November 2020

 At the beginning of November, Remembrance services took place at Bolton School, bringing the school community together virtually even though we could not congregate in person. There was a theme of hope running through the Girls' Division service which was picked up by both poetry readings and prayers, while the Boys' Division reminded everyone of the important anniversaries taking place this year and remembered Old Boy who gave their lives. The Act of Remembrance was also observed in both Junior Schools, at Beech House Infant School and in the Nursery Class for Three- and Four-Year-Olds.

The Senior School Remembrance assemblies can be viewed in full via these links: Boys' Division and Girls' Division. A video created by the Junior Girls for Remembrance Day 2020, which features their poppy artwork, can also be watched here.

Bolton School is delighted to be working in partnership with The Bursary Foundation, a charity which works to connect deserving young people in deprived communities in Greater Manchester with the best educational opportunities at independent and grammar schools across the region.

The annual Tillotson Lecture took place virtually for the first time in its long history, with Zoom allowing the event to go ahead despite lockdown restrictions. Old Boys Prateek Buch, Dr Ashish Chaudhry, Nick Johnson and Hetain Patel formed the panel for this year's discussion on the lasting impacts the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to have on our society in the future.

The Tillotson Lecture 2020 can be watched in full here: How Will Covid Shape Society?

Another event that went virtual was the Junior Girls' Informal Concert, which can be viewed in two parts via the following links: Part 1 & Part 2.

Fundraising took place throughout Bolton School for Children in Need. The Junior Girls, Juniors Boys, Infants, Senior Girls and Nursery Class all took part with spotty accessories, fun activities and non-uniform days to raise lots of money for this worthy cause.

Year 3 pupil Prakruti also did some fundraising this month by undertaking a three-mile sponsored run. The proceeds were donated to The Akshaya Patra Foundation, who provide free school meals for children in India through their Food For Education campaign and, in the UK, have a Beat the Hunger programme which serves freshly cooked meals to holiday clubs, schools, homeless people and senior citizens.

A Year 12 student in the Girls' Division has been named a Deupty Youth MP following local Youth MP elections. Victoria Wong is proud to be representing her community of Bolton. She has also been elected a Youth Board Member of the BiteBack2030, a movement working to improve food standards in the UK. 

There has been lots of sporting news from the Girls' Division this month. A group of five girls were selected for the Regional Academy Lacrosse Programme, and three pupils were invited to join the Under 13 Manchester Thunder Netball Academy of Excellence. Year 8 pupil Amy joined the Lancashire Junior Academy Centre for Hockey. Lucy in Year 11 was selected for the Swim England National Event Camp 2020, which is for the country's top swimmers in her age category. Anna Phillips in Year 13 was also invited to the U18 England Ladies fixture camp, held at St. George’s Park.

Year 5 pupil Tabitha has made a video explaining how family's new autism support dog Thunder has made a real difference to younger brother Franklin's life. Watch it here.

Coming soon in the Girls' Division is Parr for the Course: a radio play written for Girls' Division pupils about Lily Parr, trailblazer for women's football. The play will be performed by three separate casts from Years 7, 8 and 9 in the run-up to Christmas. Watch the trailer here.

The Boys' Division Senior Production of It's A Wonderful Life will be aired on Zoom this year, taking place on 11 December 2020 at 7.30pm. For full details, including ticketing information for parents, staff and alumni, click here. Tickets are normally £5 but this year the school will be asking for voluntary charitable donations, which will be split equally between The Theatrical Guild and the Octagon Theatre.

Old Girl Dr Becky Smethurst was awarded this year's Institute of Physics Mary Somerville Medal and Prize. This recognises exceptional early career contributions to public engagement in physics. She regularly engages over 100,000 subscribers with content on her YouTube channel, which presents complex astrophysical ideas in an accessible manner to engage a global audience.

Another Old Girl, Emily Varley, has broken the Official Guinness World Record for the Women’s Indoor Triathlon with a total time of 58:21. She not only smashed the women's record, but almost beat the men's record as well.

Finally, the Bolton Alumni Network launched a new Business Directory to allow Old Boys and Old Girl to promote their businesses to their fellow alumni.