Junior Boys' Review 2019-20

From the Head...

It is certainly safe to say that the year 2020 will be remembered for many years to come, but even a global pandemic could not squash the enthusiasm and sense of endeavour which runs through Park Road and makes it such a special place to learn. This year more than ever, I am filled with pride at the commitment, energy and hard work of the boys, staff and parents as we continue to make our school truly great.

The first part of the school year was filled with our usual sense of activity. I love nothing more than to walk along the corridors at Park Road, stopping to see what is happening in each classroom, or chatting with the boys about what they have been doing or where they are going next. In every case, I have been thrilled by the sense of excitement and engagement they share and this is evident in their many achievements both within and beyond the classroom.

This year 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, rugby, basketball water polo and, of course, football. We continue to be highly competitive in chess with the U9 and U11 boys reaching the EPSCA national semi-finals in Prestatyn. Unfortunately, the Summer season of athletics and cricket fell by the way-side but there was much promise shown by many as we engaged in our own playground games.

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.

This year, boys from across the age groups united to form our Eco Committee. This team have begun the all important work of helping us to develop a more environmentally friendly approach both in school and at home and we have taken the initial steps towards the Eco Schools Green Flag Bronze Award. Something we look forward to continuing in the years to come.

The Year 6 production of the Jungle Book looked set to be an incredibly colourful and tuneful event. Undaunted by school closure, the boys continued to learn their lines and create wonderful costumes. Whilst we couldn’t then perform our show, much fun was had along the way and the boys learnt

a great deal about the way that music and drama could bring them together even if that was through video-link rather than on stage.

Of course the school year in its usual form came to a rather abrupt end in March, with most pupils and teachers suddenly forced to work from home. During this time it is clear that all of our boys worked incredibly hard to keep up with their usual lessons and we quickly built a new set of routines. Those included PE with Joe to wake us up each morning, a new ‘Skills’ lesson added to the curriculum with boys setting themselves new challenges all the time. Most significantly of all, even though we were apart, the manner in which our boys and their families continued to engage with school life was most impressive; assemblies continued and we were able to hold an art exhibition and the Year 4 Concert. We even managed to hold our usual Charity Fun Run: dressing up, getting active and raising much needed funds for Bolton Hospice.

As the Summer Term moved into its final weeks and days, we were delighted to be able to welcome the majority of our Year 6 boys back into school so that they could at least finish their Junior School years together. Once we had waved them off, each of the other year groups was able to return for an all important Keeping In Touch Day. Watching the boys skip happily into school after such a long absence was probably the highlight of my year.

All in all, the achievements of our boys in this most unusual of school years, sums up the strength of community and character that we have worked hard to develop at Park Road. This has also been reflected in the great work of our fantastic Parents’ Association who have worked tirelessly to provide the boys with some fantastic events such as the Christmas Fair and Breakfast Clubs.

So, as we close the doors on another school year, of course there is a little sadness at the things we have missed, but I look back at all that the boys have achieved with pride and look forward with great excitement and anticipation 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

Mask Making

Aztec masks made by boys in Year 5 during lockdown.

History Timeline

Boys used their creative skills to produce writing, artwork and more based on their year group’s learning. The fantastic results formed a timeline which was displayed in school.

Salts Mill Trip

Year 6 enjoyed visiting the two permanent Hockney art exhibitions at Salts Mill. Much of the work was created using an iPad and the boys were enthralled by these images!

Shakespeare Portraits

Boys in Year 3 created portraits of the Bard himself for Shakespeare Week.

VE Day Bunting

Year 6 created celebratory bunting for the 75th anniversary of VE Day. Some went on virtual display on the zebra crossing outside Park Road and more was hung up in boys’ homes.

Thanking the NHS

Junior Boys and their siblings were among schoolchildren across the country supporting our NHS heroes during lockdown by creating beautiful rainbows and ‘thank you’ artwork.

Creative Work

Year 3 pupils have used their iPads and traditional media alike to produce artwork linked to their Ancient Egypt topic.

Mountain Models

As part of their geography work, Year 5 boys produced and labelled impressive models of mountains and volcanoes.

Drama and Dance

The Jungle Book

The annual Year 6 play unfortunately could not go ahead this year due to lockdown, but the boys and their teachers still celebrated all of their hard work on social media by sharing their creative costumes.

