Varndean College catchment area spreads to Hong Kong

Varndean College principal Phil Harland has visited Hong Kong to try to persuade students from China to come to Brighton.

Dr Harland was joined by a number of colleagues on a trip that also took in schools in the Chinese cities of Foshan and Shanghai.

The visitors from Varndean spent three days at the Shimen Experimental School in Foshan, the third largest manufacturing base in China.

The city, near Hong Kong, was the birthplace of martial arts masters such as Huang Feihong and Bruce Lee.

The Shimen Experimental School was founded in 1999 and was the first private boarding school in Guangdong Province.

The school has been sending students to America and Australia for some years and now hopes to establish stronger links with British colleges.

As part of their visit programme, Varndean teachers took part in lessons to give students a taste of what it would be like to take part in classes in a college in Britain.

Dr Harland took books as gifts featuring work by A-level photography students from Varndean.