Primary Division Review 2021-22

Primary Division

From the Head of Primary Division 3 Primary Division 4

Infants

From the Head of Infants 6 Sharing Stories 7 The Natural World 8 School Life 10 Sport 12 Charity Giving

Junior Girls

From

Head

Junior

Junior Boys

From the Head of Junior Boys 26 Art 27 Drama 28 Music 29 Around School 30 Sport 32 Charity 34 Trips and Visits 35

From the Head of Primary Division

Welcome to the inaugural Primary Division Annual Review. It has been my great privilege to lead the Primary Division this year and I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to know the staff and pupils in each of the schools. Being involved in the many activities across the schools has been a real pleasure, whether that was singing carols with the Junior Boys, celebrating a slightly late tenth anniversary with the girls of Hesketh House or watching the Beech House nativities. A real highlight for me though was when all of the children were able to come together to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.

I am very much looking forward to many more joint events in future years; the Primary Division’s core purpose is to develop and celebrate all that is unique and important in each of our individual settings whilst also embracing the many opportunities to come together to share and celebrate our learning and talents.

This first joint annual review will, I hope, serve as both a pleasant reminder to you and your child of all the things you have enjoyed this year as well as perhaps prompting memories which might be a little older, and for our younger children and their families, perhaps also offering a taste of what is to come.

Mrs Sue Faulkner

Primary Division

Animal Farm

Some of the Year 6 girls and boys enjoyed a trip to the Lowry Theatre in March to watch a production of ‘Animal Farm’. They all very much enjoyed this excellent show.

Careers Carousel

Boys and girls in Year 6 had the opportunity to learn about careers from three Bolton School alumni and a parent, who gave their time to share their work with pupils. Old Boy Rob de Maine is a Lt Commander in the Navy, and flies helicopters as part of the fleet’s air arm: he told pupils more about the work he does, including humanitarian relief and counterpiracy operations. Old Girl Alisha Patel is manager at the Brain Research Centre at Salford Royal Hospital and through her interactive session she explained more about the brain and about how research is conducted.

Old Girl Emma Roden and her colleague Jemma Woods spoke about what an architect does, how to become one, and the traits and skills needed to succeed in this field. Parent Hussein Khambalia shared the many different things a doctor can do, and talked about his own speciality as a transplant surgeon.

Hamper Challenge

The whole of the Bolton School Foundation joined forces to support local charity Urban Outreach at Christmas time. The school exceeded its targets in collecting food items to help make up the charity’s festive hampers, which provide ‘Christmas dinner and all the trimmings’ to those in need across the town. The Primary Division collected 1,500 tubes of Pringles for the hampers, while older pupils provided Christmas puddings and mince pies.

National Poetry Day

Young poets in Year 5 and 6 got creative at a writing workshop with University of Bolton poetry lecturer and award-winning poet Ben Wilkinson on National Poetry Day. Through inspiration and prompts from Ben, the Junior Boys and Junior Girls explored how they might tell their personal stories, express their identities and share their world through poems. From describing where they come from to imagining their poem as a favourite food, there were lots of opportunities to write and share work with the group throughout the afternoon.

Jubilee Celebrations

The whole of Bolton School celebrated the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee by planting 33 trees across the campus as part of the Queen’s Green Canopy. The saplings include Wild Cherry, Lemon Balm, Rowan, Oak, Horn Beam and Beech trees. Infants also commemorated the Queen’s 70 years on the throne by dressing in red, white and blue on the last day of term. They sang songs, played games and organised themselves into a Union Jack during a special assembly! Later in the day, they were joined by Junior Girls and Boys, also enjoying dress down days, for a special Jubilee Jamboree picnic.

School Scouting

Scouting is flourishing at Bolton School with lots happening in the Primary Division. During the last year, both the youngest section (Beaver) and the Cubs have been involved in a wide variety of activities both inside and out. As ever, thank you to our eclectic band of volunteers who make all the activities not only possible but exciting, memory making experiences. At the end of the Beavers’ Summer Term, they said a big ‘thank you’ to Tracker (Miss Dean from Boys’ Division) for all the exciting activities she led the Beavers through, as well as to Chil (Mrs Faulkner) and Limmerskin (Mrs Sykes) for stepping in as the new Beaver Leaders. There are whispers of sleep-outs and, at some point in the future, there may be the patter of tiny Squirrel feet as the School looks to open the newest section in Scouting …

World Book Day

This was a wonderful opportunity for girls and boys across the Primary Division to share their favourite stories with one another. They dressed up as their favourite characters and took part in lots of activities themed around books and reading. For the infants, this meant making Enormous Crocodile hand puppets and Willy Wonka style chocolate bars and working together to make timelines based on fairy tales. The Junior Boys crafted their own stories after an illustration workshop with Corinna Campbell and teamed up at lunchtime for a World Book Day Scavenger Hunt, followed by a live, virtual talk from Michael Rosen in the afternoon. Junior Girls read story books in French and Spanish in their Modern Foreign Language lessons, wrote Roald Dahl-style revolting recipes, shared book extracts and even came up with ‘Wonka’ weather forecasts.

The Lost Words

In the Summer Term, Bolton School hosted a magical new outdoor theatre production called ‘The Lost Words: Told in Gold’, an adaptation of the book by Robert Macfarlane and Jackie Morris. Primary Division pupils were among those who enjoyed this fantastical theatre-trail, which took its audience through a giant goldfinch nest to a woodland featuring stunning 3D installations of Morris’ golden illustrations and Macfarlane’s enchanting words.

From the Head of Infants

This section of the review allows you a glimpse into life in our Infant School and the wonderful range of learning opportunities experienced by our children who attend Beech House. Beech House is a very successful school where our children are at the heart of all we do – in our nurturing, caring and loving school, our children thrive!

