Girls' Division Magazine 2019-21

Welcome to this bumper issue of the Girls’ Division Magazine. It is an honour to present this round-up of all that we have achieved. The last academic years have seen much change and also growth in our School and this edition captures many of our adventures from September 2019 to August 2021. Reading through these pages, it strikes me that the resilient spirit and optimism, as well as grit and determination, which characterise our school, present themselves at every turn.

You will no doubt recognise some very young looking pupils amongst the photos, as we cast our minds back to the Autumn Term of 2019 with reminders of the Toy Shop Trolley Dash, Y7 and 8 concerts, the Y8 Patterdale Trip, “As You Like It”, Y10 Film Day, Y12 BEST, International Women’s Day, the Poetry Festival and the 2019 Prefects’ Panto, amongst so many other events and achievements. We had already fitted so much in before the 2020 lockdown hit.

Our opening article reminds us of how we continued to thrive even though pupils and teachers were meeting each other through screens from bedrooms, dining rooms and kitchens. There were many ingenious solutions to home learning but the high standards continued as we mastered technology for home directed learning. We were so proud to receive such positive feedback from so many members of our community.

Of course the national move to online working and innovations in technology also allowed us to move much of our wider offering online too. The Perspectives Lectures, which were launched in 2021 as an evolution of our Enrichment series, saw us enjoying the possibilities and increased access created by our virtual reach.

The inaugural lecture was quickly followed by a pioneering online performance of Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s “Emilia” produced by the Drama Department who had already given us the radio performance of “Parr for the Course”.

As you will see, the Music Department were not put off by a global pandemic either. Despite the difficulties of bringing performers together in harmony over Zoom, several pre-recorded concerts were aired and of particular note, in December 2020, the Ceremony of Carols, a highlight of the year, became a drive-in experience.

The creativity of our teachers and students alike shines through and this edition is dedicated to all in our community who worked so hard to keep us moving through such a difficult time.

The final pages also make mention of those members of staff who themselves retired or moved on during this time as well as the girls in our two successive Y13 cohorts who achieved their A levels and started the next phase of their lives. I would particularly like to mention here my predecessor, Miss Sue Hincks, who led us with such success from 2011 to 2021. It goes without saying that what you read here, as she steered us though unprecedented times, is evidence of her outstanding commitment to our school.

Please read at your leisure and enjoy our celebration of school life from 2019-2021: two truly historic years.

Mrs Lynne Kyle Head of Girls’ Division

Bolton School leads the way on Home Directed Learning

The 2019-20 academic year at Bolton School was certainly one for the history books. As a result of the rapid global spread of Covid-19, schools across the nation changed to home directed learning, except for key workers’ children and the vulnerable, and teaching went remote. There was much success as Girls’ Division teaching staff worked tirelessly showing imagination and creativity and pupils acted maturely and diligently to make things work.

Junior and Senior School pupils, using their iPads and apps, undertook a wide variety of tasks across subject areas and produced quality work as normal timetables continued. There were many novel approaches to online learning, including Patterdale Hall setting daily outdoor learning challenges, stay-athome DofE activities and sports departments challenging pupils with competitions and keep fit sessions.

Mrs Laverick, Head of the Junior Girls’ School, said:

“Directed learning has worked really well at Hesketh House, with a huge variety of tasks and activities being created by the teachers and some excellent work produced by the girls. The fact that all the children have an iPad has been invaluable in making sure they stay in touch and can access the work. Equally important is the regular contact with their teachers, who are available to them all day. It has been a steep learning curve for us all, but I have been very impressed with everyone’s effort-pupils and staff alike!”

Ms Bradford-Keegan, Assistant Head (Curricular and Extra Curricular Achievement) in the Girls’ Division, said:

“Both our staff and pupils have managed the transition to Home Directed Learning with enthusiasm, commitment and success. The adaption has come in two forms: mastering technology that has been previously used to supplement in-school teaching and, secondly, adapting teaching methods to suit the remote experience so that pupils’ learning is maximised. As a result, the education that we are continuing to offer is of the highest standard not compensatory.”

Miss Hincks, Headmistress of the Girls’ Division 2011-2021, said:

“Thank you to every colleague at Bolton School including our Junior Schools, Infants’ and Nursery for keeping 100 key workers’ children happy and occupied, the majority at Beech House and Nursery, whilst offering home learning to 2,000 more. The programme of directed learning which we have adopted in every year group in Senior Girls means that girls are able to access lessons through video conferencing facilities or other apps, whether they are at home or, for key workers’ children, at School. Staff and girls have risen to the challenge amazingly and parents who are currently forced to stay home have had an insight into classroom life which many have appreciated. Since every girl has her own iPad, provided by the School, nobody is left out from the learning experience. I am so grateful to my colleagues for throwing everything into this and ensuring that the girls continue to make excellent progress despite the lock-down. Pastoral staff and members of the PE department are also touching base with the girls on a regular basis so that we can make sure that their spirits are good, too.

Many parents expressed through social media how hugely appreciative they were of the efforts that teaching staff went to:

“Thanks to you and the staff, it’s made working from home easier as my daughter is occupied in a constructive way, maintaining contact with her class, carrying on learning. Really impressed and grateful.”

“Thank you to all those involved in keeping the school going and for providing the daily routine. I can not describe the joy of hearing the laughter coming from my daughter’s room throughout the day.”

“Thank you to you and all your staff for keeping some normality in our children’s lives during this surreal time. Having the structure of normal lessons has definitely helped with my daughters’ mental and physical well-being.”

“ Bobbed home at lunch, there was much hilarity in my daughters A Level Maths class, such a tonic for all at a time when they cannot meet friends. Thanks for everything you and the other teachers are doing to maintain normality and support other key workers.”

“As I write this our daughter is engaged with her subject teacher in her remote learning. What a week for everyone. A huge thank you Sue Hincks and Philip Britton for your leadership and to all the teachers for your hard work and professionalism this week. We are impressed!”

“Thank you for pulling together such an impressive last couple of weeks continuing our girl’s education in such challenging circumstances. We really appreciate the hard work of all the staff to provide the stability our daughter needed; you’ve been amazing.”

Commitment to Social Mobility Recognised

In the summer term of 2021, Bolton School was shortlisted for two awards that recognise the Foundation’s commitment to social mobility.

The UK Social Mobility Awards 2021 shortlisted Bolton School in the School/College of the Year category. These awards, organised by social justice charity Making The Leap and now in their fifth year, provide an opportunity to recognise organisations who are making strides and creating initiatives to advance social mobility within their own workforce or beyond their own walls. The ‘SOMOs’ were the first national awards dedicated to social mobility, recognising the forward-thinking organisations that are working to progress social mobility.

The Independent School Parents’ School of the Year Awards also shortlisted the school in their Social Mobility category.

Providing social mobility is inter-twined with Bolton School’s history and it was Lord Leverhulme’s vision to offer an education for all capable children when he re-endowed the School in 1915. 42 pupils from the Class of

2020 left having received bursarial assistance for their education. Thirty-eight went on to university, 32 of whom secured places on courses at prestigious Russell Group institutions. 19 went on to study subjects in the medical sciences, including 12 pupils now studying Medicine.

During the same academic year, the School community made pledges and gifts totalling £672,000 to the Bursary Fund for the next intake of students. This enabled 54 Year 7 pupils to join the two Senior Schools in September. Overall, the School spent £2.89m on means-tested bursaries, supporting 350 girls and boys across the Senior Schools: a proportion of one in five. One third of recipients, equating to 6% of the pupil body, received fully-funded bursaries.

In the 2020-21 academic year, the school also began 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. It works with primary schools in deprived communities to identify gifted and talented pupils with the potential to thrive at an academically selective school, and supports them and their families through the admissions process and throughout their secondary school careers.

The George Lancashire Fund at Bolton School was established in November 2012 to fund bursaries for children living in Eccles to study at the School. Following the School’s partnership with The Bursary Foundation, from September 2020 this allocation criteria will be widened to include children living in all areas of the Metropolitan Borough of Salford. Furthermore, any child from Salford who is awarded a 100% bursary from the George Lancashire Fund after engagement with the Bursary Foundation will also qualify to receive an annual ‘Extras’ allowance for the duration of their 100% bursary. This will provide funding for uniform, travel costs, equipment and other associated costs, in order that they can take full advantage of all the opportunities a Bolton School education offers.

YEAR 8/9

Once upon a time, in a world before Covid-19, when people roamed the land with care-free abandon, the girls from Year 8 embarked upon an intrepid adventure. The skies were dark and heavy on the grey September morning in 2019 when they set off into the unknown. Yes, it was time for their annual trip to that most beautiful and character-building of places, Patterdale Hall. The girls eagerly boarded the school coaches, keen to grab the best seats with their friends - social-distancing was not a ‘thing’ in these happy times. Hearty, home-cooked food was washed down with lashings of water and the girls enjoyed a wholesome, technology-free existence,

if only for a few days. Canoeing, sailing, paddle-boarding, gorgewalking, archery, campfire-craft, torch-lit walking in the driving rain (it was the Lake District, after all) and learning how to tie shoe laces correctly were some of the activities in which the girls participated. A few were home-sick, more were phone-sick and some were even travel-sick, but they all rallied together to ensure everyone had a jolly good time. Next summer, if we keep our Covid-free fingers crossed, they will return to Patterdale Hall as part of their Duke of Edinburgh award. Mrs Leech, for one, can’t wait!

Mrs Leech and the Year 8 Tutor Team

YEAR 9/10

During the lockdown period, Year 9 have used their time to work on their skills and activities for their Bronze Duke of Edinburgh Award. Here is a selection of their work!

YEAR 10/11

Year 10 kicked off with a bang in September 2019, when we welcomed One Day Film School in September. Pupils learned to act in, direct and edit a film trailer, refusing to let the wet weather dampen their spirits. This was a fantastic bonding opportunity for students to get to know their new form group.

The highlight of the year was, as always in Year 10, the Christmas Post. This year’s charitable cause was Wipe Your Tears, a local charity that supports children in the North West. After hours of preparation and rehearsal, Year 10 performed their masterpieces to the whole school. In the sweet sales that followed, the year group managed to raise well over £1000. For small charities such as Wipe Your Tears, donations like this are crucial and greatly appreciated. It is certainly the highest donation I have ever seen from Christmas Post fundraising, and was a heartwarming way to enter the festive period.

The New Year brought with it a renewed focus on the challenges of GCSE studies, but during this time Year 10 also had time for PSHEE sessions on personal safety, positive mental and physical health, and effective revision strategies.

A matter of weeks after Year 10 full reports were completed by staff, the school was closed due to the government imposed lockdown. Staff

have frequently informed me of how fantastic their Year 10 groups have been, wowing their teachers with their organisation, engagement and hard work. Alongside continuing their studies from home, Year 10 pupils completed many RAKs (random acts of kindness) as lockdown began to take its toll. PSHEE time has been dedicated to a range of activities, from mindful relaxation techniques to group exercise and home baking.

Ms Teichman and I were delighted to welcome back some Year 10 students to school before term ended. During this time, pupils had the chance to take part in Science practicals, one of which involved firing water fuelled rockets on the netball courts! Pupils also had the opportunity to start some mindful artwork, conduct some Biology field research, and even take part in a game of foot golf. Thank you to all the staff that made this possible.

The tutor team is looking forward to seeing everyone in person when September comes. 10A will miss the fantastic Dr Fielder, who leaves us for pastures new. The group is in good hands though, as we welcome Mrs Porter to the tutor team in Year 11. We would all like to wish you a happy and healthy summer holiday. Year 10, you have certainly earned the break!

Mr Winrow and the Year 10 tutor team, Summer 2020

YEAR 11/12

Unfortunately, due to the viral pandemic we didn’t get to receive the graduation that we expected, but we did get some interesting memories instead: Year 11 look back on 2019-20

In October, the Historians travelled to Manchester to learn about political protest through the ages. We also visited the newly unveiled memorial to the Peterloo Massacre of 1819. I think I can say this on behalf of the history students that, although fascinated by the monument, we were all a bit distracted when Love Island’s Runners-up, Molly-Mae and Tommy Furey walked past us!

In December, the Food group went on a fabulous trip to Slattery’s Pâtissier and Chocolatier and completed a chocolate making course. We made truffles and festive chocolate lollypops and took home bags full of treats. January - one of the biggest challenges we rose to was getting through the mocks. We had to study hard during the Christmas break and be really well organised as the exams came thick and fast. We were much better organised at checking our timetables and getting to the exams on time than the previous summer: no one likes exams but we thought it would be good preparation for May... little did we know!!!

In February, we walked to Bolton Lads and Girls Club to enjoy an afternoon of down time, but also to find out about the NCS scheme that we could take part in. We had the opportunity to go on a residential with a group of pupils of the same age from other schools, as well as stay in University accommodation fending for ourselves and taking part in a volunteering project. It was quite a cold day so we were pleased that we could do sports activities indoors-the year group was very competitive when playing the team games, passing a ball over and under along the line as quickly as possible.

Fifty-nine Year 11 students have been working hard to complete their Duke of Edinburgh Silver Award alongside their GCSE studies. They’ve made memories that they will never forget such as Madihah getting 4 punctures on the cycling expedition and Sofia falling in the canal twice. It was hard work but good fun at the same time.

In the past two years we have learnt to listen to everyone’s ideas before making decisions and to make sure everyone can contribute in some way. Also, I feel as if we have probably learnt a lot of Swahili thanks to Mr Hepp shouting ‘HARAKAH’, ‘Wapi’, and even ‘Bonjourypops’ one odd morning. Although we were a very diverse year with lots of different personalities, we have learnt how to all get along.

The ending to our school year was very different to the one I imagine we had in mind. School closures saw us having to adapt to working online for the final few months of Year 11. As a school we have been extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to continue to see our teachers for lessons and start our A level courses ahead of Year 12. We would like to gratefully acknowledge the contributions of our teachers in helping us to put our best foot forward in this crisis.

The support staff at school are a massive part of maintaining a good learning environment and we are all very thankful for their contributions. Finally, none of this would have been possible, especially adjusting to the “new normal” and adopting new ways of learning, without Miss Hincks.

So, thank you to every single person who’s had our best interest at heart and have helped us reach our goals. It’s been a wonderful few years, let’s hope the next two are just as good!

Beat the Pathologist

Sanjana Patel won first prize in a ‘Beat the Pathologist’ competition in December of 2020. Organised by the University of Warwick, the competition challenged students to identify and annotate different types of tumours to give a diagnosis. Whilst the competition aims to demonstrate what pathologists do, it also showcases the significant advances being made in the area.

Diana Award

Victoria Wong received a prestigious Diana Award. Established in memory of Diana, Princess of Wales, the award is the most impressive accolade a young person aged 9-25 years can receive for their social action or humanitarian work. She was nominated by Ms Teichman in recognition of her outstanding contribution to society through her work with St John’s Ambulance, BiteBack2030, as a Youth MP for Bolton, as a Chair of the AQA student Advisory Group and for her support of the mass Covid-19 vaccination programme.

A delighted Victoria commented:

“I feel immensely proud of myself knowing the hard work I’ve put into my community is being recognised. I also definitely feel a lot more inspired to continue my voluntary work, seeing the other recipients and what an incredible job they’ve all done too.

“I think I won the award due to the commitment and passion I’ve demonstrated in my community work. In addition, I have insight into many different voluntary sectors, as I carry my work out in all aspects of the community. This includes working in the pandemic response, my local town, youth groups and health charities.”

The Year 11 Prefect Team

YEAR 12/13

Year 12 Insight Sessions

In the Summer Term of 2020, the GD Sixth Form has run two highly successful ‘Insight Sessions’ for Year 12. Thanks to generous Old Girls who freely gave up their time, we have been able to continue our careers input, if in a different, more inventive way. A range of Old Girls, spanning different years and specialisms have provided excellent, first-hand knowledge of their university experience, including the UCAS application process, university life, their course, as well as potential career options. With ‘Top Tips’, ‘Pros and Cons’ and ‘Dos and Don’ts’, the Yr12s have been guided through some of the pitfalls of university life.

We have managed to cover a broad range of subjects and careers from the more traditional, Medicine (Amy Lyons) and Law (Farah Ali), to Degree Apprenticeships (Sam Woods), Fashion Design (Imogen West) and Broadcast Journalism (Lucy Baxter). As well as many universities, Leeds (Lauren Crowther), Durham (Rebecca Lowe), Newcastle (Radhika Sharma) and Reading (Johanna Mercer). All the sessions were well attended and provided an opportunity for Year 12 to gain a unique insight into their prospective university courses. We are extremely grateful to those Old Girls who have shared their experiences with us; it has been a great opportunity to catch up and celebrate your successes!

Doctors for a Day

In February 2020, a group of students visited the Royal Preston Teaching Hospital to take part in their ‘Doctor for a Day’ programme, run by the University of Manchester’s school of medicine. Aaliyah Bax and Roxanne Asumu reported: “This was an extremely stimulating experience in which we were presented with a case of a trauma patient in A&E, and we had to work together in a team to understand, diagnose and treat her symptoms and injuries. This included communicating with the patient’s next of kin and consultant, analysing her X-ray scan, phlebotomy and checking blood pressure, as well as coming up with a treatment plan. It allowed us to develop our interpersonal and analytical skills, something which is vital for both at medical school and as a junior doctor.”

Try Your BEST

The whole year group benefitted from a series of workshops as part of the annual Business Enterprise Skills Training Day, organised by the Careers Department to develop abilities that are useful in the workplace. On this occasion, the girls learned about body language and about good interview conduct, and the Outdoor Pursuits team led a range of team-building and problem-solving exercises for the teams. Girls learned more with a presentation skills workshop and the ever-popular ‘Bin Bag Challenge’: an Apprentice-style challenge to create and present a fashionable outfit made from one recyclable bin bag, tissue paper and sticky tape. The day closed with a keynote speech about employability from Amanda Nuttall, Partner at Keoghs Solicitors.

Up For Debate

A trio of girls reached the Regional Final of the English Speaking Union’s Schools’ Mace debating competition in January 2020. Jessica Buckthorpe, Sarah Walker and Lily Rimmer debated the motion ‘This house regrets the commercialisation of Pride’ and argued for the Opposition.

YEAR 13

Our Year 13 girls have worked hard on their ‘Major’ and ‘Minor’ courses, which have been designed to bridge the divide between A level and undergraduate study. Twenty one different ‘Major’ courses have been delivered covering university subjects such as Computing, History, Business, Architecture, Languages and Pharmacy as well as courses covering Apprenticeships and Art Foundation. The girls have engaged superbly well and have enjoyed a range of different experiences including talks by Old Girls and on-line courses as well as more traditional teaching and discussion. The small, focussed groups have given girls a valuable insight into their chosen subject area and the use of online courses has allowed the girls to become more independent. The Girls have also enjoyed a range of ‘Minor’ courses covering twenty different topics including things such as Beginner’s Italian, First Aid, Personal Finance, Interview Skills, Philosophy and Greek Mythology! We have been delighted by the enthusiasm and resilience shown by our Year 13 students over recent months and wish them well as they move on to their next stage whether that is a gap year, university, apprenticeship or the world of work!

Prefects’ Panto

The 2019 Prefects’ Panto had the whole school in stitches as the Head Girl and her team caricatured members of staff. The show culminated in a fantastic parody of ‘Backstreet’s Back’, re-titled ‘Hincks Is Back’, complete with dance moves! Admission donations went to Women’s Aid.

Results Day 2021

It has been a challenging couple of years for students studying for A Levels and GCSEs, particularly since the usual end-of-year celebrations could not take place in 2020. However, there were smiles in the Girls’ Division on Results Day 2021, which was held as normal once again!

SHARING PERSPECTIVES

‘Perspectives’ is a new lecture series hosted by the Girls’ Division, a virtual successor to the hugely successful Arts and Sciences Enrichment Lectures held in recent years. The inaugural Perspectives lecture took place in January 2021 as the school and country entered a second lockdown.

Old Girl Sally-Anne Huang (née Blakemore, Class of 1990), the first ever female High Master of St Paul’s School in its 510-year history, gave a talk entitled ‘Bossy Women’ which focused on ambition and leadership from a female perspective.

In a deeply personal address, she spoke about her career journey from her earliest memories to the present. She said: “I recall when I was young, prior to my Bolton School days, being called bossy quite a lot. I don’t think boys get called bossy in the way that girls do; of course, no-one said to me at the time that I was demonstrating incredible leadership skills and strategic thinking!” Sally-Anne went on to speak about how her days at Bolton School inspired her with an attitude that she could go out and rule the world. However, she also recalled the sexism and prejudice she has faced during her career. She said that the ‘Bolton School spirit’ kept her pushing forwards, and looked back on how she faced and overcame the challenges, embedding her talk with valuable advice for the audience. She considered her leadership style, which she described as sitting and listening quietly then using evidence and authority in decision-making, and addressed the problems that female leaders particularly face. During her talk, she implored the girls watching to find a job where they can be themselves and, if they want to lead, to find an area where their personal style will suit and where they don’t have to compromise their values and principles.

Virtual ‘Perspectives’ events continued each half term with alumni panels speaking about careers in Journalism, Fashion and Engineering. Each panel spoke about the opportunities and challenges of varied careers in these fields, and reflected upon the skills needed to succeed.

