A merged academy in the town derided for being split along racial lines has won the annual Inclusive Schools award

Eighteen years ago two teenagers had an argument over a game of cricket in Oldham, with the dispute spilling into the worst violence the mill town has experienced in its modern history. Three nights of ethnically motivated riots followed, as hooligans from both sides burned barricades and fought police with petrol bombs.

Those were dark days in Oldham. Since then politicians have periodically used the town as an example of a divided Britain – most recently Nigel Farage, who told an audience in Pennsylvania that Oldham had entire streets split along racial lines.

But one institution, at least, is changing the narrative. The Waterhead academy, which has sought to bring the town back together, has won the annual Accord Inclusive Schools Award for its ambitious contribution to improving community cohesion in the town.

The 1,300 pupil academy was formed in 2010 by merging two ethnically homogeneous secondary schools – the predominantly Asian Breeze Hill school and the mainly white British Counthill school, using a strategy of engineered integration in an attempt to dissipate racial tensions.

The new school moved on to its current campus in 2012, an area where the large majority of residents are white. Many of its pupils are drawn from monocultural primary schools; its intake is 33% white British pupils and 46% of south Asian heritage.

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Erin, 15, a white pupil, moved to Oldham four years ago from Canada. She sits with her friends Hamra, Emaan and Grace. While the riots took place the year before the girls were born, they are all aware of the effects on their hometown. Their school is a symbol of hope, they agree.

The girls live in different parts of the town and, had it not been for their school, they would not have mixed. However, when Erin started at Waterhead in 2015, she was “buddied up” with Hamra. Teachers plan where children sit so pupils from different ethnicities mix.

Hamra and Erin are now best friends, regularly visiting each other’s homes. “There were not that many Asians in my school in Canada, so it was a completely new experience meeting people from different cultures. I’ve been to Hamra’s to get my henna done during Eid and I have learnt about Ramadan,” says Erin. “Hamra would also come to my home almost every day after school.”

Erin remembers the first time she tasted Hamra’s grandmother’s dhal. “It was absolutely delicious. I made my mum buy it from Tesco.”

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Most of the pupils at Waterhead are drawn from monocultural primary schools. Photograph: Joel Goodman/the Guardian

Hamra and Emaan, who identify as British, say they have learnt about Erin’s life in Canada. Emaan says: “We feel proud that we are part of something bigger than just a school. As a school we are part of society.” Grace adds: “We are integrated inside and outside of school, which is making people realise that we should come together.”

The headteacher, James Haseldine, admits the school still has its issues. It is currently rated as requiring improvement by Ofsted, and Haseldine is the fifth headteacher in its relatively short history.

When the idea for the school was suggested in 2007 there were numerous protests. “People were scared”, says Haseldine. “They were worried that the children would start another riot if brought together. You had something very extreme happen in the community and then there was a very extreme move to try and address that. It was very much a political decision, because following the riots local politicians and communities were under a lot of pressure to get things sorted out.”

Alison Taylor, one of three vice-principals at the school, worked at Counthill during the riots and dealt with its aftermath. “There was real certainty that it would go badly wrong,” she says. “There was talk of it being an experiment and that really hit a nerve, because you don’t experiment with children’s futures.”

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The school established a faith forum to advise on religious and cultural issues. Representatives were drawn from faith groups and those of a non-faith background. It also sought to ensure that the diversity of its intake was fully reflected across its activities, including assemblies, celebration of festivals and religious education.

It has also used sports and art to bring pupils together. When the children were still on separate sites, staff spent a year working with more than 150 students on a production of Oliver.

“This was the first time that they really mixed and started to see that as normal – it gave us an idea of exactly what could be achieved,” Taylor says.

Haseldine is proud of the school’s achievements but it comes with its pressures. In the past year a growing Romanian community and number of new families have moved into the area. “We have found ourselves having to find these families dentists and doctors and intervening in overcrowded houses. This is well beyond our remit but there is this massive vacuum in public services,” he says.

“I think we go above and beyond in what we offer to families. We have a real community ethos.”

After the riots, the Home Office commissioned a report led by Prof Ted Cantle. His findings criticised the level of ethnic segregation between local schools, as did the Ritchie report, commissioned by Oldham council and the Greater Manchester police.

Now Cantle has congratulated the school on its award, saying Waterhead has shown that the “prophets of doom are wrong and people do actually want integrate”, and called for other schools to embrace a similar approach.

He says: “The Waterhead Academy has shown that it is possible to create a mixed school in a very segregated environment – and that parents also support change when they are fully involved. Others now need to be reminded of their statutory duty ‘to promote community cohesion’ and to devise integration plans.”

Meanwhile, the chair of the judging panel and of the Accord Coalition, Rev Stephen Terry, says the school will “serve as a powerful example about the capacity for schools to transform and to leave a legacy of integration not division”.

Taylor says Waterhead will always be a symbol of what happened. “We have a team that understands these communities and where they have been and nobody wants to go back to that place,” she says. “We’re very much about looking forward, but being mindful of what has been.