Junior Boys' Review 2018-19

SCHOOL JUNIOR BOYS’ 2018/2019 REVIEW

From the Head...

Of course I know that I am biased when it comes to talking about Park Road, but as I reflect on yet another wonderful year at the Boys’ Junior School I am filled with pride at the commitment, hard work and endeavour of the boys, staff and parents as we continue to make our school a truly great and exciting place to learn.

That a great deal of hard work and learning goes on in every classroom is of course what we expect, but I am struck by the excitement that the boys show in their lessons each time I visit a classroom. Whether they are investigating a problem in Science, reading the latest class novel, painting a tricky bit of cloud or learning how those new DT tools work, the level of commitment and enthusiasm for learning never fails to inspire me. It is always a pleasure when the boys are sent to me with their best work as they love to talk about what they have learnt and are rightly proud of their achievement.

Beyond the classroom we have seen a wonderful variety of activity with the boys excelling in sport, music, drama and charitable endeavour. Sport this year continues to have a feeling of breadth to it, with boys competing in a range of sports including hockey, biathlon, basketball, water polo and, of course, football. This year the U11 swimmers reached the national finals of the ESSA relay competition, our water polo team retained the ESSA north-west cadet cup for the third year running and our football, hockey and cricket teams have had some great success in their respective competitions. We continue to be

highly competitive in chess with the U9 and U11 boys reaching the EPSCA national semifinals in Prestatyn and the U10 team playing in the ECF national final at Uppingham School. 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 Y6 joined with thousands of other children at the Young Voices event held in Manchester Arena, followed by a distinct change of repertoire in the Upper School Choir for performances at the Bridgewater Hall and then later as regional winners of the Last Choir Singing Competition.

The Year 6 production of the Lion King was most entertaining; great singing, fabulous choreography and acting and wonderful costumes came together to captivate a near full-house audience on each of the three nights. As well as being a brilliant performance in its own right, as an example of the talents and team-work the boys have developed, it is hard to surpass.

Sports Day is always a highlight of the school year for me and not just because it is on the last day! Watching the boys coming together in their houses to cheer each other on, congratulating each other on races well run whatever the outcome, sums up the strength of community and character that we work hard to develop at Park Road.

As we close the doors on another school year I look back at all that the boys have achieved and look forward with great excitement to

what fabulous opportunities lie ahead for those who remain with us at Park Road and also to those who move on to pastures new, even if they’re not so very distant. Well done and good luck boys.

Mrs S Faulkner Head of the Junior Boys’ Division

Landscapes Art

Year 6 pupils once again created an impressive range of landscapes using acrylic paint during their art lessons. The boys’ work was put on display outside the Theatre during the Year 6 Production, allowing the audience to enjoy some art before and after the show and during the interval.

Open Art Exhibition

The Bolton School Open Art Exhibition held in the Arts Centre brought together artwork produced by pupils past and present, staff, parents and others connected with the school. Park Road boys enjoyed admiring this celebration of creativity in their Art lessons.

Remembrance Poppy

All pupils were involved in creating a large-scale communal art piece to commemorate 100 years since the signing of the Armistice in 1918 to end the First World War. The boys painted stones which formed a large-scale image of a poppy at the Junior Boys’ Remembrance Assembly and Year 5 created multimedia poppies for display.

Salts Mill

Year 6 visited Salts Mill in Bradford to explore the David Hockney exhibition.

Drama

Audiences were captivated by the ambitious Year 6 Production, which saw pupils retell the story of ‘The Lion King’. The boys’ brilliant singing and accomplished acting were complemented by fantastic costumes and an impressive set, and they tackled the complex themes of the story with confidence. The musical was a delight from the opening spectacle of ‘The Circle of Life’ to the dramatic finale.

Theatre Trips

Year 5 pupils were enthralled by the Lowry Theatre’s production of David Walliams’s ‘Billionaire Boy’ with its powerful message that money certainly isn’t everything. As Christmas approached, a group of boys in Years 3 to 5 thoroughly enjoyed watching a fantastic performance of Dr. Dolittle, also at the Lowry Theatre. Pupils in Year 3 and 4 travelled back in time to discover more about the ‘Awful Egyptians’ at the Guild Hall in Preston: this ‘Horrible Histories’ show was a perfect mix of fun and fright, complete with 3D interactive scenes.

School Concerts

Year group concerts spread throughout the academic year provided pupils with many opportunities to perform. The choirs shone at the annual Carol Service and the singing of traditional Christmas carols made for a very special evening. The Spring Concert featured a toetapping ABBA medley as well as performances from the school’s many instrumental ensembles.

