15 November 2019

Children in the Nursery Class, Infant School and both Junior Schools have been raising money for Children in Need! As well as making those all-important donations, they dressed in Pudsey accessories, added spots to their uniforms and enjoyed themed activities.

The Nursery Class has also helped out Chorley Hedgehog Rescue Centre recently. As part of the children's learning topic 'Into The Dark', they enjoyed a visit from a volunteer who talked about hedgehogs and collected the children's generous donation of food, blankets and newspapers.

Earlier in the week, pupils across the School commemorated Remembrance. Services were held in the Boys' Division, Girls' Division and both Junior Schools to remember those who died in the First World War and every conflict since.

The School's Classicists were in for a treat when they attended a fascinating lecture from Professor Mary Beard, which was organised by the Lytham St Anne's Classical Association.

Arctic Explorer Alex Hibbert visited the Junior Boys' School to speak to Year 6. He gave an enthralling presentation about his experiences and did not shy away from his less-successful expeditions, leading to his key piece of advice: "try to make the very best of the situation" even when things go wrong.

Year 12 student Anna Phillips joined up with the England Women’s U17 Squad at the UEFA Phase 1 Euro Qualifiers held in Bosnia over the half term break, playing in two matches. The England squad won all three of their games.

The Boys' Division Under 13 team enjoyed a victory over The Grammar School at Leeds in the ISFA Cup, putting them in the last 16 teams nationally. A Match Report is now available.

Also in football news: RRG Group Bolton are the new sponsors of Bolton School Boys' Division's football kit. They have sponsored six teams from Under 12s through to the First Eleven.

8 November 2019

Junior Boys were delighted to meet Old Boy Lieutenant Commander Robert De Maine, a Royal Navy helicopter pilot, before breaking up for half term. He was able to answer the boys' excited questions about his career.

More Old Boys returned to Bolton School as the half term ended: Peter Acton and David Seddon spoke to years 12 and 13 about the move from university to the world of work. The talk was part of a mentoring scheme, run by the School's Development office, which offers students help and advice from alumni.

Bolton School opening its doors to the local community for another enrichment lecture towards the end of last half term. Historian Hallie Rubenhold gave a fascinating address about the lives of the five women killed by Jack the Ripper.

This talk was part of a series of Arts and Sciences Enrichment Evenings hosted by Bolton School Girls' Division. The full programme of events for 2019/20 is here and you can subscribe to our mailing list to receive updates and reminder emails.

The Under 15 and Under 16 netball teams were in fine form for their recent Town Netball Finals. Both teams gave impressive performances throughout their respective competitions and came away as winners and Town Champions!

Over the half term break, Year 11 student Megan Baxendale enjoyed a busy week with her Air Cadet Squadron, attending a camp at RAF Valley where, amongst other achievements, she earned her Blue Flying Wings Qualification.

Recently pupils have been enjoying huge success in international sporting competitions. Porscha Johnson in Year 10 has been named GPC Under 60kg/Under 16 Powerlifting World Champion, despite starting the sport only 7 months ago. Year 11 pupil Marcus Williams won a gold medal in the Under 16 category at the World Thai Boxing Championships. Gabriella Giambattista-Hunt in Year 8 competed from Great Britain in the Lowland Skiing Championships 2019.

Tickets for the annual Burns Night Supper and Ceilidh are now on sale! This event, organised by the Girls' Division Parents' Association, will take place on on 25 January 2020 in the Arts Centre, starting at 7pm.

Finally, the School's Virtual Tour has now been updated to show the new all-weather sports surface at the Leverhulme Pavilion alongside the rest of the campus.

1 November 2019

The hotly anticipated Bolton Children's Fiction Award 2020 shortlist has now been revealed! The six books will be read by school children across Bolton in the coming months, and young people will ultimately vote to decide who is the worthy winner for 2020.

