CEO Blog

• People Make Places

  Mon 20 Nov 2023

  This week we would like to thank our whole community for their generosity, especially during an economic crisis when times are hard for everyone. People gave generously last week to the fundraising events across our family of schools, and the giving was not simply about money, but it was also (and much more so) about giving time to help others. 

   

  There can be no greater gift than the gift of time. This may mean giving your time to help someone else who looks a little sad or down, just by being there for them, to provide a listening ear. It might be calling a friend or a relative to say hello and check they are ok. It could even mean donating your time to help pack and deliver food hampers to families who need that little bit extra help and support. A big smile, a friendly face and a small act of kindness can mean the world to other people. No act of kindness can ever be underestimated.  

   

  This week staff from across our family of schools are generously giving their time for the People Make Places group to put together food hampers, toy hampers and festive packs. These will be added to over the coming weeks, and then delivered to families who need them the most, to ensure people in our community have the support they need during the December period. Community Makes Us and it's the unity in community that is key.

  

• Lest we forget

  Mon 13 Nov 2023

  This week our Trust family of schools have been remembering those who lost their lives or were injured, and those who lost loved ones, in order for us to live life as we know it and for us to experience the freedoms we have today. We recognise they gave their tomorrows for our today.

   

  Currently we are seeing troubling times around the world. Our schools are supporting the humanitarian crisis by raising money for Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) and we thank all our young people for their mature approach, and for being proactive in helping others less fortunate than themselves. Our young people know the importance of community, and that community makes us. The unity in community is crucial; our school councils and student leadership groups have demonstrated some wonderful social action projects to ensure we do all we can to help others. 

   

  We wish those celebrating Diwali this weekend a Happy Diwali. The festival of lights celebrates new beginnings, light over darkness, and hope over despair. On this theme, we reflect on the words of the poet Amanda Gorman; "For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it. If only we're brave enough to be it."

  

• Save our sports centre

  Mon 06 Nov 2023
  Welcome back! We hope you have all enjoyed the half term break and spent time doing things you enjoy with friends and family. Our school site teams have been very busy during half term with lots of IT developments and ongoing building and refurbishment works taking place, to ensure all our schools are great environments for young people to learn, and for staff to work.

   

  We are also campaigning to keep Batley Sports and Tennis Centre open. Thank you to everyone who attended the community meeting during the holidays. Batley Sports Centre is crucial for our young people to access sports provision for their main PE curriculum, but also for their general physical and mental wellbeing outside of school. Learning does not start and end at the school gates and community provision of this nature is essential, and beneficial to people of all ages.

   

  The Chair of Governors, from Batley Girls' High School, spoke eloquently at the open community meeting about why the sports centre is so important, and a learner from Upper Batley High School has been influential in advertising the campaign to encourage members of our community to sign the petition in support. The community meeting was arranged by Kim Leadbeater, MP, who supports keeping Batley Sports Centre open. We hope you will join us in this social action project to protect and preserve essential community facilities in Batley. Community Makes Us, and unity in community is key. 

  

• Batley Get Talking

  Mon 16 Oct 2023

  During World Mental Health Day our Trust family of schools raised awareness about how important it is for us all to look after each other, not just for that one day, but every single day.

   

  This starts with ourselves in terms of keeping our bodies fit and healthy, eating well and sleeping well. It is also about being able to say when you are not feeling ok, and asking others for help. Sometimes it is ok, not to be ok. Each of our schools has a slightly different approach to wellbeing in their school for their young people, their staff and their community, but what unites us all is that looking after each other is a high priority for everyone!

   

  We support the national campaign Britain Get Talking and we ask that Batley Gets Talking. Our schools have school councils or student leadership groups and wellbeing champions/ambassadors so there are lots of different places where everyone can access support if they need it. We also ask parents/carers to help by speaking to their children regularly. As Dr Lucy Maddox, Consultant Clinical Psychologist said; "It's easy to think children and young people aren't aware of the things we're worrying about as a parent, but they often pick up more than we think, or they might have other worries of their own."

   

  Let's get Batley talking because, often, a problem shared is a problem halved. 

  

• Happy 60th Birthday: Batley Community Centre

  Mon 09 Oct 2023

  I was delighted to be invited to the 60th Birthday celebrations of Batley Community Centre on Saturday 7 October. The centre was jam-packed with friends old and new, all there to celebrate 60 successful years of community engagement.

   

  Our local MP, Kim Leadbeater gave an opening address, and the Mayor of Kirklees attended the event. The Batley Bulldogs mascot was also there to show the club's support for their local community. During the birthday celebrations the centre's main hall was renamed in memory of Mary Bateman, one of the initial founders of the centre. Mary was a highly committed woman who worked hard to ensure the vision of the centre became a reality for the people of Batley to use and enjoy.

   

  The centre has hosted many events from birthday parties, to political hustings, conferences, community Great Get Togethers and more over the years. 60 years later the centre is still going strong and is a testament to Mary's vision and hard work. There was even a special birthday cake made by one of our Trust Members, the very talented Fazila Aswat. Batley is a very special place to live, to work and to learn.

   

  Community Makes Us and the unity in community is key. 

