Issuu

The Trust at the heart of the Batley community

July 2024 Edition 11

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

This has been our half term of visits, with Reception enjoying a trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park, Nursery and Year 1 exploring Ponderosa and Year 2 having a good old fashioned seaside day out in Filey. We are very proud of our learners; their conduct and how they represent us as a school on these trips and visits is always exemplary.

Ready… Steady… Go!

Sports

days for all

Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 have all had their annual Sports Days, full of fun and competitive races. None of the children's races were quite as competitive as the parents' races at the end though! Mrs Towse also organised an inter-school sporting event, where we hosted Healey's Year 2 for a morning of sports and fun. Our learners loved the chance to meet new friends from another school in our Trust family and all the children and staff represented their schools brilliantly. We hope to organise more inter-school fun over the next academic year.

Super-sports activity day for Year 2

Year 2 had the opportunity to develop new skills and experience new sports with our super sports activity day. Our learners experienced archery and fencing, for lots of our them this was the first time they had seen either sport. Everyone engaged well with the sessions, which were interesting and fast paced. By the end of the day, one learner had decided that when he grew up, he was definitely going to be a fencer!

We hosted a den building and spare parts CPD session arranged by Mr Tierney and invited our colleagues from across our Trust family of schools. This was well attended and thoroughly enjoyed by all, even if the weather could have been a little better! Staff were challenged to use spare parts to construct the tallest tower and to build a den in the outdoors.

Design wizards

Our Year 2 learners have designed and made their own moving vehicles as part of their DT work this half term. Their next step is to evaluate how effective their moving vehicle is.

Everyone learned how to make an axle with wheels that move, and then were free to let their creativity shine through in their final products.

Haji Noor Deen

We had the honour of hosting a workshop with Haji Noor Deen, a globally acclaimed calligrapher, as part of the Bradford Literature Festival.

Year 5 learners and their parents/carers had the opportunity to participate in a one-hour session dedicated to learning the art form, with two learners receiving personalized pieces signed by the artist to take home.

Sports Days!

Incredibly, against all odds, we managed to dodge the bad weather and carry on with our sports days!

The turnout from parents/carers was absolutely phenomenal, with over 100 coming to cheer on their children. The atmosphere was just simply fantastic!

Dragon poetry and magic tricks

We were incredibly fortunate to have the talented Nick Toczek, a renowned poet, grace us with his captivating poems and enchanting magic tricks. We just loved joining in with the chorus!

Carry My Story

Year 5 celebrated the conclusion of their year-long 'Carry My Story' project with an amazing performance at the Al Hikmah Centre. This programme aims to promote mutual understanding among communities, emphasizing the significance of transcending ethnic, religious, and cultural differences to build strong and respectful connections. The students impressed the audience with their heartfelt performances in acting, singing, and poetry at the Al Hikmah Centre, creating a deeply moving experience for everyone who attended.

Exploring Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Rain didn’t stop play for Sports Day

Despite the rain, sports day was a lively event that brought our primary cohort together. Our learners participated in a variety of fun activities including an obstacle race, long jumps, football, discus and ‘javelin’. The atmosphere was filled with smiles and cheers for many of our parents and carers who came to watch their children compete and stayed to have a picnic (which did need to be moved to the sports hall!).

Our young people really enjoyed the day, regardless of the weather, and it was a great opportunity to promote healthy habits and a love for sports in a supportive environment.

All of our primary year groups adventured on a school trip to Yorkshire Wildlife Park this term where they fully immersed themselves in the wonders of the animal kingdom. Our learners encountered a diverse array of wildlife, from majestic lions and playful lemurs to exotic birds and fascinating reptiles. Not only were they able to foster a deeper appreciation for nature, they combined hours of fun and memorable learning, away from the classroom, creating lasting impressions and inspiring a sense of wonder and responsibility towards the natural world.

Farewell Jane Jackson

We’d like to bid farewell and a happy retirement to Jane who has been our Head of Primary here for 11 years. She has had a profound impact on our primary phase staff and learners, and our school has flourished. Not only in academic achievements, but in fostering a nurturing and inclusive environment where every young person feels valued and inspired. As she embarks on this new chapter, we extend our deepest gratitude for her years of hard work, patience, and care. We wish her a retirement filled with joy, relaxation, and new adventures. Thank you for everything Jane!

Year 2 visit Yorkshire Wildlife Park

Our learners had a wonderful day and loved exploring the park, seeing all of the animals and finding out about them. The real highlight, however, was seeing the polar bears who live there at ‘Project Polar’, which is the largest collection of polar bears in England and is one of the leading centres for polar bear health and conservation. In addition to exploring the park, our learners became fully engaged in their special workshop - all about polar bears! Having become experts on polar bears, Year 2 are currently creating reports all about these fascinating creatures.

