The kindly work of a 19th century priest is still being carried out in Battersea, and all over the world. ELEANOR HARDING visits Salesian College to find out why.

Turin, Italy, circa 1841. It was the children in the prisons that broke his heart. Don Bosco, aged just 26, had just taken up his post as a priest when he was sent on a visit of the city’s jails.

He found street urchins and orphans kept in the worst possible conditions and decided something needed to be done.

If only Bosco were alive now. The lowly school he set up for the needy has grown into over 100 branches worldwide.

Of course, since then the world has moved on and most children- in this country at least- are well cared-for.

But at Salesian College in Battersea, teachers feel their founders’ work is as relevant today as it was then.

“He was very progressive for his time,” says headteacher Stephen McCann. “He used to play football with them. He didn’t believe in repression to keep a school under control. He thought schools should be friendly places.”

The Catholic school, in Surrey Lane, has a high proportion of pupils from a “challenging social or economic background”, according to a 2007 Ofsted report.

The number of pupils eligible for free school meals is high, and some are learning English for the first time. In many ways, the mission of the Salesians has not changed.

Despite these challenges, GSCE passes at A*-C are above the national average, and most students go on to sixth form colleges or apprenticeships. The school specialises in business and enterprise and has a wide range of vocational subjects as well as academic ones.

“We are raising boys’ aspirations and preparing them to go out into the world, “ adds Mr McCann. “We are very good at making sure the boys leave with qualifications.”

I met a group of prefects in year 11 to ask how the school had fared for them. They certainly have plans. One wants to go to Imperial College; another dreams of being a paramedic.

A boy named Dominic even wants to join the mounted police in Canada; he obviously doesn’t feel the cold.

“It’s a family atmosphere around here,” says 16-year-old David O’Neill, head boy. “It’s a melting pot, but we all find a common ground.

“We’re also very international. We are welcome anywhere in the world, which is amazing.”

It’s true. The worldwide Salesian network allows students to stay at any of the organisation’s boarding houses in any country, something that comes in handy for school exchanges and gap years.

Recently students stayed at a base in Bollington, Cheshire, as well as one in Turin -the birthplace of Don Bosco.

There are also link schools in China, Sri Lanka and Norway, and pupils are able to chat with their foreign counterparts over the internet.

The boys tell me the atmosphere at the school has improved in the last five years, partially due to a student leadership programme called Student Voice.

This year boys are working with students from the University of the Arts London to come up with design ideas for the new school, which will amalgamate Salesian with John Paul II in 2011.

The idea goes back to Don Bosco’s philosophy of allowing students to learn in a way suited to them. With the massive rebuild plans to come soon, the pupils are in for a big change, but Mr McCann believes the ethos of the Salesians will live on.

“The current big challenge is making sure the school is sustained when people know that it’s closing,” he says. “It’s not a dying school, it’s an optimistic school and the boys here are happy.”