Current site
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 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 Carey, Livingstone, Chalmers and 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, an Old Elthamian) opened in 2012, displaying works by Moore, students and other artists.
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. 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). Thus Eltham College will be fully co-educational in every year from autumn 2024.
Mottingham is a district of south-east London, England, which straddles the border of both the London Borough of Bromley and the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is located south west of Eltham, 1.5 miles. It was historically within the county of Kent.
Peter William Barlow was an English civil engineer, particularly associated with railways, bridges, the design of tunnels and the development of tunnelling techniques. In 1864 he patented a design for a cylindrical tunnelling shield, and obtained a provisional patent in 1868 for an improved design.
Eltham is a district of southeast London, England, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is 8.7 miles (14.0 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross, and is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. The three wards of Eltham North, South and West have a total population of 35,459. 88,000 people live in Eltham.
Grove Park is a district of South East London, England within the London Borough of Lewisham. It is located north east of Bromley and south east of Lewisham.
Bradfield College is a public boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18 in Bradfield, Berkshire, England. It is noted for its open-air Greek theatre and its triennial Greek play.
Falconwood is an area of south east London within both the London Boroughs of Bexley and Greenwich. It is north east of Eltham and south west of Welling. According to the 2021 census, Falconwood, has a population of roughly 16,600.
Wolverhampton Grammar School is a co-educational private school in Wolverhampton, England.
Abraham Colfe was vicar of Lewisham from 1610 to 1657 and a notable English philanthropist, founding Colfe's School, a reading (primary) or Latin school and five almshouses for the inhabitants of Lewisham. The school later came to bear his name.
The Church Army is an evangelistic organisation and mission community founded in 1882 in association with the Church of England and now operating internationally in many parts of the Anglican Communion.
Leighton Park School is a co-educational private school for both day and boarding pupils in Reading in South East England. The school's ethos is closely tied to the Quaker values, having been founded as a Quaker School in 1890. The school's ethos is described as achievement with values, character and community. It is one of seven Quaker schools in England.
St Piran's is a prep school located on Gringer Hill in Maidenhead, Berkshire, England. The school was known as Cordwalles School until 1919 and has been co-educational since the 1990s.
Woodlands House is a Grade II* listed Georgian villa, next door to Mycenae House, Mycenae Road, in the Westcombe Park area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich. From 1972 to 2003 the building served as a library and art museum, known as the Woodlands Art Gallery. Today it houses a Steiner School.
Walthamstow Hall is a private day school for girls in the centre of Sevenoaks, Kent, England. It was founded by Dorothea Foulger as a school for the daughters of missionaries in 1838.
Horn Park is an area of south east London south west of Eltham. It is located 12.5 km (7.8 mi) southeast of Charing Cross on the southwest edge of the Royal Borough of Greenwich and borders both the London Borough of Lewisham and the London Borough of Bromley. There is a public park also named Horn Park and two schools in the area. The River Quaggy flows northward though Horn Park, and the suburb is covered by the postcode district SE12, which was previously called the Lee postal district. There is community centre located in Horn Park Estate on Sibthorpe Road, that hosts a number of activities, such as Christian, council and MP meetings, and numerous classes including dance, karate and English.
Old Elthamians Rugby Football Club is an English rugby union club based in Chislehurst in SE London-Kent. Due to financial difficulties they withdrew from National League One, the third tier of English club rugby, in August, 2021. Upon returning to league rugby and despite only taking one season away, the RFU place Old Elthamians in Counties 3. The club left the College meadows ground and have returned home to Chislehurst. They returned to Chislehurst for the 2022-23 season after they were removed from College Meadows by the headmaster Guy Sanderson due to the debt owed to Eltham College by Kobus Paulsen.
Thomas Ernest Pearce was a British businessman and member of the Legislative Council of Hong Kong.
Neil Biron Rhind was an English journalist, writer and an authority on the social and historical development of Blackheath and surrounding areas of south-east London.
All Saints' Parish Hall is a locally listed building in Blackheath, in the London Borough of Lewisham, south-east London, built as the parish hall for the nearby All Saints' Church. It is in Arts and Crafts style to a design by the architect Charles Canning Winmill and was officially opened in 1928. The building has been used by numerous groups over the years, and was a British Restaurant during and after World War II. Since December 1988 it has been the business premises of the Mary Evans Picture Library, a company founded by Mary Evans and her husband Hilary Evans in 1964.
The Tarn is a 9 acres (3.6 ha) site on Court Road between Mottingham and Eltham, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich, southeast London, United Kingdom, consisting of a public garden, a bird sanctuary nature reserve and a lake amongst woodland. The woodland and lake, which was historically known as Starbuck's Pond, were previously the southern part of the Great Park, one of three parks belonging to the estate of Eltham Palace and used as a royal deer hunting park for several centuries up until the English Civil War. As a garden The Tarn opened in 1935, after the Metropolitan Borough of Woolwich acquired the site from the adjacent Royal Blackheath Golf Course. The Tarn remains largely unchanged since the 1930s and contains several shelters, benches, a public toilets building and a circular path which crosses a wooden footbridge spanning the lake. There is also an 18th-century ice house in the garden, which is a listed structure.