Fire safety education

Year 5 were chosen to take part in a special fire safety visit from the local fire brigade. Our learners engaged well during a presentation that informed them of common causes of fires within the home and how to stay safe. Then fun was had by all, exploring the fire engine and being allowed to hold the hose!

Journey through time…

Year 3 took a journey back in time when they journeyed to Bagshaw Museum for the Ancient Egyptian Exhibition. It was great fun, looking around the exhibition and seeing artefacts that related to their learning back in school. Our learners loved taking part in a workshop where they learnt how to mummify as well as taking part in an archaeological dig!

Our Secondary News

Green Skills Go Higher

A group of Year 8 learners attend this event with three other schools and ambassadors from the University of Leeds, the University of Bradford and the University of Huddersfield. The event was run by Go Higher West Yorkshire (a partnership of Higher Education (HE) providers, improving access to, success in and progression from HE) and West Yorkshire Business and Skills, which helps businesses to thrive.

There were a number of sessions to help develop the learners’ communications, critical thinking and STEM skills, and the highlight of the day for our young people was the LUSH workshop. The LUSH team shared its evolution and innovation as well as its ethics in the manufacturing and retail sectors. Everyone became creators of pioneering beauty products, with an emphasis on fresh ingredients, the fight against animal testing and the development of products without no packaging.

Year 9 STEM Day

A group of Year 9s took part in a STEM day focused on a sustainable home project. The event was organized by the Smallpeice Trust and Siemens Healthineers to address that energy generation and the provision of clean water are significant engineering challenges of the 21st century.

Learners worked in teams to design and build a system for filtering, collecting, detecting, and pumping rainwater as part of an integrated sustainable home system.

Our Year 9s gained vital understanding of the importance of sustainable development and water security. They also learned how to wire a circuit that includes a pump and a battery and how to solder a moisture detector circuit.

Art Club

Welcomes members from Years 7, 8 and 9 who are committed to developing their own art practice outside of lessons.

This year they have produced a wide range of exciting work; attending workshops, researching their own artist inspirations and sharing their skills as Art Leaders.

One of the key workshops has been Tetra Pak Collograph printing - led by Ms Parfitt. Art club members extended their prints into various compositions as well as a group cityscape piece.

Year 11 Leavers

Leavers' Day takes place to celebrate the end of Year 11’s time with us and evokes a mixture of emotions, as learners reminisce about shared memories, achievements and friendships made over the years. They were treated to a bouncy castle assault course and an ice cream van, with the sun even making an appearance! We’re looking forward to welcoming them back on results day where we are sure they will reap the rewards of their hard work.

Sports Day

The day was eagerly anticipated and brought the entire school community together. Talents were showcased in a variety of sports including shot put, welly throwing, space hopper race, running, team relays and football.

Our learners particularly enjoyed tug of war as the air was filled with cheers and encouragement as classmates supported one another. Congratulations to House Akroyd who obtained the most number of points on the day!

Year 9 Graduation

Rewards’ trip for Years 7 and 9

Learners recently enjoyed a rewards trip to Cadbury World which fully enriched their learning with exciting activities. As they made their way through the tour of the iconic chocolate factory, our learners were captivated by the story of Cadbury's origins and its evolution into a beloved brand. The hands-on activities, such as designing their own chocolate creations and sampling various treats, made the experience both educational and delightful. The 4D cinema provided a sensory experience that reinforced their learning in a fun and memorable way which not only enriched their understanding of business, history, and food technology, but it also offered a unique opportunity for social bonding and creativity.

This celebratory event marks the transition from Key Stage 3 to the more focused curriculum of Key Stage 4. During the ceremony, learners were recognised for their hard work, achievements and growth. With speeches from teachers and school leaders highlighting the journey, emphasising personal development and academic accomplishments. OurYear 9 cohort were also treated to a fantastic performance from a magician!

The graduating class collected their scrolls as parents and carers watched on proudly. Miss Lendrum, Head ofYear 9, stated that she “was incredibly proud of the graduating class and that it has been a privilege to watch them grow and succeed at Batley Grammar School”.

Creative trip to London

Earlier this month the Creative Department took 40 learners to London to celebrate human creativity in a place where there is lots of it to be seen!

Learners explored the Design Museum, experienced a musical production at the Lyceum Theatre, and examined the artwork on display at the Tate Modern Gallery. This trip was designed to enhance learners' exposure to creativity and to increase their cultural capital, widening their experiences and to deepen their understanding of how their Creatives lessons can be interpreted in the context of the world.

Brilliant Creative Showcase

The hard work of our learners was celebrated with their art work proudly on display, demonstrating their achievements and creative outcomes from this year. A selection was showcased from all year groups, across all of our subject areas; Art, DT, Music and Photography.

The main hall was the location for the gallery, for everyone to take in the brilliant examples of work. We also had the stage set for our musical performances by three learners in Year 7, 9 and 11. They treated us three fantastic performances and should be commended on their bravery to sit and play in front of such a crowd!

