Philip Britton, Head of Foundation at Bolton School, has been made an Honorary Doctor in Education by the University of Bolton for his outstanding contribution to education.
Mr Britton attended the student graduation ceremony, held at Bolton’s Albert Halls on day one of a full week of awards.
A delighted Mr Britton said: ‘A proper well-founded education can create social mobility, can create choices in life and can create opportunity and that is what we come to celebrate today. Such education requires great teachers and that is what this university has and you have all benefited from.
‘While I am honoured myself to receive this degree this afternoon, I am equally proud and pleased to be joining all the graduands to celebrate your success in education and to look forward to your futures.’
Mr Britton has recently been announced as the 2025-26 Chair of the HMC, a professional association of heads of the world’s leading independent schools. He started as a physics teacher in 1991 at Leeds Grammar School and since then has won numerous awards, recognising his exceptional contribution to education, including an MBE for services to physics in the 2010 New Year's Honours list. Mr Britton was Headmaster of Bolton School Boys’ Division from 2008 until 2021, when he took on the newly created role of Head of Foundation at Bolton School.
The University of Bolton – in its 200th year as an institution - is ranked among the top 30 British universities according to the Guardian. It was originally one of Britain’s first Mechanics’ Institutes.
