Bolton School

Bolton School

Motto	Mutare Vel Timere Sperno (Latin: I scorn to change or to fear)
Established	ante 1516
Type	Independent school
Headmaster (Boys' Division)	Philip Britton MBE
Headmistress (Girls' Division)	Sue Hincks
Chair of Governors	Michael Griffiths
Founder	Viscount Leverhulme
Location	Chorley New Road Bolton BL1 4PA England
Students	2400 (approx.)
Gender	Boys and Girls Divisions
Ages	0–19
Website	www.boltonschool.org

Bolton School is an independent day school in Bolton, North-West England. It comprises a co-educational Nursery and Infant School (Beech House) and single sex Junior (ages 7–11) and Senior Schools (with Sixth Forms). With almost 2,400 pupils it is one of the largest independent day schools in the country.

History

Bolton School main entrance

Bolton School is one of the oldest schools in Lancashire. Established as Bolton Grammar School, it is not known exactly when the Boys' School was founded, though it is recorded as being a going concern as early as 1516. In 1524 William Haigh of Wigan left land worth 33s 4d towards the maintenance of a schoolmaster to teach grammar in Bolton. In 1644 it was endowed by Robert Lever and so began a long and close relationship with the Lever name. In 1899, the school moved from its site next to the parish church in central Bolton to its current site on Chorley New Road.

The Bolton Girls' Day School was established in 1877 and was one of the earliest public day schools for girls in the country. It was quickly renamed to Bolton High School for Girls and moved to the Park Road site (where the current Junior Boys' School stands) in 1891, where it was opened by the suffragist Mrs Millicent Fawcett with 67 girls.

In 1913, Sir William Hesketh Lever, later the first Viscount Leverhulme, gave a generous joint endowment to the Bolton Grammar School and the Bolton High School for Girls on condition that the two should be equal partners known as Bolton School (Girls' and Boys' Divisions). On 1 April 1915, the Bolton School Foundation formally came into existence.

The current buildings were begun in the 1930s though they were not completed until the late 1960s. The motto of the school (used only by the Boys' Division) is Mutare Vel Timere Sperno, meaning "I scorn to change or to fear".

Rankings

The school is consistently ranked amongst the best independent schools in the north of England. In the government's EBacc ranking of schools by 2010 GCSE results, the Girls' Division was placed 23rd. In the 2011 Daily Telegraph ranking of independent schools by GCSE results, the Girls' Division was 65th best and the Boys' Division was 160th. In the Daily Telegraph's 2011 A level results league table of independent schools, the Girls' Division was ranked 123rd (and 79th in 2010) and the Boys' Division was ranked 202nd (62nd in 2010) in the country.

The school offers courses in Greek, Latin, Classics, Russian (Boys' Division only) and Spanish. Separate sciences are taught. Both divisions are featured in the Good Schools Guide.

Administration

The Centre Quadrangle, Bolton School

From September 2008, the headmaster of the Boys' Division is Mr Philip Britton MBE (alumnus of St Hugh's College, Oxford). Miss Sue Hincks (MA Oxon, alumna of Magdalen College, Oxford) became headmistress of the Girls' Division in September 2011. The head of the Boys' Junior Division is Mr Stephen Whittaker and the head of the Girls' Junior Division is Mrs Ruth Brierley. Mrs Deborah Northin is head of the Infant School.

Bolton School has a private coach company, BSS Coaches which transports over 900 pupils on 22 coach routes from Preston to Warrington to North Manchester to Wigan to Rochdale. A coach route from Penwortham, Preston has run since September 2008.

The school hires its buildings and services through BSSL Events and Lettings. The school is a venue for weddings - in the Arts Centre and the boys' Great Hall - and for conferences and exhibitions and a location for film shoots. The Mark of Cain (2007 film), a BAFTA Award winning television film, was filmed on the premises. The sporting facilities are utilised by local clubs and Bolton Wanderers FC and Bury FC have based their academies at the school in recent years.

The school operates a pre- and post-school club for children, Kidzone, which offers childcare over the holiday periods for children from across Bolton.

Expansion and renovation

Bolton School campus, August 2010

The 32-acre (130,000 m²) campus, 1-mile (1.6 km) to the west of Bolton town centre. A £12 million building project has been completed. On 1 June 2009, infants (boys and girls aged 4–7) moved into a new school, Beech House, alongside the School's Nursery.

