Know exactly where your child stands for Bolton School, Boys
Thousands of practice questions and up to 6 mock papers, all in the exact Bolton School, Boys 11+ format, on one simple plan. It starts with a free diagnostic.
Thousands of practice questions and up to 6 mock papers, all in the exact Bolton School, Boys 11+ format, on one simple plan. It starts with a free diagnostic.
Bolton School, Boys
Bolton School Boys' Division is an independent day school for boys in Greater Manchester that admits pupils at Year 7. The single-stage 11+ entrance process uses GL Assessment exams and includes an interview stage. Successful applicants join a historic, highly-regarded school sharing a 32-acre campus with the Girls' Division.
If you have a boy who needs the day to keep going after the last lesson, Bolton School is set up for it. The Boys' Division is an independent day school for boys from eleven to eighteen, on a thirty-two acre campus on Chorley New Road that it shares with the Girls' Division. The two are separate schools with their own halls, their own pastoral teams and their own dining, run by one foundation, and they come together for orchestra, debating and drama. Boys arriving in Year 7 are put into unstreamed form groups. There is no boarding.
The boys' school was recorded as a going concern in 1516. What shaped the place it is now, though, was William Hesketh Lever, later Lord Leverhulme, who endowed the boys' and girls' schools jointly in 1913 on the condition that the two be equal partners under one name. He wanted a building with a wing for each. That is what was put up from 1924, in listed sandstone with the two halves in matching symmetry. The foundation still funds places on that thinking, and says around one in five pupils holds a bursary-assisted place.
Days are long, and organised around houses named after towns rather than people. Blackburn, Chorley, Manchester and Wigan have competed for the Lyde Cup for more than a century, across more than two hundred and fifty separate events. Lunch runs to eighty minutes so that clubs can happen inside it, and boys in the first three years are expected to take up at least three activities a week. Football is the sport the school is known for. The Good Schools Guide found 'mature, articulate, empathetic and impressive boys' and called them the school's trump card. It suits a boy who joins in, and who does better where somebody notices when he stops.
Key facts
Annual fees
Senior School £5,264 per term (£15,792 per year across three terms) for 2026/27, the same figure for the Boys' and Girls' Divisions. The school states all quoted fees include VAT where VAT is applicable. The fee covers lunch, curriculum trips, an iPad from Year 3, Year 11 and 13 exam fees and contracted coach fares; Patterdale Hall residentials are charged separately. No registration fee or deposit is published on the Boys' Division pages.
Admissions
Admissions contact
bdadmissions@boltonschool.org
Admissions phone
01204 840201
Registration form
https://www.boltonschool.org/admissions/join-us/boys-division-senior-school-application-form
Sibling policy
What this school tests
The Boys' Division Entrance Exam
English
- Punctuation
- Reading Comprehension - Comparison
- Reading Comprehension - Evaluation
- Reading Comprehension - Grammar and punctuation
- Reading Comprehension - Inference and Deduction
- Reading Comprehension - Information Retrieval
- Reading Comprehension - Language Techniques and Imagery
- Reading Comprehension - Sentence-level Comprehension
- Reading Comprehension - Sequencing
- Reading Comprehension - Structure, Form, Voice and Tone
- Reading Comprehension - Summarising
- Reading Comprehension - Text Classification and Purpose
- Reading Comprehension - Types of Words and Phrases
- Reading Comprehension - Word Meaning / Choice
- Sentence Completion
- Spelling
Maths
- Algebra
- Angles and Degrees
- BIDMAS
- Coordinate Grids
- Estimation and Rounding
- Factors and Multiples
- Fractions, Decimals and Percentages
- Magic squares
- Measurement
- Money
- Number and Place Value
- Number Walls
- Operations
- Perimeter, Area and Volume
- Position and Direction
- Properties of Shapes
- Ratio and Proportion
- Reflection, Rotation and Symmetry
- Sequences
- Special Numbers
- Speed, Distance and Time
- Statistics
- Time
Non-verbal Reasoning
- Extended Figure Series
- Figure Analogies
- Figure Matrices
- Figure Operations
- Figure Series
- Grid Matrices
- Horizontal Codes
- Most Like Three Figures
- Most Like Two Figures
- Odd Figure Out
- Star Matrices
- Triangle Matrices
- Triangle Series
- Vertical Codes
Catchment area
Selection review and safety net
Previous exam results
GCSE results
2025: across both divisions, 53.1% of grades at 9-7 and 15.1% at grade 9, with ten Boys' Division students achieving ten or more grades at 8-9. The Boys' Division results document gives a subject-by-subject breakdown across 1,267 entries but no divisional headline percentage (school's own published figures).
A-level results
2025: across both divisions, more than two thirds of the cohort at A*-B, over 40% of grades at A*-A and 12.6% at A*. The Boys' Division results document gives a subject-by-subject breakdown across 311 entries but no divisional headline percentage (school's own published figures).
Frequently asked questions
What exam board does Bolton School Boys' Division use for the 11+?
Bolton School Boys' Division uses GL Assessment for its 11+ entrance examinations.
Does Bolton School Boys' Division interview candidates as part of the 11+?
Yes, there is an interview stage as part of the Year 7 admissions process at Bolton School Boys' Division.
Is Bolton School Boys' Division co-educational or single-sex?
It is a single-sex day school for boys, though it shares a campus and collaborates on co-curricular activities with the Girls' Division.
What are the school fees for Bolton School Boys' Division?
For 2026/27, the Senior School fees are £5,264 per term (£15,792 per year), which includes VAT, lunch, curriculum trips, an iPad, and exam fees.
What is the website for Bolton School Boys' Division?
You can find more information on their official website at https://www.boltonschool.org/.
Location
https://www.google.com/maps/embed?pb=!1m18!1m12!1m3!1d2368.771252208039!2d-2.4564779219981134!3d53.579698972357875!2m3!1f0!2f0!3f0!3m2!1i1024!2i768!4f13.1!3m3!1m2!1s0x487ba7b3cab6f93f%3A0x9a4f703cbbf14f84!2sBolton%20School%20Boys'%20Division!5e0!3m2!1sen!2sph!4v1787817572595!5m2!1sen!2sph
