Bolton School Primary Division Junior Boys’ School Wednesday 11th October
Autumn Term, 2023 — WEEK B From Mrs. Faulkner
COMPULSORY SCHOOL EVENT THIS TERM: Carol Service, Tuesday 19th December, 7pm
Wednesday 11th October Swim Development, 4-5pm Cubs, 6.30pm
Thursday 12th October Harvest Assembly, 9am XC, Moss Bank Park, Jujitsu—4-5.30pm LAMDA—4-5pm Sailing Club, (collection from Anderton Centre, 6pm) Cubs, 6.30pm
Firstly, I would like to say a huge thank you to all of the boys who offered their time to help out during Saturday’s Open Morning. It was a marvellous event and it was lovely to see the school so full. I was so proud of the boys who all engaged well with our visitors, many of whom remarked upon how well and enthusiastically the boys engaged with them and spoke about their school. Thank you too, to all of the parents who managed to make that work amongst all of your many other weekend logistics.
This week there has been a big focus on encouraging the boys to share their feelings and to think of others, as we celebrated World Mental Health Day. It was great to see the boys brightly adorned in their yellow accessories. Those boys new to the school this year have added their own splash of colour by planting daffodils on the edge of the field. It may take a little while for that colour to show and I wonder how many of them will be able to work out which flower is theirs. Tomorrow, we will hold our annual Harvest Assembly, where we will be joined by Dave Baggley from Urban Outreach, who will, no doubt, entertain the boys with an exciting story as well as sharing with us what impact the many generous contributions you have all been kind enough to give can make to the families that organisation supports. If you would still like to send in a donation of items for harvest, please do so tomorrow. I would politely ask that parents refrain from parking on West Street each day. Unfortunately, we are finding that some parents are driving down that road at significant speed and also that they are either blocking the road so that other cars have to drive on the pavement or pulling up sharply onto the pavement themselves. We have also received complaints from local residents at the end of the road, that parents are turning in their driveways. Whilst we understand that parking around school can be tricky, we would ask that West Street is avoided in order to ensure the safety of children walking there at the beginning and end of the day.
Contacting the School Office Park Road, BOLTON, BL1 4RD. t: (01204) 434735 e: parkroad@boltonschool.org.uk. www.boltonschool.org
Friday 13th October SCHOOL PHOTOS Fencing, 4-5pm Water Polo (by invitation), 4-5pm Hockey, 4-5pm (collection from LP)
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
Sports Round Up
U8 & U9 Rugby at MGS Monday 16th October Year 4 Roman Visitor, 9am U9 Football vs Egerton, KO 3.45pm (H) Judo, 4-5pm Tuesday 17th October Diana Anti– Bullying Training, all day GD Angling Club, 4-5pm (collection from Curley’s) Chess, 4-5pm Warhammer Club, 4-5pm Wednesday 18th October Swim Development, 4-5pm Cubs, 6.30pm
Over the past two Mondays, ten boys from Years 3 and 4 travelled to Manchester Grammar School to take part in the annual rugby festivals. The boys played lots of matches, learnt many new skills and demonstrated plenty of progress throughout the afternoon. Congratulations to everyone one involved.
U11 Football vs Bury Grammar Last Friday afternoon, we travelled to Bury Grammar School to play two U11 football matches. Both teams put in excellent performances, scoring some brilliant individual and team goals. Congratulations to all boys involved and for picking up their first wins of the season.
U10 Football vs Egerton CP Well done to the 12 Year 5 boys who played against Egerton CP on Monday afternoon. They put in a very spirited performance against an Egerton team made up wholly of Year 6s. The boys played some brilliant football and battled really well. TG
Lacrosse @ Brooklands We know that many of the boys are involved in a wide variety of sports activities outside school, but if your son is looking to try something new, we can highly recommend lacrosse. The boys’ game is very fast paced and lots of fun. If you think your son might be interested, do pop along to Brooklands, one of our local clubs. A flyer with all the relevant information is linked here.
Thursday 19th October U9 Football vs Egerton CP, KO 3.45pm (H) Jujitsu—4-5.30pm News from the Park Road PA LAMDA—4-5pm SAVE THE DATE ! Sailing Club, 4.45— We will be holding a Festive Movie Night after school on 5.45pm Friday 8th December, with a snack included. (collection from More details on how to purchase tickets will follow soon. Anderton Centre, 6pm) EasyFundraising — online shopping can also generate funds for the school PA by simply Cubs, 6.30pm using the easyfundraising app and linking your account: https://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/causes/boltonjbpa
Friday 20th October House Cross Country Fencing, 4-5pm
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
National Poetry Day
Annual Fireworks Display
As part of National Poetry Day, the boys in Mr Minta's English class produced some beautiful and thoughtful poems.
Tickets for the Girls’ Division Parents’ Association’s annual Fireworks display are now on sale.
Bilal wrote and read an ode to his brother with real feeling and Max read a beautiful tribute to his late grandmother.
This is a fabulous event with incredible fireworks.
Mr Minta was really moved by the work created but also the willingness of boys to share their emotions through their work. With Max's permission, his poem is featured below: Waking up every morning Looking around my room Seeing you Watching me Every time I see you I always Start thinking about you Now that you are gone You brighten up my day Every time I see you I should have looked How much time I had With you Until you were gone.
This year the music and fringe activities will reflect a Sci-Fi theme. The fireworks display this year will be held on Sunday 5th November, 4-7pm. To purchase tickets, please use the following link: https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/bolton-school-fireworks
JPM
Alumni of the Year Following the pupil votes, we are delighted to announce the winners of the 2023 Alumni of the Year Awards are Adam Crook, who has been awarded Old Boy of the Year and Lauren Mee, Old Girl of the Year. Congratulations to these most deserving winners.
