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School Receives Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service
Bolton School has won the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service (QAVS) 2017. This unique UK national honour, which is equivalent to an MBE and is the highest accolade given to local volunteer groups, was created by the Queen in 2002 to mark the occasion of her Golden Jubilee. The award has been given to the whole School, from the Nursery to the Sixth Form, and we believe we are the first school in the country to be honoured in this way. Miss Hincks was thrilled at the news: “We are absolutely delighted to win this award, which reflects the wide range of community activities that our pupils are involved with – from our Infants singing for local older residents to our Sixth Formers committing thousands of hours of their time to voluntary service.” Pupils throughout Bolton School are involved with a huge number of projects locally, nationally and internationally. However, on top of that, the whole School is instilled with Lord Leverhulme’s ethos of giving back to the local community: something which is echoed by the School Prayer. By providing opportunities to get involved and supporting them in their voluntary work, the School cultivates social responsibility in each pupil and a culture of volunteering across the Foundation. Establishing a habit of volunteering to benefit others and give back to society is a key part of each pupil’s education.
Photos (L-R): Urban Outreach Hampers donation, Tea at the Riley, Operation Christmas Child shoeboxes donation, helping out at SHINE, Harvest in the Girls’ Division
A letter from the QAVS Team to the School said:
“The work your group does for the community was very much admired by the independent Assessment Committee, chaired by Sir Martyn Lewis CBE […]. The award represents a tremendous achievement for your organisation. We hope that everyone involved, and particularly your volunteers, feel immensely proud of the recognition that this Award represents.”
Year 12 in particular have been really engaged with volunteering this year and have supported a broad range of community projects. They have registered 5911 hours of voluntary work, an average of 65 hours per student, and 20 girls have achieved a gold certificate to certify they have volunteered over 100 hours! The Autumn Term saw a flurry of community action projects. The School made a huge donation of food items to Urban Outreach at Harvest, and as Christmas approached the girls donated 91 shoeboxes to Operation Christmas Child. Six teams of Year 12 pupils took on the ‘Saucy Pie Challenge’, attempting to collect 1,300 packets of mince pies and accompanying brandy or rum sauce in time to fill Urban Outreach’s Christmas Hampers. With just over three weeks to achieve their goal, the pressure was really on and the girls were put to the test! Their fundraising activities, donations from supermarkets, and the generosity of the Girls’ Division – in particular 7D, 8C, 9B, 10F, 11C, D1 and E1 – all helped the Sixth Formers to achieve their target on time.
Tea at the Riley has once again been enormously popular throughout the year. Guests have joined Sixth Form girls in the Leverhulme Suite of the Riley Centre each month for hand-made finger sandwiches, home-baked cakes, a cup of tea or coffee and a good chat. Pupils have also provided entertainment for their guests through the year, including special performances from Beech House Choir and the Junior Girls.
Pupils have also volunteered at care homes and hospices, have given their time to read with younger pupils, and have been involved with running the SHINE: Serious Fun on Saturdays programme for local pupils in Year 5, among many other projects.
