A School To Be Proud Of

The 2021-22 academic year was one of positivity and progress for the Bolton School Foundation, despite the economic and political turbulence.

The changes to our structure in October 2021 – establishing the new role of Head of Foundation and creating the new Primary Division – have already resulted in much progress across all parts of the Foundation. In February 2022, the Governing Body was delighted to confirm the appointments of Lynne Kyle as Head of Girls’ Division and Nic Ford as Head of Boys’ Division. The summer then brought two sets of successful GCSE and A Level results followed by record admission levels in both Senior Schools for the new school year. As we emerged from the shadow of the pandemic, there was much of which our School community should be proud.

The portrayal of independent schools which now prevails in much of the press – as bastions of privilege serving only a small segment of society – is unrecognisable as a description of Bolton School. Through our substantial bursary scheme and extensive partnership and outreach work, we serve our local community wholeheartedly and have a pupil body which is economically and socially diverse. This work is fundamental to the national renown in which the Foundation is held, ensuring that we continue to be seen as a force for positive change in Bolton and beyond.

We know this view of the Foundation is shared by our whole community and nowhere is this more evident than in the generosity of our supporters. During the 2021-22 academic year, an outstanding £1.7m was given in support of the bursary scheme, with a further £140,000 donated for hardship funding and £111,000 for extra-curricular support for bursary pupils, university scholarships for recent leavers and the redevelopment of the Leverhulme Pavilion facilities. This staggering generosity reveals the depth of our supporters’ confidence in the work of the Bolton School Foundation and their understanding of the transformational impact this will have on the young people who benefit from it.

Despite the continuing global economic uncertainty, the Governing Body’s commitment to ensuring that any young person who has the potential and would thrive here should have the opportunity to do so, regardless of their family’s circumstances, is steadfast. It remains our ambition that by 2030 our bursary scheme will have expanded to reach the point where one in three pupils in the Boys’ and Girls’ Divisions will receive bursary funding. This goal is hugely stretching and will, undoubtedly, become ever more so in the coming years but, with the continued support of our donors, we have every confidence it will be achieved.

With this ambition in mind, the Governing Body is constantly mindful of the political context in which the Foundation operates and of the potential implications of legislative changes to the charitable status of independent schools which are currently being mooted. We are, as you would expect, preparing carefully – as far as we are able – for the impact a change of government would have upon the Foundation’s finances, both immediately and in the medium to long-term. The Bolton School Bursary Foundation, the new charity established in 2022 to raise, hold and grant bursary funds in the future, is a key part of this planning. We are determined to do all we can to ensure that we are able to continue the role of creating social mobility for the next generations of young people living locally. Whilst nothing is certain, by securing the funds so generously given by our supporters over the past 25 years, we hope to maximise their future growth and ensure that this is the case.

On behalf of the Governing Body, staff and pupils of the Bolton School Foundation, thank you for your support during the last academic year. Whether your generosity enabled the expansion of our bursary scheme, provided hardship funding for families in financial distress or ensured a level playing field for our bursary pupils’ participation in trips and extra-curricular activities, every gift the Foundation received has benefited both individual students’ lives and the wider school community. I hope you enjoy reading of the difference your support has made to the Foundation during the past year – it truly is deeply appreciated by everyone here on Chorley New Road.

With all best wishes for the year ahead.

Ian Riley Chair of the Bolton School Governing Body