Friday 28 April 2017

28 April 2017

It has been a busy start to the summer term. Over the Easter break, children at the Nursery enjoyed an Easter Egg Hunt. Families had fun with a host of craft activities as well as live music in addition to the egg hunt itself.

Pupils in Years 7 and 8 were excited to meet an entomologist from Bolton Museum and find out more about some of the beetles and bugs in the museum's collection. This fascination lunchtime session was organised by the library to tie in with Beetle Boy by M G Leonard, one of the books shortlisted for the 2017 Bolton Children's Fiction Award. As well as looking at preserved insects, boys and girls made the most of the opportunity to hold two different kinds of cockroach!


The Junior Boys' and Junior Girls' Cross Country teams will this year share the title of Bolton League Champions. The two teams ended with equal points following the four League events earlier in the year, and the trophy was awarded at a recent Bolton Schools' Cross Country Championships event.


The 2017 SHINE Programme for talented Year 5 pupils, organised by staff at Bolton School with the help of Sixth Form volunteers, has drawn to a close with the annual celebration dinner. Over 40 pupils from 11 local schools took part this year, enjoying a variety of Saturday morning activities including new sessions on Creative Writing, Italian and Music!


GCSE pupils studying Food Preparation and Nutrition received a masterclass in butchery from the experts from Provenance Food Hall and Restaurant. In this interactive session, the girls learned how to cut a whole chicken into portions.

Inspirational Old Girl Nicola Grinstead returned to the Girls' Division to address Sixth Form students about her life and career. Nicola currently has two roles: she is the Deputy Chief Executive for Great Ormond St Hospital and simultaneously the Chair of the World Board for the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts. She talked about both of these roles and how her experiences led her down this path, as well as offering useful advice and guidance for the future.


There was a competitive buzz in the Riley Centre as pupils from eight local primary schools congregated for the annual Spelling Bee hosted by Bolton School. Each school sent their best two Year 5 pupils and the sixteen entrants went head-to-head, spelling increasingly complex words against the clock.

Year 9 pupil Shreya recently played for Lancashire at the Inter County Badminton Tournament in Nottingham. She played as a Rank 1 player in the U18 Girls' category, and had the opportunity to face some of the best U18 badminton players in the country.

Bolton School hosted the AJIS Proms. Eighty pupils from independent schools across the North West, including Bolton School Junior Boys and Girls, came together to form the AJIS Orchestra. They rehearsed together for just one day before putting on a marvellous afternoon concert featuring pieces by Stravinski, Grieg, Holst and Gershwin.


The Girls' Division held its annual Open Mic Night, this year hosted by acclaimed poet and playwright Caroline Bird. The pupils' readings of their creative writing pieces was thought-provoking and moving throughout the first half of the evening, and showed the breadth and depth of creative talent in School. Caroline's performance after the interval mixed humour and pathos, and made for a memorable end to the evening.


Boys' Division pupils were put through their paces by the Army North West Outreach Team as part of a Leadership Afternoon. They enjoyed a series of nine 'Command Tasks' which helped them to develop skills such as teamwork and problem solving while also having lots of fun with their friends.


Around 500 pupils thoroughly enjoyed an evening of spirited matches at the Football Festival for Year 3 and 4 pupils. This non-competitive event saw the youngsters having fun playing round-robin games, and was a great success.

Later in the week, the Year 5 and 6 Football Festival kicked off, with 800 pupils from 40 local primary schools taking part in the A Team, B Team and Girls' Tournaments. Each of the competitions were incredibly closely matched and there were dramatic scenes in all three finals.


With the help of the Young Film Academy, Boys' Division pupil in Year 11 put together their own short films. From screenwriting to acting to handling the camera and editing together their footage, the boys completed their film-making project themselves and the afternoon ended with a screening, complete with the award of an Oscar to the best film of the day!


The School is placing itself firmly behind the recent HMC and Digital Sisters' campaign, which focuses on how technology is great if we are in control of it. Headmaster Philip Britton recently blogged about how parents can take control of social media and plans to support the campaign by ensuring that Bolton School pupils view the digital addiction film.

There most recent Inspiring Mind is Old Boy Professor Peter Robson OBE FREng. He attended Bolton School from 1942 to 1949 and went on to become an internationally renowned Electrical Engineer whose work influenced many technological developments that impact our lives today. His Inspiring Minds profile is taken from the obituary written for him in 2010 by his life-long friend, fellow Old Boy Professor Roy Jackson.

Friday 7 April 2017

7 April 2017

Children at Beech House, Bolton School's Infant School, celebrated the approach of Easter with an egg decorating competition! Pupils showed incredible creativity and often humour with the designs they painted onto their boiled eggs, and everyone enjoyed the display at the end of term.


The Spring Concert held in the Boys' Division delighted the audience with a wide range of music, including a Wicked medley, foot-tapping contemporary numbers from Michael Buble and Bon Jovi, and classical pieces by Berlioz and Bizet. The boys produced marvellous performances throughout the evening.


Four Girls' Division students in the Sixth Form recently took part in the first round of the annual Chemistry Olympiad and were challenged with a tough two-hour test based on real world problems. All four achieved Gold or Silver certificates for their efforts.


Children at Bolton School's Nursery enjoyed a week themed around 'Healthy Body, Happy Me!' They focused on exploring a different sense each day, with the chance to try different spices and sauces on Tasty Tuesday and music-making on Listening Thursday, among a host of other fun activities.


In the 1970s and '80s, Cyril Shaw's daughter attended the Girls' Division and crafted a hexagonal wooden box. In the intervening years, this was cherished by the family by was sadly misplaced earlier this year. When Mr Shaw contacted the School to ask if someone could make another for him, Jennie in Year 12 was happy to put her skills to use and make a replacement. At the end of term, she invited Mr Shaw in to School to collect the new box.