16th November 2012

Bolton School has been commended in the Independent School of the Year category at the 2012 Aviva and Daily Telegraph School Sport Matters Awards. Only two schools in the country came above Bolton School, Plymouth College - Tom Daly’s former school which boasts three other Olympians, and Victoria College, Jersey. Two high profile Bolton School athletes, Emma Saunders and Oliver Walker, accompanied by Mr Trevor Pledger, Director of Partnerships, attended the 2012 School Sport Matters Awards Ceremony at the highly prestigious Lord's Cricket Ground in London. The ceremony consisted of a gala luncheon, followed by the presentation of ten awards given by a range of prestigious sports personalities, including Jess Ennis, Christine Oruruogu, Richard Whitehead and Zoe Smith. Cricket Captain Callum Kay and Head of Cricket at the School, Andy Compton, were invited to the XL Club Annual Dinner, also at Lords Cricket ground, to receive the North West Regional Award for the best performance by a school against the XL Club during the 2012 season. And Boys’ Division pupils got the chance to see the Rugby League World Cup when the trophy made a brief stop at the School on a visit to Bolton Arena.

Following the national Community Partnerships School Conference held at the School over the weekend, community partnerships were as evident as ever this week in school. Year 5 pupils from schools in the local area enjoyed a day of foreign language lessons at this year's MFL Festival. The whole day event gave youngsters the chance to try out a range of new languages including Japanese and Russian. Furthermore, more local schools and more pupils than ever are getting involved in the SHINE project at Bolton School this year which kicked off this weekend. Forty five year 5 pupils from twelve primary schools in the local community will benefit from the resources and experience of teaching staff at the School.

More good news as Philip Britton, Headmaster of the Boys' Division, has been made Vice-President for Education of the Institute of Physics (IoP). This is the first time the Vice-President has been from a school instead of a university. Philip is also featured on the ITN Education news channel speaking about the importance of schools engaging with their local community, and what the Olympic legacy really means.

Also this week, pupils at Beech House enjoyed a bonfire party and fireworks in the grounds of their school. The event had previously been rained off but this time the sun was shining and the children were treated to a firework display, sparklers and toasted marshmallows from the bonfire. And there was more excitement for the children as the real Pudsey bear paid a visit to the school for Children in Need. Other Children in Need events were going on throughout the school including dress down day and at the Nursery staff have been pedalling away on an exercise bike all week to see how far they can go, and of course raise money.