22 March 2013

Having enjoyed success in qualifying rounds a large number of girls and boys from Years 5 to 13 at Bolton School have been representing the Bolton borough by taking part, and winning, in this year’s Greater Manchester Winter Youth Games. The competition saw teams from the ten boroughs of Greater Manchester competing in a wide range of sports. An U10 swim team comprising Year 4 and 5 pupils from the Junior Girls’ School, ran out joint winners with the borough of Trafford in their age group and Junior Boys’ pupils took third place in the same competition. Senior School boys also enjoyed success by winning the U13 Junior Water Polo Competition and the School’s Senior Rugby team were runners up in the first U18 Rugby Union Sevens Tournament and the U15s’ Volleyball Team went one better than last year by claiming the Silver medal.Also in sport, after a superb season of winning all but three games, the U12s began the final week of football by winning the annual MGS 8s championships, beating Cheadle Hulme in the final. While the senior relay swim team competed in the Manchester Grammar School invitational swimming gala and smashed the course 4x50 yards medley relay record. And Year 12 pupil Natasha Lomas captained the winning team of the Lancashire County U18 Girls Doubles Winter League competition.

Successful Old Girls and Old Boys returned to school this week to share their experiences with current Sixth Form pupils on World of Work Day. On the day the pupils had the chance to attend Career talks on a wide range of areas including Acting, Archaeology, Architecture, Clothing, Construction, Dentistry, Design, Engineering, Finance, IT, Law, Marketing, Medicine, Music, Teaching, and Psychiatry.

Out of 8,500 pupils that took part in the North West heats of the French Spelling Bee, from 73 different schools spanning Lancashire, Cumbria, Greater Manchester, Merseyside and Cheshire, Year 7 pupils Nathan Ashley and Matthew Elmes achieved second and third places respectively today, gaining places in the National Final at Cambridge University in July! And Sixth Form students enjoyed an outstanding year at the British Chemistry Olympiad with three students receiving Gold certificates – awarded to just 7% of the 4574 candidates from all over the UK.

Year 10 and 11 girls were thrilled to receive a visit from one of the country’s hottest poets, Luke Wright. Luke performed his thought provoking and humorous work in the Girls’ Division Theatre and then the floor was opened up to questions and answers. Later in the afternoon, he met with Sixth Formers in the School’s Joint Creative Writing Group, and in the evening he performed at the School’s Arts and Conference Centre. The latest joint Drama production proved a hit with audiences - the modern interpretation of Moliere’s ‘The Hypochondriac’ was enjoyed by both cast and audience alike. And following their recent success at the Great North Big Band Festival, the Bolton School Jazz Band gave a nearly note perfect performance at the Music For Youth Regional Festival, described as 'outstanding' and 'amazing'.

15th March 2013

Pupils and staff at Bolton School have been doing their bit for Comic Relief with many fundraising efforts going on. At Beech House the pupils took part in a bake off competition, dressed in fancy dress or something red, held a cake sale and told jokes in assembly.

We have many more sporting achievements to report - Year 10 pupil Dominic Walker has set a new British and English 50m backstroke record in his age group. While sixth form pupil Teddy Pender has qualified for the British Championships in June and Year 11 pupil, Lewis Daly, has been selected for the GB Youth Water Polo Team. The Boys’ U16 Badminton team are the North West Champions, putting them through to the Center Parcs National Schools Badminton Championships final for the second year running. In the Girls’ Division the Senior Lacrosse team are National Schools' Lacrosse Championship Winners and The Bolton School U14 Netball Team are Town Champions. At Junior level, Boys and Girls are both celebrating a double success after winning both the Bolton Primary Schools' Cross Country League and Championship too.

