The school was originally called Chadderton Grammar School and opened in 1930. It was officially opened in October 1930 by David Lindsay, 27th Earl of Crawford. It had 300 boys and girls, which rose to 700 in 1950 and 900 by 1958. It was decided to split the school into two schools – a boys' and girls'. This provoked protests from parents. In 1959, the school became Chadderton Grammar School for Girls with around 600 girls in the 1960s. The boys' school, a grammar-technical school, was on Chadderton Hall Road.
Comprehensive
It was renamed Mid Chadderton Comprehensive School after grammar schools were abolished in September 1975, and the boys' school became the North Chadderton School. The two sites of the North Chadderton Secondary Modern School were split between the two new schools based on the former girls' and boys' schools. The name "Radclyffe" was taken from a local land-owning family in the 19th century who had owned the land that the schools stood upon.
The school was originally located across two sites – the Lower School (Years 7–9) on Broadway and the Upper School (Years 10 & 11) on Hunt Lane. However, in 2008 a newer refurbished school was built at the Hunt Lane site, housing both the lower and upper school students.
Notable former pupils
This article's list of alumni may not follow Wikipedia's verifiability policy. Please improve this article by removing names that do not have independent reliable sources showing they merit inclusion in this article AND are alumni, or by incorporating the relevant publications into the body of the article through appropriate citations.(October 2020)