The Junior Boys' School on Park Road has been extended and renovated and an official opening ceremony took place on 2 December 2009. The Park Road community uses an extension to the main school, comprising two Year 6 classrooms, library, changing rooms and showers, and a kitchen and dining hall.A new state-of-the-art Junior Girls' School (adjacent to the Girls' Senior School), Hesketh House, opened to children on 9 September 2010. The purpose built school comprises eight classrooms, its own large computer suite, a science room, a well-resourced library, an art/design and technology room and a main hall.

Work is set to begin in the summer of 2012 on a new stunning £7m Sixth Form Centre which will sit in the heart of the campus. It is due to open in September 2013.

Population

Children aged 4-7 moved into their new Infants' School, Beech House, on 1 June 2009

The school comprises a nursery on Dobson Road (ages 0–4); a co-educational infant school, called Beech House (ages 4–7); a junior independent girls' school (ages 7–11, known as Hesketh House; a junior independent boys' school (ages 7–11), known as Park Road and two separate secondary divisions, both with Sixth Form provision - Bolton School Girls' Division and Bolton School Boys' Division (ages 11–18) with about 850 students each. Across both divisions, over 300 pupils receive fee assistance through bursaries and many have full fee bursaries. The Junior Girls' and Junior Boys' schools (ages 7–11) have about 200 pupils each as does the Infant School. The Nursery has about 90 places and there is a waiting list.

Extra-curricular activities

Patterdale Hall in the Lake District is visited regularly by all pupils

The school has extra-curricular provision with multiple activities taking place out of lesson times. The Girls’ Division offers over 90 activities to choose from including subject-based clubs and a Literary and Debating Society and Philosophical Film Society. Many girls undertake the Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Sport is represented by athletics, lacrosse, netball, badminton and swimming. The U14 netball team was crowned National Champions in 2003-04 and the U17 team reached the national finals in 2007; the U15 lacrosse team was Northern Schools’ Champions in 2010 and in 2008 the U12 and U13s were Northern Schools’ Champions. The Junior School Swim Team was runners-up in the national championship in 2007. The tennis team won the Aegon Schools’ Regional tennis competition in 2011. Girls have represented Great Britain in the World Athletic Championships, water polo and swimming. In 2010, a current Sixth Form student, Emma Saunders, was nominated for the BBC Young Sports’ Personality of the Year award after winning silver and bronze medals with the GB Swim Team in the Commonwealth Games in Delhi.^{[citation needed]}

One pupil is currently the U17 national fencing champion, another is a triple gold medal winner at ju-jitsu (in the United Nations Games) and a pupil in 2008, was the U12 national chess champion. In 2008, Rachel Flanders became the youngest person to row across the Atlantic Ocean. In 2011, Hannah Pike captained the England U16 hockey team.

Drama productions take place in the arts centre and in the girls’ own theatre. There are annual productions with the Boys’ Division. Some girls become members of the National Youth Theatre. Many girls learn instruments – well over 300 instrument lessons are given each week - from beginners to grade 8+. The school’s art studios are open during lunchtime and before and after the school day. School trips are organised including ski trips and sports trips. Choirs and orchestras have performed in Florence, Paris, Bruges, Barcelona and Prague. In summer 2011, a group of Year 10 students visited the Maasai in Tanzania, having forged links with them via a Skype link-up and the internet.

Depending upon the term, there are up to 90 weekly or fortnightly clubs, societies and practices available. These range from subject-based clubs, such as Art Club, Science Club, Computer Club, Biology Club and The History Society to more wide-ranging societies such as Film Society, Warhammer Club, Creative Writing Club and Gameshow Club. There is a Junior Literary and Debating Forum and a Senior Literary and Debating Society. Music ensembles and drama rehearsals take place in the lunch break and there are numerous concerts and productions every year. Many ensembles operate with the Girls' Division. The school performed a joint concert at the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester in 2009, which involved over 650 pupils from Year 4 upwards. The Joint Chamber Choir has performed live on BBC Radio 4. The Senior Guitar Group has also won the Kirklees National Youth Guitar Orchestra Competition in recent years.^{[citation needed]}

Sport plays a central role in the activities programme, soccer, rugby and hockey in winter, cricket in summer. There have been national victories in the Independent Schools’ FA competition in 2003 at U18 level and in 2010 at U13 level. James Roberts plays for the England Cerebral Palsy Development team. The school is an ISFA focus school, one of only nine in the country.

