CONTINUING SUPPORT

£1.71 million was given in support of the Bolton School Bursary Fund, including £51,000 donated by 201 families of the departing Class of 2022 who gifted their child’s deposit to the School, and £778,000 bequeathed to the Bursary Fund by three Alumni who had remembered the School in their will - enough to provide for two bursary places at the School in perpetuity. In addition to the gifts received to support the bursary scheme, £140,000 was donated by a charitable trust to provide hardship funding for pupils whose families were facing financial challenge, enabling 15 pupils to continue their studies at the School. A further £111,000 was donated to support the provision of extra-curricular, uniform and ancillary costs for bursary recipients, for academic prizes in the two Divisions, to provide university scholarships for recent leavers, and for the redevelopment of the School’s facilities, including a £50,000 gift donated to fund the refurbishment of the facilities at the Leverhulme Pavilion and a bequest by an Old Boy to support the enhancement of football facilities in the Boys’ Division.

As a result of this generosity, last year the School was able to spend £3.1m on means-tested bursary assistance supporting 329 – one in five – pupils across the two Senior Schools, including 50 bright, talented members of the Class of 2022 who left the School last summer. In the A Level results published last August, 68% of those bursary recipients achieved grades A*-B, with 36% of those pupils securing grades A*-A. 37 members of last year’s bursary cohort left the School to study at university, with 24 pupils taking up a place at one of the prestigious Russell Group universities, including Oxbridge.

“The School gives all students the ability not just to thrive academically, but also to contribute to society. My greatest debt to the School isn’t my academic results, but rather the rounded person I have become through opportunities outside of the classroom.”

Boys’ Division Bursary Recipient, Class of 2019

“Coming from one of the worst schools in one of the worst areas of Bolton, and from a lower income family where no one had completed college or sixth form before, I cannot put into words the joy I felt on being accepted into such a prestigious school. Without the bursary, none of this would be possible. I cannot thank the School, and the donors that make this possible, enough for their continued support.”

Boys’ Division Bursary Recipient, Class of 2022

We hope that Old Boys would agree that the portrayal of independent schools which now prevails in much of the press – as bastions of privilege serving only a small segment of society – is unrecognisable as a description of Bolton School. Through our substantial bursary scheme and extensive partnership and outreach work, the School serves its local community wholeheartedly and has a pupil body which is economically and socially diverse. This work is fundamental to the national renown in which the Foundation is held, ensuring that it continues to be seen as a force for positive change in Bolton and beyond.

Prior to 1997, most recently, during the past half-century, with the Assisted Places and Direct Grant schemes, and before then through philanthropic support from individuals, a mixed model of funding existed which drew the different types of schools within the educational landscape closer together for the good of all. The Governers' ambitions for the growth of the bursary scheme to support one in three pupils by the end of this decade will ensure that the School will continue with this mixed model, enriching the School community and the wider society that it serves, whilst offering bright young people from every background the opportunity to transform the trajectory of their lives forever.

The support the School enjoys reveals the depth of its supporters’ confidence in the work of the Bolton School Foundation and their understanding of the transformational impact this will have on the young people who benefit from it. Thank you, sincerely, to everyone who supported the School during the past academic year - your generosity is greatly appreciated by the Governors, Staff and Pupils of the School.

If you are considering supporting the School, and would like to find out more about how to do so, simply scan the QR code on the right. If you would like to discuss your intentions in more detail, including learning more about how to make a bequest to the School, Laura Firth, Director of Development and Alumni Relations, can be contacted on 01204 434718 or at development@boltonschool.org