Editing Eltham College

{{about|the school in London, England|the school in Research, Australia|Eltham College (Victoria)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox school
|name=Eltham College
|logo=Eltham College UK new logo.png
|logo_size=150px
|image=Eltham College - geograph.org.uk - 2321992.jpg
|image_size=250px
|caption=School entrance and main building
|motto=''Gloria Filiorum Patres'' ("The fathers are the glory of the sons" – [[Book of Proverbs|Proverbs]] 17: 6)
|established={{Start date and age|df=y|1842}}
|closed=
|type=[[Private schools in the United Kingdom|Private]] [[day school]]
|religion=
|president=
|head_label=
Headmaster
|head=Guy Sanderson
|r_head=
|chair_label=
|chair=
|founder=
|address=Grove Park Road
|city=[[Mottingham]]
|county=[[London]]
|country=England
|postcode=SE9 4QF
|local_authority=[[London Borough of Bromley|Bromley]]
|urn=101693
|ofsted=
|staff=
|enrolment=1065
|lower_age=7
|upper_age=18
|gender= Co-educational
|publication=
|houses={{color box|Blue}} Carey<br>{{color box|Red}} Chalmers<br>{{color box|Green}} Livingstone<br>{{color box|Yellow}} Moffat
|colours=
|alumni            = [[#Notable alumni|Old Elthamians]]
|website={{URL|http://www.elthamcollege.london}}
}}

'''Eltham College''' is a [[Private schools in the United Kingdom|private]] [[day school]] situated in [[Mottingham]], southeast London. [[Eltham, London|Eltham]] and Mottingham once formed part of the same parish, hence its name. It is a member of [[The Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference]] (HMC).

==Early history==
The school dates back to the early Victorian era, when it was founded as the [[London Missionary Society]]'s School for the Sons and Orphans of Missionaries. Within a short time the Baptist Missionary Society joined as co-founders.  A girls' school had been established in [[Walthamstow]] in 1838 by [[Dorothea Foulger]] and a boys' school was opened there in early 1842.<ref>{{Citation |title=Dorothea Foulger |date=2004-09-23 |url=http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/53015 |work=The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |editor-last=Matthew |editor-first=H. C. G. |access-date=2023-07-23 |place=Oxford |publisher=Oxford University Press |doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/53015 |editor2-last=Harrison |editor2-first=B.|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The boys' school later relocated to [[Mornington Crescent (street)|Mornington Crescent]] in 1852 and then to a purpose-built location in the centre of [[Blackheath, London|Blackheath]] in 1857<ref>[[Neil Rhind|Rhind, N.]] (1993) ''Blackheath Village & Environs, 1790–1990, Vol.1 The Village and Blackheath Vale'' (Bookshop Blackheath, London), p. 117.</ref> (the building, directly adjacent to Blackheath Station, later became the headquarters of the [[Church Army]] and is now a private hospital). Missionary [[David Livingstone]] sent his son Robert to the school during the 1850s.<ref name="Rhind, N. 1993 p. 118">Rhind, N. (1993) ''Blackheath Village & Environs, 1790–1990, Vol.1 The Village and Blackheath Vale'' (Bookshop Blackheath, London), p. 118.</ref>

==Current site==
{{More citations needed section|date=January 2025}}
The school moved to its present site – centred on an 18th-century mansion (Fairy Hall) in Mottingham – in 1912. The building had previously been used by the [[Royal Naval School]] from 1889 to the end of the summer term in 1910.

Eltham College began life as a small boarding school catering for children of missionaries serving overseas, mainly in India, China and Africa. From 1945 to 1976 Eltham was a [[Direct Grant Grammar School|Direct Grant school]]; thus, for example, the 1952 intake was roughly 20 pupils from [[London County Council]] schools and 20 from Kent schools (all 40 of these on scholarships), and 20 fee-payers. When the Direct Grant system was abolished in 1976, the school chose to go fully independent. After the 1950s the number of missionary sons fell sharply and the school became primarily a day school for boys until it went fully co-educational in the 2020s. The sixth form has admitted girls since 1978.  Reflecting the origins of the school, each of the four houses is named after a prominent LMS or BMS missionary, namely [[William Carey (missionary)|Carey]], [[David Livingstone|Livingstone]], [[James Chalmers (missionary)|Chalmers]] and [[Robert Moffat (missionary)|Moffat]]; coloured blue, green, red and yellow respectively.

