Bolton School Primary Division Junior Boys’ School Wednesday 10th January
Spring Term, 2024 — WEEK A
From Mrs. Faulkner I should like to wish you all a very happy New Year and hope that 2024 is one filled with happiness and good fortune for you all. It was fantastic to welcome the boys back into school this week and to hear all about their holidays. We have spent time talking about New Year’s resolutions and discussing the many things that can be achieved in a year and I look forward to seeing how the boys get on with the many and varied challenges which they have set for themselves.
Wednesday 10th January Cub Leaders’ Planning Meeting— NO CUBS Thursday 11th January Y6 Hajj Workshops Beginner Ski Course, 4pm (ski trip attendees only), (collection from Chill Factore 6.30pm or Park Road 7pm) LAMDA, 4-5pm, Jujitsu, 4.5.30pm Friday 12th January Fencing, 4-5pm Hockey, 4-5pm (collection from LP) Water Polo, (by invitation) 4-5pm Saturday 13th January Water Polo fixture, Manchester Aquatics Centre, 9.30 am—6pm
Later this month, we will be holding a parent workshop, focusing on the importance of reading and how parents can continue to support their son’s development in this key area throughout the Junior School. This will be held at 8:15 am on Wednesday 24th January and I look forward to seeing many of you there. It has become noticeably colder this week, with further cold weather forecast for the coming week. Do please ensure your son always has a warm coat with him. As ever, in the event of snow, please remember that information would be posted on the front page of the school website (www.boltonschool.org), usually by 7am, and we should be grateful if parents would use the website as the first port of call. School very rarely closes and unless there is a notice on the website to indicate otherwise, school will be open. Next Tuesday, 16th January, is the Senior School entrance exam, please note that whilst both the boys and girls’ senior schools will be closed to pupils that day, all parts of Primary Division are open as usual and with the exception of Year 6 pupils, we expect to see all of the boys in school. Coaches will operate as usual, though there will certainly be fewer children on board. Messages from Mr Britton, Head of Foundation: we talk a lot about social mobility at school and it would be useful to understand better about the social mobility of our school community. I am conducting a survey with colleagues, alumni, parents and pupils. The Social Mobility Commission has devised a simple question for employers to use, which is to ask ‘What role did your parents have when you were 14?’. It would be great to gather this data and so, if you have literally a moment, please complete this form https://forms.office.com/e/LNjPD31kyd After the success of the September coffee morning I hosted for parents last year, we will be having a tea, coffee and biscuits afternoon on Wednesday 14th February from 2.30 to 4 pm in the Boys’ Division dining room. Parents from all parts of the Foundation are welcome and it may especially suit those waiting for Primary Division pupils in cars at that time. I will say a few words around 3pm and we will share more detailed arrangements nearer the time
Contacting the School Office Park Road, BOLTON, BL1 4RD. t: (01204) 434735 e: parkroad@boltonschool.org.uk. www.boltonschool.org
The School Office is open from 8.15am — 4.15pm during term time. Please note that any texts sent by the Office cannot be replied to. Please direct all enquiries to parkroad@boltonschool.org and always include your son’s first name and surname, as well as his form. Please note that ParkRoadOffice email is no longer monitored. If your son is going to be absent from School, whether he be off sick or attending dental, medical or any other appointment, please email parkroad@boltonschool.org so that the registers may be marked accordingly. Please use this email address for all day-to-day enquiries relating to school matters to ensure that your enquiry may be dealt with in a timely manner. For all coach / transport enquiries: Logistics Co-ordinator: Mr B. Gould, t: (01204) 434711, e: bdmgould@boltonschool.org.uk
News from the Park Road PA
Monday 15th January Judo, 4-5pm Tuesday 16th January Y6 Entrance Exam at Seniors Chess, 4-5pm Pickleball, 4-5pm Wednesday 17th January Y6 Senior School Interviews Thursday 18th January Y6 Senior School Interviews U10 Football vs Birkenhead (A) - KO 2.30pm, return 5pm Beginner Ski Course, 4pm (collection from Chill Factore 6.30pm or Park Road 7pm) LAMDA, 4-5pm, Jujitsu, 4.5.30pm Friday 19th January Y6 Senior School Interviews Fencing, 4-5pm Hockey, 4-5pm (collection from LP) Water Polo, (by invitation) 4-5pm
Travelling Book Fair: will be in school from Monday 29th January, at lunchtime and after school. Every book that the boys buy can help us get lots of FREE BOOKS for the Library. The PA will be running a competition for the chance to win a family cinema ticket boys are invited to create a bookmark or write a book review for any book they have bought from the Book Fair. Boys can enter into the competition by submitting their entries via Showbie (Whole School Folder) or to Miss Cox in the Library. If you are able to volunteer to assist with the Fair, please email parkroadpa@gmail.com WhatsApp — if you would like to join the PA WhatsApp Group to keep up to date with all things PA, please click on the following link: https://chat.whatsapp.com/ BRtBl8QwJpS9OxpBm3MHDj PA Mailing List — if you would like to be added to the PA mailing list, please get in touch: parkroadpa@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter/X: @BSPDJnrBoysPA
The Lancashire & NW Magazine There is always a lot happening in school and this year will be no exception. A lot of our adventures, children's achievements and activities are captured in The Lancashire and North West Magazine. If you are interested in receiving a 12-month digital subscription (12 issues), we have secured a special £10 family and friends of Bolton School rate, the details of which are here: https://bit.ly/3vsVQJi
Up to date Contact Details Please let Mrs Iddon in the School Office know by email (parkroad@boltonschool.org) if you have moved house over the holidays or changed your mobile telephone number or if any other contact details need to be updated for you or your son. Thank you.
