Just before Easter, Bolton School hosted an Accounting, Finance and Law Careers Fair that brought together 700 pupils from 16 local schools and 40 exhibitors under one roof. Students explored pathways into accounting, finance and law, speaking directly with employers and higher education providers about careers and opportunities. The impact was immediate, with several students securing work experience placements and, in some cases, job interviews as a direct result of attending. A brilliant example of schools and employers working together to open doors for young people across Bolton.

Bolton's first Inclusion Conference for SENCOs, Behaviour Leads and DSLs. Join us at Bolton Arena on 3rd July for expert speakers and best practice sharing.

On 27th and 30th March 2026, Bolton Learning Partnership brought together 200 students from 11 secondary schools for two exceptional GCSE Maths Days. Targeting students on the borderline of achieving a Grade 5, the initiative combined expert teaching, a shared "Maths DNA" blueprint, and the generosity of sponsor JD Sports. The result? Confident, motivated young people better equipped for this summer's exams, and a powerful demonstration of what ambitious collaboration truly looks like.

The Bolton Learning Partnership is proud to celebrate this year’s Bolton News Education Awards, recognising the inspiring work of students, staff and schools across our secondary school community. These winners remind us of the extraordinary impact education can have when built on dedication, compassion and belief. Thank you to all for your continued dedication to the #19K. For many years, schools have found it challenging to identify which trainees are seeking roles, while trainees often face uncertainty in locating well-matched vacancies. The new Bolton Talent Snapshot has been created to resolve this. The platform provides a live, easy-to-navigate overview of Early Career Teachers from local SCITTs who wish to begin their careers in Bolton. Schools can search by subject, view profiles and CVs, and connect directly through Zen Educate, helping to keep outstanding talent within the Bolton Learning Partnership. Updated fortnightly, the Bolton Talent Snapshot supports schools by saving valuable time and resources, while strengthening employment opportunities for those entering the profession. For further information or to request introductions to candidates, please contact Pete at Zen Educate via pete@zeneducate.com or 0161 768 7877. Together, we are working to keep Bolton’s strongest teaching talent local

A new art exhibition, supported by the Bolton Learning Partnership and Bolton Learning Partnership Art Hub, is now open at the Hive artist space in Market Place shopping centre. Featuring artwork from Smithills High School, Turton High School, The Sixth Form Bolton, and the School of the Arts at the University of Greater Manchester, the exhibition celebrates local talent and highlights the Partnership’s commitment to fostering creativity and collaboration across Bolton’s education community.

Bolton Learning Partnership is pleased to announce a new collaboration with Zen Educate, bringing a smarter, faster and more effective approach to teacher recruitment across the town. As schools continue to pursue excellence, attracting, developing and retaining high-quality teachers remains essential. This partnership establishes a clear pathway between schools and trainee teachers undertaking their training within Bolton’s SCITTs. For many years, schools have found it challenging to identify which trainees are seeking roles, while trainees often face uncertainty in locating well-matched vacancies. The new Bolton Talent Snapshot has been created to resolve this. The platform provides a live, easy-to-navigate overview of Early Career Teachers from local SCITTs who wish to begin their careers in Bolton. Schools can search by subject, view profiles and CVs, and connect directly through Zen Educate, helping to keep outstanding talent within the Bolton Learning Partnership. Updated fortnightly, the Bolton Talent Snapshot supports schools by saving valuable time and resources, while strengthening employment opportunities for those entering the profession. For further information or to request introductions to candidates, please contact Pete at Zen Educate via pete@zeneducate.com or 0161 768 7877. Together, we are working to keep Bolton’s strongest teaching talent local

A new art exhibition, supported by the Bolton Learning Partnership and Bolton Learning Partnership Art Hub, is now open at the Hive artist space in Market Place shopping centre. Featuring artwork from Smithills High School, Turton High School, The Sixth Form Bolton, and the School of the Arts at the University of Greater Manchester, the exhibition celebrates local talent and highlights the Partnership’s commitment to fostering creativity and collaboration across Bolton’s education community.

The Bolton Learning Partnership is proud to launch two new professional networks to enhance collaboration and support for children and young people. The Trauma-Informed Practice Network meets half-termly, enabling staff to share best practice, problem-solve, and explore innovative approaches for pupils who have experienced adversity, with guidance from Bolton’s Educational Psychology team, Public Health, and the Inclusion Executive Board. The Attendance Network brings strategic leads together to strengthen systems, tackle shared challenges, and promote excellent attendance across Bolton schools. Both networks provide opportunities for reflection, collaboration, and innovation.

