Today I wanted to extend my deepest, most heartfelt gratitude to everyone who volunteered their time so generously to support the Run for Jo 2026 this past weekend. It was a truly wonderful day that brought our entire community together. This year was particularly poignant as we marked 10 years of building a stronger, more collaborative, caring and compassionate community - continuing to build a lasting legacy to Jo Cox and celebrating the very values she stood for.

Coinciding with Father’s Day, it was also a fantastic opportunity to celebrate all the wonderful dads and father figures across our schools and our community. And, of course, a massive highlight for our younger participants (and many older ones!) was meeting George from CBeebies, which brought an extra dose of joy to the day. What made the day truly exceptional was seeing the incredible representation from every single level of our organisation. We had Members, Trustees, Governors, Leaders, school staff, learners, and parents/carers all standing side-by-side. This demonstrates powerfully how our Trust lives by its values and how committed our staff are with many giving up their time so generously over the past year (and for some colleagues, the past 10 years) to plan, organise and support great community events such as these. We have planners, organisers, volunteers, runners, walkers and cyclists-so many tremendous people in one fantastic community. 

Days like this reinforce exactly why we do what we do. Our Trust’s mission is simple yet profound: to be the Trust at the heart of the Batley community.

Seeing our fantastic community unite with such energy and spirit proved once again that we are achieving that mission together. Thank you for your selflessness, your energy, and your unwavering dedication to our community. You are what makes our Trust so special.

We have two more Great Get Together community events planned for this week, with the famous Batley Bake Off running on Thursday 25 June at 10.30am at Upper Batley High School. Then, on Friday 26 June at 10am the Step Into The Future event at Batley Girls' High School. Then, our grand finale this summer is the Healey One Community event on Thursday 9 July at 1.30pm at Healey School.

The standard of competition at Batley Bake Off gets better and better, year by year. Whether you enjoy making cakes, or eating cakes, or simply coming along to watch - everyone is welcome. We hope to see you there!