Our creative and challenging school curriculum is designed to promote the development of each child to achieve their potential and ensures they are fully prepared for the next stage in their learning. Our children are confident learners and encouraged on a daily basis, by our highly trained teachers and specialist staff, to believe and achieve!

Learning through first hand experiences not only brings learning to life but makes learning engaging and lots of fun! At Beech House learning continues beyond the classroom. Outdoor learning experiences, whether through play in our immediate grounds or adventures further afield, provide relevance and depth to our curriculum and also create life-long connections and memories for our children to cherish.

An extensive range of extra-curricular activities are designed to meet the needs and interests of our little learners. Through offering these enriching and irresistible opportunities children learn new skills, meet new friends, develop team work and become more independent. Enjoy this celebration of friendship, fun and learning from our Beech House family.

Mrs Jo Field

Rob Biddulph

Rob Biddulph visited the Infants at Bolton School for a live Draw Along with the whole school, from the Pre-School Class to Year 2! He began by reading his book ‘Odd Dog Out’, talked about how he became an artist, and then taught everyone how to draw Odd Dog wearing a Santa hat. Finally, Rob read his new story ‘Odd Dog Christmas’ before a booksigning session in the school Library.

Sharing Stories

Christina Gabbitas

Christina Gabbitas visited Beech House to help the children kick off their World Book Day Celebrations. She read her stories, rapped her poetry with the children, and explained how she became an author. The children always had an exclusive pre-launch peek at a short animated film of her book ‘Save Us’, which addressed plastic pollution. Christina’s visit was a donation from parents Toni and Mark Hawthornthwaite, who won the author day in an NSPCC auction and also funded the purchase of a copy of ‘Save Us’ for every child. These books were signed by Christina on her visit.

Steve Weatherill

Author and illustrator Steve Weatherill spent an interactive and engaging day with children at Beech House! He read them one of his ‘Goz’ books and gave an exciting drawing tutorial, showing how to draw Baby Goz, how a letter P can become a penguin and an F a fish. The girls and boys had great fun as he showed them skilfully how a drawing can be flipped into something else entirely with just a few lines! The young pupils also enjoyed listening to Steve tell the story of The Three Little Pigs and the Big Bad Wolf, who they also had fun drawing.

Telling Tales

Throughout this year, the children have had fun telling stories to one another in all kinds of settings, including using puppets and dressing up in costumes.

The Natural World

Christmas Reindeer

As the Christmas holidays approached, the Infants were delighted to meet two reindeer who ‘flew’ in for a visit! The children were all very excited to see these amazing animals up close.

Beavers’ Walk

The Beavers took the ‘scenic’ route from Beech House to Brookside and explored their local area, even observing some Canadian Geese. The walk was challenging for some and a practical opportunity to promote resilience and celebrate success. They were followed by the Year 6 Scouts, who were litter-picking.

Farm Visits

The mobile farm once again dropped in at Beech House and gave the children the wonderful experience of being close to a wide range of farm animals – even including llamas! The children were able to show their knowledge and learn even more from the visit.

Forest School

Reception children enjoyed an alien-inspired forest school trip with lots of opportunities to experience new activities and develop resilience, creativity and communication and language skills.

Hatching Eggs

In the Spring Term, children at Beech House had the opportunity to hatch out some chicken and duck eggs. With just a little help from their teachers, they raised the chicks and ducklings through their earliest days in school and discovered more about the life cycle of birds.

Science Greenhouse

Pre-School children visited the Girls’ Division Science Department’s greenhouse to find out more about the plants kept there.

Zoo Lab

A visit from the Zoo Lab gave PreSchool children the chance to handle and learn more about a whole host of creatures they wouldn’t normally encounter, from giant-sized creepy crawlies to a long snake!

Pets as Therapy

Lancashire Hawks and Owls

Year 1 have been learning all about owls through stories and by making artwork. A visit from Lancashire Hawks and Owls allowed them to see these amazing birds up close, and some children even had the owls perch on their hands!

Knowsley Safari Park

The trip to visit Knowsley Safari Park was exciting for the children in Year 1! They enjoyed seeing all of the animals and learning more about them.

A new addition to Beech House this year was Daisy, the school’s Pets as Therapy dog. She began her ‘happiness’ journey at the end of the summer term, visiting groups of children for cuddles, to listen to them reading, and to make them smile!

School Life

Language Learning

Years 1 and 2 became ‘language explorers’ in their French lessons with specialist primary languages teacher Miss Eccleshare this year!

She said: ‘I love the idea of igniting a love of languages at such an early age. In order to engage the children

I use lots of joining in activities –songs, games, rhymes and stories. I very much believe in the kinaesthetic approach to learning. The boys and girls have really taken to my puppet ‘Jacques in the Box’!’

Abracadabra

Reception spent an exciting morning at the Junior Boys’ School to begin their ‘Abracadabra’ topic! They explored lots of different ‘potions’ with guidance from Mr Hough. The most exciting of them all was the ‘exploding potion’!

Discovering Old Toys

Year 1 thoroughly enjoyed the ‘Old Toy Workshop’. They leaned lots about different toys which were invented many years ago and discovered what materials they were made from. The topic ended with a visit from all the children’s teddy bears: an old toy that is still much-loved today!

Dinosaurs

Year 2 rounded off their dinosaur project with a wonderful interactive workshop, led by Mr Plater from Dino Star. Teacher Mrs Clarke said: ‘We were lucky enough to see an allosaurus skull, hold some real dinosaur bones and touch real life dinosaur eggs – that have an actual baby dinosaur inside! We also made our own fossils. It was a really magnificent day and we learned such a lot.’

