Avery Hill College Avery Hill College of Education

Avery Hill College was established in 1906 by the London County Council as a residential female teacher training college. The mansion at Avery Hill, Eltham had been purchased by London County Council in 1902. It had previously been the home of Colonel John Thomas North and his family, who had spent up to �200,000 on renovating and adding to the property to create a large Italianate mansion. On his death in 1896 his widow sold the property, which was eventually bought by London County Council for �25,000. The College opened in 1906 with 45 resident and 115 day students. Most of the students were between 18 and 21 and came from London, and had already worked as pupil-teachers. The syllabus included nature study, drawing, music and the theory of education as well as the more usual academic subjects. Science was not taught until the 1930s as so few of the girls had been taught the subject at school. Games included tennis, hockey, cricket and netball, and student societies were established to organise social events and activities. By 1908 the College had purchased nearby Southwood House and a school building in Deansfield Road which were converted to hostels. Numbers of applicants to the College continued to rise, and four new halls of residence were built in the grounds of Southwood House, the last opening in 1916. During the First World War Roper Hall became a convalescent home for soldiers, but the College remained open.

In 1928 Avery Hill was attached to the University of London to conduct examinations for Teacher's Certificates, along with all teacher training colleges. In 1935 a range of improvements were made to the College's facilities, when the halls of residence were updated and mains electricity introduced. The Principal, Freda Hawtrey, introduced training for nursery school work as an important feature of Avery Hill courses after 1935.

During the Second World War Avery Hill was evacuated to Huddersfield Technical College. The College returned to Eltham in 1946, although all the buildings had suffered war damage, including most of the original mansion. Three large houses in Chislehurst were purchased in 1947 and converted into hostels, easing the problem of student accommodation.

After the war the College continued to attract rising numbers of students, with up to a third coming from the north of England by the late 1940s. Students continued to take a two year course leading to a Teacher's Certificate validated by the University of London. In 1959 Avery Hill took on male students, but inadequate accommodation meant that they boarded at the former Methodist training college in Westminster. The College also established an annexe at Mile End for mature students in 1968. In 1960 a third year was added to the teacher training course, according to the Ministry of Education's requirements. From the 1960s the future of Avery Hill as an independent college was under close consideration by the Inner London Education Authority as well as the college itself. After several years of resisting plans for mergers and retaining its independence Avery Hill merged with Thames Polytechnic in 1985, when Avery Hill became the Polytechnic's Faculty of Education and Community Studies.