Olympic Dance

A group of Park Road pupils took part in an Olympic-themed Dance Festival. They worked really hard to learn their dance over several weeks and thoroughly enjoyed performing on the day.

A Christmas Carol

Park Road pupils were invited to a special performance of the Boys’ Division production of this Christmas classic by Charles Dickens. They had fun watching selected scenes from the play and talked with the cast about the details of Scrooge’s story.

The Great Race

As part of the Junior Boys’ Chinese New Year celebrations, themed dance workshops encouraged boys to use movement to become tigers, warriors, elephants, flowing water and even fireworks.

Treasure Island

A group of Year 5 boys thoroughly enjoyed watching an adaptation of Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic at Bolton’s Octagon Theatre at the end of the autumn term.

AJIS Music Festival

The Upper School Choir competed against eight other choirs in the AJIS Music Festival. They received very positive comments from the adjudicator for their performance of ‘Butterfly’ by Alan Simmons and ‘Sing of the Lord’s Goodness’ by Ernest Sands.

Music

Carol Service

Music Festival

A huge number of young musicians performed as part of the annual two day Park Road Music Festival. This enjoyable event in the school calendar allowed staff, boys and parents to hear a wide range of music from individuals and ensembles.

Year 5 Concert

Pupils in Year 5 put on an amazing night of music, featuring violin soloists, guitar duets, vocalists and, of course, the wonderful year group medley.

Liverpool Philharmonic

Boys in Year 4 attended a special concert for primary school children from the Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The boys were introduced to eco heroes and climate issues in between themed musical performances and were invited to join in with singing ‘People of Tomorrow’ as part of the programme.

Young Voices

Year 6 joined over 8,300 children at the Manchester Arena to perform alongside professional musicians in this concert. Their hard work learning the Best of the West, Queen and Frightfest medleys produced a stunning evening of music and dance.

Year 6 Concert

The Arts Centre was filled with music at the Year 6 Concert. Each form played two recorder pieces and a variety of soloists performed on piano, guitar, drums and voice. The concert ended with a rousing Frightfest medley featuring the ‘Ghostbusters’ theme and ‘Monster Mash’ complete with dance moves.

The Carol Service was filled with wonderful music, from the traditional opening of ‘Once in Royal David’s City’ to a stirring rendition of ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ to conclude. The evening was interspersed with Biblical, poetical and traditional readings as well as choir performances.

Ensembles Concert

Boys enjoyed watching and performing in the Ensembles Concert, which showcased the talents of Park Road’s varied musical groups.

Charity

Virtual Fun Run

Though the usual Charity Fun Run couldn’t go ahead as planned this year, the Junior Boys refused to let lockdown stop them and instead held a virtual fun run. Every day for just over a week, boys and their families clocked up miles by running, walking and cycling. Their goal? To circumnavigate the world! Though they didn’t quite get all the way around the globe, their efforts raised over £2,500 for local charity Bolton Hospice.

Fundraiser of the Year

Park Road was named the Fundraiser of the Year at the Bolton News Education Awards 2019! Six Year 6 boys attended the awards ceremony and spoke with clarity and sincerity while collecting the award on behalf of the whole Junior Boys’ School community.

Children in Need

Boys were excused from wearing their uniform in exchange for donations for Children in Need. They also brought in 10p pieces and used them to create a giant Pudsey bear image for the occasion.

Cheque Presentation

In the summer of 2019, the school raised £8,160 with their annual Fun Run. The money was split between the four Houses, with each donating £2,040 to the charity of their choice. The chosen charities were Cancer Research UK, Macmillan Cancer Support, Make A Wish UK and RSPCA.

Hamper Challenge

Junior Boys collected an impressive 409 selection boxes to help fill 1,300 Urban Outreach Christmas Hampers, which were distributed to those in need over the festive period. Across the whole of Bolton School, pupils donated 2,600 selection boxes in total.

Harvest Celebration

During the annual Harvest Assembly, Dave Bagley from Urban Outreach thanked the boys for their kind donations of food and told them how these products would be put to good use by the charity to help those in need.

Sports

Basketball

This year boys enjoyed friendly basketball fixtures against local schools. The House competitions were also closely contested and full of energy.

