OUR HERITAGE
Malvern College UK opened in January 1865 to two dozen boys and half a dozen masters. Initially, there were two Houses but expansion was rapid and by 1877 there were six Houses and 290 boys.
Today’s co-educational College came about in 1992 when three successful schools (Malvern College, Ellerslie Girls’ School and Hillstone Prep) were brought together. Also at the beginning of the 1990s, Malvern continued to be at the forefront of innovation by being one of the first schools in Britain to offer the International Baccalaureate in the Sixth Form.
Over the last twenty years, Malvern College has shown itself to offer all that is best in co-education. There is approximately an equal number of boys and girls, and the College has remained a proper full boarding school with a large majority of pupils on campus during the weekends.
Malvern College UK’s campus is framed by the majestic backdrop of the Malvern Hills which is around 600 million years old. The hills run North-South for about nine miles and are made up of mainly granite and gneiss. Their beauty and grandeur have inspired many musicians and poets over the centuries, the most famous of whom is Sir Edward Elgar. They were also the inspiration for J.R.R. Tolkein’s “Misty Mountains” in his children’s classic “The Hobbit”. The name ‘Malvern’ comes from the Celtic Moel-bryn meaning ‘bare hill’.
Malvern College UK has expanded overseas since 2012 with the founding of Malvern College Qingdao, and again in 2015 with Malvern College Chengdu. In 2016 Malvern College Egypt opened, closely followed in 2018 by Malvern College Hong Kong. Further information about the College’s other overseas campuses can be found here: