Bolton School Blog: 21/6 - 25/6/2010

It has been a very busy week for Bolton School with fundraising and famous faces all round!

Everton Captain and former England footballer Phil Neville and his wife, Julie, made a flying visit to Bolton School Junior Boys' School to thank pupils for taking part in a schools' fundraising campaign in aid of the Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. The boys took part in the Tesco Wear What U Want Day - an event in which pupils were encouraged to pay £1 in return for being able to ditch their uniform for the day and as a reward for their charity work, the pupils were given the opportunity to pose quick fire questions to the football star!

In the afternoon, the Junior Boys took to the field dressed in an array of colourful fancy dress outfits in order to raise even more money for Cancer Research and Derian House through their annual Fun Run, and it was quite an afternoon of sport as the Junior Girls were taking part in their own sports festival at the same time.

Pupils also got to meet a Nobel Prize Winner in Chemistry this week as Professor Sir Harry Kroto returned to his old school to deliver a day of workshops and talks aimed at inspiring an interest in Science amongst the region's young people. And there was more science on the menu as twenty eight Primary schools visited Bolton School for a Science Festival! The day provided an opportunity for gifted young pupils from Year 5 to make use of Bolton School's laboratories and resources and to absorb themselves in Science for the day with a number of challenging forensic and chemical practical activities including blood testing, fingerprinting, and chemical analysis of soil samples.

Finally, this weekend we would like to wish the best of luck to Year 9 Boys' Division pupil Daniel Sharif who will be representing the North West in the Inter Regional Team Ski Championships at Gloucester Ski and Snowboard Centre on Sunday 27 June.

Bolton School Blog: 14/6 - 18/6/2010

Over 200 pupils from twenty primary schools from across the region took part in this year's Bolton School Sports Festival on Thursday morning. The annual event, now in its seventh year, saw teams from Bolton and further afield including Preston, Wigan and North Manchester, competing in a variety of sporting challenges including a rugby slalom and penalty shoot-outs as well as having their golf, hockey, tennis, athletics, and cricket skills tested. Schools picked up points in each event they took part in resulting in an overall Festival Winner which this year was St Thomas Chequerbent from Westhoughton.

Also this week Bolton School held an awards evening to honour Sixth Form students who have undertaken work in the local community. Students received bronze, silver and gold certificates for 20, 50 or 100 hours worth of work in the community and one girl had even done over 1,000 hours! In order to establish more links with external groups to increase participation even further, Bolton School is holding a Volunteering Fair on Thursday 9 September at 2.00pm in the Arts Centre. Anyone interested in attending the fair and working with the School and its Sixth Form volunteer students should contact Heather Tunstall on 01204 840201 or email ht@boys.bolton.sch.uk

Year 6 Junior girls have given their opening performance of the Shakespeare play 'The Tempest' which they have been studying in English. The girls gave an outstanding performance to an audience of their families and friends after working hard all week rehearsing, and they will give their second and final performance this evening.

Bolton School's Jazz Band have been performing again this time at the Beech House (Infant School) Summer Fete 2010 - see their performance by clicking here

And we wish a big good luck to our Junior Boys' chess teams, as all four teams of six boys travel to Pontins in Prestatyn this weekend for the Northern Final of the EPSCA (English Primary Schools Chess Association) National Primary Schools Chess Team Championship 2010. If they win the regional competition they will then go on to the National Final.

Bolton School Blog: 7/6 - 11/6/2010

This week Bolton School Senior Girls' Division has been getting ready to open its doors to Year 5 girls, their parents and friends after school on Monday to offer them a chance to learn more about how our School works.

On the Discovery Day there will be a treasure hunt trail around the School with various departments offering short, challenging activities with an emphasis on fun. Pupils are allowed to go around with friends, on their own or with their parents, and current Year 7 girls and Sixth Formers will be on hand to help. Tea, coffee, cold drinks and biscuits will be provided for parents in the dining hall and senior staff will be available to speak to parents and answer any queries. Prospectuses and registration forms are also available on the day.

With the warmer weather upon us, it’s this time of year that groups of pupils head off to Patterdale Hall, our outdoor pursuits centre in the Lake District where they get to try out activities such as abseiling, canoeing, orienteering, climbing and sailing, while building their confidence and team working skills.

Junior Girls have once again been having fun dressing up, this time as Vikings! Even the teachers got involved, and the Year 4 girls were mesmerised by tales from their visiting ‘Viking’. They had the chance to make Viking pottery and play a Viking game, and to learn about warfare.

Completion of the new Junior Girls’ School ‘Hesketh House’ is getting nearer and nearer, and staff were allowed for the first time to take a look inside the building which is set to be their new home and see the classrooms they will soon be teaching in.

Also this week, representatives from the School attended the Award Ceremony for the 2010 Bolton and Bury Business Awards. The school was one of the sponsors of the event and had the tough job of deciding the winner of the Young Entrepreneur of the Year category, and of presenting the award to Abdul Rahman of Bilal Poultry who won the title.

Bolton School Blog: 24/5 - 28/5/2010

Bolton’s Own Ogden Physics Teaching Fellow
An exciting week for Bolton School as it becomes the first school and only the second academic institution in the country to employ an Ogden Physics Teaching Fellow. Mr Mark Ormerod has been appointed from a highly competitive field and will begin work in September of this year. His role will focus on nurturing physics students and teachers at local schools and widening the participation in and uptake of Physics at A level. Particular focus will be on children in the 11-16 years' old age range.

On the sporting front this week Year 8 pupil Haseebullah Hammed is making his mark on Bolton School cricket, despite only being at the school since January. Talented cricketer Haseebullah has definitely found his feet - recording his first century for the team in a win against Manchester Grammar.

Maasai Tribe to Speak English with a Bolton Accent!
Girls at Bolton School are helping a Maasai tribe to speak English! The Year 9 girls have been video recording one another speaking in basic and clear English and the tapes will be used to supplement other teaching materials and sent out to rural Tanzania. The project has come about after pupils linked up with the African tribe via a Skype video connection during a Geography lesson earlier in the year. The girls had quizzed the Maasai on how they were being affected by tourism and they, in turn, had been keen to learn about life in Bolton.

As part of an off-curriculum day, Year 9 girls got to meet Bali Rai, author of many successful novels aimed at teenagers. Bali gave talks to the girls about his books and about life as an author followed by Question and Answer sessions, in order to get pupils more interested and excited by reading. He also spoke to the girls about issues surrounding multi-culturalism, ethnicity, citizenship and politics which he often covers in his books.

Also this week Bolton School Arts Centre was transformed into a kaleidoscope of colour as some marvellous models, also known as Junior Girls, paraded down the catwalk for the Parents Association Fashion Show. 64 girls took to the runway to show off the current fashions, and spectators were mesmerised by the array of different outfits provided by 'Clothes Horse Kids'.

Bolton School Blog: 17/5 - 21/5/2010

Excellent and Outstanding
Bolton School Girls' Division has been celebrating after being named "excellent" and "outstanding" in the Independent Schools Inspectorate's report. Throughout the whole school pupils' personal development was found to be exceptional, the culture was described as one in which pupils have a desire to learn and make progress, and children of all ages were seen to be involved and to learn cooperatively with their teachers and with each other.

More congratulations are in order in the Boys' Division as a team of pupils called 'The Recyclopaths' have been awarded second place in the National Final of the Toyota Technology Challenge, with their environmentally friendly robot 'The WEEE-Madillo'!

Also this week the Boys' Division hosted a Maths Challenge day for local Primary Schools to help get young people involved in Maths in a fun way. Twenty one Primary School teams took part in the Harry Potter themed challenge, which consisted of a series of different mathematic activities including creating their own Hogwart's Tower!

Year 3 pupil Lizzie Crowther has become the Bolton School Junior Girls' Young Photographer of the Year! Lizzie won the Junior Girls' photography competition with her photos which included a self-portrait photograph in a London tube station, where she cleverly used a convex mirror for effect. Also in Junior Girls this week the Year 5’s got to spend a day in the life of a Tudor by taking part in a Hautbois Workshop.

Bolton School Blog: 10/5 - 14/5/2010

Outstanding on Every Level! Bolton School has been celebrating this week as the Early Years Foundation Stage (0-5 years) is described as "outstanding" by the Independent Schools Inspectorate. It is highly unusual for a school to be found to be outstanding in all categories, but the report found: "Highly effective teaching nurtures lively independent minds, personal confidence and respect for others" in "an outstanding setting where the welfare of the children is ofextreme importance.”

Over at Park Road the Junior Boys' Division have been entered into the Speaker's School Council Awards to recognise their achievements in completing an exciting and successful project to improve their play area. The awards are run by Parliament's Education Service who launched the scheme to recognise the most inspiring and engaging achievements of School Councils across the UK.

Also in Junior Boys, PE teacher Mike Duxbury has been back in the spotlight appearing in 'When the Floodlights Fade' on MUTV. The former Manchester United defender made almost 300 appearances for United in the 80's and twice won the FA Cup, but has since swapped chaotic Saturday afternoons in front of a full house at Old Trafford for coaching the Bolton School Junior boys.

And sporting success has once again been in abundance as Sixth Formers Jonathan Topping and David Edwards have walked away with the Northern Tennis U19 Doubles' Plate and Year 10 pupil Oliver Walker has his sights set on competing in the Modern Pentathlon European Championships, after winning two out of the three qualifiers for his group. Sticking with sport, over forty teams from primary schools from Bolton and as far away as Preston, Manchester, Wigan and Leigh took part in the Crusader Cup, a five-a-side tournament organised and hosted by Bolton School.

Bolton School is very much for life and many former pupils join the Alumni. This weekend sees two reunions taking place-the Joint Scottish Dinner in Edinburgh tonight, and the Joint reunion for 1960, 1970 and 1980 leavers which will take place in the School Arts Centre tomorrow.

Bolton School Blog: 3/5 - 7/5/2010

The country may be holding its breath for the results of the General Election but Bolton School have announced their winning party is the Green Party! Over 700 boys and staff voted in the Boys' Division election on 6 May to mirror the General Election, and Green Party candidate Year 11 pupil Nicholas Fairclough was a clear winner with 221 votes - coinciding with the success of the Green Party nationally as they secured their first ever seat. Nicholas' nearest rival was Conservative candidate Matthew Trevalyan from Year 13 with 152 votes, followed by Labour's Joel Harrison-Hirst also from Year 13 with 144 votes. Liberal Democrat's Cameron Lee from Year 8 received 113 votes and UKIP, represented by Richard Hamer from Year 11 got 71 votes.

Politics aside, the Chamber Choir have been busy again this week, this time performing a free lunchtime concert at Bolton Parish Church to an appreciative audience of members of the public making the most of their lunch breaks! The performance was part of a series of concerts being held every Tuesday at the church and Bolton School return next week as the Senior and Advanced Guitar Groups get their chance to perform.

Senior Boys have been walking their way to better health and winning prizes and raising money to boot! Year 8 boys were given pedometers as part of the promotion of healthy living in PSHE lessons, and competed against each other to see who could manage the most. To get them motivated and moving some boys combined the three day pedometer competition with charitable campaigns, raising money for Cancer Research and endangered pandas.

Footage of last week’s Battle of the Bands is now up on YouTube to view, and you can find out what the Old Boys’ Association has been up to by viewing the latest instalment of President Charles Winder’s blog.