Music Festivals

Year 4 pupils in the Lower School Choir received good feedback at the AJIS Music Festival. Following Regional heats at the Rochdale Regional Music Festival, the Upper School Choir were invited to sing at the Music for Youth Fringe Festival in Birmingham, where they also took part in a ‘Find Your Voice’ workshop with members of the National Youth Choir.

Music

Gala Concert

The Joint Gala Concert at Manchester’s Bridgewater Hall brought together musical talent from across the Bolton School Foundation for a stunning evening performance. The Park Road Choir sang an exquisite rendition of John Rutter’s ‘Look at the World’ and joined in for the finale: ‘A Tribute to the Beatles’ from the massed choirs, orchestra and audience.

Last Choir Singing

The Upper School Choir were named Bolton’s Last Choir Singing! They went on to compete alongside ten other choirs in the ‘Last Choir Singing’ Final and received a very favourable report from the three judges.

Marvellous Music

The Junior Boys’ annual Music Festival took place in February and was a two-day celebration of the wide variety of musical talent in school. Individual instrumental and vocal categories and three group classes filled the hall with a huge repertoire of music.

Young Voices

Boys in Year 6 travelled to the MEN Arena to join the Young Voices Choir! They were among 6,400 children who took part, singing loudly and proudly alongside a seven-piece orchestra and singer Tony Hadley for a packed audience.

Charity

Fun Run

The whole of the school dressed up in a wide range of colourful costumes to run in tag pairs around the Senior School sports field to drum up charity donations, cheered on by enthusiastic family members. The boys’ chosen charities this year were Cancer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, Make a Wish UK and the RSPCA. Each charity will be presented with a cheque for approximately £2,100 at the start of the new school year

Children in Need

Pupils at the Junior Boys’ School attended their lessons covered in spots and wearing spotty accessories to raise £260.05 for Children in Need.

Retiring Collections

Parents helped to raise money for charity by making donations at the end of musical events. At the Christmas Carol Service £410 was raised for Save the Children. £436.40 was donated at the Spring Concert in support of Water Aid.

Selection Box Challenge

The Junior Boys were involved in Bolton School’s annual challenge of contributing to Urban Outreach’s festive hampers, which provide those in need with all the supplies to make a Christmas dinner. Pupils across the Foundation smashed their target and collected a total of 2,782 selection boxes, and were able to make an additional donation of £202.40.

Harvest Giving

The theme of the whole school Harvest Assembly was ‘thinking about others’. Urban Outreach’s Dave Bagley illustrated our astonishing power to change the stories of other people’s lives through everyday actions and both he and Mrs Faulkner talked about the importance of the Harvest donations provided by Park Road families in helping local people in need.

Sports

Football

Pupils in all year groups had fun taking part in MCFC Football Festivals, all held in the prestigious surroundings of the Manchester City Academy facilities. The U11s played well in a closely fought AJIS Cup semi-final against King’s Chester and the Bolton Kids’ Cup at the Leverhulme Park Power League facility saw the Park Road boys win the League portion of the competition without conceding any goals. Numerous fixtures for all age groups gave the boys plenty of opportunity to build confidence and resilience throughout the year.

Hockey

Boys in the U9 and U11 hockey squads enjoyed a number of games throughout the year. The U11s also took part in the AJIS tournament in perfect hockey playing conditions.

Cross Country

The annual AJIS cross country event held at Rossall School gave the Year 5 and Year 6 teams the opportunity to show their determination in high winds along the Fleetwood sea front. Boys also put in fantastic efforts at all of the Bolton Cross Country League events this year, challenging themselves to beat their previous positions week on week. Following success at the Bolton Schools’ Games, some pupils were selected to represent the town in the Greater Manchester competition.

Sports Day

The 2019 Sports Day was one of the most thrilling in recent memory! The competition was fierce, the sun was blazing and the result was in doubt right up until the final race. Lever emerged triumphant as the overall winners this year.

Water Polo

The Junior Boys teamed up with the Junior Girls for a number of mixed fixtures this year. The highlight was no doubt entering three teams in the English Schools’ Swimming Association U11s Cadet Tournament: the A Team won the trophy while the B Team came second and the C Team took fourth place. Pupils also played in the City of Manchester Junior Winter Water Polo Festival.