Award winning children’s author, Alan Gibbons, visited the Boys’ Division this week to talk to Year 8 and 9 pupils about life as an author. In his talk, ‘How I do it’, Alan spoke to the boys about how he became a writer and the inspiration for his books and the process he goes through to write them. Year 6 pupils at Park Road, Krishnan Ajit and Mark Kattakayam, have been awarded Bronze certificates in the National Primary Maths Challenge - putting them in the top 522 young mathematicians in the country! And the team from Clarendon Cottage Primary School were the winners of the Bolton School Big Quiz for local primary schools, with Altrincham Prep School taking second place. Nine teams pitted their wits against one another over the course of ten testing rounds, which covered everything from Current affairs, Observation, Geography, Literature, Science, History, Maths Puzzle, Famous Faces, Sequence and Sport!

8th March 2013

Bolton School Jazz Band were the overall winners of the School Band Category of the Great North Big Band Festival, and the Saxophone Section were also awarded the best section! The band performed alongside many of the UK’s best youth and university bands at the 10th Annual Great North Big Band Jazz Festival and Competition, which this year took place at the North Shore entertainment venue at Sunderland University on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd of March.

Lots of sport news to report this week! Eight teams took part in the Finals day of the Bolton Schools’ Primary Football Championship, held at Bolton School this week. The quarter final, semi final and the final matches were all played on the day and after a tense penalty shoot out, the winners were Sacred Heart with Eagley taking second spot. And year 7 and 8 pupils in the Girls’ Division have been given the opportunity to be a part of the Girls’ Football Development Programme, providing them with the opportunity to be coached by fully qualified football coaches from Bolton Wanderers FC. As one of the County’s top U19 female cricketers, year 10 Girls’ Division pupil Nalisha Patel, had the exciting opportunity of being part of a tour to Dubai in February - 14 players were selected for the trip which consisted of eight days in Dubai, playing against a variety of Counties from England as well as UAE. While the Boys’ Division U18 water polo team cruised through to the English Schools' Water Polo Finals, to be played at Walsall on Saturday, with a penalty shootout with Manchester Grammar School deciding who won the group and progressed to the final. And the Junior Girls’ Year 4/5 Swim Team will represent Bolton at the 2013 Greater Manchester School Games on the 19th March, following their performance in the qualifying.

Bolton School Old Boy and international pop star, Max George from the Wanted, wished current pupils Alex Deakin and Caroline Blair good luck when they performed in a sold out production of Les Miserables at the Z-Arts Centre in Manchester. And Alex was also in the spotlight at School when he and Matthew Kay created history in the Boys’ Division Young Musician of the Year Competition as the first time that vocalists have won first prize in both the Junior Young Musician and the Senior Young Musician Finals.

Also this week, Hesketh House was transformed into a scene from 1920’s Paris as the girls dressed up to celebrate ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’ for World Book Day. And we are proud to be a sponsor of the prestigious Bolton and Bury Business Awards for the fourth year running and will once again sponsor the Young Person/Apprentice of the Year category.

1st March 2013

The Bolton School family came together for a spectacular musical extravaganza at the Victoria Hall in Bolton. Over 600 pupils from both the Girls' and Boys' Divisions, members and former members of the teaching staff, current and former governors, joined with parents and friends of the School, who, as a participative audience, played an integral role in the festival atmosphere of this large scale gala event. The dramatic finale saw Union Jack flag waving pupils keeping time to some roof-raising patriotic sing-alongs, including Jerusalem, Rule Britannia, Land of Hope and Glory and Auld Lang Syne.

Bolton School has won the North-West regional round of the first ISFA Under 11s' Seven-a-Side National Tournament. They overcame Altrincham Preparatory School 2-0 in the final, having beaten local team Bury Grammar School on penalties in the semi-final after a 1-1 draw and Oldham Hulme 3-0 in the quarter final. The Bolton School U11s' team will now take part in the national final which will be held at the FA's new football centre, St George's Park, on Monday 29 April. In Rugby, the U15 squad won the 10th AKS Sevens tournament at Arnold King Edwards School, while the Senior rugby players were runners up in their first trip out on the sevens circuit when they travelled to the picturesque Kirby Lonsdale rugby club.

