CEO Blog

• A week of celebrations

  Mon 31 Mar 2025

  This week we have much to celebrate across our Trust family of schools. Firstly, to everyone celebrating Eid this week, we wish you all; Eid Mubarak. Good health, peace, prosperity and happiness to everyone in our community. 

   

  We are also celebrating the success of Upper Batley High School who visited London last week for the finals of the Modeshift STARS awards. We are absolutely delighted to announce that they won and are now the National Secondary School of the Year 2024/25! Well done to Miss Woods and the UBHS team. The learners were absolutely superb and a real credit to their school, and our community. Keeping everyone safe is a number one priority and their work is superb. 

   

  Finally, we are also celebrating two new schools joining our Trust family from Tuesday 1 April. Purlwell, a Batley infant school, and Hyrstmount, a Batley junior school join us. We are delighted to welcome them to our Trust family and to Team Batley, which continues to go from strength-to-strength in providing a high-quality education for all our young people, and a great place for staff to work. 

  

• Keep Batley Tidy

  Mon 24 Mar 2025

  Our Trust family of schools were delighted to be invited to the launch of Keep Britain Tidy's spring campaign in Heckmondwike, supported by the national Keep Britain Tidy charity and one of our local MPs, Kim Leadbeater MBE. Every school in our Trust family is passionate about supporting and being at the very heart of the Batley community, and our learners are highly proactive in litter picking campaigns across Batley throughout the year (and whatever the weather!). These litter picking campaigns are a key part of our social action work. Our learners and staff teams aim to raise awareness of why it is important not to drop litter in the first place, and how we can all do our bit to make Batley a cleaner, tidier and nicer place to live and work. 

   

  Our schools all have Eco School teams who lead this important environmental work and encourage all members of our community not to drop litter, fly tip or leave dog poo on the streets of Batley. Our goal is to make Batley a place where everyone is proud to live and work. We have some really fantastic, and rather unique, environmental projects in Batley such as; the Batley Barnyard, our horticulture areas in our schools where children learn about where food comes from - 'from farm to fork', our nursery children take part in 'facetime a farmer' with farmer Lucy, and we even have Batley Bees who produce delicious, organic honey and learners can make the most fabulous beeswax candles.

   

  Our learners are highly talented in their environmental work and projects. Together we CAN make a difference. As a great man once said; "we must be the change we want to see in the world."

  

• Keep Batley Tidy

  Mon 17 Mar 2025

  Call to action to: Keep Batley Tidy. 

   

  This week Kirklees is supporting the Keep Britain Tidy campaign to reduce litter on our streets. As part of the Great Big School Clean campaign, our Trust family of schools are supporting new local business, Heeleys, with a pledge to collect at least 100 bags of litter from the streets of Batley on Sunday 23 March. Litter blights our streets and parks across Batley, and all across the UK. It costs the country millions of pounds to clear up every year. Keep Britain Tidy is here to inspire people to eliminate litter now, and for future generations.

   

  This is about more than simply getting people to pick up litter. Keep Britain Tidy aims to change behaviour permanently by spotlighting the problem daily and offering creative solutions. They work with people, businesses, schools, local authorities and government to educate, innovate and inspire - improving the environment on everyone’s doorstep.

   

  Across our Trust family of schools we want to support this important campaign and raise awareness in our town of why it is important not to drop litter in the first place. Our children will be leading the way on this clean up campaign to help keep their streets litter free; for them, their families and anyone who visits Batley to enjoy, and for future generations to come. Let's be proud of our town and keep it looking fantastic each and every day. Batley Brilliance!

  

• Inspirational Women of Batley

  Mon 10 Mar 2025

  This week we would like to celebrate the amazing women who work and study in our Trust family of schools.

   

  Our schools cover a broad age range; from 2 year olds right through to adult education, in our teacher training programmes with the great work of our Yorkshire Rose Teaching Partnership. We describe this as the evolution of education; from the very youngest in our Trust-wide community, to inspiring adults to be lifelong learners.

   

  We are incredibly proud of the brilliant women who work in our Trust family of schools. We have female caretakers, cleaners, leaders, chefs, teachers, social workers, counsellors, accountants, specialists in special educational needs, safeguarding and attendance specialists, accountants, health & safety experts, women in key governance roles, magistrates, marathon runners, artists, scientists, mathematicians, photographers, footballers, and someone training to be a pilot!

   

  Our brilliant women do all of this whilst also being fantastic sisters, friends, mothers, wives, partners, daughters, aunties, grandmas and many even give back to the community by volunteering in local community groups as well.

   

  Our young people cannot be what they cannot see, so having these tremendous women working in our schools demonstrates, to our younger women, that you can be whatever you want to be; with hard work, dedication, determination, commitment and resilience. We can break down those barriers and any perceived gender stereotypes and smash through that glass ceiling.

   

  Batley Brilliance! The Batley Buzz keeps getting louder.

  

• Spring is on its way

  Mon 03 Mar 2025
  Field Lane School recently hosted their annual Batley Breakfast and the 'Batley Buzz' was evident throughout every area of this fantastic school. The morning started with a cardio workout led by the learners, courtesy of Mr Hamilton's Desktop Drumming. Members, Trustees, Governors and staff from across our Trust family of schools eagerly participated and the room was filled with smiles, fun and laughter. What a brilliant and energising way to start the day!

   

  We then heard why Field Lane is so special and how staff ensure learners can achieve, thrive and flourish during their time in this wonderful school. The inspirational Headteacher, Mrs Towers-Islam talked about the importance of being a good person and being kind. For those who have had the pleasure of visiting Field Lane, you will know this is absolutely embedded in the school's culture and part of their modus operandi. Everyone aims to be the best version of themselves each and every day, to always be kind and help and support others. 

   

  Visitors then heard all about the fantastic end of year celebratory reading event that two Field Learners have taken upon themselves to coordinate. Sadly Kirklees Council are not able to run the event this year, which is usually held in Huddersfield Town Hall. Field Lane learners therefore decided that, if the Council are not able to run it, they can! These two inspirational young women are currently planning the event, which will take place at Batley Girls' High School in the summer term, where the exam hall will be transformed into Hogwarts. These Field Lane learners have a fully costed business plan, a reading list and have already started fundraising.

   

  If you would like to purchase any books for schools to support this superb event please follow the link below. You can buy one book, five books or a full class set. It is entirely up to you and your budget. What greater gift to give than the gift of reading! If you would like to support the event, the reading wish-list is available here. 

   

  We were then treated to a tour of the site and saw some fantastic spaces for our young people including; The Sensory Room, The Blossoms room, The Hive, The Busy Bees and The Den. The grand finale of the tour was Early Years where visitors saw a number of learners role playing as enthusiastic vets attending to animals (in the form of teddies!). Treatments included carefully bandaging animals with injuries, issuing prescriptions and administering medicines. The class are also eagerly awaiting the arrival of new chicks who are due to hatch any day now. Spring is definitely on the way!