Calligraphy workshop

As part of Bradford Literature Festival, we were honoured to have the renowned artist, Haji Noor Deen, visit us to perform a calligraphy workshop with some of our learners in years 7 to 9.

The Galactic Challenge

Ten of our learners participated in the Galactic Challenge at Huddersfield New College recently. Year 8s and Year 7s collaborated with peers from other schools to design futuristic space settlements. The event, hosted by the Space Science and Engineering Foundation, aimed to inspire learners in STEM fields. They tackled engineering, artificial intelligence, and ethical considerations of living in space. This incredible opportunity allowed our young people to apply their STEM knowledge in a creative and practical setting.

Haji Noor Deen has studied traditional Chinese and Arabic calligraphy, merging these two art forms in his unique style. His work has been exhibited internationally and is celebrated for bridging cultural divides. He shared his knowledge and techniques with our learners, of all levels who were truly inspired.

Our Sixth Form News

Terrific Transition Day

We welcomed our new cohort to give them a taste of what BG6 life is like. As well as our academic offering we showcased the wide range of enrichment available here.

Our prospective learners were really engaged and enjoyed the immersive experience. We can’t wait to welcome them back in September!

Oracy commendation from Gresham College

Two of our learners have received a commendation from Gresham College, for their entry to the annual oracy competition for young people in Year 12 and 13. They submitted a five-minute recorded presentation on their selected topic. Gresham College has been providing free public education across the arts and sciences since 1597, when Sir Thomas Gresham's executors founded the college to bring the ‘new learning’ to Londoners, in English rather than Latin.

Prom celebration with Year 13

Our young people have exhibited resilience and determination this year; staying fully committed to their studies and it has been wonderful to see how much they have achieved and how excited they are about their next steps after BG6.

We had a wonderful time celebrating our learners’ many achievements and contributions to college life.

Everyone had a fabulous time; it was an amazing way to say our goodbyes and wish Year 13 well with their future endeavours.

Guest speaker

We had a guest speaker from the University of Bradford who shared insights about: degree apprenticeships, alternatives to medicine, computing and cyber security - to help inform our learners about their future choices.

A truly transforming fortnight

As always, our learners did us proud with an amazing transformational work experience fortnight - in a variety of industries. Our HSL partner was so impressed with the talent, they've offered a learner an apprenticeship, which is brilliant!

Our Curriculum Enrichment

CCF (Combined Cadet Force) - based at Batley Grammar School.

Developing leadership skills, resilience, confidence and self-esteem.

Annual Army Camp: Queen Elizabeth Barracks, near York

At the end of June, 25 cadets went on their annual camp. The six day camp involved in a variety of activities, starting with a two day exercise at Driffield Camp. They constructed shelters (Basha) which would be their home for the next two days and lived off Army ration packs. They also visited North Yorkshire Water Park, undertaking bush-craft skills, zip line over a lake and raft-building. Lots of fun was had with the large inflatables as the cadets jumped and slid from large inflatables into the water.

The last day was competition day with archery, the ‘Gun Run’, command tasks and an obstacle course; coming a respectable 7th out of 14.

We also celebrated promotions to Cadet Lance Corporal for four of the Year 9 cadets and were welcomed home for a well earned rest! It was a fabulous, albeit tiring, week and our hosts were complimentary on the cadets approach to the training provided as well as their general attitude.

Our Staff Superheroes

Rajinder Randhawa

A huge thank you to Raj for all the hard work, support and guidance she has given us at Field Lane in her role as Trust SEND Lead. She truly has gone above and beyond to support the team.

Jamila Aswat

For her flexible approach in undertaking the Exam Officer’s duties alongside her substantive role. This has enabled our exams season to run smoothly with no disruption or disadvantage to our learners.

Sarah Walton

Sarah, the PE coordinator at Field Lane, has put her heart and soul into organizing not just one, but three incredible sports day events to celebrate the end of the year.

Mariam Hussain

Mariam is one of the Nursery Officers at Manorfield has achieved a first class honours degree in Early Education from the University of Huddersfield. We are incredibly proud of her, it's quite the feat to complete a degree whilst working full time!

Reading Leader at Healey, has been nominated by her teaching partner, for organising special events and activities for their year group and always ensuring that learners have the best possible opportunities to enhance their learning.

Wendy Goodwin

Wendy is the Lollipop Lady and lunchtime supervisor at Healey. She works extremely hard, ensuring our learners can get to school and back home safely, as well as ensuring our young people are safe and looked after at lunchtimes.

Anne Jordan

The Field Lane family is immensely grateful to Anne for 20 years of unwavering dedication to Early Years. We wish her well in her retirement.

