Brighton College

Established in 1845, the College has grown exponentially in recent years. The Principal Richard Cairns has been in post since 2006 and has twice been named Tatler Head of the Year. Richard oversees the entire family of schools, which includes four prep schools and the senior school in the UK, and seven international schools. Head Master Steve Marshall Taylor is in charge of the College, and has been at Brighton for over 12 years.

Results are consistently excellent. In 2025, we were named the Top Independent School in England for A-levels and Brighton College was awarded an unprecedented three accolades by The Sunday Times: Boarding School of the Year 2026, Top Co-Educational School In The UK 2025 & 2026 and Top Academic School in South East England 2026.

The school in Kemptown has seen the addition of stunning new facilities, sustainably designed by leading international architects, with recent investment well in excess of £100 million. These include the Nicola Leach Music School and Sarah Abraham Recital Hall (2015), the Yeoh Building teaching complex (2017), the School of Science and Sport (2020) and The Richard Cairns Building (2024), a stunning new performing arts and Sixth Form Centre, with a 400-seat theatre and Global Futures hub.

World-class facilities enable us to share a huge variety of opportunities with pupils and allow for innovative and exciting approaches to teaching and learning.

We believe that we are a part of society, not apart from it, and so activism and community involvement are key parts of the curriculum. We have a thriving volunteer programme, driven by pupils, and are proud of our progressive stand on diversity, equality and inclusion.

Brighton College also has a family of schools, which includes our three Sussex prep schools, Brighton College Prep School, Brighton College Prep Handcross and St Christopher’s, and our London prep school, Brighton College Prep Kensington. Overseas, we have opened schools in Abu Dhabi, Al Ain, Dubai, Bangkok, Singapore and Vietnam.

Our approach to education is regularly celebrated. As well as being named 'UK School of the Decade', we have been named ‘School of the Year’ twice by The Sunday Times, and The Week named us ‘Best in the UK for STEM’ in 2020 and 2024, and awarded us 'Best Sixth Form in Britain' in their 2025 Awards.

Our most recent ISI inspection in November 2024 gave us a glowing report and two areas of 'significant strength', the first highlighting the brilliance of the school's enriching curriculum, activities programme, focus on academic excellence and co-curricular programme.

We hope that you will want to come and join the fantastic group of professionals who work here.