Happy New Year to everyone and here's to an exciting 2024 in Batley, filled with good health, peace, happiness and joy for everyone. We are excited about what 2024 will bring for Batley and our Trust family of schools.

We start the year with much to celebrate already - Batley Girls' High School has been awarded the SEND Inclusion Award. Well done to Susy Ingle and her team for their hard work and dedication. A key element of our Trust vision is that every young person receives a great education and this award shows how superbly well Batley Girls' ensures no child is ever left behind. This award also demonstrates further success in the area of SEND after Teaching Assistant Chloe Llewellyn was awarded TA of the Year last year, for her excellent work with visually impaired young people. Brilliant achievements from the Batley Girls' High School team.

Well done also, to Upper Batley High School, as Mrs Farrar has led the way to the school being awarded a grant from the Wolfson Foundation for over £110,000 to develop their Food Technology facilities. Great work from everyone involved in securing this additional funding. The Upper Batley site is superb and this will only help to further enhance the learning environment for every young person, in every curriculum area. 

What a brilliant way for our schools to start the New Year! As London saw a spectacular fireworks display to bring in 2024, the words of the late poet Benjamin Zephaniah resonated hugely with us here in Batley:

Ain't it crazy how we we're all connected, 

Don't you think it's cool how we're linked,

The one thing we all have in common is life,

Let's not fall out of sync.