The High Life

 A balanced school career is the key to their success at Brighton & Hove High School

With the end of the summer holiday came thoughts of returning to school, autumnal weather and, of course, the inevitable exam results. Across the UK, girls and boys waited to see how they had fared in the latest round of GCSEs and A-Level examinations.

Things would be no different for pupils of Brighton & Hove High School. The school is part of the Girls’ Day School Trust (GDST), which has in their group 28 schools nationally.

The GDST has a fantastic record for academic achievement, but for Brighton & Hove High School headmistress, Lorna Duggleby, it is equally important that her students have a rounded education – one that not only gives them the exam results they will need to pursue their individual careers, but also makes them fully-rounded young individuals.

At Brighton & Hove High School, the teaching of traditional academic subjects is second to none, but there is also a commitment to educating the girls in arts subjects and encouraging a healthy interest in sports and outdoor activities.

Each year, the students will have opportunities to be involved in drama, music and dance. There is always a school musical production and a fashion show, and they are also involved in the annual Rock Challenge performing arts event.

Education starts at the beginning with the Early Years Centre – a part of the junior school – and goes on to Junior, Senior and Sixth Form departments.

Whilst being a fee-paying school, the GDST also has a system of scholarships and bursaries. These are available to girls who perform best in the entrance test at 11+, and to girls of 16+ who are awarded on their performance in Year 10 and an interview.

As well as these, there are some means-tested bursaries, which allow academically able girls whose parents could otherwise not afford the fees to receive an education suited to their needs.

“I think the first thing to say is that the Girls’ Day School Trust is an amazing organisation,” says Helen Fraser, chief executive of the GDST. “We educate more girls than any other organisation in the independent sector, and we do it brilliantly.

We produce girls who are not only academically successful – our results are way above the average for independent schools and have improved this past year in both GCSE and A-Level – but a typical Trust girl is recognisable by her friendliness, her confidence, her openness, and she will probably be great at music, drama and art, as well as languages, chemistry or history!”

As a visitor to the school you can immediately see all of these intentions in place. The atmosphere is warm and friendly; the girls are vibrant, happy, and, at the same time, committed to their education.

This is no silent academic hot house – far from it. But year on year those exam successes keep pouring in, being a sure indication that the school’s balanced approach to education works and their mission to develop fully rounded young persons and valuable members of society is achieved.

Brighton & Hove High School GDST, Montpelier Road, Brighton, East Sussex, BN1 3AT, 01273 734112, enquiries@bhhs.gdst.net, www.bhhs.gdst.net

Junior School, Radinden Manor Road, Hove, East Sussex BN3 6NH, 01273 505004