Junior Boys' Review 2015-16

BOLTON SCHOOL JUNIOR BOYS’ 2015/2016 REVIEW

From the Head...

Life in any junior school is always busy, but it is only when we stop and look back at all that we have achieved during the course of the year that we are able to reflect on just how busy and thriving a community the Junior Boys’ School is.

Without doubt, the work in the classrooms continues to be of a very high standard, and it is always a delight to walk into any classroom and see the boys actively engaged with their learning, whatever the subject. However, the work that goes on both in support of and beyond the traditional curriculum is perhaps what lives longest in the memory.

Outside of the classroom we have seen a wonderful variety of activity with the boys excelling in sport, music, drama and charitable endeavour. Sport this year has had a greater feeling of breadth to it, with boys competing in a number of new sports including biathlon, basketball, water polo and even a dodgeball fixture. Music has continued to grow in terms of participation and performance with a wider range of ensembles in action and the quality of music improving all the time. This year the massed voices of Year 6 joined with thousands of other children at the Young Voices event held in Manchester Arena and the Year 4 choir performed in Birmingham at the National Music for Youth Festival. In addition, we enjoyed the opportunity to perform at the Evensong event, celebrating the Bolton School centenary. This was a lovely occasion, providing the chance to stop and reflect upon our place in the wider school and local community.

Custard pies, high heels and splurge guns were the order of the day for this year’s Year 6 play, Bugsy Malone. There were many magnificent performances and a great display of what the boys are capable of outside of the normal classroom environment.

One of the key attributes we try to instil in the boys is the consideration of others and nowhere is this more visible than in our charitable works. This year we have raised a great deal of money for a number of charities, but perhaps more importantly, that increased willingness to think of the needs of others is a skill which will live long in the hearts of the boys.

Looking back at all of the fantastic memories of the year is a great reminder of all that we have achieved but also serves as a challenge to continue that in years to come.

Mrs S Faulkner Head of the Junior Boys’ Division

Landscape Art Exhibition

As part of their Art curriculum, the Year 6 boys produced a spectacular array of landscape paintings in acrylic. From peaceful Yorkshire forests to idyllic Italian scenes, Lake District mountains to Dubai sunsets, and even images of the Giant’s Causeway and ‘candyfloss’ skies, the pupils’ creativity and painting skills shone through in every piece. The boys’ paintings were this year exhibited on entry to the pupils’ production of Bugsy Malone.

Year 3 Photography Competition

The theme was ‘plants in nature’ this year. The boys impressed the judge with their great use of contrast, blurred backgrounds to create focus, interesting camera angles and views, and creative image editing!

First Place: Keeran Singh

Third Place: Alex Pearce

Second Place: Edward Morris

DramaThe Year 6 boys’ much-anticipated production of Bugsy Malone was nothing short of fantastic. The gangsters’ antics as new ‘splurge guns’ came onto the scene – some of the cast even running down the aisles to reach their targets – had the audience roaring with laughter, as did the well-placed custard pies! The fantastic singing, dancing and great acting skills of the whole cast made every performance memorable.

100 & 500 Anniversary Choral Evensong

The Junior Boys’ School was represented by a choir of pupils at this special event, which gave thanks to Bolton School’s Founders and Benefactors at the site of its earliest incarnation 500 years ago in the grounds of Bolton Parish Church. The boys delivered a fine performance of Rutter’s ‘For the Beauty of the Earth’ as part of the proceedings and were able to add their voices to the communal singing of hymns throughout the evening. The choir also joined with the Junior Girls for a beautiful interpretation of ‘The Lord is my Shepherd’.

Spring Concert

Music

Musical History Tours

Visits from Travelling by Tuba and The Pop Project took the boys on enchanting tours through the history of the UK using different kinds of music and musical instruments as points of focus.

Young Voices Concert

Year 6 pupils joined over 7,800 children at the Manchester Arena to form a mass choir, learning to sing medleys ranging in style from Gospel to Pop! There were also lots of dance moves to learn. The boys very much enjoyed the Young Voices event and evening concert.

The Year 4 Choir singing at the National Music for Youth Festival in Birmingham

Christmas performance at Bolton Parish Church alongside Blackburn and Darwen Band

African Drumming Workshop Christmas Concert

Charity

Fun Run Supporting MNDA

The Junior Boys’ annual Fun Run raised a spectacular £10,000 this year in support of the Motor Neurone Disease Association (MNDA). The charity was selected following a very kind donation from the family of Old Boy Simon Binner, who died from MND last year. This was made all the more poignant following the death of another Bolton School alumnus, Sir Harry Kroto, from the same disease shortly before the Fun Run took place. The boys wore a wide range of costumes on the day and had fun completing as many laps of the Senior School athletics track as they could to the cheers of staff and parents.

“I would like to extend special thanks to the staff and parents who have been involved and of course the children who took part. Your generosity will ensure that we can continue the important work we do in and around the Manchester area with those living with Motor Neurone Disease. It will also help fund vital research into the disease and go some way in helping us find that all important cure.”

Stacey Kerr, MNDA Manchester

Children in Need

Boys created and wore their own Superhero capes to support Children in Need and raised £378.16 for charity.

