Clapham College


Clapham College was a Roman Catholic secondary school for boys in South London.

Background

It opened in 1897 and closed in 1989. Its history falls into three phases: for half a century it was a private school, for three decades it was a publicly supported grammar school, and then for more than a decade it was a comprehensive school. For virtually the whole of its life Clapham College occupied a site between Nightingale Lane on the edge of Clapham Common and Malwood Road SW12 8EN. The site is now occupied by Saint Francis Xavier 6th Form College and Newton Preparatory School.
Clapham College was also the name of the local further education college on South Side.

Foundation

Clapham College was founded by the Xaverian Brothers or Congregation of St. Francis Xavier a religious order founded by Theodore James Ryken in Bruges, Belgium in 1839 and named after Saint Francis Xavier. The order was dedicated to the Roman Catholic education of boys.
In the course of the nineteenth century the Catholic population of England grew rapidly, largely through Irish immigration. In 1850 a diocesan structure was restored and one of the most urgent concerns of the new hierarchy was to make provision for religious education. Religious orders played a vital part in meeting this need. The Xaverians were the first teaching brothers to make a permanent establishment in England in 1848 when they founded an elementary school in Bury near Manchester. In 1862 the Xaverians founded a secondary school in Manchester the Catholic Collegiate Institute, later renamed Xaverian College. A little later they founded a boarding school in Mayfield in East Sussex, Mayfield College. After Clapham College came a boarding school in Brighton —this was the school the actor Sir Ralph Richardson ran away from—and Bootle. Later in the twentieth century the number of brothers declined. In 1977 England was redefined as a region rather than a province of the Xaverian Brothers. In 2003 the Xaverian Brothers withdrew from their remaining English missions.
The founding of Clapham College in 1897 was part of a wave of Catholic school building in the second half of the nineteenth century. Other foundations in South London include St. Joseph's founded by the De La Salle Brothers, Salesian College founded by the Salesians of Don Bosco and Wimbledon College founded by the Jesuits. Orders of nuns founded schools for girls. Notre Dame High School in Southwark was actually established before any of the boys' schools—in 1855.

Private School from 1897-1945

In 1896 the Xaverian Brothers bought Broadoak, a property in Nightingale Lane. The house had been built in 1875 for the widow of Sir Titus Salt. Classrooms and dormitories were built—for some of the pupils would be boarders—and the school opened in September 1897 with 30 boys initially. The school's patron saint was St Joseph and its motto, Concordia res parvae crescunt The school increased in scale and scope. In 1905 a chemistry laboratory was built and the playing fields at Norbury acquired. In 1922 there were 276 boys on roll. In 1924 a preparatory department was opened in Hollywood, the next-door mansion in Nightingale Lane. In 1932 the school stopped taking boarders. In the 1930s the school had around 200 boys. At the beginning of the Second World there was a planned evacuation of all schools from London and in 1939 Clapham College was evacuated to East Grinstead and then to Taunton in 1944.

Grammar School from 1945-1975

In April 1945 the school returned to Clapham and became a voluntary aided Grammar School under the 1944 Education Act. The school was partially funded by the local authority and also the RC dioceses. The preparatory department came to an end. Pupils entered who had passed the Eleven Plus and were assigned to two parallel streams A and Alpha, which continued from the first through the fifth form. In the sixth form streams were defined by subject. At this time the School had around 350 pupils. It was one of only two Catholic grammar schools in south London. Although the school had been founded by a religious order and some of the teachers were brothers, most were lay. However, until 1970, when Mr C. Pocock took over as headmaster from Br. Peter, the Head had always been a brother.

Comprehensive School from 1975–89

In 1975 Clapham College Grammar School amalgamated with the nearby St. Gerards RC Secondary Modern on Clapham Road to become Clapham College School for Boys RC Comprehensive. Both were voluntary aided, Inner London Education Authority/ RC Diocese managed secondary schools. In line with the general move to comprehensive education and the RC dioceses reacting to a fall in expected numbers after the baby boom.
The St Gerads site was closed, sold and demolished. The staff and pupils moved to the Clapham College site. The incumbent headmaster of St. Gerard's, Mr. M. Gleeson, became headmaster of the new amalgamated school with two deputy heads; Mr C.Pocock the incumbent head of the grammar school and Mr Price. Mr Price retired and was replaced twice latterly by Mr Fagen around 1981.
New buildings having been built on the playing fields at the back of the old Clapham College Nightingale Lane site and the eponymously named 'Old Buildings' having been reconditioned. The new main entrance was on Malwood Road.
The new school's initial 'first year' intake was in 1976. Here it continued until 1985 when the site was designated as the site of the new Saint Francis Xavier Sixth Form College.
A huge culture clash existed between the ethos of St Geralds and Clapham College. Management styles were very different, with levels of teaching skill and performance differing greatly. The board of governors was more focused on faith issues than education. This all caused a great deal of staff tension and rivalry during the short time the school was in existence. This was reflected in the difficulties with pupil discipline and severe under-performance by many staff and poor top streams exam results. A number of incidents of a very dark nature occurred which were largely hushed up and are beyond the scope of this piece. Any one of which today, may well have led to newspaper headlines.
The school was never a 'happy' place. Neither for staff nor pupils.
The final years of Clapham College School for Boys were even more miserable. In July 1985 the school closed on the site to re-open that September on the site of the former Notre Dame Girls School, Battersea.
Under Mr Pocock as head.
The new St. Francis Xavier College opened on the site in September 1986. The relocated Clapham College took teachers, second to fifth year pupils and some sixth formers. Other sixth-formers, together with some of the teachers, stayed in Clapham at SFX. The relocated school was initially based in two locations. The Notre Dame Girls School and another nearby building which housed the classes for the boys in the second and third years.
The school moved from this second site when space became available at the main Notre Dame site as the older pupils left and the numbers dwindled.
In July 1989 the school finally closed.
It has been largely forgotten by the Clapham Old Xaverian old boys from the Grammar School and the current management of SFX. The writer of this section who is now an English Teacher
had the misfortune to attend on the Malwood Road site for seven long years, and certainly didn't learn to write English there.

Sixth Form College in 1985

The St. Francis Xavier Sixth-Form College now occupies the Nightingale Lane site. It offers an education to those aged 16–19 and gives priority to students from the eight Catholic secondary schools in the Boroughs of Lambeth, Southwark and Wandsworth.

Photographs

There are photos of the buildings on the following websites