The Cockerel - February 2023

The Cockerel

BOLTON SCHOOL BOYS’ DIVISION NEWSLETTER

ISSUE 38 - FEBRUARY 2023

Chapter 1

Ethan ranked in Top 5 Swimmers Nationally

Ethan ranked in Top 5 Swimmers Nationally

Ethan Blyth, a Year 7 pupil in the Boys’ Division at Bolton School, has been ranked in the top five swimmers nationally in his age group.

Ethan has just finished competing in the Lancashire County Swimming Championships where, over the course of the last three weekends of racing, has won seven Gold, two Silver and three Bronze medals. His outstanding performance has ranked him amongst the country’s finest young swimmers.

George shares his career experience with the Sixth Form

George shares his career experience with the Sixth Form

considering a career in fast moving consumer goods to apply early as securing a graduate position is highly competitive.

Sixth Form boys at Bolton School Boys’ Division spent an instructive Form period learning from former pupil George Hill, who returned virtually to tell them about his career with food and beverage manufacturers PepsiCo. George told how he left Bolton School in 2018 with A levels in Chemistry, Biology and English Language and how he graduated from Keele University with a 2.i BSc in Neuroscience; a subject he said he had become interested in after hearing about it in his MedSoc classes and from talking to exhibitors at Careers Fairs. George also reflected on the wide range of extra-curricular activities that he involved himself with at school and beyond, including in men’s football.

George explained how he got his job at the company through building connections on LinkedIn and he advised those

George gave an overview of the PepsiCo brand portfolio and told about his own initial role at the relatively small PepsiCo Quaker Oats site in Cupar in Scotland and how, shortly afterwards, he moved to a much larger PepsiCo site - the Walkers Snacks plant in Skelmersdale where he is currently a Performance Coordinator. He explained how PepsiCo is a large and everevolving multi-national company and that he did not know where his next job might take him – it could, perhaps, be somewhere in Europe or the US. He did make the point that he felt excited about his future and his journey along the management pathway.

The session wrapped up with George fielding a number of questions: How do you move from having studied a Neuroscience degree to Project Managing in the food industry? Can people follow a similar career path without a degree? What sort of salary can you expect? When did you build your LinkedIn profile? Did you develop some skills whilst at school? What would be the best advice you would give yourself as a Sixth Former.

Chapter 3

50th Tillotson

Lecture focuses on Biotechnology Revolution

50th Tillotson Lecture focuses on Biotechnology Revolution

The 50th Bolton School Boys’ Division Tillotson Lecture was delivered by former pupil Professor Robin Ali, Class of 1984, in which he gave a personal perspective on his career as an academic in the field of biotechnology and on what he sees as the future of healthcare.

Robin Ali, who is now Professor of Human Molecular Genetics at King’s College London, said it was a pleasure and honour to be invited back to Bolton School and that he was delighted to see that it is ‘still a great educational environment’. He spoke of his fond memories of his time at school (1976-1984) and how he went on to spend his undergraduate years at University College London (UCL), where he has also spent much of his career. He said, rather modestly, that in 2003, when he became the

youngest professor (of Molecular Genetics) at UCL, it was a rapidly moving field and it was more down to being in the right place at the right time than his own brilliance. He also told how, two years ago, he moved across to King’s College London to head up a centre for advanced therapies. Whilst the centre has many academic teams, he said his main focus is, and has been for 30 years or so, on advanced gene cell therapies for the treatment of eye diseases, particularly inherited retinal disorders. Professor Ali gave the audience an overview of biotechnology from 1970 from the first isolation of restriction enzymes in bacteria, to his latest projects at King’s where his team is working on developing a range of gene and stem cell therapies. He then went on to field a range of questions including: to what extent can you rely on the use of potentially pathogenic viruses in possible life-changing treatments; is there a correlation between retinal detachment and ethnicity or genetics; the scalability of advanced therapies; and, answering a question about what advice he would give to the students in the audience, he advised following your

passions and interests, seeing things through, having patience and perseverance and to only work on things that are really worth working on.