Football Fixtures

The Football Festivals hosted by Manchester City Football Club were no doubt the highlight of the year for many of the school’s young footballers. Separate events for U8s, U9s, U10s and U11s meant that teams from each year group had the exciting experience of playing at the MCFC Academy facilities! The boys represented School in a positive manner and showed good sportsmanship throughout. The School’s U11 team also thoroughly enjoyed taking part in the Football Tournament at King’s Macclesfield as well as the AJIS Cup and AJIS Plate competitions, while the U10s had fun playing at the St Bede’s Festival.

Cross Country

PE With Joe

The boys stayed active during lockdown with a range of activities suggested by Park Road PE staff as well as joining in with the hugely popular YouTube phenomenon ‘PE with Joe’.

Table Tennis

Thirty boys in Year 6 competed in a thrilling tournament which concluded in a final match during assembly to decide this year’s ‘King of Ping-Pong’. A supportive and raucous crowd was delighted to cheer on the last two combatants as they went head-to-head in a skilful final bout.

Rugby Festival

It was a wet and muddy season for the Year 5 and 6 boys in the Cross Country teams, but they didn’t let the weather or running conditions dampen their spirits. They gave it their all in the local Cross Country League and Championships, with two boys going forward to represent Bolton in the Greater Manchester Cross Country Championships based on brilliant performances. The Year 5 team also won Bronze at the AJIS Cross Country at Rossall School.

Year 4 pupils had an enjoyable afternoon at the U9 AJIS Rugby Festival, where they remained unbeaten in eight games against different opposition and even high-fived a Shark! All schools taking part were given free tickets to a Sale Sharks vs Gloucester match.

Olympian’s Advice

Olympic athlete Jenny Meadows visited Bolton School to deliver an inspiring message about unlocking potential. She offered lots of tips and advice based on her experiences at World and Olympic level as well as providing a coaching session after school for Junior Boys and Girls.

Badminton

This year’s Badminton Final was an epic battle reminiscent of the great Borg-McEnroe tennis duals of yesteryear! The match was won by a narrow margin of 21-18 and provided great entertainment for the spectators.

New Pitches

The Junior Boys were able to take advantage of new all-weather pitches at the school’s Leverhulme Pavilion this year. They enjoyed playing hockey and football on the new surface.

Gymnastics Final

Eleven young gymnasts performed for an impressed audience of pupils, staff and parents at the Junior Boys’ Gymnastics Final. The standard was extremely high and the top three places had only three points to divide them!

Chess

A large number of boys competed in the EPSCA national qualifying round, with the U9 and U11 A teams both finishing in 1st place to earn spots in the next stage of the competition! The B teams also did very well, taking 2nd place in the U9 competition and 5th in the U11 tournament. The combined efforts of the A and B teams were enough to ensure that the coveted Bolton Primary School Chess League trophy remained at Park Road for another year and there was further success in the annual cross-Pennines battle against QEGS Wakefield, which the Junior Boys won despite fierce competition. The AJIS Chess competition also saw more epic duels and commendable performances from the boys.

Around School

World Book Day

A huge number of boys put together incredible entries for the Shoebox Story competition, creating instantly recognisable dioramas of their favourite books on a small scale!

Water Workshop

Year 4 expanded its knowledge of the water cycle through an interactive workshop. They discussed everything from the dangers of swimming in reservoirs and quarries to water consumption and the problem of ‘fatbergs’.

Chris Riddell

Author, illustrator and former Children’s Laureate Chris Riddell delighted Junior Boys in Years 5 and 6 with live drawings, humorous recollections and even a glimpse at the strange ideas in his ‘Naughty Drawer’ during a special event organised by school library staff!

Cookery Club

A group of boys visited the Girls’ Division to learn how to cook a wide range of tasty treats as part of Cookery Club.

Antibiotics Awareness

Arctic Explorer

Alex Hibbert illustrated his talk to Year 6 with polar photographs from his expeditions. He recounted tales of success and adversity in the Arctic and advised them to make the best of every situation.

Anti-Bullying Training

A team of Year 6 anti-bullying ambassadors attended a training day run by the Diana Award in Bolton School’s Arts Centre. They returned to Park Road full of ideas on how to recognise and eliminate all forms of bullying within the school community.