Education and safeguarding professionals from across Bolton gathered at The Bridge Church for the Every Child, Every Chance conference, hosted by the Bolton Safeguarding Children Partnership (BSCP). The event brought together leaders, teachers, and safeguarding specialists to strengthen collaboration, share expertise, and reinforce Bolton’s commitment to keeping every child safe and supported. Highlights included keynote insights from Professor Simon Hackett on harmful sexual behaviour, practical strategies on online safety from Traci Gregory, reflections on national safeguarding reviews from Ian Critchley QPM, and lived experiences shared by Bolton Youth Voice. Delegates engaged in interactive discussions, networking, and workshops, translating knowledge into action to ensure every child in Bolton has the opportunity to thrive.

This year, the Curriculum Executive Board has continued its ambitious work to strengthen teaching and learning across Bolton through the ongoing development of the Pillars of Effective Teaching: Developing Subject Expertise, Quality of Instruction, Making Knowledge Stick, Adaptive Teaching, and Assessment & Feedback. These pillars remain the foundation of high-quality practice, but the board is now taking the next step, supporting schools to shape and articulate their own Subject DNA. Subject DNA asks an important question: What does the very best pedagogy look like within each subject domain? By working collaboratively across schools, leaders and teachers are identifying the core principles, approaches, and routines that make expert teaching within each discipline truly exceptional.

We are celebrating local students’ success as GCSE results in the borough rise for the third year in a row. This year’s results are particularly significant for the ‘Class of 2025,’ whose early education was heavily disrupted by the pandemic. These students missed the chance to sit their Key Stage 2 SATs due to lockdown restrictions, yet they have shown remarkable resilience and determination throughout their journey.

As another successful year for the Bolton Learning Partnership draws to a close, we want to express our thanks to all the dedicated staff across Bolton schools who lead and support the collaborations that we have developed over many years.

On July 10th 2025 over 90 Student leaders from 12 secondary schools across Bolton came together for the Bolton Learning Partnership’s first ever student leadership conference, Being the Difference. Held to celebrate youth leadership and inspire community action, the event provided a platform for students to explore how they can lead both within their schools and in the wider Bolton community.

In April, Gina Stafford, Senior Leader at Rumworth School led the Team England Special Abilities Unified Pom (TESAUP) to back to back World Champion status at the ICU World Cheerleading Championships in Orlando Florida, USA. 

The Bolton Learning Partnership CEIAG Hub, led by Michelle Moore, Assistant Headteacher at Little Lever School, plays a pivotal role in shaping the careers education, information, advice, and guidance (CEIAG) landscape across Bolton. The hub brings together CEIAG leads from all school settings in the borough, creating a collaborative platform for sharing best practice, building expertise, and strengthening professional networks.

On Thursday 19 and Friday 20 June 2025, the Bolton Learning Alliance held its annual conference under the theme ‘Leading with Purpose.’ The event brought together school leaders, educators, and partners to reflect, connect, and deepen their commitment to improving outcomes for the 19,000 children and young people across Bolton.

We are thrilled to celebrate the significant uptake of National Professional Qualifications (NPQs) in Bolton, reflecting the dedication to strategic leadership and professional development in our schools.

Our First Student Leadership Conference.

As one of the pillars of effective teaching that the Curriculum Executive Board have been leading, we have been working in close partnership with Rumworth School who have been running CPD days for mainstream colleagues. We asked Gina Stafford, Lead Practitioner at Rumworth, to tell us about the effectiveness of the programme.

Over the past ten years the development of Subject Hubs has been a real strength of our partnership. We asked Emma Lyon, the hub lead for MFL since it’s inception, to reflect on the impact of the work that she has led.

Spotlight on Bolton's Safety and Welfare Hub - Strengthening Safeguarding for our #19K

The annual BLP conference is to take place this year on the 19th and 20th June 2025.

Bolton Learning Partnership’s SEND Hub has been making significant strides in enhancing support for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) across the borough. Comprising SENDCOs (Special Educational Needs Coordinators) from all secondary schools in Bolton, the hub serves as a vital platform for collaboration, sharing best practices, and ensuring consistency in the identification and support of students with SEND.

The curriculum executive board is in its second year of working with leaders across Bolton to provide curriculum development resources. The Board worked alongside leaders to develop five pillars of effective curriculum design and implementation to support our 19K pupils with their learning. These are subject expertise, quality of instruction, making knowledge stick, adaptive teaching, and assessment and feedback.

Over 100 leaders from schools across Bolton are now enrolled in the Enabling Leaders programme, designed specifically to support the development of leadership in our town. The programme’s framework focuses on the key characteristics of both leadership and leading within schools, offering a tailored approach to meet the unique needs of Bolton’s education community.