Science Club

Year 1 children had plenty of fun this year in Science Club! One of the sessions saw them learning about volcanoes: the children made their own reactions using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar then carefully observed the effects!

Travelling by Tuba

The whole of Beech House enjoyed a wonderful performance from Travelling by Tuba. The children learned all about music through the ages!

Meeting ‘Neil Armstrong’

Year 2 children enjoyed a visit from ‘Neil Armstrong’! Teacher Miss Findlay said: ‘We learnt about the solar system and what it takes to be an astronaut going to the moon. We even dressed up as astronauts! It was amazing to see how much the children had remembered by the end of his visit and it was a great start to our Space topic.’

Drama Workshops

In Year One, the children re-told the story of The Great Fire of London in drama workshops, where they used props, body language and fantastic facial expressions!

Superheroes

It’s was all about the superheroes for Year 2 when they came back to school in January! They finished their topic in style with a superhero day, deciding which super-powers they would like and solving clues to rescue Tiny. The school was in very safe hands!

Railway Children

Year X became ‘Railway Children’ with a visit to the East Lancashire Railway! They learned about the history of the railways and steam power, and took an exciting ride on a real steam train.

Celebration Assembly

The choir gave a wonderful performance at a special Celebration Assembly!

Maths Fun

The teachers at Beech House have found all kinds of ways to have fun with numbers throughout the year and children in all year groups have enjoyed developing their mathematics skills.

Sport

Exercise-a-thon

The whole of Year 1 and Year 2 got moving with a 20 minute ‘Exercise-a-thon’ – a non-stop tabata fitness challenge! With disco lights, music and a large screen countdown, this was an exciting way to complete their PE fitness unit!

Football Festival

A football team made up of Key Stage 1 children took part in a Football Festival organised by the Schools Games.

Sports Days

All of the children were able to enjoy getting involved with their year group’s Sports Day this year! Though rain initially got in the way of the events for Reception and Year 2, these were rearranged and went ahead: a poignant moment for Year 2 as this was both their first and last Sports Day at Beech House!

Young Footballer

Everyone was excited to hear that Year 1 pupil Yahya signed for the Manchester City Academy this year!

Tennis Taster

All of the Infants had fun in a series of tennis taster sessions with Bolton Arena Tennis Academy in the autumn term. This was a super chance for some to begin to develop new skills.

Iron Kids

Pupils and staff alike showed they were made of iron through large scale involvement in the Bolton Ironman weekend. Miss Findlay, Miss Niaz, Mrs Bateson, Mrs Dyson and Mrs Foster took part in the Friday night family-friendly 5km Iron Night Run around the streets of Bolton, and lots of boys and girls competed in Saturday’s Ironkids event, which saw Reception children run 500m and older ones running 1km.

MultiSport

A small team of Year 1 and Year 2 children enjoyed participating in a MultiSport event hosted by the Schools Games! They all had great fun and learnt new skills.

Children in Need

Everyone brought in change in the hopes of making a coin trail all around school with their donations! The children had fun placing the coins and steering the line around obstacles to see if they could make it all the way through the school. They raised a total of £625.

Charity Giving

Harvest

Beech House once again supported Urban Outreach with the Harvest collection. After several weeks of donations, a group of children in Year 2 helped to load up the minibus and deliver the goods in person! This was a good way for the children to begin to understand where their donations go and learn a little more about the vital work of this important local charity.

Sprinkle of Kindness

This appeal encouraged families at Beech House to donate food, clothes, toys, toiletries and Christmas gift boxes for those in need. The collection was delivered to two schools in Gorton and one local primary school in Bolton. The ‘Sprinkle of Kindness’ appeal was organised by Year 1 teacher (and former Bolton School pupil) Miss Niaz, who said: ‘This was a tremendous success and the amount of donations I received from everyone was absolutely amazing. … It has been a great talking point for the children of Beech House and has given them a better understanding of the wider world.’

Special Occasions

Pancake Day

The children celebrated Pancake Day (or Shrove Tuesday) by having a go at making – and flipping – their very own pancakes! Everyone very much enjoyed eating the results.

Chinese New Year

Beech House celebrated Chinese New Year in all of the classrooms. A wide range of activities took place, from food tasting to paper folding, dressing up and listening to music. It was great fun learning about festivals that are important to different members of our school community.

Diwali

The Pre-School Class learned all about Diwali, the festival of light, in November as the nights were drawing in.

Nativities

Each year group, from PreSchool all the way up to Year 2, performed a special Nativity in the Hall. The children had such fun taking to the stage to tell different variations on the Christmas story! There were lots of happy smiling faces, both on the stage and in the audience.

Remembrance

As Remembrance Day arrived on 11 November, children at Beech House learned more about the significance of this date and why we commemorate it. Year 1 worked together to create beautiful mixed media poppy fields using watercolours, finger painting, glitter and oil pastels. They also used their ICT skills to create poppy field pictures.

Adventure Learning

In the Summer Term, the children visited the Anderton Centre, where they enjoyed a range of adventurous activities, including canoeing, trying out the climbing wall, and toasting marshmallows over an open fire. This was a great introduction to outdoor learning!

Hanukkah

Children in Reception learned more about Hanukkah with help from a pupil’s grandmother, who came into school to tell the children all about this Jewish festival.

Easter Egg Hunt

Just before the Easter holidays, the children had fun searching for chocolate eggs that had been hidden around the grounds. This was a great way for them to find out more about an Easter tradition.

