27 November 2015

Former history teacher Mrs Head, who retired from the Girls' Division last summer after 27 years, has won the inaugural Bolton News Secondary School Teacher of the Year Award. An Old Girl of the School, Mrs Head was also the Head of Middle School before her retirement. She was delighted to receive the award.

A visit from author Tanya Landman, whose novel Buffalo Soldier won the Carnegie Medal, provided a fascinating opportunity for girls to learn more about the process of writing and how Tanya uses historical events to inform and inspire her writing. A seminar with Sixth Form students also allowed the writer to warm the girls not to accept the romanticised version of American history that is often depicted in films, television and literature.

The Junior Boys were delighted to welcome children's author and entertainer Lucia Davies into School last week so that they could join the Pod Trail. This initiative is based on Lucia's book Pod, which aims to raise awareness of bullying. The book engages children with the idea of bullying and helps them to think and talk about this important issue. The Pod Trail formed part of the boys' experience of Anti-Bullying Week 2015.

Last Friday, students from Bolton School Girls’ and Boys’ Divisions, Bolton Music Service and Salford Music and Performing Arts Service took part in a fantastic music workshop that was based around Vivaldi’s Four Seasons. The following informal performance showcased the pupils' talents and was a fantastic experience for children and parents alike.

Year 7 pupils James Hopkinson and Olivia Sample recently performed at the SHINE Benefit Dinner in London as part of the Halle Children's Choir. The event took place in the grand surroundings of the Natural History Museum, and both pupils really enjoyed this unique experience.

The Jazz Band last weekend took part in the National Concert Band Festival (NCBF). They performed four pieces in total, with several pupils taking centre stage for solos, and were eventually awarded a Gold Award!

Last week, four Year 7 pupils were interviewed on local radio station Key103 about their Sponsored Silence to support Cash for Kids. The girls have raised £2000 with their efforts! To listen to their interview, click here or press the play button below:


Year 9 pupil Sharon Daniel recently received her ESB Ambassador Award at a Celebration Evening held in Bristol. The Young Speaker of the Year event was held to honour eight young people from across the UK, and awards were presented by Mr Burton, one of the stars of Channel 4’s Educating Yorkshire.

The Year 8 water polo team last weekend brought home the President's Trophy. As a result, seven members of the team and three other Bolton School boys were selected for the North-West A and B Teams for the upcoming ASA Inter-Regional Tournament. This is a fantastic achievement for the School's young water polo players.

Year 7 pupil Elizabeth Harkness has been selected for the Lancashire U13 Development Squad. This is a fantastic achievement, since she is still in the U12 age category. She also plays for grassroots team Preston North End.

Year 12 student Arron Davies competed in the European Water Skiing Championships over the summer holidays. He also did extremely well in the 2015 national competition, coming in third place, and is now looking forward to competing in the World Championships 2016.

The Junior Girls and Junior Boys recently faced off in the annual AJIS Chess Tournament, which was held at the Junior Boys' School. The Junior Girls were awarded third place overall, with some girls also achieving individual medals. However, on this occasion the Junior Boys were victorious, taking first place and some individual medals.

Girls in Year 10 and above were able to enjoy a fascinating linguistics talk from Dr Alex Baratta, a lecturer at the University of Manchester. He talked about how language use and accents can inform and influence a person's identity. This was particularly helpful for A Level English Language students, who made the most of the opportunity to hear from Dr Baratta.

The Nursery has held a drop-in session for parents, allowing them to come in and talk to practitioners about Communication and Language Skills. There were lots of fun activities for the children and also plenty of tips and pieces of advice for parents. This made for an interesting and interactive morning for the children, which was also really beneficial to parents.

Old Girl Gill Pearl has been awarded the Robin Tavistock Award 2015 alongside the charity Speakeasy Bury. The award is given to an organisation or individual who has made an exceptional contribution to the field of aphasia.

20 November 2015

This week, Bolton School welcomed HRH Prince Edward, The Earl of Wessex. Children from all areas of the School congregated to greet him with waves and Union Jack flags upon arrival. He then went into the Arts Centre to meet pupils participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Awards scheme and young volunteers.

To watch a video of clips from his visit, click here.