Interviewing the Journalists

Kathryn Austin (Class of 2019) began her journey into journalism at a very young age. She wrote for the Girls’ Division newspaper from Year 8 onwards and became Editor in her final year and is now studying Multimedia Journalism at the University of Salford. She spoke about the experience she has had so far, including working in a newsroom 8pm to 8am to cover the 2019 General Election.

Stephanie Gabbatt (Class of 2013) currently works for the BBC. During the pandemic, she has been involved in the BBC’s 100 Amazing Women project, arranged interviews with the founders of Black Lives Matter, spoken with celebrities and arranged virtual events. She enjoys the pressure getting her head around a story in only a few hours, but also noted that the profession is very competitive and entry-level jobs can be low paid.

Amada Killelea, a Bolton School parent and features writer at the Daily Mirror, has 25 years of journalism experience and said that nothing beats the buzz of a newsroom when there is a breaking story! She talked the audience through her career so far and said that, though it’s not a traditional ‘9 to 5’ job, the rewards are immense: travelling the world, interviewing famous people, visiting film sets, and best of all telling the extraordinary stories of ordinary people.

Kate McGeown (Class of 1994) looked back on a career that has seen her work for ‘Tomorrow’s World’, BBC News and the World Service. She now works in Comms with the Department for International Development, which recently merged with the Foreign Office. She talked about her time as a foreign correspondent and said she would recommend the profession to anyone interested in how the world works.

Kathryn Knight (Class of 1989) is a freelance journalist who said that, though her life is now less international than it was earlier in her career, it is still very varied, involving everything from human interest interviews to investigations to visiting film sets. Technology has altered the landscape, but print media and their associated websites still have a role to play. She said that although the world has changed, the basics of journalism are the same.

Focus on Fashion

Insight into Engineering

Rajeshree Bhosle (Class of 1998), Global CFO for The Faction Collective, spoke about her experiences working in finance within the fashion industry: she advised the girls watching that once they have a profession, such as accountancy or law, they should pick an industry that interests them. She did so and it has allowed her to work with some of the world’s most successful fashion brands.

Joanna Czutkowna (Class of 2000), founder of ‘I Went Shopping Today’, shared her 20 years of experience working internationally within the fashion world, from working in factories to setting up innovation teams to running her own consultancy and encouraging a more sustainable and considered approach. She advised that combining creative thinking with strategic thinking is the key to making products that will sell.

Sarah Ann Murray (Class of 2001) Zoomed in from Portugal to recap her career as a fashion designer and creative director, stylist and journalist: she has styled a host of famous faces, both for fashion photography and beyond, and worked with some of the industry’s most memorable names. Her top tip for those wishing to break into the business was to know it inside out and also develop an individual creative voice.

Florence Hughes (Class of 2009) is an accessories and bags designer at ASOS and talked about her experiences at university as well as in her early career working with recognisable brands like Mulberry, Alfred Dunhill and Top Shop. She said that the industry allows for the building of a long-term career and potentially offers great creative freedom, and added that there is no bigger thrill than driving global trends and seeing sales grow across the world.

Imogen West (Class of 2019) talked about her BA (Hons) degree in Fashion Design at the University of Leeds. She was able to talk about the modules she has been working on, such as Garment Technology, Research and Design Development and Fashion Marketing, as well as her up-coming 12-month internship with Harris Tweed tailors Walker Slater in Edinburgh. She offered those watching a clear look at what it’s really like to study fashion at university today.

Khadijah Ismail (Class of 2017), a BAe Aerospace Engineering Degree Apprentice, shared her route into engineering, which began with her receiving an Arkwright Scholarship. She talked about highlights from her career so far and shared key takeaways: being real and proud of who you are, being enthusiastic, and finding the strength in saying, ‘I don’t know’. Finally, she shared a poem about engineering that she wrote for her first public speech.

Radhika Sharma (Class of 2015) is a Mechanical Engineer currently working with the British Antarctic Survey to facilitate on-site experiments: she talked about her current work shadowing a colleague on an ice drill project. She spoke passionately about how engineering is about designing a world for everyone. She also advised that engineering can lead practically anywhere and there is something for everyone.

Amy Williams (née Worsell, Class of 1997), a Chartered Civil Engineer and senior manager at Highways England, talked about providing core infrastructure such as water, roads, railways and buildings. She described civil engineering as balancing conflicting priorities: using technical skills and knowledge to help people. She also described the usefulness of work experience during her time at university and encouraged the audience to take advantage of awards to gain contacts and support.

Arts and Sciences

When the school went into lockdown, the 2019-20 lecture series sadly came to a premature end. However, between September 2019 and March 2020, pupils, staff and members of the local community enjoyed fascinating talks on a broad variety of subjects. Richard A Shirres, MSc (App.EnvSc), MICE, C Eng spoke on ‘The United Nations: Working to Save the Biosphere and Our Future’. Social historian Hallie Rubenhold revealed the fascinating history of Jack the Ripper’s victims. Presenter and anthropologist Professor Alice Roberts presented ‘Tamed: Three Species That Tamed our World’, which delved into the domestication of dogs, horses and cattle. Raynor Winn talked about the deeply personal journey she wrote into her book ‘The Salt

Path’. Miranda Krestovnikoff shared her career’s marine highlights in a talk entitled ‘The Sea Around Me’. Poet Laureate Simon Armitage’s visit for the Poetry Festival was also a part of the Arts and Sciences Lecture Series.Amy Williams (née Worsell, Class of 1997), a Chartered Civil Engineer and senior manager at Highways England, talked about providing core infrastructure such as water, roads, railways and buildings. She described civil engineering as balancing conflicting priorities: using technical skills and knowledge to help people. She also described the usefulness of work experience during her time at university and encouraged the audience to take advantage of awards to gain contacts and support.

Visit from the Poet Laureate

UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage delighted an audience of pupils, parents, staff and members of the public with readings of his poetry at the Girls’ Division’s annual Poetry Festival in March 2020. This event, which turned out to be the last in a series of Arts and Sciences Enrichment Evenings, also showcased work written by twenty of the school’s young writers.

Simon began his performance with ‘Thank You For Waiting’, much to the amusement of the gathered audience. He went on to share a wide variety of his work, including with each piece a short explanation of the inspiration or ideas behind it. These included ‘Zodiac T-Shirt’, described as existing in the space between song lyrics and poetry; ‘The English Astronaut’, inspired by the space race and disappointing news of the ‘British space attempt’ when he was growing up; ‘Song of the West Men’, based on the true story of an Icelandic fisherman; and ‘Legends of the Crossings’, about his experience trying to cross Hale Estuary during his 2013 walk along the South West Coast Path. He also read ‘To The Fashion Industry in Crisis’ and ‘You’re Beautiful’ before moving on to ‘I am Simon Armitage’, composed from anagrams of his own name, and finally ‘To Do List’, from the point of view of someone concerned about the rapid pace of modern life. After the readings, the floor was opened to questions from the audience, which included groups of students from several local schools who were keen to quiz Simon about his work. One pupil asked on behalf of their teacher which poem had inspired him to become a poet. Simon replied that it was the Ted Hughes poem ‘Bayonet Charge’, which he read as a fifteen-year-old while studying for his English O Level, and in particular quoted the lines: ‘In what cold clockwork of the stars and the nations Was he the hand pointing that second?’ He said, ‘I didn’t know that the world could be recreated in these small packets of language. … It struck me that they were circuit boards activating something in my brain. … I knew then that poetry was for me.’

A pupil also asked him why he wrote ‘The Manhunt’ from the perspective of the soldier’s wife. He explained that this poem is taken from a film called The Not Dead, for which he wrote poems based on interviews with service personnel, and spoke of the importance of both having a woman’s voice and showing the impact of war on family members.

He also talked about the role of Poet Laureate today. He described poetry as contemplative and said that there are many different definitions of a poet, from solitary and contemplative to communicative, entertaining and engaging. He also talked about the way his style and themes change depending on what he has been

reading, and said: ‘I don’t like poems that sound like thinking and I don’t like poems that sound like writing. I like poems that sound like speech.’

Finally, he ended his performance with a reading of ‘Red Wings’, a poem named after a type of bird that winters in the UK, but which also acts as a metaphor within the work. Afterwards, he was available to sign copies of his books and answer more questions.

The first half of the evening was dedicated to the young writers in the Girls’ Division and the audience also enjoyed hearing their readings.

In honour of Simon’s visit and his work championing the climate crisis, particularly through his creation of The Laurel Prize, the school held a poetry competition on the theme of the environment in the run-up to the Poetry Festival. Seven prize-winners performed their poems on the night. Sophia Wormald (Year 7) looked into the future with her poem ‘3020’ and Lucy Johnstone (Year 7) read ‘A Poem for the Environment’. Three Year 9 pupils explored the consequences of climate change in their work: ‘Repercussions’ by Nithu Loganathon, ‘Borrowed Time’ by Charlotte Hothersall and ‘The End’ by Emaan Murtaza. Amelia Thompson (Year 11) used grim news from the recent wildfires in Australia as inspiration for ‘There could be more to go’ and Amelia Doherty (Year 13) reminded the audience that ‘There Is No Planet B’.

Twenty-nine students from Years 6 to 13 recently visited Patterdale Hall for the annual Writing Retreat. Copies of their Anthology were available for the audience to read on the night and a number of girls performed their work.

Pupils were inspired by their surroundings during the Retreat and many of their poems featured creative descriptions of landscapes and weather amongst deeper stories and meanings. ‘Mountains’ by Maryam Ali (Year 9), ‘The Nostalgia of the Waters’ by Ila Stephenson (Year 9), ‘Twilight Calm’ by Safia Adia (Year 10), ‘Tears of an Angel’ by Isobel Pursey (Year 9) and ‘Mountain’ by Ella Kaut-Howson (Year 13) were examples of this. Several of the poems depicted characters or people from the young poets’ lives: these were ‘Mum’ by Felicity Field (Year 9), ‘Lost/Found’ by Charlotte Lowe (Year 9) and ‘I see you’ by Jessica Buckthorpe (Year 12). Girls also told stories through their poems: Safia Adam (Year 9) in ‘The Heritage’, Lola Rigby (Year 9) in ‘First Love’ and Ella Davey (Year 10) in ‘Heirloom’. Ayesha Ahmed (Year 9) explored her own culture in ‘My People’ and Eloise Gibbs (Year 9) also shared one of her pieces.

The evening was a wonderful celebration of creative writing at Bolton School and gave pupils the opportunity to share their work and hear from a much-celebrated professional poet.

Girls Retreat into Writing

Over the February 2020 half term break, a group of twenty-nine Girls’ Division students ranging from Year 6 through to Year 13 travelled to Patterdale Hall with Ms Field, Mrs Elkin and Mrs Crowther for the annual Writing Retreat.

Jane Kingsford, an accomplished writer who recently retired from teaching English in the Girls’ Division, was there to greet pupils on their arrival and worked with one group throughout the week alongside poet Mandy Coe. A second group spent the half term working with poet Peter Sansom and author Tiffany Murray.

Mornings were spent in workshops, with free afternoons for walking, eating lots of cake and writing. Evening tutorials enabled the girls to hone and refine their work, and the girls produced outstanding pieces of creative writing, both prose and poetry. On the last evening, girls gave feedback about their week, with one girl explaining that the retreat was an ‘oasis for creativity’ and another describing it as a ‘calming and joyous’ experience.

Thirteen pupils who attended the Writing Retreat shared their work at the annual Poetry Festival, which also featured a performance from UK Poet Laureate Simon Armitage.

Bolton Children’s Fiction Awards 2020/21

The winner of the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award 2020 was supposed to be announced in July 2020 but, due to the unprecedented times, the announcement came a whole year later. The shortlist for 2020 was carried over to 2021 to allow the Award to continue.

Bolton School’s library staff, who organise the Award, said: “It is unfortunate that this year we have not been able to meet the authors in person and celebrate together. However, we hope that the spirit of the Award has been present in our community of schools, offering children the opportunity to explore the work of authors that they may not have previously encountered.

“ We would like to thank the authors for their patience and support over the last two years. The Shortlist was outstanding, making it a pleasure to offer the books to a second cohort of readers. We are very grateful to our lovely community of Librarians, English teachers and other bibliophiles for supporting and promoting the Award.”

This year, book clubs were unable to meet normally and access to libraries was restricted, but despite the circumstances Bolton School’s librarians were pleased to receive a considerable number of votes from both primary and secondary schools.

‘Clownfish’ by Alan Durant

‘Clownfish’ is about a boy called Dak, whose Dad has just died and has (miraculously) turned into a clownfish in his local aquarium. Themes of grief, friendship and learning to accept the death of a loved one are dealt with in a humorous, accessible way. The book is also about children being able to make a difference within their local community.

It took Alan almost twenty years to write ‘Clownfish’, which is his 100th book! He described it as a ‘slow burner’ so its success has relied upon word of mouth. It has now been included on Empathy and Wellbeing book lists.

‘The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle’ by Victoria Williamson

‘The Fox Girl and the White Gazelle’ is Victoria’s first book. It is set in a fictional part of Glasgow and also deals with issues which are important to young people today, specifically home circumstances, friendship and how people are multi-faceted characters rather than ‘good’ or ‘bad.’

The two main characters are girls from very different backgrounds: Caylin has difficult home circumstances and Reema is a refugee from Syria. Students within our community commented that they felt represented by Reema’s cultural background. Despite their differences, the two girls are united in their struggle to save a wild fox and her cubs, find friendship and realise that they are really quite similar.

The usual large-scale Award event, normally attended by up to 20 local schools, could not take place. Therefore Bolton School’s Librarians recorded the announcement, which also featured statements from the winning authors, and this was shared with all the participating schools in and around Bolton.

The Library staff said:

Usually there is only one winner. However, just like the Bookers, for 2020/21 there are two! The winners are: 2020/21 Shortlisted Books:

“ We would like to thank you all for our support and hope you will join us in congratulating the winners.”

For the 2022 Award, Bolton School hopes to expand upon the online content that was provided in 2020/21 and move towards a hybrid Award, which will make it easier for more Schools to participate.

Charitable Giving in the Pandemic

Despite the challenges of lockdowns and Covid-secure measures, the school still managed to help the local community throughout the 2019-20 and 2020-21 academic years through volunteering, community action and fundraising.

In September of 2019, the Bolton School Foundation joined the ‘World’s Biggest Coffee Morning’ to raise money for Macmillan Cancer Support: Sixth Form Girls ran a hugely popular cake and sweet sale during break and lunchtime. Also in the Autumn Term of 2019, the whole of Year 7 raised £4,448 through a 24-hour sponsored silence. Charity representatives from each form then used the money for an exciting lunchtime ‘trolley dash’ around Smyths Toy Store at Middlebrook! The huge haul of gifts were donated to Hits Radio and Cash for Kids’ Mission Christmas Appeal, which hands out Christmas presents to less fortunate children across the North-West.

Christmas saw girls rising to the Urban Outreach Hamper Challenge, which in 2019 saw the school help to fill the charity’s 1,300 charity hampers. These are distributed to those in need over the festive period and contain everything needed for a Christmas dinner with all the trimmings. The school’s target was exceeded with 2,747 selection boxes and an additional 724 boxes of mints donated! Other Christmas traditions also helped charitable causes: the Prefects’ Panto raised money for Women’s Aid, the Christmas Post aided local charity Wipe Your Tears, and Christmas Jumper Day supported Parents for Future UK. In 2020, as the world went into lockdown and remote learning became the norm, the school found ways to help in the fight against Covid-19.

The Senior Girls’ School produced visors for local hospitals, GPs and care homes using the school’s laser cutter, which were assembled and distributed by pupils and members of staff. Poppy-Grace Stebbings in Year 8 gave hope and inspiration to people around the world through a poem written for her grandparents: her work was printed in The Bolton News and went viral online, and was also spread across the NHS by her parents, who are both front line workers. Pupils across the school produced thank you messages for the NHS, engaged in

individual acts of kindness, helped elderly neighbours, and many took part in the ‘Run for Heroes’ challenge to raise £5 for the NHS by running 5km.

With the start of the 2020-21 school in year, the school continued to support Urban Outreach. The Girls’ Division’s Harvest collection was held outside on the netball courts to remain safe under Covid regulations. Girls dropped off their tinned and sealed donations into crates outdoors on their way into school ahead of a virtual Harvest assembly. Around the same time, 140 cones of chocolates, originally intended for the School’s fundraising Summer Ball, which was sadly cancelled, were also donated to the charity by the Parents’ Associations.

A non-uniform day in the Girls’ Division also raised money for Children in Need in the Autumn Term. Year 7’s sponsored silence in 2020 raised £2,711 for the Centrepoint Manchester, a charity which helps young homeless people aged 16-25 years.

As December rolled around again, Christmas Jumper Day was another opportunity to raise money for charity. The £818.14 raised in the Girls’ Division went towards the ‘Pringle Bells’ Urban Outreach Hamper Challenge, which in 2020 saw the school collecting tubes of Pringles. The aim was 700 individual tubes to reduce the amount of stock handled in school, plus a cash donation to match the normal contribution. The Senior Girls rose to the challenge and ended up donating 608 tubes of a total 1,503 tubes collected across the whole Foundation. The drive-in Ceremony of Carols also raised money for the same cause, and allowed the school to hand over a cheque for an additional £1,658.14!

Throughout 2020-21, pupils have also continued with their volunteering efforts. Particular mention should be made of the nine Year 13 students and 31 Year 11 pupils who completed the volunteering requirements for their Gold and Silver Duke of Edinburgh Awards during the pandemic, despite much reduced opportunities to assist in the local community.

‘Mission Christmas’ Trolley Dash Harvest Collection 2020

Urban Outreach Hamper Challenge 2019

Christmas Post Sweet Sale 2019 ‘Pringle Bells’ Hamper Challenge 2020

International Women’s Day

Two Old Girls helped current pupils to celebrate International Women’s Day in 2020 and 2021. Interestingly, the event in March 2020 turned out to be one of the last before the country went into lockdown for the first time, and in March 2021 it was one of the first for pupils returning to school after the last lockdown!

Elizabeth Newton (née Whyatt, Class of 1979) returned to inspire current students in 2020. Now Head of Professional Development at London Business School (LBS), Elizabeth reminded girls of their privileged position and stressed the importance of lifelong learning. She said there is not just one way to build a career: transferable skills offer more flexibility over a lifetime. Reflecting on her own life experiences and schooldays, Elizabeth shared her seven life lessons:

1. Continue to build your skills; be current and stay connected to society.

2. Know yourself: follow your passions and to listen to what friends and family value in you, find the ‘sweet spot’ between your strengths, your passions and what the world needs.

3. Know your worth and stand your ground: Elizabeth spoke about the wage gap between men and women, and described arguing for a pay rise while working in the City of London.

4. Do things your own way and to have the confidence to ask for what you want.

5. Be prepared to take risks or experiment: life can be a balancing act, but she has found that setting up her own business allowed her to plan her own diary to spend more time with her children.

6. Keep your balance and manage your attention; if you don’t care for yourself, you cannot care for others.

7. Build your own cheerleading group of friends and colleagues who support you and challenge your thinking: forty years on from Bolton School, Elizabeth still has schoolfriends who form this support network!

She ended by saying she had been a Direct Grant pupil who had undoubtedly benefited from a Bolton School education where she had developed a curious mind, a love of sport and volunteering and had found a group of lifelong friends. She wished girls well in their future and encouraged them to forge their own paths.

Later in the day, Elizabeth delivered a masterclass to Year 11 GCSE Business Studies pupils before chairing a round-table question and answer session with Sixth Form girls focusing on employability issues, including your skills toolkit and how to set yourself apart at interview and in applications. Elizabeth also recapped her own career after studying Business Studies and French at Loughborough. She told of her HR work in insurance, in investment banking, in setting up her

own HR Consultancy and her current work as Head of Professional Development at LBS with mature students.

International Women’s Day went virtual for 2021 with Dr Becky Smethurst (Class of 2008) joining pupils in school via Zoom. Dr Becky studies supermassive black holes and their effects on galaxies at the University of Oxford (Christ Church). She is also an ambassador for women in science and a science communicator with a successful YouTube channel. In 2020, she received the Institute of Physics Mary Somerville Medal and Prize, which recognises exceptional early career contributions to public engagement in physics.

Dr Becky gave the girls a taste of what she does, from exciting international trips visiting telescopes and taking observations, to long hours crunching numbers at her desk, to presenting her findings. She also explained some of the physics of black holes, using graphs of real data as illustration.

Dr Becky described herself as an inquisitive child who had always loved space, but admitted that it was only when she started to learn about ‘the fun stuff’ at GCSE that physics became her favourite subject. Speaking about her time at the school, she said: ‘I’m very grateful for all the knowledge I learned from the teachers at Bolton. They really do give you a rounded education and you should get as much knowledge as you can from them while you can. Everything I do, I do standing on their shoulders.’

She shared her experience of leaving school and stepping into the unknown, reassuring students that she too was terrified to make such big decisions. She also implored the girls to make mistakes, because these are the experiences that shape us: she started out in an engineering role before quickly realising it was not for her and changing course to follow her passion for space. Finally, returning to the theme of International Women’s Day, she showed her appreciation for the many supportive women around her.

