Our Sixth Form students enjoyed a fascinating
lecture by eminent Sport Psychologist, Professor Ian Maynard of the Centre for Sport Performance at Sheffield Hallam University, as part of their Gifted and Talented Programme. In a lively and interactive session, enjoyed by Sixth Formers and staff, Professor Maynard spoke of how athletes have to be able to deal with pressure and as such it is imperative that they develop a professional attitude. He talked about anxiety and stress management, stressing the importance of avoiding negative self-talk, and how much of sport psychology can be transposed across to life situations, including dealing with exam and work stresses. Professor Maynard worked with Olympic athletes at the Barcelona and Athens games and in a wide variety of sports including lacrosse, rugby, cycling, diving and boxing; he is currently undertaking work with Premiership football referees.
Another opportunity for our Sixth Form students is the chance of a
4 week paid vacation programme at KPMG in Manchester. This unique new scheme will see one girl and one boy undertake meaningful employment with the accounting giant, spending two weeks in the Financial Services Audit Team and two weeks in the Corporate Finance team. The two lucky students will be involved in client work and will be "at the coal-face" undertaking real research in an ongoing summer scheme between the school and the big four accounting firm. Students are being asked to apply for the work placement as if they were applying for a full-time position and they will be judged on their application form and a subsequent interview.
In Senior Boys, the U15s' football team has received a
Fair Play commendation from the Independent Schools' Football Association (ISFA). The awards are made on the basis of marks given and comments made by match referees in the ISFA Cup competitions and comments made by opposing schools.
Our Junior Girls undertook half an hour of vigorous walking around their school this week to
raise funds for MedEquip4Kids, a charity based in the North West of England for paediatric healthcare facilities at local hospitals. Fun was injected into the "Walk4kids" event as girls were allowed to dress in their pyjamas - more of a sleep walk really! By the end of the day a fantastic
sum of over £1,800 had been raised! The Year 6 Girls have also been busy performing their bite size
interpretations of William Shakespeare's comedy, A Midsummer Night's Dream. After studying and exploring the play, pupils challenged their own thinking and skills of interpretation to produce short devised pieces. Under the title "Devising the Dream", the girls will perform their work to their parents. And the Year 4 girls had some interesting visitors from
Blackpool Zoo, coming face to face with a giant hissing cockroach, a snake and a stick insect when Russell from the Zoo came to talk to them about habitats and adaptation. To the girls' delight he brought several animals from the zoo with him to demonstrate what he was talking about!
Twenty Seven primary schools visited Bolton School this week for a Science Festival aimed at inspiring young minds. The festival provided an opportunity for gifted young pupils from Year 5 to make use of Bolton School's laboratories and resources and to absorb themselves in Science for the day. Local schools entered teams of four who spent the morning in the Biology, Chemistry and Physics laboratories undertaking a number of challenging practical activities, assisted by their own "Science Buddies" - pupils from the Girls' Division and Boys' Division. Bolton School has been the Independent Schools Football Association (ISFA) Focus School for the Manchester and Northwest region almost two years now and during this time has been involved in many schemes and initiatives to drive football development in the region. Click here to see the full presentation. Sticking with sport, representing Lancashire our Year 8 rugby league team overcame Birkdale High from Sefton by 60 points to 8 to become this year's North-West Emerging Schools' Cup Final winners. Old Boy Tony Wadsworth, Chairman of the BPI, has been awarded the CBE in the Queen's Birthday Honours' List in recognition of his services to the British Music Industry. Tony, who attended Bolton School from 1967-1974, previously was the longest serving Chairman and CEO of EMI 
Music UK and Ireland from 1998 to 2008. Over the last three months the Catering Department has been raising money for Reece who has epileptic seizures, helping to fund a soft, safe play area for him within his home. Fundraising activites included an Easter raffle and a sponsored slim by Catering Manager Karen Riley and Boys’ Division Catering Supervisor Ronda Figgins, who collectively lost two and a half stone. In total an impressive £1158 was raised and Reece and his parents visited the school to be presented with the cheque.
