Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School
Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School is a mixed secondary school located in Oswaldtwistle in the English county of Lancashire. It is a Community school administered by Lancashire County Council. The school has also been awarded specialist status as a Business and Enterprise College. The current headteacher is Andrew Williams, who took over in September 2018.
A new “hi tech” building for the school opened in March 2003, which replaced the old annex which had been in used since the 1920s. The former headteacher was Paul Trickett, who replaced Barry Burke, who was appointed principal of Manchester Health Academy in July 2008.
Mr Burke took over from his predecessor, Mrs Joyce Moore, in January 1998. Mrs Moore began as headteacher in 1974, being the first woman headteacher at a mixed school in Lancashire. Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils. Pupils also have the option to take part in the Duke of Edinburgh's Award programme.
In December 2013, it was reported that a quarter of teachers faced redundancy, due to more schools competing for fewer pupils. In June 2014, Trevor Ainsworth, the deputy headteacher, announced his retirement from the school, after spending his entire teaching career in Rhyddings, starting in 1977. In January 2016, the school was named one of "329 Failing Secondary Schools".
In January 2017, Joyce Moore, one of the previous headteachers at Rhyddings, died as a result of pneumonia.Notable former pupils
- Vicky Entwistle, actress
- Paul Manning, undercover police officer and whistleblower