Term Time Holiday Requests Lost Property We gathered a large amount of lost property from around the building prior to Open Morning. Named items were, of course, returned to their owners. Unnamed items, after being on show to the boys, were then recycled. Please help your son and staff by naming all items brought into school and showing your son where they are labelled. At the end of every half term, all unnamed lost property is recycled. CDH
There has been a notable increase in those seeking approval for additional days of holiday, very often immediately before or after the normal school holidays. We monitor all such absence in order to spot patterns and discern trends. It is timely to remind you that I cannot, by law, grant absence for holidays in term time unless in exceptional circumstances. The clear sense of the guidance is that ‘exceptional’ also means rare and certainly not due to the planning of flights and other logistical arrangements. Permission must be granted in advance, so a letter on the day of the absence or a call as a holiday is extended, cannot be authorised. This is why such absence is recorded as ‘unauthorised’. SAF
Achievements Congratulations to Svojas in Year 4 who participated in the Greater Manchester Junior Chess Tournament at the weekend and won 3 out of 6 matches. Well done to Sujay in Year 4 who also participated in the Greater Manchester Junior Chess Tournament in the Under 9 section and had two wins and one draw out of six games. Sujay has also completed his LAMDA exam with Distinction. Well done to our chess boys ! Congratulations to Sol in Year 4, who, after swimming eight laps of the pool non-stop, achieved his 400m badge and certificate. Well done, Sol ! Congratulations to all of the boys in 3B who have won a runners-up prize in the National Doodle Maths Back to School Competition! We were delighted to learn that 3B is one out of the 1402 classes who entered the competition who achieved 100% of pupils on target. We will be sent prizes in the post in the next couple of days. Well done to you all, boys ! ALH
School Photographs—Friday 13th Oct
October Geography Mission
The Great Geography Bake Off! Instructions: Get in the kitchen and start baking! Create a geographically-inspired bake that would crown you Star Baker on Bake Off! See the pictures below for some inspiration…. Be creative, take a photo for submission…. and then eat it!
Just a reminder that school photographs will be taken on Friday 13th October. Please send boys into school wearing full school uniform and looking as smart as possible !
STEM Kids — CANCELLED Please note that we have been advised this morning that, with immediate effect, STEMkids Club is now cancelled. We are aware that this may cause significant inconvenience to you and are assured that the company will contact directly the parents of boys who attended with further information.
After School Activities Friday 20th October Please note that that there will be NO AFTER SCHOOL HOCKEY and NO AFTER SCHOOL WATER POLO SQUAD TRAINING on Friday 20th October as the boys will all be taking part in the House Cross Country fixture earlier in the afternoon. However, FENCING WILL GO AHEAD AS USUAL. Mrs Iddon will remind the parents of the boys this involves again next week.
How to submit your bake: -email lgillibrand@boltonschool.org.uk with your submission by 9am on Tuesday 31st October ! PRIZES FOR THE WINNERS! WHO CAN CREATE THE MOST GEOGRAPHICAL AND CREATIVE BAKE ?
Cold Weather Please ensure that your son brings a warm, waterproof coat to school with him each day. It is now getting 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 named and white.
World Mental Health Day—Hello Yellow ! On Monday, the boys and staff enjoyed celebrating World Mental Health Day by taking part in ‘Hello Yellow’. It was fantastic to see so many boys (and staff!) wearing different items of yellow clothing and it really did brighten up all of our moods! In assembly, we discussed the importance of sharing our feelings with someone we trust and how it is completely normal to have ‘off days’ when we are not feeling our best. The boys took part in a range of activities during lunchtime and we also had fun with our annual Hello Yellow photo booth … head over to Twitter/ X to see our compilation video. RIL
A Host of Golden Daffodils
School Uniform
Yesterday morning, all boys who have joined school since the start of 2023, gathered outside to plant a daffodil bulb on the roadside bank of the field. This activity started last autumn and we hope that it will become a Park Road tradition and leave a lasting legacy for the benefit of not only future pupils but also the wildlife on our premises. It aligns nicely with our eco and sustainability focus in school and perfectly complements the Hello Yellow theme of our assembly on Monday.
Our school uniform supplier, Monkhouse, is offering a huge 20% off everything in store and online between 16th October to 22nd October . If you need to top up on any uniform or P.E or sports kit items or need a refresh on your everyday essentials and stationery, now’s the time to shop. Use code DEAL20 at checkout or in store. www.monkhouse.com
We hope that next spring will bring an explosion of colour to the banking and enhance our kerb appeal! KEW
Winter Illnesses Please be reminded of the Foundation’s approach to winter illness, especially Covid and Norovirus. These arrangements are unaltered from last year. As you will see in the NHS link below, the main triggers for you thinking that your child may have Covid would be him feeling unwell and having a high temperature, especially if those signs of being unwell are from the typical symptoms list. As a general guide, your son would remain away from School for three days after first feeling unwell (it is unlikely you will be able to test, but if you do so, you would still count the three days from the first time he felt ill, to avoid an unnecessary delay in return). This should balance the inconvenience for them being away from School with reasonable precautions to avoid spreading the illness. There is a typical pattern of two to threes days of feeling very unwell, followed by a couple of days feeling very tired: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/covid-19/covid-19-symptoms-and-what-to-do/ The flu symptoms and response are very similar: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/flu/ Another typical illness which we need to be careful to avoid spreading is norovirus. Boys must stay away from school for two days after the last time they were sick or had diarrhoea: https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/norovirus/
Kidzone—Half Term The holiday club programme for October half term at Kidzone can be found linked here, please do book early to avoid disappointment !
Outdoor Adventure Camp BSS will be holding an Adventure Camp, with a trip to Delamere Forest, over the first week of half term. A link can be found here with all the details , again, please do book early to avoid disappointment !