The Batley Buzz was evident in Batley town centre on Friday evening, when three of our super schools collaborated to form a schools' choir and bring a little festive cheer to Batley, as part of the Christmas Lights switch on ceremony.   A huge thank you to Batley Girls', Healey and Upper Batley schools whose young people all sang superbly well and helped to generate a real air of excitement in our community. Also, a massive thank you to Mr Rodwell, the music and More In Common leader from Upper Batley High School for coordinating the choir; and to our Trust Headteachers who came along to support.   On Sunday, our festive hamper packing continued, with Emma Rodrigues and her team continuing to put together the festive food and toy hampers ready to be delivered across our school community this winter.   Our Trust family of schools really are at the heart of the Batley community.

Last week Batley was delighted to host The Great Debate on behalf of the Historical Association. Mrs Wilby, the Assistant Headteacher at Batley Girls' High School, planned the event superbly well and the judging panel came from the universities of Huddersfield, Leeds and Newcastle. It was an extremely tough contest to judge with truly fantastic presentations from young people from Batley Grammar School, Batley Girls' High School and Upper Batley High School.   Each young person taking part selected a particular focus from the local history of Batley which could be a business, a person or a particular point in time. They carried out thorough research and then presented their case as to why they felt this event/person/place should be remembered in history.   It was a truly fascinating morning and we are all incredibly proud of all our young people and their superb contributions to the debate. The winner of the Batley heat was Lindsay from Batley Girls' High School and she goes through to the national finals. Well done to everyone involved.   Teaching our young people about the crucial life skills of discussion and debate have never been more important and their mature, intelligent and articulate presentations were absolutely brilliant to hear. Well done to everyone involved and good luck to Lindsay for the national finals.