From the Head of Junior Girls

The Hesketh House section of this review shows how all of our many and varied activities throughout the year fit in with our Hesketh House Habits. These are key characteristics and skills that we place a great deal of importance on in all aspects of school life. As well as making sure academic standards are high and the girls are achieving well in their studies, we seek to broaden and extend their experiences. This may be through music or sport, where there are many opportunities for the girls to develop skills and represent the school, or simply through the enjoyment of trying a new activity and working with friends on something a little different. We want to develop the girls in all areas, ensuring they are well-rounded individuals with the confidence to throw themselves wholeheartedly in to every challenge. We hope that you enjoy this ‘snapshot’ of life at Hesketh House, which you will see goes way beyond our classroom lessons!

Mrs Carol Laverick

Hesketh House Habits

This set of eight key characteristics are threaded through all that we do at Hesketh House, and encourage our girls to develop good habits for life:

Curiosity Creativity Challenge Compassion Celebration Communication

Collaboration

Commitment

Roman Britain

Year 4 spent a day in the Roman way of life! They joined the ranks of the Roman Army and spent the morning being drilled to respond to commands. In the afternoon, girls made oil lamps and played a Roman board game, Tabla Lusarius. They studied and sketched artefacts, which helped them to explore life in Roman Britain over 2,000 years ago.

Curiosity

WWII Learning

Year 6 were transported back to 1941 when they were billeted as evacuees to Stockport! They learnt all about life on the home front, including make do and mend and air raid precautions. They also enjoyed a fantastic tour of the unforgettable air raid shelters.

Architecture Workshop

Girls in Year 5 were excited to take part in a workshop that brought their mathematics and history lessons together. They were challenged to use their maths knowledge to create basic shapes, such as triangles, pyramids and cubes, using bamboo poles. The class then used these simple starting pieces to make much more complex structures. By the end of the each session, the girls had built a huge Viking longship that was large enough for the whole class to sit in and row!

Chester Zoo

A fabulous trip to Chester Zoo allowed Year 5 to further develop their understanding of the work they were doing about the Amazon Rainforest. They enjoyed a very informative workshop, as well as having time to explore the zoo.

Viking Visitor

Year 5 girls discovered more about the Viking invasion of AD 793 with a very special visitor. After learning more about what life was like for the Vikings, they designed board games, made clay lamps and trained as Viking soldiers.

Travelling by Tuba

The girls were taken on a whirlwind adventure to learn more about music with the Travelling by Tuba duo. This fun and interactive session helped them to discover more about the history of instruments and music around the world.

Quarry Bank Mill

The girls experienced what it was like to be an apprentice at Quarry Bank Mill. They saw the machines in action and discovered the kinds of jobs children and adults would perform in the making of cotton and fabric. The enormous water wheel (the largest in Europe!) impressed everyone and the whole day helped in their understanding of life in Victorian Britain.

Creativity

Boudicca

Heroine according to the Celts. Tyrant according to the Romans. Girls created Wanted posters to show how the Romans perceived her.

Iron Man

The Iron Man was written by Ted Hughes as a bedtime tale for his children over fifty years ago. The gargantuan character was interpreted by Year 4 pupils through the study of the novel and using ICT skills to show him in various locations: the scrapyard, the cliff top and the pit.

The Bard

Pupils in Year 4 indulged in Shakespeare Week - activities based on reading, examining how language has changed since Elizabethan times, making timelines, composing Shakespeare insults and compliments, and creating their very own portraiture.

Flowers

Alongside their science topic about the reproductive cycle of flowering plants, Year 3 developed observational drawings and sculptures of flowers into colourful, larger-scale pieces using oil and chalk pastels.

Pop Art

Year 3 created lovely collaged, mixedmedia ‘soup cans’ in the style of Andy Warhol.

Firebird

Stravinsky’s dazzling Firebird, the story of the mythical creature who stole the Tsar’s golden apples, inspired poetry writing and model making. The Russian tale was studied in English, Music and Art lessons.

The Firebird

The flaming firebird, Fiery, flighty, fantastic.

He swoops elegantly into the dark silent night

Like a shooting star across a midnight sky.

The flaming firebird

Silently claims the golden apple.

Avni Patel and Meghna Ajith

The Fiery Culprit

The Firebird

Blazing, bold and brave.

Soaring above the orchard as swift as a thief in his crime

Like a flame flickering in a fire. The Firebird

Snatches the golden apple and silently flies away.

Sahana Jacobs and Francesca Longton

Anglo-Saxon Brooches

Designs for Anglo-Saxon Brooches created by Year 5 girls.

Rainforest Watercolours

Year 5 used watercolours to create abstract pattern paintings of the rainforest.

Sock Puppets

As part of their ‘make do and mend’ learning, girls made sock puppets in Design Technology and demonstrated some excellent sewing skills.

House Days

The Junior Girls spent part of their termly House Days enjoying a wide range of exciting activities, including making a special mosaic designed to reflect their Hesketh House Habits.

Sew What! Club

Year 5 Sew What! Club started this year. Some of the girls had never even threaded a needle before, but they really enjoyed making their cuddly toys!

Persuasive Postcards

Girls read fiction books and created wonderful postcards, using strong adjectives and emotive language alongside great artwork, to persuade others to read the book of their choice!

WWII

Year 6 learnt about World War II. They created Blitz artwork, developed their portrait skills and created boardgames linked to the war.

Compassion

Children in Need

The day began with a special Children in Need Breakfast Club organised by the Parents’ Association, with the money raised going to the national appeal. The girls also donated £2 each to augment their usual uniform with spots and Children in Need items: spotty skirts and jumpers, Pudsey and Blush tops, and a multitude of yellow ears!

Harvest

Year 5 girls presented a thoughtful Harvest Festival to their peers and parents. Through songs, film footage and stories, they asked the audience to think about where our food comes from. Special guest Dave Bagley from Urban Outreach performed his humorous ‘Chocolate Box’ sketch, delivering through fun a serious message about the importance of sharing what we have. He said: ‘When we share, we change the world. When we share, it makes the world happy, and somehow it makes us happy, too.’