The Bolton Learning Partnership is excited to announce the formation of its newly established Inclusion Executive Board, which builds upon the fantastic work of the Behaviour Inclusion Partnerships launched in 2023-4. These partnerships, covering the three clusters of secondary schools in Bolton, have proven to be a powerful tool in promoting inclusion across the borough. Through collaborative efforts, schools have worked proactively to ensure every student has the support they need to thrive.

We are thrilled to celebrate the achievements of Bolton schools that have recently received the Inclusion Quality Mark (IQM). Inclusion has never been more crucial, and these schools have demonstrated a strong commitment to providing an inclusive environment for all students.

Bolton offers a range of leadership development programmes designed to support educators at every stage of their career.

We are thrilled to share the fantastic news that Bolton has recently received a glowing report following its area-wide SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) inspection. Over the course of three weeks, inspectors carefully assessed the quality of SEND provision across the town, visiting schools, meeting with staff and stakeholders, and thoroughly examining all areas of support for young people with SEND.

Last year Bolton Learning Partnership invested in passes for over 500 leaders in Bolton to access the World Education Summit.

Bolton's schools have achieved remarkable success in 2024, with significant improvements across various performance measures. The borough's Progress 8 score reached its highest ever, surpassing national, Northwest, and statistical neighbour averages. This reflects Bolton's continued commitment to academic excellence and the hard work of both students and staff.

We are pleased to proudly continue our legacy work from last year's Bolton Learning Partnership Conference with a partnership with the esteemed Diana Osagie, a distinguished leader with 16 years of experience in secondary education, including a successful six-year tenure as a head teacher in a London secondary school. Diana is also the visionary founder and CEO of The Academy of Women's Leadership.

We are delighted to share that we have again delivered the highly acclaimed Middle Leaders Course, meticulously designed to empower ambitious educational professionals in their journey towards effective leadership.

Bolton Learning Partnership Teaching and Learning Hub Annual Conference.

We are hosting a series of Maths Hub training sessions led by Craig Barton from Mr Barton Math.

We are pleased to be working with Greater Manchester Science Learning Partnership to offer members of our science hub CPD sessions.

We had our first Religious Education/Religious Studies Leads Network Meeting on 19th January at Bolton Science & Technology Centre.  During the session Ed Kirk, Associate Deputy Principal, at Thornleigh Salesian College and Somers Khan, Head of RE at Smithills School delivered training on 'Effective Curriculum Design'.  The training has been developed by our Bolton team which is led by ex HMI Linda Emmett.

Do you want to establish, embed and sustain a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Strategy in your school? Join the Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Leadership Programme for 2022-2023

Developing Excellence in Middle Leadership - this is a programme for Bolton Schools aimed at new or aspiring curriculum middle leaders.The programme will run from January to April 2023 and will be a mix of virtual and face-to-face delivery.

We held our first ‘Teach Meet’ in January. It was a great success and we hope to host more in future. To find out more please email admin-support@sharplesschool.co.uk

Craig Barton, from Mr Barton Maths led a session with members of the hub from across Bolton Learning Partnership.  The focus was on 'Means of Participation' and 'How to use Whiteboards Effectively.'

Bolton Learning Partnership Teaching and Learning Hub Annual Conference took place on Friday 15 July 2022.

For the final History Hub meeting of the year, we were delighted to have welcomed Matt Bromley, education writer and advisor with over twenty years’ experience in teaching and leadership including as a secondary school headteacher and principal, FE college vice principal, and MAT director. He is a public speaker, trainer, school improvement lead, and a primary school governor. He remains a practising teacher, currently working in secondary, FE and HE settings.

The annual conference for Bolton Learning Alliance took place on Thursday and Friday 30th June and 1st July 2022.  The title of the conference was 'Leading an inclusive, diverse and rich curriculum.' Thank you to all who made this event such a great success. 

Education news round up, information, guidance and support from Cambridge Assessment Network including updates on policy and regulation.

Education news round up, information, guidance and support from Cambridge Assessment Network including updates on policy and regulation.

We welcomed science leads and teachers to two sessions led by Greater Manchester Science Learning Partnership.

Education news round up, information, guidance and support from Cambridge Assessment Network including updates on policy and regulation.

Education news round up, information, guidance and support from Cambridge Assessment Network including updates on policy and regulation.

Education news round up, information, guidance and support from Cambridge Assessment Network including updates on policy and regulation.

Education news round up, information, guidance and support from Cambridge Assessment Network including updates on policy and regulation.

Education news round up, information, guidance and support from Cambridge Assessment Network including updates on policy and regulation.

Bolton School is a partner school and hub in the Department for Education's (DfE) drive to recruit more teachers in shortage subject areas. The National Maths and Physics SCITT (School-Centred Initial Teacher Training) is at the forefront of a DfE initiative to spearhead subject specific teacher training on a national basis, aiming to buck the trend of declining applications for Teacher Training.