Throughout October, pupils at Bolton School have been celebrating the Harvest. The Junior Girls, Junior Boys and Beech House Infant School each held assemblies and collections to support Urban Outreach's Winter Watch campaign. The huge amount of produce and supplies donated by generous families will help local people throughout the winter period.

As October drew to a close, Bolton School Nursery held two celebrations. First was Diwali, the festival of lights: children dressed up in their brightest clothing and took part in themed activities. On 31 October they celebrated Halloween with creepy costumes and a whole day of spooky fun! The children also had the exciting opportunity to go pumpkin picking at Windmill Farm.

Pupils in the Junior Boys' School learned how to stay safe at this time of year with a special presentation from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. The visit from firefighters was arranged  as part of Greater Manchester’s Safe4Autumn/Treacle campaign, which aims to encourage fire safety during the autumn

The School's cricketers and elite athletes enjoyed a fascinating lunchtime Q&A session with professional cricketers Matt and Callum Parkinson, who are Old Boys of the school. The twins, who now play for Lancashire and Leicester, looked back fondly on their schooldays and talked about their professional careers.

Pupils in the Junior and Senior Schools were also recently inspired by a visit from Olympian Jenny Meadows, who came into School to share her advice on 'Unlocking Your Potential'. In addition to a talk to Senior School boys and girls, she visited the Junior Boys to give a presentation and spent the afternoon coaching younger pupils.

The Senior School's talented musicians put on a fantastic Musical Evening in the Arts Centre. The Joint Clarinet Group were followed by twenty solo performances and one duet, showcasing the wide range of musical ability in the school.

The Nursery has the exciting chance to win a star! Christmas card artwork created by one of the children in the Caterpillar Room has been entered into the www.minimecardco.com National Christmas 2019 art competition.

Local children's author and illustrator Sean Perkins visited Beech House to read his latest book 'Oscar and Ben'. Pupils in Year 1 and Reception were delighted by this very special story time.

The Nursery recently held a Recycling Month, with children enjoying a range of activities to promote awareness of recycling. From tray activities to learning special songs and themed games, there was plenty of opportunity to have fun while learning more about this important subject.

Congratulations to the Girls' Division Year 9 Netball team, who travelled to Condover to take part in the annual Girls’ School Association (GSA) Netball Tournament where they earned Silver in the Trophy Competition!

Lots of the School's young sports stars have also excelled in recent weeks in a wide range of events outside of school. John Oxley-Harrison in Year 9 has won a national Bronze medal in Showjumping. Year 12 student Anna Phillips has been selected for the U17s England Women's Football squad for the 2020 Euro qualifiers at the end of October. A Bronze medal was won by Year 10 pupil Ziyaad Tahier when he competed in the ITF (International Taekwon-Do Federation) National Championships. Jamie Death, also in Year 10, represented England Judo at the Emmen International Open and received an international Silver medal for his efforts. Well done to them all!

Last summer, the Junior Boys raised over £8,000 with their annual Fun Run. The money has now been split and four charities chosen by pupils have received a boost of more than £2,000! A special assembly was held so that boys could present cheques to representatives from Cancer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, Make A Wish UK and RSPCA.

Over 1,000 GCSE and A level students from across the region made the most of the Bolton School Careers and Higher Education Fair hosted and organised by Bolton School in October. This event was attended by pupils from local schools and offered them the chance to speak with more than forty employers and over thirty Higher Education institutions about their future opportunities.

New drone footage of the new all-weather sports surface at the School's Leverhulme Pavilion site on Chorley New Road is available to view here. This space is now being used by pupils and the local community alike.

Coming up in November is a late addition to the Enrichment Evening programme: Alice Roberts will give a talk entitled 'Tamed: Three Species That Changed the World' on Wednesday 27 November at 7.00pm. She will delve into archaeology, history and genetics to reveal the amazing stories of three species that became our allies. This event is free and open to the public. Click here for a full list of forthcoming Enrichment Evening events.

