Brighton is a friendly city, especially for students. The beach, the cafés, the restaurants, the overall atmosphere, everything is on the town’s side to make it all the more pleasant.  But did you know that the city you probably grew up in attracts people from all over the world as well?

Japanese, Mexican, South Korean, Italian, Brazilian, Swiss students and a lot more than you could imagine enjoy spending a year or two learning, discovering new people and cultures, as well as the tastes of Brighton. 

Tess, a 17 years old student from Switzerland, decided to come to Brighton in order to obtain her A-Level certificate. “I like the subjects. There’s a wide range of them that we can choose from so I was able to pick things that really interested me. The teachers are amazing as well. They seem very passionate about what they do which makes it also really fun for the students to learn. It’s something I’m not used to back home.”

A few schools offer a nice programme dedicated to the non-local ones. One of them being, Varndean college. It started with no more than 4 students about 14 years ago. Nowadays, around 110 pupils come every year, and the numbers keep increasing. Mandy Rose and Shaun Clark are in charge of the programme. “We believe in it. We believe in the opportunity for anyone to come and study in England if they want to.” affirms Mandy. 

It’s an experience that enriches the students, as much as the adults who take care of them. Once again, Mandy certifies that through the years she spent working in this establishment, she had the chance to learn many things, one being : “How brave everybody who comes here is. I travelled in my life, I had a childhood abroad and I worked abroad most of my life. But I didn’t deliberately go abroad when I was 16. And I think that’s really brave of everybody. And I’ve learned that the impact that this programme makes on the students that come here is huge, and that is such a pleasure.”