Last week, children across the Bolton School Foundation took part in various activities to raise money for Children in Need. From cake sales to decorated capes to funky socks to dressing up as superheroes, everyone was invited to join in, and as a result Bolton School as a whole raised over £2700 for charity!

Girls in Year 7 spent last Friday in silence in order to raise money for KEY103's Cash for Kids appeal. The girls have been supporting this appeal for several years now, and the sponsored silence is the first step in the process. Despite the difficulties, the girls did really well to stay quiet for the whole of the day.

The Boys' Division Autumn Concert last week was a musical showcase of the School's talent. The different musical groups performed to a high standard and were very entertaining. The Year 8 boys gave a spectacular finale, which definitely lived up to the Bridgewater Hall performance last year.

To watch a selection of performances from the Autumn Concert, click here.

Year 13 student Laura Hainey has had a piece of artwork shortlisted for the Specialist Crafts Catalogue Cover Competition. She won a voucher for being shortlisted, and will find out if she has won the competition overall in December.

The Bolton School bees have been hard at work all summer, and now Beekeeping Club members are extracting, sieving and jarring the honey ready to be put on sale. The jars are £6 for a 227g jar, and all the details on how to purchase Bolton School Honey are available by clicking the link.

Sixth Form students recently took part in the first round of the Business Challenge. They spent the day in mixed teams, working together to create a fantastic new business plan, which they then had to present in front of a panel of judges to ask for investment. All of the students worked really hard to come up with the best ideas possible and to back up their incredible ideas with all the right facts and figures. The six successful teams will go forward to the final for the KPMG Trophy in December.

The Junior Girls really enjoyed watching the Young Shakespeare Company act out an interactive version of Romeo and Juliet last week. This exciting, funny, and ultimately moving version of the tragic love story allowed the girls to take part in the action and also asked them to answer questions to clarify the plot and language throughout. As well as being entertaining, this experience has also helped to get the girls thinking about Shakespeare as thy will go on to study his work.

Kidzone has now announced the Christmas programme for this year, and an exciting range of activities are on the calendar!

This week, the 100 Inspiring Minds project interviews entrepreneur Rob Dobson, who talks about his inspirations, his time at School, and his advice for current pupils.

13 November 2015

Over the recent half term holiday, two Sixth Form students joined local accountants and business advisors Cowgill Holloway as part of the Future Stars Programme. This was the first week of a four-week placement with the company, which spans the whole academic year and will allow them to experience many difference aspects of the business.

Children at Beech House Infant School last week had lots of fun on Bonfire Night. The Reception children held their own firework display and bonfire, and tucked into toasted marshmallows. This followed their visit to a local fire station to learn more about fire safety.

Meanwhile, in the Year 2 classrooms, children were busy creating fantastic artwork themed around Bonfire Night. Some children created chalk drawings of fireworks exploding, while others combined natural materials and craft materials in a collage to reflect the bonfire celebrations.

Last weekend, over 100 Year 11 pupils from the local area enjoyed an inspiring Modern Languages Day at Bolton School. In addition to an interesting keynote speech about the importance of learning foreign languages, they enjoyed workshops in a variety of languages, including French, German, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Mandarin and Arabic.

On Sunday evening, pupils and parents congregated on the netball courts in spite of the rain to enjoy the annual Girls' Division Parents' Association Firework Display. Many of the stalls were relocated to the refurbished Dining Hall, and guests could enjoy games or sweet treats before and after the display. The School's young musicians also braved the weather to provide entertainment in the run up to the fabulous display and as guests dispersed afterwards.

On Wednesday, the School held a number of Services of Remembrance for Armistice Day.

In the Boys' Division, the commemoration was led by Dr Holland, who asked pupils to think about what peace means to them. At the end of the service, three Year 13 boys laid wreaths in front of the Memorial Staircase.

The Girls' Division service was attended by Old Girls in addition to current pupils. Pupils shared poems on the theme of remembrance, and Miss Hincks spoke about why the poppy is worn on this occasion.

The Junior Girls' School followed a similar theme with the girls learning more about why the poppy is worn as an act of remembrance. It was concluded by a moving song 'Remember', which reminded the girls of the importance of the day.

To watch a video of the Junior Girls singing 'Remember' on the School's YouTube channel, click here.