===21st century developments===
Headmaster (2000–2014) Paul Henderson continued a programme of building and development started by Christopher Waller, including major refurbishments to the junior school and music school, and a car park in front of the college. The Gerald Moore Art Gallery (partly funded by and named after artist [[Gerald Moore (surgeon)|Gerald Moore]], an Old Elthamian) opened in 2012, displaying works by Moore, students and other artists.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Visit Us |url=https://geraldmooregallery.org/contact/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=Gerald Moore Gallery |language=en}}</ref>
 
Also in 2012, to mark the centenary of the move to Mottingham, the college launched a campaign to raise the funds to replace the Sixth Form Centre and Jubilee Block. Construction began in July 2017 and ended in February 2019. The new Turberville building (named after Geoffrey Turberville, the college's longest serving headmaster, 1930–1959) is located on the west side of the Old Quad with a new colonnade linking it to existing buildings.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2019-07-15 |title=Turberville Building, Eltham College |url=https://www.brick.org.uk/brick-bulletin/tuberville-building |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=BDA |language=en}}</ref> A triple-height, glazed atrium forms a link between the quad and the playing fields to the east and gives access to the David Robins Sixth Form Centre.

Girls were admitted to Year 3 and Year 7 for the first time in autumn 2020 (since the late 1970s girls have been members of the sixth form).<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sanderson |first=Guy |date=2018-05-26 |title=Guy Sanderson: Why I’m taking Eltham College co-educational |url=https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/guy-sanderson-why-im-taking-eltham-college-co-educational-l28mg9fw8 |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=www.thetimes.com |language=en}}</ref>  Thus Eltham College will be fully co-educational in every year from autumn 2024.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Perseval |first=Alex |date=2024-09-25 |title=Time for celebration at Eltham College |url=https://www.insidekentmagazine.co.uk/time-for-celebration-at-eltham-college/ |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=insideKENT |language=en-GB}}</ref>

==Sexual abuse allegations==
As of June 2021, a newspaper article reported that former students who had collected testimonials about alleged incidents between 2016 and 2021 received letters from the school's solicitors requesting them to desist, or provide evidence.<ref name="SAS">{{cite news |last1=Weale |first1=Sally |title=Ex-pupils who compiled sexual abuse dossier accused of blocking inquiry |url=https://www.theguardian.com/society/2021/jun/13/ex-pupils-who-compiled-sexual-abuse-dossier-accused-of-blocking-inquiry |work=The Guardian |date=2021-06-13 |language=en}}</ref> The school said: "Safeguarding remains our top priority, and we want to do everything we can to make our pupils feel safe and fully supported. We have very strong pastoral procedures and reporting systems in place, and these are kept under regular review to ensure they remain fully fit for purpose".<ref name="SAS"/>

==Teacher-assessed grades in 2021==
In February 2022, the ''[[The Sunday Times|Sunday Times]]'' investigated the use of teacher assessed grades given to pupils at independent schools across the UK in 2021. These had replaced the formal exams that were cancelled due to the [[COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom|COVID-19 pandemic]].  For Eltham College, in 2021, 72.2% of its A-level entries got A* grades, whereas in 2019 the figure was only 29.1%.<ref name="McCall-05Feb2022">{{cite news |last1=McCall |first1=Alastair |last2=Griffiths |first2=Sian |last3=Rodrigues |first3=Nick |title=Private schools 'gamed' Covid rules to give their pupils more top A-levels |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/private-schools-gamed-covid-rules-to-give-their-pupils-more-top-a-levels-6z0z6w9r5 |access-date=30 December 2022 |work=Sunday Times |date=5 February 2022}}</ref><ref name="Frank-Keyes-09Feb2022">{{cite news |last1=Frank-Keyes |first1=Jessica |title=£21k-a-year north London private school gave A*s for more than 90% of all 2021 A-level exams |url=https://www.londonworld.com/education/ps21k-a-year-north-london-private-school-gave-as-for-more-than-90-of-all-2021-a-level-exams-3560102 |access-date=30 December 2022 |work=London World |date=9 February 2022}}</ref> In 2022, the figure was still impressive, but lower at 44%.<ref>[https://www.elthamcollege.london/admissions/examination-results-2022/#:~:text=A%20Level%20Results%202022,grades%20were%20A*%2DB Examination Results 2022]. Eltham College. Retrieved: 3 January 2022.</ref>

==Headmasters==

===Blackheath===
The school's headmasters at Blackheath<ref>Rhind, N. (1993) ''Blackheath Village & Environs, 1790–1990, Vol.1 The Village and Blackheath Vale'' (Bookshop Blackheath, London), p. 119.</ref> were:
*1852–1866: William George Lemon
*1866–1868: James Scott
*1869–1870: Charles Dugard Makepeace
*1870–1875: Edward J Chinnock
*1875–1892: Edward Waite
*1893–1914: Walter Brainerd Hayward (he brought the school to Mottingham in 1912)

===Mottingham===

*1914–1926: George Robertson
*1926–1930: Nevil Wood
*1930–1959: Geoffrey Turberville
*1959–1983: Christopher Porteous
*1983–1990: Christopher Waller
*1990–2000: Malcolm Green
*2000–2014: Paul Henderson
*2014–present: Guy Sanderson

