| Description | The 1926 Haddow Report on education recommended that there should be separate schools for junior and senior pupils, with the transfer age being set at 11. The trustees of the Henshaw Blue Coat School were keen to implement this recommendation and began exploring the possibilities of building a senior school in the grounds of the existing school. This project led to the formation of the Oldham and District Church Schools' Association, comprising the Henshaw's trustees, Clergy and managers of the local Church Schools.
The war intervened and the plans for the new buildings were suspended, just before contracts were made. The 1936 Act, under which 75% of the cost could be authorised as grants from public funds, had a time limit and by the end of the war, this had lapsed. Provision was made under the 1944 Education Act to resurrect the proposed senior school and as part of this, the Association was put on a more permanent footing, with the aim of organising the provision of Church of England education borough wide.
The scheme for the formation of the Oldham, Henshaw and Church of England Educational Trust was approved on 12 December 1958. The Trust comprised: 21 trustees nominated by various ecclesiastical bodies, including the Bishop of Manchester, the Diocesan Education Committee and the Parochial Church Councils; two representatives from the Local Education Authority; one representative from Henshaw's Blue Coat School Old Boys' Association; four co-opted trustees.
Thirteen Schools came together to form the Trust. These were:
Henshaw's Blue Coat School
Coldhurst Church of England School
Glodwick Christ Church, Church of England School
Moorside Church of England School
Glodwick St. Mark's Church of England School
Parish Church, Church of England School
St. Andrew's Church of England School
St. Paul's Church of England School
St. Peter's Church of England School
St. Stephens and All Martyrs' Church of England School
St. Thomas' Church of England School
Waterhead Church of England School
The Trust provided for the transfer of the sites and buildings of Henshaw's Blue Coat School and the old national day schools and for the consolidation of their endowments. The schools of the Trust were to be run as voluntary schools, with religious instruction in accordance with the doctrines of the Church of England.
The objects of the Trust were to build and maintain new schools, alter and enlarge existing schools, adapt them to changing educational conditions, provide Church of England education for all children who requested it and dispose of displaced schools as necessary.
As part of its work, the Trust arranged to pay for the repairs and upkeep of the school buildings and to reclaim this money from the Ministry.
In July 1952, it was decided to wind up the Blue Coat School as a residential school and convert the building for use as a secondary modern school, to accommodate pupils from the church schools.
For a more detailed over view of the Trust, see S64/30/4/1.
This section contains the legal scheme establishing the Trust, minutes of various committees, correspondence and invoices relating to maintenance grants and printed material. |