The inaugural Bolton School Culture Festival will run for two weeks from 9 to 20 October. It has been designed to celebrate the rich tapestry of cultures within the Boys’ and Girls’ Divisions and will provide a platform for cultural exploration and expression.
The festival, overseen by Miss Naomi Lord, Foundation Director of Creative Learning and Partnerships, aims to promote respect and cultural curiosity and to instil in students the value of embracing and learning from diverse cultures. A variety of bespoke arts and culture experiences will open doors to new perspectives and creative expression, enriching students’ cultural capital and promoting community cohesion. The event seeks to develop a collective understanding of the school community's cultural identity and heritage, and by celebrating differences will strengthen the sense of unity within the school.
The festival will also enhance both personal and collective well-being through active participation in arts and culture. Engagement in such creative activities can boost morale, reduce stress, and foster a sense of belonging.
Throughout the fortnight, students will have the opportunity to participate in a wide range of activities during curriculum time. The full programme includes sculpture workshops, design projects for creative health and well-being within the school and local community, GCSE Art masterclasses with artist Joel Penkman, film screenings with director question and answer sessions, digital futures workshops and issue-based comedy workshops.
The festival also sees the launch of the Year 7 ‘One Square Mile’ Creative Thinking project. Blending together multiple subjects and activities across the school year, this project will develop pupils’ character education and creative thinking skills though an exploration of ‘the extraordinary within the ordinary’.
In addition, both the Boys' and Girls' Divisions will host musical evenings and, at the weekends, offer community theatre enrichment and community arts collective studio sessions.
During the Culture Festival, students will engage in discussions to gather their input on further arts, culture, and creative health activities. Their voices will help shape future programmes.
The School is also delighted to announce that Professor Bill Lucas, Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning and Professor of Learning at the University of Winchester, will visit during the festival. Professor Lucas's model of creativity has been adopted by the School as a means of developing and assessing students’ creative thinking.
Miss Lord said: ‘The Bolton School Culture Festival promises to be an enriching and memorable experience for all.’