There is also a video of recent leaver Natalie Henderson reading her poem 'Legend of Mons', which won the poetry competition last year and was based on the war poems of the First World War. This piece was inluded in last year's Remembrance Service, which commemorated the centenary of the start of the First World War.

November's Tea at the Riley also had a Remembrance theme as it was held on Armistice Day. This monthly tea party, which is hosted by Sixth Form girls for elderly people in the local area, provided a delicious spread of sandwiches and sweet treats. Mrs Hone gave a very interesting and moving talk about four young men who lost their lives in the First World War as the entertainment for the afternoon.

Towards the end of the week, Girls' Division pupils sent 200 shoeboxes to Operation Christmas Child. Girls in all year groups had put together a box full of small gifts for children in age brackets between 2 and 14. Their haul was supplemented by a large number of shoeboxes from the Junior Girls' School.

Bolton School once again sponsored the Young Business of the Year category at the Manchester Evening News (MEN) Business Awards. At a glitzy event at the Midland Hotel on Thursday evening, the winner was announced: ZEAL Creative. A delighted Robert White, Planning Director and an Old Boy of the School, received the award on behalf of the company. Guests also enjoyed insight from keynote speaker Nick Hewer of The Apprentice and Countdown. The event was hosted by news reader Nicholas Owen, who celebrated the city's business community throughout the evening.

Friday was Children in Need day, with lots of activities taking place acros the Bolton School campus!

For the whole of the week, the Year 9 girls were hard at work putting on cake sales every lunchtime and during most breaks. The delicious treats that each form had on offer made sure that pupils and staff kept coming back for more every day of the week, and many of the stalls sold out!

In the Junior Boys' School on Friday boys came into School wearing their best superhero cape in honour of the day! The majority of these were hand-made by the boys themselves, and reflected their owners' individual characteristics. The boys brougth in a £2 donation to take part, and their entries were judged by members of staff on a variety of criteria.

Children at the Nursery got in on the action as well, dressing up as superheroes for the day! They also enjoyed a range of Pudsey-themed activities, such as making and decorating Children in Need cakes or biscuits, collaging a picture of Pudsey bear, creating banana milkshakes, and much more. The Nursery also held a silent auction for a beautiful Children in Need cake and a raffle for a hamper of goodies.

This week's Inspiring Mind is Old Girl Angela Williams CMG, who was the first female Director at UNRWA. In her fascinating interview, she recollects her time at Bolton School and the impact it had on her later career and life. She also talks about some of the projects she has worked on in her career and the international changes she had helped to make as Director of UNRWA.

06 November 2015

Girls' Division teachers Mr Heppleston and Mr Hitchin recently set up Well-Good, a website which allows pupils to raise money for water charities by practicing their maths! Thanks to sponsorship from the Girls' Division Parents' Association and several companies, with every correct answer to a maths question, Well-Good is able to provide donations to charities that provide safe, clean water and hygiene to developing countries.

To get involved with Well-Good, visit the website or contact info@well-good.org.

Sixth Form pupil Oliver Fielding has been named the Bolton News's Secondary School Pupil of the Year! The winner of the Secondary School Teacher of the Year, Mrs Julia Head, retired from teaching at Bolton School at the start of the summer holidays.

Ten Bolton School girls have been selected this year for the Lancashire U18 Lacrosse A and B Squads. The girls have been training hard in recent weeks, and are now looking forward to the Northern Counties Tournament.

Old Boy and entrepreneur Rob Dobson recently returned to the Boys' Division to talk to current pupils about their technology projects. As someone who has set up his own award-winning company and is now involved with a number of technology companies, he was a great inspiration to the boys. Rob was also able to give careers advice as well as taking a genuine interest in the pupils' inventions.

Year 10 pupils in the Girls' Division have taken part in a One Day Film School as part of their curriculum enrichment. As well as having a lot of fun going through the process of producing their own films, the girls also learned about the history of film and were able to develop their teamwork skills and self-confidence.

This week's Inspiring Mind is Sir Malcolm Williamson. After leaving Bolton School in 1957, he worked at Barclays for a time before joining the RAF for his national service. After leaving the RAF, he re-joined the world of banking, where he was involved with setting up the first computerised banking system in London and became the bank's youngest assistant manager. In 2007, Sir Malcolm was knighted for services to the Financial Industry. His fascinating biography and interview gives an insight into his long career as well as some of his memories of School.