Winter Weather Please ensure that your son brings a warm, waterproof coat to school with him every day. It is now extremely cold, and very often wet, and we do expect the boys to go outside at break times, so a warm coat is very helpful indeed. Please ensure that the coat is clearly named, as they do all begin to look very similar to each other when we have over two hundred coats in the building! If your son wishes to wear a vest under his shirt, please also ensure this is also named and white.
Visits to Patterdale Hall—Important Dates Please note the date of your son’s visit to Patterdale Hall this year : Year 3:
Thursday 9th to Friday 10th May
Year 4:
Wednesday 22nd to Friday 24th May
Year 5:
Monday 20th to Wednesday 22nd May
Year 6:
Monday 29th April to Friday 3rd May.
All visits are compulsory as they form part of your son’s curriculum. An information evening for Year 3 parents and parents of boys new to school this academic year will take place at 7pm on Thursday 14th March — more details will follow nearer the time, as well as a list of kit your son will need for his trip.
February Half Term Holiday Club Please find linked here details of the February half term holiday club run by Kidzone. Book early to avoid disappointment !
Tub2Pub Recycling Scheme Calling all chocoholics! Please don’t throw your plastic chocolate tubs away after your Christmas indulgences! Please send them to school to join the growing pile which will make its way to a local Greene King pub at the end of the month as part of the Tub2Pub recycling scheme, which also raises money for Macmillan Cancer Support. Please collect from friends and family too and, hopefully, we can better the total number of tubs collected last year. More information can be found at http://www.tub2pub.co.uk/tub2pub. Thank you ! KEW
Big Battery Hunt The Big Battery Hunt is a nationwide programme to help educate and inspire young people to recycle more used batteries. More details can be found on their website, https://www.bigbatteryhunt.co.uk/resources/big-battery-hunt/ Please keep sending all of your unwanted batteries from Christmas toys, games consoles etc. to school this year, where we will store them and then take them to our local supermarket for recycling. There are great prizes to be won for school, including £3500 towards outdoor and garden equipment. SL
Achievements Our resident skier, Jasper in Year 5, has had a great start to the alpine season, having taken part in his first race in Reiteralm (Austria) earlier in January, where he competed in the Jan Keller Cup. He put down two brilliant runs and won first place. Jasper then went on to travel to Champéry, which went brilliantly for him, despite some really horrible conditions. He won all three of the competitions he took part in Champéry Cup - Slalom (1st Place), Anglo-Scottish Cup - Slalom (1st Place), Les Crosets Cup - Pro Slalom (1st Place). His times also placed him as 3rd, 5th and 3rd in the next age category up, which is a great starting point for next season.. Well done, Jasper, everyone at Park Road is extremely proud of all of these phenomenal achievements ! Congratulations too to Reyansh in Year 5 who has passed his Grade 1 piano exam with distinction. He also progressed successfully to his orange belt in his martial arts . Fantastic, well done, Reyansh!
January Geography Mission Make a geographical acrostic poem or rhyming poem! Acrostic poem:
Rhyming poem:
The vertical left-hand word must relate to a GEOGRAPHICAL topic in the news at the moment.
Create a 10-line poem with every two lines rhyming as shown below.
From each letter, write a sentence about what is happening in the news at the moment – this must relate to the lefthand vertical word you have chosen!
Choose a GEOGRAPHICAL topic in the news or a topic you are studying in class. Could you make both an acrostic AND rhyming poem?
How to submit your poem: Email lgillibrand@boltonschool.org.uk with your submission by Wednesday 31st January at 4pm! PRIZES FOR THE WINNERS! WHO CAN CREATE THE MOST GEOGRAPHICAL AND CREATIVE POEM? Congratulations to Kamran Pitkeathly in Year 3 who won last month's Geography Mission and was awarded his prize and certificate in assembly today. Well done !