28 October 2011

Half term at Bolton School and what a busy couple of weeks it has been in the run up! Our Open Morning was once again a huge success with many potential pupils and parents visiting the School to find out what we are all about. There was fantastic news for our Catering Department who are officially the best independent school catering team in the country! Catering Manager, Mrs Karen Riley and her colleague Mr Andrew Scialipi-Sullivan, Catering Coordinator, represented the team at a glittering black-tie awards dinner at the 5 star Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London for the final of the 2011 Educatering Excellence Awards, which saw 350 of school catering's elite gather to decide the final winners of 13 categories. Bolton School overcame stiff competition in the shape of Eton College and Cheadle Hulme School to take the title. Our Grounds team are also in the running for a National Groundsmanship Award! After being short-listed by the Institute of Groundsmanship for the Independent School Award, the team will now be judged on site by the Institute, and if successful will go on to the national awards at the Reebok Stadium in December. An exciting new option for Nursery parents is opening in January 2012 at the School. A new Nursery class for 3 and 4 year olds will be teacher led and open during term-times and will offer a caring, safe and stimulating environment where children are valued, happy and secure. This new educational service will run alongside our highly successful and established preschool unit and together they will offer the highest quality choice for children preparing for their first year at Infant School.

In sport, our U16 Netball team has won the Bolton Schools' Netball Tournament. In a Round Robin competition, the girls were undefeated throughout the tournament, scoring a total of 54 goals whilst conceding only 14. Several of our girls have been chosen for the Lancashire County Under 18 Lacrosse squad, and will represent their County in the Northern Counties Tournament competing against Cheshire and Yorkshire. Year 2 pupils at Beech House presented a cheque for £193.56 to Bolton Wanderers Captain Kevin Davies, for his charity Kids of Bolton, raised through a cake sale at the School. And our Junior Girls and Boys joined in with the Skip2Bfit national campaign to find out how many skips they could do in two minutes. The top skippers were awarded with certificates presented by professional boxing trainer John McCormack who is leading the initiative.

7 October 2011

It was a big week at Bolton School as Lord Sebastian Coe and Sir Philip Craven, President of the International Paralympic Committee, convinced a large North-West audience at the School that the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games will bring a much needed lift to the whole country. The pair were on stage at an evening co-hosted by Bolton School and Bolton Council, which was attended by hundreds of people from across the region. Sir Philip had returned to his old school to deliver the annual Tillotson Lecture and he had brought his close friend Lord Coe with him. Both were keen to spread the message about the once in a lifetime opportunity that the Games represent for the UK. The two were joined on stage by two 2012 hopefuls, Sophie Hancock, a local paralympian and Daniel Sliwinski, an Old Boy of the School and Commonwealth Games swimming bronze medallist.
The following evening, Bolton School pupils were joined by students from other local schools for an inspiring lecture by one of the country's leading cancer research scientists - Professor Ross Sibson from the Department of Molecular and Clinical Cancer Medicine at Liverpool University. Around 300 pupils and parents from Bolton School Girls' Division, Boys' Division, Canon Slade and Smithills School, gathered in the Girls' Division Great Hall to listen to Professor Sibson's talk entitled 'Astronomical Problems with our Genes?' The lecture aimed to give them a better understanding of genetics and was attended by pupils ranging from Year 10 up to Year 13. It was organised by the Girls' Division Learning Support Able and Talented enrichment programme, an ongoing programme which aims to enrich students' learning experience and develop their thinking skills.
In sport, Year 9 pupil Nalisha Patel, who plays for the Under 13 Lancashire County Girls Cricket team, has been voted player of the season! It was a double celebration for Nalisha as the Lancashire Girls U13s also triumphed as National Champions for 2011, after beating Sussex in the final. And a successful season for Bolton School's U13 Cricket team saw them crowned runners up in the county final. Our Senior Boys were fortunate to witness a gymnastics extravaganza first thing on Monday morning as Paul Hockwart (Director of Coaching at Bury Gymnastics Club) came into to a Year 7 Assembly to promote the sport of gymnastics. Accompanying him was a Great Britain gymnast called Mason Whealing who demonstrated a variety of floor work and trampette exercises, including round-offs, handsprings, flic-flacs, somersault with a twist, and a spectacular double somersault to finish. This was excellent inspiration for the boys in time for the start of the Year 7 Gymnastics Club and their annual Gymnastics Competition.
And a visit from the Kinetic Theatre helped inspire, educate and entertain our Junior girls with a musical play geared to the National Curriculum for Science. The interactive story of Robin and the Withering Wood went down exceptionally well with the girls, who joined in enthusiastically.