In 2011 the Year 8 rugby team won the North West Emerging Schools’ Cup Final and in 2006 the school was awarded Lancashire’s Rugby School of the Year. Alex Davidson, who completed his A levels in 2011, plays professional rugby league for Salford Reds.^{[citation needed]} Jack Forster is currently with Sale Sharks.^{[citation needed]} Boys represent the national independent schools’ Barbarians team. The U14 team were the Lancashire County Cricket winners in 2010.

A 25 metre pool means the school is strong in water polo and swimming. There are two sports halls, one with a climbing wall, a multigym and quality games pitches on the 32-acre (130,000 m2) campus. The boys have recently won national titles in water polo, football and chess. Several Old Boys play in the British water polo team and Daniel Sliwinski is a 2012 Olympic hopeful in swimming.[[cn}} Pupils represent the county, region and country at pentathlon, golf, tennis, skiing, sailing and kayaking. Andrew Keat has been the British Biathlon Champion in his age group for the past five years.

The Bolton School Paper was founded in 2002. In 2009 its circulation was 500. It is distributed free of charge to Bolton School students, staff, visitors and alumni. The newspaper also takes part in the TES Newsday competition annually. In 2007 it was awarded a Distinction.

Outdoor Pursuits

Tenacity of Bolton provides sailing lessons and team-building skills for pupils.

The school maintains an outdoor pursuits department and operates Patterdale Hall, a residential outdoor pursuits centre on the shores of Lake Ullswater in the Lake District. Pupils gain experience of the world of business and commerce through the 'Business Awareness' course held at Patterdale Hall. The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme is also pursued.

Between 1999 and 2007 the school constructed a concrete yacht as a millennium project ("The Third Millennium Ketch"). It was launched in May 2007, and used in outdoor pursuits. The "Tenacity of Bolton", allows pupils the chance for sailing lessons in the Irish Sea and it is used for Duke of Edinburgh Award training.

Notable Old Boltonians

The Old Girls' Association and Old Boltonians' Association are active with over 9,000 members. [http://www.boltonschool.org/about-us/old-girls-and-old-boys/events/diary-of-events/ Reunions are held throughout the year. Notable alumni include in alphabetical order:

• Alex Davidson (rugby league) Salford City Reds rugby league player
• Alex Wotherspoon (born 1982), candidate on the 2008 series of The Apprentice BBC TV series.
• Andrew "Chubby" Chandler, Manging Director International Sports Management Ltd
• Angus Diggle, (born 1956) former solicitor and cause cêlebre
• Ann Taylor, Baroness Taylor of Bolton (born 1947), politician
• Archis Tiku (born 1977), bassist with the band Maxïmo Park
• Carol Klein (born 1945) gardening expert, TV presenter and newspaper columnist
• Chris Eatough, world champion mountain biker
• Chris Goudge, Olympic hurdler, 1960
• Clive Crook (born 1953) journalist for the Financial Times
• Dame Janet Smith (born 1940), judge
• David Ruffley (born 1962), politician
• Edmund Clifton Stoner (1899–1968), theoretical physicist
• Gordon Clough (1934–1996), broadcaster
• Jack Bond (born 1932), cricketer
• Joyce Tyldesley (born 1960), Egyptologist
• Julian Darby (born 1967) ex premiership footballer
• Leslie Halliwell (1929–1989), film writer and historian
• Mark Radcliffe (born 1958), radio broadcaster
• Max George, singer in the boy band The Wanted.
• Monica Ali (born 1967), author
• Nigel Short (born 1965), chess player
• Norah Lillian Penston DPhil FLS (1903-1974) Principal of Bedford College, University of London, 1951–64,
• Patricia Morris, Baroness Morris of Bolton politician
• Ralf Little (born 1980), actor
• Robert Haslam, Lord Haslam, former Chair of British Steel and the Coal Board
• Roger Draper (born 1970), chief executive of the Lawn Tennis Association and formerly chief executive of Sport England
• Sir Arthur Rostron (1869–1940), Captain of the RMS Carpathia, first ship to aid the RMS Titanic
• Sir Geoffrey Jackson (1915–1987), British Ambassador to Uruguay, kidnapped by Tupamaros guerrillas and held prisoner for 8 months
• Sir Harry Kroto Nobel prizewinner in chemistry
• Sir Ian McKellen actor
• Sir Philip Craven MBE, chair of the British Paralympic Association

External links

• Bolton School home page
• Bolton School Infants' School - Beech House
• Bolton School Nursery
• Boys' Division home page
• Boys' Division Junior School home page
• Girls' Division home page
• Girls' Division Junior School home page
• The Millennium Ketch Project