CEO Blog

• Community Makes Us

  Mon 06 Oct 2025
  Our Trust family of schools are supporting the Forget Me Not Children's Hospice, a vital local charity which supports children with life-shortening conditions and their families across West Yorkshire.

   

  In our schools our Learner Leadership Groups always choose charities to support each year that are close to their hearts. Forget Me Not Children's Hospice is one of those charities, and they have provided much needed support to so many families and children over many years. Our learners are committed to giving back to their community and to helping others. 

   

  This month we are supporting an event organised by Doors 2 Floors, a Batley-based company who work closely with our schools on careers based activities and who are keen to give something back to the community where their business is based. They are organising a fundraising event that will see runners make the journey from Dickys Gym in Batley to the Forget Me Not Children's Hospice in Huddersfield. Participants will then be given an opportunity to walk to Brighouse Boxing Club.

   

  Among those lacing up their running shoes are the British and Commonwealth super middleweight and European super-middleweight Champion, Callum Simpson; Sylwia Doligala, the Central Area Champion; Jasmina Zapotoczna, the EBU Flyweight and WBA International Champion; together with Nabil Ahmed, Cory O’Regan, and Brighouse’s own Jimmy First, a former Central Area Champion.

   

  Our Trust family of schools will be supporting this event with various fund raising activities, and we hope you will support this charity if you can - every little helps, and if everyone could give at least £1 each, that could make a huge difference to the crucial work this charity undertakes. Please help if you can. Community Makes Us. 

  

• Belonging

  Mon 29 Sep 2025

  Our theme this term has been all about belonging in Batley. Children starting a new school, or a new year of their education; parents/carers making strong connections with the schools their children attend; new staff settling in to their promoted role or new school, and Governors, Trustees and Members volunteering to help lead our schools and giving their time so generously in these unpaid roles. We are very privileged to work in such a great community. We are very fortunate in Batley to have such highly committed individuals working in our schools, and such great parents/carers and families choosing our schools for their children. Batley=Brilliant Education.

   

  Attendance has been our big priority to get the school year off to a great start. We want all our children to feel like they belong here, so they want to come to school every day. The research proves that children with low attendance e.g. less than 98% have lower achievement. When a child has 98% attendance they have missed 4 school days, or 28 lessons. That is a lot of lost learning!  Higher attendance=higher achievement. 

   

  The target for everyone - staff and learners is at least 98% attendance. We don't ask for 100% as we know life happens and at some point in the school year your child may be genuinely ill. However, that will hopefully be rare. We also thank all those families who have ensured their child has 100% attendance so far this term. Really well done to them!

   

  Thank you also to the families who know the value of a great education and therefore do not book term time absence. We know flights are much cheaper during term time (anyone who works in education has always been frustrated by that as they can never benefit from cheaper flights). However, a great education is priceless. Higher attendance = higher achievement.

  

• Community Makes Us

  Mon 22 Sep 2025

  Upper Batley High School hosted our first Batley Brilliance event of this academic year last Thursday 18 September. Attendance was excellent with Members, Trustees, Governors and colleagues from across our Trust family of schools, all coming along to hear the Headteacher's vision for 2025/26 and beyond, and how this aligns to the Trust's mission, vision and values.

   

  The Batley Brilliance events showcase all that is truly unique and spectacular about each one of our schools. Every school is part of the Trust family but each school is a sibling rather than a clone. Plus, these events are a great chance to network across the Trust family and share a cup of Yorkshire Tea. 

   

  Upper Batley has so many unique specialisms such as the Batley Barnyard, Batley Bees, Horticulture and their very own Forest School. Sadly over the summer holiday period vandals burned down the Forest School outdoor classroom and all the fantastic learning spaces learners and staff have worked hard to develop over the past 11 years. The police are dealing with this matter, and the perpetrators are known to them, but for Upper Batley it is about never wasting a good crisis. The staff team are already working with the talented and creative learners to design what the new outdoor classroom could look like, and working on increased security for this area, as well as fundraising so their vision can become a reality. Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes, Forest School will be back even bigger and better than it was before!