Earlier in the day, Professor Ali visited Biology and Design Tech classes in the Boys’ Division and enjoyed a tour of the campus.

Watch the Tillotson Lecture in full here.

Jamie wins Judo Gold

Jamie wins Judo Gold

Jamie Death in Year 13 recently competed in the Scottish Championships for Judo, one of the five Home Nations ranking events used to amass GB ranking points. He competed in the Under 21 category at under 81 kg, and saw off competition from full time athletes and past rivals.

It was his first competition on return from injury when he had sustained a broken rib. Unfortunately, absence from recent ranking events because of this injury caused his overall ranking to drop; however, this recent success has brought his ranking back up to second in Great Britain.

Jamie hopes to study Computer Game Design at university next year while continuing to pursue his Judo career. He has aspirations to compete in the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.

ISFA CallUps for Under 13s

ISFA Call-Ups for Under 13s

Oscar Hatton and Cam Firth, both in Year 8, have been selected for the ISFA Under 13 North West Football team following trials. They will compete in the National competition held at Shrewsbury School at Easter. Mr. Nicky Hunt, current Bolton School Football coach, will also be on the coaching staff of the North West team.

Cam and Oscar follow a strong line of successful Bolton School footballers in this achievement.

Boys participate in Rowing Charity Challenge

Boys participate in Rowing Charity Challenge

Recently, Bolton School Rowing once again had the opportunity to participate in the Virtual ‘Race the Thames’ ergometer event, where the boys were tasked with rowing a distance of 72 kilometres collectively. The goal was to raise money for London Youth Rowing, a widening-access charity for the sport.

Six boys (Barnaby Keogh 13i, Brandon Yuen 13h, Tom Boardman 13f, Jacob Audley 12e, Edgar Keogh 11b and Thomas Atkinson 11e) began in Central London, with the aim to ‘row’ virtually through the Thames estuary and into the sea, splitting the imposing distance of 72 kilometres between them, and taking time at home and on lunchtime breaks, outside of sports lessons, to complete the distance. It was a tough challenge, but they managed it skilfully, placing very well in the rankings.

Overall, they were able to raise £187 for a great cause, and the event was enjoyed by all who participated in it.

Chapter 7

Boys enjoy success in Physics Olympiad Competition

Boys enjoy success in Physics Olympiad Competition

In December 2022, six Year 13 students from Bolton School Boys’ Division entered Round 1 of the British Physics Olympiad Competition. This is an extremely hard physics paper designed to challenge the most able students in the country. This year, there were also many entries from China. Well done to the following boys who all achieved medals:

Siddhant Patel – Gold

George Seddon – Silver

Neerav Patel – Silver

Frankie Chen – Bronze II

Muhammed Akhtar – Bronze II

Fadi Khaled Baiza – Bronze II

Charlie Targets Junior Karting Honours

Charlie Targets Junior Karting Honours

Charlie Hart, a Year 10 pupil in the Boys' Division of Bolton School, will bid for Ginetta Junior Championship honours with reigning Teams' champions Elite Motorsport.

Charlie made his Elite and Ginetta debut in the Winter Series last November, posting three top-10 results in the four-race event at Brands Hatch.

The 14-year-old lives in the village of Rivington in Lancashire and steps up for his first full season of car racing with the Norfolk squad having spent nine years in karting.

He began karting aged five and three years later was competing in various British championships plus European events. Charlie enjoyed success in the Cadet class and despite being the youngest driver on the 2021 Motorsport UK British Championship Junior Rotax 125cc grid, recorded multiple race wins and podiums along with fastest laps to be ranked 10th at the end of the season.

Charlie is part of a racing family, being the third generation of Hart racers, father Chris racing in numerous categories, more recently in GT, while Grandfather Stan raced trucks.

Stunning Production of ‘The Great Gatsby’

Stunning Production of ‘The Great Gatsby’

In 2022, it was 100 years since F. Scott Fitzgerald's character Jay Gatsby threw his lavish parties in the infamous tale, ‘The Great Gatsby’.