  

• National recognition of success

  Mon 02 Oct 2023

  On Friday we celebrated National Teaching Assistants' Day across our Trust family of schools. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a highly trained, highly skilled and highly talented team of Teaching Assistants working in our schools, and we recognise each and every one of you and thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for the brilliant help, support and guidance you provide for all our young people each and every day.

   

  It was an extra special celebration of success at Batley Girls' High School because Chloe Llewellyn was awarded Secondary Teaching Assistant of the Year! Chloe is incredibly hard-working, and passionate about ensuring every young person she works with can access the highest level of education. Chloe specialises in visually impaired support and is absolutely fantastic; she is completely committed and truly devoted to her role. During the award ceremony on Friday young people spoke from the heart about how Chloe has helped them to succeed and achieve. They paid tribute to how Chloe had motivated and inspired them, so much so, that they were able to speak in public in a room full of people. 

   

  Well done to Chloe for all her hard work and for achieving this wonderful award. Second place went to Vicky Graham, a truly brilliant member of the BGHS SEND team and special awards were presented to the whole team of Teaching Assistants at BGHS for their tremendous work.

   

  To all our Teaching Assistants across all our schools, well done, you are all winners in our eyes and you all go above and beyond each and every day to help our young people succeed. Thank you! 

  

• Great Governance

  Mon 25 Sep 2023

  On Saturday we were delighted to see our Members, Trustees and Governors come together for the Annual Trust Governance Conference 2023. This is an important event in our calendar for our governors to hear the key messages about our Trust family of schools, and our ambition for what we can achieve this year to benefit all of our young people, staff and community. Governors drive our organisation forward, setting the vision and direction for our Trust family of schools, whilst holding leaders to account and challenging us all to always be our very best.

   

  We are incredibly fortunate in Batley to have such strong governance at every tier. This aids us significantly in delivering our Articles of education for public benefit. Nationally many schools have struggled to recruit governors, but in Batley we have bucked that trend and in the past 12 months we have recruited an extra 15 people to further strengthen our leadership. We are proud to say we now have over 60 talented individuals leading our organisation at every level. We have parents/carers, professors, community leaders, highly-skilled business leaders and industry experts, Justice of the Peace, school leaders and inspectors, school improvement specialists and published authors; to outline just some of the skills, roles, experience and attributes different colleagues bring to this crucial role.

   

  We would like to say a huge thank you to all of these colleagues who give their time so generously as volunteers to lead our Trust family of schools. You are highly valued and highly appreciated. Exciting times ahead in Batley!

  

• Every Lesson Counts

  Mon 18 Sep 2023

  Our Trust family of schools have made a great start to the new school year, and we have more young people than ever attending our schools as their success continues to grow.

   

  We are a Trust at the heart of the Batley community. Delivering a great education to every young person is fundamental to our success, and to your child's success. We ensure we recruit only the very best staff, who are knowledgeable and highly skilled in their particular area of expertise, but who also care passionately about providing a brilliant education so that every young person has the very best possible start in life. From our 2 year old nursery provision to BG6, our sixth form college for young people aged 16-19 - every child matters and every day counts.

   

  Our expectation is that no young person's attendance is ever less than 98% because every session (half a day) missed is missed education. We ask all our families to avoid taking leave during term time, but instead to please use the 13 weeks of school holidays for travel and overseas trips and visits. We understand that flights are cheaper during term time, but a great education is priceless and it sets up our young people for the best possible future. Every day matters, every lesson counts. 

  

• Congratulations

  Mon 11 Sep 2023

  Field Lane School has begun the year with a flying start. The school has successfully achieved its Eco-Schools Green Flag Award. Well done to everyone involved in the brilliant  environmental awareness work that contributed to the school achieving this superb award.

   

  Field Lane has worked hard as a whole school community to raise awareness about the importance of looking after the environment for future generations. The feedback was inspiring and really demonstrated how Field Lane's Eco-Group is a whole school community project.

   

  One young person involved in the assessment had said ‘I want to save the world and I care about our environment.’ This young person is clearly very passionate, and what a wonderful ambassador for Field Lane and our community.

   

  The assessor feedback to the school stated: "Your hard work and dedication has inspired young people and empowered them with the belief that they can positively impact our planet – this is something incredibly special."

   

  A huge well done to everyone for their wonderful work! As we often say across our Trust family of schools we can all be the change we want to see in the world. 

  

• Welcome Back

  Mon 04 Sep 2023

  Welcome back to everyone in our learning community. We are delighted that the new academic is here and we welcome all our new staff joining the Batley team to help us inspire the next generation and provide a fantastic education for all our young people in Batley.

   

  Our staff took part in a Trust-wide training event on Monday where over 600 people got together to help shape the year ahead for our Trust family of schools. We are incredibly fortunate to have such a remarkable staff team - so highly skilled, professional, hardworking and committed. 

   

  On Wednesday we welcome back all our young people, and in particular those who are just joining our fantastic family of schools this September. We are delighted you chose us and warmly welcome you to the Batley family. Together we will work hard to achieve your goals and ambitions, have lots of fun along the way, and provide memories to cherish and last a lifetime.

   

  Our schools achieved excellent outcomes in summer 2023 examinations and we have a record number of families choosing our primary and secondary schools this September. Here's to a rewarding and fulfilling year ahead for everyone.