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Westholme is one of the top schools in the country and has enjoyed over 80 years of success. Yet, Westholme began life in very humble circumstances. We trace the history of this renowned Blackburn school. Westholme School was founded by Miss Emily Singleton in 1923. Her creation of a school which now has more than 1100 pupils, superb facilities and takes a very high position in national league tables is remarkable. Just becoming qualified was a feat for a woman in the 1910s.
Emily Singleton was a Blackburn woman; her family was not particularly wealthy and in any case at that time a university education was almost entirely reserved for boys. She went to Dudley College where she completed the teacher training course in half the normal time so as to save money for her family. Her first job was in Blackburn but then she moved to Yorkshire only finding herself having to return to Blackburn as her mother was ill.
In the Great Depression there were very few jobs to be had. She looked at her problem with calm logic. If she could not find a school to take her, then she would have to make a school. Emily approached a family with two young children and with one other she started her school. She based the school in the Wesleyan Chapel on Preston New Road. The furniture bill came to £41 15s 0p and at night it had to ‘disappear’ to make way for evening functions. By the end of the first term, pupil numbers had doubled; there were six.
From these small beginnings, Westholme has never looked back. More pupils came and it gained its name when Emily Singleton moved the school into her parents’ home, 167 Preston New Road, which was called ‘Westholme’. Soon this house also was too small and it could not provide the grounds for games so she moved again, this time to Billinge House. The new school was very proud of its latest technology: radio, gramophone, lantern and kinematograph. It was also gaining a reputation for a first rate education which it continues to hold today.
By 1948, the school had been recognized by the government and had 135 pupils. It was still essentially a primary school but now Miss Singleton faced another dilemma. Her pupils did not want to leave! They asked for a senior school. The government inspector gave her 2 years as a trial period to set up a secondary school but she had to find new premises.
By now she was nearing retirement and she needed to find a buyer who would continue her work at the school. Returning from fighting on the Normandy beaches, Mr Arthur Rouse was that man. He became the next Principal and his wife became the Headmistress of the Senior School now located at Beardwood Bank, also on Preston New Road.
The building programme has never really stopped. On the appointment of the present Principal, Mrs Croston, a science wing was completed. The theatre was opened in 1997 and in 1999 the new library, ICT facility and languages classrooms were ready. With more than 160 students taking A levels, Westholme has now added a sixth form centre, which was completed in September 2003. Billinge House is now the Infant School for girls and boys aged 3 – 7 and Beardwood Bank is the Girls' Junior School for girls aged 7 – 11 years. Both buildings have been extensively modernised and in both of these schools every classroom has an interactive whiteboard.
It is entirely in keeping with the School’s tradition of growth and forward-looking that Westholme has now opened a Boys’ School. The Boys' Junior School for boys aged 7 – 11 years opened in September 2003. Like its girls’ counterpart, it offers single-sex education and expectations are high. In 2006, a new nursery was set up to cater for children between 2 and 3 years. This new venture has proved a very popular addition to the Westholme family.
Pupils travel to Westholme from throughout Lancashire and from as far afield as Greater Manchester and the Fylde. More than 1100 girls and boys aged 2 – 11 years attend the school every day. It is a far cry from the original opening, in a makeshift room with just 3 pupils, but Westholme’s attraction lies in the fact that it has never lost sight of its roots and traditions. Westholme has a happy family atmosphere, where children do very well indeed.
In 1968, the school became a Charity administered by a Board of Governors. Mr Rouse was appointed Principal and Doctor Bond, who joined the school from the University of Salford, became Headmistress of the Senior School, which moved to Wilmar Lodge on Meins Road in September 1968. A building programme was begun on the ten-acre site and an assembly hall, laboratories, swimming pool, sports hall, a five-acre playing field, music centre and art studios were built. The sixth form was established and Westholme girls were moving on to top university places.
