The Hathershaw College is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

Secondary Secondary may refer to: Science and nature * Secondary emission, of particles ** Secondary electrons, electrons generated as ionization products * The secondary winding, or the electrical or electronic circuit connected to the secondary winding i ...

Academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

for 11- to 16-year-olds in

Oldham Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, wh ...

Greater Manchester Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county and combined authority, combined authority area in North West England, with a population of 2.8 million; comprising ten metropolitan boroughs: City of Manchester, Manchester, City of Salford, Salford ...

, England. In 2007,

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 ...

rated the school as "good". In 2010, Ofsted described it as "good with outstanding features". In 2014, the school was judged to be requiring improvement overall. In 2016, Ofsted described the school as "good".

School history

As the 'Hathershaw Technical High School', it opened in 1955; it had a selective intake. The school was housed in three blocks (a main building, a science block and a craft/engineering block). The school was sponsored by the aviation manufacturer

Avro AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

, and the ground plan of the main building was inspired by the outline of a

Lancaster bomber The Avro Lancaster is a British Second World War heavy bomber. It was designed and manufactured by Avro as a contemporary of the Handley Page Halifax, both bombers having been developed to the same specification, as well as the Short Stirling ...

. It competed for intake with Oldham's state grammar schools, but offered a more technical syllabus. Provision of equipment and machinery for metalwork and woodwork was considered to be amongst the finest available nationally. In 1966 the school became a co-educational

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

. In 1970 it was made into an 'upper-school' for pupils in the 14–18 age range, supplied by two separate 'lower-schools', Greenhill and Fitton Hill. The two feeder schools, which were on sites significantly distant from each other and Hathershaw School, educated pupils from 11 to 14 years of age. In the school year 1977–78 the system was reorganized and Hathershaw again catered for the full 11 to 18 age range, with

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

entry. The loss of selective entry in 1966 and the system of split-site feeder schools led to a period of falling academic attainment. The trend was reversed after the appointment of John Cole to the headship in 1976. He has been credited as having "transformed Hathershaw School." In 1981, Oldham's first joint school/community sports hall was built. In a 1992 reorganisation, it became an 11-16 school - losing its sixth form to

Oldham Sixth Form College Oldham Sixth Form College is a government-funded college of further education in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. Opened in 1992 as a specialist centre for advanced-level study, the Principal of the college is Jayne Clarke. Despite being ...

. In December 1999 it was recognised by the government as one of the 50 most improved secondary schools in the country. In September 2000 the school became a

Technology College In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were ...

and in May 2003 was admitted to the Specialist Schools Trust "Value Added" club for significantly improving examination results between Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 4. In November 2004, the school received more than £1 million in lottery funding to improve its sports facilities. Hathershaw became the first dual-specialism school in England, in March 2005, specialising in sport as well as technology. In October 2005, the school opened a £350,000

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

complex. The OFSTED inspection of November 2007 gave the school an overall rating of "good". In November 2010, the school was re-visited by OFSTED and given the official description 'good with outstanding features'. On 1 August 2011, The Hathershaw College gained academy status. In 2016, the College achieved its best GCSE results to date: with 60% gaining 5 A*-C grades including both English and Maths, above both local and national averages. This was equalled in 2017, despite the introduction of the new numerical GCSE grading system in Maths and English. In April 2016 Ofsted inspection rated the school as "good".

Changes in name

Though an educational establishment in continuous operation from 1955, it has had a number of changes of name: *Hathershaw Technical High School (1955-1966) *Hathershaw Comprehensive School (1966-2000) *Hathershaw College of Technology and Sport (2000-2011) *The Hathershaw College (2011-)

Headteachers at Hathershaw School/College

* Charles Bell, 1955–1967 * John Hemmings, 1967–1976 * John H.S. Cole, 1976–1988 (left his post as Oldham's assistant director of education to take on the school's headship) * Averil Cunnington (temporary appointment), 1988, later headteacher of Counthill School * Mr C. Midgely, 1988–1999 * Mr C.W. Edney, 1999–2003 * David Ashley, 2003–2005 (left to become headteacher at Parrs Wood Technology College) * Carol Cawkwell, 2005–2014 (change of formal title to Principal). * David McEntee, 2014–2019 * Mark Giles, 2019–

Staff numbers and pupil to teacher ratio

Headcount of all teachers - 72
Headcount of all teaching assistants - 37
Headcount of all support (exc. auxiliary) staff - 26
Pupil to teacher ratio = 15.5:1

Notable former pupils

Liz McInnes Elizabeth Anne McInnes (born 30 March 1959) is a British politician who served as Member of Parliament (MP) for Heywood and Middleton from 2014 to 2019. A member of the Labour Party, she was a Shadow Minister for Foreign and Commonwealth Affa ...

, former

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

MP for Heywood and Middleton. * David Richards, TV director - '' This Is Personal: The Hunt for the Yorkshire Ripper'', ''

Emmerdale ''Emmerdale'' (known as ''Emmerdale Farm'' until 1989) is a British soap opera that is broadcast on ITV1. The show is set in Emmerdale (known as Beckindale until 1994), a fictional village in the Yorkshire Dales. Created by Kevin Laffan, '' ...

'', ''

Coronation Street ''Coronation Street'' is an English soap opera created by Granada Television and shown on ITV since 9 December 1960. The programme centres around a cobbled, terraced street in Weatherfield, a fictional town based on inner-city Salford. Origi ...

'', ''

Crocodile Shoes ''Crocodile Shoes'' is a British 13-part television drama set across two series and was made by the BBC. It was screened on BBC1 in 1994 (Series 1) and in 1996 (Series 2). The first series, comprising seven episodes, was written by and starred ...

'' et

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0724047/] *

Colin Waldron Colin Waldron (born 22 June 1948) is an English former football defender. He spent thirteen seasons in the Football League and two in the North American Soccer League. Waldron spent his youth in Oldham, Lancashire, beginning his career with ...

, football player - played for Chelsea, Burnley, Manchester United and Sunderland football clubs.

References

External links

Official Hathershaw School website
Article on the history of the school, by a former pupil and teacher/assistant headteacher.

Film Archive clip of murals being painted by pupils and staff on the side of the school in 1980.

Article about a former Hathershaw pupil carrying the Olympic Torch - Chronicle Online. {{DEFAULTSORT:Hathershaw College Secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Academies in the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham Schools in Oldham Educational institutions established in 1955 1955 establishments in the United Kingdom