St Michael’s School, Otford: recollections, observations and celebrations

St Michael’s School was founded in 1872 as an orphanage in Hatcham, New Cross. Its charismatic founder, Father Arthur Tooth was famously imprisoned for his Anglo-Catholic practices. Since 1925, the home of St Michael’s School has been a large Victorian Mansion in Otford, surrounded by 90 acres of beautiful Kentish countryside. For most of its existence it was a tiny pre boarding school with a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition, home to just 5 or so boys and a handful of staff. Today, St Michael’s School is a very different place. It has more than 400 pupils and is a leading co-educational prep school.

This school history features the anecdotes of Old Michaelians and staff who give a vivid portrayal of life at a school which the actor John Hurt, a former pupil, once described as ‘very bizarre.’ There are tales of dares and misdemeanours, sporting triumphs and disasters, ghosts and dormitory pranks, ritualistic chapel services, dripping sandwiches and rabbit stew, and sleeping in the cellars as German bombers flew overhead.