The annual Sixth Form Prize Giving Evening celebrated a very successful year.  Mrs Richards, Headmistress, gave the address and welcomed the Vice Chancellor, Dr George Holmes, and the Mace Bearer, Mr Derek Truffas, from Bolton University, as well as the Chair of Governors, Sir Alan Cockshaw, the special guest and ex-pupil Caroline Plumb, governors, staff, parents and pupils. 

Mrs Richards commended students on achieving the best A level results ever for the School.  The pass rate was 100% with no E grades at all.  A third of the cohort gained 3, 4 or 5 A grades; nationally, only one in thirty students achieve this. 

GCSE results were also exceptional, with 78.8% of entries graded A* or A of which 41.7% were A*.  The overall pass rate (A*-C) was 99.7%.  10 girls achieved all A* grades. 

These results placed the Girls' Division firmly in the First Division of national schools.  This year the School was, according to which newspaper you read, 64^th, 54^th or 39^th in the country.

Mrs Richards emphasised that the Bolton School Experience extends beyond the classroom.  There are now 86 clubs and activities for pupils to access as well as numerous trips abroad and residential visits, including to the School's own outdoor pursuits centre, Patterdale Hall, in the Lake District.

In the past year, three Young Enterprise teams had won awards in the Bolton Final, a team of three girls had reached the final of The Ogden Trust National Schools’ Business Competition and four pupils studying Economics A level had been placed third out of 500 schools who entered the Bank of England’s Target 2.0 Challenge.  There had been much to celebrate in Music, with regular performances and choirs that now involved over 200 girls.  The music department had raised £2,000 for different charities over the course of the year.

Mrs Richards reminded everyone that sport is an integral part of life at Bolton School and, in the last year, the School had got through to finals in athletics, badminton, cross country, lacrosse (10 girls playing for Lancashire, two for the North of England and one for England), netball (all age groups reached the Bolton Schools’ finals and all bar one were champions for their age group), swimming (two girls were selected for their National Age group championships and the British Championships) and tennis.

Mrs Richards summed up by saying: "As the Girls’ Division celebrates its 130^th birthday on 1 October, I feel it is in good heart and moving ahead in so many areas.  I think Lord Leverhulme would be well pleased."

Sir Alan Cockshaw addressed the audience and announced that, after ten years as Chair of Governors, he would be retiring from this position at the end of the calendar year.  He gave a brief resume of his career and urged pupils to aim high in life and to go out there and make a difference.

Old Girl, Caroline Plumb presented the prizes. Caroline is CEO of Freshminds Ltd - a recruitment and research business.  Caroline has twice appeared on Management Today’s biennial list of 35 most successful “Under 35” businesswomen, the youngest on the list both times.

The evening culminated with an inspirational speech from Caroline.  She recounted how her own entrepreneurial business had moved from 3 to 103 employees and the plans she had for setting up operations overseas.  Caroline talked about pushing yourself and working hard but reminded the audience that life was also about having a belief in yourself and a dream.  It was important to believe that this year and the next would be the best years of your life.

The evening ended with a Vote of Thanks from the Head Girl, Rebecca Trevelyan, and rousing renditions of Jerusalem and The School Song.