Year 9 scientists from across the borough enjoyed a day of fun and learning as Bolton School hosted its third annual Physics Olympics. The day saw teams of four gifted and talented students from local secondary schools compete in a series of day-long challenges while utilising the expertise and facilities at the School. And Blackrod Primary School’s wonderful igloo installation made of plastic milk bottles and other recycled material ensured they were the inaugural winners of Bolton School’s new Celebration of Art event. A large gathering of parents, pupils and teachers enjoyed perusing a selection of imaginative pieces by children from Reception to Year 6 at local primary schools at the exhibition held in the Arts Centre.

Also this week, as part of their careers programme, girls from years 10 to 13 had the opportunity to listen to a number of speakers with successful careers in business, several of whom were old girls of the school. The Keynote speaker on the day was Louis Barnett from Chokolit, a 20 year old entrepreneur, chocolatier and conservationist, who became the UK’s youngest entrepreneur, when his company Chokolit was set up aged just 12. And fourteen Sixth Form boys joined over 4000 students from almost 500 schools to take part in the first round of the British Biology Olympiad. The boys put in some very good performances - Siddharth Umapathy came away with a Bronze award, Drew Winstanley and Christian Warner with a Silver award, and Daniel Hurt and Joseph Ayathamattam’s performance resulted in a Gold award and an invitation to take part in round two.

And a team of Junior Girls’ chess players has made it through to the Final of the ECF National Schools' Girls' Team Championship. The girls took part in the Northern Semi Final at Cheadle Hulme School, and came second in the match to book their place in the final in Uppington in July.

22nd February 2013

Old Girl of Bolton School, author Kate Long, has written a follow-up to her best-selling 2004 novel, The Bad Mother’s Handbook, which was later made into a one-off hit TV show starring comedian Catherine Tate. Her new book, Bad Mothers United, is out on the 28th February 2013, and catches up with characters Charlotte, Karen and Nan, who are back and as hilariously catastrophic as ever. Kate had not intended to write a follow-up but was contacted by scores of readers who loved the book and wanted to know what happened next. The books are set in the fictional town of Bank Top, based on Blackrod, where Kate grew up. Another Old Girl, former High Court Judge Dame Janet Smith, has been declared one of the UK's most powerful women in a BBC survey. A panel of judges compiled a list of the country's 100 most influential females for Radio 4's Woman's Hour. The list was made up of women who have the greatest impact on British politics, society, culture and the economy.

Pitching a business idea in public is no easy ride, but 'Saddle Up', a joint team of Sixth Form Girls and Boys at Bolton School, showed nerves of steel as they delivered a highly engaging presentation which enabled them to race to victory in the inaugural Joint KPMG Enterprise Competition. As in past years, all the teams produced highly innovative ideas and compelling presentations which provided a real headache in terms of choosing an overall winner for the Dragons’ Den judging panel of delegates from KPMG, BT and Rivington Associates. After much deliberation, congratulations went to the winning team of Saddle Up, with their memory foam bike saddle and waterproof pouch for valuables.

Congratulations go to our Year 10 Boys’ Division volleyball players who returned to the Bolton Town Volleyball Championships for the second year, after taking the title in their debut season last year. Both teams played well with one team remaining unbeaten in five games to make the final and finish as runners up. They will now go on to represent the Borough for the second consecutive year in the Greater Manchester Games in May.

Also this week, Sixth Form AS and A level Mathematics students from the Girls’ Division and Boys’ Division enjoyed a lunchtime presentation on ‘Mathematics in the Digital Age’. The talk was given by Dr Terence Etchells, from the Department of Mathematics and Statistics, School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences at the Liverpool John Moores University. And Year 2 pupils had great fun dressing up as characters from traditional stories and attending a Traditional Tale Ball, including a banquet and dancing!

8th February 2013

Stunning and colourful landscape artwork, provided by Year 6 pupils at Bolton School Boys’ Division, is currently offering a dramatic and eye-catching wall of art in the busy Upper Hall of the Market Place Shopping Centre in Bolton town centre. The landscape paintings were created as part of the Year 6 Art curriculum in the Junior School and the exhibition will run for the whole of February - go down and have a look!

