Salesian College was a Roman Catholic voluntary-aided school for boys aged 11 to 16 (previously 11 to 18, until it had to jettison its Sixth Form). It was founded in 1895 in Battersea, London, by the religious order of the Salesians of Don Bosco, who 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 College aimed to provide an education loosely based on the principles of St John Bosco, founder of the Salesians of Don Bosco.