  

• Community makes us

  Mon 15 Sep 2025
  We were delighted on Friday evening to be invited to speak at a launch event for a new book about the importance of community, history and heritage. The book captures the stories of people’s cultural heritage, the importance of family, friends and community, and outlines the hopes, dreams, ambitions and aspirations of so many individuals both for themselves and for generations to come. When there is sadly so much division across the world today, books like this are needed more than ever, so that we can celebrate difference and diversity. 

   

  The individuals whose life stories are recorded in the book, have helped to shape the communities in which they live and now call home, and their stories evidence how community makes us, and why the unity in community is key. The commonalities between these personal stories are so endearing.

   

  People talk about friendship, love, and the kindness shown to them by others, and in so many cases by strangers. The importance and significance of family and community values resonate clearly. A common theme for so many people is the importance of a good education. A great education informs our thinking, our decision making, how we understand and respect different cultures and different people, and informs the choices we make. We should all be continually learning each and every day, and a great education can never be taken away from us. The more we learn, the more we realise there is to learn. 

   

  As a great man once said; ‘Education doesn’t change the world. Education changes people and people change the world.’

  

• Welcome Back

  Mon 08 Sep 2025

  Welcome back everyone to the start of the new school year. We missed you!

   

  At the start of the new school year it is the time for new beginnings. Time to make some new friends, especially for those young people just joining our Trust family of schools, and those moving up into a new year group and maybe starting the year with a new teacher.

   

  September brings an opportunity to attend every day, and to make the most of the experiences school brings. That may be new friendships, learning new things, trying new activities and joining new clubs. School is welcoming, rewarding and provides the opportunity for you to be the best that you can be.

   

  For each and every one of us the new term is about being the best version of ourselves. We don't need to be better than anyone else, we just to be the best that we can be. This September, unlock your own unique potential! You have so much to offer, so much to give and we are thrilled that you are here in the Batley community. 

   

  Batley=Brilliance. This is going to be a great year!

  

• Batley Brilliance

  Mon 14 Jul 2025

  In the last CEO blog of the year we have SO many truly amazing achievements to celebrate this year. Batley=Brilliance.

   

  Last week we held our inaugural Book Quiz - masterminded by two inspiring learners from Field Lane School. The exam hall at Batley Girls' High School was transformed into a Harry Potter themed wonderland with; escape rooms themed to each of the houses, a potion making station, its very own platform 9 3/4 and sorting hat, as well as real-life owls for learners (and colleagues!) to hold, under supervision of course. 

   

  The quiz itself consisted of three rounds of questions, each round focusing on four books from the 12 book reading list. Books included; The Wizards of Once, The Light Hunters, Diary of a Wimpy Kid and The Wild Robot. There were winners after each round (Park Road won the first round, Field Lane won the second round and UBHS won the final round) with each team member being rewarded with a Harry Potter bookmark and quill pen. The overall winner was Lydgate, with UBHS coming a very close second (just two points in it!), both teams received medals and Lydgate took home the trophy this year and will return it for next year’s quiz, as this will now become an annual event, which is fantastic. Each team who managed to escape from all of the rooms (Gryffindor, Slytherin, Ravenclaw and Hufflepuff) without succumbing to the deadly dementors was entered into a prize draw.

   

  This event was just one of many opportunities to showcase how talented and creative learners in Batley are. This year our Trust family of schools has achieved so many tremendous successes - winners of National Awards (Young Green Briton, and Modeshift STARS for school travel and environmental sustainability); great attendance, leading the way on community engagement and last week - superb SATs results! Well done to all our colleagues, parents/carers and our community for your support throughout this year. Most crucially, well done to our learners who continue to inspire us all, each and every day! We wish you all a fun-filled, happy, safe and relaxing summer. Have a wonderful break. We will see you in September for another fantastic year in Batley. 
  Batley=Brilliance. 

  

• Keep Batley Tidy

  Mon 07 Jul 2025
  We are delighted to announce that UBHS has been crowned as Young Green Briton Champions in the national finals held last week in London. Well done Team UBHS! UBHS also holds the award for National Modeshift STARS Secondary School of the Year. All of this great work around environmental sustainability is testament to the hard work of the fantastic learners, our proactive community and the brilliant leadership shown by Lisa Woods who coordinates this area of work in the school.