Chess

The chess teams enjoyed some epic battles across the board in a variety of competitions. Park Road once again retained the Bolton Primary School Chess League (BPSCL) trophy, with the U9 team gaining a remarkable 12/12 points in the final match of the season. Two teams secured a place at the EPSCA chess tournament national semi-finals, where the U11s achieved a creditable 12th place and Under 9s were ranked 7th after coming within 1 point of a top three finish. The U10s competed at the EFC National Finals and many boys also received individual medals at the annual AJIS Chess competition.

Gymnastics

Competitors completed a gripping display of floor routines during morning assembly as part of the Years 5 and 6 Gymnastics Final. The 11 boys in the Final had won through a group of 109 pupils from across both age groups and performed some very impressive gymnastics.

Around School

Young Readers

Book lovers enjoyed a wide variety of activities throughout the year, including the opportunity to earn ‘book belt’ blazer clips for their reading efforts. World Book Day saw pupils dressing up as fictional characters and enjoying themed activities and boys were also involved with the Bolton Children’s Fiction Award. They enjoyed meeting author Helena Duggan over Skype and Andy Briggs in person.

Chinese Cultural Week

As part of the boys’ Chinese studies and to coincide with Chinese New Year (The Year of the Pig), Park Road hosted a series of cultural workshops, from Tai Chi to calligraphy and brush painting to the opportunity to learn more about the guzheng (the Chinese zither). In addition, all boys in Years 3 and 4 attended the University of Manchester Confucius Institute New Year Gala to experience Chinese acrobats and lion dancing.

Young Engineer

Pupils answered the question, ‘If you were an engineer, what would you do?’ as part of the Primary Engineer Leaders’ Award 2019. They interviewed engineers and undertook research before engineering solutions to problems, providing the judges with annotated drawings and an accompanying pitch letter. Eesa Chariwala was named the Year 6 Winner of the Greater Manchester Region and received his award from Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham!

Bikeability

Boys in Year 6 enjoyed a cycling proficiency course through the Bolton Council Bikeability scheme. The training gives boys the chance to develop confidence on their bikes and aims to instil life-long safe cycling skills.

Coding Club

The Year 5 Coding Club spent a morning at The Apple Store in The Trafford Centre learning more about coding using Sphero. They then brought that experience back to share with boys throughout school as we have purchased a set of Sphero to further develop this part of the curriculum.

Electro City

The Junior Boys became architects, town planners and electricians as they combined the delights of creative Lego building with problem-solving, teamwork and science and technology skills. Groups built amazing cities in the hall and used electrical circuits to light them up at the end of the workshop.

Hajj Workshop

Year 6 enjoyed learning more about Hajj with Imran Kotwal from Muslim Learner Services. They were then taken on a metaphorical journey to discover the requirements of the pilgrimage to Mecca, Hajj dress (Ihram) and the holy sites visited.

Belgian Battlefields

WWI Soldier

All year groups met a real First World War “Sergeant” who captivated pupils with an interactive talk about life in the trenches. From a whistle-stop tour through a typical soldier’s kit to the horrifying wounds that their weapons could inflict, the focus was on the hardships faced and the importance of Remembrance each November.

You Are Awesome

Junior Boys were among 300 children from local primary schools who attended a presentation based on the book ‘You Are Awesome’ by Matthew Syed. The boys learned more about the growth mindset and their ‘fantastic, elastic (and plastic) brain’ in this inspirational afternoon.

Pupils in Years 5 and 6 travelled to the battlefields of the First World War during the Easter holidays and shared their experiences in a special assembly. They visited the Flanders Fields Museum in Ypres, the interactive Passchendaele Memorial Museum, the Death Cells and Execution Post at Poperinge, the Hooge Crater Museum and Tyne Cot British Cemetery. At the Menin Gate, boys found the names of former pupils on the memorials, attended the Last Post Ceremony and laid a wreath. Two pupils recited ‘In Flanders Fields’ by John McCrae at Essex Farm Cemetery, where the poem was written.

Trips and Visits

Boys in Year 5 experienced Tudor life ‘upstairs and downstairs’ at Ordsall Hall in Salford. Geography field work at Cuerden Valley Park complemented Year 6’s studies about river processes.

Visiting the ancient city of Dewa in Chester gave Year 4 the chance to become Roman soldiers for the day.

Year 3 enjoyed a busy and challenging Adventure Day filled with outdoor pursuits activities at the Anderton Centre.

Bolton Museum’s Egyptology galleries provided the boys with lots of interesting information.

Year 6 visited Quarry Bank Mill to discover more about the lives of Victorian children.

Boys made the most of interactive exhibits at the Lancashire Science Festival.

Patterdale Hall e juniorboys@boltonschool.org t 01204 434735 www.boltonschool.org/juniorboys/