15 - 19 November

Centenary Celebration of Bolton School Photography
Bolton School was delighted to welcome Old Boy Ian Jones back to school this week to judge a photography competition being held to celebrate 100 years of photography at the school. Ian left Bolton School in the early 1980s and has become one of the world's most respected photographers, photographing the Royal Family and major global events for 18 years in over 100 countries, winning numerous awards including News Photographer of the Year and Royal Photographer of the Decade. Pupils from all age groups took part in the competition and there were categories in Portraits and People, Sport, Still Life, Landscape and Wildlife, along with a staff competition and a competition for children from other schools. Ian also brought along his own stunning display of photos, including the photograph he had taken earlier in the week of Prince William and Kate Middleton’s engagement.

Also this week, local schoolchildren from nearby primary schools, Castle Hill and St Bernard's, joined the pupils of Bolton School to produce a sensational Boys' Division Autumn Concert. The Year 5 and Year 6 pupils joined Bolton School Year 8 boys and a number of soloists from Years 8-13 in producing an upbeat Rock Medley grand finale!

Girls and boys from both the junior and senior schools of Bolton School met with success at the English Schools' Biathlon event held at Wavertree Sports Park in Liverpool. The competition sees Years 5, 6 and 7 biathletes run 500m and swim 50m and the older girls and boys run 1000m and swim 100m, and our pupils’ efforts take many of them to the Semi-Finals in the New Year.

Fundraising efforts have been full steam ahead this week as Head of the Junior Girls' School, Mrs Ruth Brierley, got in to the spirit of raising money for Children in Need by dressing up as Buzz Lightyear. The girls held a non uniform day to raise money and paid a little extra to see Mrs Brierley in fancy dress, raising over £270! Two Year 5 girls also held a 'Boot Out Breast Cancer' Charity Event earlier in the week and raised a fabulous £187.23 by selling perfumes, pens and raffle tickets.

And Junior Boys at Bolton School have made a donation of £2,802.22 to Derian House Children's Hospice - half of an amount raised back in June when the whole school of 200 boys undertook their annual Fun Run in fancy dress around a 400m circuit for half an hour. The other half of the money was donated to Cancer Research.

Blog 8-12 November 2010

School Offers Local Children a Chance to Shine
'SHINE: Serious Fun on Saturdays' kicked off again this week at Bolton School as forty two pupils from five local primary schools attended the opening session of the second running of the annual programme. The scheme is run in partnership with the SHINE charitable trust and aims to encourage Year 5 pupils (both boys and girls) to participate in fun, educational sessions run by Bolton School staff on Saturday mornings each week between November and February. The activities encompass a wide variety of curriculum areas such as Maths, History and the sciences, as well as other more unusual offerings such as Russian, Japanese and Martial Arts.

Teams of Sixth Formers from Bolton School took part in the Northern Schools Modern Foreign Languages Debating Competition and managed to reach the final of all three language competitions! The girls won the Spanish debate, were runners up in the German category and semi-finalists in the French category, while the boys were runners up in the French debate and semi-finalists in the German category.

Also this week the Girls' Division annual Autumn Concert showcased the depth and breadth of musical talent that is on offer at Bolton School as over 300 pupils took part in a rapturous evening of music-making which brought cheer to a wild, windy autumnal evening.

And an Old Boys' Lunch at the School brought together Old Boys and international swimmers old and new, Daniel Sliwinski and David Aspinall - giving them the chance to compare experiences both of the School and what it is like to swim for your country over 50 years apart! Recent leaver Daniel has just returned from representing England in the Commonwealth Games in Dehli, and David Aspinall, who attended Bolton School from 1948-1953, represented both the Great Britain and England teams at swimming between 1954 and 1957.