In the live question and answer session that followed, pupils asked more about Dr Becky’s typical day, her favourite place to visit for work, and her advice on applying to and interviewing at Oxford University. She talked about her favourite planet and star and realism in science fiction films.

Dr Becky also spoke about overcoming imposter syndrome. She advised girls to look at everything they have achieved and realise that they are good enough. She discussed prejudice and microagressions, but focused on the fact that the people around her have always been supportive. She said that women in the scientific community acknowledge the prejudices they jointly face and band together, nominating one another for awards and being the change that they want to see. She feels encouraged to have seen positive change in just the past five years, and hopes that the fear of prejudice would never put anyone off following a career in science.

Unchanging Principles for Success

stock market rather than any pre-existing knowledge, and reminded everyone that employers prize ‘mercurial minds with clarity of thought’ and, of course, ‘bandwidth’. Julie offered some practical book recommendations (‘How to Fail’ by Elizabeth Day and ‘The Hundred Year Life’ by Lynda Gratton and Andrew Scott) and spoke eloquently about the “still frustratingly thorny” issue of gender. She did not shy away from the difficulties she faced both in her twenties at the start of her career and later combining it with motherhood, but rather offered up guidance based around her ‘unchanging principles’.

These included the assurance that ‘unprovoked rudeness and aggression in others is usually about their shortcomings not yours’ and advice to ‘remember to have some fun!’ She also advised girls to stay the course without getting stuck and called on them to teach equality to any children they might have in the future.

At the 2019 Presentation Evening, certificates and prizes were distributed by Old Girl Julie Dean (1986-1988), UK

and

who in her address offered the gathering her ‘unchanging principles’ for success and happiness in life.

She began by speaking about her time at Bolton School’s Sixth Form. In her first week, she made the decision to switch from science subjects to English and History, and ultimately went on to study History at St Anne’s College, Oxford University. She said that the experience of changing subjects taught her three valuable lessons: ‘Keep your own counsel. Do what you love. Take risks.’

Moving on to discuss her career, she gave an interesting overview of the exciting highs and lows of fund management, the ‘dynamic, alive’ nature of the stock market, and what her job actually involves. She recalled that her first job at GT Asset Management was won through persistence, intellectual curiosity and a passion to understand the

She closed her address saying, ‘My final unchanging principle in a changing world is simply, be kind.’

In her role as the guest of honour, Julie presented pupils with their certificates and prizes, and became the first person to present the Old Girls’ Association Award. Former Year 11 student Arabella BarkerSmith became the inaugural recipient of this new prize.

Mr Michael Griffiths, then Chairman of Governors, gave his report on the past academic year; this was his final Presentation Evening in the role, as he retired in December 2019. Miss Hincks, then Headmistress, also congratulated pupils not only on their remarkable examination success at GCSE and A Level, but also their wealth of extra-curricular triumphs. The evening also included several musical elements: Siân Rowlands (Class of 2019) sang ‘Still Hurting’ from the musical ‘The Last Five Years’ by Jason Robert Brown, and the audience sang the School Song, supported by the Middle School Choir, as well as ‘I Vow To Thee, My Country’ and ‘Jerusalem’.

Fund Manager

Director at Sanditon Asset Management,

Local MP visits Bolton School

Bolton School welcomed the new MP for Bolton North East, Mark Logan, to school-both in person and virtually-over the course of the 2019-20 academic year. Mark visited school at the end of January. He met with Sixth Form pupils in the Riley Centre and spoke with them about his new role.

In June, Mark hosted a Zoom call for 47 pupils in both divisions. He explained his role on the Science and Technology Committee, as well as his route to becoming an MP (via a role as a Foreign Office diplomat, based in Shanghai).

As a ‘backbench’ MP for the governing Conservative Party, Mark’s roles are to take part in legislation, represent his constituents living in Bolton North East, and hold the government to account, particularly on issues of Science and Technology.

He was asked a variety of questions, from the government’s current policy on combatting the Coronavirus, to votes at 16. The most challenging question, which Mark described as ‘a real curveball’ was ‘Which previous Prime Minister best captures your approach to politics?’ In response, he referenced several former office holders, including Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher.

Mark was very impressed by the calibre of pupils in Years 11, 12 and 13.

Social Psychology and Politics Post Year 13

“I recently completed a Open University course on Social Psychology and Politics which explored the role of identity, personality and culture with regard to political action. I studied how psychologists themselves can be activists and what we mean when we refer to ‘good citizenship’ in Western societies. I chose to enrol in this course as I was interested in how our individual personalities can affect our role in society, as well as our political views. The course introduced me to social identity approaches that look at the ways in which our behaviour relates to the groups we belong to, and highlight the importance of shared social identities when understanding collective political action, such as political protests. During this course I also learned about social constructionist approaches, that focus on how we construct and create our social worlds that we then use to inform us on what political action we should take. Overall this course was very interesting as it allowed me to develop a deeper understanding of how our personal and social identities can influence our political activism, both on an individual and group level.”

Cassia Drummond

If the Cap Fits...

The Shows Must Go On

Emilia

For the first three months of 2021, pupils in Years 10 and 11 produced a rehearsed reading of Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s groundbreaking, Olivier Award-winning play ‘Emilia’. In April, they shared this with audiences over Zoom.

‘Emilia’ tells the tale of Emilia Bassano. Though much of her story has been erased from history, Emilia is thought to be the ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s sonnets. However, she was so much more than just the Bard’s muse and this play seeks to bring to light her untold story. A woman of North African descent, Emilia transcended the prejudices of the 16th and 17th centuries. Though she was betrayed, abandoned and spurned by those she loved, and grieved the loss of a child, she dedicated herself to caring for the most vulnerable in society and produced a prodigious amount of verse to champion the cause of women at a time when it was not fashionable to do so.

In their introduction to Act One, the girls said: “Our exploration of this play has led us to wonder whether times have changed all that much. There can be no doubt that some of the sentiments expressed here

resonate with us today. Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s play has troubled, challenged and inspired us in equal measure.’

The cast also faced the challenge of putting together a performance under the restrictions of Covid. Though they had a brief spell in school before Christmas, much of the rehearsal process was interrupted by lockdown and had to take place online. When pupils finally returned to school, a combination of in-person and Zoom rehearsals became essential. The cast tackled unforeseen absences with aplomb. The girls never lost their enthusiasm and were willing to go the extra mile to share Emilia’s story.

The performance was streamed online across two nights: the first act aired on the day of Shakespeare’s birth and death, 23 April, with the second act following the day after.

The cast and crew in School are particularly grateful to Mr Harris, a Technical Director and Online Specialist who volunteered his services, expertise and countless hours to arrange the recordings of the performance so that parents and friends could enjoy ‘Emilia’ despite Covid restrictions.

The 2020-21 programme of drama productions was unfortunately affected by the pandemic. Shackled by Covid-19 in terms of delivering a standard play and inviting a live audience into school, the Girls’ Division was still determined to come up with creative and

Parr for the Course

In September 2020, three casts were chosen from Years 7, 8 and 9 to allow girls to rehearse while maintaining year group bubbles. All three recordings were released simultaneously on YouTube in December. Miss Talbot said:

“ We are proud of the students involved. They sustained a positive attitude throughout the process even during periods of self-isolation, when it was necessary to access rehearsals remotely for weeks at a time. During the final stages of the process and the recording sessions, the cast and crew worked with extraordinary levels of focus, commitment and maturity to master the material as well as the new technologies at play.

adaptive ways to perform. Miss Talbot organised two productions: a radio drama in the autumn term, followed by a rehearsed reading in May which was shared on Zoom.

Performing Shakespeare

Girls enjoyed plenty of success at the English Speaking Union’s Performing Shakespeare Competition in 2021. Sadly the conclusion of the 2020 competition was cancelled due to Covid, so in addition to the Years 7-9 competition there was a legacy contest for Year 10 students.

‘‘Parr for the Course’ charts the rise and fall and rise again of women’s football over the past 100 years. As members of Bolton School Girls’ Division, we were inspired by the lives and legacies of the Dick, Kerr Ladies - a munitions factory team based in Preston. We would know very little about this extraordinary team if it wasn’t for the pioneering work of Gail Newsham, author of ‘In A League of their Own’. We are very grateful for her fascinating account, which has proved a touchstone throughout the planning and rehearsal process.” Girls also enjoyed an exclusive webinar with Belinda Scarlett, Curator of Women’s Football at the National Football Museum, which increased their understanding of the history of women’s football.

In the Years 7-9 Regional Final, Eva Hurst and Du’a Qedwai achieved third and fourth place and received Judges’ Commendations. In the Year 10 Regional Final, all of the Girls’ Division entries were selected to go through to the Grand Final: Lola Rigby, Charlie Lowe and Safa Karim went on to perform their speeches live over Zoom for a panel of judges. The panel heartily congratulated all of the competitors. Jacqui O’Hanlon, Director of Education at the Royal Shakespeare Company, commended Charlie Lowe for her sensitive and joyful portrayal of Helena from ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’. Emma Smith, Professor of Shakespearean Studies at the University of Oxford, also commended Lola Rigby for her standout performance. However, it was Safa Karim who won the sole runner up award for her highly nuanced characterisation of Phebe from ‘As You Like It’!

As You Like It

A cast of 22 pupils in Years 7, 8 and 9 from Bolton School Girls’ Division produced an impressive interpretation of Shakespeare’s comedy ‘‘As You Like It’ in early December 2019. Director of Theatre Studies Miss Talbot said: “The girls are to be congratulated on their dynamic production; they have tackled this tricky text with aplomb,

unveiling the farcical situation, which lies at the heart of this pastoral comedy, with high levels of skill and enthusiasm. Thanks go to all involved but particularly the cast who are to be commended for maintaining a positive and purposeful approach during both rehearsals and the run.”

In the Spring Term of 2020, rehearsals were well under way for a production of The Rivals but the performance had to be cancelled due to the Covid-19 outbreak.

Photos form the rehearsals can be seen here.

Music Festival 2020

The annual Music Festival was a wonderful opportunity for young musicians in the Girls’ Division to showcase their talents and share their love of making music. Across two days, pupils filled the Arts Centre with pieces from a wide range of genres and styles, from the classical to the contemporary.

The difficult task of choosing a winner in each of the eighteen classes fell to adjudicator Philip Dewhurst, former Director of Music at Cheadle Hulme School. He and Mr Lovatt, the Girls’ Division Director of Music, were both impressed with all of the musicians’ efforts. The winners were invited to play at a Celebration Concert in the Arts Centre.

The evening began with a performance of Bach’s ‘Herzlich Tut Mich Verlangen BWV.727’ from Marie Poon (Year 11, Organ). With a total of five piano classes, the rest of the programme was interspersed with pianists playing a variety of pieces: Catherine Xi (Year 8, Novice Piano) played ‘The Enchanted Garden’ by Strecke; Madeleine Hornby (Year 7, Year 7 Piano Grade 1-3) played ‘Lesson in C’ by Diabelli; Sofia Riaz (Year 7, Middle School Piano) played ‘A Walk at Strumble Head’ by Balch; Gabriella Ferris-Koussa (Year 8, Year 8/9 Piano Grade 1-3) played ‘The Clown and The Ballerina’ by Crosland; and Lucy Stiles (Year 13, Senior School Piano) played ‘Xianggelila’ by Zhang Nan.

There were two clarinet performances: Hannah McKee (Year 10, Senior Woodwind) played ‘Romanza’ by Poulenc while Emily Bowden (Year 7, Middle School Woodwind Grade 5+) played ‘In Rhythm No.3’ by Templeton. Flautist Lydia Simpson (Year 7, Middle School Woodwind Grade 1-4) played Tchaikovsky’s ‘Dance of the Mirlitons’, cellist Sally Cowling (Year 13, Senior School Strings) performed ‘Julie-O’ by Summer and violinist Alice Edwards (Year 9, Middle School Strings) played Mozart’s 5th Violin Concerto, 1st Mvt, Theme. Eve Birtwhistle (Year 12, Senior School Vocal) sang ‘Amore and Moret’ by Donzetti.

The concert also featured a number of familiar hits from films, musicals and the charts. Lola Rigby (Year 9, Middle School Vocal) sang ‘Part of Your World’ from The Little Mermaid and Mia Slater (Year 9, Middle School Vocal) sang ‘Make You Feel My Love’ by Dylan. Grace Northcott (Year 9, Middle School Brass) played ‘Tightrope’ from The Greatest Showman on the cornet. Roxy Asumu (Year 12, Open Mic) performed Childish Gambino’s ‘Redbone’ while double act Grace Collins and Taya Panter (Year 11, Ensemble) sang ‘What is This Feeling’ from Wicked. The concert was brought to a spectacular close by drummer Millie Ashton (Year 11, Percussion) playing ‘Heathens’ by Twenty One Pilots.

Emily Rajbhandari in Year 13 was the Senior School Brass winner.

The wonderful and varied performances at the Celebration Concert made this event the perfect end to the school’s celebration of its musical talent.

A Musical Lineup 2019-20

The school year got off to an exciting start with the Year 7 concert. After only a few weeks in Senior School the new Year 7 students produced a high energy performance, singing a selection of songs from the hit musical ‘Matilda’. The concert also featured soloists on a variety of instruments playing music from many different styles and genres. It was an excellent first public concert from our youngest students in the Senior School.

The second half of the Autumn term was extremely busy and featured a whole host of different musical events. These included the Recital Evening, Old Girls’ Lunch, the Armistice service and the Autumn concert. The highlight of this term was an extremely exciting opportunity for the Middle School Choir. During November, the choir were invited to perform at the Girls’ School Association annual conference which this year was held in Bristol. As part of the conference the Middle School Choir sang at St Mary Redcliffe, as part of the conference service, performing an anthem and leading the hymns. After a quick dash across Bristol and a short rehearsal, the choir then performed for the delegates as the evening’s entertainment at the Gala Dinner. Performing to a room full of headteachers could have been quite intimidating but the choir showed no signs of nerves, giving an outstanding performance. A particularly moving rendition of ‘Be Still My Soul’ was met with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. All the girls involved were a credit to the school and the musicianship they displayed far exceeded their age and experience.

With the end of term fast approaching, rehearsals started in earnest for the Christmas season. The traditional Ceremony of Carols was a moving service at which the Middle School Choir, Senior Choir and Chamber

Choir sang beautifully. The choirs led the congregational singing with vigour and performed a variety of songs from across the seasonal repertoire. The end of term was greeted with the whole school in full voice, finishing with the uplifting ‘Adeste Fideles’ to send everyone home for the holidays in excellent spirits.

The new year started with the annual Music Festival, featuring a programme bursting at the seams. Performances came from pupils across the senior school and covered a variety of different classes. Two full days of performances were followed up by the prize winners’ concert in the Great Hall at which some incredible talent was on display. Our Head Girl, Lucy Stiles, was awarded the Carter Cup and Millie Ashton (Y11) received the Most Promising Musician award.

Although at the time we had no idea, the Music Festival ended up as the last ‘live’ performance event of the academic year. Since ‘going online’ we have been getting used to a new way of music making. Although our expected calendar of events for the Spring and Summer terms came to an abrupt end, students across the Girls’ Division have continued to make and share music. The Year 7 and 8 Celebration Evening at the end of the summer was an online event this year. Students from across both year groups submitted performances in advance, producing excellent results. The staff in the music department have been amazed by the dedication and perseverance students have shown to their musical studies whilst working under lockdown. Having said that, we finished the year very much looking forward to getting back to rehearsing and performing as soon as we can.

Mr Lovatt, Director of Music

Making Music 2020-21

The Girls’ Division did not let the global pandemic stand in the way of making some wonderful music and sharing it with an audience of friends and family members throughout the 2020-21 academic year. Though in-person events were still curtailed by Covid rules for much of the year, the Music Department and young musicians worked hard to ensure that performances went ahead virtually.

The Autumn term’s musical events were recorded in advance. The musicians were filmed individually in school and their performances were knitted together to be shared on YouTube. The Year 7 Virtual Concert was recorded after just six weeks in school and featured the Senior School’s youngest musicians showing the range of their talents. The Autumn Concert went ahead in the midst of Lockdown 2.0 and featured performances on the piano, violin and clarinet as well as singers.

The traditional Ceremony of Carols in December is a memorable occasion every year. After a difficult and largely socially-distanced year, the Girls’ Division was determined to make it extra-special while maintaining Covid-safe protocols and so, for the first time ever, in 2020 the Ceremony of Carols became a drive-in experience! 75 cars parked in the Girls’ Division Quad, which had been decorated in stunning lights for the occasion, and spectators remained in their vehicles while the school’s socially distanced choirs sang through the open windows on B

Corridor. Thoughtful festive readings and soloists’ performances took place outside. Traditions continued throughout this truly atmospheric evening with the Chamber Choir singing ‘Hodie’, the Accidentals performing ‘Jesus Christ the Apple Tree’ and of course the usual rendition of ‘Three Kings from Persian Lands Afar’. The audience was encouraged to join in singing the carols within their cars, and at the end they showed their appreciation with much tooting of horns and flashing of headlights!

Although the New Year brought more restrictions, once again the Music Department rose to the occasion. An end-of-lockdown Spring Recital featured performances recorded at home by pupils in Years 7 to 13, showcasing the hard work of Girls’ Division musicians whilst away from school.

In the Summer term the school embraced new technology and for the first time in the Girls’ Division concerts were livestreamed via YouTube. The May Serenade featured three choirs, one ensemble and fifteen soloists: the winners of the Girls’ Division Music Festival 2021, which took place in April. This was a wonderful opportunity for the school’s musicians to perform for a live audience. The Years 7 and 8 Celebration Concert was also livestreamed in June with the girls singing an uplifting programme of pop hits and musical favourites to bring the school’s musical year to a close.

Music Festival Winners 2021

Millie

Emily

Caitlin

Madeleine Hornby Middle School Piano Grade 1-3

Summer Kay Senior School Wind Grade 6+

Cheryl Khoo Middle School Piano Grade 1-3

Estelle Pass Senior School Piano Grade 5+

Sofia Riaz Middle School Piano Grade 4+

Emma Seddon Senior School Wind

Highly Commended:

Lily Ma Middle School Wind Grade 5+

Trinity

Name

Exam Results Spring 2020

Ishaani Singh

Adithi Prasad

Tilly Watkinson

Isabella Hurst

Sophie Hann

Piano Merit

Piano Merit

Piano Merit

Piano Merit

Gabriella Ferris-Koussa 3 Piano Distinction

Eesha Dhaygude 1 Piano Distinction

Harshini Madhu Shankar 1 Piano Distinction

Olivia Stubbs 5 Violin Pass

Anushka Kishore 2 Violin Distinction

Eva Hurst 4 Singing Distinction

Gabriella Ferris-Koussa 4 Singing Merit

Faye Clarkson 4 Singing Pass

Jemima Stubbs 4 Singing Pass

Freya Marland 3 Singing Pass

Tilly Watkinson 2 Singing Merit

Ashriya Fernando 2 Singing Merit

Laila Westwood 2 Singing Pass

Sianna Tamlin 1 Singing Distinction

Ella Walker 1 Singing Merit

Imice Ashworth-Alonso 1 Singing Merit

Isabella Hurst Initial Singing Distinction

Eva Roebuck Initial Singing Distinction

Megan Fung 5 Violin Merit

Samia Patel 2 Piano Distinction

Gaone Motsamai 1 Piano Distinction

Sophia Cail 1 Piano Distinction

Amelia Quinton Taylor 1 Piano Merit

Iha Shashikumar 1 Piano Merit

Ogechukwu Umeadi Initial Piano Distinction

Amaira Jaidka Initial Piano Distinction

Helena Lintott 6 Cello Pass

Krupa Patel 3 Euphonium ABSENT

Amy Heaton 3 Piano Merit

Iksimar Kaur Initial Piano Merit

Grace Collins 3 Piano Merit

Bethany Green 3 Singing Below Pass Emily Rajbhandari 8 Euphonium Merit

ABRSM Exam Results Autumn 2019

Name

Tilly Morris

Mia Owen

Nikita Luhar

Kate Beirne

Cheryll Khoo

Emma Seddon

Suzanna Simmonite

Lydia Simpson

Hui Shan Wen

Uma Patel

Sana Riaz

ABRSM Exam Results Spring 2020

Name

Grade Instrument Result

Sally Cowling 8 Cello Distinction

Tavleen Kaur

Violin Pass

Amishi Mahesh 2 Violin Pass

Freya Marland 1 Trumpet Merit

Evie Morris 1 Trumpet Merit

Hannah Mckee 7 Saxophone Merit

Eleanor Haighton 8 Flute Merit

Hannah Chen 1 Flute Merit

Zara Burgess 1 Flute Merit

Emily Lecky 1 Flute Merit

Evie Done Jackson 2 Flute Merit

Sophia Cail 2 Flute Merit

Natasha Houghton 2 Flute Pass

Bing Yu Wang 4 Flute Distinction

Kareena Ingh 4 Flute Pass

Hannah Faulkner 2 Saxophone Merit

Niamh Woodward 5 Piano Pass

Abigai Babicki 1 Piano Distinction

Marie Poon 5 Organ Distinction

Estelle Pass 7 Organ Distinction

Isabelle Mccarren 1 Piano Pass

Kate Beirne 3 Violin Merit

Suzanna Simmonite 3 Piano Merit

Mia Owen 4 Piano Distinction

Trinity Exam Results Autumn 2019

Name

Grade Instrument Result

Victoria Wong 7 Piano Merit

Charlotte Hothersall 3 Piano Distinction

Matilda McCann 3 Piano Merit

Lucy Stiles 8 Piano Distinction

Emma Arnison 3 Piano Distinction

Amelia Stringfellow 2 Piano Distinction

Hannah Chen 1 Piano Distinction

Abigail Phoenix Initial Piano Distinction

Madeleine Bodger 6 Saxophone Distinction

Maya Parmar 6 Saxophone Distinction

Sana Riaz 6 Violin Merit

Angie Vasanth 1 Singing Distinction

Vanessa Wong 5 Piano Merit

Emilie Reilly 5 Piano Pass

Nikita Luhar 4 Piano Distinction

Du'a Qedwai 3 Piano Distinction

Zara Kadva 3 Piano Distinction

Hannah Adamopoulos

Piano Merit

Freya Wood 3 Piano Merit

Florence Kenny Initial Piano Distinction

Flute Merit

Clarinet Pass

Cello Pass

Piano Merit

Anjali Kishore Initial Piano Distinction

Ishana Wahie Initial Piano Distinction

Alana Bootle Initial Piano Distinction

Amy Heaton 2 Piano Distinction

Amy Heaton 1 Cornet Distinction

Music Exam Results 2020-21

Name Instrument Grade Board Result

Estelle Pass

Piano 8 Trinity Distinction

Victoria Wong Piano 8 Trinity Distinction

Charlotte Hothersall Piano 4 Trinity Distinction

Nicola Shaw Piano 6 Trinity Merit

Alexia Howarth Piano 4 Trinity Distinction

Ishaani Singh Piano 6 Trinity Distinction

Tilly Watkinson Piano 4 Trinity Distinction

Lucia Baker Piano 1 Trinity Distinction

Amy Heaton Piano 4 Trinity Merit

Eva Hurst Piano 4 Trinity Distinction

Zara Caswell

Piano Initial Trinity Distinction (Full Marks 100%)

