Chadderton - Education

Education

An old style grammar school at Healds Green in Chadderton was built and founded in 1789. As the population of Chadderton grew during the 19th century, more schools were opened, each linked with a local church. Mills Hill School began as a voluntary aided school belonging to the local Baptist church. Further schoolrooms from this period were found at Cowhill Methodist Church and Washbrook Methodist Church, opened in 1855 and 1893 respectively.

The Chadderton Grammar School was the first new style co-educational grammar school opened by Lancashire County Council. It was opened by David Lindsay, 28th Earl of Crawford, on 18 October 1930. In 1959, it became The Girls' Grammar, when a separate school for boys was opened. The Girls' Grammar briefly became Mid-Chadderton School, what is now The Radclyffe School, and the boys' school part of North Chadderton School. Radclyffe, North Chadderton and South Chadderton Schools are the town's three co-educational, non-denominational, comprehensive secondary schools. North Chadderton School has a sixth form college for 16–19 year-olds. The Radclyffe School, which has specialist Technology College status, was modernised in 2008 by way of a £30 million new school complex opened by Sir Alex Ferguson on 8 July 2008. South Chadderton is the smallest of the three secondaries, with about 700 pupils.