1 - 5 November 2010

Bolton School has submitted a request for planning permission to the Council to build an exciting new facility for its Sixth Form pupils within the main school site on Chorley New Road. If plans meet with the Council's approval, the new, shared Sixth Form building will sit in the centre of the campus. Lessons will be taught in a single sex environment, but the Centre will be for both the Sixth form girls and boys to enjoy and will provide top-quality facilities to complement the excellent academic teaching that students already receive. If planning is granted, it is hoped that building work will commence in Summer 2012. The School anticipates that the project would take one year to complete, allowing Sixth Formers to move in to their new facility in the Autumn Term of 2013. The proposed Centre will be an outstanding facility and represents the final phase of a carefully planned and well funded building project, which has already seen the completion of a new Infant School, a new Junior Girls' School and an extended Junior Boys' School. Plans can be downloaded from the website.

In the meantime - prospective Sixth Form Girls for next year and their parents are invited to visit the School next week on our open evening on Tuesday 9 November at 7.00pm. Staff will be on hand to explain the AS and A Level courses and to offer advice about subject choices. For further information please contact Mrs Julie Holland on 01204 840201.

The School has gained a mention in Stephen Fry's latest memoir 'The Fry Chronicles'! In the book Stephen talks fondly of his University friend Kim Harris who is an Old Boy of the School and the extracts can be read on our website.

Also this week our Senior Girls handed over a cheque for £769 to the Guide Dog for the Blind Association meaning they are well on their way to sponsoring a second guide dog. The money was raised by Headmistress Mrs Gill Richards and fellow teachers who all drove blindfolded around the Three Sisters Race Track at Wigan in September, in exchange for sponsorship. The money will go towards the £5000 needed to sponsor a puppy to be trained as a guide dog.

And the week will end with a bang on Sunday night with the Parents' Association Family Firework display at the school. The gates will open at 5pm, entertainment will begin at 6pm and the firework display will begin at 6.30pm. Tickets will be available at the door at £6 for adults, £4 for children and £20 for a family ticket.

18-21 October 2010

Back to A Level Reality for Silver Medallist
A short week this week for Bolton School as our half term approaches, and yet it was back to earth with a bang for Year 12 pupil Emma Saunders as she returned to Bolton School to catch up on the three weeks of A Levels that she missed whilst at the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi. Emma was the youngest member of Team England to pick up a medal and not just one but two (in the 4 x 100m Freestyle and the 4 x 200m Freestyle), but now reality hits as she catches up with her coursework whilst continuing her training schedule at the City of Manchester pool – where she trains nine times a week! Joining Emma for a photocall with the Bolton News this week was Old Boy, Daniel Sliwinski, who also picked up a bronze medal at the Games in the 400 x 100m Medley Relay.

And there was more national sporting recognition for Year 9 pupil Jonathan Williams who has been invited to the Great Britain kayaking trials after winning a national freestyle competition at Holme Pierrepont, the National Water Sports Centre.

In the Sixth form, Year 13 pupil Sam Chisnell is the owner of a brand new IPad thanks to his marketing brain which helped him win a Business Studies competition to help the School market 'Tenacity of Bolton' - the Ketch built by boys in school which is now used for sailing expeditions for pupils and is also available for the public to hire for teambuilding or adventure weekends. Sam had to design a Marketing Plan for the boat in which he identified possible target markets, conducted a market analysis, researched the background of the boat and its competitors and produced a financial summary.

Week beginning 11 October 2010

Record Numbers Attend Open Morning
We are pleased to say that our 2010 Open Morning was a hugely successful event with a record number of families visiting the campus. The morning offered a chance for enquirers to learn more about the school with a number of presentations from Head Teachers and pupils. Senior teaching staff were on hand to answer any questions and the Clerk and Treasurer dispensed information packs about the School's bursaries.

Sixth Form pupil Emma Saunders returned from the Commonwealth Games in Delhi this week with not one but two medals! She helped England's 4x100m freestyle relay squad claim silver to add to the bronze she won in the 4x200m relay. Old Boy Daniel Sliwinski also won a bronze medal in the Men's 4 x 100m Medley Relay against some of the World's most successful swimmers.


