BRGS is a very popular,
selective, 11-18 Foundation school with a large Sixth Form. The
school is situated on a hillside overlooking the Rossendale Valley
in the village of Waterfoot, between Rawtenstall and Bacup.
Towards
the end of the 17th century, land was bequeathed by a certain John
Kershaw to endow a
school in the Waterfoot area of Rossendale. The school was eventually
opened in 1701 and later moved to better premises across the valley
in Newchurch. By the end of the 19th century, Newchurch Grammar
School had established a sound reputation. The teachers
of that school became the nucleus of the new staff at the Bacup
and Rawtenstall Secondary and Technical School (later to
change its name to Bacup and Rawtenstall Grammar School)
which opened on the present site in 1913. The headmaster of Newchurch
Grammar School became the first head of the new school. Significantly,
there have been only five headteachers since his retirement.
Plans to reorganise the school were long in preparation. The first serious
proposal in the early 1980's, to make the school part of local further
education college, was fiercely resisted and finally defeated. The
second attempt, in 1985, to recognise along comprehensive lines and amalgamate
the school with one of its neighbouring secondary modern schools came too
late. The tide
had already turned against the wholesale destruction of schools of
proven worth. The move to grant-maintained status in 1989 was a
clear mark of the lively interest of the governing body and the deep
affection with which the school was, and is, held by parents.
In
1991, Technology College status was awarded to BRGS
and we are now on our fourth 3-year phase of this initiative. In
1991, grant-maintained status was abolished by the government of
the day and the school became a Foundation School.
Today we can look back with pride upon the dedication and long service
of the staff of the school and the achievements of its former students.
We can speak with certainty of its present vitality. We can look forward
with confidence to its future, knowing that its qualities of dedication
and academic excellence, along with its students' consideration for one
another and for the community at large, will be maintained and passed on
to future generations of Rossendale children.