Malawi Fundraiser

Last year, the Junior Girls launched a campaign to raise £50,000 to build a school for street children in Malawi. The fundraising continued through collections at school concerts, the sale of home-made items including cakes, greeting cards, Christmas tree decorations and bath bombs, a Jump Xtreme fundraiser, and many generous donations from parents, friends and the wider community! The girls have almost doubled their fundraising total this academic year and so far have raised nearly £10,000.

Charity Afternoon

As the Summer Term came to a close, Year 6 organised a variety of stalls and games on their annual Charity Afternoon! In total a huge £950.39 was raised in support of the school’s Malawi appeal.

Red Nose Day

In exchange for a donation, the girls came into school wearing bright red outfits and lots of Red Nose Day accessories, and raised £301.14 for Comic Relief.

Thinking of Others

So many Junior Girls set up individual campaigns for charities close to their hearts this year! Some of the charities and organisations they decided to support were Derian House Children’s Hospice, The Little Princess Trust and Sarah Lodge.

AJIS Quiz

The quiz team rose to the challenge of the annual AJIS Quiz event. They answered questions across diverse topics including map symbols, letter abbreviations, emoji maths, code breaking, and identifying logos, fruits and leaves. The final round even tested their engineering and team work skills with the building of a tower from nothing but paper straws and tape.

Commitment

Drumz Aloud

All the girls showed their commitment and developed collaboration skills in exciting and upbeat drumming workshops with Drumz Aloud! This was certainly a highlight of this year’s House Days.

Inspiring Motivation

A talk from former footballer and motivational speaker Luke Staton encouraged the Junior Girls to believe in themselves, be brave, step out of their comfort zones and work hard to achieve their goals. Through telling his own story, he delivered the most important message of the day: it doesn’t matter what you do in life, as long as you become the best person you can be.

Celebrating Successes

Antarctic Broadcast

The girls turned in for a live broadcast from the Antarctic, where they heard from expedition leader Rob Swan OBE: the first person to walk to both the North and South Poles! An expert on Antarctica, he answered questions submitted by pupils and helped everyone to learn more about this amazing continent and how we can protect it.

Throughout the year, weekly celebration assemblies have recorded the achievements of so many Junior Girls. Here are just a few of the highlights: Ruby Spencer (Year 6) has won 4 gold medals at the international GymStars competition in Malta, Bronwen Soper (Year 4) won first place in the national School Number Heroes competition, Beatrix Soper (Year 6) became England’s fastest U11 girl in the final race of the 2021-22 cross country season, Fleur Oxley-Harrison (Year 5) and her horse Betty made it to the Junior National Dressage Final and qualified for the semi-finals of the Dressage Riders Online Four Seasons Championships, and Georgina Stubbs (Year 6) made her debut for Wigan Athletic Ladies’ U11s and earned the Player of the Match award in her first game!

Challenge

Bikeability

Girls in Year 6 really enjoyed their Bikeability sessions, with everyone passing the Level 1 course and the majority also achieving their Level 2 award.

Outdoor Learning

Outdoor learning on House Days throughout the year gave girls the opportunity to learn more about bush craft and develop skills through team-building challenges.

Sports Day

Girls thoroughly enjoyed competing for their House on Sports Day. All year groups took on a variety of sporting challenges in the sunshine and had fun cheering on their friends.

Waddow Hall

Girls in Year 3 enjoyed an exciting outdoor activity day at Waddow Hall, funded by the Parents’ Association. They had a fantastic time canoeing, kayaking and problem solving.

Patterdale Hall

All girls in Years 4 to 6 enjoyed the challenge of a trip to Patterdale Hall, the school’s outdoor pursuits activity centre in the Lake District. They pushed themselves to try all sorts of activities, including climbing, hill walking, sailing, gorge walking, and the ropes course. Year 6 girls also worked on achieving the John Muir conservation award.

Cross Country

The Year 5/6 Cross Country Team not only became Bolton League Champions, but the Year 6 team also came first in the annual AJIS competition! Team captain Beatrix Soper continued to shine, coming first in all races and also being selected to represent Bolton at the Greater Manchester Cross Country Championship at Heaton Park, where she came in first place.

Swimming

Collaboration

The Year 5/6 Girls’ Swimming Team won the Bolton Schools’ Swimming Gala and, combined with the Junior Boys’ team, came in first place overall!

Football

The Year 6 football team have taken part in numerous competitions this year: Bolton Futsal Comp, the AJIS tournament and Bolton Schools’ Girls’ Competition. As the year has progressed the girls have improved in confidence, which was shown in their final competition held here at Bolton School, where they reached the quarter finals.

Science Collaboration

Year 6 girls reflected on how their collaborative work in Science has helped to improve their learning through an exhibition in the School Library. They discussed with the Primary Division Heads how working together has promoted creative and critical thinking in their Science topic, Evolution and Inheritance, as well as improving oracy and collaboration skills and enabling them to make links between different subjects.

Netball

The Year 5 and Year 6 netball players have enjoyed lots of friendly matches against other AJIS schools. At the annual AJIS Netball Competition, the Year 5s finished in third place overall, narrowly missing a place in the final. The Year 6s won all their group matches and made it to the quarter finals in their competition!

Communication

Brazil Day

This year’s Modern Foreign Languages (MFL) Day whisked girls off to Brazil through an exciting series of roundrobin workshops! Each focused on a different aspect of the country’s culture. The girls got to try carnival dancing, enjoyed a Samba percussion session, took a ball skills masterclass inspired by Brazil’s football legends, went on a fact-finding missions about Brazilian culture and learned some Portuguese with Miss Eccleshare. They even practised their newfound conversational skills with parrot finger-puppets.