4 October 2019

Bolton School and Patterdale Hall, its outdoor adventure learning centre based in the Lake District, have become a supporting partner of AdventureSmart.UK. This important new initiative encourages people to make good choices when they go on outdoor adventures.

The Junior Girls celebrated National Poetry Day by enjoying lots of poems and even writing some of their own! They worked together in pairs to create acrostic poems which they were encouraged to share throughout the day.

Over the summer holidays, a group of Sixth Form girls visited Cambodia with World Challenge. As well as taking in the culture and trekking in the jungle, they completed an important community project which assisted a school.

Year 4 pupil Brody made an incredible donation of £525 to Bolton Hospice on his ninth birthday, after asking for charitable donations instead of presents. The Hospice was delighted with his generosity.

The 2018/19 tennis season closed with a big success for the Year 10/11 team in the Girls' Division! The girls won all of their matches in the local round of the AEGON Team competition and went on to win at the Regional Finals as well!

27 September 2019

Richard A Shirres gave an insightful address at the first of this year's Enrichment Evenings hosted by the Girls' Division. He spoke passionately about climate change and its imminent, numerous and dire consequences. His talk also covered the work done by the United Nations, both historically and today, to champion global ecological stewardship and discussed what needs to be done to mitigate the current climate emergency.

The full programme of free, public Enrichment Evening events for 2019-20 is available here. Click here to subscribe to our mailing list and receive updates and reminders about forthcoming events.

Pupils, parents and members of staff from across the whole of Bolton School took part in various coffee mornings and cake sales to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Even the children in the Nursery Class got involved: they made tasty cupcakes and invited parents to a Coffee Afternoon to raise over £600!

For her 9th birthday, instead of asking for presents, Year 5 pupil Dhatri asked for charitable donations. She raised £280!

Children at the Nursery enjoyed a whole week of swashbuckling activities in honour of Talk Like A Pirate Day! They built ships, played in a miniature world of pirates, drew treasure maps and enjoyed dressing up.

Year 10 pupil Will has been named English trampolining champion (13-14 years category) after winning gold at the English trampoline finals in Sheffield! His impressive routine can be viewed in full on the page linked above or on YouTube here.

The Young Film Academy visited Bolton School to give girls in Year 10 the experience of learning about filmmaking and visual media creation. Pupils attended workshops and created their own silent ten-shot film, all of which were screened at the end of the day with a prize to the overall best effort.

Junior Girls rescued 'Horatio' the hedgehog when he limped into the middle of their PE lesson! This gave pupils the opportunity to find out more about hedgehogs, including how he will be taken care of until he is ready to be released back into the wild.

Sixth Form girls recently took part in the Business Enterprise and Skills Training Day which helped to instill and develop skills for the workplace. A range of workshops and presentations, including the Bin Bag Challenge, gave them lots of opportunities to work together and pick up tips for interviews and applications.

The inaugural Medical Sciences Dinner brought together the School's aspiring medics and former pupils who have gone on to roles within the medical profession. The drinks reception and dinner gave current students plenty of opportunity to connect with alumni and ask questions. Old Girl Professor Jill Clayton-Smith was the evening's after-dinner speaker and gave an inspirational address.

A series of galleries featuring Girls' Division students' GCSE and A Level art and technology coursework final pieces are now available to view via the following links: Art | Food Technology | Product Design | Textiles.

20 September 2019

Over the summer holidays, a group of Boys' Division students visited South Africa with Operation Wallacea. This unforgettable experience saw them conduct important wildlife and vegetation surveys and discover more about the biology of the local ecosystem in two locations.

It was a magical afternoon for pupils in Years 5 to 7 when author, illustrator and former Children's Laureate Chris Riddell visited Bolton School. He shared pages from his sketchbooks, completed a series of live drawings as he talked about his inspirations and introduced some of the characters and locations from his new book 'Guardians of Magic'.

Record numbers of Sixth Form students are enrolled on the A Level PE course at Bolton School! Now in its twelfth year, the subject continues to go from strength to strength.