Disha Challa Piano Initial Trinity Distinction

Marissa Hollinghurst

Piano 6 Trinity Distinction

Molly Neville Piano 2 Trinity Distinction

Isabella Hurst Piano 1 Trinity Distinction

Gabriella Chan Piano Initial Trinity Distinction

Avni Patel Piano Initial Trinity Distinction

Prakruti Padakai Piano Initial Trinity Distinction

Kya Patel Piano Initial Trinity Distinction

Abigail Babicki

Piano 2 ABRSM Distinction

Eli Collins Piano 5 Trinity Distinction

Trinity Niamh Woodward Piano 6 ABRSM Merit

Molly Wilkinson Piano Initial Trinity Distinction

Sienna Patel Piano 1 Trinity Distinction

Sofia Patel Piano 1 Trinity Distinction

Isabella Heywood Piano 1 Trinity Distinction

Anjali Kishore Piano 1 Trinity Distinction

Amaira Jaidka Piano 2 Trinity Merit

Evie Done-Jackson Piano 2 Trinity Distinction

Anushka Kishore Piano 3 Trinity Distinction

Nikita Luhar Piano 5 Trinity Merit

Sofia Riaz Piano 6 Trinity Distinction

Eesha Dhaygude Piano 2 Trinity Distinction

Eva Liu Piano 3 Trinity Distinction

Resistant Materials & Product Design 2019/20

A Level Product Design:

Ella Kaut-Howson

Compact storage - Mini wardrobe for dancers’ clothing and accessories

Carla Law

Compact storage - LP storage with moveable sections

AS Product Design:

Elspeth Harper

Chosen context - Children’s slide, featuring educational counting and matching activities

GCSE D&T:

Katie Burgess

Working towards a sustainable future - Bookshelf with decorative LEDs, made with bamboo

Amelia Morton

A high-profile activity or occasion - Bottle holder as a centrepiece at an dinner event

Ajwa Mukhtarr

Providing a safe and comfortable homeHanging shelf unit for ornaments

Working towards a sustainable future - Games box housing educational activities, made with bamboo and recycled parts

Vanessa Wong

A high-profile activity or occasionKey storage for use at an event venue

Katie Schaffel

PPE visor production in BSGD D&T department.

Once lockdown happened and it became apparent that the NHS were struggling to equip staff with PPE, Miss Hincks gave Miss Langley permission to work in the D&T department to laser cut parts for face visors. By producing ‘kits’, Miss Langley was able to enlist a team of volunteers to carry out the visor assembling stage. By the end of the summer term 2020, 508 visors had been laser cut by the Bolton School Girls’ Division D&T department and assembled by a group of brilliant staff and student volunteers: Miss Langley, Mr Ball, Mrs Walsh, Mrs Worsley, Shreya Kamath, Maimoona Ganchi, Roxanne Asumu, and Jess and Amelia Crompton. These volunteers collected the visor kits from school and washed and assembled the visors at home. After making contact with a variety of local NHS and key worker situations in need of this type of PPE, visors were delivered by the volunteers and some very grateful messages came through to Miss Hincks and Miss Langley. Well done to all those involved, for volunteering your time and skills!

Sophie Patel Mia Neil

Amelie Duncalf

Amelia Crompton

Ruby Farrington

Anya Withington

Safa Hasan

Robyn Hutchings

Molly Grimshaw Du’a Qedwai

Y10

for elderly users Y7

Aafiyah Gani

Ruby Hurt

Lamp made by Elena Bartalotta

Scarlet Mathews Shaili Khimani

Harriet Dickens

GCSE D&T: Jigsaws and pillbox made by Year 10 pupils.

Amaarah Patel

Hannah Faulkner

Lucy Pickett

Mia Carter

Sienna Barlow

Sofia Riaz

Art 2020-21

Ivy Zheng

Cheryll Khoo

Laiba Yasin

Grace Griffin

Helen Huang

Prisha Patel

Saffiya Mohamed

Tia Fitzgerald

Horsfall Art Competition

A portrait by Sixth Form student Emilie Fielding has been named a winner in The Horsfall’s 2020 Art Competition. The competition, which opened for submissions during the Covid-19 lockdown, was on the theme of portraits. The website reads: ‘through recent events we’ve had limited contact with others and we want to celebrate coming back together with an exhibition of people.’

Emilie was encouraged to enter by her art teachers because of her recent projects looking into portraiture and the artist Afarin Sajedi. She said: ‘I originally looked into the artist and created the piece through my investigation into Transformation. Afarin Sajedi creates large, acrylic, surrealist portraits and so I decided on a large canvas to paint a portrait in the style of her work, which included changing the proportions of the face and painting in acrylic.’

Her striking portrait of a ‘mushroom lady’ was named one of six winners by the Horsfall creative agents. Emilie received £100 of Fred Aldous vouchers and her piece has been included in an online and public exhibition.

YPO Art Competition

Two Year 12 girls at Bolton School Girls’ Division have won first and second place in the 2021 YPO Art Competition. Overcoming hundreds of entries from across the country, Muryum Binte Fahad won the overall competition and Georgia Barnes placed second.

The winning prize included £250 for the School Art Department to spend with YPO, which offers products and services to schools, charities and local authorities. The Sixth Form girls also received a hamper of art goodies and colouring pencils.

Passing on his congratulations, Nicholas Moore of YPO said: ‘The two students are a true credit to their school and this is the first time we’ve had a winner and runner up from the same school –they are really talented artists!’

Sharina Tavakolynik

Nikita Luhar

Mira Chang

Art 2020-21

Zaynah Atcha

Sophie Chan

Pip Nuttall

Bethany Green Sophie Chan Catherine Xi

Uzaina Malik

Elena Bartalotta

Burke Summer

Elizabeth Williamson

Emilie Reilly

Frankie Williams-Denton

Zena Miller

Mariam Seedat

Humairah Thagia

MFL Debating Competition 2019:

BSGD

French & Spanish Teams Triumphant!

The Year 13 French and Spanish teams comprising Imane Nagi and Emma Sellwood (French) and Charleigh Adams and Lizzie Crowther (Spanish) emerged triumphant from the North West Regional MFL Debating Competition held at Cheadle Hulme School in November 2019.

In the final Imane and Emma faced tough competition from The King’s School, Macclesfield having beaten Manchester High in the semi-final. Altrincham Grammar School for Girls proved no match for Charleigh and Lizzie in the semi-final, but it was victory over the Boys’ Division which was the icing on the cake. Although the girls did say that the ride back to school in the mini-bus was a little awkward!

The girls received a range of prizes as well as their trophies which included work experience opportunities in this country and abroad courtesy of the Alliance Française sponsors of the French competition. The French Institute in London also organise a National French debating final (Joutes Oratoires) to which the girls were invited. Unfortunately,

due to Covid-related restrictions the competition had to be cancelled and so Imane and Emma were not able to show their prowess in the two motions which they had been preparing:

• «Lire des contes de fées est mauvais pour les enfants » (Reading fairy tales is bad for children)

• « Les Oscars, Baftas et Césars devraient comprendre des quotas obligatoires pour les minorités. » (Oscars, Baftas and Césars nominations should have compulsory quotas for minorities)

We are looking forward to retaining our titles in next year’s competition which will be have a different format - a series of knockout debates conducted via ZOOM!

Pictures of Imane & Emma with Léana our French assistant and Charleigh & Lizzie with Nuria our Spanish assistant.

Francovision

For Francovision 2020, we had all The bare necessities covered: the song choices, the actions, the props, the costumes and the dance routines. And then A whole new world hit us, so we had to Let it go. But, as the Year 7 and their French teachers had worked so hard to get it all done, we thought: Why not do this virtually? So, it’s back to the start, just like The circle of life… And as you watch each performance, ask yourself: Can you feel the love tonight?

Hopefully by now, you will have guessed that this year’s theme was Disney. In 2020, Francovision also coincided with the 50th anniversary of Francophonie, an organisation which was created in 1970 to promote the cultures of its members which all had one thing in common: the French language. Since then, Francophonie has evolved into a global organisation whose numerous branches cooperate with its member states in the field of culture, science, economy, justice and peace. One of its missions remain to promote French language and cultural and linguistic diversity. Just like the MFL department at BSGD!

Sixth Form French Day

In January 2020, our A-level French students enjoyed their annual Journée française, led by guest speaker Richard Peltier. Conducted in French throughout, the day provided students with plenty of opportunities to practise their listening and speaking skills whilst exploring a range of topics relevant to their studies.

With Year 12, Richard talked about the diversity of French-speaking music, new family types and ‘the seventh art’, cinema in the Frenchspeaking world. Year 13 students discussed the cultural heritage of the French-speaking world and whether this is a benefit or a disadvantage, if prison is a good or bad solution and teenagers’ views on the right to vote and their political commitment.

Throughout the day, students were invited to answer questions, debate with each other and Richard and react to quotes and videos.

The Sixth Formers enjoyed the day, which provided them a lot of very useful material for revision. The experience also gave them confidence as they were able to keep up with a whole day of lectures delivered in French.

Year 11 Perspective

Katie Riggs & Ani Sastry

Despite the disappointment of our GCSEs being cancelled, we were given a unique opportunity to get a flavour of what new, exciting topics we will be studying on our MFL A-level courses, giving us a good headstart for when we begin Year 12 in September. Our lessons have been really enjoyable, with a good balance between new, interesting topics and revising the Grammar points. Most memorably, we have studied the Netflix show ‘Las Chicas del Cable’, the story of four women who gain jobs at the first national telephone company in 1920’s Spain, which has greatly improved our listening skills and also inspired us to explore more of the culture of the Spanish Speaking world. Overall, it has been great to be able to continue our language studies during these unprecedented times and has made us really excited for the new experiences and opportunities that A-levels will present.

Year 13 Perspectives

Charleigh Adams

Learning to teach at BSGD

If you had told me when I was a student here at Bolton School that I would return as an MFL Trainee Teacher, I never would have believed you. This past year I have been training to teach MFL as part of the National Modern Languages SCITT with BSGD as my main placement school. I thoroughly enjoyed coming back as an Old Girl and being able to share my passion for languages with the current pupils.

Previously, I studied French, Spanish and Italian at the University of Liverpool where I was able to study abroad in Spain and Italy. After completing my degree, I moved to Italy to teach English as a foreign language. After a year over there eating my way through all the culinary delights Italy had to offer, I studied an MA in Translation and Interpreting at the University of Manchester, which made me realise how much I missed teaching.

Having been able to learn from some of the amazing teachers I had whilst I was here has been wonderful. In addition to teaching some delightful students, I’ve also had the opportunity to share my experiences of living abroad with Y11 and Y12, as well as offer an Italian taster session to Y11 pupils. Studying languages was the best decision I ever made, and I hope that all pupils who are reading this will go on to love languages as much as I have.

Miss Keegan, Summer 2020

Learning through lockdown has certainly been different but nevertheless the new style of education has put forward many new interesting avenues to explore. Based on the recommendation of the Languages department I subscribed to a four week online translation course provided by the University of Cardiff. Translation has always been a more challenging aspect of studying languages but the course, delivered by leading lecturers, has shown me that translation is far more than just conveying a message from a text or speech: it also requires a nuanced skill to convey key cultural messages. An easier activity for pre-University learning has been discovering many fascinating foreign books and films - the vast resources online and on the television provide an easy way to improve your language and cultural knowledge. At the moment I am reading ‘Entre les Murs’ by François Bégaudeau; I would highly recommend this novel which delves into the reality of Parisian high schools and the challenges faced by both teachers and students.

Ella Kaut-Howson

The post A Level education that the MFL department has offered has not only helped me to remain motivated to learn, but also to broaden my knowledge of language in general and build on the skill of learning new languages from scratch. Having the opportunity to be taught both beginner-level Portuguese, and beginner-level Italia, has hugely benefitted my skillset as a student of languages, and further prepared me for studying French and Arabic at university, the latter ab initio. Lauren-Rae McGann

One of my favourite courses has been Portuguese, which is completely new to me. It has been a while since I started learning a new language, so it has been both refreshing and interesting. In addition, I have valued the opportunity to present on aspects of Spanish and Southern American culture, society and politics. I chose to speak on women’s rights in Spain as well as the Amazon rainforest.

World Challenge

In the summer of 2019, fifteen Sixth Form girls travelled to Cambodia on a World Challenge expedition. This ‘trip of a lifetime’ was designed to build the skills young people need to live a life of

PHNOM PENH

After a gruelling journey of more than 30 hours, we finally reached Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s capital. We attended a workshop to help us acclimatise to the culture of Cambodia, find out how to be responsible travellers and pick up some of the Cambodian language, Khmer. We explored the night markets, trying exotic fruits and seeing other foods like deep-fried scorpion, which none of us were brave enough to try. In the scorching sun, we visited the Grand Palace and the Silver Pagoda, home to the King of Cambodia. In a day of contrasting halves, we also had an eye-opening experience at the killing fields and the S-21 museum, where we learnt about the tragic history of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge. The next day, we began the eight-hour coach journey to Banlung.

FIRST TREK

The first trek was definitely the most challenging but we pulled through as a team and completed it.

An amazing boat ride to the jungle left us in awe of the scenery that Cambodia had to offer. The first day was then spent walking in very hot conditions, so spirits weren’t particularly high when we arrived at camp. However, the chance to swim in a waterfall soon lightened the mood. Unfortunately, our luxuriouslooking hammocks were not very comfy!

After a very difficult trek, we got back onto a bus for seven more hours of travel to reach Siem Reap.

COMMUNITY PROJECT

courage, kindness and adventure. Students were accompanied by Mrs Entwistle and Mrs Furey. Their report on their experiences follows:

SIEM REAP

The group’s community project was based in a small village two hours north of Siem Reap. It was here that we had the opportunity to be both teachers and builders for several days.

In pairs, we attempted to teach the children English, art, geography, music and games. The classrooms were very basic with no equipment other than a book and pencil. We therefore had to be imaginative and creative in our teaching methods.

We also had the delightful task of moving 11,457 bricks, taking care to avoid the scorpions! Then we were asked to dig. Our aim was to help build new foundations for the library block, which were fantastic … until we were told we had dug them in the wrong place!

We slept in a homestay above a local family and were fed some interesting food. Portions were rather small (for example a four-egg omelette between 18 people) and snake was on the menu one night. However, we were made to feel very welcome by the community and were invited to the temple to be blessed by a Buddhist monk. This part of our expedition was fantastic.

SECOND TREK

Very few of us were excited about the prospect of another trek in the jungle after our community project but we were all pleasantly surprised by the experience.

On the first day, we toured a temple ruin and then climbed the Kulen mountain. The view at the top was spectacular as much of the land in Cambodia is flat so you could see for miles. That night we camped in tents which were definitely an upgrade from hammocks.

The next day we trekked through the jungle and cashew plantations, seeing giant animal statues and the occasional temple along the way, and at night we swam in a clear river and ate a barbecue of traditional Cambodian food.

On the final day we travelled to a waterfall and visited a Buddhist temple on our way down from the mountain. We were all sad to wave goodbye to the mountain and our guide, but we were also ready to get back into the pool at the hotel!

This part of the trip – hailed ‘the R&R phase’ – had been a light at the end of the tunnel for most of the group. We spent the rest of the day lounging by the brown water of the hotel pool before heading out to the night markets in the evening.

The next day, some went back to the markets, others got £3 manicures, and two girls visited the silk farm on the outskirts of the city with Mrs Entwistle. In the evening, the whole team travelled to the temple complex of Angkor Wat in order to watch the sunrise from the central structure. We missed the sunrise but at least we got some good photos! We spent the last day exploring the massive site. For our final meal we returned to the Sky Bar, which provided the poshest food we had eaten in Cambodia.

WHAT WE LEARNT

The workshop at the start of the trip and the community project taught us all how lucky we are to have teachers who actually teach us, and the workshop also taught us how to be a responsible traveller. The most shocking thing in this talk was the fact that not all volunteer work is helpful and the fact that places such as orphanages are purposefully made to look uninhabitable so that we’ll donate more money which is then not put back into the community.

The whole trip gave us a real overview of the culture of Cambodia, which no one in the group had experienced before.

Girls’ Gold and Silver

Despite the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic, a significant number of Girls’ Division pupils completed their Duke of Edinburgh Awards at Gold and Silver level in 2021.

In Year 13, nine girls completed the full requirements of the Volunteering, Physical and Skills sections of the Award. This was no easy task in the midst of lockdown, especially for the volunteering section! Seven girls also managed to complete the four-day Expedition and five-day Residential sections that form part of the Gold Award. Shreya Kamath and Fatima Naeem wisely completed those sections in 2020, ahead of tackling the rest of the Award requirements, while Aaliyah Bax, Katie Couriel, Ashley Sprott, Elizabeth Warburton and Sanjana Vijaya-Kumar achieved theirs in 2021. These girls will receive the full Gold Award for their efforts. Ella Harkness and Olivia Stubbs were unfortunately unable to complete their Expedition and Residential due to the pandemic, but will receive the Gold Certificate of Achievement for completing all other sections, which is still an impressive achievement.

In Year 11, three girls completed their full Silver Duke of Edinburgh Award before the summer of 2021: Hollie Asquith, Ruby Broughton and Blake Owens managed to go on their biking expedition despite

the challenges posed by the pandemic. A further sixteen were working towards completing their walking expedition in the summer term to also receive the full Silver Award. Twelve girls were awarded the Silver Certificate for completing the all aspects of their Duke of Edinburgh Award apart from the Expedition.

Congratulations to all the Year 11 pupils who have achieved the Silver Awards or Certificate: Khadijah Ahmed, Ananya Ajit, Fatima Bagas, Martha Brennan, Lauren Bunting, Kelly Chae, Rosemary Crowther, Amelie Duncalf, Isabella Grainger, Molly Holt, Divya Kallat, Mia Kitching, Isabella Li, Anika Maini, Jessica Martin, Hannah McKee, Halimah Natha, Shriya Pindoria, Millie Price, Alicia Quinton Taylor, Teja Reece, Elizabeth Rogers, Lucy Sackfield, Saba Salim, Avneet Singh, Kareena Singh, Humairah Thagia and Alara Unsal.

Briefly looking back at the 2019-20 academic year, the outstanding efforts of the school’s Duke of Edinburgh Bronze, Silver and Gold Award participants should also be recognised, particularly because the usual celebration of students’ community action could not take place in March 2020. Between 1 April 2019 and 31 March 2020, pupils taking art in DofE collectively donated 8,801 hours of voluntary service to the local community! The social value of these hours is equivalent to £38,284.35.

