Blackpool Girls’ Secondary School & Blackpool Collegiate School for Girls

The Education Act of 1902 made local authorities responsible for providing secondary education for all, and so plans were put in place to provide an educational establishment in Blackpool that could deliver this. In 1906 the Blackpool Secondary School opened on Raikes Parade, with the school playing fields on St Walburgas Road; this rather impressive building would later become, and still is home to the Salvation Army.

September 1925 saw the girls move to the Blackpool Girls’ Secondary School at the junction of Beech Avenue and Forest Gate, which was officially opened by Lady Stanley on the 23rd of October of that year. But in 1933 the school would be known as the Blackpool Collegiate School for Girls. The name Collegiate had been adopted from the North London Collegiate School, a pioneer in the education of girls, with the hope that it would be a fitting name and would inspire the young ladies of Blackpool. 1933 was also the year that the boys school at Raikes Parade changed its name to Blackpool Grammar School for Boys, with the motto “Meliora Sequamur”. Places at both schools were allocated on the result of a Special Place Examination (successful candidates paid for by the local authority) and an easier Fee Payers’ Examination. Over two thirds of the students came in on the Special Place scheme. Less academic students attended Senior Schools.

The Education Act of 1944 divided secondary education into three: Grammar, Technical, and Modern. Fee paying was abolished and students were selected using the 11+ examination, with the most academical attending Grammar Schools. The building later became part of Tyldesley High School in 1971, but was eventually closed and demolished in 1987. The land was then sold off for housing development and would see a new Blackpool Fire Station being built on what was the tennis courts and playing field. Today all traces of the original school buildings are gone, replaced by Grizedale Court, a block of modern retirement apartments.