8 May 2015

Last Friday, Boys' Division alumnus Barney Pilling - who recently edited the film The Grand Budapest Hotel - returned to School to join the boys for a series of workshops themed around film. During the sessions he talked about what being a film editor entails and discussed his work on Never Let Me Go and The Grand Budapest Hotel, which has received BAFTA and Oscar nominations for its editing. He also found time to answer the boys' many interested questions.

Yesterday, pupils in the Girls' Division were joined by children from Bolton Muslim Girls' School, Turton School and Smithills School for a special visit from Frances Hardinge, whose book Cuckoo Song has been nominated for this year's Carnegie Medal! Her fascinating talk focused on Cuckoo Song and also on new release The Lie Tree, but she also discussed her other works and her writing process in the hour-long session. The pupils really enjoyed hearing from Frances in her own words and were completely enthralled - particularly by her reading from The Lie Tree!

In the Girls' Division, the May Serenade celebrated the arrival of the month in style, with excellent performances throughout. The varied styles and the mixture of soloists, ensembles and choirs ensured that there was something for everyone to enjoy on the evening.

Click here to watch a short playlist of videos from the May Serenade, or click here to listen to an audio recording of the event on the School's Soundcloud.

The annual Junior Boys' Spring Concert also took place last week in the Boys' Division Great Hall. The young musicians played to a very high standard throughout the evening and provided an interesting programme for the audience. The concert ended with a spectacular Michael Jackson Medley performend by the massed voices of the whole of the Junior Boys' School, accompanied by Year 10 band The Parallel Oreos.

The Old Boltonians' AFC have recently celebrated their first win of the Lancashire Amateur League Premier Division title in almost thirty years! Some of the Old Boys who last won the title were there for the game to cheer on the Old Bolts to victory. The Club is now focusing on potentially breaking the record for the number of points in a season, and hope to win Lancashire Amateur League First XI’s Cup Final tomorrow.

Pupils in the Boys' Division took part in the HMC Northern Athletics Championships for the first time in over twenty years this week. Despite taking only six athletes, the School won 7th place out of 14 in the Years 10-11 age group. This was a fantastic achievement, and the success of this small group has inspired the School to enter a full team of athletes next year!

Pupils at Beech House, Bolton School's Infant School, have recently been learning some new Circus Skills! Plate spinning, scarf juggling and feather balancing were just some of the exciting activities on offer, and the children really enjoyed getting involved.

Old Boy Mark Jagasia's debut play Clarion is currently showing at the Arcola Theatre in London, and has been received with a wash of four- and five-star reviews! Starring Clare Higgins and Greg Hicks, Mark's play is a scathing satire of the British newspaper industry which manages to be both topical and comedic. Clarion has been nominated for three Off West End Theatre Awards!

Today sees the launch of the 100 Inspiring Minds project. Throughout 2015-16, some of the most inspiring and influential people from Bolton School’s history will be interviewed to celebrate their contribution. The first of these profiles is now available, and is about Lord Leverhulme.