   

  Lisa pulled together a team from across our Trust family of schools last Friday to support new local business, Heeleys, with their Keep Batley Tidy campaign. Learners and staff from across our Trust family had their litter pickers at the ready, put on their Community Makes Us social action high-vis vests, and set off to support Heeleys (and lots of other community like-minded people) to clean up the streets of Batley. It is crucial we all have pride in the town we live and work in. Well done Team Batley!

  

• Great Get Together: Batley Bake Off

  Mon 30 Jun 2025

  Friday was a fabulous day when one of our Trust family of schools hosted the 2025 Batley Bake Off. The Jo Cox Conference Centre at UBHS was the location for this fantastic event, which is now in its 9th year, and each year the standard of entries gets higher and higher! 

   

  The Batley Bake Off runs as part of our Great Get Together annual events where we bring our community together. Who doesn't enjoy a slice of cake and a cup of Yorkshire Tea?! We were joined by Jo's family - her fantastic dad Gordon, and her sister Kim were on the judging panel, together with Trust Central Team staff, Christina and Melanie, and Rory from the Jo Cox Foundation. 

   

  The competition entries this year were sensational and to name just a few; we had a beautiful tiered rainbow cake with a poignant message about the power of community and a great education, a cheesecake which is so unique and delicious that Asda are putting it on sale in their stores across the country, a fabulous More In Common Batley cake (made by one of our very own Headteachers), a taste sensation from the brilliant Janice at BGHS whose cakes are famous across our Trust family of schools, a cake themed around the Trust logo made by our very own Attendance Lead, Becky, and a handcrafted work of art depicting a school's curriculum offer around horticulture, barnyard and bees - wow!

   

  Then there was a rhubarb spectacular in which learners from across several year groups of Batley Grammar School had thoughtfully researched forced rhubarb, The Rhubarb Triangle in West Yorkshire, Jo Cox and her work. The learners had grown the rhubarb (and even grown the flowers on their table display) then carefully crafted rhubarb cheesecake, rhubarb muffins, rhubarb crumble and even made rhubarb-ade to drink! This entry was amazing not only in taste, but in thought, care and attention to detail. Every aspect of their presentation was linked to the red and white gingham of the Great Get Together colours - down to the intricate little red and white bows on the miniature cheesecakes. It really was a showstopper! Well done Team BGS and a massive thank you to everyone who has supported our Great Get Together events this June! We are the Trust at the heart of the Batley community and we have far more in common than that which divides us. 

  

• Community Makes Us

  Mon 23 Jun 2025
  This weekend saw a fantastic community event at Oakwell Hall. It was the 9th Run for Jo event and we had the best ever turn out of our Members, Trustees, Governors, staff, learners and families, all representing our Trust family of schools, and our local community, at the event. People were volunteering, running, walking, supporting, and some were with their community groups, such as scouts. So many members of our brilliant staff team do so much to help others all year round and this event is one of the superb examples of that Batley Brilliance. 

   

  The Run for Jo is a key event in the Great Get Together calendar. It is all about bringing people together to celebrate the great people who live and work in our community. Jo was a true humanitarian and a real people person; and we bring people together at events like the Run for Jo, both to honour Jo's memory and build a legacy of community engagement and helping others. Our goal is also to inspire our next generation to always be the best version of themselves and to know the positive impact they can have on their local community. Every voice matters! And, as a great woman once said: "We all have far more in common than that which divides us."

   

  Community Makes Us and the unity in community is key. 

  

• Batley Brilliance

  Mon 16 Jun 2025
  Last week saw the turn of Hyrstmount to host the Batley Breakfast session. Hyrstmount is a new member of our Trust family of schools and the Batley Breakfast was a wonderful opportunity for Headteacher, Mr Leach, his talented staff team, and his incredible learners to showcase all that is marvellous about  Hyrstmount. They did not disappoint! It was a superb morning, and a great opportunity for Mr Leach to showcase to our Members, Trustees and Governors what makes Hyrstmount so successful, together with their vision for the future now they have joined our Trust family. 

   

  The Year 5 and 6 School Council team was fantastic, and it was great to hear about why they love attending Hyrstmount School, how they are involved in leading key areas of the school and their favourite aspect of life at Hyrstmount. The granny rap from another group of learners was an added bonus and simply brilliant!

   

  Well done Team Hyrstmount and welcome to our Trust family. You are already an asset to the team.