St Michael's Prep School 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 ...

preparatory school in

Otford Otford is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. It lies on the River Darent, north of Sevenoaks. Otford's four churches are the Anglican Church of St Bartholomew in the village centre, the Otford Methodist C ...

, located in a site in the

North Downs The North Downs are a ridge of chalk hills in south east England that stretch from Farnham in Surrey to the White Cliffs of Dover in Kent. Much of the North Downs comprises two Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty, Areas of Outstanding Natural Be ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England.

History

St Michael's was founded at

Hatcham Hatcham was a manor and later a chapelry in what is now London, England. It largely corresponds to the area around New Cross in the London Borough of Lewisham. The ancient parish of Deptford straddled the counties of Surrey and Kent and ther ...

in 1872 by the Reverend

Arthur Tooth Arthur Tooth (17 June 1839 – 5 March 1931) was a ritualism, ritualist priest in the Church of England and a member of the Society of the Holy Cross. Tooth is best known for being prosecuted in 1876 under the Public Worship Regulation Ac ...

as a school and home for the sons of the clergy, naval and military officers as well as professionals who had suffered bereavement or fallen on hard times. The school now has more than 460 pupils.

Historic abuse allegations

In 2005, actor

John Hurt Sir John Vincent Hurt (22 January 1940 – 28 January 2017) was an English actor. Regarded as one of the finest actors of his time and known for the "most distinctive voice in Cinema of the United Kingdom, Britain", he was described by David Ly ...

stated in an interview with the ''

Independent on Sunday ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publishe ...

'' that when he was a pupil at the school he was

abused Abuse is the act of improper usage or treatment of a person or thing, often to unfairly or improperly gain benefit. Abuse can come in many forms, such as: physical or verbal maltreatment, injury, assault, violation, rape, unjust practices, ...

by Donald Cormack, then Senior Master of the school; he later became Head Teacher until his retirement in 1981. Hurt said that the experience affected him "hugely". According to the interviewer, he and Hurt had a mutual friend who had earlier made the same allegations to him.

Notable alumni

Teachers

Roy Martin Haines Roy Martin Haines, (1924 – 1 February 2017) was a British historian. Early life Haines was the son of Evan George Martin Haines, who served in the Welsh Guards during World War I and died in 1929 aged 32 from an illness attributable to his mi ...

Pupils

Hubert Chesshyre David Hubert Boothby Chesshyre (22 June 1940 – 24 December 2020) was a British officer of arms. Chesshyre served for more than forty years as an officer of arms in ordinary to Queen Elizabeth II and as a member of Her Majesty's Household ...

Clarenceux King of Arms Clarenceux King of Arms, historically often spelled Clarencieux (both pronounced ), is an Officer of Arms, officer of arms at the College of Arms in London. Clarenceux is the senior of the two provincial King of Arms, kings of arms and his juri ...

, Secretary of the Order of the Garter, *

, actor *

, historian *

Tom Bosworth Thomas Stewart Bosworth (born 17 January 1990) is a British two-time Olympic race walker who holds three World bests, including the World Best for the 1Mile race walk, 5:31.08. He also holds six British records, won 13 British Championshi ...

- represented his country in race walking in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. *

Lizzy Yarnold Elizabeth Anne Yarnold, Order of the British Empire, OBE (born 31 October 1988) is a British former Skeleton (sport), skeleton racer who joined the Great Britain national squad in 2010. With consecutive Olympic gold medals in 2014 and 2018, she ...

- silver medallist in the 2011 Bob Skeleton Junior World Championships, 2014 winter Olympic gold medalist, 2018 winter Olympic gold medalist

References

External links

School website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael's Prep School, Otford Educational institutions established in 1972 Preparatory schools in Kent Child sexual abuse scandals in Anglicanism School sexual abuse scandals Child abuse in England Anglo-Catholic educational establishments * 1972 establishments in England Violence against men in the United Kingdom