In School this week over 80 year 4 girls from 21 local primary schools took part in our annual Just4Girls Science and Maths Day. The experience provided them with an opportunity to enjoy a range of traditionally 'male' subjects in a new and fun way, and was aimed at linking science and maths together. Throughout the day there were sessions in Biology, Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics.

Bolton School Boys’ Division are double swimming champions of Bolton! The boys triumphed in the Bolton Schools Town Gala by beating close rivals Canon Slade School and winning both the Junior and Intermediate age groups. It was a suberb end to a superb tournament, in which the teams reached the finals in every event. Well done to all! Also this week, Old Boy and former Chairman of Lancashire County Cricket Club Committee, Geoff Ogden, led former pupils in a special lunchtime presentation to Bolton School’s first national cricket champions.

Fourteen Year 7 girls showed nerves of steel as they competed in front of the whole year group in a French Spelling Bee Competition. The pupils were competing for the chance to represent the Girls’ Division at the regional final, to be held at Manchester Metropolitan University in March. And the Boys’ Division English Department Lecture Competition came to an end with year group finals held in the Great Hall at lunchtimes and watched by the whole year group. Over Christmas, English teachers asked the pupils in years 7 to 10 to prepare a presentation on an interesting topic to present to their classmates. Teachers chose the best pupil in each class to go through to the finals.

Bolton School Junior Boys were treated to a performance with a difference this week when they were visited by music duo 'Travelling by Tuba'. There was a strong emphasis on audience participation as the whole school was given an exciting presentation tracing the history of the tuba, and demonstrations of weird and exotic examples of musical instruments from all over the world. While Thursday at Hesketh House was International Day 2013, with a host of activities to celebrate everything German. All girls came off timetable to spend a day filled with cross-curricular activities, exploring the food, language and culture of Germany and researching interesting German facts.

1st February 2013

Dr Elizabeth Sidwell CBE, the Schools’ Commissioner who is charged with raising standards and leading the expansion of the Government’s academy schools programme, visited Bolton School this week after receiving an invitation from the Headmaster of the Boys’ Division, Mr Philip Britton. Mr Britton, having met Dr Sidwell at a number of conferences, decided to offer her a personal invite in order that she could learn firsthand about the many ways that the School engages with local schools. Some independent schools have chosen to sponsor a local academy but Bolton School has pursued a policy of engaging with as many different schools in the area in as many different ways as possible. Pupils and staff at Bolton School were joined by teachers and children from a number of local schools to give a series of short presentations demonstrating the wide range of local partnerships.

Girls and boys also enjoyed a visit from the High Sheriff of Greater Manchester this week. There was a large lunchtime gathering in the Boys’ Division Great Hall as historians, school academic societies and interested parties of all ages assembled to hear George Almond CBE, the current presiding Sheriff, relate a history of the position and explain his role in today’s world.

Successful children’s author Joe Craig came in to Bolton School to talk to pupils in both the Boys’ and Girls’ Divisions about life as a writer. Joe spoke to the Year 7 girls and boys about how he became a writer and the process he goes through to write his books. Joe is best known for the Jimmy Coates series of books, described in several reviews as 'The Bourne Identity for kids'. He explained to the pupils how to turn an idea for a story into an actual book and gave them some valuable tips on becoming an author including what the vital components for a story are and even how to plan a story in ten minutes. At the end of each talk Joe’s books were available to buy and he even signed them for the pupils.

And Year 10 pupils in the Girls’ Division presented a cheque for over £1,200 to the North West Air Ambulance charity, raised through their annual Christmas Post Charity Event. The money was raised over four days at the end of last term, starting with a special assembly where each form group performed a ten minute themed assembly to generate interest in the fundraising efforts they intend to carry out over the following days. Girls chose topical themes such as 'I'm a Celebrity' and 'X Factor' for their presentations, to encourage other students to support them in their fundraising which includes selling cakes and sweets. A representative of the NWAA came into school to receive the cheque from the girls.