Oulder Hill Community School
Encyclopedia
Oulder Hill Community School High School is a mixed gender comprehensive community school
secondary school
and sixth form
for 11 - 18 year olds, located in Rochdale
in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale
, Greater Manchester
, England
.
star Shannon Flynn
is currently a Year 11 pupil.
Singer/songwriter Lisa Stansfield attended Oulder Hilll.
Theatre on Oulder Hill Community School's doorstep the use of the theatre and its amenities has provided the community and the school with a venue for productions;
.
, Italy, Northern Ireland
, Germany
and Spain
. During the last trip to Rome, pupils spent a day in lessons with Italian students at the school's link school Liceo Luciano Manara.
The Oulder Hill School building remains with the same name and the school behind Oulder Hill (Rydings Special School) has been named Redwood Secondary school. The building is now owned by OPERON and Oulder Hill pays one million pounds a year to rent the school between 6am - 6pm.
, Italy
, Spain
as well as day trip visits to local entertainment venues. The trio to Biggar in Scotland
was one of the ever popular activities. Open only to those in year 7 it involved a coach journey to Scotland and a week of activities and social bonding.
In 2007 it was announced that Experience week would not continue due to the merger with a special school and increased health and safety regulations.
opens in September 2010.
Community school
The term "community school" refers to types of publicly funded school in England, Wales, the Republic of Ireland, the United States, Australia, Canada and New Zealand to a school that serves as both an educational institution and a centre of community life. A community school is both a place and a...
secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...
and sixth form
Sixth form
In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...
for 11 - 18 year olds, located in Rochdale
Rochdale
Rochdale is a large market town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the foothills of the Pennines on the River Roch, north-northwest of Oldham, and north-northeast of the city of Manchester. Rochdale is surrounded by several smaller settlements which together form the Metropolitan...
in the Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale
Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale
The Metropolitan Borough of Rochdale is a metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester in North West England. It is named after its largest town, Rochdale, but spans a far larger area which includes the towns of Middleton, Heywood, Littleborough and Milnrow, and the village of Wardle.The borough was...
, Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester
Greater Manchester is a metropolitan county in North West England, with a population of 2.6 million. It encompasses one of the largest metropolitan areas in the United Kingdom and comprises ten metropolitan boroughs: Bolton, Bury, Oldham, Rochdale, Stockport, Tameside, Trafford, Wigan, and the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
Subjects
Oulder Hill offers a range of subjects, with options available both at GCSE level and again at A-level should a student remain in to the sixth form.- MFLLanguage educationLanguage education is the teaching and learning of a foreign or second language. Language education is a branch of applied linguistics.- Need for language education :...
All pupils study two languages from Years 7-9 and then one or two at GCSE. Languages offered are French, German, Italian, Spanish, Urdu and Portuguese. All six languages are available to A Level.
- Physical EducationPhysical educationPhysical education or gymnastics is a course taken during primary and secondary education that encourages psychomotor learning in a play or movement exploration setting....
- Compulsory in years 7-9. Can be carried through to GCSE. Everyone has to partake in PE at GCSE at least once a week.
- Textiles, Resistant Materials, Food and Nutrition, and GraphicsGraphicsGraphics are visual presentations on some surface, such as a wall, canvas, computer screen, paper, or stone to brand, inform, illustrate, or entertain. Examples are photographs, drawings, Line Art, graphs, diagrams, typography, numbers, symbols, geometric designs, maps, engineering drawings,or...
- these Technology subjects are rotated in termly cycles in years 7-9. At this point, students have the option of studying any of these subjects at GCSE.
- EnglishEnglish languageEnglish is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
- A compulsory subject in years 7-11. Combined English Language and Literature is studied until year 10, where it is divided into LiteratureLiteratureLiterature is the art of written works, and is not bound to published sources...
and LanguageLanguageLanguage may refer either to the specifically human capacity for acquiring and using complex systems of communication, or to a specific instance of such a system of complex communication...
. English Language, English Literature and English Literature and Language combined is offered at A-Level.
- MathematicsMathematicsMathematics is the study of quantity, space, structure, and change. Mathematicians seek out patterns and formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proofs, which are arguments sufficient to convince other mathematicians of their validity...