Pupils from both Divisions discovered more about careers in  the cyber security sector through fascinating workshops with an industry professional. Emma Kirby of SANS talked to pupils about data breaches and cyber attacks on both large and small scales, and introduced a competition designed to help young people learn new security skills through puzzles.

Don't miss the Careers and Higher Education Convention at Bolton School on Thursday 3 October, 6.30pm - 8.30pm! This is a fantastic opportunity for all local students in Years 9 to 13 to meet representatives from universities and companies, and to attend seminars on a variety of subjects: Law, Medicine, apprenticeships, student finance and Oxbridge application. This event is free and open to everyone.

Looking further ahead, Hallie Rubenhold will visit Bolton School on Thursday 10 October at 7.00pm to give a talk based on her Sunday Times Bestseller 'The Five; The Untold Lives of The Women Killed by Jack the Ripper'. This free, public event promises to reclaim the voices of the Ripper's victims with a focus on facts to tell the surprising and poignant stories of their lives.

13 September 2019

The highlight of the summer was certainly the two Results Days, during which Bolton School celebrated alongside students collecting GCSE and A Level results.

In the Boys' Division, A Level students achieved an impressive three quarters of grades in the A*-B category, while GCSE students attained the best set of results in recent years!

In the Girls' Division A Level students celebrated the best results in a decade and GCSE students set a new pass rate as well.

Individual successes were numerous across both year groups and both Divisions. Notably, Shreya Kamath not only received a stunning set of GCSE results but also an Arkwright Scholarship, and linguist Emily Manock achieved excellent A Level grades to earn her place at Oxford. Four more Bolton School students will also head to Oxford and Cambridge for university.

During the summer holidays, a strong contingent of former and current Boys' Division students helped the Lancashire U19 cricket team to victory in the county championship; Old Girl Dr Becky Smethurst, who recently returned to the Girls' Division to talk to pupils about her career in astrophysics, was featured on the BBC News during the holidays for creating an inspiring science YouTube channel; and children in the Butterfly Room graduated from the Nursery in a special ceremony.

The Autumn Term began with the official opening of the new all-weather sports surface at the Leverhulme Pavilion site on Chorley New Road. The synthetic turf pitch, which was installed predominantly over the summer holidays, will be shared with the local community.

The Girls' Division's first event of the year was the annual Presentation Evening. The guest of honour was Old Girl Julie Dean, UK Fund Manager and Director at Sanditon Asset Management, who in addition to presenting prizes and certificates offered her 'unchanging principles' for success in life in an address packed with great advice.

Chairman of Governors Mr Michael Griffiths gave his annual report on the past school year and, as this will be his final Presentation Evening before his retirement from the role, also looked back on his many years of association with Bolton School. His speech is available to watch in full here.

Recent leaver Siân Rowlands, who collected her A Level results this summer, gave an expressive rendition of 'Still Hurting' from the musical 'The Last Five Years' by Jason Robert Brown at Presentation Evening. Her performance can be viewed here.

The Boys' Samba Band helped to spur on runners at Bolton Hospice's Bubble Rush event at Queen's Park. Eight pupils enjoyed playing for the participants in this fundraising event and helping to add to the carnival atmosphere.

Next week, the Girls' Division will host the first of this year's Arts and Sciences Enrichment Evenings. Richard A Shirres till talk about "The United Nations: Working to save the biosphere and our future" on 18 September 2019 at 7.00pm. This event promises to look back on the UN's long history of involvement with ecological stewardship and the climate change challenges of the modern day.

This year's programme of Enrichment Evenings is now available to view here, and you can subscribe to our mailing list to receive information and reminders about forthcoming events.

Coming up later this term is the Careers and Higher Education Fair hosted by Bolton School on Thursday 3 October, 6.45-8.45pm. Universities, companies and training providers will be on hand as exhibitors and instructive seminars will be held during the evening. This free event is open to all and promises to be useful for students in Years 9 to 13 and their families.