The Cockerel - February 2018

The Cockerel

Boys enjoy great success at Model UN Conference

Boys enjoy great success at Model UN Conference

Two delegations of Year 10 and Year 12 boys represented Bolton School and delegations from the United Kingdom and the Democratic Republic of the Congo at Manchester High Schools For Girls’ last weekend. The standard of debate, as ever, was very high, but the boys performed terrifically well.

Thomas Britton was awarded the Best Young Delegate in his committee for the second year running, representing the Democratic Republic of the Congo in the Human Rights debate. The United Kingdom were awarded the trophy for Highly Commended Delegation of the conference, and every single member of the delegation won an individual prize, which is a first for Bolton School. James Bradley was Commended for his work in Political, while Nick Clark, Alex Matthews, and Matthew Schaffel were the Highly Commended delegates in the Economic and Social Committee and in the Human Rights committees; Bilal Asghar was named the Outstanding Delegate in the Security Council, which is the most challenging debating forum in Model UN Competitions.

Under 14 Badminton team are Manchester Champions

Under 14 Badminton team are Manchester Champions

Ateam from Bolton School Boys’ Division have become the Under 14 Greater Manchester badminton champions. In progressing to the final, the boys overcame two of the strongest teams, Altrincham, 3-2 in the group stage, then Manchester Grammar School, also 3-2, in the Semi-final; both matches could have gone either way and involved nail-biting 15-14 victories for Bolton School when it seemed that all was lost! The Final itself proved something of an anti-climax as Bolton School defeated Holy Family School 4-1.

Coach Mr. Harrison said: “Several teams had one or two very talented players, but we had strength in depth and that contributed to our success. We now progress to the North-West Final, where we will be representing Greater Manchester.”

Inter-School Quiz Competition

Inter-School Quiz Competition

Seven boys in Year 9 and above recently accompanied Mrs. Brace, Mr. Cropper and Mr. Humphrey to Bury Grammar School for the Annual Interschool quiz competition.

An unfortunate late withdrawal through illness meant one of our two teams had to play one short. This provided an extra challenge.

Our younger team members gave a very good account of themselves. They found it difficult against older, more experienced opponents, but they enjoyed and will benefit from their experience.

The older team finished in second place in their group and went on to win the competition as group runners-up, thus ensuring one of the trophies came to Bolton School.

Chapter 4

Visit from inspirational speaker on mental health

Visit from inspirational speaker on mental health

In three separate sessions, visiting speaker Dick Moore spent the day at Bolton School Boys’ Division holding students, teachers, visitors and parents captivated with his personal insights into ‘dealing with your adolescent’. In a hard-hitting and captivating lecture, Dick recapped his “from the heart” story telling how he had been an English teacher, rugby coach, House Master at a Boarding School and Head Teacher before retiring. He spoke of the joys and tribulations of bringing up four boys, explaining their personalities and recounting stories about them before revealing that one of them, Barney, aged 21, took his own life. Telling his story, in the hope that somebody in the audience might be able to help a young person in distress, was, he explained, his therapy. You can learn more about Dick’s experience in his excellent Tedx talk “Dancing or Drowning in the Rain.”

If Bolton School Boys’ Division comprises 1200 pupils, he told them, theoretically, 270 would suffer from depression at some stage of their lives, over 100 will be suffering from a diagnosable mental health problem, about 50 current boys will self-harm and about 46 will suffer from debilitating stress or anxiety disorders; these are the harsh statistics. He told how 11% of eating disorders are with boys and that 75% of all mental health problems start in adolescence with 50% of problems having developed by the age of 15. Dick also exhibited the ‘continuum of emotional wellbeing’ model and told how anyone below the mid-point will suffer up to a 30% loss in cognitive ability.

Whilst one in ten children suffer mental health issues at school, things become more acute at university where the figure is one in six. The reason for this, in Dick’s view, was that one-on-one mentoring and support is better in schools than at tertiary level, although some institutions offer outstanding provision

Dick espoused the notion that it is important that we let our young people fail and learn from their mistakes. The emotional part of their brain is fully developed by the age of 15, but it will be another ten years before they are experienced and worldly-wise –until then we have to accept that they will be making “high risk decisions with poor judgement”. He reminded the audience that everyone in the room will have failed at something in their life and that we need to let young people know that failure is allowed and achieving A* grades will not necessarily make them happy. We also have to impress upon young people that emotions and

feelings are fluid and pass. He talked about the crippling effects of stress and anxiety, reciting the tale of a top Cambridge undergraduate who went from brilliant student to someone unable to function as he deliberated too much about delivering the perfect dissertation and never finished his degree.