As part of World Antibiotics Awareness Week, boys learned all about the great work that antibiotics can do but also the importance of not over-using these medicines. The assembly was presented by pharmacist and Old Girl Thorrun Govind.

Eco-School

Park Road formed an enthusiastic Eco Committee of 16 boys to drive the EcoSchool initiative forward. They started work towards the Green Flag Bronze Award with an Environmental Review and decided on their initial focus.

Code Week

Park Road ran a series of well-attended sessions to celebrate EU Code Week. The boys tried a variety of activities on their iPads and thoroughly enjoyed this experience before the start of the school day.

Flying Visit

Boys were excited to meet Old Boy Robert De Maine when he landed his helicopter on the Bolton School playing field! He is now a Lieutenant Commander in the Royal Navy and the Senior Pilot of 705 Naval Air Squadron.

Keeping in Touch

Pupils in Years 3, 4 and 5 enjoyed fun and games on ‘Keeping in Touch’ days at the end of a very unusual summer term. After the experience of distance learning, this was a great way for classes to reconnect before the summer holidays.

Speak Out, Stay Safe

Boys discovered the importance of speaking out and staying safe in workshops with NSPCC volunteers. They learned about different kinds of bullying and abuse in a lively and age-appropriate way and found out how to help themselves and others.

Holding the Line

Harry Potter Book Night

Park Road transformed into Hogwarts for a Year 6 sleepover! The young wizards had fun with magical activities and watched ‘The Goblet of Fire’ before snuggling down to sleep in the ‘Great Hall’ –eventually!

Three Year 6 boys commemorated the 75th Anniversary of World War Two this year. They interviewed veteran and Old Boy Kenneth Lee and used his personal experiences of the front line as inspiration for a short film script. Months later, the project was adapted for lockdown and became an ebook. An amateur illustrator volunteered to create pictures to accompany the story and pupils created an audiobook version available here: https://bit.ly/3hK0XZy

Hajj Workshop

With guidance from Imran Kotwal from Muslim Learning, Year 6 boys learned about the different stages of Hajj, moved between the pilgrimage sites at Mecca and wore Ihram during this informative workshop.

Quizzers in National Final

A team of boys won the Area Heat of the National General Knowledge Championship organised by Quiz Club! They faced a broad range of questions on varied topics to earn a place among the 100 teams competing in the prestigious National Final.

Memorial Planter

This year, the Junior Boys’ School unveiled the Memorial Planter, a new permanent commemoration of those Bolton School alumni who lost their lives during the First World War.

Trips and Visits

Year 3 enjoyed special performances from Chinese lion dancers, acrobats and musicians at the Chinese New Year Gala at the Royal Northern College of Music, organised by the Confucius Institute.

Despite lockdown restrictions, the whole of Year 6 spent a Covid-compliant day outdoors at the Anderton Centre. Orienteering, bush craft and taking to the water in rafted open canoes proved an excellent way of rounding off a unique final term!

Boys from Years 5 and 6 spent an exciting morning at the Apple Store for the AR[T] Lab workshop, where they built on their Swift Playground skills to code an augmented reality experience.

Boys in Year 6 had fun completing geography field work at Cuerden Valley, from seeing examples of river features to getting their feet wet while measuring the speed of flow and taking water samples.

Exploring Edinburgh

Twenty-five boys in Year 6 took a whistle stop tour of the Scottish capital. The cross-curricular programme saw them visit Edinburgh Castle, Mary King’s Close, Dynamic Earth, the Scottish Parliament and St Giles’ Cathedral while also covering physics with ten-pin bowling and PE through walking a few daily ‘Royal Miles’!

Learning in London

Year 5 explored Tudor life ‘upstairs’ and ‘downstairs’ at Ordsall Hall: they dressed as nobility in the Great Hall before experiencing servants’ work in the kitchen and Star Chamber.

A time-travelling trip to Quarry Bank Mill took Year 6 back to the Victorian era. They learned about the different types of work at the mill as well as discovering school, medicine and home life.

Year 5 and 6 Challenge Groups enjoyed lunch on the London Eye before walking across the Thames for a guided tour of the Houses of Parliament. The boys learned about the importance of democracy and formed their own parties based on issues they felt strongly about in an Election and Voting workshop, before meeting with David Crausby, Bolton’s MP at the time.

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