Concert Collections

Charitable collections were held following some of the Junior Boys’ musical events. The Carol Service raised £596.97 for Oxfam’s Teach a Teacher charity, while the donations following the Spring Concert totalled £430 in support of Water Aid.

Harvest Festival

Families at the Junior Boys’ School filled the stage at Park Road with donations of fruit, vegetables, tins and packets of food in time for the Harvest Festival. Reverend Roger Petch encouraged the boys to appreciate all they have and consider other parts of the world where the harvest is not so rich and predictable, and the boys bookmarked the service with wonderful singing. The generous donations were given to Winter Watch, which provides homeless people in the local area with food throughout the winter months.

Young Entrepreneurs

The Year 6 Entrepreneurs Project saw boys selling mocktails, sweet cones, cakes, cookies and sweets to their fellow pupils for a week in the summer term. As always, the winning team chose the charity which would benefit from the profits, which this year was Cancer Research UK. Pupils raised £257 with their efforts.

Sports

Park Road pupils have been involved in a wide range of sporting activities, including football, cricket, cross country, swimming, biathlon, hockey, athletics and dodgeball. This year also saw the Junior Boys’ School’s first competitive water polo fixture, where the boys won thirteen games and drew one!

The sporting calendar concluded with the annual Sports Day at the end of the Summer Term.

U11 Football

It was a season of mixed fortunes for the U11 team. Both A and B teams played some good football, winning as many as they lost. Unfortunately the teams did not get their just rewards this year, whether thanks to a last-minute goal, a penalty decision, or even a strong lead being reduced. Nonetheless, the games were a great learning experience for all the players.

In a season much affected by the weather, the U10 squad showed great promise for the coming year.

Dual Success as Cross Country teams win both age categories in the Bolton Schools’ Cross Country League

Sports Day

Biathlon boys claim first prize in Year 4 and Year 5 age groups

Chess

The Park Road chess teams have once again enjoyed a good year of excellent matches played with good sportsmanship. The Junior Boys’ School hosted the AJIS North-West Chess Tournament, with the home team winning the U11 trophy once again, and the EPSCA Tournament. As a result of their performance at the EPSCA competition, the U9 and U11 A teams qualified for the national semi-final held at Prestatyn in June! All the pupils involved acquitted themselves well against very strong opposition: the U11 team obtained a Silver medal, while the U9 team won 5th place and gained a Gold medal, narrowly missing out on a place in the final by only a few points.

Athletics

Boys in Years 5 and 6 travelled to Birkenhead School for a triangular Athletics meet also involving King’s Chester, with the U11s managing to win first place in their age group. The Year 6 pupils also went to Stanley Park, Blackpool, for another Athletics meet where they did particularly well in the Field events, returning with one gold and two silver medals!

Budding Year 3 footballers enjoy IAPS tournament at MCFC Academy on the Etihad Campus

Winners of the AJIS Trophy

U11 team member Hashir Sapra was selected for the England Chess Squad

The U9 and U11 teams qualified for the national EPSCA semi-finals

Around School

Junior Boys joined pupils from across the Foundation to welcome HRH Prince Edward, the Earl of Wessex, on his visit to Bolton School in November.

Joining the anti-bullying Pod Trail with author Lucia Davies

Workshops in the Senior School Art and Technology Departments

Electric Lego City Workshops

Five boys’ stories were selected for the second round of Radio 2’s 500 Words competition

Careers Inspiration from Alumni

Boys in Year 6 enjoyed learning about an array of careers from six Old Boys and Old Girls: a TV and film producer, the Deputy Chief Constable for Cheshire Constabulary, a fashion designer, an architect, video producers and an entrepreneur! At the end of the Summer term boys in Years 5 and 6 were also treated to a talk from Old Boy Robin Partington, the mind behind London’s iconic Gherkin, who once attended the Junior Boys’ School himself! He spoke about drawing and building models, never giving up, and the importance of working as part of a team.

BOLTON

JUNIOR BOYS

Confucius Classroom

In September, Confucius Classroom status was bestowed upon the Junior Boys’ School. Boys start learning about the Chinese language and culture from Year 3 onwards. The conferral of Confucius Classroom status means that the School will become a teaching hub for the community. Special guests Mr Wang Ying, Educational Consul of the Consulate General of The People’s Republic of China in Manchester, the Mayor of Bolton, and representatives from the University of Manchester’s Confucius Institute joined pupils and staff for a ceremony which included a spectacular Lion Dance, Chinese musical performances and the unveiling of the Confucius Classroom plaque.

Year 3 enjoy Chinese New Year Celebrations at the RNCM

Mandarin Success

This year, for the first time at the Junior Boys’ School, Year 6 pupils sat the Mandarin Youth Chinese Test (YCT). Although Mandarin is a difficult language, a staggering 86% of pupils passed!

UK-China Stamp Design Awards

Bolton School welcomed Chinese visitors from West Zhongshan Municipality of the Guangdong Province in China to present winners of a stamp design competition with a special edition collection of the stamps, which are now in use in China. Four winners were Junior Boys’ School pupils when they entered the competition, which ran in 2014.