- A compulsory subject in years 7-11. All students are required to take GCSE Mathematics.
- ScienceScienceScience is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...
- A compulsory subject in years 7-11. All students are required to take GCSE Science, and in years 10 and 11 it is taught separately in lessons by separate teachers as PhysicsPhysicsPhysics is a natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion through spacetime, along with related concepts such as energy and force. More broadly, it is the general analysis of nature, conducted in order to understand how the universe behaves.Physics is one of the oldest academic...
, ChemistryChemistryChemistry is the science of matter, especially its chemical reactions, but also its composition, structure and properties. Chemistry is concerned with atoms and their interactions with other atoms, and particularly with the properties of chemical bonds....
and BiologyBiologyBiology is a natural science concerned with the study of life and living organisms, including their structure, function, growth, origin, evolution, distribution, and taxonomy. Biology is a vast subject containing many subdivisions, topics, and disciplines...
.
- ICTInformation and communication technologiesInformation and communications technology or information and communication technology, usually abbreviated as ICT, is often used as an extended synonym for information technology , but is usually a more general term that stresses the role of unified communications and the integration of...
- A compulsory subject in years 7-11. All students study for a qualification in ICT at GCSE level.
- GeographyGeographyGeography is the science that studies the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. A literal translation would be "to describe or write about the Earth". The first person to use the word "geography" was Eratosthenes...
- A compulsory subject in years 7-9. Geography can be taken as an optional choice at GCSE.
- HistoryHistoryHistory is the discovery, collection, organization, and presentation of information about past events. History can also mean the period of time after writing was invented. Scholars who write about history are called historians...
- A compulsory subject in years 7-9. History can be studied at GCSE as an option and A-Level
- MusicMusicMusic is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch , rhythm , dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture...
- A compulsory subject in years 7-9. There is an option of taking Music at GCSE level and A-level.
- Food TechnologyFood technologyFood technology, is a branch of food science which deals with the actual production processes to make foods.-Early history of food technology:...
- compulsory for years 7-9 and can be taken as GCSE but named as catering at the moment there is no A-level food tech - ArtArtArt is the product or process of deliberately arranging items in a way that influences and affects one or more of the senses, emotions, and intellect....
- A compulsory subject in years 7-9. There is an option of taking Art at GCSE level and A-Level.
- Dance & Drama - A compulsory subject in years 7-9. Dance and Drama (D&D) is taught as one subject.However, at GCSE students can study both subjects separately.
- SociologySociologySociology is the study of society. It is a social science—a term with which it is sometimes synonymous—which uses various methods of empirical investigation and critical analysis to develop a body of knowledge about human social activity...
- An option at GCSE level and A-Level.
- Business StudiesBusiness studiesBusiness studies is an academic subject taught at higher level in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, New Zealand, Pakistan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe and the United Kingdom, as well as at university level in many countries...
- An option at GCSE level and A-Level.
- PsychologyPsychologyPsychology is the study of the mind and behavior. Its immediate goal is to understand individuals and groups by both establishing general principles and researching specific cases. For many, the ultimate goal of psychology is to benefit society...
- An option available only at A-Level.
Notable Alumni
Waterloo RoadWaterloo Road (TV series)
Waterloo Road is an award-winning British television drama series, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 9 March 2006. Set in a troubled comprehensive school in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, the series focuses on the lives of the school's teacher and students, and confronts social...
star Shannon Flynn
Shannon Flynn
Shannon May Flynn is an English actress from Rochdale, Greater Manchester.-Career:Shannon trained at Starstruck Theatre School in Rochdale since the age of four. In March 2009, Shannon played a 'weird sister' in a Manchester production of Macbeth...
is currently a Year 11 pupil.
Singer/songwriter Lisa Stansfield attended Oulder Hilll.
School Productions
With the Gracie FieldsGracie Fields
Dame Gracie Fields, DBE , was an English-born, later Italian-based actress, singer and comedienne and star of both cinema and music hall.-Early life:...
Theatre on Oulder Hill Community School's doorstep the use of the theatre and its amenities has provided the community and the school with a venue for productions;
- 2010/2011- Wizard Of Oz
- 2009/2010 - Disco InfernoDisco InfernoDisco Inferno is a song by The Trammps.Disco Inferno can also refer to:* Disco Inferno , a 1976 disco album recorded by The Trammps featuring the song* Disco Inferno , a band formed in the late 1980s...
