St. John Bosco College is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

, located in

Battersea Battersea is a large district in southwest London, part of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is centred southwest of Charing Cross and also extends along the south bank of the Thames Tideway. It includes the Battersea Park. Hist ...

in the

London Borough of Wandsworth Wandsworth () is a London boroughs, London borough in South West (London sub region), South West London, England. It forms part of Inner London and has an estimated population of 329,677 inhabitants. Its main communities are Battersea, Balham, P ...

, England. Housed nea
Battersea Square
a short walk from Clapham Junction and

Battersea Bridge Battersea Bridge is a five-span arch bridge with cast-iron girders and granite piers crossing the River Thames in London, England. It is situated on a sharp bend in the river, and links Battersea south of the river with Chelsea to the north. ...

, the school has grown in size and reputation since it moved to its new premises in the Autumn of 2015. The school is run under the joint trusteeship of the RC Archdiocese of Southwark and the

Salesians of Don Bosco The Salesians of Don Bosco (SDB), formally known as the Society of Saint Francis de Sales (), is a religious congregation of men in the Catholic Church, founded in 1859 by the Italian priest John Bosco to help poor and migrant youth during the ...

, and is administered by

Wandsworth London Borough Council Wandsworth London Borough Council, also known as Wandsworth Council, is the local authority for the London Borough of Wandsworth in Greater London, England. It is a London borough council, one of 32 in London. The council has been under Labour m ...

. It is named after

John Bosco John Melchior Bosco, Salesians of Don Bosco, SDB (; ; 16 August 181531 January 1888), popularly known as Don Bosco or Dom Bosco (International Phonetic Alphabet, IPA: ), was an Italian Catholic priest, educator and writer. While working in Tu ...

, an

Italia Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

n priest, educator, and writer, who dedicated his life to improving the education of

street children Street children are poor or homeless children who live on the streets of a city, town, or village. Homeless youth are often called street kids, or urchins; the definition of street children is contested, but many practitioners and policymakers ...

and other disadvantaged youth.

History

Salesian education in Battersea

There is a history of Salesian education in Battersea. St John Bosco College is situated on the site of its predecessor school Salesian College which was founded in 1895 in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

by the religious order of the

. They had first arrived in Battersea in 1887 as part of Don Bosco's dream to establish a Salesian presence in Great Britain and the British Empire, with its missionary potential. The parish church of Sacred Heart adjacent to the school was first built in 1875 and the first Salesians who arrived in 1887 were Fr. Edward McKiernan, Fr. Charles Macey and Br. Rossaro. Salesian College closed in August 2011, under the Headship of Stephen McCann, to open St. John Bosco College

A new Roman Catholic School for Wandsworth

The school was established to provide a single, co-educational, Roman Catholic School in the Borough of Wandsworth by its joint Trustees; the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark and the Salesians of Don Bosco. St John Bosco College opened in September 2011 with Dr. Simon Uttley as Headteacher. Dr. Uttley was succeeded by Mr Paul Dunne as Head in January 2017. The school was initially located on the site of the former John Paul II School while the new building was constructed in Battersea. The school moved to its present site in October 2015. The move came under criticism due to the use of the old site for housing developments instead of a new primary school as campaigners had sought, citing the shortage of huge numbers of school places in the area.

The Salesian Family

St. John Bosco College is part of the worldwide family of Salesian schools. The Salesians have over 3000 schools in more than 130 countries worldwide. St. John Bosco College has five sister schools in England in

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

Bootle Bootle (pronounced ) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England, which had a population of 51,394 in 2011; the wider Bootle (UK Parliament constituency), Parliamentary constituency had a population of 98,449. It is pa ...

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey, founded in AD 666 by Earconwald, St Erkenwald, and gained a municipal charter, market charter from Henry I of Engla ...

Croxteth Croxteth is a suburb of Liverpool, Merseyside, England, and a Liverpool City Council Ward. Although housing in the area is predominantly modern, the suburb has some notable history. At the 2011 census it had a population of 14,561. Etymology ...

and Farnborough. The school has links to many other Salesian schools around the world including schools in Turin, Borgomanero, Darjeeling, Bethlehem, and Madrid.

References

External links

St John Bosco College official websiteSalesians of Don Bosco UK official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint John Bosco College Secondary schools in the London Borough of Wandsworth Catholic secondary schools in the Archdiocese of Southwark Salesian secondary schools Voluntary aided schools in London