Set in post-war Paris and Jazz Age New York, our Senior Joint Production drew on the The Lost Generation context of the novel's genesis, as well as telling the tragic story of Gatsby (Jayden Luhar), a self-made millionaire, focused upon his pursuit of Daisy Buchanan (Felicity Field), a wealthy young woman whom he loved in his youth. Nick Carraway (Billy Burrows), a Yale University graduate from the

Midwest, was our guide through the show. Nick recounted the events of the fateful summer of 1922.

The novel was adapted for the stage by our Foundation Director of Creative Learning, Naomi Lord. Writer Willa Cather commented that 'the world broke in half in 1922 or thereabouts' and the 1920s was, without doubt, a decade of distinctive qualities. The show considered the state of the world in 1922 and left an open question, 'what has changed in the intervening years?'

In 1922, the world had just emerged from a war that had killed millions and a global pandemic – the Spanish Flu – that had killed tens of millions more. The era was also known for excess,

as well as relaxation of and rapid change in social politics and behaviours. In 1922, the Ottoman Empire fell, the British Empire was showing signs of decay, the USSR was founded and Mussolini and his Blackshirts began their march to Rome.

An ensemble cast variously played bootleggers, flappers, brokers, su ff ragists, war veterans and the ‘men and girls [who] came and went like moths among the whisperings and the champagne and the stars’ of Gatsby’s parties. Jayden presented a Gatsby as a haunting presence, never quite able to access the society of the high life his parties conjured, alongside Felicity’s saccharine and self-serving Daisy. Billy Burrow’s handling of Nick provided a wonderful arc to the show – an astute and accomplished picture of a character coming of age as illusions of grandeur shattered around him. They were supported by excellent character presentations from Alex McKie as Tom Buchanan, Ilham Nagi as Jordan Baker, Cameron Geskell as George Wilson, Molly Bell as Myrtle Wilson, Ella Worsley as Maya Wolfsheim, Tom Griffiths as Michaelis, Ila Stephenson as the Spirit of the Age, Elliot Rigby as Gertrude Stein, David Chow as

Charles Ritz, Thea Littlefair as Sherwood Anderson, Eve Blackmore as Klipspringer and Elizabeth Stanton, Yaqeen Alkaabi as Catherine, Fletcher Mellor Brook and Bea Foy as the McKees, George Houghton as Owl Eyes, Safa Karim as Mrs Gatz, Amelie Harrison as Senator Brandeis and Sam Entwistle as a key witness to Myrtle’s death.

The cast presented the joy and the freedoms of the 1920s alongside the unsettling prescience of Fitzgerald's tale of boom before bust – the Wall Street Crash arrived in 1929 and the '30s rapidly descended into World War 2.

The show was delivered in cabaret-style in an immersive Jazz Age environment, opening in Europe and hopping across to the USA with audiences dressed to impress in 1920s attire. The action was accompanied by live music from our Gatsby Band led by Miss Sherry, Head of Academic Music, who also arranged the music.

Congratulations to the pupils and staff who presented this ambitious piece of theatre. Thank you to our Parents Associations for presenting refreshments and dressing the Senior Library in true Gatsby style.

Chapter 10

Eco Update

Eco Update

Year 8 has been engaging with environmental issues in SPACE this year.

After learning about what net zero means and why many countries are targeting net zero by 2050, pupils designed a solution either for the school community or for their own communities which could contribute to reaching this target. There were some fantastic ideas ranging from alternative methods of energy generation to transport and using green spaces more efficiently.

Some shocking facts about plastic such as ‘by 2050 there will be more plastic by weight than fish in the oceans’ really engaged students in thinking about their own plastic usage. Inspired by a series of books, we considered rethinking about our use of items such as yoghurt pots, vegetable packaging and coffee cups. Four of the groups then went out litter picking on the school site, collecting 10 full bags of waste. The need for positive action and agency was discussed with some examples from activists who had grown ideas such as the two minute beach clean.

