Schools and education in Guernsey

The eleven-plus was removed in 2019. There is no longer a States grammar school and no selective entry into the States sector. The former Guernsey Grammar School and Sixth Form Centre became Les Varendes High School in 2023.

Secondary education in the States sector is delivered through the Secondary School Partnership: three 11 to 16 schools at Les Beaucamps, Les Varendes and St Sampson's, with a separate Sixth Form Centre being co-located with The Guernsey Institute at a post-16 campus.

There are also Le Murier High School and Les Voies High School, which support learners with additional needs, and St Anne's School in Alderney. Les Voies supports up to 56 pupils and works with learners across the Bailiwick who have social, emotional and behavioural difficulties.

Both primary and secondary admissions run on a catchment area and partner school model. Your address determines which primary your child attends, and each primary partners with a particular secondary school.

If you want a school outside your catchment or partner school, there is a formal Out of Catchment Area or Partner School request process, and a separate appeals process. Neither is a formality.

Applications run much earlier than families assume. For children joining Reception in September 2026, registration opened on the first day of the autumn term and closed at 3pm on Friday 24 October 2025. That is roughly eleven months ahead.

If you are moving mid-year or at short notice, contact School Admissions directly and early. This is the single most common practical mistake relocating families make.

Elizabeth College, founded in 1563, is selective by entrance exam and phasing in co-education. It runs from age 2 through to 18 including a junior school. Fees were £5,216 per term in 2024/2025, across three terms, so around £15,648 a year.

The Ladies' College is a girls' school for ages 11 to 18 with around 400 pupils, and runs a co-educational sixth form in partnership with Elizabeth College. Fees were £4,670 per term in 2023/2024.

Blanchelande College in St Andrew is co-educational.

Together the colleges educate roughly 30% of the island's secondary age children, just over 1,250 students.

States funding of the colleges has been actively contested. The general grant rose from £732,000 in 2019/2020 to approximately £2.85 million by 2025/2026. The Committee for Education, Sport and Culture proposed a phased withdrawal of that funding over five years. The colleges put forward a counter-proposal to maintain funding for longer.

If you are budgeting for independent education here, confirm current fees and the funding position directly with the college before you commit. Do not assume the figures above still hold, and do not assume fees are stable while this is unresolved.

Contact School Admissions at the States as soon as you have an address, or before, if you are relocating mid-year. Contact the colleges directly about entrance exams, timing and current fees. And ask about waiting lists rather than availability, because those are different questions.