CEO Blog

• Young people cannot be what they cannot see

  Mon 28 Oct 2024

  I was delighted to be invited to the Gujarati Writers' Forum (GWF) event for the launch of Ahmad Lunat OBE's new book 'Our Heritage 2'. Ahmad is a well respected member of our local community, a Member of our Trust, and a man who champions the role of women in our community and our society as a whole.

   

  During the evening I was thrilled to be presented with a special recognition award for outstanding services to education. Myself and several other women were the very proud recipients of special recognition awards on the night. We hope this helps to inspire the next generation of women and girls in our schools, and our community, to be the best version of themselves; aim high, be ambitious and achieve their goals. 

   

  The awards were as follows:

  
  Samantha Vickers - in appreciation of her outstanding contribution to the field of education and supporting GWF, presented by Rt Hon Iqbal Mohammed MP for Dewsbury & Batley.
   

  Fatima Patel - in appreciation of her outstanding continuous excellence in journalism, presented by Rashiqa Laher.
  
  Hawabibi Laher, OBE - in appreciation of her pioneering contribution to the education profession and inspiring the next generation, presented by Jeanette Dent retired teacher and still active in the profession.
   

  Saheda Yusuf Patel - in appreciation of her outstanding contribution to the Royal Voluntary Service, presented by Zaynab Daji, daughter of the late Ismail Daji who was the longstanding Secretary of GWF.
   

  Maryam Adam - in appreciation of being a lifelong host of legendary cricketers and their families, presented by Aisha Iqbal, BBC Journalist.

   

  You can read more about the event on our Batley Brilliance page.

  

• Enriching the learning experience for all at Manorfield

  Mon 21 Oct 2024

  Manorfield held their Batley Breakfast last week and our Members, Trustees, Governors, and colleagues from across the Trust family of schools, were incredibly impressed by the work of the fantastic staff team, and the brilliant learners. The Manorfield team are transforming their curriculum offer for learners, which includes extensive work to their outdoor learning environment and curriculum enrichment. Learners have been taking part in some superb careers work based on 'Little People, Big Dreams'. 

   

  The learners themselves were incredible; speaking confidently and articulately to a room full of adults about their experiences of learning at Manorfield and why education is so important to them, as well as why they truly enjoy learning at Manorfield. Well done to Mrs Bradshaw and her fantastic team of staff and learners. Manorfield is a great place for staff to work, and for children to learn. 

  

• The most rewarding job in the world

  Mon 14 Oct 2024

  Over the past few weeks we have been delivering a series of training events and conferences for our ECTs (Early Career Teachers). Our Yorkshire Rose Teaching Partnership led by Emma and Rebecca have been busy planning, organising and facilitating these events.

   

  Our ECTs are highly committed, highly skilled colleagues who have recently joined our teaching team and we are thrilled they have chosen to start their careers here with us in Batley. Working in education can be challenging at times, and it is hard work, but what job isn't if you put your heart and soul into it, and you love what you do? In education no two days are ever the same, and equally, no two lessons are ever the same. Every day is different, every class you teach is different, because every child is different. That is what makes the job unique, exciting, interesting and special. You have the opportunity to make a difference to a young person's life and to help them build a bright, positive, happy and healthy future.

   

  The work educators do each and every day helps to transform children's lives, and helps to build stronger communities, therefore impacting positively on society overall. Those of us who are fortunate to work in education have a very privileged role. 

   

  The early days of learning how to teach can be a little like how it feels when you first learn to drive; how can you steer, check your mirrors, change gear, coordinate the pedals etc all at once? Some readers may even be old enough to remember when cars had a choke to contend with as well, those were the days! However, before you know it, you are driving comfortably and confidently, and wondering what you used to worry about; and teaching is exactly the same. You learn the basics, then you find your style and your stride, and everything clicks into place.

   

  You'll never look back, working in education in a teaching, or an associate staff role, really is the most rewarding job in the world.

