19th October 2012

Bolton School pupils joined around 20,000 children in over 40 countries across the world to compete in the World Marathon Challenge - a challenging simultaneous relay race in support of Save the Children. Children aged 11-13 raced around a track or suitable area in their country in teams. Each child ran a 200m stretch several times each, passing a baton to their team-mates, each team covering a total of 26.2 miles – a full Olympic marathon. GB Beijing Olympian Tom Lancashire came along to the Bolton Arena to officially start the Bolton School marathon challenge. Our pupils completed their marathon in 2h 22mins and 26 seconds putting them in a very respectable 151st at the present time out of over 400 teams from all around the world. The School also hosted a community football tournament at its Leverhulme Pavilion as part of our Primary Liaison programme. Over 200 children from 24 different primary schools from Bolton and Bury took part in a busy day of football. The year 3/4 tournament was won by Horwich Parish and the year 5/6 tournament was won by St John's Bromley Cross. A trophy was presented to both winning teams by Bolton Wanderers' captain Kevin Davies.

Old Girl of the School Dame Janet Smith is to head up the BBC’s inquiry into the Jimmy Savile scandal. It was announced that she and ex-Sky News executive Nick Pollard will jointly lead the BBC's independent reviews. The former Court of Appeal judge is known for her acute grasp of complex legal matters, highlighted when she chaired the Harold Shipman inquiry twelve years ago. As part of their careers programme, girls from years 10 to 13 at Bolton School Girls’ Division had the opportunity to listen to a number of speakers with successful creative careers, several of whom were old girls of the school. Some pupils were lucky enough to take part in workshops on the day, which allowed the girls to explore the variety of different routes available to them if they decide on a career in the Arts.

Junior girls enjoyed an afternoon of healthy eating with the H Factor - the annual healthy eating initiative which sees the children making smoothies, researching healthy food options using netbooks, taking part in quizzes and sampling a range of foods. One highlight of the afternoon was the Smoothie Bike where children got to blend their own smoothie by pedalling as fast as they could! And the hunt for the new Bolton School Girls' Division Masterchef is officially underway! Week 2 saw the remaining contestants battling it out with their stuffed peppers or mushrooms.

12 October 2012

Staff and pupils have been busy preparing for our Open Morning this week. Come and join us on Saturday 13th October from 9.30am to 1.00pm and see for yourself what our school can offer you.

Also this week Sixth Form students from both the Boys’ and the Girls’ divisions of Bolton School attended a lecture by Dr Jay Kennedy – the man who ‘cracked the secret code in Plato’. Dr Kennedy teaches at the University of Manchester and is a celebrated Science Historian and expert in the field of history and philosophy of mathematical physics. He is famous for his research which led to the huge discovery of a mathematical and musical code in the works of Plato. The School also hosted the Frontiers of Physics lectures, bringing together over 250 pupils and 60 parents and staff from 7 schools in the Bolton and Leyland areas. Pupils were treated to a series of lectures and the opportunity to asked real scientists questions. For the finale of the event the great hall was linked, via video conference, to CERN in Geneva where Scientists treated the audience to a short presentation on their work and pupils even had the opportunity to talk directly to the Scientists at CERN. Each year Bolton School plays host to an instrumental workshop, and this year it was the turn of the piano. The piano workshop was directed by Jonathan Middleton who teaches at Chetham’s School of Music and at the Royal Northern College of Music. The event was for all piano students, from beginner to advanced, and Music students from local secondary schools were also invited to join Bolton School students for the day.

The Boys' Division welcomed a delegation of Chinese Headteachers this week, who were visiting Bolton on a self-funded trip to the town after a group of Heads from Bolton had visited China back in 2010. The British Council had funded the Bolton Heads' trip as part of its drive to foster educational links between developing countries and the UK. The Chinese party was set to make a variety of visits as they got an overview of educational provision in the borough and the Bolton Headteachers attempted to replicate the hospitality shown to them in China. Whilst at Bolton School they met senior staff, had a tour of the School and visited several in session classes.

Also this week the Bolton School U13 footballers made it into the last 16 of the national ISFA Cup. The boys beat Leeds Grammar School 4-3 in the cup match after a very exciting penalty shoot out. And Beech House pupils presented a cheque for £312.60 to Bolton Wanderers Captain Kevin Davies, for his Charity ‘KiDs of Bolton’. The pupils raised the money for the local charity through a cake sale at the School.

5th October 2012

Exciting times for the new Sixth Form Centre build as the first steelwork is now in place! This puts the £7m build in the heart of the campus bang on schedule for the completion date in time for the 2013 Autumn Term. View a live feed from the build webcam

Also this week Bolton School hosted its annual Maths Challenge for local Primary Schools to help get young people involved in Maths in a fun way. Primary Schools sent out their best mathematical minds to compete in three challenges, including a maths crossword, head to head general maths questions and a maths relay. The Maths Challenge is fast becoming another established community event at the school, alongside the SHINE programme and the Language, Sports, Literacy, 5-a-side Football and Science Festivals which Bolton School run for local Primary Schools.

Ten year 13 students were fortunate enough to attend the Radio Five Victoria Derbyshire Live Debate at the Bridgewater Hall as part of the Labour Party Conference in Manchester. The boys joined an audience of over 200 Radio 5 listeners at the debate with Senior Shadow Cabinet Ministers and Trade Union Officials.

At Park Road the boys celebrated their annual Harvest festival in aid of the Drop-in Centre at St Luke's Church on Chorley Old Road. The Reverend Stuart Cornes of St Luke's Church. spoke about the importance of family and community and highlighted the Olympics as a great example of this. The boys and their parents brought in a wide range of food items to donate to the drop-in centre, which works to help the homeless, long-term unemployed and the elderly.

And our Nursery pupils were amazed and excited to receive a message of thanks from the Queen! As part of their Jubilee celebrations, pre-school children made a Jubilee card which was sent to Her Majesty, and were delighted to receive the response.