Batley Buzz 8

The Trust at the heart of the Batley community

April 2024

Edition 8

Our children deserve the best. No child left behind - ever.

Every school a great school. Creating remarkable people.

Our Trust Vision

Every young person, regardless of their starting point or background, receives a high quality education, including first class care, guidance and support.

Our Infant and Primary News

Life skills and career options with the Police

At the end of Reception's superhero topic, we had a visit from our local police officers.

Our young people had the opportunity to dress up as a police officer, give their fingerprints and ask any questions about the job. These visits link to our work around opening up career conversations with our children and reinforcing that the police and other emergency services are here to help us, equipping our young people with the skill of knowing who to talk to if they need help.

Oracy and performance skills - as Year 2 lead assembly

Just before the holidays, one of our Year 2 classes delivered an assembly to their parents/carers as a summary of their learning over the last term. The young people performed songs from their Royal Opera House performance, as well as sharing their learning across the curriculum. The assembly was very well attended by parents and carers and the hall was packed!

Having opportunities to learn how to speak to large audiences and performing in front of others is such an important skill that has to be taught, developed and reinforced.

Parent/carer workshops and events

Our ‘The Fields’ community space has been very busy recently with a variety of courses and meetings being held there for our community.

We have hosted BBEST moderations, ESOL classes, coffee mornings and jewellery making workshops. Our jewellery making workshops were very popular, allowing all of the attendees to have a bit of time to themselves and develop their creativity.

We have also recently hosted the Batley Girls’ High School Stronger Together forum in our community space, developing those links with families across the Trust family of schools as well as across our community.

Eid celebrations

Wednesday 10 and Thursday 11 April were incredibly quiet here at Manorfield, with most of our staff and learners celebrating Eid. As the children returned to school on Friday we had a fantastic day of celebrating Eid as a school.

The children dressed up in their most beautiful outfits, we learnt lots about Eid and had amazing parties. In our singing assembly, the day before Eid, our children learnt and performed Eid songs to really get them in the party spirit!

Friendships with Fairfield

Three children from our school visited Fairfield School to take part in one of their podcasts.

Here is what they had to say:

The experience we had at Fairfield School was fantastic! We were given a tour around their facilities and saw different aids to help the young people communicate, play and exercise - they even had a rebound room and a swimming pool! In the hall they were hosting a special Eid event which was very pleasant.

After the tour finished it was time for us to take part in Fairfield’s podcast which is broadcast on Spotify. We discussed the similarities and differences between our schools. It was good to get to know more about our new friends. The process of making a podcast was quite intriguing as we explored the different features of a podcast and how it all works. At the end of the session, we agreed that it would be good for the Fairfield learners to come and visit us at Field Lane too.

Nell Bank

In their quest to find out more about rivers, Year 3 and Year 4 visited the river Wharfe in Ilkley.

They thoroughly enjoyed their very muddy trip to Nell Bank Centre, pond dipping, walking through the bluebells and seeing their first ever newts!

Eid celebrations!

Our Eid Celebrations got off to a great start on Friday with our special assembly with every class performing a Nasheed - the soloists were excellent. This was followed with a delicious Eid Dinner and party games!

Key Stage 1 in the kitchen

In Years 1 and 2, we have been connecting science with cooking and creativity. Our learners have been busy learning how to make pancakes in the correct order, through effective sequencing. There was lots of modelling, experimentation and much trial and error taking place until we made the perfect pancakes.

Then the best part came - the taste tests! We were able to eat the delicious pancakes we had created. A key question then being - what is your favourite pancake topping?

We tried a wide range of different toppings on our pancakes; including honey and chocolate spread. The honey was locally sourced from our Facilities Manager, Mrs Porter, who also held a discussion group with the young people so they could learn about how bees make honey. Batley bees make the very best honey!

Budding artists!

Self-expression and creativity is nurtured throughout school. Art encourages this and is evident in our Year 6 animal collages that have recently been completed.

Exploring a range of materials and media, the learners chose an animal to represent and carefully designed collages to depict their chosen creature.

From the design stage to creating and evaluating their own work and that of others, Year 6 certainly are budding artists!

The Retreat

An area of school has been redesigned and renamed; The Retreat.

Each afternoon, The Retreat is used to support learners with all kinds of social and emotional needs and also where our ELSA (Emotional Literacy Support Assistant), Mrs Knapton, is based. Building self confidence, resilience and coping strategies are important aspects of The Retreat, as well as providing a safe space for children to relax and enjoy being listened to. There, we reinforce our values of: Believe - Achieve - Succeed

Meet Bob!

Bob is our African snail who lives in Year 1. He has been with us for three years now and has grown to an enormous size, from being 2cm in length when he first came to Healey School.

Bob loves being with the learners and most of the children love to hold him. Bob is well looked after in Year 1.

Balance bikes and play leaders

We continue to enjoy lots of sporting activities and this half term Reception classes and Year 1 have the balance bikes to ride, before they progress on to pedal bikes.

