Rhyddings (formerly Rhyddings High School and then Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School) is a mixed

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in

Oswaldtwistle Oswaldtwistle ( "ozzel twizzel") is a town in the Hyndburn borough of Lancashire, England, southeast of Blackburn, contiguous with Accrington and Church. The town has a rich industrial heritage, being home to James Hargreaves, inventor of the s ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

. The current headteacher is Andrew Williams, who took over in September 2018.

History

A new “hi tech” building for the school opened in March 2003, which replaced the old annex which had been in used since the 1920s. The former headteacher was Paul Trickett, who replaced Barry Burke, who was appointed principal of

Manchester Health Academy Dixons Brooklands Academy, also known as DBA or DBK, is a mixed-sex secondary school in Wythenshawe, Manchester, England. History In 1957, two separate schools opened, West Wythenshawe Technical High School for Girls and West Wythenshawe Techn ...

in July 2008. Mr Burke took over from his predecessor, Joyce Moore, in January 1998. Mrs Moore began as headteacher in 1974, being the first woman headteacher at a mixed school in Lancashire. In December 2013, it was reported that a quarter of teachers faced redundancy, due to more schools competing for fewer pupils. In June 2014, Trevor Ainsworth, the deputy headteacher, announced his retirement from the school, after spending his entire teaching career in Rhyddings, starting in 1977. The school was inspected by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

in 2014 and judged Good. In January 2016, the school was named one of "329 Failing Secondary Schools".. As of 2021, its most recent inspection was in 2018, when it was judged Requires Improvement. Previously a community school administered by

Lancashire County Council Lancashire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Lancashire, England. It consists of 84 councillors. Since the 2017 election, the council has been under Conservative control. Prior to the 2009 La ...

, in June 2022 Rhyddings converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the LET Education Trust.

Academics

Rhyddings offers

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils.

Notable former pupils

Vicky Entwistle Victoria Entwistle (born 15 September 1968) is an English actress. She is known for portraying the role of Janice Battersby in the ITV soap opera ''Coronation Street''. Early life Entwistle grew up in Accrington; her father owned a newsagent ...

, actress * Paul Manning, undercover police officer and whistleblower

References

External links

Rhyddings official website
{{authority control Secondary schools in Lancashire Academies in Lancashire Schools in Hyndburn