Senior Girls from Years 7 and 8 have been transported back to the age of the dinosaur with a hands-on workshop run by the Bolton Museum and Archive Service. Alex McLeman from the museum visited the school and brought along Prehistoric casts and fossils, artefacts and specimens from around the world including a cast of part of a T-Rex's skull!


In sport Bolton School First XV rugby team produced their best performance of the 2010-11 season when they beat Hutton Grammar School at home 27-12, putting them through to the fourth round of the Daily Mail RBS competition - the largest school sports competition in the world. The side will face a difficult away game at Stonyhurst College on 10 November.

And Junior Boys have made a donation of £2,802.22 to Cancer Research UK - money raised back in June when the whole school of 200 boys undertook their annual Fun Run around a 400m circuit for half an hour.

4 - 8 October 2010

The School has been very busy this week as we prepare for our Open Morning, which will be held on Saturday 16th October from 9.30am - 1.00pm. It offers an excellent opportunity for parents and potential pupils to visit the School and the entire campus is open - the Nursery, the new Infants' School (Beech House), the recently extended and refurbished Boys' Division Junior School (Park Road) and Senior School, as well as the newly built Girls' Division Junior School (Hesketh House) and Senior School.

Well Done Commonwealth Stars Emma and Dan!
Congratulations are in order this week to Sixth form pupil Emma Saunders who has won her first medal in the Commonwealth Games in New Dehli! Swimmer Emma joined forces with Rebecca Adlington in the 4x200m freestyle relay where the team picked up a bronze medal and also set a new English record! Emma also made it through to the final of the 100m freestyle, finishing in eighth place and beating her personal best twice in the qualifiers. Congratulations also to former pupil Daniel Sliwinski who finished eighth in the 100m Breaststroke final in what proved to be a very strong field and has also stormed through to the Mens 50m Beaststroke final in the 6th fastest time from the semi finals.

Dr Jim Wild of the Physics Department of the University of Lancaster returned to Bolton School this week to help Year 11 pupils and Sixth Form students from across the borough understand "The Physics of the Northern Lights" in an Ogden Trust Physics Lecture organised by the Girls' Division Able and Talented Programme.

The Junior girls and boys took part in 'The H Factor' - a healthy eating initiative which saw the children making smoothies, researching healthy food options using netbooks, taking part in quizzes and sampling a range of foods. And there was more going on in the Junior schools as once again the Junior Boys' hall was packed out with boys and their parents for the annual Harvest festival in aid of the Drop-in Centre at St Luke's Church, while the Junior Girls had their own Harvest festival and were treated to a Kinetic Theatre Performance.

Old Boltonians and friends enjoyed some sublime weather as they played out their annual President's Golf Day at Bolton Golf Club. Sixteen teams took part in this year's fundraiser and over £3,000 was raised for the School's Bursary Fund.

27 September - 1 October 2010

SHINE Project is Shortlisted for National Award
Good news this week as Bolton School's 'SHINE: Serious Fun on Saturdays' project has been shortlisted for a National Independent Schools Award! The project has been shortlisted for the Outstanding Community/Public Benefit Initiative award in recognition of its involvement with, and benefit to, the local community and winning this award would also mean the School could walk away with the title of Independent School of the Year.

In the Boys’ History Department an exciting new scheme is taking place in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum as Miss Helen Breedon, an interactor at the Museum has begun a two term secondment as the Department's first ever 'Historian in Residence'. Miss Breedon will spend every Friday afternoon assisting the Department in the teaching of the boys' lessons ranging from Year 7 to Year 12 and she will also offer sessions at the weekly History Society meetings on Friday lunchtimes.

Sporting successes are once again plentiful - as the Lancashire Cricket Board celebrated its end of season annual presentation, it became apparent that Bolton School has provided them with enough players to make up a full team! One girl and ten boys have represented Lancashire throughout the year - a full team's worth of players-in what proved to be an excellent year for Bolton School cricket.Bolton School's First XV enjoyed a practice session with a difference when they were joined by the Sale Sharks team and the U12 Water Polo team is celebrating a double victory after winning both the Bolton and District Knockout Cup and the League.