The subject of self-harm was explored and the audience told that 13% of 15 and 16 year olds and three times more girls than boys will suffer with it.

Dick elaborated on the symptoms of depression and the difference between empathy and sympathy. Elaborating on what we can do to help, he spoke of listening non-judgmentally and finding the time to listen; he also felt that you might have to reveal something about yourself. He said that whilst many more women are diagnosed with depression and three times more women attempt suicide than men, three times more men succeed in taking their lives. The number of men committing suicide aged 17-35 years is higher than the number that die in road accidents, from AIDS and from violent crime put together.

In order to fight against this, Dick suggested we all need to accept our emotions and “talk, talk, talk”. Young men bottle up their emotions as they fear embarrassment but the message should be “it takes a man to feel”. For Dick, social awareness, self-management, relationship skills and responsible decisionmaking abilities were the key skills that schools should be teaching and more important than any academic subject.

French A Level Language Day

French A Level Language Day

Sixth Form students in the Boys’ and Girls’ Divisions studying French to A Level benefitted from the annual joint French Day, held in the Arts Centre. Guest speaker Richard Peltier returned to Bolton School to immerse students in a day of presentations and discussion based around the A Level curriculum.

Years 12 and 13 spent the morning covering the topics of new family types, the dangers of cyber-society and the ‘seventh art’ – cinema in the French-speaking world.

In the afternoon, Year 13 continued their day of French with the subjects of poverty, prison and whether it is a good or bad solution, and teenagers, discussing their right to vote and political commitment.

The Sixth Form students tackled these challenging conversations and debates with skill. They were able to talk to each other and Richard in some depth about the issues involved, and the experience will no doubt have helped them gain fluency and confidence.

Insight into the realities of a Law

Insight into the realities of a Law Career

Old Boy Jarlath Pratt returned to Bolton School to talk to students in Year 13 about his career in law. He attended the Boys’ Division from 1994 to 1999 and went on to study Law at London School of Economics and Political Science.

He spoke briefly about his decision to do a law degree, and the fact that he has sometimes thought it might have been interesting to do something else, but came to the conclusion that it was the best choice for him as he always knew he wanted to be a lawyer. However, he advised the current Sixth Form that if they weren’t sure, doing a degree in something that interests them and then going to law school afterwards might be a good option.

Jarlath went on to chart his career, including his year at law school and his first job as a junior lawyer. He talked about what it is really like, both good and bad, and described one memorable occasion when he went to work on a Wednesday morning and didn’t leave until the following Friday morning! He said this was a really exciting occasion, as they were closing a big deal, but at the same time exhausting.

Eventually, he decided to move on from the law firm and became an in-house lawyer for Barclays. Again, he talked about the pros and cons of this move, including the much more regular hours. He also discussed the differences between

working for a law firm, where lawyers are part of the function of the business, and working for a bank, where lawyers are a cost.

Jarlath now works for GIC, the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, and is the Head of Legal in Europe. He talked about what it is like to work for a foreign investment firm including travel, stability in his job, and lots of meetings and networking. He went into some details about the kinds of deals and investments that he offers legal advice on and manages legal processes for, why governments have these investment funds, and where the money comes from. This gave an interesting insight into ‘trickle down’ economics.

Throughout his presentation, Jarlath stressed the importance of work experience and extra-curricular activities. He said that although he was never very good at rugby, the fact that he played for School and university teams is still on his CV: he advised that this sort of thing always gives something engaging to talk about during interviews. He also described some of the qualities that he found to be vital for a lawyer, including attention to detail and enthusiasm.

At the end of the talk, the students asked pertinent and mature questions to make the most of Jarlath’s visit.

