December 2020

The last few weeks of 2020 have been as busy as ever at Bolton School.

Children and parents at Beech House collected a huge haul of Christmas gift boxes to be distributed to families in need across the town. Year 1 teacher Miss Niaz's 'Sprinkle of Kindness' appeal aimed to make a difference for those less fortunate this Christmas.

Children and staff at Bolton School Nursery and their families also helped to spread festive cheer with donations to Farnworth and Kearsley Foodbank. The children also brightened Bolton Hospice and Park View Nursing Home by sending Christmas decorations, chocolates and artwork.

The Pringle Bells Challenge saw pupils from the Junior Girls' School, Junior Boys' School and the Girls' Division working together to help fill Urban Outreach's Christmas Hampers. Pupils vastly exceeded their targets and were able to hand over 1,503 tubes of Pringles and a cheque for £1,658.14! 

The annual Girls' Division Christmas Post went virtual with the Year 10 forms acting out skits in the Great Hall and streaming their efforts to every form room via Zoom. They held the usual sweet sales outdoors on the netball courts and raised £1,023 for The Christie. The Year 7 Sponsored Silence also raised £2,191.95 for Centrepoint.

Christmas Jumper Day saw the Sixth Form Boys raise £530 for Bolton Hospice, exceeding their target of £318 to send three Hospice at Home nurses to visit a patient this Christmas. Money raised in the Girls' Division on Christmas Jumper Day was added to the Urban Outreach Hamper Challenge fund.

Both the Junior and Senior Schools found ways to hold their usual Christmas events in Covid-secure ways with a variety of approaches.

The Ceremony of Carols became a drive-in event with cars packing the Girls' Division quad for a memorable evening of ethereal music and thoughtful readings. Traditions were kept as much as possible, with the Chamber Choir 'processing in' with the Hodie, the Headmistress welcoming everyone with the Bidding Prayer, and the 'Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar' featuring in the programme.

Watch a beautiful performance of 'Away in a Manger' or see a short video reel recapturing the whole evening here.

The Junior Boys also maintained as many traditions as possible in their filmed Christmas Celebration. The performance began with 'Once in Royal David's City' and continued with readings, poems, festive tunes and carols. Pupils explained the origins and symbolism of the Advent Wreath, Christingle and Christmas Tree, there were performances from instrumental groups and all year groups gave lovely renditions of traditional carols.

The Junior Boys' Christmas Celebration is available to watch in full here.

The Junior Girls also filmed their festive production of 'How The Grinch Stole Christmas'. The girls combined songs and poetry recitations to tell the story of the Grinch from start to finish, with Year 3 also performing dances to the tune 'Trim Up The Tree'. Girls also enjoyed singing the carol 'Joy To The World' in Spanish and English. 

The Junior Girls' performance of 'How the Grinch Stole Christmas' is available to watch in full here.

The Boys' Division hosted a virtual Christmas Festival on Zoom, anchored with live addresses from the Great Hall and augmented with pre-recorded musical performances. Once again, traditions were upheld with 'Once In Royal David's City' opening the programme, followed by a combination of congregational carols, readings, prayers and reflections.

The Boys' Division Christmas Festival is available to watch in full here.

With the help of professional video company Sitcom Soldiers, the Boys' Division produced a filmed version of 'It's A Wonderful Life'. The cast auditioned online, rehearsed on Zoom and for just a few days in bubbles, and finally turned the Great Hall into a socially distanced film set. The spectacular performance of this Christmas classic premiered to an excited audience on Thursday 17 December.

'It's A Wonderful Life' is now available to watch in full here. Pick up a digital programme here.

In the Girls' Division, three separate casts from Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9 recorded a new radio drama called 'Parr for the Course', which was written specially for the occasion. The play charts the rise and fall and rise again of women's football over the past 100 years, from pioneer Lily Parr to Megan Rapinoe.

Take a peek Inside the Rehearsal Room to see behind-the-scenes photos from the production process.

All of the Junior Girls enjoyed Travelling by Tuba workshops as the end of term approached. They had fun listening to music from a variety of instruments and learned how to play a fast-paced festive Samba on percussion at the end of their session.  

Girls in Years 8 created fabulous iced cakes as part of Christmas Cake Club, and Year 9 girls studying Food Preparation also made individual cakes ahead of the festive season. More photos of their impressive creations can be found via the link.

Bolton School has a new Science Coordinator in the Girls' Division. Mrs Power is focused on inspiring girls from Year 7 to the Sixth Form, but also works with Year 6 pupils in the Junior Girls' School. She is able to offer specialist teaching and helps to develop science knowledge to a deep level, inside and outside of the classroom. 

Year 12 student Sanjana has won first prize in the University of Warwick's Beat the Pathologist competition. She identified and annotated different types of tumors to give a diagnosis.

