Batley Girls' High School are celebrating real success with one of their highly skilled and talented learners winning the semi-finals of the Historical Association's Great Debate 2026.   Afeefah has won the semi-final and secured a place in the finals in London. We are all incredibly proud of Afeefah and this fantastic achievement. She is already a winner in our eyes and a shining star of Batley.   In the semi-finals, Afeefah competed against learners from 12 schools all across the country, many of whom are from private schools. Afeefah was superb! We now wish her every success in the finals, and we are all so incredibly proud of her achievement to reach this stage of this prestigious competition.   Congratulations also go to Mrs Wilby, the Assistant Headteacher from Batley Girls' High School who coordinates this work with the Historical Association and coaches the learners to help prepare them for the competition. Batley Girls' High School has had two learners reach the finals in the last 3 years.   Our whole Trust family of schools now wishes Afeefah every success, although she is already a winner in our eyes.   Good luck, Afeefah!

Manorfield Infant  and Nursery School has designed and shared with their families a great new poster to remind everyone how important every school day is, especially for our youngest learners. Attendance in nursery is just as important as attendance in every other year group. Some may argue attendance in nursery is even more important because this is when children learn the foundations of academic knowledge and skills, social skills and physical development.   These skills underpin their learning and development for the rest of their lives. Learning is much like building a house, if you get the foundations right then you are ready for success, but if the foundations are weak then whatever goes on top of them will simply crumble.     Every Day Counts.   Every child, and every adult in our Trust family of schools has an attendance target of 98% because lost learning days impact negatively on a child's education. Children will not make the required progress, and they may even lose their place in nursery or at school. Poor attendance also does not reflect well in a reference to another school, college or employer. 98% may sound like a lot, and if you achieved 98% as a test score you would probably be quite pleased with that. However, 98% attendance means you have already missed 4 days of learning and that's about 28 lessons. That's a lot of lost learning, so 98% is a minimum expectation, not a target.    Always remember Every Day Counts. Try not to miss any days.   High Attendance = High Achievement.