  

• Great Governance

  Mon 07 Oct 2024

  On Saturday we held our Trust Annual Governance Conference 2024. The event was very well attended and the Batley Buzz was definitely in the air. This annual event brings together our Members, Trustees, Governors and Central Trust Team to discuss our strategic plans for the year ahead, and how Governors at all levels help our schools to deliver on those plans and ensure we practice our mission of being the Trust at the heart of the Batley community. Our work focuses on three key areas: our learners, our staff and our community.

   

  We currently hold three key annual events that are pivotal for our Trust community: the strategy day our Trustees lead with the Central Team and the Chairs of our Local Governing Boards in June; then our Trust Annual Conference in September, for all our staff, begins the new academic year; followed by our Annual Governance Conference. 

   

  Our Trust work is informed by all our key stakeholders and these events are a fantastic way to bring people together to share creative ideas and strategies for success. All of this helps to build an incredibly strong team ethos in Batley.

   

  Our Governance team made three pledges, which form the pillars of their support for our Trust family of schools for the year ahead:

  • the wellbeing of our staff and learners,
  • building stakeholder engagement e.g. through our parents/carers Stronger Together networks, and our community,
  • and challenge our leaders appropriately to ensure every school in our Trust is a remarkable school.

   

  In Batley we have bucked the national trend and continue to recruit highly skilled and experienced Members, Trustees and Governors. We have a 70-strong team now and are always looking for more great people to join that team. If you are keen, enthusiastic, forward-thinking and able to support our Trust family of schools in a Governance role, we would love to hear from you.

   

  The Governance team is led by our outstanding team of Governance Professionals. You receive advice, guidance and ongoing support from the moment you express an interest in joining our team. If you have the right skills to add even further capacity to our team please contact us at:
  governance.professional@batleymat.co.uk.

  

• WOW: Wonderful Outstanding Women

  Mon 30 Sep 2024
  It was a real privilege to be invited to the launch of Ahmad Lunat OBE's new book; 'Our Heritage 2'.  The book documents, celebrates and shares real life stories of some wonderful women who moved to Batley and helped make the town the culturally rich and diverse community it is now, to live, work and raise a family.

   

  Ahmad Gul Lunat OBE is one of our Members, as well as being a stalwart member of the local community. Through their accounts, these brave and courageous women will be remembered for generations to come. The content of their stories clearly demonstrates that these women were some of the bedrock foundations of the Batley community that we know today. They helped to create the cultural diversity that exists here and their narrative is inspirational as they retell their hopes, as well as the fears they overcame, and the sacrifices they made, to come to Batley to be with their families and begin a new chapter of their lives. We often say in Batley, that community makes us, and the unity in community is key, and these women personify this statement.

   

  As the proverb says, “it takes a village to raise a child” and our Batley community is diverse, strong, resilient and successful. This was witnessed at the launch event, not only by the life stories of the women captured and showcased by this book, but also by the tremendous young women who read excerpts, bringing the stories of their grandmothers to life in the present.

   

  The women featured in the book were resilient, solution focussed and demonstrated a steely determination to overcome the adversity they faced. There are a series of common threads running through these life stories, which are compelling and wonderful aspects of human nature; the kindness shown to them by others including strangers, strong family bonds and love.

   

  Our task now is for these stories to be shared with younger generations. For the book to be used in schools; the stories shared in assemblies and used as a tool to empower our next generation of women to also be brave, be pioneers, be ambitious, be resilient, be humble and kind, and to always be the best version of themselves.

   

  In a time of such global uncertainty and conflict around the world, these stories bring a sense of hope and belonging, and provide a positive message for the future we can all build together with the understanding that we must be the change we want to see in the world. If not us, then who? If not now, then when? The importance of education is articulated so frequently by the women in this book, and as Paulo Freire once said; "Education does not change the world. Education changes people and people change the world."

   

  In my role as CEO of Batley Multi Academy Trust, which I describe as Chief Enabling Officer, not Chief Executive Officer (it's official definition); my purpose is to make things happen across our Trust family of schools, which benefit all of the children we serve and our Batley community overall. Education is fundamental to a child's future success, and our children are our future.

  

• Batley Brilliance

  Mon 23 Sep 2024

  Batley Brilliance was everywhere last week when our schools were bursting at the seams with prospective families visiting our secondary school open events. Upper Batley High School opened their doors last Thursday evening, when parents/carers and future Year 7 learners were able to meet the staff team, see the excellent learning environment and ask any questions they may have.

