Balderstone Technology College

Balderstone Technology College

Motto	Centre of the learning community
Established	1953 (as Rochdale Grammar School)
Closed	31st August 2010
Type	High School Technology College
Headteacher	Mr Paul Wright Mr Nigel Jepson
Specialism	Technology
Location	Queen Victoria Street Balderstone Rochdale Greater Manchester OL11 2HJ United Kingdom
Local authority	Rochdale
DfE URN	105836
Staff	150
Students	785
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11–16
Former name	Rochdale Grammar School & Balderstone Community School
Website	www.btc.ac.uk

Balderstone Technology College was a school in the Balderstone district of the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale in Greater Manchester, England. The school closed August 31, 2010 as a result of the Building Schools for the Future program. The school merged with Springhill High School and formed a new school called Kingsway Park High School. The Building will be used to host Kingsway Park High School until 2012 when a new building will be built on the former Springhill High School site, Turfhill Road.^[1]

Contents 1 Admissions 2 History 2.1 Grammar school 2.2 Comprehensive 3 Alumni 3.1 Rochdale Grammar School 4 References 5 External links

Admissions

It is situated near the junction of Queensway (A664) and Oldham Road (A671) between Balderstone and Kirkholt. It is in the parish of St Mary, Balderstone,^[2][3] which is nearby to the east.

History

Grammar school

The school was once called Rochdale Grammar School for Boys, formerly known as Rochdale Municipal High School for Boys on Fleece Street. It was administered by Rochdale Education Committee, and moved to Queen Victoria Street in 1953 at a cost of £180,000. A grammar school had been founded in 1565 in Rochdale by Matthew Parker, then Archbishop of Canterbury. There was also Rochdale Grammar School for Girls on Falinge Road, becoming Falinge Park High School.^[4]

Comprehensive

It became a comprehensive in 1969 - the Balderstone High School, then Balderstone Community School in 1972 for boys and girls aged 14–18. In 1999 it gained Technology College status.

Alumni

• Fusilier Conrad Cole, youngest British soldier to die in the Gulf War on 26 February 1991 aged 17, when nine British soldiers of the 3rd Battalion of the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers were killed by an American missile fired from an A-10 which hit a Warrior tracked armoured vehicle

Rochdale Grammar School

• Prof James Diggle, Professor of Greek and Latin at Queens' College, University of Cambridge since 1995
• Prof Sir Leslie Fowden, Professor of Plant Science from 1964–73 at University College London, and Director from 1973–86 of the Rothamsted Experimental Station, discovered two plant amino acids (one being methyleneglutamine) not part of proteins, and became a world authority on plant amino acids ^[5]
• Glynn Boyd Harte, artist
• Sir Peter Ogden, businessman who founded Computacenter in 1981 and Dealogic in 1983
• Sir Joseph Pilling, KCB, Identity Commissioner since 2009, and Director General from 1991–92 of HM Prison Service
• Christopher Ray, High Master since 2004 of Manchester Grammar School
• Sir Cyril Smith MBE, Liberal MP from 1972–92 for Rochdale
• Dr Frederick Llewellyn Smith CBE, Chairman from 1967–71 of Rolls Royce Motor Cars, and President from 1955–56 of the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders
• Rev Vernon Staley
• Dr John Sykes, General Editor of English Dictionaries from 1992–94 at the Oxford University Press
• Prof Philip Tinker OBE, President from 1983–84 of the British Society of Soil Science, and Deputy Director from 1981–85 of the Rothamsted Experimental Station

References

External links

• EduBase