working with local community initiatives.
The school is recognised as having an ethos of kindness and respect, in addition to academic excellence. The school's most recent Independent Schools Inspectorate report summarizes:

Fees

For the 2024/25 academic year the fees were between £25,000–£35,000 for day pupils. Boarding ranged from £48,750–£61,000. The school offers a number of scholarships and bursaries, offered on the basis of merit and need.

Activities

In the 2025 A-level examinations Brighton College achieved 98% A*B, with 85% A*-A and 49% A*. In the 2025 GCSE examinations they scored 98% 9-7, with 64% awarded Grade 9. Class sizes at GCSE average 18, and at A-level they average 8. 26 subjects are offered at A-level.
The school has an extensive co-curriculum provision, with the option of "over 100 clubs and activities" in which pupils may participate. This includes drama, dance, music and art.
The school has an ethos of "sports for all" and offers a range sport choices. The major sports are athletics, cricket, netball and rugby. All pupils participate in games of their choice twice a week. The college was selected to provide training ground for Japan during the course of Rugby World Cup 2015. Going forward, England Head Coach Eddie Jones, Japan coach then, has hosted the elite player squad training camps at the college.

Principals and head masters

The title of principal was changed to Head Master in December 1885. The requirement for the Head Master to be an ordained priest of the Church of England was removed in 1909. Given the international growth of the school, Richard Cairns became Principal of the Brighton College family of schools in August 2024, and Steve Marshall-Taylor became the Head Master of Brighton College itself.
Note: Simon Smith returned to his position as Second Master after Richard Cairns took leadership in 2006.