27 June 2014

Last week, Bolton School hosted the Bolton Children's Fiction Award Ceremony! This was a fantastic event, with all six nominated authors in attendance! Year 7 and 8 pupils from sixteen schools in the region arrived in the morning for talks from the authors, and stayed to enjoy the lunchtime Awards Ceremony itself. Joe Craig, who won the award himself in 2006, presented the 2014 award to this year's winner: Gillian Cross, author of After Tomorrow.

The Year 6 Junior Girls were also busy on the literary front. Following on from their study of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, they put together their own scripts and staging for a shortened version of the play, which they performed in front of parents. This forms part of the school's celebration of Shakespeare's 450th birthday.

The Girls' Division's GCSE and A-Level artists were given a great opportunity to showcase their talents and the best of their work at the University of Bolton! This was part of the Best of Bolton Schools' Art and Design Exhibition. Bolton School Year 13 pupil Jessica Broome won the Best Fine Art prize at the exhibition.

The Sixth Form linguists were busy with trips in the past week. On Monday, Year 12 boys and girls studying Spanish travelled to Aston University in Birmingham for the International Relations and Languages Sixth Form Conference. They listened attentively to two lectures, which were both fascinating and informative.

On Wednesday, three A-Level French students visited Liverpool University to meet with Dr Ian Magedera. They have been invited to assist him in his research into Representations of India in French Literature and Culture from the eighteenth century onwards, and went to the university to receive the appropriate training.

The Joint Jazz Band will in a few short weeks be setting off on a trip to Switzerland for the Montreux Jazz Festival! They will be performing two sets at the Parc Vertex venue as part of this prestigious festival, and to celebrate are holding a Pre-Tour Concert on Wednesday 2nd July.

The Boys' Division Brass Ensemble gave a special performance at Kearsley West Primary School as part of the Community Music Programme. They delighted the pupils and teachers with well-known pop tunes and themes from TV and film.

In sport, the week began with lots of fun in the sun at the Primary Schools' Sports Festival. Budding athletes from sixteen local schools were invited to Bolton School for a carousel of sporting activities designed to test their skills and to allow them to compete for the trophy.

On Thursday, the Marylebone Cricket Club visited the school. This led to two fantastic cricket matches which were watched with great interest!

Bolton School U13's cricket team enjoyed a very close T20 match against the MCC Hub team, which is based at the School. This was followed by an awards ceremony for the MCC Hub players which named two boys the U15 and U13 players of the year.

The Bolton School 1st XI team welcomed the MCC for what has become a prestigious annual fixture in the school's cricketing calendar. With opponents including opening batsman Tom Liversedge, a former captain of the school team, as well as a plethora of other established local cricketers, this was a great challenge for the 1st XI team. The MCC side ultimately proved victorious, but it was a great afternoon of cricket for all involved.

The Boys' Division celebrated the past year's achievements and successes at Prizegiving. Students collected over 100 awards and listened attentively to the words of Headmaster Phillip Britton, Chairman of Governors Mr Michael Griffiths, and Old Boy The Venerable Jonathan Boardman, Archdeacon of Italy and Malta, Chaplain of All Saints, Rome and a Canon of Malta Cathedral.

Year 12 pupils in the Boys' and Girls' Divisions were also given the opportunity to learn from another former pupil this week. Group Captain Mark Northover of the RAF returned to school to give a talk on leadership. The Girls' Division Great Hall was packed for this event, which stressed that anyone can learn the correct skills and behaviours to be a great leader.

Boys' Division pupils also remembered the sacrifice of their predecessors this week. The boys who will be attending this year's Battlefields Trip received copies of Remembered with Honour, a book compiled by Dr Eric McPherson to commemorate Old Boltonians who died in the First and Second World Wars. This book will be presented to all boys who attend the trip between 2014 and 2018 to mark the centenary of the First World War.

Finally, the Junior Boys finished collecting in the last of the sponsorship money from their annual fancy-dress Fun Run this week. They presented the cheque for £5000 to a representative of Bolton Hospice during morning assembly, as well as learning a little more about the history of hospice care, the work Bolton Hospice does, and how the money raised will help.