5 September 2014

It's the start of a new term at Bolton School, but things have not been quiet over the holidays and there has been cause for much celebration:

GCSE pupils and their parents joined teachers in the Boys' and Girls' Division Great Halls to receive their exam results.

In the Boys' Division, 28.1% of grades were at A* with eight boys achieving a set of perfect grades! The boys bucked the national trend, achieving their best results in English in three years, particularly in English Literature. Results in STEM subjects were also strong. Almost 91.4% of boys achieved a minimum of 10 A*- B grades, and 93% of grades overall were graded A*- C.

In the Girls' Division, 29% of GCSE papers were given an A* grade. Five girls achieved the impressive haul of 11 A* grades, with a further five receiving 10 A* grades. 59.4% of papers were graded A*- A, which is a great achievement or the girls, and 23% of girls secured a minimum of 11 A*- A grades!

Four pupils had an extra reason for celebration: one girl and three boys were awarded prestigious Arkwright Scholarships. This year there was a 100% success rate for Bolton School candidates! The process involved a detailed application form, two-hour aptitude test, and an in-depth interview where candidates had to talk about a project they had undertaken. Chris Battarbee, Bethany O’Donnell, Alex Seed and Niall Woodward will be awarded £600 over the course of their A Level studies through the Scholarship, as well as many opportunities to enhance their knowledge of engineering.

Bolton School's Sixth Form students have also been enjoying personal successes over the summer.

Jennifer Heyes has gained a prestigious Blue Tree Scholarship at Imperial College London! The award is given to dynamic students with an aptitude for engineering, and is worth £7,000 per annum for the full duration of her four year programme.

Paloma Shakouri has also been successful in obtaining a prestigious academic scholarship on the BSc Hons Business and Enterprise degree programme at Pearson College. Her excellent performance on the interview and assessment day led to the university choosing to award her the scholarship.

Cricketer Haseeb Hameed has proved himself in fine form for Lancashire's 2nd XI team, even impressing the first team coach, Glen Chapple!

Natasha Lomas has had a very musical summer: not only has she obtained a scholarship at the Royal Northern College of Music for her clarinet performance, she has also passed her diploma in saxophone performance and toured Europe with the Joint Jazz Band!

Sam Critchlow received a GEOSET award for his video about the lives of Marie and Pierre Curie. The award, for Streaming Media - Education, is is one of several annual awards granted by the GEOSET initiative to recognise the hard word of those who contribute to the project. GEOSET was founded by Bolton School Old Boy Sir Harry Kroto.

Although pupils only returned to School this week, the campus was buzzing with activity even before the start of term: the School was delighted to welcome back the cast and crew of Last Tango in Halifax returned to the School during August. The School was used as a filming location for certain scenes from series 3 of the television programme.

Later on this term, and continuing until March 2015, the School will also play host to the Historical Association's monthly lecture series, which will use the Girls' Division Theatre for this year's social meetings. There will be talks about every period in British history, from the middle ages to the Cold War, which will be delivered by a variety of highly qualified experts. The History Departments are particularly excited by November's lecture, which will be delivered by renowned historian Professor Sir Peter Hennessy.

The Old Girls' Association has been as busy as ever during the holidays, organising a Cooking Masterclass with local chef Mike Harrison. This will take place in the Arts Centre on Friday the 17th of October, with the proceeds split between the Phelan-McDermid Syndrome Foundation (PMSF) and the Bolton School Old Girls’ Association.

There has been further good news from Bolton School Alumni this week: KPMG announced that Old Girl Katie Clinton and Old Boy Tim Cutler have been appointed two of the four new partners at KPMG’s Manchester office! This is a fantastic achievement for both of them, and we wish them well in their future endeavours.