Our Year 5 play leaders are setting good examples and have inspired Year 3 to become play leaders too. They were trained last week by our School Sports Partnership coach. Being Healthy and Active is one of our Golden Rules.

Our Secondary News

Celebrating culture with activities galore

After the Eid celebrations, many of our learners engaged in a variety of enriching activities during our Culture Day to conclude the first week back.

We were joined by Dance Days who ran workshops for years 7 and 8 to learn new skills whilst having fun and being active. There were crafts in the library and a culture trail around school for learners to test their knowledge on culture to win a prize. The day involved a special lunch menu including; Patatas Bravas, Jamaican Jerk Chicken with Rice and Peas, and Samosa Chaat.

Business Breakfast with NHS

The purpose of our series of monthly Business Breakfasts is to engage with a variety of employers to deliver informal sessions to our learners on various career pathways.

This month we were privileged to welcome NHS Sonographers from Allied Health Professionals. Learners heard about the various routes when following this career path and they also had an opportunity to test out the ultrasound machine on a prosthetic neck to give them hands-on experience of the role of a sonographer.

Year 9 raise awareness for Batley Food Bank

A form group in Year 9 decided they wanted to run a charity event for Batley Food Bank. They researched the type of food donations needed and contacted the Food Bank, which resulted in a guest speaker talking to them (via Zoom) about the sorts of things the charity does.

They then held the Great Batley Bake Swap, where learners and staff were invited to bring dried goods and cans in exchange for cakes and bakes. The event was a great success and an array of dried and canned food was received.

We are really proud of how this group of learners not only demonstrated initiative by thinking creatively, but also how they are thinking of others in our local community.

Humanutopia

We were delighted to welcome Humanutopia to our school last week. Learners in year 8, 9 and 10 took part in their engaging and inspiring activities designed to help young people own their feelings and think beyond their actions.

Humanutopia are a company who visit schools all around the country to empower young people to make positive change.

It was a really eye-opening experience for our learners, and they were engaged and inspired throughout the day.

Both learners and staff commented on how the day was an enriching and positive experience. Our young people said they felt the day helped them to feel empowered to change their mindset for the better.

Exploring the future study of English and History with Year 10

Two student ambassadors from the University of Leeds (a Russell Group University) from the School of English and School of History, joined us to deliver an interactive talk to our Year 10 on what these subjects look like at A Level and beyond.

They spoke about how to access the University of Leeds, funding support and how fun university life can be!

Our young people were engaged and inspired as they talked about the potential careers open to English and History graduates, as well as the transferable skills that exist within both realms.

Rotary Technology Tournament

Just before the Easter break, we hosted the annual Rotary Technology Tournament which involved our local Rotary group and other schools from the Kirklees area. Four groups of Year 10 learners entered at Intermediate Level and two groups of Year 9 entered the Foundation Level task. It was a fantastic opportunity for these young people to experience how studying Design Technology fits into real life employability skills and careers.

Our learners were tasked with a STEM based problem-solving activity in which they used their Design Technology, Science and Maths skills, to engineer a functioning outcome to solve the problem. Although we missed out on the top spot it was fantastic to see the learners enjoying this activity and working together, and most importantly, developing their employability skills and STEM knowledge. Well done to the learners who took part and thank you to the Rotary club for running the event.

Rise and shine for Breakfast club

We recently received £1000 in support of our breakfast club, for the second time this academic year. It's fantastic to see the continued support for this important programme from Kellogg's which serves so many of our young people.

The learners have definitely benefited from having a nutritious breakfast to start their day well.

High praise to both Miss Vachhiat and Miss Laher (Educational Teaching Assistants), who run breakfast club every morning, for their dedication to the wellbeing of our learners, and for ensuring they are ready to learn each and every day.

Our Sixth Form News

Amazing fundraising!

Our wonderful BG6 learners, across Years 12 and 13, have planned and implemented our immensely successful Eid 2024 charity event in support of Save the Children.

It began with a bake sale and also included the application of mehndi, to give it a real celebration feel. These inspirational young people collaborated with local businesses to donate goods, hosted events for younger year groups, and represented the College at Year 10 Parents’ Evening. We are so proud of how they have applied themselves and, they have raised a grand total of over £1,500, which is absolutely amazing!

A massive thank you to the local businesses in our community for donating a huge range of hot and cold food for the event in support of our entrepreneurial and civic minded learners.

Enriching university visits

Last term BG6 learners enjoyed more university visits. They had a fantastic day at the University of Sheffield and were able to discuss student living, finances and course choices with undergraduate ambassadors, giving them the ideal insight into this Russell Group University. They also met teaching staff in a range of disciplines to help inform their future career decisions.

It was a brilliant, albeit cold and snowy day visiting Newcastle University exploring medicine, dentistry, psychology, law and humanities routes for our learners. As always, our young people were a real credit to our College values of Openness and Wonder.