Chapter 11

Boys enjoy Astronomy Trip at Patterdale

Boys enjoy Astronomy Trip at Patterdale

Saturday saw the boys treated to many activities such as:

The 3rd annual Astronomy weekend took place from Friday 27th to Sunday 29th January at Patterdale Hall.

The group this year consisted of boys from Years 7 to 13 accompanied by members of the Physics Department and our amateur Astronomer Gary Hill.

The aim of the weekend is to offer Astronomy-related activities to all the boys and, of course, take advantage of the dark sky area of the Ullswater valley (assuming little cloud cover).

We were very fortunate on the Friday evening to be treated to mainly clear skies over Patterdale, enabling the boys to put into practice what they had learned about the constellation of Orion and various stellar objects that can be found using the constellation. Ask any of the boys what M42 is and they should point out that it is a nebula found within Orion.

• Synthesising a comet from dry ice and sand

• Launching water powered rockets

• Making Galilean telescopes

• A masterclass in telescopes using a selection of semiprofessional telescopes courtesy of our amateur astronomer Gary Hill

• Following the new solar system orienteering course in the grounds of Patterdale Hall

The evening sessions included a very interesting illustrated talk delivered by George Seddon of Year

13, on the collision of neutron stars forming black holes –interesting to everyone, but maybe a little difficult for Year 7 to follow.

The next to present was Muhammad Akhtar from Year 13 and Zak McCallister from Year 10, who included explanations and tips of how to take pictures of the night sky using cameras and mobile phones.

The boys then had the opportunity to use their phones or iPad to take pictures of a somewhat cloudy sky, but with the moon and stars appearing between clouds. Since then, a few members of our Astronomy Club from Years 7-12 have captured images from home.

Sunday’s activities consisted of making L.E.D. models of constellations by Years 7 and 9; they were very pleased to take these home with them.

Year 10 measured out a scale model of the solar system stretching from the entrance to Patterdale Hall to the pier at Ullswater. This was then followed by all the boys.

Years 11, 12 and 13 were treated to a hands-on session on drone flying and photography by Gary Hill.

Overall, it was a very successful weekend giving the boys an insight to the world of Astronomy and many practical skills. The Physics Department is looking forward to seeing the results of their attempt at astrophotography that will be displayed along the Physics corridor.

Zac now shares his experience of the trip:

This year, I left Patterdale in awe of the night sky above us. Even though it was cloudy, this didn't take anything away from the whole experience. We spent time learning about constellations, neutron stars and telescopes. We completed orienteering within the grounds which showed the true scale of the solar system. At night, we even got to watch films like the Martian and Ad Astra. Overall, this trip was great for our knowledge and enjoyment of Astronomy.

Joseph now shares his experience of the trip:

As I am part of the Astronomy Club and am taking the subject for GCSE, I was given the chance to go to Patterdale Hall over a weekend on the astronomy trip. While we were there, we were given the chance to take part in many activities, such as making dry ice comets and bottle rockets; stargazing; and outdoor activities with the Patterdale staff. In the evenings, there were talks by some of the older students and space-themed films such as The Martian. By far, my favourite part of the weekend was the opportunity to do stargazing, as the skies were extremely clear so it was perfect to try and find di ff erent stars, constellations and objects. Overall, the trip was extremely interesting and definitely helped me understand more about the night sky.

Boys Donate to Blackburn Foodbank

Boys Donate to Blackburn Foodbank

Several Sixth Form students from Blackburn House in Bolton School Boys’ Division visited Blackburn Foodbank to handover a donation of food provisions weighing 189 kilos! The boys were given a tour of the premises and shown how donations are processed in order to help people every day of the week.

The pupils have been collecting items since September and several House assemblies focused on raising awareness for Blackburn Foodbank. There was consideration of some of the real life stories of people the Foodbank has helped and also how there has been a greater strain on food banks since the Cost of Living crisis. There was also a game of ‘higher or lower’ in an assembly, where pupils had to decide whether 12 items were higher or lower in price than the item before. All items were under £2.00 and illustrated to the boys how adding an extra bag of pasta or a tin of beans to your shopping will not make a big difference to your shopping bill, but would be greatly appreciated by the foodbank.