Remembrance Assembly

Year 6 pupils presented a thought-provoking and moving Remembrance Assembly. After an opening sung by the choir, the girls described the conditions faced by soldiers in the First World War, the history behind Armistice Day and the reason why the poppy has become such a well-known symbol of Remembrance today, since it was first introduced in 1921.

ESB Speaking Examinations

Girls in Year 6 took part in ESB Club, in readiness for a formal ESB Examination. They had to perform a poem, prepare and deliver a talk and read an extract from a book. All the girls achieved at least a Merit+, with many gaining a Distinction.

Poetry By Heart

Tea at the Riley

A group of Junior Girls entertained guests at Tea at the Riley, a tea party held monthly for older residents in the local area. The choir performed a song and several girls shared poem recitations which they had memorised as part of their English Speaking Board (ESB) examinations.

In the Summer Term, a group of Year 5 girls also enjoyed helping out by serving Tea at the Riley guests.

Reading, appreciating and learning poetry off by heart forms part of the Reading Award Scheme in English at Hesketh House. Tullah Maher in Year 4 impressed her class so much with her interpretation of Jenny Joseph’s poem ‘Warning’ that her teacher Mrs Worsley decided to enter her in the national poetry competition Poetry by Heart. The judging panel were blown away by Tullah’s video and called her entry ‘magnificent’!

Helping Hands

A group of girls in Years 5 and 6 helped to lead a service at Bank Top United Reformed Church in Bolton. Teacher Mrs Julia Marsden was invited to speak at the church, which has supported her fundraising project to raise £50,000 to build a school in Malawi for street children. The girls talked about how they use their Hesketh House Habits for good in the world and how we all have ‘helping hands’ and can assist each other.

Tenth Anniversary

The Hesketh House building turned 10 in 2020, but a proper celebration had to be put on hold due to Covid. It took place a year later in November 2021 with a host of special guests in attendance. Head of the Foundation Philip Britton whisked the audience through the 506 year history of Bolton School in just 7 minutes and explained that the building’s name is a tribute to Bolton School’s key benefactor William Hesketh Lever, Lord Leverhulme. Former Head Ruth Brierley talked about the summer move in 2010, and current Head Mrs Laverick reflected on the strengths of the school. The girls themselves described their experiences at Hesketh House, and Head of Primary Division Mrs Faulkner talked to girls about their responsibility to make the School the very best it can be. Finally, a gift from the Parents’ Association was revealed: a mechanical, personalised weather clock, which had been made by former pupil Sarah Clifford Bowles from the clockmakers Bramwell Brown. The assembly ended with a rousing rendition of the song ‘One More Step’ and each girl received a silver key ring to commemorate the event.

Celebration

Music Festival

At the Music Festival in early 2022, our musicians impressed us with their performances on a wide range of instruments. The adjudicators (Kathryn Page for Piano and Andrew Pettitt for Instrumental) found it particularly difficult to allocate the awards, as the standard was so high! Girls who received trophies were invited to perform at a special Celebratory Concert in the Arts Centre.

Summer Spectacular

In their Summer Concert, the Junior Girls explored the eight Hesketh House Habits through themed spoken and musical pieces. The programme included performances from the year group choirs, the cheerleaders, readers, singers and incidental musicians playing piano, flute and violin, and featured music from ‘The Little Mermaid’, ‘Moana’, ‘Pocahontas’, ‘Aladdin’, ‘Brave’, ‘Zootopia’, ‘Jungle Book’ and ‘Hercules’. The Year 5 Spanish Dance Club even sang ‘Dos Oruguitas’ from ‘Encanto’ in Spanish!

AJIS Music Festival

The Junior Girls’ Choir enjoyed taking part in the AJIS Music Festival at Bury Grammar. They competed against other independent schools from across the North West and performed brilliantly. The adjudicator made a point of speaking to staff about how impressive they were, only narrowly missing out on the top spot. Several girls also participated in the Ramsbottom Music Festival and received very positive comments.

Winter Warmer

The first major event in this year’s musical programme was the ‘Winter Warmer’ Christmas Concert: our annual festive treat. The girls’ whisked their audience away on an exploration of Christmas and all of its traditions, ending with ‘That’s What Christmas Means To Me’.

From the Head of Junior Boys

After two years of disrupted schooling caused by the pandemic, this year has seen the return of relative normality and terms such as ‘remote learning’, ‘bubbles’ and ‘social distancing’ have, hopefully, disappeared from the school lexicon forever. This has meant that many of the opportunities that the boys have enjoyed so much in the past have returned, in their full glory, throughout the year. So, fixtures against other schools, musical performances in front of audiences and residential trips have all been back on the menu since September. And how the boys have responded!

There was a sense of sadness, and great pride, on the final day of the Summer Term as we waved goodbye to Year 6, and several staff, who have shown great fortitude, energy and enthusiasm in the face of all of the disruptions of the last two years.

Mr Fergus Morris

The addition of Art teacher, Mr Minta, to Park Road in September helped inspire the boys to produce some amazingly creative pieces of work throughout the year, both inside and outside of the Art Room.

Drama

The Jungle Book

Deep in the heart of the jungle (otherwise known as the Girls’ Division Theatre), a pack of wolves raise a beloved man-cub named Mowgli, until Shere Khan, the ruthless tiger, decides that the boy is no longer welcome in the jungle. Here begins the musical and visual delight of Year 6’s interpretation of the Rudyard Kipling inspired Disney stage production! The cast of talented actors and musicians pulled together this classic story with confidence. The song ‘That’s What Friends Are For’ was particularly poignant for the class of 2022, their families and school staff who have all endured the disruption and emotion of the Covid pandemic. The lasting friendships, the camaraderie, the fun, laughter, support and pleasure in rising to the challenge gave this end of Year 6 production the zing, zest and ‘Bare Necessities’ to make it a resounding smash hit!