Opportunities: demonstrating openness and wonder

We've offered over 60 different options to learners throughout the academic year, to delve into work, apprenticeships or university level thinking and experiences. Both year groups have taken up some wonderful opportunities, including:

● Youth Leadership Award Rotary Programme

● University of Edinburgh, Sutton Trust Summer School for Law

● 8 learners are on the Social Mobility Foundation programme, which offers potentially life-changing support for them, not only now at BG6, but through until the end of their degree course

● 6 learners have applied for Nuffield Research Placements

Amy Poole and Craig Johnson

Our Staff Superheroes

Martin Barratt and Paul Robinson

Amy and Craig, from BGHS and SMART Academy respectively, ran the London Marathon last weekend for causes close to their hearts. They both completed the 26.2 mile course in sub four hours, which is absolutely brilliant! We really admire how hard they have worked not only on the day itself, but to train for this event, whilst having a busy day job. This demonstrates how determined they both are and how focussed on helping others. What great role models for our young people!

Martin and Paul are caretakers at UBHS and both work incredibly hard each and every day to keep the school in the very best condition. They have an excellent attention to detail and are great team players. Thank you for everything you do.

Angie Garside

Angie is the attendance officer at UBHS and her work is exceptional. Angie always ensures that everyone in the school community has a focus on attendance and she ensures no learner is ever left behind. Angie’s mantra is every lesson of every day counts. Thank you Angie for your brilliant work.

Michael Scurr

Michael works at BGHS and has been voluntarily coaching other members of the Humanities team about how to mentor teacher trainees. This professional development training has taken place over a number of after school sessions and has been hugely helpful for both the teaching staff involved as well as the trainees. Thank you to Michael for giving up his own time to share his expertise.

Helly Paterson

Helly works at Healey and was nominated for the Early Years Teacher of the Year Award due to her relentless support for families. Helly leads on outdoor learning at Healey, as well as leading the Nursery provision. Thank you Helly for everything you do for our young people.

Our Community Work …

really means a lot to us, and we see our Trust and our schools at the very heart of our community. Community Makes Us and it is the unity in community that matters.

Biking for Breakfasts - please donate if you can

Our schools work closely with Huddersfield Town Foundation on a number of projects; all to improve the physical and mental wellbeing of young people. Next month one of our very committed Governors will be supporting such an initiative.

Between Wednesday 1 May and Friday 3 May 2024, Jonathan Kidd (Vice Chair of Governors at Batley Grammar School) and a team of 17 other cyclists will be taking part in the ‘Biking for Breakfasts’ challenge, raising money for Huddersfield Town Foundation’s Breakfast Club initiative. The Foundation works with select schools, in some of the most financially deprived areas of Kirklees, to offer free breakfasts to children who need them.

This initiative costs upwards of £140,000pa to run, relies on donations to keep going and helps to give children, who need it the most, the best possible start to a day of learning. They have been doing this for over 11 years and have recently passed the milestone of providing and delivering more than 2.5 million breakfasts in that time period. Sadly, we know that for some young people schools are the only place they can access hot food and a regular meal.

What a great initiative - we wish you the best of luck, Jonathan!

For anyone able to donate, please click here. Every donation, no matter how small, is greatly appreciated.

Careers work

Our first ever Trust-wide community careers event was a huge a success for everyone who attended. It also cemented the foundations for further collaborative working on careers across our Trust family of schools.

One key focus on the day itself, and an ongoing key focus across our schools is highlighting the subtleties of starting careers conversations with our primary children.

Our primary aged learners have themed learning about such things as superheroes like the police, fire service or NHS staff and with that they are also learning more about potential careers.

Throughout all our schools we are mindful of gender stereotypes through representation in different roles and the career pathways open to all our young people.

Young people cannot be what they cannot see so our bespoke curriculum ensures that young people experience a wide range of careers available to them. Our schools inspire and enthuse our young people to consider what job they would really enjoy doing.

Our wider links

Our family of schools Works closely with the BBEST Hub. Check out their website for details of local services, support and activities.

We are proud to lead the Yorkshire Rose Teaching Partnership - providing high quality primary and secondary teacher training in West Yorkshire.

This consortium includes 15 local schools, Exceed SCITT and local Higher Education Institutions.

Our schools play a key role in the Calderdale & Kirklees Teaching School Hub. This Hub offers support to over 400 schools across our region. The purpose of the hub is to provide high-quality professional development for teachers and leaders.

https://bbesthub.uk/About-Us/

https://www.ckteachingschoolhub.org/

Support & advice for parents/carers and families

Childnet International has produced a very informative resource for parents/carers to help you keep your child safe online: www.childnet.com/resources/parent-and-carer-toolkit/

For young people;

Childline

Providing help & support for under 18s.

0800 11 11 www.childline.org.uk

The Mix

Provides essential support for 13-25 year olds. www.themix.org.uk

For families;

NSPCC

Free support & advice for parents/carers worried about a young person.

0808 800 500 www.nspcc.org.uk

Family Lives

Free, professional non-judgemental advice.

0800 800 2222 www.familylives.org.uk

Other specialist services; Get it right from a genuine site

Find out which sites are legal for downloading movies, music and games www.getitrightfromagenuinesite.org

Ask about games

Advice and online guides about gaming and PEGI ratings. www.askaboutgames.com

Batley Multi Academy Trust