28 October 2011

Half term at Bolton School and what a busy couple of weeks it has been in the run up! Our Open Morning was once again a huge success with many potential pupils and parents visiting the School to find out what we are all about. There was fantastic news for our Catering Department who are officially the best independent school catering team in the country! Catering Manager, Mrs Karen Riley and her colleague Mr Andrew Scialipi-Sullivan, Catering Coordinator, represented the team at a glittering black-tie awards dinner at the 5 star Royal Garden Hotel in Kensington, London for the final of the 2011 Educatering Excellence Awards, which saw 350 of school catering's elite gather to decide the final winners of 13 categories. Bolton School overcame stiff competition in the shape of Eton College and Cheadle Hulme School to take the title. Our Grounds team are also in the running for a National Groundsmanship Award! After being short-listed by the Institute of Groundsmanship for the Independent School Award, the team will now be judged on site by the Institute, and if successful will go on to the national awards at the Reebok Stadium in December. An exciting new option for Nursery parents is opening in January 2012 at the School. A new Nursery class for 3 and 4 year olds will be teacher led and open during term-times and will offer a caring, safe and stimulating environment where children are valued, happy and secure. This new educational service will run alongside our highly successful and established preschool unit and together they will offer the highest quality choice for children preparing for their first year at Infant School.

In sport, our U16 Netball team has won the Bolton Schools' Netball Tournament. In a Round Robin competition, the girls were undefeated throughout the tournament, scoring a total of 54 goals whilst conceding only 14. Several of our girls have been chosen for the Lancashire County Under 18 Lacrosse squad, and will represent their County in the Northern Counties Tournament competing against Cheshire and Yorkshire. Year 2 pupils at Beech House presented a cheque for £193.56 to Bolton Wanderers Captain Kevin Davies, for his charity Kids of Bolton, raised through a cake sale at the School. And our Junior Girls and Boys joined in with the Skip2Bfit national campaign to find out how many skips they could do in two minutes. The top skippers were awarded with certificates presented by professional boxing trainer John McCormack who is leading the initiative.