Local primary school children SHINE on Saturdays

Local primary school children SHINE on Saturdays

Forty-three Year 5 pupils from a dozen local primary schools are enjoying this year’s SHINE: Serious Fun on Saturday programme at Bolton School. The project, which runs over the course of the Spring Term on Saturday mornings in the Girls' and Boys' Divisions, aims to widen pupils’ learning and to challenge them with the possibility of higher achievement. Inspirational sessions are delivered by Boys’ and Girls’ Division staff, who are assisted by a large number of pupil volunteers from Years 10 - 12.

Bolton School teacher and co-organiser of SHINE Miss Sarah Gunshon said: “SHINE is in its ninth year, with this the fourth year that Miss Wrathmell and I have run the programme. We aim to give young people the chance to experience new and exciting subjects to inspire them to achieve in education and their extra-curricular activities. As a teacher, it is really rewarding to see the children develop in confidence over the 11 weeks and to learn so many new skills.”

The children study a mix of traditional subjects, including Physics, Music, Art, Geography, French, German and the Sciences, but are also introduced to more unusual offerings which they will not be exposed to through the normal curriculum, such as Italian, Spanish, Russian, Japanese, Food Technology, Latin and Greek and Outdoor Pursuits. Towards the end of the programme, the group will undertake a day trip to Catalyst Science Discovery Museum.

The sessions are free for the participating children, and the programme closes with a celebratory graduation dinner held at Bolton School on Saturday 10th March for children, parents and teachers.

Brass Group gives concert at Park Road

Brass Group gives concert at Park Road

The Boys’ Division Senior School Brass Group entertained Park Road pupils in a lunchtime performance as part of the Junior School’s ongoing concert series. Ten pupils gave splendid accounts of ‘Let Me Entertain You, ‘The Eye of the Tiger’, ‘Living on a Prayer’, ‘Uptown Funk’ and ‘Tequila’. They were directed energetically by Mrs. Hughes-Williams. Mr. Mallon gave a very impressive rendition of ‘Fnugg’, a piece utilising complex and unexpected multi-phonic techniques on the tuba. Demonstrations of the trumpet and trombone, together with impressive solos, were presented by Adam Battersby and Jamie Death. The trumpets and cornet sections were also featured.

The enthusiastic members of the young audience provided rapturous applause throughout the concert and departed with the sounds of their shouts of ‘Tequila’ ringing in their ears!

Chamber Choir in final of Barnado’s Choral Competition

Chamber Choir in final of Barnado’s Choral Competition

Bolton School’s Senior Chamber Choir is in full rehearsals ahead of its trip to the Royal Festival Hall on Monday 12 March for the national final of the Barnardo’s Choral Competition.

The Choir saw off much stiff competition in the ages 12-18 category and, having made it to the final, they will compete against six other secondary schools; 18 primary schools will also compete with one another on the day in a separate category. They progressed to the national final after submitting recordings of two contrasting pieces to be judged – The Cloths of Heaven (Victor Johnson/Yeats) and an arrangement of Somewhere Only We Know (Keane).

The boys and girls from Years 10-13 will perform before the judges late afternoon, and then with everyone else in a special evening concert. Each choir will perform one song as well as joining in two massed choir items.

Conductors Mrs. Cathryn Whitmore and Mr. Jonathan Ainscough said: “We are delighted to have made it to the final, and the students are thrilled to be performing in such a prestigious venue as the Royal Festival Hall.”

First and second place will be awarded in each age category. The two winning choirs will be invited to sing in one of the Barnardo’s 2018 Young Supporters Concerts, and Douglas Coombes MBE (Chairman of the judging panel) has offered to write a song for the two winning choirs.

Blackburn House collection for homeless charity

Blackburn House collection for homeless charity

Pupils from Blackburn House have donated over 500 unwanted Christmas gifts and toiletries to Night Safe, a charity helping young homeless people in the Blackburn area. Members from the House Leadership Team helped Night Safe’s Jay Ratcliffe load up her car with boxes of toiletries that will be given out to those on the streets.

Credits

Credits Editor: Miss K.S. Wrathmell

Contributors: Mr. J. Newbould, Miss A. Bradshaw, Mr. M. Power, Mrs. L. Waller, Mr. P. Cropper, Mrs. C. Brace, Miss K.S. Wrathmell