18th November 2011

Local schoolchildren from nearby primary schools, Eagley Junior School and St Brendan's RC Primary, joined the pupils of Bolton School to produce a sensational Boys' Division Autumn Concert this week. They were the 25th and 26th local primary schools to take part in the annual concert. They joined Bolton School Year 8 boys and a number of soloists from Years 8-13 in producing an upbeat grand finale to the evening - a Beatles Medley, which included Hard Day's Night, All You Need is Love, Yellow Submarine, When I'm Sixty Four, and Hey Jude - complete with dimmed lights and waving light sticks.
We also welcomed the "world's greatest living Paleoanthropologist", Professor Lee Berger, to the School to deliver his lecture "Out of Africa…in Search of the Missing Link" on Monday. A privileged audience of members from the Bolton Lads and Girls' Club, Warrington Youth Club and the Bolton School community were mesmerised by the story of how, in 2008, he and his curious 9 year old son, Matthew, discovered two remarkably well preserved, two-million-year-old fossils of an adult female and young male, known as Australopithecus sediba.
Nursery Manager Claire Thompson certainly did her bit for Children in Need on Friday by undertaking a particularly difficult Bushtucker Challenge where she had to eat dried caterpillars and crickets washed down with a Salmon Risotto drink! The event was part of Challenge Claire Day where the different age groups set her tasks throughout the day. She undertook everything that was put in front of her, including dressing up as a baby! The children and staff were also all wearing spotted items and there was a cake sale which raised further funds. In the Junior Girls' School further money was raised through a cake sale and painted nails, while the Senior Girls' School held a dress down day to mark the day.
Our Under 14 Rugby League team created history for the town as they beat Haydock High School, St Helens number one seed, in the Carnegie Champion Schools Competition. It is the first time a school from Bolton has competed in Champion Schools RL and to beat a team from a town that is known for Rugby League is a huge achievement for the school. The 22-20 victory means Bolton progress to the Quarter final stage of the County competition - only a few games from Wembley! And good news from the 1st XV rugby team too – they have reached the U18 Lancashire Cup semi-finals for the first time with a fine quarter final win away at St Edwards, Liverpool. The semi final will see Bolton travel away again to the winners of two of our closest rivals Manchester Grammar or Hutton Grammar. Our Junior boys have won the annual North West AJIS Quiz Tournament! There were 10 rounds, all with varying amounts of points to be won, and the boys won with a tie-break question.