A BOLTON School old boy who founded the hugely successful electrical online retail store AO is ensuring bright sparks benefit from the education he received.

John Roberts, CEO of Bolton-based AO, and his wife Sally have made a record donation to Bolton School’s bursary fund to help 14 young people access the leading education his former school provides.

The sum is the largest one-off donation the school has received to its bursary scheme.

The donation will support two Year seven pupils from this September as they move through the years to completing their A-levels.

The bursaries are available for young people that are members of OnSide Youth Zones to support their education and cover additional expenses to ensure they benefit from all the opportunities the school has to offer.

OnSide is a youth charity of which Mr and Mrs Roberts have been trustees since 2015.

As a result of the gift, Bolton School and OnSide have established a new outreach scheme called Flourish to promote social mobility by encouraging a wider range of applications to the School’s bursary scheme.

Mr Roberts said: “Sally and I know that talent is evenly distributed but opportunity is not. Bursaries are a brilliant way to level this up.

“Bolton School is an amazing place, and we want young people from OnSide to have the same fantastic experience there as I did.

“It’s been brilliant seeing the two charities work together to make this happen. It’s definitely a model that could work in other parts of the country.

“The youth workers at OnSide are phenomenal at getting the best out of young people and bursaries like this are a direct way to support talent, wherever it’s found.

“We’re extremely proud of the new pupils and look forward to following their progress.”

Philip Britton, Head of Foundation at Bolton School, added: “We are exceptionally grateful that John and Sally have chosen to make such a transformational gift to our bursary fund.

“John and Sally’s generosity has enabled us to develop an innovative outreach partnership with OnSide, as a means of reaching potential bursary candidates who might otherwise never even have heard of Bolton School, nor understood that they might thrive here.

“The Flourish outreach programme will ensure we can find bursary candidates with real potential, and support them to apply to the School, safe in the knowledge that there need be no barriers financial or otherwise to their future success.

“Our bursary pupils take the opportunities their education here provides and then go out into the world to make a difference for good.

“We are delighted that John wishes to pass on the gift of a Bolton School education to the next generation of Bolton School pupils, and honoured by his and Sally’s practical, wholehearted commitment to delivering social mobility through the school’s bursary programme and our partnership with OnSide.”