Rivington and Blackrod High School

Rivington and Blackrod High School in the North West region of England is a Leverhulme Trust multi-academy school alongside Harper Green School, it operates as a Church of England teaching environment with a sixth form school. The school is located at two sites, with the upper school situated on Rivington Lane in Rivington, Lancashire (), and the lower school situated on Albert Street in Horwich, Greater Manchester (). The school specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. It has been awarded the status of a training school to train the next generation of teachers. Year Seven pupils (the lower school), occupy the former Horwich County Secondary School site. The upper school (high school) eight to eleven and Sixth form students occupy the Rivington site. In 2008 the school was one of 11 across the country to receive a Specialist Schools and Academies Trust’s (SSAT) 2008 Futures Vision Tour Award and gave impressive A level results at 98%. The school ranked 7th in 2009 of 19 schools in the Bolton LEA with scores for GCSE % 50 Level 2 CVA 994.9 A/AS average points 611.1 and Level 3 CVA 990.7 in 2009. A free grammar school in Rivington village was founded by James Pilkington, Bishop of Durham in 1566 when a charter was granted by Queen Elizabeth I. The Free School of Queen Elizabeth was founded for the children of all social classes. The first schoolmaster was appointed on 10 July 1572. Arrangements to endow the school with an income were not completed until 1574. Bishop Pilkington confirmed the endowments. A list of its scholars, comprising 114 pupils, is dated 1575. Most of the school's endowments were provided by the bishop in the Diocese of Durham in Lindake, Wolsingham, Whickham, Heighington, Stanhope, Stockton, Auckland, Silksworth and Hetton-le-Hole and brought an income of £30 per year from rents. The school was built on land leased for a thousand years from March 1581 from the bishop's brother, George Pilkington of New Hall, then owner of the Manor of Rivington., he was also one of the first school governors.