Blackburn House is one of four houses at Bolton School – the others being Chorley, Manchester and Wigan. A number of House Days are held each year in which boys compete against one another across various sports and extracurricular pursuits.

Boys’ Concert Generates Festive Feeling

Boys’ Concert Generates Festive Feeling

Bolton School Boys’ Division’s Christmas Festival opened with an invitation to worship from the Head of School, Mr. Ford.

In what was a joyous evening of singing and rejoicing, backed by a full orchestra, the congregation certainly played its part. It was quickly on its feet and, throughout the evening, offered its voice to festive classics including Once in Royal David’s City, See Amid the Winter’s Snow, Hark! The Herald Angels Sing!, Joy to the World!, Mary’s Boy Child, Shine Jesus Shine and O Come, all ye Faithful!

There were quieter moments too with the Lower School Choir’s rendition of Gabriel’s Message and the Chamber Choir’s singing of A

Voice, A Chime . Sixth Formers Billy Burrows and Rishi Narla offered up the vocal duet When Love Was Born and the String Quartet performed an arresting Fantasia on the Ukrainian Bell Carol. Interwoven throughout the evening were thoughtful readings, reflections and prayers, read by the Reverend Alan Saunders, Vicar of St. Peter’s Church in Halliwell, Head of Foundation Mr. Britton and by pupils from across the year groups.

The retiring collection was for Wishing on a Star and the Rosa Mystica Foundation. Watch the Christmas Festival here.

Chapter 14

A snapshot of extra-curricular school life

A snapshot of extra-curricular school life

Well done to Ahmed Baree in 7f for winning December’s monthly mission. Well done to Muhammad-Deen Patel in 7f for winning January’s monthly mission. Super well done to Derek Leong in 7a and Jamie Chen in 8e for winning both December’s and January’s monthly missions. December’s monthly mission involved the boys creating a travel guide for a country or city of their choice. January’s monthly mission involved cooking a meal from any country of the world. Some of the best entries involved Edinburgh-style grilled salmon and vegetable stew, pineapple and prawn fried rice and an Indian curry!

Congratulations to Patrick Humphreys (10d), Jacob Collinson (10a) and Lucas Horridge (10d), who were this winners of this year’s Stoner Prize. The Stoner Prize is a competition where groups of students choose an aspect of Physics that interests them, carries out some research, prepares a presentation on it, and then delivers the presentation to their peers. The students then compete in science classes, the winner of each class goes on to compete in the final. The prize is named after Edmund Stoner, who was an old boy of the School and made a significant

contribution to the field of ferromagnetism. The boys impressed the judges with their presentation and excellent knowledge of their chosen topic – Drag Coefficient. Senior Literary and Debating Society continues to run a prosperous society, both within School as well as through participation in external competitions which continue to be hosted via Zoom. Our society has recently participated in the annual MACE event which focuses on the British Parliamentary style of debating. Ewan Davies, James Wilson and Mohammed Ahmed represented the School fantastically against what was a very strong field of teams from across the North West. The first heat saw Bolton School progress to the regional heats after opposing and winning the motion ‘This House Would use proportional representation in UK national elections’. Although we did not make it through the following regional round, all participants argued their cause with great fervour and each boy should be proud of his efforts.

Congratulations to our Year 13 Boys’ French team of Barnaby

Keogh and Will Fothergill and Girls’ Spanish team (Henna & Martha) who were runners-up in the final of the North Schools’ MFL Debating Competition hosted at Cheadle Hulme School. The debating motions prepared in advance were “Digital technology is making young people’s lives better”, “Simple is better than complex” and whether “Religion has a key role in modern society.” In the final, the boys had 20 minutes to prepare an unseen motion – “Being prepared is over-rated” losing narrowly to Altrincham Grammar School for Girls, who argued against the motion having won the coin toss. The final was judged by Xavier Lavry, president of the Alliance Française, who was impressed by the standard of the competition and, of course, the finalists.

