28 February 2020

Eighty delegates from local primary schools and more than twenty exhibitors attended the Bolton School Games' Health & Wellbeing Conference, hosted in Bolton School's Arts Centre. The opening address was given by former World Champion and 10 times British Champion inline skater Jenna Downing.

A pair of Year 4 pupils at the Junior Girls' School will travel to America for an international gymnastics competition this summer. Amy and Ruby have been chosen to compete in the IAIGC World Championships. Both girls have been doing gymnastics since they were 3 years old.

Before half term, Year 8 pupils in the Boys' Division took part in the annual Vaulting competition. Six finalists impressed the judges with their performances in a series of four vaults. Congratulations to gold medallist Alex Cook.

In alumni news, Old Girl Amanda Brooks received a CBE for services to economic growth in the New Year's Honours List.

Coming up on Monday 2 March at the slightly earlier start time of 6.45pm, we have the next event in our Enrichment Evening series: the annual Poetry Festival, which this year features a performance from UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. Full details are here.

21 February 2020

Bolton School recently hosted an Anti-Bullying Ambassador Training Day run by The Diana Award. Around 120 pupils and teachers from primary and secondary schools across the north west joined Bolton School Junior and Senior Boys and Girls for this important course on how to combat bullying.

Congratulations to Year 12 student and aspiring medic Maimoona who completed her Gold CREST Award over the summer holidays. Her investigation into lung cancer has since been read by the assessors, who were impressed with her thorough research, and she has now received her Award.

The Boys' Division played host to a Rotary Club Technology Tournament, which challenged multiple teams from five schools to create a tower and billboard from scratch, complete with a flashing beacon on top. Pupils' engineering and artistic abilities were put to the test alongside their teamwork and communication skills.

The Junior Girls had a very busy week before half term, beginning with their annual Music Festival. A full day of piano performances was followed by a day of instrumental, vocal and ensemble classes. The two adjudicators were delighted with the standard of music-making and all of the Junior Girls enjoyed watching their peers perform.

Towards the end of the week, the Junior Girls School held the annual Modern Foreign Languages Day. This year, the focus country was Japan. They explored the Japanese language and culture through a range of exciting workshops, featuring ju-jitsu, origami, painting their names in Japanese characters and much more.

Students in the Sixth Form taking French to A Level also enjoyed an immersive language day recently. Guest speaker Richard Peltier visited Bolton School to help Years 12 and 13 from both Divisions to explore a variety of topics related to their course. Their discussions were conducted entirely in French and the day proved useful in building their knowledge and confidence.

Boys' Division pupils studying Religious Studies (RS) explored the relationship between science and faith at a God and the Big Bang Conference. Through a series of workshops, science communicators encouraged pupils to consider the idea that science and theology are not incompatible, and the ways in which these two seemingly conflicting subjects can strengthen one another.

14 February 2020

The Physics Olympics saw 31 teams of Year 9 pupils from 18 different schools visit Bolton School for a day of scientific challenge. The event, which was hosted by Bolton School and organised in conjunction with the Ogden Trust and the Institute of Physics, saw pupils compete in a range of physics activities, with prizes distributed at the end.

Girls' Division Headmistress Sue Hincks visited the House of Commons with Paul Hodkinson from Bolton Impact Trust and Mike Sidebottom from Smithills School to celebrate the many successful partnerships between independent and state schools. The Celebrating Partnership event recognised the many ways in which schools from different sectors work together to create learning and development opportunities.

Bolton School, the Old Boltonians' AFC and Bolton Wanderers clubbed together to make a huge donation to SOS Kit Aid. Donations from Bolton School parents, pupils and alumni, as well as kit from BWFC, were collected from the School.

Junior Girls in Year 4 became textiles apprentices for the day in a special cross-curricular workshop with representatives of print and textiles company Stead McAlpin. They designed their own fabric patterns and made banners featuring their silhouettes based on a chintz designed by Queen Victoria herself, as well as learning lots about the history of the textiles industry.

Seven Girls' Division pupils have been chosen to join various Super Counties Lacrosse Squads. The girls, who are in Years 10 to 13, will play for the North West U19s, North East U19s and North East U15s.

A number of cross country athletes from the Girls' Division represented Bolton Town Cross Country team at the Greater Manchester Championships, helping to earning commendable results within the top ten for the Year 7, Year 8-9 and Year 10 teams. Lucy Dixon also qualified for the English Schools’ Cross Country Finals in March!

In swimming news, Lucy Dixon has earned an impressive 13 medals over the course of three consecutive weekends of competition at the Lancashire County Swimming Championships! She is now Lancashire County Champion for her age group in five different events!

The Year 7 Gymnastics Final in the Boys' Division featured a series of impressive floor routines as the boys competed for one of the oldest cups in school. All of the finalists exhibited calmness under pressure while performing in front of the whole year group and their form tutors.

Bolton School hosted a Maths Challenge for primary school pupils in Year 5. This year, five teams pitted their wits against one another in a series of fun mathematical challenges. The Bolton School Junior Girls' team ultimately won by a single point.

The whole of Year 11 in both Divisions learned more about National Citizenship Service (NCS) during a visit to Bolton Lads and Girls' Club. They found out how this exciting scheme can help them to build a wide variety of skills while also benefitting others.

The next Enrichment Event is coming up after half term: our Poetry Festival on 2 March will feature readings from pupil poets and a performance from UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage. The readings begin at 6.45pm with refreshments served beforehand. This event is part of an ongoing series of Arts and Sciences Enrichment Evenings. Sign up to our Mailing List to receive reminders and updates.

7 February 2020

Talented young sportsmen at Bolton School Boys' Division were joined by pupils from nearby Gaskell Primary School for a very special lunchtime with two footballing legends. They heard from Ryan Giggs, most famous for his time at Manchester United, and Joe Thompson, former Rochdale, Tranmere, Bury and Carlisle player, who has twice fought off cancer.

Bolton School played host to the first stop on author Lisa Williams' 'Paper Avalanche' book tour. The School welcomed visitors from four local schools and two whole year groups from the Girls' Division to hear Lisa talk about how she became a writer and to find out more about her books before having the opportunity to have their own copies signed.

A former teacher, Head of Sport and Director of Partnerships at Bolton School has been named the next British Water Polo League President. Mr Trevor Pledger is well known both as a member of staff and for his lifelong involvement with water polo as a player, coach and administrator.

Apprenticeships are a growing trend at Bolton School. In honour of National Apprenticeship Week, the School caught up with seven apprentices currently working towards qualifications at Bolton School: three in the ICT department, three at the Nursery and one at BSS Leisure.

The Girls' Division Under 13 Lacrosse Team enjoyed success this week, becoming Northern Schools' champions for the second year in a row!

According to recently released government data, Sixth Form students at the Girls' and Boys' Divisions are performing exceptionally well not only in terms of examination results, but also when it comes to progress made from GCSE to the end of A Level. Both heads are delighted with the Department for Education (DfE) performance data that has been released.

Patterdale Hall Manager Tim Taylor and his colleague Sean Duffy spent four days travelling more than 100 miles through bleak and blustery conditions to raise money for St Gemma's Hospice in honour of their friend Dave. They have raised over £3,400 on their JustGiving page at the time of writing.

The next Enrichment Evening lecture is scheduled to take place on Monday evening: television presented Miranda Krestovnikoff will talk about 'The Sea Around Me' and describe the highlights from her twenty-year career filming wildlife off the coast of the UK. The talk will take place at 7pm on Monday 10 February 2020.

The full list of Enrichment Events can be found here. You can subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates and reminders about forthcoming events.