Netball Captains’ Report 2019-20

Firstly, we feel privileged to have been able to co-captain the netball squad for the 2019/20 season, especially as we have been heavily involved with netball throughout our time at Bolton School. We were lucky in the fact that our team gelled very quickly and we have definitely continued to improve as a squad throughout our competitive fixtures. One of our highlights is our trip up to Edinburgh at the beginning of the season, where we stopped to play at Stonyhurst College on route. We were victorious in all of our matches across the weekend, which gave us a great start to the season. We have definitely continued to improve from this as we were also convincing winners in one of our final matches against Stockport Grammar, which is always a close fixture. Our team has always continued to remain determined, despite facing challenges in tight games with varying weather conditions and injuries. We are very proud of our achievements, which would not have occurred if it wasn’t for the hard work of our coach Mrs Heatherington, who always organised extra fixtures for us, giving us more match play. We believe this massively contributed to the success of our team. We would like to thank Mrs Heatherington and our team for their efforts and we will truly miss the sporting memories we have made at school.

Esmée Higgins & Cate Lord

Lacrosse Captains’ Report 2019-20

It has been a pleasure to co-captain this season of lacrosse. The two of us have played lacrosse since the start of our Bolton School journey and have grown as players and people learning more about the sport and ourselves along the way. This year, we have been tested and excelled as a team bringing us closer and making trainings and matches enjoyable. It has been a great final year, full of losses and a handful of wins but as a team, nothing could ruin our spirit. Nationals was a key weekend for our team and despite the first day being cancelled, we did surprise ourselves coming second in our group, putting us forward to the knockout rounds, where we fought hard till the end. This is all thanks to Miss Donaghy for encouraging play, come rain or shine. We would to like to thank her dedication and for joining in with the laughs along the way. We will miss this great team and wish you the best of luck for next season.

Millie Hurt & Asmara Stubley

Swimming Captains’ Report

2019-20

My experience as Swimming Captain has been great in building my self-confidence, especially in a difficult final year. In leading the team through the season with Anita, I have also developed my leadership skills, a skill I hope to take forward into my degree and future career. Being Captain has been such a great opportunity, especially since I have looked to Sports Captains as role models throughout my time at school and I am so greatful to Mrs Duddle for picking me and Anita for this role. I would also like to thank the team for their commitment to the squad and for how well they have swam throughout the season

Amy Chicken

Being part of the swimming team since Year 3 and then Swimming Captain alongside Amy has been an honour. I have enjoyed my time and built important skills and friends for life. I am so proud of the effort and commitment the team has shown this year and wish them all the best.

Anita Cardozo

Gymnastics Club

Well done to all of the pupils who have been committed to attending Gymnastics Club from September 2019 until March 2020. The pupils have developed different skills using a variety of equipment, and some of the more experienced gymnasts have helped their peers to learn more complex movements.

Bolton Schools’ Gymnastics Competition 2020

The girls who have attended the Year 7 Gymnastics Club this year had the opportunity to participate in the Bolton Schools’ Gymnastics Competition at Ladybridge High School on Wednesday 6th February. The competition was split into two parts, on the floor and on the trampette. The girls had been preparing for a number of weeks in their lunchtime practices, and despite some nerves on the night, they all performed their routines very well in their respective sections.

Well done to the girls that competed, they were, Abigail Bielby, Amelie Harrison, Amiya Peart, Sophia Wormald, Amy Heaton, Syana Reece, Sarah Ali, Mia Carter and Eesha Dhaygude.

Congratulations to the following girls for achieving medals in their respective sections:

Abigail Bielby for 2nd position on the trampette in the Novice Category

Sophia Wormald for 3rd position on the trampette in the Novice Category

Amiya Peart for 2nd position in the trampette and 1st position overall in the Intermediate Category

Amelie Harrison for 3rd position in the trampette in the Intermediate Category

Tennis

The Tennis Squad have competed in the local round of the AEGON Teams Tennis tournament this season, with some close matches in both age groups.

The Under 15 team competed against Stonyhurst, Canon Slade and Westholme School. In the match against Stonyhurst, the girls won three out of the four singles and both of the doubles matches making the score 5 sets to 1. The matches against Canon Slade and Westholme gave convincing wins for Bolton, and that meant that after winning all of the league matches the team went through to the Semi Finals of the Competition. They then played against Formby High School, and Eve Gould, Jessica Bailey and Carol Habib all secured wins in their singles matches. Jessica Bailey and Carol Habib won their doubles therefore meaning we were the winners and would progress to the Final. The final was played against AKS Lytham, and the team of Sophie Bracegirdle, Eve Gould, Jessica Bailey and Carol Habib won convincingly in both of the singles and doubles games. The girls are now through to the Regional Finals which will take place in the Autumn Term, and we will await to hear our opposition. Well done to all of the girls who have played in the Under 15 competition this year,

Jessica Bailey, Sophie Bracegirdle, Gracie Grundy, Carol Habib, Olivia Maguire, Aliza Nirodi and Kareena Singh.

The Under 13 team played their matches against Manchester High and Withington. Girls in both Year 7 and 8 were selected to play in this competition, with lots of competitive matches at Tennis Squad practices in order to gain selection. In the match against Manchester High, Ruby Anderson secured a win in her singles match, and then went on to win her doubles with Ella Hilton by 6 games to 4. The team of Ella Hilton, Ruby Anderson, Alexia Howarth and Angelie Chitre played very well but unfortunately lost the match by 4 sets to 2. The girls then played against Withington, playing some excellent tennis, with wins in the singles matches from Ella Hilton, Ruby Anderson, and Charlotte Harris. Ella and Ruby won the doubles match by 6 games to 1 resulting in a win by 4 sets to 2 to Bolton.

Girls in Year 7, 8, 9 and 10 age groups played in a friendly doubles match against Bury Grammar giving convincing wins for the Year 7 and Year 9/10 teams. Year 8 had a closer game but still managed to hold on for the win by 1 game 15-14, giving us a win overall. Well done to all of the girls for their efforts and commitments throughout the season.

Abigail

Leena

Beatrice

Amy

Eva

Prisha

Syana

Anya

YEAR 7

Sarah Ali Anushka Bardapure

Bielby Mia Carter

Ciechowska Eesha Dhaygude

Foy Amelie Harrison

Heaton Madeleine Hornby

Helen Huang Eva Hurst

McDonald Nakai Matorera

Patel Amiya Peart

Reece Phoebe Walls

Withington Sophia Wormald

Back row L-R- Amiya Peart, Mia Carter, Syana Reece, Eesha Dhaygude, Amy Heaton, Amelie Harrison

Front row L-R- Abigail Bielby, Sophia Wormald, Sarah Ali

YEAR 7

Ruby Anderson

Charlotte Harris Ella Hilton Alexia Howarth

YEAR 9

Carol Habib Kareena Singh

Angelie Chitre Jessica Croston

Charlotte Duffy Charlotte Reece

Jessica Bailey

Sophie Bracegirdle

Eve Gould Gracie Grundy

Swimming

The Swimming Team has had a very good year, with success at a number of levels. As in previous years, the first competition was the North West Secondary Team Championships, held in Liverpool. This gives teams the opportunity to try to qualify for the English Schools National Relays Competition. Despite having a full complement of Age groups this year, the competition was extremely tough and we did not manage to progress through to the National Finals. There have also been a number of Inter-school fixtures with a close win against Bury GS being one of the highlights.

Outside of these fixtures, the squad produced a range of good performances in other competitions across the age groups.

In November, an U13, U15 and Senior Team travelled to Bradford Grammar School for the prestigious John Parry Relays. The U13 Team finished in 3rd place in both the Medley and Freestyle Relays, with the U15 Team finishing

5th in the Medley and 6th in the Freestyle. Three teams also competed in the Bolton Town Swimming Championships. The Intermediate Team came 4th and the Senior Team finished 3rd in their competitions. The Junior Team had a very close contest with Canon Slade, losing to them by just 2 points in the end. This resulted in a 2nd place finish. Zahara Muhammad played a key role in helping the cause with an individual win in the Junior Girls 50metres Breaststroke. The Junior Team also did exceptionally well winning the Freestyle Relay.

The swimmers have also celebrated a number of individual successes this season, with many swimmers competing in County Championships with their clubs outside of school. Lucy Dixon has done particularly well; collecting 13 County Medals! She is now the Lancashire County Champion in the girls 15 years age group for 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m Freestyle and 400m Individual Medley.

YEAR 7 SQUAD

INTERMEDIATE SQUAD

YEAR 8 SQUAD

SALFORD 100S LIFESAVING COMPETITION

In December, thirteen Year 7 girls competed in the Salford 100s Lifesaving competition at Westhoughton. The competition is steeped in history and, unfortunately, this year saw the penultimate event for schools in the Bolton area. All of the girls performed the lifesaving tests successfully and we now await the overall results once the Salford Division have completed their event.

SENIOR

YEAR

IMPROVERS SWIMMING

Water Polo Team (Years 7 - 9)

Rounders

The Rounders teams continue to thrive with large numbers of girls enjoying the opportunity to play games. The weather was not as kind as it could have been with a number of games affected by the rain. After many re-arranged attemps, we finally got all of our matches in the league played against Canon Slade, Thornleigh, Turton, St, James’ and Rivington. The Bolton Tournament for Y7

YEAR 7 ROUNDERS

Aaminah Ahmed Ruby Anderson

Emma Arnison Emaan Asghar

Harriet Atherton Beatrice Baxter

Bethan Birch Anna Brennand

Annika Bullen Sophie Chan

Amelia Cowin Francesca

Dewhurst

Flora Dey Holly Durnian

Imogen Ferrier Jessica Fraine

Megan Fung Gabriella Giambattista-Hunt

Molly Grimshaw Maya Guhathakurta

Evie Hall Vivienne Hall

Charlotte Harris Ella Hilton

Naomi Hitchin Alexia Howarth

Lottie Howarth-Siney Coco Jones

Safeeya Khan Karishma Ladha

Eva Liu Isabelle Martin

Zara McCann Olivia Melling

Emilia Nuttall Pip Nuttall

Mia Owen Devina Parbat

Nyah Pomian Du’a Qedwai

Amelia Quinton Taylor Gabrielle Read

Charlotte Riggs Anoushka Sharma

Ishaani Singh Caitlin Smith

Lana Spurdle Natalie Staal

Eden Steer Emma TaylorBeardsworth

Shreya Tol Erin Turner

Mia Walters Emily Whalley

Ruby Whittle

YEAR 10 ROUNDERS

Jessica Bailey Poppy Blackhurst

Isabel Brennand Chloe Ferguson

Lizzy Harkness Ruby Hill

Madihah Jiva Summer Kay

Amelia Morton Molly Morrow

Amelia Myall Isha Nunkoo

Dhruti Patel Kaite Riggs

Ella Roberts Rachel Roscoe

Izzy Silvano Sophie Smith

Genevieve Storey Yasmin Rose

+ Y8 teams was unable to take place at the end of term and was re-arranged once we had finished for the summer meaning sadly our teams didn’t get to play.

At the Year 9 Tournament on the last day of term, the team were undefeated in the group stages but lost in the semi-final against Canon Slade.

YEAR 8 ROUNDERS

Fatimah Ahmed Khuzeima Ahmed

Umayma Ahmed Aaminah Ali

Laiba Ali Kashaf Ashraf

Eve Blackmore Shriya Bonda

Ella Brophy Angelie Chitre

Phoebe Chuck Blythe Cordwell

Jessica Croston Grace Day-Davies

Harriet Dickens Charlotte Duffy

Erin Farragher Lola Grundy

Ayesha Hajee Alina Halim

Riya Hasija Ruby Hassall

Charlotte Hothersall Alexia Hughes

Ruby Hurt Alaina Jiva

Safa Karim Shaili Khimani

Freya Langtree Ai Makino

Imogen Masheter Scarlet Mathews

Molly McGregor Fariha Mulla

Trixie Murphy Olivia Myall

Ilham Nagi Shilpa Nair

Helena Ormerod Ammaarah Patel

Krupa Patel Mehzabeen Patel

Rianna Patel Samia Patel

Sejal Patel Nissa Rattoo

Charlotte Reece Grace Ryder

Ruby Schofield Nicola Shaw

Kimberley Short Mia Slater

Ruby Smith Jade Sprott

Amelia Stringfellow Jemima Stubbs

Maria Tariq Freya Taylor

Tanya Thakrar

YEAR 9 ROUNDERS

Amaani Adam Hollie Asquith

Alicia Backhouse

Martha Brennan

Maddy Brooks Ruby Broughton

Summer Burke Kelly Chae

Amelia Charova Faye Clarkson

Jessica Crompton Rose Crowther

Jasmine Curtis-Walker Lucy Dixon

Poppy Donohue Amelie Duncalf

Carol Habib Martha Halford

Molly Holt Ayesha Jiva

Georgia Johnston Charlotte Jones

Megan Jones Mia Kitching

Alice Leary Olivia Maguire

Zena Miller Isabella Morgan

Martha Morrow Mia Neill

Caitlin Nuttall Rebecca Parry

Safaa Patel Shriya Pindoria

Eva Porter Millie Price

Alicia Quinton-Taylor Teja Reece

Emilie Reilly Ruby Rimmer

Elizabeth Rogers Lucy Sackfield

Saba Salim Hamna Shafiq

Zahra Shahzad Kareena Singh

Emilie Sham Alara Unsal

Francesca Williams-Denton

YEAR 7

Mia Carter Leena Ciechowska

Louisa Connell Amy Heaton

Shanaya Khan Chloe Leung

Alice Neilson Ella Nielsen

Ella Ogunby Anayka Patel Iris Shepherd Sarah Tabani Chloe Zhang

YEAR 8

Eleyna Hussain Safeeya Karim

Ayesha Sayed Isabelle Worth

YEAR 9

YEAR 11

Laweeza Ali Grace Collins

Muryum Fahad Ajwa Mukhtar

Angela Okeke Sanjana Patel

Katie Schaffel Aaliyah Shah Hui Shan Wen

Athletics 2019

Large numbers of girls continue to enjoy developing their skills in athletics with a number of personal best performances achieved through the summer term. In addition to our usual track and field event fixtures the following girls represented the Bolton Town Athletics team at the Greater Manchester Schools’ County Athletics Championships on Saturday, 8th June 2019.

JUNIOR GIRLS

Blythe Cordwell (Y8)-Discus

Ilham Nagi (Y8)-100m

Jade Sprott (Y8)-800m

Elizabeth Williamson (Y9)-High Jump

INTERMEDIATE GIRLS

Ella Wilson-High Jump (Y11)

As a result of their excellent performance at the County round of English Schools, Ella WilsonHigh Jump and Blythe Cordwell-Discus went on to compete in the MASON TROPHY held at Birmingham on Saturday 15th June. Ela also competed at English Schools finals in September.

TOWN CHAMPIONSHIPS 2019

At the Year 9 & 10 Town Athletics Championships held at Leigh Sports village, there were some outstanding performances from the girls against stiff opposition, with lots of new personal best performances achieved. After securing wins in 7 out of their 11 events during the course of the afternoon, the Year 9 team were crowned overall town Champions with the Year 10 team finishing in a very creditable 3rd place. Particular mention to the following Year 9 girls who became Town champions in their respective events.

200m Y9 - Poppy Donohue

1500m Y9 - Lucy Dixon Y9

Long Jump Y9 - Elizabeth Williamson (who also set a new Town Record of 5.15m)

High Jump Y9 - Elizabeth Williamson

Discus Y9 - Olivia Maguire

Javelin Y9 - Olivia Maguire (who also set a new Town Record of 32.45m in the discus)

Relay Y9 - Martha Halford, Alicia Backhouse, Caitlin Nuttall, Elizabeth Williamson

At the Year 7 & 8 Town Athletics Championships there was cause for even more celebration as we came home with not one but both age groups trophies. After securing wins in the relay, the High Jump and the 800m, the Year 7 team were placed first in their competition. Further wins in the Year 8 relay along with the 800m and long jump events for Year 8 was enough to secure victory for the Year 8 team. Particular mention to the following Year 7 & 8 girls who became Town champions in their respective events.

800m Y7 - Elena Bartalotta

High Jump Y7 - Pip Nuttall

Relay Y7 - Anna Brennand, Pip Nuttall, Elena Bartalotta, Ogechi Umeadi.

800m Y8 - Jade Sprott

Long Jump Y8 - Ilham Nagi

Relay Y8 - Ilham Nagi, Blythe Cordwell, Jade Sprott, Ella Brophy.

YEAR 7 ATHLETICS

Sophia Alam Emaan Asghar

Elena Bartalotta Beatrice Baxter

Bethan Birch Anna Brennand

Annika Bullen Sophie Chan

Francesca Dewhurst Imogen Ferrier

Megan Fung Gabriella

Giambattista-Hunt

Emilie Graham Molly Grimshaw

Maya Guhathakurta Evie Hall

Vivienne Hall Charlotte Harris

Naomi Hitchin Alexia Howarth

Charlotte Howarth-Siney

Karishma Ladha

Eva Liu Zahara Muhammad

Emilia Nuttall Pip Nuttall

Amelia Quinton-Taylor

Gabrielle Read Charlotte Riggs

Lana Spurdle Natalie Staal

Erin Turner Ogechi Umeadi

Emily Whalley

YEAR 8 ATHLETICS

Aaminah Ali Ella Brophy

Angellie Chitre Blythe Cordwell

Jessica Croston Grace Day-Davies

Harriet Dickens Charlotte Duffy

Lola Grundy Alina Halim

Riya Hasija Ruby Hassall

Alexia Hughes Ruby Hurt

Freya Langtree Ai Makino

Trixie Murphy Olivia Myall

Ilham Nagi Helena Ormerod

Ammaarah Patel Sejal Patel

Charlotte Reece Ruby Schofield

Nicola Shaw Kim Short

Jade Sprott Jemima Stubbs

Freya Taylor

YEAR 9 ATHLETICS

Hollie Asquith Alicia Backhouse

Ruby Broughton Summer Burke

Kelly Chae Amelia Charova

Rose Crowther

Jasmine Curtis-Walker

Lucy Dixon Poppy Donohue

Sacha Doyle Isabelle Du-Plessis

Amelie Duncalf Martha Halford

Molly Holt Charlotte Jones

Alice Leary Olivia Maguire

Tisha Matsika Martha Morrow

Caitlin Nuttall Millie Price

Emilie Sham Kareena Singh

Francesca Williams-Denton

Elizabeth Williamson

YEAR 10 ATHLETICS

Imaan Ahmed Poppy Blackhurst

Isabel Brennand Victoria Cook

Amy Doyle Chloe Ferguson

Clarissa Forster Eve Gould

Scarlett Gregson Gracie Grundy

Summer Kay Amelia Morton

Amelia Myall Isha Nunkoo

Lucy Pixton Katie Riggs

Rachel Roscoe Genevieve Storey

Katie Wild

Jumps Club

YEAR 7

Anna Brennand Francesca Dewhurst

Gabriella Giambattista-Hunt

Molly Grimshaw Charlotte Harris

Alexia Howarth Lottie Howarth-Siney

Coco Jones Pip Nuttall

Gabrielle Read Erin Turner

Emily Whalley

YEAR 8

Angelie Chitre Emily Nuttall

Nicola Shaw Ruby Smith

Run for Fun

YEAR 7

Emaan Asghar Anna Brennand

Emilie Graham Molly Grimshaw

Charlotte Harris Alexi Howarth

Lottie Howath-Siney Eva Liu

Emilia Nuttall Gabrielle Read

Ishaani Singh Natalie Staal Erin Turner

YEAR 8

MaryAm Ali Ella Brophy

Lola Grundy Freya Langtree

Uma Patel Ruby Schofield

YEAR 8

Alicia Backhouse Summer Burke

Poppy Donohue Charlotte Jones

RUNNING CLUB

Cross Country

The Wednesday before October half term saw the Cross Country teams from Year 7-10 take part in the Town Cross Country competition held at Rivington & Blackrod HS. Following heavy rainfall, the course was extremely challenging not to mention muddy and the girls did very well coping with the difficult running conditions. Particularly well done to those girls placed in the top 20 finishing positions who were automatically nominated to represent the Bolton Town Cross Country team which competed at the Greater Manchester County competition in February. Special mention to Lucy Dixon in Y10 who won the combined Y10 & 11 girls race to become town champion. If there was a prize for perseverance, determination and display of resilience in the face of adversity it would go to Amiya Peart in Y7, who after losing her shoe part way round the course in a deep muddy puddle, continued the race (minus said shoe) to finish in a very creditable 40th place!

YEAR 7

Isabella Backhouse 3rd, Olivia Highton 4th

Lucy Pickett 5th

Lily-Grace Greer 15th

Lucy Johnstone 21st

Amiya Peart 40th

Anya Withington 42nd

YEAR 8/9

Elena Bartalotta 2nd Molly Grimshaw 10th Zahara Muhammad 15th Charlotte Harris 17th Freya Taylor 19th Blythe Cordell 21st Jemima Stubbs 28th.

YEAR 10

Lucy Dixon 1st

GREATER MANCHESTER COMPETITION

The following girls competed at the Greater Manchester Competition in February, achieving some impressive individual results. Commiserations to Elena Bartalotta in Year 8 who was unable to compete on the day due to illness and to Isabella Backhouse in Year 7 who became unwell during her race and was unable to complete the course.

YEAR 7

Olivia Highton 18th place

Lucy Pickett 33rd place

YEAR 8&9

Freya Taylor 59th place

YEAR 10

Lucy Dixon 2nd Place

ENGLISH SCHOOLS FINALS MARCH

Following her excellent individual performances at the Greater Manchester Competition in February, Lucy Dixon qualified to run at the English Schools Cross Country finals held at Sefton Park, Liverpool in March where she finished in a commendable 63rd out of 335 runners.

