Balshaw's Church of England High School

The school was founded by Richard Balshaw in 1782.[2] He established a high school called Golden Hill - until the 1920s that school was the original school for Balshaw's pupils. In 1922 work started on building a new school on a 5-acre site.

Opened in 1931, it was Balshaw's Grammar School until 1972, when after the abolition of the 11 plus exam, it became Balshaw's High School.

Balshaw's Grammar School

In 1972 the school partnered with Parklands High School opening Runshaw College, joining to combine both the schools' sixth forms. The school later abandoned its Grammar status in favour of comprehensive status in September 1972, becoming Balshaw's High School. In 1994 the school became a Church of England school.

• Construction of the 3G Astro multi-sport pitch began after students fund-raised for the area.

• Construction of the 3G Astro was completed before the new intake arrived.

• A new PE building was constructed which housed a fitness suite and PE office as well as new corridors to make access around the department easier.
• Old corridors and areas in the PE and Drama departments such as the backstage passages and storage rooms were renovated along with the re-modeling of the Old Gym into a new dance studio. The changing rooms were also greatly improved and toilets were added.
• Fire systems were fully replaced with new smoke detectors and alarms in every room. Strobe lights were also added in areas where the alarms may not be able to be heard such as music rooms.
• New electronic door access systems were installed along with basic CCTV

• New equipment for the music department such as new music instruments for practice rooms and recording rooms.
• The music department was planned to be fully expanded in 2017 but plans were later scrapped

• New IT upgrades such as new computers began, many old computers from the school's main computer rooms were removed and replaced with new all-in-one desktop PCs running Windows 10.

• New security fencing was erected outside the school and CCTV coverage was increased.

The school is split into traditional houses. The house system consists of all years, all of which have four divisions (see below). These divisions are named after four areas of Lancashire, and are managed by learning managers.

The houses are managed by separate staff:

• Cuerden - Mrs Coburn
• Farington - Mr Riley
• Worden - Mr Jennings
• Clayton - Mrs Lupton

• John Aldington, physicist who did important work at Siemens in Preston on the development of mercury-vapour lamps[9]
• Ian Bleasdale, TV actor
• Prof Thomas Hope, Professor of French Language and Romance Philology from 1968 to 1987 at the University of Leeds
• Sir John Lawton CBE, Chief Executive from 1999 to 2005 of the Natural Environment Research Council
• David Loftus MBE, Chaplain to the Royal Military School of Music
• Sylvia Mylroie, Baroness Jay of Ewelme, Chair of the Pilgrim Trust, and married to Michael Jay, Baron Jay of Ewelme
• Sir James Sharples, Chief Constable from 1989 to 1998 of Merseyside Police

• Thomas Walker (Australian politician)