Deane School

Deane School today

Deane school was built in 1969/70 as Deane Grammar School and Deane High School.  It became a ‘base school’ in 1982 and later a comprehensive school as it is today.  Base schools were established to provide Secondary education for pupils aged 11-16 and were comprised of two or three schools occupying a common site on the outskirts of the town.  Each school in the base had a separate name but they all wore the same uniform and shared some of their facilities.  Four secondary bases were established in Bolton, at Deane, Hayward, Breightmet and Smithills.

The Deane School is situated off the road named New York and was built on farm land.  In 1990 there were 1 070  pupils at The Deane school between the ages of 11 and 16.  The school uniform colours are navy, red and pale blue.  Deane school farm began as a revolutionary experiment in 1970 soon after the school opened.  The farm contains unusual and endangered species and is a working farm rather than a zoo; the animals are bred for sale and this provides finance for the running of the farm.  It is essentially run by the children who do the milking, feeding and mucking out by working in shifts throughout the day.  The animals kept at Deane School Farm include pigs, cattle, sheep, goats, ponies. Ilamas and snakes.  The farm is a great attraction for visitors to The Deane School Pet Show where thousands of visitors flock to see the animals each year.

Deane School possesses a duel-use sports centre which is used by the school during the daytime and by the general public in the evenings and at weekends.  Before the new facilities were built for the sports centre the school already possessed a swimming pool, a gymnasium, tennis courts and an all weather sports pitch.  In addition to this the sports centre provides squash courts, sports hall, fitness room and gallery bar.