RUNNING CLUB 2019-20

A healthy number of committed girls have attended the Tuesday Lunchtime running club where it has to be said the weather was not always very kind. Lots of running for improvement saw a number of girls with Personal Best performances around the Course.

YEAR 7

Olivia Highton Ella Hughes

Lucy Johnstone Eva McDonald

Amiya Peart Lucy Pickett

Anya Withington Olivia Wong

YEAR 8

Alesha Ahmed Alina Ahmed

Elena Bartalotta Imogen Ferrier

Emilie Graham Lottie Howarth-Siney

Eva Liu Anushka Sharma

Ishaani Singh Lana Spurdle

Soha Syed Ruby Whittle Catherine Xi Bing Yu Wang

YEAR 9

Ella Brophy Blythe Cordwell

Lola Grundy Ruby Hassall

Alexia Hughes Ruby Hurt

Freya Langtree Imogen Masheter

Ai Makino Olivia Myall

Ilham Nagi Uma Patel Ruby Schofield Nicola Shaw Kim Short Jade Sprott

Jemima Stubbs Freya Taylor

YEAR 8

Lucy Dixon

Large Numbers of girls have once again enjoyed coaching on Monday lunchtimes from staff at BWFC community coaching initiative. Particular thanks to Miss Coleman for supervising this lunchtime club.

YEAR 8

Anna Phillips continued on her footballing journey as a member of the England Ladies U17 squad after taking part in the UEFA Phase 1 Qualifying Round in October played in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The squad won all 3 of their games against Croatia, Belgium and the hosts Bosnia. They scored an impressive 10 goals whilst conceding only 1. Anna played in two out of three games, making a positive contribution throughout the campaign. The team progressed onto the Elite Finals in March but unfortunately Anna sustained an inury to her leg ruling her out of selection. Lizzy Harkness also continued on her footballing journey but again fell foul of injury and following an operation in December, unfortunately missed the remainder of the season with Everton Ladies.

Holly Durnian Charlotte Harris Ella Hilton Lottie Howarth-Siney Mia Walters

YEAR 7

Eesha Dhaygude Hannah Haque

Shanya Khan Chloe Leung Eesha Neelham Ella Ogunby

Lucy Pickett Phoebe Walls

Girls who represented Bolton Town at the Greater Manchester Competition

Netball

The 2019-20 season started well with 2 girls being selected for representative level netball. Alexia Howarth in Year 8 was selected for the U13 Lancashire County Academy whilst Molly Grimshaw also in Year 8 was selected for the Manchester Thunder Under 13 Development squad.

In addition to the usual league matches and Saturday fixtures, a number of teams were also in action early on at their respective Town Tournaments and County Round tournaments of the National Schools competition.

Congratulations and very well done to the Under 16 Netball team who became town netball champions in October. After being undefeated in the group stage of the competition, they went on to meet Canon Slade in the semi-final which they won by 12 goals to 5. They went on to meet St. James’s school in the final which they won convincingly 9-2. A special mention must go to the Under 16 ‘B’ team which was a combined squad of Under15 and Under 16 players who also took part in the tournament, finishing in a very creditable 3rd position in their section.

The Senior Netball team travelled to Cheadle Hulme School the day after to take part in the Greater Manchester qualifying round of the National Schools’ Tournament. They were amazing from start to finish with strong wins against Bury GS, Withington, Loreto, Oldham, Aquinas 6th From college. They progressed to the semi-final stages where they competed hard

but were defeated by the overall tournament winners, Holy Cross college. Well done to all girls who worked tirelessly throughout what was a long and hard fought afternoon of fixtures. They were very well deserving of their 3rd place finish in the County.

There was something of a goal fest at the Y10 Town Netball competition a week later, with an impressive 86 goals scored by the team whilst conceding only 4. Given that they played a total of 60 minutes of netball against 6 different opponents in total, that worked out to be a very impressive scoring rate. The final against Canon Slade ended 12-2 in favour of Bolton to see the team become very worthy town Champions. November proved to be the start of a very wet winter and saw the U14 County Round of National Schools tournament cancelled due to flooding of the courts.

The U15 had an adventure getting to their first round match of the plate competition of the Sisters ‘n’ Sport cup match against AKS Lytham following a breakdown on the motorway which seemed to include a vast array of emergency services including the fire brigade and the Police. Their favourite emergency service was definitely the Highways Agency who brought some very welcome foil blankets to keep them all warm whilst waiting for the replacement bus! The re-arranged match two weeks later was a very one-sided affair, Bolton winning by 72-2 goals. The Under 16 County Round of National schools

was a very cold morning of netball but the girls fought hard to finish in 5th place overall in the group stages after 2 wins, a draw and 4 defeats.

The Under 15 Sisters ‘n’ sport campaign continued in December where in the second round match against Cheadle Hulme School, the team won convincingly 48-18. The third round match was against The Grange school in January where having lost earlier in the season, the team pulled out all the stops to win 38-28 and went on to meet King Edward the VI HS from Birmingham in the semi-final which they won 56-34.

The Under 14 & Under 16 teams were disappointed to have their County Tournaments cancelled due to torrential rain in February but there was much to celebrate at the U15 County Tournament after the team finished as runners up in their competition. The Seniors finished in a very creditable 7th place at their tournament whilst at the Bolton Schools tournaments, the Under 14 and Under 13 teams both become town champions.

There was a disappointing end to the season for the U12 after both their County and Bolton tournaments were postponed by the Coronavirus. The U15 Plate National final was also postponed for the same reason.

Nevertheless, a very busy and rewarding year for the teams. We are very grateful to Mr Owen along with the Support of the PE department for all the work that goes into organising fixtures for the girls.

NETBALL CLUB

YEAR 7

Kate Beirne, Abigail Bielby, Emily Bowden, Elise Brown, Mia Carter, Hannah Chipasula, Caitlin Davies, Ella Hughes, Lucy Johnstone Cheryll Khoo, Eva McDonald, Elsie Nethercott, Amaarah Patel, Prisha Patel, Amiya Peart, Noor-Al-Haya Razq-Aziz, Sofia Riaz, Lydia Simpson, Sarah Tabani, Angelica Vasanth, Anya Withington, Olivia Wong

YEAR 8

Emma Arnison, Beatrice Baxter, Clarity Brabbin, Sophie Chan, Holly Durnian, Jessica Fraine, Megan Fung, Fankie Gerrard, Emilie Graham, Lottie Howarth-Siney, Zara Kadva Gabby Koussa, Karishma Ladha, Eva Liu, Victoria Longthorne, Zainab Patel, Sophie Swift, Emma Taylor-Beardswort, Shreya Tol, Freya Wood, Victoria Wynn

YEAR 9

Khuzeima Ahmed, Umayama Ahmed, Laiba Ali, Kashaf Ashraf, Malaika Bux, Jessica Croston, Asilah Hasan, Sara Hatia, Charlotte Hothersall, Ester Isui, Iman Javid Alaina Jiva, Emily Nuttall, Krupa Pate , Helena Ormerod, Mehzabeen Patel, Saima Patel, Aditi Prasad, Nissa Rattoo, Charlotte Reece, Grace Ryder, Monica Sham, Mia Slater, Ruby Smith, Amelia Stringfellow, Eimaan Yaqoob

Lacrosse

Throughout the year, the lacrosse teams have competed in a number of matches and tournaments across the North of England. In addition to Regional Tournaments, the Senior Squad travelled to Aldershot in Hampshire, to participate in the National Schools’ Championships at the end of February. Unfortunately, due to the severe weather conditions leading up to the weekend, the first day of play had to be cancelled. An impromptu trip to Southampton was quickly arranged, with the squad spending time shopping and eating in Nando’s! By the following morning, the girls were full of energy and excited to compete against schools from around the UK. Their first match against The Royal School began well, resulting in a 5-3 victory for Bolton. Another tough match followed against St Helen’s School Northwood, and once again Bolton secured a 5-3 win against their opposition. The girls then faced their hardest game of the morning against Marlborough College. Unfortunately, Bolton narrowly lost the match 2-3. In the next stages of the competition, the girls were up against Cheltenham Ladies College, in what proved to be a very physical match. Although Bolton levelled the game to 3 goals each, Cheltenham were too strong on this occasion, winning by 5 goals to 3. Overall, the squad played extremely well during the Championships. The younger age groups finished their season exceptionally well, with the U15 Squad finishing as runners-up the Northern Schools’ Tournament and the U13 Team winning the Northern Championships for a second year in a row. This is a fantastic achievement from all of the squad.

NATIONAL LACROSSE

Congratulations to Millie Hurt and Phoebe Hurt for their selection to represent the U19 Wales Lacrosse Squad, for the Home International Championships against England and Scotland. Due to the coronavirus outbreak, the tournament unfortunately had to be postponed.

UNDER 15

Summer Burke Rose Crowther

Jasmine Curtis-Walker (C))

Poppy Donohue

Sacha Doyle Martha Halford

Molly Holt

Alice Leary

Olivia Maguire Anika Maini

Martha Morrow Mia Neill

Caitlin Nuttall Millie Price

Francesca Williams-Denton

This year, many pupils have also played lacrosse at representative level for their County. The following girls were successful in their trials to represent the U19, U15 and U13 Lancashire County Lacrosse squads:

UNDER 14

Aaminah Ali Ella Brophy

Angelie Chitre Phoebe Chuck (C)

Harriet Dickens Lola Grundy

Ruby Hassall Alexia Hughes

Ruby Hurt Freya Langtree

Ai Makino Olivia Myall

Ilham Nagi Ruby Schofield

Kimberley Short Jade Sprott

Jemima Stubbs Freya Taylor

LANCASHIRE

UNDER 13

Emma Arnison Anna Brennand

Francesca Dewhurst Holly Durnian

Gabriella Giambattista-Hunt

Molly Grimshaw Maya Guhathakurta

Charlotte Harris Alexia Howarth

Olivia Melling Pip Nuttall (Captain)

Gabrielle Read

Guhathakurta Alexia Howarth

Eva Hurst Olivia Laithwaite Sienna White

SUPER COUNTIES

Following on from their success at Lancashire County, the following girls were selected to represent the U19 Super Counties North East and North West Squads.

WALES ‘DRAGONS’ ACADEMY

Congratulations to Ruby Hurt in Year 9 for her selection onto the Junior Wales Lacrosse programme. The ‘Dragon Academy’ is the Welsh development pathway, designed to identify players who have the potential to represent their sport at elite level. Ruby is now following in the footsteps of her older sisters, Millie and Phoebe, both of whom have progressed onto the next stages of their playing career.

Sport in 2020-21

The 2020-21 academic year was a challenging one for the school’s sportswomen with most internal and external school fixtures cancelled due to the pandemic. However,

Athletics

GREATER MANCHESTER SCHOOLS ATHLETICS 2021

The following girls met the entry standards required to compete in the Greater Manchester Schools Championships on 12 June at Longford Park, Stretford:

the girls enjoyed lots of sports clubs as well as personal fitness challenges set by the PE Department. There was also lots of individual success for the Girls’ Division’s elite athletes.

ENGLISH SCHOOLS’ ATHLETICS FINALS

Following her excellent performance at the County event in June, Elena Bartalotta was selected to represent Greater Manchester in the 800m event at the English Schools’ finals in July.

In May 2021, Elena was ranked second in the UK at the Under 15 Women’s 800m.

Football

U18 LANCASHIRE CRICKET SQUAD 2020-21 It has been a hugely successful year for Sixth Former Anna Phillips. Alongside her A Level studies, Anna was selected for the U17 England Ladies Football Squad and attended a fixtured camp in November 2020. She went on to be given a squad number (37) by the Manchester City Women’s Team in January 2021, and was picked as a substitute for the team’s televised game against Aston Villa in January. She also won a four-year football scholarship to study at the University of Oregon from September 2021.

Speaking about her experiences, Anna said: ‘It has been an exciting time for me in recent months as I broke into the Manchester City Women’s Development Squad. I started playing football when I was 7, for an allgirls’ club called Academy Juniors in Bolton. When I became 13, I was encouraged by my coach Emma to trial at Manchester City and after four weeks of training, I was offered a place in their squad. From that point I have been on a whirlwind journey and had some amazing experiences including winning the FA Youth Cup and making my England youth debut in Holland. Alongside this I have played tournaments in Europe for City and represented England in the U17s’ Euros.

‘I was encouraged by my mum and dad to participate in a range of sports and they would spend hours in the car taking me to all my training and games. I am inspired by all strong women in sport, especially Steph Houghton and Lucy Bronze, who work so hard to be at the top of their game.

Mrs Heatherington accompanied the Bolton Town Athletics team to the Greater Manchester Schools Athletics Competition. It turned out to be a long and very hot day, particularly for the distance runners, but Isabella, Elena and Blythe were superb ambassadors for the school.

Congratulations to all 3 girls who faced stiff competition from other athletes from the other 9 boroughs of Greater Manchester. Blythe was second in the Inter Girls Hammer event, setting a new PB and receiving a silver medal.

Elena was second in the Junior girls 800m event, also setting a new PB, and was awarded a silver medal.

Isabella competed at the end of the afternoon when the day was at its hottest. She did brilliantly well in the grueling 1500m event. In a very strong field of runners, she finished in 10th place out of 20, which was a superb achievement given she was the youngest in her combined Year 8/9 age grouping.

‘My top tips for anyone who wants to go down the sport route is to be extremely organised. Whatever sport you do, you must enjoy it, listen to your coaches and try to be the best you can be.’ ENGLAND LADIES

Emilia Nuttall

Water Polo

Following her selection to the academy, in July Year 10 pupil Harriet played for the GB U17s at the at the LEN Women’s European Junior Water Polo Championships. She also helped the City of Manchester Senior Women’s water polo team to victory at the inaugural British Water Polo Festival, held at Sandford Parks Lido in Cheltenham.

Year 9 pupil Lucy Blenkinship also played in the same competition for Tyldesley, with her team securing a fifth place finish.

LANCASHIRE JUNIOR HOCKEY

Amy Cater GREAT BRITAIN U17 WATERPOLO

Harriet Dickens

Year 6 Memories...

In Year 5, I went on the writing retreat and really enjoyed it. It was my first time in Patterdale, and I was with one of my closest friends! Aanya Agrawal

My favourite memory is when I went on the ski trip and got to stay in a room with my friends! Nikita Luhar

My favourite memory was when I went on the ski trip in year 5. It was amazing! Lana Bakeer

I remember the expression on my face when I passed the entrance exam, I was so happy! Hannah Caan

One of my Hesketh House memories was when we went to Patterdale in Year 4 and I had to pour water on Emily to wake her up! Zara Caswell

My favourite memory was when I got into the Netball team in Year 6! Irene Chan

I remember going to Patterdale and jumping off the hairy scary man jump, it was super fun! Arwen Coetzee

My favourite memory is when I was on the way back from the football match in Year 6, because we all were all really giddy and we had so much fun. Lois Cowin

My favourite memory was going to Patterdale. I particularly loved playing body bingo with the canoes. Ellie Rose Donnellan

I remember when we did the Christmas Concert in Year 6. I really enjoyed being Angel Gabriel and the songs were fun. Tilly McCann

In Year 5 at Patterdale, I remember we got to run up onto the edge of the paddle board and jump into the cold water! Nora Oesterle

My favourite memory is from Charity Afternoon. Laura, the dance coach, taught us an African dance and the whole school got together to work to help others. Anika Patel

I enjoyed going to the Air Raid Shelters in Year 6 when we were learning about the Second World War. Maleehah Patel

When I was in Year five I went to Patterdale, one of the activities is The Hairy Scary Man Jump. When you do the jump you have to keep your body straight, as I approached the water I looked down and winded myself! Daisy-Lee Strange

My favourite memory is when we were at a netball tournament (Sisters n’ Sports) and we won by one goal! It was an exciting match! We were going to go to Birmingham and play against the team who won down south but unfortunately it was cancelled due to Lockdown. Olivia Jones

I enjoyed it when I got to do paddle boarding in Year 5 for the first time. Ariana Khan

An amazing memory was when I joined this school in September of Year 6, and I also enjoyed the Christmas Concert where I had the part of Mary and I sang a solo. Abigail Elmer

My favourite memory was when I passed the Entrance Exam. Emily Fox

My favourite memory is when I found out that I passed the Entrance Exam! Amelia Hashemi

I loved jumping off the Hairy Scary Man Jump at Patterdale! Sara Khan

My best memory was where I jumped off the hairy scary man jump at Patterdale Hall. I was also very happy when I found out I was going to this Senior School. Fatima Kilinc

My favourite memory was when I found out that I had passed the Entrance Exam. Ellie Hood

Year 3

Year 3 pupils’ pastel chalk work to complement Science study.

Year 4

Year 4 Textile Workshop with Stead McAlpin, Fine English Fabrics Company for the School magazine

These photos show the winning cushion designs based on pupils’ work.

Their designs had to be able to rotate.

The pupils were inspired to develop and execute their own ideas for a design a cushion competition. They gained experience of how design ideas are conceived and what would happen on an industrial scale moving from design to finished product.

Year 5

From study of the Geography of the rainforest, Year 5 pupils created these fantastic paintings.

Year 6

Isabelle Wins Wombles Eco-Schools Competition

Isabelle McCarren, a Y5 pupil in the Junior School of Bolton School Girls’ Division, is celebrating winning the Wombles Eco-Schools Primary Competition. Pupils across the land were tasked with producing a cartoon strip which emphasised the dangers that animals in the countryside and wildlife face from discarded litter. Isabelle depicted a story of Orinoco rescuing a duck from choking on a deflated balloon. The judges said she had produced: “A lovely story with lots of attention to detail,” in a message that was tweeted by none other than Great Uncle Bulgaria himself. Speaking on behalf of The Wombles, Great Uncle Bulgaria said, ‘We wanted to encourage children and students to use their creative skills to promote an important environmental message about the negative impact of litter on wildlife. Isabelle’s cartoon was a worthy winner, from the hundreds of entries we received from children throughout the UK.’ A delighted Isabelle said: ‘I was very happy and excited when I found out that I had won the competition! Especially when I heard I had won £500 to donate to a wildlife charity, and that I will get to meet Orinoco, my favourite Womble! I got the inspiration for the cartoon after I spotted a helium balloon in a stream near our house. We have ducks living nearby and other wildlife animals and I thought about the dangers the discarded balloon could cause them in Smithills Country Park where we live. So I thought it would make a good story to alert people that they must discard of party balloons correctly. I had to carry on a scene after being given the first picture with no detail, I completed 5 pictures with my story written underneath.’

Isabelle’s mum said: ‘We were extremely proud to hear that Isabelle had won the Wombles Eco-Schools competition. Isabelle had worked really hard on her entry over the May half term. The Wombles sketch was such a lovely way of getting people to think about the dangers that litter can cause to animals in the wild.’

As part of the prize, the Junior Girls’ School will get to donate £500 to an eco-charity. Isabelle and the school are hard at work this week deciding where the money should go. Isabelle will also receive a book token and a special message from The Wombles. Isabelle and the whole of the Junior Girls’ School are very excited at the prospect of the 7 foot Orinoco womble and an Eco-Schools team, which is part of Keep Britain Tidy, visiting next Term to undertake a litter pick with a group of girls.

Lee Wray-Davies, Eco-Schools Manager, said: ‘Isabelle’s cartoon stood out as her story was so clear and concise with very neat handwriting and with beautifully coloured drawings of Orinoco and his new rescued friend. We can’t wait to meet Isabelle and the Eco-Committee from Bolton Junior Girls’ School and go litter picking...hopefully we will not find any balloons!’

The competition was part of a 10 week set of #EcoSchoolsAtHomes resources to help active Eco-Schools such as Bolton School Junior Girls’ School continue with their Eco-Schools topic work during lockdown, not just in England but across the globe.

Year 6 pupils evoke the sense of war and the Blitz in their art work. Their interpretations of WW2 and the diary entries show how they imagined life to be asa child evacuee - workbased on reading and referring to secondary sources in History.

Giving Back

Despite the challenges of Covid-19, the Junior Girls have still managed to help others with generous charitable donations. At Harvest time in both 2019 and 2020, the girls donated a huge amount of food to Urban Outreach. Speaking in 2020, Dave Bagley, its Chief Executive, said: ‘I never cease to be amazed by the generosity of people across the town. We always collect from across the Bolton School campus at this time of year and, once again, I am delighted to be taking away so much produce for those that are struggling. In spite of the current situation, people are still finding the time and kindness to make these donations. I can’t thank the pupils and their families enough.’

The Junior Girls were also involved in annual Urban Outreach Hamper Challenges. This local charity provides struggling families with Christmas Hampers containing everything needed for a traditional festive spread. In 2019, pupils and their families contributed 555 selection boxes to the cause. In 2020, for the ‘Pringle Bells’ challenge, they collected 624 tubes of Pringles and Doritos Stax, which included an amazing donation of 264 tubes from Izzy in Year 3 whose dad works for Walkers crisps! The Foundation as a whole helped to fill over 2,400 hampers with their donations each year.

