18th October 2013

The final week before the half term has been a busy one for events and this year's Open Morning was one of the busiest ever with a record number of enquirers creating a great buzz around the campus. Also this week hundreds of GCSE and A level students from across the borough attended the Bolton School Careers and Higher Education Convention, with delegates from over 70 different companies, training boards and universities throughout England on hand to advise upper school students about their future. On the same evening was a food and drink festival organised by Junior Boys’ Parents Association and parents, pupils and visitors enjoyed tucking into the many delicacies on offer. The event was organised as a social get-together and money raised from the raffle and hire of stalls will go towards buying playground equipment for the Junior Boys. And Year 7 pupils in the Girls’ Division put on a dazzling concert, showcasing the wide range of musical talents in the year, including a number of soloist instrumental and vocal performers and songs from Les Miserables. Year 7 and 8 pupils from both divisions joined around 20,000 children in over 50 countries across the world to compete in the World Marathon Challenge - a simultaneous relay race in support of Save the Children. Each child ran a 200m stretch of the track at Leverhulme Park Athletics Club several times each, passing a baton to their team-mates, covering a total of 26.2 miles – a full Olympic marathon! The weather was much improved from last year and the Bolton School pupils completed their marathon in 2h 15 mins and 40 seconds. In sport, a number of girls across a range of age groups have been selected to play Lacrosse for Lancashire. The girls attended the U18 Lancashire Trials and after a long and tiring day, 16 girls were selected to play for the County squads. The U15 netball team were convincing winners of the Bolton Schools' Tournament scoring an impressive 80 goals whilst conceding only 8! And congratulations go to Rhiannon Fox-Rothwell in the Lower Sixth who has been selected once again to represent Lancashire Under 18 Women’s rugby team. Bolton School has continued its strong links with ISFA this year with four boys being selected for the ISFA north representative sides. Once again pupils at Hesketh House enjoyed an afternoon of healthy eating with the H Factor. The girls took part in the annual healthy eating initiative which saw the children making smoothies on a bike (!), researching healthy food options using netbooks, taking part in quizzes and sampling a range of foods. A team of four boys have defeated local rivals to progress to the Regional Finals of the prestigious Debating Matters competition. The finals will be held at the Manchester Museum of Science and Industry against winning schools from around the North West and North of Wales.