Carol Service

The Junior Boys’ Carol Service was held in the Girls’ Division Great Hall and filmed so that the whole school community could enjoy the occasion. Choral singing was the focus for the evening: the Upper School Choir, Lower School Choir and Chamber Choir took centre stage during the programme, and the whole school sang several carols. These performances were interspersed with moving readings focused on the Christmas story.

Ensembles Concert

The Ensembles Concert gave instrumental groups an opportunity to shine at Christmastime. The young musicians were delighted to perform festive treats for an audience of their peers. The groups featured on the programme were the Guitar Group, the Percussion Ensemble, the Recorder Group, the Tuned Percussion Group and the String Quartet.

Pop Project

The Pop Project’s musical extravaganza got boys and staff up on their feet and boogying to the music! The theme of the afternoon was ‘moving on’ after a couple of years of disruption, and the boys were encouraged to adopt a positive mindset, as reflected in the upbeat choice of music and lyrics.

Spring Concert

The Spring Concert was a spectacular occasion, featuring both instrumental groups and choirs. The whole school singing together to raise the roof with uplifting music had to be one of the highlights of the school year!

Music Festival

Eleven different classes were held over the two days of the Music Festival, with an amazing ninety-five individual entries and eight ensembles! The competition was strong this year and the adjudicator, Mr Daniel Chandler, found it very hard to choose the best individual performance.

Around School

Young Engineer

‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ 32,000 children from across the country tried to answer that very question as part of a national competition, including the Junior Boys’ Year 6 Challenge Group. Ziyad and his ‘Pram Power’ invention, designed to help prams move easily up and down stairs, was chosen as one of two Years 6 winners in the Greater Manchester area!

Remembrance

In 2019, Old Boy Kenneth Lee shared his experiences in WWII with a group of boys, who went on to produce an ebook about his time as a soldier to coincide with the 75th anniversary of VE Day in 2020. Kenneth kindly made a donation to the school, and after consultation with Year 6, the school decided to buy a bench for the quiet area of the playground in his honour. Though Kenneth sadly died in 2021 aged 96, his daughters visited the school to unveil the bench on his behalf at the school’s Remembrance Day assembly. At 11 o’clock, the boys came together outdoors on the playground, close to Kenneth’s bench, to hold a two minute silence in remembrance of those who have fought and died in wartime.

Keep Quizzing

A team of Year 5 and 6 boys attended the annual AJIS Quiz event, where they achieved second place after answering questions across diverse topics: map symbols, letter abbreviations, emoji maths, code breaking, identifying logos, fruits and leaves, and even building of a tower from nothing but paper straws and tape! Boys also took part in the regional heats of the QuizClub.

Torah Presentation

Year 5 enjoyed a presentation about the Torah from a member of the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester. Michael Lowe visited the school to explain what the Torah is, how it is more than just a book or scroll and why it is important to Jews like him. This formed an important part of the boys’ religious studies learning, which in Year 5 is focused on holy books.

Maths Challenge

Congratulations went out to a group of boys who won medals in the UK Junior Maths Challenge! Boys at Park Road earned two gold medals, two silver medals and two bronze medals for their effors in the competition, and one Year 5 boy was invited to compete at the next level, the Junior Kangaroo, in London!

Hajj Workshop

The whole of Year 6 learned all about Hajj, the Islamic pilgrimage to Mecca, through an engaging presentation. They moved around the hall to reproduce the different stages of the five days of Hajj, discovered the religious significance of each place visited, and found out how the pilgrimage works in real life from someone who has experienced it.

Extracurricular

From the high-octane to the more serene and cerebral, the Junior Boys’ School likes to cater for every ‘type’ of boy and provide them with something, outside of lessons, that really captures their imagination. The boys could choose from traditional sports training sessions, snowboarding lessons at the Chill Factore, paddleboarding and sailing at The Anderton Centre, dance lessons from a professional, drama classes at LAMDA, science fun in STEM club, young engineers at Strawberry Pi club and chess – to name but a few! Some new clubs appeared this year: gardening club grew and tended sunflowers and vegetables in the Quiet Area, the Eco Committee went from strength to strength. Congratulations to several Park Road boys who have excelled in their hobbies this year: Flynn Humphreys (Year 4) performed on the Euro Disney international performance stage with his dance troupe, skier Jasper Daniels (Year 3) came 3rd in the GB Race Series and 2nd at the National Schools Race, and Aryan Nayyar (Year 3) has been involved in the exciting sport of go-karting!

Green Flag Award

Mrs Lowe, Mrs Winstanley and the Eco-Committee have worked tirelessly to achieve a distinction in the Schools’

Green Flag Award, which recognises all of the hard work that goes on at Park Road to promote sustainability and reduce waste. Younger pupils must now ‘pick up the baton’ and carry on the hard work!

Bikeability

Boys in Year 6 learned important road cycling skills and developed their cycling proficiency through the Bikeability course.

Ancient Egypt

Year 3 stepped into the shoes of archaeologists and pretended that they were discovering an Ancient Egyptian tomb for the very first time in an exciting workshop. They handled replica artefacts and tried to find out as much as they could about this ancient civilisation from the items themselves.

Sport

AJIS Cross Country

Boys in Years 5 and 6 boys took part in the AJIS Cross Country fixture at Rossall. After a morning of rain, the sun came out, providing perfect conditions for the race, and the boys acquitted themselves well again the competition. During both races, it was brilliant to see their support for each other.