For Children in Need and Red Nose Day, the girls added spots and Pudsey ears or red noses and accessories to their uniforms in exchange for donations to these worthy causes.

Literary Links

All pupils enjoyed taking part in celebrations around reading and writing. On National Poetry Day, the girls became poets for the day: writing paired acrostic poems, receiving poems to keep in pockets, reading and reciting poetry aloud and sharing evocative words and phrases for 2019’s theme: ’Tell Me The Truth About Life’.

For World Book Day 2020, girls attended school in their pyjamas and comfy clothes like onesies so that they could curl up with a good book throughout the day. Girls also enjoyed a Book Swap and offered one another book recommendations and reviews, and in MFL lessons they explored the variety of foreign language books in the library. In 2021, the celebrations had to take place on Zoom, but the girls were no less enthusiastic and enjoyed dressing up and talking about favourite books with their classes.

Japanese Day

The Junior Girls had the opportunity to learn more about the Japanese language and culture on their annual Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) Day! Teachers Mrs Hornby and Mrs Labbé organised a range of themed activities, including a Ju-Jitsu demonstration and workshops and lots of learning about the Japanese language. Art sessions allowed girls to explore origami, paint their names in Japanese characters, create carp kites and make drawings in a manga style. For Years 5 and 6 there were musical activities using Garage Band and a quiz to test their new knowledge.

Oracy Project

The Junior Girls at Bolton School have benefitted from a new initiative known as The Oracy Project.

The tenets of the programme were embedded in the curriculum after Deputy Head Mrs Holt attended an ‘Oracy Leaders Programme’ and delivered her findings to staff through a series of INSET days. Using what is known as the Oracy Framework, which was developed by Voice 21 and the University of Cambridge, subject teachers worked hard to ensure that oracy attained the same status as numeracy and literacy in the classroom.

In each subject, teachers prioritised the development of key skills which included social and emotional capabilities, including working collaboratively, speaking confidently and being aware of an audience as well as physical skills, such as using the voice and body language to convey meaning, and linguistic skills including developing vocabulary and language. Cognitive skills such as clarifying, summarising and reasoning were also developed.

Headteacher Mrs Laverick explained: ‘The research showing that oracy impacts positively on academic outcomes, on cognitive development and on promoting a sense of well-being underlined the importance of developing communication skills and strategies for 21st century learning. iPads, already an essential part of our teaching and learning, became a tool to further enhance oracy skills. Acknowledging that in typical lessons, the teacher does much of the talking, we created a culture of talk across every subject and an environment in which pupils could clearly express their thoughts and effectively communicate their ideas.’

‘When Covid struck, the importance of oracy was paramount; technology and oracy stood out as vital skills to prioritise in lockdown. Effective communication was at the core of remote learning as oracy became further entrenched in online lessons to build pupil engagement, resilience and positivity. During INSET sessions, which punctuated our academic year, we reflected on progress and shared ideas as to how to focus oracy across whole learning sequences. On our return to school, oracy skills promoting interaction between pupils have been vital to the reintegration of girls into school life.’

Making Music

‘Stories from the Stable’ was the Junior Girls’ Christmas Concert in 2019. Through song, dance, poetry recitals, narration and dramatic performances, the girls told the story of the Nativity from the point of view of the animals who were there when Jesus was born. As well as traditional carols in English, the programme featured songs in French and Spanish.

The Junior Girls’ Music Festival and subsequent celebratory concert featuring the winners was one of the last events to take place inperson. It was a fantastic opportunity for the school’s young musicians to shine, with a whole day dedicated to the piano and classes for singers, instrumentalists and ensembles the following day. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, music-making continued during lockdown. The girls filmed themselves singing and playing instruments to create two wonderful Virtual Summer Concerts to bring the school year to a close.

In 2020-21, with audiences still unable to come into school to watch the girls perform, the staff got creative and found other ways for the girls to share their music. Music Recitals went virtual and the school produced filmed versions of their usual Christmas and Summer Concerts. ‘How The Grinch Stole Christmas’ brought cheer to the festive season by filming the year groups separately in the Girls’ Division Theatre, while the fine weather in the summer term allowed the girls to come together as a whole school outdoors to perform and film ‘Song of the Earth’.

(S)Miles for Malawi

In 2021, the Junior Girls began the epic challenge of raising £50,000 to fund the building of a school for street children in Malawi. The ambitious project came about after teacher Mrs Julia Marsden visited the country to work with street children.

Mrs Marsden said: ‘Since my visits to Malawi in 2017 and 2018, I have been appointed as a trustee of the Maphunziro Foundation, whose focus is to create a conducive learning environment for every Malawian child to prosper. The school we hope to build will provide bursary places for children living on the streets and a safe place for them to live, learn and thrive.’

The (S)miles for Malawi campaign was launched in April with support from ‘The Voice of Manchester Races’ Andy O’Sullivan MBE. The girls set themselves the collective target of travelling 12,000 kilometres: the distance between Bolton School and the planned site of the school in Malawi. In a matter of weeks, they achieved their aim through walking, swimming, running, cycling and a host of other activities that got the whole school moving and invested in the cause!

Year 3 pupil Kylá Chenda-Joseph and her mum Mara, who is originally from Malawi, shared the School’s campaign with the First Lady of Malawi, Madam Monica Chakwera, and women from across the Malawian diaspora during a multi-national Zoom call in May. They received positive messages of support from the other attendees, and the First Lady herself was very impressed.

At the end of the summer term, Year 6 pupils committed to yet another fundraising challenge. Pooling their efforts, they climbed the height of Malawi’s highest mountain, Mulanje Massif, on the Boys’ Division climbing wall. They exceeded their target of 3,002m in a single day!

The (S)miles for Malawi campaign even featured in the Junior Girls’ filmed ‘Song of the Earth’ summer concert: the girls shared why they are raising money to build a school before bursting into song and dance to ‘Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)’.

By the end of the school year the girls were standing at 10% of their overall target with £5,000 raised.

Year 6’s Netball Masterclass with former England player and head coach Tracey Neville Dame Floella Benjamin spoke about her inspirational life, from her childhood memories of Trinidad to receiving her Damehood in 2020

Year 6 Memories...

My favourite memory for the time I have been here, is when we had a Science lesson and we were doing dichotomous keys. Miss Gregson gave us sweets to do it (which was confusing because we thought she randomly gave us sweets). It was very hard to try not to eat the sweets. In the end, we had to throw the sweets in the bin, but it was good fun overall. Raeesa Ahmed:

My favourite memory is when we were in a singing Zoom lesson and Sana and I were unmuted and we were all singing the song ‘Be Happy’ and the whole of Year 5 and 6 heard us! Zaynab Bhatia

On the plane, on the way back from the skiing trip, Molly and I were sat next to Mrs Holt. When we were coming into land, Mrs Holt grabbed Molly’s hand, and screamed! Then we flew over a John Lewis, and she went all calm and said, ‘Look, there’s John Lewis’! This was a very funny time. Scarlett Bowie

I have really enjoyed representing school in different sports and I am proud we won the ‘Sisters n Sport’ netball tournament and the AJIS tournament. Our team also won the Bolton Cross Country Competition which is a great achievement. Georgia Clarkson

My memory is in year 4 because on our way to Patterdale the coach broke down. It was a lot of fun because we got to talk to everyone and we all had a little laugh. Lillia Dean

My best memory of Year Six is the trip to Stockport and visiting the air raid shelters there; we dressed up as WW2 evacuees. Sara Mahomed

There are lots of good memories, but I especially enjoyed the World War trip. It was really fun, and the experience was amazing. Lottie McAndry

We were at the ‘Sister n Sport’ netball competition and we had won all of our games which meant that we were in the final. It was the last minute, and we were drawing. Luckily, our defence got an interception, we then passed it up and shot the goal which meant that we had won the game and the tournament. It was so intense, and we were all so happy to have won. Molly Neville

I have loved everything about Year 6, but a highlight for me was going to the Air Raid Shelters. I learnt so much about World War 2. I got to try on a gas mask! And I even used an old laundry machine. Nia Raja

I enjoyed coming to the school in Year 6 and making a lot of new friends. Aysha Rajpure

My favourite memories were from the Year Five trip to Patterdale because it was fun and I really enjoyed it. Biela Sastre-Done

I liked taking part in all of the sports fixtures. Poppy Dod

One of my favourite memories of my time at Hesketh House has to be in Year 6 when we had our drama day because when I am older I want to be an actress and it was just really fun to spend that time with my classmates. Ashriya Fernando

I enjoyed being a part of school choir. My memorable days are representing our school at AJIS and Ramsbottom Music Festivals. Anagha Harishkumar

My favourite memory is when we did the ‘Hairy Scary Man Jump’ and we got hot Vimto after because it was so cold in the water! :

One of my best memories was when we went Patterdale. My favourite bit was when we were on the paddle boards, and my group were all really scared! Sana Seedat

I really enjoyed the ski trip because of the fun times in my room with Nia and Georgia. Bella Shannon

At Patterdale, I loved the Hairy Scary Man-jump and the Blindfolded Battlefield, especially when we threw balls at each other blindfolded! I’ve really enjoyed my time at Hesketh House, even though I have only been here since Year 5: I made a lot of memories in 2 years. Oralia Ho

I remember Miss Gregson promising our class cakes if she achieved throwing paper from her desk to the bin - she did it and bought us all cakes! Marissa Hollinghurst

My favourite moment of Hesketh House was in Year 5 when we came second in AJIS Netball! We won all our matches apart from in the final when we lost by one! Carrie-Anne Warbrick

I enjoyed going to Stockport Air Raid Shelter. Alina Iqba

I loved going on the ski trip with one of my best friends; it was really exciting and fun. Anushka Kishore

Fond Farewells...

Miss S Hincks

Miss Hincks has been Headmistress during a period of unparalleled success for the Girls’ Division. During her ten years leading the School, the School was named TES’ Independent School of the Year award and was granted the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service. She was also President of the Girls’ School Association during 2019.

In the statement announcing her departure, she said that she would like to thank all her colleagues for their support and dedication over the past ten years and wishes the pupils, staff, parents and Governors within the Bolton School Foundation every future success and happiness. She added that it has been an honour and a privilege for her to serve the School for the past ten years.

Many tributes to Sue were sent to the School and left online via social media. Here are a selection of our favourites:

“ While we were at BSGD, we looked up to you as an inspirational, admirable, and ambitious woman who embodies what makes a headmistress good, going above and beyond in your responsibilities and being an approachable member of staff. You combined the seriousness of a headmistress with hilarity (we still laugh about a few of your side notes, especially after events like the Panto.) Our parents, Ellie-May and I were impressed by the speed and fluidity of how BSGD transferred to online learning, something that has helped with the transition to college and university within the pandemic. We both flourished at Bolton and are thankful for the opportunities we were offered when studying there; you undeniably played a role in our growth. Both of us can recall times where you supported our achievements outside of school, and we are very grateful for it.

“ We are saddened to hear you have resigned, and wish you and your family health and happiness. We thank you for all you have done for BSGD, and congratulate Mrs Kyle on her new role. She has big shoes to fill, though we are confident she will be a wonderful headmistress.”

Amelia Doherty, Class of 2020 and Ellie-May Doherty, Class of 2022

“Thank you for your dedication and commitment to Bolton School over the past 10 years. As an Old Girl and past member of staff it has been good to know that the continued success of BSGD has been safe in your hands. You leave the school in a strong position. I enjoyed the time we worked together and appreciated the many initiatives you introduced. I wish you every success and happiness in the future.”

Julia Head, Class of 1971 and Former Girls’ Division Staff

“Thank you Miss Hincks, you have been an amazing support network for all staff and students. I am sure that I can say this on behalf of everyone, you will be missed dearly and your absence will certainly be felt. We hope you don’t forget us and still remain in touch! Wishing you all the best!”

Anonymous

“I have very much enjoyed the Old Girls’ lunches in the Art Centre for a number of years. Sue has always joined in with us and we have appreciated her company. She is very much a “people” person, always pleasant, chatty, friendly and interested in others. She has been a tremendous asset to Bolton School and will be greatly missed.”

Evelyn Cooper (nee Evans, Class of 1956)

“It was an absolute pleasure working with Sue in the Girls’ Division. The young women who have been through her care are so fortunate as she had the vision to bring the school forward and equip pupils with the skills required for the world we live in today. Sue was incredibly hard working, thoughtful and a very amusing colleague. Meetings, discussions over lunch, Presentation Evening and social occasions were never dull when Sue was there. I am sure she could walk along B corridors much faster than me! So many happy memories. Very best wishes for the future Sue.”

Ilona Smalley, Former Girls’ Division Staff

“During my time as Head of Hesketh House, Sue Hincks provided leadership and support for the Junior Girls’ School in a way that promoted the growth, aspiration and creativity of staff and children alike. Her fastidiousness and capacity for endeavour and hard work were beyond question; with the capacity for good humour along the way.”

Ruth Brierley, Former Head of Hesketh House, the Girls’ Junior School

Mr M Griffiths

At the end of 2019, after 12 years in position, Michael Griffiths retired as Chairman of the Governing Body at Bolton School. A former pupil of the School (1958-1965) and former School Captain, he served as a governor for 33 years and took over as Chairman in 2007. Upon his retirement he was appointed Emeritus Governor: an honour which was unanimously approved by the Governing Body in recognition of his extraordinary career of service to the Foundation. During his time as Governor, Mr Griffiths has overseen a major capital investment programme costing £25m with no legacy borrowing; the provision of iPads to every pupil from Year 3 upwards; and the awarding of almost £30m in Bursary funding to 2000 pupils over the last 21 years whilst at the same time establishing a Bursary Endowment Fund that today stands at over £30m.

The following remarks, recalling how the role of governor has changed over the years, are taken from an interview on The Changing Face of Governorship published in the Spring 2020 edition of Independent School Magazine:

My first governors’ meeting was in January 1987 and it was unusual in that the whole Board of about 20 people was interviewing the final three shortlisted candidates for the position of Clerk and Treasurer (Bursar). In my time as a governor, I have been involved in the appointment of 5 Heads and 3 Bursars.

Many aspects of governance have, not surprisingly, changed and these perhaps fall into two broad classifications. Firstly, the management of the increase in regulation and responsibilities that has fallen upon schools and governors over the last 30 years or so. Secondly, the need to ensure that we are sustainably, financially strong so that we can maintain our independence.

To address the first of these issues it is important to have a Governing Body ‘fit for the purpose’. We developed a skills matrix to ensure that new governors were appointed on the basis of skills needed. It was important that governors were committed, took their appointment seriously and were prepared to spend the time needed to ‘do the job’. The second aspect to which I referred was the need to be sustainably financially strong. We recognised the school needed the characteristics and form of a business, something which did not always sit easily with the role of being an educational charity.

My view is that independent schools must own the challenge and recognise that if they wish to remain independent, they must build

their own financial resources. This may seem a daunting prospect and is certainly a long-term strategy. It requires a clear plan, continuing determination and rigorous financial discipline. There are no quick fixes and it must be recognised from the outset that the real beneficiary of the strategy will be the school several generations hence. But it should not be forgotten that many Schools today are probably enjoying the rewards of benefactors’ foresight in the past. So now it is our turn to make a difference for pupils in the future. We also recognised that we were an integral part of the Bolton and wider North West community and had a responsibility to become more engaged and improve our contribution to its greater wellbeing. … Our involvement in voluntary work was recognised in 2017 when we became the first school in the country to be achieve the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

It’s important to remember that governors set the ethos and culture of the School - that they are its guardians. We should not forget that the Governing Body is ultimately responsible for the School, that ‘the buck stops with them’. This is a significant responsibility which must be exercised with great skill and care and must never be abdicated. It is important that you have a committed, balanced and diverse Board whose members have, between them, the necessary skills to achieve proper governance. It is crucial to encourage governors to have full participation in all decisions made. Given how busy they often are, it is important to be flexible and accommodating in the demands placed upon them. However, you must also be prepared to part company if a satisfactory accommodation is not achievable. Governors should have a thorough understanding of the School and the challenges it faces and, the Chairman should have a first-class working relationship with the Heads and Bursar.

The positives [of governorship] far outweigh the negatives. Governorship presents a real opportunity to make a difference for the benefit of future generations and it is always extremely satisfying when you meet students displaying their talent and skills. A School is a very different environment to that in which most governors work, and it can provide a refreshing intellectual challenge. Education has a remarkable and continuing multiplier effect that will positively impact upon the communities with which the students engage throughout the rest of their lives. To have some very small beneficial input is extremely satisfying. Throughout my life I have found being a volunteer is an extraordinarily satisfying experience. Prospective governors should, however, consider the time commitment as this can be considerable.

I have spent almost all my life being involved in voluntary work of some kind, particularly to help in situations where I can use my professional skills and experience, and I hope and expect that will continue. I also hope that I will have some more time to pursue my numerous interests and spend more time with my family. But life would be boring if new challenges and opportunities didn’t arise.

Fond Farewells...

Mrs J Hollyoak

After graduating from Liverpool John Moores University in June 2010, I was appointed as Teacher of P.E. at BSGD, and I haven’t looked back. Thank you to Gill Richards for employing me and Sue Hincks for supporting me throughout my time in school.

I have been lucky enough to work in a wonderful department for ten years, all thanks to Mrs Heatherington for being such an incredible Head of Department, Miss Donaghy, Mrs Duddle and Mrs Hall, what an amazing team to be part of, not only colleagues but close friends who I will be very sad to leave. I have spent lots of Saturdays together with Miss Donaghy at Lacrosse fixtures, London trips for National Schools tournaments, in a whole host of weather over ten years! I have worked closely with Mrs Higgins in PE in Hesketh House, Mrs Rule who was regularly in the PE department, and now Mrs Coleman who always brings a smile to our faces.

I am grateful to the school for giving me the opportunity to complete my Masters in Education and supporting my studies. My dissertation was based on the Girls Go Gold Conference which I enjoyed being part of at BSGD and visiting other schools to be part of their events as well. I have enjoyed being Head of Year 9 and 7, working alongside Miss Tomlinson, who has been a dream to work with. Many amazing experiences include the World Challenge trip I was part of in 2013 along with Mr Radcliffe when we visited Peru, completing the Salkantay trek, visiting Machu Pichu, the floating islands, working on a school project, all of which are memories I will never forget and I am very grateful to Miss Wadey for asking me go on the trip. Other trips included Skiing to Claviere with Hesketh House with Mrs Tatlock, Mrs Hilton, Mrs Labbe and Mrs Duddle. Working at BSGD has given me these opportunities, and I will treasure these memories.

I will always remember my first form who I had from 2011-2014, taking them through from Year 7-9, enjoying trips to Stratford and Patterdale and also working alongside Ms Noot with a number of Year 7 form groups following this. I will greatly miss the lovely group of staff that we have, Whole School assemblies, Ceremony of Carol concerts, and end of term celebrations with you all. I can’t quite believe I will now be moving on, it is a perfect school but just in the wrong location for me! I have loved teaching my groups over the years, as well as getting to know many of you through extracurricular activities. You have been fantastic and have made it a pleasure. You are all so lucky to have staff who are so committed to nurturing you to help you blossom and thrive in all you do, but you make this possible for us. It has been such a lovely place to work. Good luck to you all in everything you do

Dr A Fielder

This is one of my favourite pictures from my time in Bolton School. It was taken in July 2015 when myself, Mrs Crowther and Mr Ball took a team of girls to Tanzania. We volunteered at KCEM (a local village education centre) painting the school and working in the classrooms (mud huts) with the young primary school children. Our campsite was called Meserani Snake Park, and although I didn’t see any wild snakes, we did visit the adjacent Serpentarium and I was persuaded to hold the snake! The Snake Park clinic was the only specialist hospital for miles around that could treat snake bites. Some of our Bolton Students were hoping to go on and study medicine, and I know that we were all shocked at the limited resources and very basic furnishings of both the ‘hospital’ and the local schools.

I count myself very fortunate to have spent the past 8 years working at Bolton School. We are all very blessed to have so many resources and opportunites available to us. It was a privilege to be able to travel to Tanzania and an important reminder of how fortunate I am. Maybe my trip to Tanzania sparked a desire to travel the world even further? Certainly, it never entered my mind back in 2012 that when I left Bolton School I would be moving to China. I am about to begin working in an American International School in Guangzhou. I will be moving there with my husband, and we are making plans to explore China and the Far East. Another big adventure!

So - parting words, what can I say? Thank you to some wonderful colleagues for your friendship and support over the past 8 years. Farewell to my students - past and present - for helping make our time in the classroom so enjoyable. And for us all, older or younger, enjoy the adventures that lie ahead of you. Be thankful for all that you have, be kind and be generous. And in the words of the American life coach and author, Tony Robbins, remember that “the only impossible journey is the one you never begin”.

Miss J Fazackerley

Leaving BSGD for the second time is just another way of reinventing myself! I don’t see this as a retirement, rather a new direction to follow my passion for wellbeing and fitness through my long established fitness business. I have had a long association with our school, starting in 1969. I came to BSGD into Beech House, following my older siblings, John and Kay and stayed until the end of Upper Fifth Form (Y11) in 1981. Being particularly arty and sporty, I went straight to Art College at 16 instead of studying A Levels, whilst pursuing a range of recreational sports which would serve me for a lifetime. As my time here spans so many decades, I have experienced the previous 5 headships: from Miss Higginson, to Mrs Spurr, Miss Panton, Mrs Richards and Miss Hincks. Quite an extraordinary position to be in!