- 2008/09 - Disney's Aladdin
- 2007/08 - We Will Rock YouWe Will Rock You"We Will Rock You" is a song written by Brian May and recorded and performed by Queen for their 1977 album News of the World. Rolling Stone ranked it #330 of "The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time" in 2004, and the RIAA placed it at #146 on its list of Songs of the Century...
- 2006/07 - FameFame (musical)A stage musical based on the 1980 musical film Fame has been staged under two titles. The first, 'Fame – The Musical' conceived and developed by David De Silva, is a musical with a book by Jose Fernandez, music by Steve Margoshes and lyrics by Jacques Levy. The musical premiered in 1988 in Miami,...
- 2005/06 - A Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's DreamA Midsummer Night's Dream is a play that was written by William Shakespeare. It is believed to have been written between 1590 and 1596. It portrays the events surrounding the marriage of the Duke of Athens, Theseus, and the Queen of the Amazons, Hippolyta...
- 2004/05 -
- 2003/04 - The WizThe WizThe Wiz: The Super Soul Musical "Wonderful Wizard of Oz" is a musical with music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls and book by William F. Brown. It is a retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wonderful Wizard of Oz in the context of African American culture. It opened on October 21, 1974 at the Morris A...
- 2002/03 - The Forbidden Planet
- 2001/02 - GreaseGrease (musical)Grease is a 1971 musical by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey. The musical is named for the 1950s United States working-class youth subculture known as the greasers. The musical, set in 1959 at fictional Rydell High School , follows ten working-class teenagers as they navigate the complexities of love,...
- 2000/01 - Bugsy MaloneBugsy MaloneBugsy Malone is a 1976 musical film, very loosely based on events in New York City in the Prohibition era, specifically the exploits of gangsters like Al Capone and Bugs Moran, as dramatized in cinema...
Musical department
The department of Music at Oulder Hill is headed by musical director Janet Tilney. One of its students was singer Lisa StansfieldLisa Stansfield
Lisa Stansfield is an English singer and songwriter.-Early years:Stansfield was born to Marion and Keith Stansfield in Heywood, Lancashire, in England, where she attended Redbrook School, Rochdale. Her first television appearance was on a talent programme in the Granada TV area in 1982...
.
International links
Oulder Hill has links with schools in RomeRome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy, Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
and Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. During the last trip to Rome, pupils spent a day in lessons with Italian students at the school's link school Liceo Luciano Manara.
Merger with Rydings Special School
In 2004 the school announced plans of a merger between Oulder Hill Community High School and Rydings Special School, a local school for children with disabilities. The merger involved a completely reinvented school. The rebuild began in 2005 and finished in 2008. It involved a rebuild of the current site as well as an entirely new building on the old playing fields and tennis courts.The Oulder Hill School building remains with the same name and the school behind Oulder Hill (Rydings Special School) has been named Redwood Secondary school. The building is now owned by OPERON and Oulder Hill pays one million pounds a year to rent the school between 6am - 6pm.
Experience Week and school trips
The school offers students in years 7 - 9 the chance to experience a week of experiences. The week usually takes place in mid June and allows students to choose from a list of activities such as residential visits, day visits and some take place on the school premises. The list of locations has included visits to FranceFrance
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
as well as day trip visits to local entertainment venues. The trio to Biggar in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
was one of the ever popular activities. Open only to those in year 7 it involved a coach journey to Scotland and a week of activities and social bonding.
In 2007 it was announced that Experience week would not continue due to the merger with a special school and increased health and safety regulations.
Sixth form
Once a thriving part of the school, Oulder Hill Sixth Form has suffered a decline over the past few years. As it only has about 150 students attending, they are limited to between four and ten lessons each week. When this sixth form was first established it had over 600 students. The sixth form is set to close as the new Rochdale Sixth Form CollegeRochdale Sixth Form College
Rochdale Sixth Form College is a sixth form college opened in September 2010 under the Building Schools for the Future program. The sixth form college campus is situated next to Hopwood Hall College in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England, forming a further education quarter in the town...
opens in September 2010.