Edinburgh Academy

The Year 5 footballers were delighted to host their very own AngloScottish fixture with a visit from The Edinburgh Academy as part of their 2022 tour of the area!

Cricket

The U11 Cricket team finished second in the Plate competition at the Manchester Grammar School 6s competition this year. It was a difficult day with very varied weather conditions but the boys performed well with both the bat and the ball.

Olympian’s Advice

Gymnast Danny Purvis, who helped the GB men’s team to bronze at the 2012 London Olympics, visited the school to help judge the Year 5 and 6 Gym Final. He addressed the school in morning assembly, finishing with an impressive display of gymnastic feats. He also offered coaching and advice to the fifteen finalists before judging the competition and presenting the prizes.

Chess Success

Nine boys competed in the Manchester Junior Congress Chess Tournament at Fletcher Hall in Swinton. One Year 5 boy ended the day as Overall Winner and two pupils finished in joint second place overall. Several of the younger boys who are relatively new to chess played very well and won matches.

MCFC Football Festival

Teams of pupils in all year groups visited Manchester City Academy to play against other AJIS schools. The teams fared very well at their year group festivals and had fun playing in prestigious surroundings.

Tag Rugby Boys from Years 3 and 4 travelled to Manchester Grammar School to take part in the annual AJIS Tag Rugby Festival recently. Many played their first game of Rugby and others represented school for the first time.

Swimming Gala

Four Year 6 boys competed in the Bolton Schools Excel swimming gala, held at Ladybridge High School. The boys finished the afternoon in first place, with some exceptional individual and team swims, and combined with the Junior Girls’ score this meant that Bolton School finished in first place!

Triangular Athletics

Boys from Years 5 and 6 competed in the historic Tri-Athletics competition held at The King’s School in Chester last week, with some exceptional individual and team performances allowing them to finish in second place.

Charity

Fun Run

Our Fun Run is always a highlight of the school calendar and this year was no exception! In total over £6000 was raised to support good causes and the boys enjoyed an afternoon of exercise, in a variety of guises, from superheroes to comic book villains and sumo wrestlers, cheered on by a bumper crowd.

Park Road Calendar

A calendar featuring photos taken by Junior Boys during lockdown has raised £1,231 for Urban Outreach! The project began in January 2021 when the country went into the second lockdown: the boys were encouraged to get outdoors, appreciate the natural world on their doorstep and take interesting photographs. Thirteen of the best seasonal photographs were selected for the calendar, which went on sale at Christmas time. Dave Bagley was delighted to receive the cheque during morning assembly.

Hello Yellow

Mr Livesley and Mrs Fairclough organised a ‘yellow day’ earlier in the year, to raise awareness of, and money for, Mental Health charities. Every boy in the school wore something yellow and there were tailored activities to strengthen the idea that a ‘problem shared is a problem halved’. This was a great platform to highlight the struggles that many face each day and showed the boys that discussing worries, concerns and fears is a healthy way of combatting a wide range of issues.

Harvest

The annual Harvest celebration once again saw Junior Boys and their parents congregate in the hall for a special assembly. The generous donations brought in by the boys and their families were displayed at the front of the hall, ready to be handed over to local charity Urban Outreach.

Adventure Day

The Year 3 boys had a wonderful time at the Anderton Centre: paddleboarding, crate climb stacking and orienteering! The boys all thoroughly enjoyed the day in the beautiful sunshine, and proved how well they could work in team.

CapCom Go!

Some of the school’s most able scientists from Years 4, 5 and 6 enjoyed an immersive science and history experience at the World Museum in Liverpool. ‘CapCom Go!’ was staged in the planetarium and allowed the boys to learn more about the race to put man on the moon. Boys also enjoyed looking around the museum in the afternoon.

Trips and Visits

Ordsall Hall

A trip to Orsdall Hall in Salford brought history to life for Year 5. They experienced life as a resident at this Tudor house, helped prepare a wedding feast, and learned about the roles and responsibilities of farmers, servants, lords, ladies and even entertainers at the wedding party. They also learned about traditional Tudor food and drink, knights and squires and Tudor hygiene.

Quarry Bank Mill

The Year 6 boys visited Quarry Bank Mill to learn all about life as apprentices in this historic mill. They discovered the various jobs and the harsh working conditions they would have experienced, watched the machines in action and even carried out some of the jobs themselves.

Tatton Park

Year 4 took a trip to Tatton Park to explore what life was like in Anglo-Saxon/Viking Britain. The boys took part in different activities, including weaving, tactics on the battlefield, and deer tracking and hunting.

Patterdale

The Patterdale trips proved as popular as ever with the boys and gave them the invaluable experience of taking their learning outside of the classroom. This year, the programme has been developed this year to give greater focus to sustainability: the instructors wowed the boys with information and activities all about local ecosystems and the dangers posed to marine wildlife through human pollution. The boys thoroughly enjoyed all the adventurous activities: scenic walks, kayaking, paddleboarding and canoeing on Ullswater, learning survival skills in the forest, gorge walking and so much more!

Cuerden Valley

Year 6 was blessed with a beautiful day for fieldwork at Cuerden Valley Park. The boys spent the day down at the River Lostock carrying out various activities including water sampling, measuring the speed of the water flow and observing river processes in action. They were also able to calculate the Biotic Index of the river, concluding that the water is very clean and sustains a great variety of plant and animal/insect life.

Exploring York

During October half term, a group of Year 6 boys travelled to York for three days to learn all about the cultural heritage of the city, and the country as a whole. Whilst there we got a glimpse of Viking living at the Jorvik Centre, discovered all about British Industrial and Engineering achievements at the National Railway Museum and enjoyed (or endured) a spooky Halloween walk.