I saw the Head of Art job advertisement when a colleague in my previous school said ‘your name’s on that job Jane...’ as she put a cut -out from the Times Educational Supplement on my desk, yet she didn’t know I was a former pupil! It was like the job description was describing me in exact detail. I applied, got the job and joined the ‘Bolton School Family’ again in September 2004. Leading a department has been absolutely fulfilling and enjoyable. I have worked with incredibly talented art teachers and support staffMs Felton, Mrs Crowther, Mrs Kidd and of course, Mrs Rushton our wonderful Art Technician. I have relished the opportunity to develop our girls as creative, independent thinkers, rather than ‘teach to an exam’ and have seen so many success stories along the way-too many to mention, but you know who you are!! In addition to leading my department, I have also led a network of art teachers local to Bolton for over 14 years, and organised 12 consecutive ‘Best of Bolton’ Art Exhibitions in collaboration with the University of Bolton. I shall miss the build up to our wonderful show, and seeing all the artwork created from across our borough. Being part of the Sixth Form team for the majority of my time here has kept me on my toes; tutoring bright young women is still an inspiration, and I thank them for all the fun form-times we have had together.

It is with great sadness that I leave during such unprecedented circumstances due to the Coronavirus, and that my last opportunity to teach in a busy art room was Friday 20th March. I suspected that day that it might be a rather premature ending to my 34 years in an art classroom, and I was right. Teaching art on Zoom, sitting at a PC, is no substitute for being on my feet all day, enjoying the challenge of back to back practicals and jaw dropping moments of artistic brilliance which emerge just when you aren’t expecting them! It is revealing that during our recent ‘lockdown’, society has begun to recognise the importance of both my passions-Art and Sport-as ways of healing our mental and physical well-being. I have always known they are important! However, my hands are the cleanest they have been since the last time I left Bolton School-you can always spot art teachers’ hands from their ingrained paint!

I’ll miss so many things: Making Christmas Angels, singing 3 Kings and Jerusalem without needing a hymn book, shouting ‘a partridge in a pear tree!’ at the top of my voice, cake in the staff room, Andrew’s Angels’ legendary lunches, Panto, assemblies, whole school photos and much, much more........

Thanks everyone, it’s been ‘a blast!’. Bowing out gracefully, Miss Faz

Mrs S Morrison

I joined the MFL department in September 2010 and as I am writing I cannot believe how quickly my ten years here have passed by. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching French and Spanish to the girls and being part of the school’s many traditions. It has also been a pleasure to take the girls on many trips and exchanges. A recent highlight was accompanying the Year 13 language students to the North West Debating Competition and watching our Spanish and French teams win with such flair. Their success was a real testament to the very high standards achieved by the girls at Bolton School. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to finish my teaching career working with such talented girls and supportive and friendly colleagues. I will miss you all and wish you the very best for the future.

Mrs K Knowles

I joined Bolton School in June 2000, so worked here for just over 21 years. I haven’t always been involved in Careers. After completing A Levels I joined the Civil Service, working in Legal Aid for a number of years. After having my children I started working at a local secondary school before joining Bolton School. Back in the day, childcare wasn’t so readily available and school hours and holidays suited family life.

The best part of working at Bolton School was without doubt the people, both staff and students. I worked with some lovely people across the campus and made some lifelong friends. I also had the privilege of meeting some incredibly interesting and talented people at our Careers events. It was especially rewarding to see Old Girls and Old Boys coming back into School to speak about their careers and sharing their experiences with current students.

Technology has changed significantly over the years. When I joined the School the Careers Room had shelves stacked with university prospectuses, and applications to university were paper applications. Now, of course, all these things are online.

I don’t think School traditions have changed very much during my time. I particularly enjoyed the Prefects’ Panto and the School productions. There were some very talented performers!

Since retiring in the Summer I have joined a French class to brush up on my very rusty A Level French and I am hoping to do lots of travelling both in the UK and abroad. The best part about being retired, I have found, is having more time to spend with friends and family. However, I am going to miss the Bolton School community.

Fond Farewells...

Mrs A Shafiq

I joined the school in 1981 fresh from my PGCE course at Manchester University, so that makes 40 years in the same job!

I had previously studied French and Spanish at Leeds University, spending my time abroad near Lyon in France and in Granada in Spain. If you need an incentive to continue your languages then the year abroad would be it. A steep learning curve both linguistically, socially and practically, but probably the best time of your life.

I had always wanted to be a teacher, but then I had the idea that I would like to join the diplomatic service. Unfortunately, I was not able to get over the Maths hurdle (never my strongest subject), so that meant back to Plan A. I applied for the job here, as the current Head of Languages, Miss Morley, wanted to appoint a French teacher who could also introduce a new language. I was interviewed by Mrs Spurr, the Headmistress, and I was lucky enough to be given the job.

When I arrived in the September, I was in awe of the amazing staff, such a talented set of individuals. That is still the case todayalthough I think we are a lot less scary! In the staffroom everybody had their own chair where some left their knitting, and woe betide you if you turned up not wearing tights or wearing trousers. A very different world.

In my first year, I went to Cautley (the equivalent of Patterdale without the frills) three times. In those days staff leading the trip had to do the shopping and cook all of the meals, as well as clean the house at the end of the stay. I think that is why I really appreciate Patterdale and the staff there. We also organised the activities and Miss Felton shares the tale of walking through a field only to be met by a dangerous-looking bull … not sure how we missed that one off the risk assessment, but we lived to tell the tale!

My first School trip abroad was to Paris where the accommodation turned out to be in the red light district and I shared a room with a view of the sky with Mrs Garthwaite. I also went on the very first French exchange to Moulins. Mrs Hutchings, the then Head of Languages, and I stayed in a chateau and I accessed my bedroom through a room full of spiders, cobwebs and men in suits of armourthe stuff of nightmares!

In School, Spanish went from strength to strength and we had exchanges to Barcelona, Málaga, Granada and Madrid. They were the best of times and it was so rewarding when girls realised that somebody actually spoke the language they had been trying to master and that with even a few words you can make yourself understood.

In School, we put on plays, had MFL drama evenings and even turned the Great Hall into ‘Micro-ville’, a version of France, Germany and Spain where we had stalls and cafés and girls went shopping, used currency, ate typical food and wrote a postcard home. Sounds like madness, but it was great fun.

I think for me the tradition I value most is being in the Hall on those memorable occasions when you get the sense of what a great community we are, everybody feeling positive and realising just how lucky we are to be there.

I have not yet made any plans for my retirement - I am waiting for enough headspace to start thinking about it. School is part of my DNA and I am going to miss the girls, the staff and the excitement of every day being different. Most people cannot understand how somebody can be in the same school for 40 years - I would say that it has been a privilege and I have enjoyed every moment (well almost!).

Mrs L Brown

I’ve worked at Bolton School for thirty years! I didn’t think it would be so long, it just worked out that way! This is my first official teaching post. I did teacher training at two other schools, so this is my third school. I trained at Crewe and Alsager College.

I always wanted to be a teacher, because I like passing on my enthusiasm for subjects. However, I wanted to do some work in industry so that I could bring that into my teaching. I worked in industry, with two years at Rowntree Mackintosh and five years with Cheshire County Council. I was a computer programmer and then a computer analyst before I came into teaching, so I would have pursued that field if I hadn’t become a teacher.

What I most enjoyed about working at Bolton School was teaching the pupils - in general, they are fantastic! When I first started we used to do teacher/staff reviews in front of the pupils. One year Miss Dickinson and I choreographed a dance to perform to the School, which the girls found very amusing! Assemblies and the Ceremony of Carols are my favourite traditions; although they have changed over the years, they have changed the least.

During my first years at Bolton School, there were very few changes. Since Covid-19 struck, the goal posts in and out of the classroom have constantly been changing. If you strip off the technology, we fundamentally still teach the same content in the computer science department. However, there are now many more computers on a network! We no longer have the BBC and Apple Macintosh computers we had at the start, and logging on at the start of a lesson is much more straightforward. I first started teaching computing at Bolton School, then moved to IT, and now I’m back to computing.

Bolton School is completely different to my own education experience. I was apprehensive at first, but seeing how you can grow and develop in this environment is lovely - witnessing students growing in confidence rather than hiding under a bushel!

My plans for retirement involve the environment! Promoting ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and planting some more trees.

Ms T Felton

I’ve worked at Bolton School for thirty-eight years! I never thought I’d be here this long! I had a temporary post for one year teaching in a rough comprehensive in Wolverhampton before moving here to a permanent job in 1983. While there, I taught boys and girls. Also, fifteen or so years ago we taught one boy in the Girls’ Division because his A Levels wouldn’t fit in the Boys’ Division. He now runs his own design company in Manchester and he wrote to me to thank me for encouraging him to do what he does.

I never wanted to be a teacher! I wanted to be a singer! I won lots of talent competitions as a teenager and that’s what I wanted to do. When I said I wanted to be a singer I was encouraged to have something to fall back on! That was how I ended up in art college. But I didn’t want to be a teacher - I was going to do a fellowship at a Victorian tile factory in Shropshire after I graduated, but I didn’t get the post. I thought maybe I could teach children with special needs; I went for teacher training and was trained as an art teacher and art therapist. But I couldn’t get a job at any special schools at that time as Margaret Thatcher started closing them down. So I ended up in Wolverhampton and then finally Bolton!

However, I carried on my singing. I was in a band which brought out two records during my first few years teaching at Bolton School. I would be out till three o’clock in the morning singing in Manchester, Hebden Bridge, all over the North West. And then I’d come in and teach the next day!

I want to get back in a band when I retire. I go out and I see a lot of live bands in Manchester. I’m really interested in all the new music that’s around.

I’d like to think I could have become an internationally famous singer if I hadn’t been a teacher, either on my own or in a band. There’s still time! I auditioned for Britain’s Got Talent and The Voice - maybe I should have another go!

The best part of teaching at Bolton School is the girls - they’re wonderful. And, obviously, art: feeling I’ve had a hand in teaching the girls to develop their talent and their confidence. And the music! I can’t believe there is a school anywhere that does music and productions as well as Bolton School does, and. I have been very privileged to have been part of the musical life here. Over the years

I’ve sung in the parents’ choirs and the staff choirs. I was in a staffonly production of A Twelfth Night - I think there has only ever been one staff production like that, and that was very special.

I have so many memories. A funny one was being chased by a bull in a field with Mrs Shafiq (when she was still Miss Kelly) when we were at Cautley (the precursor to Patterdale Hall). We had to run for our lives while the girls watched us from over the wall! Another standout is the music: singing, attending amazing concerts, performing at Bridgewater Hall - and seeing my son, who attended the Boys’ Division, playing his violin on stage there as part of the orchestra.

I met Princess Diana when she came to School to open the Arts Centre. We put on an art exhibition, and the girls met her, and she was absolutely delightful.

In one of the Year 10 Christmas Posts I was Cleopatra: I was wheeled down the Hall on a science trolley and onto the platform to do a rap. I had my hair shaved off for charity. I was up on the platform and Mrs McCann sprayed my hair green and started cutting it off with garden shears, then my hairdresser ran up the hall with his box of tricks and came to sort things out. Girls had paid about 50p to come and watch it, but I only raised around £50, which is not as much as I had hoped to raise for losing all of my hair!

Some things in school life seem to be perennial, but other things have changed. The original dining room was very different. We used to eat at great big wooden tables and a member of staff had to dish up the food.

The uniform has undergone many changes. The girls used to have ‘outdoor’ and ‘indoor’ shoes - the latter were those horrible Clarks sandals that children wear, they were very unpopular! Ties changed enormously from really small knots to loose floppy undone ones and eventually they were replaced with blouses.

It used to be freezing cold - there were no carpets, the cloisters were open. I also remember the wooden chairs in the Hall; there was a big ‘hoohah’ when they were replaced.

My favourite Bolton School tradition is the Ceremony of Carols - it’s magical. I will be there this Christmas to hear it. Also the shows and productions - I got involved with many of them.

As for retirement plans, I would really like to join a band again; I would like to do some more recording. I will decorate my big old tatty house. I am going to travel a lot and visit new places and places I love, especially art galleries.

I am going to miss Bolton School. I live round the corner and can hear the boys playing sports on the field. It will be emotional to leave after so long - but, having said that, I’m not going to miss the reports and the admin!

A number of other members of staff left the Girls’ Division during the 2019-21 academic years. Miss R Sutcliffe (Head of English) and Mrs J Holland (Deputy Head’s Secretary) both retired, while Mrs J Duddle (PE), Mrs Z Long (Mathematics) and Mr C Fico (Head of Modern Languages) all moved on to new posts elsewhere. Mrs A McGivern (Senior School Secretary) also moved across to the Boys’ Division!

2019-20

Naeema Adam University of Leeds Medicine

Charleigh Adams Durham University Modern Languages

Fiza Ahmed University of Liverpool Dental Surgery

Aqeefah Akram University of Central Lancashire Pharmacy

Lima Assi University of Newcastle upon Tyne History

Neha Bagewadi Durham University Mathematics

Imogen Bootle University of Liverpool Politics

Annabelle Boulos University of Liverpool Philosophy with Spanish

Lucinda Butterworth Edge Hill University Geoenvironmental Hazards

Rachel Care The University of Birmingham Biological Sciences

Leah Chadwick Nottingham Trent University Criminology

Jess Chae University of Liverpool Medicine

Amy Chicken Bristol, University of the West of England Business

Shivani Chohan University of Manchester Dentistry

Anita Cardozo Universitat Internacional de Catalunya, Barcelona Dentistry

Sally Cowling University of Nottingham Music

Erin Crompton University of Newcastle upon Tyne Urban Planning

Lizzie Crowther Durham University Modern Languages and Cultures

Sharon Daniel Imperial College London Medicine

Cassia Drummond Gap Year

Amelia Doherty The University of York History

Haleema Fazal University of Manchester Pharmacy

Emily Fielder University of Newcastle upon Tyne Modern Languages

Lizzie Glover Nottingham Trent University Fashion Marketing & Branding

Zoe Grainger University of Leeds Law

Hana Hanif Keele University Pharmacy

Alex Haworth University of Manchester Adult Nursing

Esmee Higgins Gap Year

Honey Higham Trainee Accountant Jon Childs Chartered Accountants

Molly Hill University of Liverpool Psychology

Izzy Howe Sheffield Hallam University Product Design

Yolanda Hughes University of Liverpool Law

Santina Hundle University of Liverpool Geology and Physical Geography

Millie Hurt Florida Technical College Biology

Aleena Hussain Manchester Metropolitan University Law

Aliza Imitiaz Gap Year

Alexandra Isherwood University of Surrey Veterinary Medicine & Science

Mariyah Karim Cardiff University Medicine

Ella Kaut-Howson University of Edinburgh Arabic & French

Ingrid Lam University College London Medicine

Carla Law Leeds Beckett University Filmmaking

Robyn Lever University of Liverpool Psychology

Cate Lord

Isobel Lupton

Loughborough University

The University of Birmingham

Ammara Makkan Gap Year

Lauren-Rae McGann

Geography & Management

Biomedical Science

University College London Spanish with Management Studies

Rachel McGinty Oxford University Law

Bryony Meech Lancaster University Chemical Engineering

Maddie Moon Gap Year

Ruqayyah Naeem University of Sunderland Medicine

Imane Nagi

The University of Birmingham Dentistry

Aaminah Natha University of Manchester Pharmacy

Anabel Nuttall

Harper Adams University

Rural Property Management

Lucy Nuttall University of Newcastle upon Tyne Geography

Aamina Patel University of Liverpool Dental Surgery

Asiyah Patel University of Manchester Architecture

Safa Patel Gap Year

Safiyyah Patel

Keele University Pharmacy

Issy Plant University of Bath Management with Marketing

Amy Potter

Aberystwyth University Computer Science

Jessica Price University of Liverpool Physiotherapy

Lauren Pursey University of St Andrews History

Hafsa Qadeer Cardiff University Optometry

Ammarah Qureshi Gap Year

Emily Rajbhandari

Apprenticeship in Assurance Ernst & Young

Bridie Rawlins University of Leeds Business Management

Hannah Rayner University of Warwick Economics

Sana Saleem

King’s College London Medicine

Molly Scholefield Durham University Geography

Emma Sellwood University of Liverpool Veterinary Science

Sara Shaikh Liverpool John Moores University Pharmacy

Sammy Sharif Keele University Medicine

Rachelle Sidoli Cardiff University English Literature & Philosophy

Gabby Staveley University of Huddersfield Costume with Textiles

Lucy Stiles

King’s College London Medicine

Lorna Stirzaker University of Leeds Foundation Diploma in Art and Design

Asmara Stubley

Loughborough University Business Analytics

Abiha Sultan University of Liverpool Medicine

Sana Thagia University of Manchester Dentistry

Amara Vijayadurai Gap Year

Charley Wakefield University of Leeds History

Pui Shun Wan

Queen Mary University of London Biomedical Engineering)

Lauren Whittaker Durham University Physics)

Alex Whittle University of Winchester Business Management)

Faatima Adam University of Manchester English Lit/Spanish

Madeehah Ahmed Reapplying for Medicine 2022

Serena Arya The University of Edinburgh Architecture

Madeline Ashton University of York Bus Management

Roxanne Asumu Charles University, Prague Medicine

Katherine Baker University of Oxford Classics

Aaliyah Bax University of Manchester Medicine

Eve Birtwhistle Pursuing a music career

Madeleine Bodger University of Liverpool Psychology

Jessica Buckthorpe University of Manchester Law with Politics

Joyce Chan University of Manchester Medical Physiology

India Corlett-Moore University of York Law

Katherine Couriel University of York Law

Sana Dalal University of Manchester Pharmacology and Physiology

Abigail Duckworth Oxford Brookes University Real Estate

Kate Dziobon Gap year

Maisy Ferguson Edge Hill University Business & Management

Emilie Fielding Manchester Metropolitan University Foundation Diploma in Art & Design

Ellie Fisher Hull York Medical School Medicine

Isabella Forshaw Northumbria University Real Estate

Rachel Funk Buckinghamshire New University Midwifery

Maimoona Ghanchi University of Liverpool Medicine

Annabelle Gibbs Coventry University Accounting & Finance

Liberty Giggs Nottingham Trent University Fashion, Communication and Promotion

Madeline Godwin University of Birmingham Dentistry

Alexandra Greenwood University of Glasgow Veterinary Medicine

Sanaa Hafeji University of Manchester Dentistry

Sophie Hann Imperial College London Physics

Grace Hansford University of Leeds Politics

Ella Harkness University of Nottingham Politics and International Relations

Elspeth Harper University of Leeds Product Design

Rosalyn Harper The University of Edinburgh History

Saachi Hemmady University of Nottingham Geography

Zakia Herez University of Plymouth Biomedical Science

Stephanie Holland University of Nottingham Classics

Jasmine Howarth King’s College London Sport and Exercise Medical Science

Abigail Hughes University of Edinburgh Psychology

Charlotte Hughes PWC Apprenticeship

Saira Hussain Cardiff University Dentistry

Isha Iftikhar University of Manchester Midwifery

Sana Isa University of Manchester Optometry

Jade Jolley University of Surrey Veterinary Medicine and Science

Shreya Kamath Imperial College London Electronic and Information Engineering

Victoria Kettle Northumbria University Marketing

Phoenix Khan University of Leeds History and Sociology

Amber Kirkham Newcastle University Business Management

Zara Leach The University of Edinburgh Spanish

Elizabeth Lees University of Leicester Medicine

Laura Marsden Newcastle University Marketing and Management

Haleemah Mohammed University of Liverpool Modern Languages

Eleanor Murray University of Sheffield Law with Spanish Law

Fatimah Naeem Lancaster University Medicine and Surgery

Maya Parmar Reapplying for Medicine 2022

Aaliyah Patel University of Newcastle Dentistry

Maryam Patel Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh Speech and Language Therapy

Muminah Patel University of Manchester Dentistry

Sanaa Patel University of Manchester Healthcare Science\Audiology

Anna Phillips University of Oregon

Harriet Preston The University of Law Law

Nikhita Puveenthirarajan Reapplying for Medicine 2022

Zara Rattoo University of Manchester Optometry

Mahnoor Raza Gap Year Medicine abroad

Sana Riaz Durham University English Literature

Lily Rimmer University College London Politics and International Relations

Sara Salim University of Plymouth Medicine

Ashley Sprott University of Liverpool Psychology

Olivia Stubbs Durham University Natural Sciences

Jennifer Taberner Northumbria University Business Management

Ella Thompson University of St Andrews French and Spanish

Sara Uddin Gap Year

Aishah Umar University of Manchester Dentistry

Sanjana Vijaya Kumar Applying to Medicine abroad

Sarah Walker University of Oxford Law with French Law

Ellie Wallis Reapplying for Medicine 2022

Elizabeth Warburton University of Leeds Business Management)

Niamh Woodward Liverpool Hope University Psychology)

Bolton School Girls’ Division Chorley New Road, Bolton, BL1 4PB 01204 840 201 boltonschool.org