Bolton School

Established as Bolton Grammar School, it is not known exactly when the boys' school was founded although it is recorded in 1516. In 1525, William Shaw of Wigan sold land worth 33s 4d p.a. towards the maintenance of a schoolmaster to teach grammar in Bolton.[2] In 1644, it was endowed by Robert Lever and so began the start of a long relationship with the Lever name. During the 17th century, the school moved from its original Tudor building to new premises beside the Parish Church in Bolton.

Bolton Girls' Day School was established on 1 October 1877 as one of the earliest public day schools for girls in the country.[3] The schoolroom was in the Mechanics' Institute, and the first intake was 22 girls. The school was renamed Bolton High School for Girls and moved to the Park Road site in 1891. Its new building was opened by the suffragist Mrs Millicent Fawcett and the school had 67 girls on roll.

In 1899 Bolton Grammar School for Boys moved to its current location on Chorley New Road shortly after its amalgamation with Bolton High School for Boys. The move was made possible by Sir William Hesketh Lever. He had agreed to put up £5,000 and to be co-opted as a governor of the school in 1898 and a year later bought the freehold at Westbourne and offered it the school. He also financed the necessary building alternations. The school remained in these premises at Westbourne until 1932.[4]

In 1906, Bolton High School for Girls and its headmistress, Olivia Dymond, were congratulated by inspectors for "exercising a good influence on the girlhood of Bolton, not only intellectually but in other ways, not less important in the formation of their characters." School uniform and compulsory games were introduced during Miss Dymond's tenure as headmistress.[5]

Aerial photo of the school (2010)

In 1913, Sir William Hesketh Lever jointly endowed the Bolton Grammar School and the Bolton High School for Girls, on condition that they should be equal partners known as Bolton School (Girls' Division and Boys' Division). On 1 April 1915, the Bolton School Foundation formally came into existence.

Construction of the Boys' Division and Girls' Division buildings began in 1924. In the same year, the school was granted a coat of arms. The Boys' Junior School was established at Broomfield on Chorley New Road in 1928 and in 1938, the school moved to the Park Road site where the Bolton High School for Girls had once been situated. The 1950s saw the creation of a new sports level and the building of the Tillotson Pavilion, and a grant from the Industrial Society funded the construction of a new Boys' Division chemistry block which opened in 1958. The main wings of the Boys' Division and Girls' Division were completed in 1965 realising Lord Leverhulme's plan to have purpose-built school buildings.[6]

In 1982, the Leverhulme Pavilion at Oldfield was opened by Philip Lever, 3rd Viscount Leverhulme, Lord Leverhulme's grandson. Other additions to the school's facilities include the sports complex and swimming pool in 1986; the Arts & Conference Centre, opened by Diana, Princess of Wales in 1993; and Patterdale Hall, an outdoor pursuits centre at the southern end of Ullswater in the Lake District.

In 2008, the school began a £19m expansion and renovation project which saw the construction of a new Infant School (Beech House), a new Junior Girls' School (Hesketh House) and the refurbishment and extension of the Junior Boys' School (Park Road).[7][8] [9] After ten years planning, building work began on the £7million co-educational Riley Sixth Form Centre in the Summer of 2012[10] and the facility was ready for use in the Autumn Term 2013.[11] The Riley Centre was named after its lead benefactor Ian Riley who was a pupil from 1974 to 1981. It stands where Leverhulme envisaged a chapel and has been described as a secular and modern interpretation of the original plan uniting the Girls' and Boys' Divisions.[12] In September 2019, a new £1m all-weather sports surface was unveiled at the Leverhulme Pavilion on Chorley New Road. Recently the school has won a swathe of awards including the Queen's award for voluntary service and the TES Independent School of the Year award in 2019.

The school maintains an outdoor pursuits department and operates Patterdale Hall, a residential outdoor pursuits centre on the shores of Lake Ullswater in the Lake District. Pupils gain experience of the world of business and commerce through the 'Business Awareness' course held at Patterdale Hall.[18]

The Boys' Division Senior School and Boys' Junior School offer annual residential outdoor pursuits trips to Patterdale Hall to all age groups, from Year 4 to Year 13. The Girls' Division Senior School and Girls' Junior School also offer these trips to selected year groups from Year 5 and up. The team at Patterdale Hall, alongside outdoor education staff based in Bolton, assists girls and boys in achieving the expedition part of their Duke of Edinburgh's Award.

Between 1999 and 2007, Boys' Division pupils constructed a concrete yacht during Technology lessons and lunchtimes as a millennium project ("The Third Millennium Ketch"). It was launched in May 2007. Named "Tenacity of Bolton", the ketch allowed Year 8 and 9 pupils the chance for sailing voyages in the Irish Sea.[19] In September 2014, "Tenacity of Bolton" was gifted to the Tall Ships Youth Trust to be operated by the Trust, with Bolton School pupils continuing to make use of the ketch.[20]