3 February 2017

Fourteen Bolton School Sixth Form students have received offers from the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge this year. This is a wonderful achievement for all five girls and nine boys, and the School wishes them luck in achieving the grades needed to accept their offers.

High Sheriff of Greater Manchester the Lady Smith of Leigh, who is an Old Girl, returned to the Girls' Division to offer an entertaining address in morning assembly. She talked about the history of her role and her duties today, as well as briefly touching on her memories of attending Bolton School.

The Lady Smith also visited the Junior Girls' School, where she enthralled pupils with more fascinating historical information and held a lengthy question and answer session with the curious girls. They were delighted to see her symbolic sword and learn more about the High Sheriff's crest.

Bolton School has placed top of the government's latest league table of local schools and colleges by A level results. The Girls' Division leads the table when a school or college is measured by the average point score performance per student and the Boys' Division is number one in the league when measured by the percentage of students achieving AAB grades or higher in the facilitating subjects.

The Junior Boys' School held its annual Music Festival, with over 145 individual performances taking place over two days! Pupils, staff and parents alike enjoyed the wide-ranging music, which included classes in piano, guitar woodwind, brass, recorder, percussion, strings, vocal and ensembles.

Children at the Nursery and attending the Nursery Class for 3 and 4 year olds had fun in special ball skills session run by a Bolton Wanderers coach. The sessions were tailored to fit each age group, with the younger children simply getting used to the equipment and the older ones learning some moves through play.

Girls' Division alumni, Sixth Form and staff held an unwanted jewellery collection in support of Alzheimer's Society in the run-up to the Christmas holidays. A representative from the charity visited the School to collect over 350 donated pieces, which will raise an estimated £600!

A pair of Junior Boys and a pair of Junior Girls spent a day filming with the BBC's Terrific Scientific crew. They were investigating what trees do for us and measuring how much carbon is contained in trees across the campus. The film will eventually be uploaded on the Terrific Scientific website in March or April.

Students in Years 12 and 13 enjoyed a day of improving their modern foreign language skills at the annual French Conference. They discussed a number of topics relating to their A Level studies with native speaker Richard Peltier, making this a great opportunity to stretch themselves and improve both confidence and ability.

This week's Inspiring Mind is Old Boy Frank Kenyon, who attended the Boys' Division from 1944 to 1952. After leaving Bolton School, he read Geography at Downing College, Cambridge, and completed his National Service in the Royal Artillery before becoming a teacher and ultimately headteacher.