Ruth Hirst

Ruth is embarking on a new chapter as she bids farewell to Field Lane. We are deeply grateful for her unwavering passion and dedication to every young person and their family in our community.

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.

Collaboration with Milk Education

At the end of June Upper Batley played host to the Milk Cup event for primary schools in our local areas, which included Healey Junior, Infant and Nursery School from our Trust family of schools. This was Milk Education’s first ever event of this nature and we are proud that two of the schools in our Trust family were involved in supporting and participating in this collaborative community event. We look forward to a continued partnership with Milk Education.

The football tournament took place with eight schools playing for the trophy and everyone had a brilliant day. Hosting these kind of community events is so important to us. Giving these young learners the space to enjoy team sports is so valuable to their health and wellbeing.

10 Years of success at Yorkshire Rose Teaching Partnership

The Yorkshire Rose Teaching Partnership celebrated its 10 year anniversary earlier this week, alongside the official opening of the Trust Development Centre. Two Year 5 learners from Field Lane started the proceedings and spoke eloquently about why education matters.

Emma Rodrigues, Director of the Yorkshire Rose, spoke about the decade of coaching, mentoring, nurturing and so much more. Since 2013, 220 teachers have been trained and 61 teachers and HLTAs (Higher Level Teaching Assistants) remain employed across the Trust family of schools - what an achievement and what a wonderful celebratory occasion it was!

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.

The Fields Community Spaces at Field Lane and Manorfield

The Fields Community Spaces are situated at two of our primary schools in the heart of the Batley community; Field Lane Junior, Infant and Nursery School and Manorfield Infant and Nursery School.

Both sites have fully equipped spacious professional conference rooms that can be hired out for meetings, training sessions, seminars and workshops.

We are able to host courses and workshops as well as meetings, including: ESOL, baby massage, breastfeeding support, ‘create time for wellbeing’- craft club, phonics training, menopause info-sessions, diabetes info-sessions, eat well for less - cooking course, ‘unwind with gardening’ and much, much more!

Find us at:

Field Lane: Albion Street, Batley, WF17 5AH

Contact The Fields Community Space Administrator: Huda Khan fieldscoordinator@batleymat.co.uk 07497 512801

Manorfield: Manor Way, Batley, WF17 7DQ

Careers work

Career aspirations begin with our primaries

For our primary schools; careers work looks a little different, it’s about seeding information, nurturing interests and raising aspirations, as you can’t be what you can’t see.

From a visit from a dentist to explain the importance of oral health, to police officers giving a talk and taking fingerprints, these experiences help these roles feel more relatable. Even the donation of Premier League kits for girls to endorse girls’ football helps to encourage our learners to pursue their dreams. Trips and visits also play a part, whether that’s to a wildlife park or experiencing a courthouse to consider careers with animals or in the law.

Through these experiences and activities we open up the eyes of our young people to start those important career conversations.

"Learners are never too young to have dreams and aspirations, and because of this we are committed to starting this work with our learners from when they join us, aged two. We do this in a variety of ways; through visits and assemblies, access to books and visitors and through careers events. We want our learners to dream big, and obtain the knowledge of how they can get to where they want to be, as well as exposing them to careers that they might never have heard of."

- Kim Bradshaw, Headteacher - Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

"Our young people love experiencing meeting people who have different careers and different roles within our community. Even from a young age, it helps to inspire them in considering their own future careers."

- Anna Bradnum, Deputy Headteacher - Healey Junior, Infant and Nursery School

Free courses for parents/carers

Are you looking to increase your knowledge and gain a qualification?

We are offering a range of fully funded (free) CACHE accredited Level 2 qualifications for parents/carers. Level 2 is GCSE Grade C equivalent.

Courses are:

● All online

● Take 10-16 weeks to complete (completed at your own pace)

● Are Q&A based

● Tutor support available

● And, you can complete as many as you would like (not more than one at once)

You need to be:

● Aged 19 or above

● Not currently on a government funded course (including Apprenticeships)

● Lived in the EU/UK for the past 3 years

To find out more:

Click the link that relates to your child’s school and fill in the form (it takes less than a minute)

You'll then receive an email with all the course details before you choose whether to enroll.

Subjects include: Understanding Autism, Counselling, Children & Young People’s Mental Health, Mental Health Awareness, Specific Learning Difficulties, Working with Individuals with Learning Disabilities, Behaviour that Challenges, Special Education Needs & Disability.

Batley Girls’ High School and BG6 College

Batley Grammar School

Field Lane Junior, Infant and Nursery School

Healey Junior, Infant and Nursery School

Manorfield Infant and Nursery School

Upper Batley High School

Our family of schools Works closely with the BBEST Hub.

Take a look at their website for details of local services, support and activities.

Our wider links

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

We are proud to partner with the Global Equality Collective. We are working with them to support our approach to inclusion for staff and learners, driven by our belief that no child should be left behind, ever.

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