I am absolutely thrilled to share some incredible news with our entire community. One of our Trust schools has officially been named the Small Employer of the Year 2026. This award belongs to every single member of staff. It is a testament to the dedication, passion, and sheer hard work that defines our organisation. In the education sector, it’s easy to focus solely on outcomes, data, and inspection frameworks. But we know the fundamental truth: for children to receive a great education, they need the very best staff. It is the great staff we employ who inspire the children in our schools. From our teachers in the classrooms to our associate staff teams in administration roles behind the scenes, and those colleagues in children facing roles for pastoral care, you are all the heartbeat of this Trust family. You create the environment where our young people can thrive. That is why our core philosophy has always been simple yet powerful in Batley:"We train staff so they could leave, but treat them so they choose to stay." This belief is a key part of our vision to be the employer of choice. We don't just want you to work here; we want you to grow here, flourish here, and feel deeply valued every single day. Great staff belong in Batley. While this is a collective victory, I want to give a special shout-out to a few individuals and teams who have truly championed this ethos: Emma Rodrigues: Huge congratulations and thank you for your superb work across CPD, staff development, teacher training, career planning, and succession planning. Your dedication ensures that our team's professional growth never stands still. Fatima: A massive congratulations to our star maths apprentice! Your hard work and bright future represent exactly why we invest so heavily in early-career talent. Upper Batley High School: Congratulations to the entire team! Your collaborative spirit and commitment to excellence embody the very best of what our Trust family of schools stands for. Being recognised as Small Employer of the Year is a proud milestone, but our journey doesn't end here. We will continue to invest in our staff well-being, professional development, and career pathways. Our whole trust is built on all of us learning all of the time: our staff and our young people. We are all learners each and every day.  Thank you to all our staff for everything you do for our learners, for each other, and for our Trust. Let's take a moment to celebrate this fantastic achievement together—you have earned it! Really well done Team Batley!

Welcome back!    We have reached the last half term of this academic year and we hope everyone enjoyed the break and to everyone celebrating Eid we hope you had a wonderful time. This week I would like to share some wonderful news about our trust wide work on equality and belonging. When we first set out on our mission to redefine what inclusive education looks like, we knew that true change wouldn't happen overnight. It requires a quiet, relentless commitment to making sure every single learner and staff member feels seen, heard and valued.   Today, I am incredibly proud to share a moment where that relentless commitment has been recognised on a global stage. One of our own schools has just been selected as a Best Practice Listening Hub by the Global Equalities Collective (GEC). In the Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging (DEIB) space, it is easy to focus on policies, metrics and checkboxes. However, the leadership team, staff and learners at Batley Girls' High School understood a fundamental truth: you cannot build a truly inclusive community without first mastering the art of listening.   By establishing a dedicated Listening Hub, Batley Girls' created a safe, brave space where marginalised voices are amplified, lived experiences are honoured, and constructive, sometimes uncomfortable, conversations can happen safely. It wasn’t just about hosting meetings; it was about embedding active listening into the very fabric of their daily culture. The Global Equalities Collective recognised this proactive, empathetic framework as a blueprint for schools worldwide. Our colleagues aren't just hitting standards—they are setting them. Inclusion is not a project with a deadline; it is a continuous practice of empathy. This recognition proves that when we listen with the intent to understand, rather than just respond, we unlock the true potential of our community.   This achievement and recognition is wonderful for Batley Girls' High School, and the highly talented Amy Wilby, the Assistant Headteacher who led on this piece of work, but it is also a beacon for our entire Trust. It proves that the frameworks we are championing are not just theoretical concepts—they work in practice, and they transform lives. When learners feel a genuine sense of belonging and togetherness, their capacity to learn, innovate and grow expands exponentially. When staff feel safe, valued and appreciated, they do their best work.   A heartfelt thank you goes out to all our staff, across all our schools who work tirelessly to do their very best for the young people we serve. Thank you for your vulnerability, your dedication, and your refusal to settle for the status quo. This is about leading with heart, and doing the very best for our learners and the colleagues we work with. In Batley we are one big team. As an educational community, let’s use this milestone not as a finish line, but as fuel. Let's keep listening. Let's keep learning. And let's keep leading the way toward a fairer, more inclusive world.   As a great man once said; 'Education does not change the world, but education changes people, and people change the world.'