Oakenrod School History

One of the many new schools which sprang up in the early years of the 20th century was Oakenrod.

Built at a cost of £11,000, the Bury Road premises were opened in June 1908 with accommodation for 550 pupils.

It replaced two schools which had been condemned by the Board of Education - Oakenrod old school in Holmes Street and St Edmund's at Town Mill Brow.

The  building was somewhat unusual in that its bottom storey was below road level, a design which brought considerable criticism when it was unveiled.

It was also set back from the road, which meant two bridges had to be built to reach the main entrances, one for girls and one for boys.

A full page article in the Rochdale Observer on Saturday June 20^th 1908 described the new school in detail: “Five other class rooms are provided. Each of these has accommodation for fifty scholars; in the infant school the provision is for 55 children per room. This is slightly below the limit fixed by the Board of Education”

The school was closed in 2004 just four years short of it’s centenary and after a long battle by parents to keep it open. More than 800 people signed a petition asking the Council to keep Oakenrod open.

Both Oakenrod and Sparrow Hill primaries closed on 31 August 2004 and the new £2.6 million Broadfield Park School merged the 2 schools.

Oakenrod School making the headlines

Here are some of the headlines from the Rochdale Observer:

April 2001 – “Shrinking pupils mean big problems for closure- threatened schools”

April 2002 – “Why can’t they leave us alone”?

September 2002 – “Merger plan to close schools”

October 2002 – “School axe hovers again”

October 2002 – “Who’s next on the list”?

October 2002 – “Oakenrod parents: “we don’t want this merger”

October 2002 – “Park safety fear in school protest”

November 2002 – “This is a fight to the finish”

December 2002 – “Last-ditch bid to save school under threat”

December 2002 – “Record goes on report”

January 2003 – “School boycott fears”

March 2003 – “Closure still looms at cost-shock school”

March 2003 – “Mum will go it alone”

April 2003 – “D-Day for schools in battle against closure”

June 2003 – “It’s the end for Oakenrod”

July 2004 – “School marks top class finish”

July 2004 – “Schools out with a smile and a tear”