Les Varendes High School and The Sixth Form Centre

Les Varendes High School
Les Varendes High School is a non selective, state-funded secondary school in St. Andrew's, Guernsey. It takes in students from Amherst, Notre Dame, St Mary and St Michael, and Vauvert primary schools.

It was formerly known as the Guernsey Grammar School and Sixth Form Centre, which was a co-educational state-funded grammar school. Since the eleven-plus was removed by the States of Guernsey in 2019, the school has taken non-selective cohorts of students meaning whilst up to September 2023 it had some selective Grammar School students, it now has all high school students. The school was renamed to Les Varendes High School in September 2023 as the last selective Grammar group left the school and the restructuring of Guernsey's education system progresses.

The Sixth Form Centre
The Sixth Form Centre is a state-funded sixth form located in St Andrew's, Guernsey. It is the only state-funded, free admission sixth form in the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

The sixth form is currently planned to relocate to the current La Mare De Carteret High School building from September 2025 until at least 2029 due to delays in the States of Guernsey obtaining funding for the construction of the new Sixth Form Centre alongside The Guernsey Institute at Les Ozouets.

History
Public sixth form education in Guernsey began in 1950, when the intermediate schools (boys & girls grammar schools) were given permission to keep students until 18. The Boys and Girls Grammar Schools merged at Sixth Form level in January 1972 with a new, mixed 11-18 Grammar School being built in 1982 and opened in 1985.

Originally, the sixth form was located on the upper floor of the Grammar School building with this being where the lower and upper sixth common rooms were located. The current Sixth Form Centre building was completed in August 2005 and is linked to the rest of the building through a glazed walkway known as 'the link'. This building provided additional, specialist, teaching spaces for subjects such as sports, business, economics, media, film studies, psychology, and sociology.

September 2023 saw the separation of The Sixth Form Centre, at least in branding, with it becoming a separate entity as it begins to transition into the new States of Guernsey post-16 vision.

Future plans
The Sixth Form Centre was previously planned to relocate to the current La Mare De Carteret High School building just for the 2025-26 academic year due to delays in the construction of the new Sixth Form College at Les Ozouets and the need to continue with the movement of 11-16 students from La Mare to Les Varendes. But, with new plans it is expected to stay there until at least 2029 due to budget concerns meaning only the main Guernsey Institute building will be constructed on the Les Ozouets site until further notice.