Very well done to Justin Li in 7b who scored the highest mark in Boys’ Division and has been awarded a certificate for ‘Best in School’.

Congratulations to our musicians on their recent examination successes:

Yash Anand (11b)

Trinity Rock & Pop Grade 7 Electric Guitar Merit

Amrit Mishra (11c)

Trinity Grade 6 Classical Guitar Merit

The Bebras Computing Challenge, hosted by the University of Oxford introduces computational thinking to students. It is organised in over 50 countries and designed to get students from all over the world excited about computing. Each participant answers as many questions as they can in 40 minutes that focus on problem solving, computational and logical thinking. All our Year 7 boys took part during their ICT lesson with Mrs. Fielding. Congratulations to the following boys who scored Distinctions: Ben Booth; Derek Leong; Faaz Sajid; Tanishq Das; Calvin King; Taylor Aspden; Mahad Chohan; Yahya Adbullah; Nicky Ling; Ziyad Bagasi, Justin Li.

Ben Pursey (10d)

Rockschool Grade 6 Vocals Merit

Suhayb Valli (10c)

Rockschool Grade 6 Vocals Merit

Alexander McKie (12f)

Trinity Grade 5 Singing Distinction

Charlie Simpson (8d)

Trinity Grade 5 Piano Distinction

Matthew Knight (8g)

Trinity Grade 4 Piano Pass

Marcus Law (10f)

Trinity Grade 3 Piano Distinction

George Burrows (8d)

Rockschool Grade 2 Vocals Distinction

Will Cutler (7b)

ABRSM Grade 2 Musical Theatre Merit

The Year 11 leadership and teamwork skills programme took place over the last couple of weeks at Patterdale. Congratulations to Group 2 who were the overall winners from the forms A and B cohort with 325 points. They were a team of 6 boys in 11a: Dominic Farrell, Adam Faulkner, Jonathan Frank, Yoji Haddow, Toby Holt-Gregson and Isaac Lucas. The instructors’ feedback said ‘A very calm group. Did not fail on any of the challenges. Did

not argue or become heated. Pleasant, polite, organised. Had good conversations with them on the last night. Passed the leadership around between them on different activities. No passengers, everyone involved’.

Well done to our Year 7 boys Athletics Team, who competed at the Greater Manchester Indoor event at Eastlands. The team

finished fourth overall against some extremely strong competition – particular well done to those that medalled in their events. Ben

Howarth Silver in 800m, Mateo Sprott Silver in 200m and Aaron Nunkoo in the High Jump.

Congratulations to Chris Frank (8f) for his medals success at the Greater Manchester Indoor Athletics Championships over the weekend – he has also been awarded the Bolton Harriers Under 13 Athlete of the Year.

Well done to the following boys who represented Bolton Borough in the Greater Manchester Cross County race at Heaton Park: Daniel Bleakley, Ben Howarth, Abbas Khambalia (all Year 7), Chris Frank (Year 8), Hugo James (Year 9), Matthew Houghton, Oliver Hatton, Liam Pijper and Harry Howarth (all Year 10).

Saturday saw the last Saturday block fixtures of the 15-a-side rugby season and overall it has been a very successful one. Participation has been excellent. 256 pupils have represented the School and we have taken part in over 100 fixtures across the North West, maintaining a 60% win record. In terms of team success, the Under 15s should be congratulated for reaching the Lancashire Plate Final, which will be played after half term. There can be doubt, however, that the team of the season is the Under 13 side. They finished the Under 13 festival at Preston Grasshoppers RUFC as third best in the county, and have gone the full season unbeaten. This is a huge achievement and certainly has not been done by a Bolton School side in some time. They should be hugely proud of what they have achieved, and this very much bodes well, for school rugby, moving forward.

