BOLTON School Boys’ Division is currently national ESSA Water Polo Champions at under-18s’, u15s’ and u13s’ level, having successfully defended all age group titles in the 2015/16 season.

Monday evening saw them set off in their own pool in an

unprecedented attempt to hold all national titles at all age groups for a third consecutive year.

Their pursuit of another year of national dominance began strongly with the u18s progressing to the national final in Watford without a hiccup, scoring 43 goals and conceding just five. Averaging more than 10 goals per game in 16-minute ties, Bolton School beat St Ambrose 15-1, King Edward School Birmingham 7-4, Bradford Grammar School 12-0 and Manchester Grammar School 9-0.

The following evening the u15s’ team also reached the national final, overcoming St Bede’s and St Joseph’s Catholic College 5-0, Ripley 8-0, Grantham 3-0 and

Manchester Grammar School 5-1.

They ended the tournament, held in Manchester, with maximum points and a goal difference of plus-20.

Bolton School remains the only school to have held all three national ESSA titles simultaneously.

Meanwhile, on dry land, 13 Bolton School Girls’ Division pupils were selected for the u13s’ Lancashire Lacrosse A and B squads following a weekend’s trials.

The girls range in age from 10-year-old Year 6 pupil Ella Brophy – who was playing among girls three years older – to 13.

The Bolton representatives progressed through difficult sessions of drills and games to be chosen for the squads.

Year 8 pupils Isabelle Corrigan, Chloe Ferguson, Eve Gould, Lizzy Harkness, Phoebe Hurt and Vanessa Wong won places on the A Squad.

The girls selected for the B Squad were Brophy, Year 7 pupils Martha Halford, Alice Leary and Olivia Maguire, and Year 8 pupils Ruby Hill, Amelia Myall and Rachel Roscoe.

All of the girls did well to make these squads, and progressed to the Northern Counties’ tournament.

There was fierce competition back at the Chorley New Road school when Year 8 pupils took to the the gym for the final of the annual vaulting competition.

The entire year group took part in the tournament’s initial stages during PE lessons, with the best performaers going through to the final. The finalists were Tyler Bailey, Ben Clarkson, Harry Forshaw, Henry Miller-Stenton, Alex Nielsen, Sam Olawumi and Ben Price.

There were some nerves on show on the morning of the final as the boys prepared to vault in front of their fellow pupils, form tutors and the Boys’ Division PE staff.

Each finalist had to complete four vaults of increasing difficulty. They were the through vault, straddle vault, rotational vault and double-box vault. The competition was judged by PE staff members and Trevor Pledger, the school’s director of partnerships and former head of the PE department.

As an expert in gymnastics, Mr Pledger gave the boys invaluable advice to help them perform at their best, and afterwards offered individual feedback on their performance.

PE teacher Mark Chilton said: “The final was of the highest standard.

“In the end it came down to the final vault with all seven finalists opting for the double box with a somersault to finish.”

The judging was a very difficult decision, and after much deliberation the gold medal was presented to Ben Price for his near-perfect execution.

Close behind him was Harry Forshaw, who collected silver and the top three was completed by Sam Olawumi, who took bronze.