One stated that any teacher with a child of his or her own must be immediately removed from the school. Balshaw's believed that teachers with their own children were too preoccupied with them to be good teachers. He died on 11th April 1811, almost 30 years after founding the school. It is believed that he managed the whole school single-handedly, though he did hire several trustees to help him.

Over the next century Balshaw's went through countless changes, including different headteachers, renovations, the addition of extra land to the school's grounds and disputes of sex equality. Some people, men believe it or not, complained that boys and girls should not be treated the same and that Balshaw's was guilty of this sin.

During the First World War Balshaw's continued to flourish, despite the call-up of 30 boys and teacher, Mr Clements, to the fighting front. In 1915 Balshaw's had 153 pupils drawn from 21 different towns, by 1917 the number had risen to 192 pupils.

Speech Day in 1919 was a sad occasion, when the School Captain read the list of those who had fallen at the front, 23 out of 175 who fought was the number of their generation to die. The reading out of the names of those boys who died in the war became traditional at Armistice Day service for many years to come.

The biggest change occurred in September 1932 when 165 pupils from Golden Hill moved to a new building on Church Road, the place where the school is situated to this day.

The official opening of the new Balshaw's took place on 8th June 1932, almost the anniversary of the setting up of the Foundation on 14th June 1782. The old school badge, a cross saltire with a book in the centre featuring the motto "Strenue" was replaced by a silver griffin and the words "Non sibi sed aliis" meaning "Not for one's self but for all".

The four houses were named after local houses, which could be why the griffin became the school's emblem -the griffin is a creature of heraldry .The prefect system was set up in school, which meant that senior students were appointed to reinforce discipline and help the school run smoothly. The scheme was a success and is still in operation today.

Throughout the six years that the Second World War raged Balshaw's continued to provide education for its pupils in spite of the loss of teaching staff and other difficulties. In 1960 Mr Oldland retired after spending "29 of the happiest years of his life at Balshaw's". Mr R A Bennison, a Science master, acted as Head, until Mr Fred Bleasdale was chosen in 1961.

Many changes were made to the Curriculum that year, mainly in connection with the "0" levels. Mr Bleasdale became an important figure in Balshaw's history, he campaigned for a separate sixth form to be set up, to benefit children who wanted to pursue higher education. He won his battle and Runshaw College was set up on a site in Leyland. It was named Runshaw out of respect for the Chorley part of the catchment area and Mr Bleasdale was named principal.

There was also a magazine which was written by the pupils, The Balshavian. We have got an extract from the 1966 edition, which you can access by clicking at the top of this page.

In 1973 Mr Paul Ingram was appointed as Headmaster and remained in position until January 1995 when Miss Venn took over. She is the first ever woman Headteacher - I say no more!.

By Anna Henderson