Year 13 student Rosalyn took part in the National Final of The Great Debate. This competition, organised by the Historical Association, asked students from across the country to debate the question, 'Should we judge historical figures by the morals of today?' Rosalyn's virtual entry can be viewed here on the Historical Association website.

Two alumni gave talks to students in Years 9-13 from both Divisions via Zoom. Professor Sarah Mercer talked about her experiences studying modern foreign languages at university, the year abroad and her subsequent career teaching English as a Foreign Language. Simon Turner offered his audience a series of life lessons to help with decision making and living an examined, and therefore more fulfilling, life.

Finally, Year 12 student Harry recently raised money for the men's charity Movember. He ran 84km to bring attention to the 84 men lost every week to suicide in the UK and raised over £865. He completed the impressive feat in memory of his grandfather, who passed away earlier in the year following a battle with prostate cancer.

November 2020

 At the beginning of November, Remembrance services took place at Bolton School, bringing the school community together virtually even though we could not congregate in person. There was a theme of hope running through the Girls' Division service which was picked up by both poetry readings and prayers, while the Boys' Division reminded everyone of the important anniversaries taking place this year and remembered Old Boy who gave their lives. The Act of Remembrance was also observed in both Junior Schools, at Beech House Infant School and in the Nursery Class for Three- and Four-Year-Olds.

The Senior School Remembrance assemblies can be viewed in full via these links: Boys' Division and Girls' Division. A video created by the Junior Girls for Remembrance Day 2020, which features their poppy artwork, can also be watched here.

Bolton School is delighted to be working in partnership with The Bursary Foundation, a charity which works to connect deserving young people in deprived communities in Greater Manchester with the best educational opportunities at independent and grammar schools across the region.

The annual Tillotson Lecture took place virtually for the first time in its long history, with Zoom allowing the event to go ahead despite lockdown restrictions. Old Boys Prateek Buch, Dr Ashish Chaudhry, Nick Johnson and Hetain Patel formed the panel for this year's discussion on the lasting impacts the Covid-19 pandemic is likely to have on our society in the future.

The Tillotson Lecture 2020 can be watched in full here: How Will Covid Shape Society?

Another event that went virtual was the Junior Girls' Informal Concert, which can be viewed in two parts via the following links: Part 1 & Part 2.

Fundraising took place throughout Bolton School for Children in Need. The Junior Girls, Juniors Boys, Infants, Senior Girls and Nursery Class all took part with spotty accessories, fun activities and non-uniform days to raise lots of money for this worthy cause.

Year 3 pupil Prakruti also did some fundraising this month by undertaking a three-mile sponsored run. The proceeds were donated to The Akshaya Patra Foundation, who provide free school meals for children in India through their Food For Education campaign and, in the UK, have a Beat the Hunger programme which serves freshly cooked meals to holiday clubs, schools, homeless people and senior citizens.

A Year 12 student in the Girls' Division has been named a Deupty Youth MP following local Youth MP elections. Victoria Wong is proud to be representing her community of Bolton. She has also been elected a Youth Board Member of the BiteBack2030, a movement working to improve food standards in the UK. 

There has been lots of sporting news from the Girls' Division this month. A group of five girls were selected for the Regional Academy Lacrosse Programme, and three pupils were invited to join the Under 13 Manchester Thunder Netball Academy of Excellence. Year 8 pupil Amy joined the Lancashire Junior Academy Centre for Hockey. Lucy in Year 11 was selected for the Swim England National Event Camp 2020, which is for the country's top swimmers in her age category. Anna Phillips in Year 13 was also invited to the U18 England Ladies fixture camp, held at St. George’s Park.

Year 5 pupil Tabitha has made a video explaining how family's new autism support dog Thunder has made a real difference to younger brother Franklin's life. Watch it here.

Coming soon in the Girls' Division is Parr for the Course: a radio play written for Girls' Division pupils about Lily Parr, trailblazer for women's football. The play will be performed by three separate casts from Years 7, 8 and 9 in the run-up to Christmas. Watch the trailer here.

The Boys' Division Senior Production of It's A Wonderful Life will be aired on Zoom this year, taking place on 11 December 2020 at 7.30pm. For full details, including ticketing information for parents, staff and alumni, click here. Tickets are normally £5 but this year the school will be asking for voluntary charitable donations, which will be split equally between The Theatrical Guild and the Octagon Theatre.

Old Girl Dr Becky Smethurst was awarded this year's Institute of Physics Mary Somerville Medal and Prize. This recognises exceptional early career contributions to public engagement in physics. She regularly engages over 100,000 subscribers with content on her YouTube channel, which presents complex astrophysical ideas in an accessible manner to engage a global audience.

Another Old Girl, Emily Varley, has broken the Official Guinness World Record for the Women’s Indoor Triathlon with a total time of 58:21. She not only smashed the women's record, but almost beat the men's record as well.

Finally, the Bolton Alumni Network launched a new Business Directory to allow Old Boys and Old Girl to promote their businesses to their fellow alumni.