There have also been notable personal successes. The following have been selected to be part of either the Sale Sharks DPP or Academy programmes:

Under 14 - Will James and Noah Haseldine

Under 15 - Dev Hasija, Corey Morgan, Cooper Atherton

Under 16 - Robert Bentham

Congratulations to the Under 13 rugby side who finished third in the Lancashire Rugby Cup tournament. Finishing second in a

strong group, we faced a tough Audenshaw School side in the 3rd- 4th playoff which we narrowly edged.

The Year 9 to Year 11 Badminton team has won all of its fixtures so far in the Bolton league including fixtures against Bolton School Girls’ Division, Thornleigh and Rivington and Blackrod. They have won three out of their four matches.

The Under 18 Water polo team won their recent Semi-final tournament in Northampton. The Finals are at Haberdashers’ Aske’s Boys’ School, Elstree on Friday 24th March.

Robert Bentham, Joe Carolan and Sam Fitzsimons all represented the North West Junior Water polo team. This team won the inter-regional tournament which was held last weekend at Blackpool. All three boys competed in this event in 2019, 2021 and 2023 and the team were undefeated across all three competitions. They will attend a training camp in Romania durng half term. From the trip, a GB team will be selected to compete in the European Championship Qualification tournament in Malta in the week commencing Monday 13th March.

Well done to our Junior Swimmers for retaining the trophy at the Bolton Town Championships: James Vaughan, Ethan Blyth, Aryan Nunkoo, Egan Moore, Oliver Carter, Benjamin Quilliam, Jack Rothwell, Harry Roberts.

Our Intermediate and Senior Swimmers both placed 2nd overall. A terrific effort by everyone at The Jason Kenny Centre. Congratulations to all those boys who took part: Intermediate team: Matthew Yeung, Will James, Peter McCreedy, Eddie Griffiths, Ben Heath, Kelsey Liu, Joseph Williams, Harry Butler

Senior Team: Seb Thompson, Matthew Reedy, Samuel Fitzsimons, Robert Bentham.

Very well done to the following boys who took part in the Fast water swimming gala recently. Well done to our lads for retaining the Cutty Sark trophy (Matthew Yeung to collect trophy on behalf of team) Read out names below

Year 7: Aryan Nunkoo, Ethan Blyth

Year 8: James Vaughan, Oliver Carter, Jack Rothwell

Year 9: Peter McCreedy, Stanley Mathieson, Will James, Matthew Yeung, Eddie Griffiths

Year 10: Kelsey Liu, Joseph Williams

Ethan Blyth in Year 7 has won the 200m Breaststroke, 200m Backstroke, 200m Individual Medley, 100m Breaststroke and the 400m Individual Medley in the Lancashire County Championships. A fantastic achievement against extremely tough opposition. James Vaughan in Year 8 came away with a fantastic medal haul at the Lancashire County Finals. James won four Silver medals in the 200m Breaststroke, 200m Individual Medley, 400m Individual Medley and 100m Butterfly. He also won four Bronze medals in the 200m Butterfly, 1500m Freestyle, 100m Breaststroke and 50m Breaststroke. He also helped his team (Wigan BEST) win the age group trophy - a great achievement!

Last Tuesday our Under 13 Hockey team played in the Powerplay Tournament (hosted by MGS) of all the top schools in the North of England – a great experience. Our goalkeeper Daniel Croston won the award of goalkeeper of the tournament. Very well done Daniel!

Congratulations to Oliver Hinks who is the Under 16’s winner at the Wirral G3 Christmas Open, which took place at the Wirral Tennis & Sport Centre on 21st December.

Credits Editor: Miss K.S. Wrathmell

Contributors: Mr. M. Power, Mr. J. Newbould, Miss A. Bradshaw, Mr. P.J. Newbold, Jamie Death 13i, Barnaby Keogh 13i, Miss E.A. Bramhall, Mr. M. Ormerod, Ms. N.R. Lord, Mr. D. Roberts, Zak McAlister 10b, Joseph Williams 10c, Miss L.J. Gillibrand