   

  Batley Grammar School was open on Saturday morning and Grave's Hall was full. The Batley Buzz was definitely in the air. If you have a daughter, then Batley Girls' High School has their open evening this week (4:30-7:00pm) so please take the time to visit the school, meet the Headteacher and his team, and see the high-quality education and exceptional pastoral support on offer.

   

  Our Trust is uniquely positioned to offer single sex education at Upper Batley (for high achieving boys), and Batley Girls' (for high achieving girls) with Batley Grammar School offering co-education for all, with a 400 year history of success.

   

  Batley Grammar School also hosted their Batley Breakfast event last week and a Year 3 learner stole the show. She was incredibly intelligent, articulate and a brilliant ambassador for the school, her community, her family and most importantly a real credit to herself for her confidence and ability to speak so well to a room full of adults about why education matters to her, and why she enjoys attending Batley Grammar School.

   

  Batley really is a brilliant place to learn, and an amazing place to work. Batley = brilliant. 

  

• Grand designs - the Batley way!

  Mon 16 Sep 2024

  This summer has seen so many fantastic site development works to further improve and develop our school learning environments for all our learners across our Trust family of schools. While some staff, and most of our learners (except those in summer school where great fun is had by all!) had a good rest, our operations and site teams worked hard to transform our schools. The summer holidays provide the timespan required for more major development works.

   

  In summer 2024, these works have ranged from new paths and steps, to total makeovers of learner toilets at Healey, new signage internally and externally at Batley Grammar, new gates, fencing and CCTV, LED lighting and new flooring, and a brand new food technology room at UBHS - thanks to a huge grant from the Wolfson Foundation of over £100,000. We can't wait to get Batley cooking in this modern, high-tech food room and see the fantastic gastronomic creations our learners can produce.

   

  If you would like to visit our superb schools and see the learning environments first-hand, our secondary schools have their open events coming up soon:

  Upper Batley High School: Thursday 19 September 5:00-7:00pm

  Batley Grammar School: Saturday 21 September 9:00am-12:00pm

  Batley Girls' High School: Wednesday 25 September 4:30-7:00pm

   

  We are now planning our development work for summer 2025 and this will include a new SEND space and library update at Batley Girls', PE changing room refurbishment at UBHS, plus there are some exciting ideas taking shape for the development of a lecture theatre with 3D video projection and a community garden!  Watch this space for further details.

   

  Exciting times ahead! As an acclaimed man once said; "If you can dream it, you can do it."

  

• Hope and Belonging in Batley

  Mon 09 Sep 2024

  Welcome back! The new academic year has got off to a great start in Batley. Thank you to all parents/carers who have ensured their children are in school on time, with excellent attendance and all the correct uniform and equipment for learning. We know flights are cheaper during term time, but a fantastic education is priceless! Every day counts.

   

  Our school year began with a conference for all our staff. Over 700 people came together to set the vision for the year ahead, share best practice, and celebrate the huge successes our Trust family of schools achieved last year. Every year we get better and better. Two fantastic learners from Field Lane opened our conference and outlined why education matters in Batley. One of our amazing BG6 learners then spoke about the power of hope and belonging in our community. These young people are a true inspiration to us all!

   

  In the 1960s Batley was famous for the Batley Variety Club where global superstars such as Roy Orbison, Shirley Bassey and the Bee Gees came to perform, all bringing with them a sense of hope and belonging to an industrial northern town. In the 2020s Batley is now on the map for a fantastic education for all. A great education brings a sense of hope to young people for a bright, successful, happy and healthy future. Highly skilled, well educated young people are highly employable and a real asset to local businesses, the local economy and our community overall.

   

  We have such brilliance in Batley, let's develop it, share it and continue to celebrate the great people who live and work in this fantastic town. Our Trust schools are at the heart of the Batley community; delivered through our schools are our two 'The Fields' community centres, and we also have our Yorkshire Rose teacher training and adult education - there is so much to celebrate in Batley to provide a sense of hope and belonging for all. The future is bright, your future begins in Batley.