==Notable alumni==
{{see also|Category:People educated at Eltham College}}
''(in alphabetical order)''
*Sir [[John Adams (physicist)|John Adams]], physicist, director of CERN
* Sir [[John Bailey (solicitor)|John Bailey]], Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor
* [[Philip Bailey (cricket writer)|Philip Bailey]], cricket statistician
* [[Stuart Ball]], political historian 
* [[George Band]], mountaineer
* [[Nicholas Barberis]], professor of Finance
* [[Piers Benn]], philosopher
* [[Andrew Percy Bennett]], diplomat
* [[Kevin Bonavia]], politician
* [[Anthony Bottoms|Sir Anthony Bottoms]], criminologist
* [[Fenner Brockway]], peace campaigner
* [[Tony Brise]], racing driver
* [[Michael Buckley (civil servant)|Sir Michael Buckley]], civil servant
* [[Nabil Al Busaidi]], adventurer
* [[Charlie Connelly]], author and broadcaster
* [[Stephen Dunnett]], neuroscientist, and Professor of Biosciences since 2005 at Cardiff University
* [[Mike Exeter]], grammy winning sound engineer and producer
* [[Ernest Fahmy]], obstetrician and gynaecologist
* [[Frank Farmer (physicist)|Frank Farmer]], physicist
* [[Stephen Farr]], organist
* [[Nick Ferrari]], radio broadcaster
* [[Freddie Foster]], cricketer
* Sir [[Simon Gass]], Ambassador to Greece 2004–2009, Ambassador to Iran 2009–11
* [[Barry Hammett]], Royal Navy chaplain
* [[Brian Harris (priest)]]
* [[James Harris (rugby union)|James Harris]], Welsh rugby union player
* [[Richard Hart (cricketer)|Richard Hart]], cricketer
* [[Christopher Idle (hymnwriter)|Christopher Idle]], Anglican priest and hymn writer
* [[David E. H. Jones]], chemist and writer
* [[Jim Knight]], former Labour MP, Minister of State for Schools in the UK Government, MP from 2001 to 2010 for South Dorset
* [[Barnaby Lenon]], headmaster of Harrow School and academic
* [[Eric Liddell]], Olympic athlete and missionary, after whom the sports centre is named
* [[Peter Luff (campaigner)|Peter Luff]], campaigner
* [[Johan Malcolm]], Leicestershire county cricket player
* [[Alan Martin (physicist)|Alan Martin]], Professor of Theoretical Physics
* [[Gerald Moore (surgeon)|Gerald Moore]], surgeon and artist
* [[Adrian Nance]], Royal Navy officer
* [[Jack Oliver (weightlifter)|Jack Oliver]], weightlifter
* [[Phil Packer]] MBE, soldier and fundraiser
* [[Mervyn Peake]], author of ''Gormenghast'', after whom the library is named
* [[Thomas Ernest Pearce]], sportsman and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong
* [[Geoffrey K. Pullum]], Professor of General Linguistics since 2007 at the University of Edinburgh
* [[David Sanger (organist)|David Sanger]], organist
* [[Michael Saward (priest)|Michael Saward]], Anglican priest and hymn writer
* [[Andrew Sentance]], Member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee from 2006 to 2011, and Chief Economist of British Airways from 1998 to 2006 
* [[Gerald Summers]], furniture designer
* [[Bryan Sykes]], human geneticist
* [[Alan Wolstencroft]], Archdeacon of Manchester

==Arms==
{{Infobox COA wide
|image = Eltham College Achievement.png
|escutcheon = Azure two pilgrims' staves in saltire Argent surmounted by a cross flory Or.
|crest = On a wreath of the colours in front of two torches in saltire Or enflamed Proper an open book also Proper.
|motto = Gloria Filiorum Patres<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.heraldry-wiki.com/heraldrywiki/wiki/Eltham_College |title=Eltham College |access-date=29 January 2021 |publisher=Heraldry of the World}}</ref>}}

==References and sources==
{{Reflist}}
*[http://www.elthamcollege.london/ Eltham College website]
*[http://www.isi.net/HistoricalReports/0368_07.htm Independent Schools Inspectorate, containing a report on the College]{{Dead link|date=August 2019 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
*[http://oldelthamiansrfc.com Old Elthamians RFC website]
{{Schools and colleges in Bromley}}
{{Public schools in England}}

{{authority control}}

{{Coord|51.438|N|0.039|E|region:GB_source:enwiki|display=title}}

[[Category:1842 establishments in England]]
[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1842]]
[[Category:Private boys' schools in London]]
[[Category:Private co-educational schools in London]]
[[Category:Private schools in the London Borough of Bromley]]
[[Category:Member schools of the Headmasters' and Headmistresses' Conference]]