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The Bolitho School

Academics

Academic Success

The Bolitho School is academically strong, and achieves impressive results at all age levels.  One of the cornerstones of this success is the size of the sets.  Even by Independent Sector standards, set numbers are very small.  At the time of writing, for example, the average set size in the age range between 5 and 13 is fourteen children.  (The government has pledged to reduce set sizes for younger children to 30 or less in the state sector over the next few years!).  At GCSE and in the sixth form, set sizes are smaller still, because of the different options open to the students.

The consequence is that the children receive individual attention, and can develop at their own optimal pace.  The government’s White Paper on education (1997) concedes that “Research evidence shows the importance of class size…Smaller classes mean teachers can spend more time identifying early on each child’s individual needs and difficulties”.  At The Bolitho School, teachers do not have to teach at the pace of the “average” pupil, and each individual child can be coaxed towards the achievement of his or her own potential.  High flyers are helped and encouraged to soar, and a student of A grade potential is pushed and expected to fulfil such potential.  Equally, the school is extremely proud of the success of its less able students.

The school is committed to the maintenance of small sets.  There may well be a case for standardisation when it comes to car production, but there is no case at all when it comes to educating children!

Information and Communications Technology (ICT) is now an integral part of our lives.  It is almost as important for the current generation of children to master ICT as to be numerate.  The school recognises that ICT is becoming ever more central to the educational process as the technology revolution continues.  There are two spacious, new ICT suites, well endowed with computers to ensure that students do not need to share and are not constrained in computer access as well as an excellent ratio of pupils to computers in the Infant department. 

Every year group, from Reception upwards, has ICT lessons ,while ICT is a core GCSE subject at the school.  ICT is very much a tool of the trade at sixth form level, while it is also available as a subject option in its own right – Information Technology in a Global Society.

The academic record of the school, over the years, speaks for itself.  There is an up-to-date record of the results towards the back of this prospectus.  The school emerges each year as one of the leading academic schools of the county in the official league tables.  At Junior level, too, the progress of the children is such that they are entered for the national key stage two tests a year early, in Year 5 instead of Year 6, having previously secured results well above the national average at infant level.  In turn, this enables the Middle School children to take the key stage three tests a year early, in Year 8 instead of Year 9.  The great advantage of this academic strategy is that it permits students to take three years over their GCSE courses, from Years 9 to Years 11, instead of the two years (Years 10 and 11) that most schools take.  This all helps to fulfil academic potential and to maximise GCSE grades.

International Students

The school welcomes international students, both from English and non-English speaking countries.  Such students bring new perspectives and help to widen horizons.  Technology is causing the world to become increasingly small and borderless, and an international outlook is actively cultivated by the school.

A poor command of English can be a very real academic constraint.  The school therefore offers an Intensive English Section, for pupils between the ages of 11 and 14, which aims at rapid improvement in English.  Pupils in this section take core subjects such as maths, the sciences and English itself with their normal year groups.  In the lessons where they have a language problem; such as Geography, History, French and German, the Intensive English Section splits off from the rest of the year group.  The pupils are taught either individually or in very small groups by specialist teachers in English as a Foreign Language.  Around a quarter of their lessons each week are spent in this way.

The Intensive English Section has been designed with great care, and is unique in the way that it operates.  The pupils still have three quarters of their lessons with their own year groups, and so they are not isolated from the main body of their class.  Likewise, the system ensures that they continue to progress rapidly in maths and the sciences.  But at the same time, the intensive course helps to secure a remarkably swift improvement in their English.

Due to the very low teacher to pupil ratio in the Intensive English Section, there is a surcharge on the fees.  When the students have reached an acceptable level of English and are ready to switch out of the Intensive English Section, the fees revert to the standard rates.  The fee structure is enclosed at the back of this prospectus.

It is also the tendency of the school to accept no more than two international students of each gender from any one country in any given year group.  Experience has shown that this is the optimal number.

In the sixth form, students take the International Baccalaureate (IB).  Those who do not have English as a mother tongue can benefit greatly from the IB system.  They can either take their own language as their second language, ensuring very high marks.  Or else they can take their own language as their first language, which then allows them to take English as a second language, helping them to gain high marks in English.

The Bilingual Section

Adults learn a second language only with a struggle:  even those with a gift for languages cannot shake off an accent.  For the young, it is effortless.  So it is strange that the British National Curriculum does not require junior school children to learn French.  It is also strange that at senior school they start very much at the shallow end and only get immersed in French if they opt for it at “A”level.  Perhaps it is the educational system, rather than geography, that explains Britain’s notorious weakness at language!Yet learning languages is a gift from God – and all the more valuable in a world where communication is dissolving national boundaries. The average educated European already speaks a second language, and the British will be at a comprehensive disadvantage if they do not do so too, especially in the context of the European Union.But language is no mere tool.  It widens horizons.  If it does not actually create thought (as some argue) it certainly facilitates thought.  It can be no coincidence that so many of this century’s leading intellectuals, writers, scientists and businessmen have spoken a second language fluently.  A second language extends creativity and the ability to think laterally and imaginatively.

The Bolitho School has opened a bilingual section in English and French, in recognition of the importance of language acquisition.  Between the ages of eight and thirteen, pupils can opt in to the bilingual section.  Since there are beginner, intermediate and advanced sets, children of any level in French, from complete beginners onwards, may participate – subject to their academic suitability.  The pupils in the bilingual section receive two thirds of their lessons in English, with the rest of the children in their year group.  During these lessons, they are taught the core subjects of the National Curriculum (English, maths and the sciences) in the normal way.  However, during the remaining third of their lessons, the children form small, separate sets to study subjects such as history, geography, information technology and French itself through the medium of the French language.

Pupils who study in the section for the full six years are expected to emerge as bilingual in English and French.  A three year course in the section would result in fluency in French.  But even a single year of study provides a significant introduction to, and insight of, the French language.  Conversely, of course, French speaking children can quickly become fluent at English while continuing to progress and study in French.  Once fluency is assured, the pupils also begin to learn Spanish as a third language.

When the pupils reach the age of fourteen, all lessons (apart from French itself) are again in English, since the students embark on their GCSE courses at this stage.  However, the pupils from the bilingual section take French GCSE a year early, which helps to boost their confidence for the GCSEs and frees up some time for the other subjects.  It goes without saying that their grade prospects at French GCSE and International Baccalaureate levels are highly promising!

Academic Results

KEY STAGE 1 TO 4

Please click on the following links to view graphs showing the school results for 2002

Key Stage 1 (Year 2) Click Here

Key Stage 2 (Year 5) Click Here

Key Stage 3 (Year 8) Click Here

Key Stage 4 (Year 11) Click Here

THE SIXTH FORM

Historically, under the old “A” level system, Bolitho students averaged 90% pass, and 64% A-C grades. 90% of the students went on to university. A pass at “A” level secures a place at a tertiary institution, including many universities. A-C grades at “A2” level are the grades needed to secure entrance to the top universities.

The school’s first set of International Baccalaureate results was encouraging with a 100% pass rate.  The average examination mark was 62%.