Breeze Hill School

Community school in Salem, Oldham, Greater Manchester, England

53°32′05″N 2°04′57″W / 53.5348°N 2.0824°W / 53.5348; -2.0824InformationTypeCommunity schoolMottoLanguage for LifeEstablished1960Closed2010 (now Waterhead AcademyLocal authorityOldhamDepartment for Education URN105731 TablesOfstedReportsGenderMixedAge11 to 16

Breeze Hill School was a mixed-sex comprehensive secondary school for 11- to 16-year-olds in Oldham, Greater Manchester, England. It was a specialist Humanities College, and served over 750 students. Bernard Phillips was the last headteacher of Breeze Hill School before it merged with neighbouring Counthill School to form the Waterhead Academy. Since the school lay in the heart of Oldham's Pakistani Asian community, the students were predominantly Asian.

Campus

The Breeze Hill School campus contained two main teaching blocks. The Year 7 Base was for new arrivals, and was created to ease the transition between primary and secondary school. The main teaching block served students from Year 8 onwards.^[1] Breeze Hill had intensive playing fields and an Astro-turf pitch, used for various sports both by students from the school and by the local community.

History

In May 2001, a racially motivated attack outside Breeze Hill School began a series of events that escalated into a five-day period of rioting known as the Oldham Riots.^[2]^[3]

On 31 August 2010, Breeze Hill School and Counthill School merged to become the Waterhead Academy. The campus was renamed Roxbury Campus until the academy moved to a third location in November 2012.^[4]

Notable alumni

John Lees (musician), founder of English rock band Barclay James Harvest
Munira Mirza, Director of Number 10 Policy Unit

References

^ "Inspection Report" (PDF). Ofsted. 2004. p. 15. Archived from the original (PDF) on 1 December 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2008.
^ Ian Herbert (28 May 2001). "In Oldham's 'no go' zone, all it took was a scuffle to set off a terrible night of rioting". The Independent. Archived from the original on 12 July 2012. Retrieved 15 January 2008.
^ "Oldham's tarnished name". BBC News. 28 May 2001. Retrieved 15 January 2008.
^ "It's first class: Doors open at Waterhead Academy | Oldham Advertiser - menmedia.co.uk". Archived from the original on 14 January 2013. Retrieved 8 December 2012.