Eltham College began life as a small boarding school catering for children of missionaries serving overseas, mainly in India, China and Africa.

[4] 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.

[7] As of June 2021, a newspaper article reported that former students who had collected testimonials about alleged incidents between 2016 and 2021 received letters from the school's solicitors requesting them to desist, or provide evidence.

[8] The school said: "Safeguarding remains our top priority, and we want to do everything we can to make our pupils feel safe and fully supported.

We have very strong pastoral procedures and reporting systems in place, and these are kept under regular review to ensure they remain fully fit for purpose".

[8] In February 2022, the Sunday Times investigated the use of teacher assessed grades given to pupils at independent schools across the UK in 2021.