The Batley Buzz

The Trust at the heart of the Batley community

March 2024

Edition 7

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

Reception Superheroes

Reception have been engaged in their topic of superheroes this half term. This started with the Supertato books, where the children were truly immersed in the adventures of Supertato and the Evil Pea who then went on to cause havoc in reception, from trapping fruit and vegetables to tipping the chairs upside down and even tying up Mrs Hall! The children wrote wanted posters, designed and made Evil Pea traps and more. Mr Tierney even got a retweet and a reply from Sue Hendra who wrote the 'Supertato' books!

The learning then moved on to our real life superheroes and we were lucky to have a visit from Green Watch from The Dewsbury Fire Service. The children found out all about how they help people in different ways, sat in the fire engine and even learnt how to squirt the hose! This early work feeds into our work around aspirations and careers. We are looking forward to a visit from our next real-life heroes, the Police service.

World Book Day

As always, Manorfield staff and children went all-out for World Book Day, celebrating our love of books by dressing up, enjoying a special assembly and enjoying lots of different reading activities.

Trust Us: careers event

On Thursday 29 February our Year 2 were lucky enough to attend the first Trust-wide careers event. Our children attended in the morning and took part in the interactive drama performance at Batley Town Hall. At such young ages, our children already have aspirations for their futures.

Science Week

Thanks to a successful grant bid, we have secured some funding to engage with science in our local environment week this year. We have had a bird box fitted with a live camera attached to the box, where we hope that we will be able to watch the birds that nest in our school environment. Children are being encouraged at break times to log the birds they are seeing around our school. We are hoping to inspire a new generation of twitchers!

Book Week

As always, Field Lane Book week was an exciting experience with a catwalk of costumes and 'sneak peek' books delivered to every class every day!

OurYears 5 and 6 World Book WeekTeam performed extremely well at HuddersfieldTown Hall, winning one of rounds and returning to school with their prize of books for the library.

Mothers’ Day Café

Our Year 1 Mother's Day event was a highlight this month! The Year 1 children put on a performance that brought tears to our eyes - you could see all the mums bursting with pride. After that, the children did a great job serving drinks and sweet treats - it was a fun way for parents/carers to mingle and get to know one another. Shout out to the dads who helped out by decorating biscuits with our creative Year 1 bakers the day before. It was the first time we invited dads to join in, and it was a hit! We'll definitely be doing it again in the future.

Show Racism the Red Card

Year 5 spent a very informative day at Huddersfield Town Football Club discussing issues to do with racism and stereotyping. Our young ambassadors spoke with sensitivity and maturity, impressing the Huddersfield Town coaches and players. They were given a signed ‘Show Racism the Red Card’ t-shirt and the girls were able to show off our new sports kit on the pitch!

British Science Week

An article written by Year 4 children:

As part of British Science Week, Year 3 and 4 were treated to a Wacky Science Party. As soon as we went in the presenter told us to put safety ‘googlies’ on. After telling us a few jokes, he accidentally pressed a gas canister into some water - a fire emerged, this was my favourite bit. With his wind bazooka, he blew tissue rolls all over us - this was so funny. Some of us were covered! I enjoyed listening to the liquid dog bark. Then with some help he made his own pet - I named my new slimy friend ‘Blob.’ Finally we had a challenge where we raced against him to see whose rocket would fly the highest. We won and he told us we are 'Professional DNA Scientists.'

Little learners on the lookout for little beasts

Year 1 and 2 have been on an exciting trip to Fairburn Ings Nature Reserve to discover land minibeasts. They became scientists, explored different habitats and used lots of equipment to help find many minibeasts hiding away from them.

World Book Day

This year World Book Day took place on Thursday 7 March and our primary phase students had an excellent time celebrating 'bedtime stories' by dressing up in their pyjamas.

In the library, decorations were set up to mark the occasion and children even had the exciting task of decorating a cardboard toilet roll tube to represent their favourite book character, which has been fabulously displayed in the above photo. What a creative way to recycle some cardboard and promote our love of reading!

Good Deeds During Ramadan

Year 5 have been learning all about Ramadan recently by making use of this ‘advent’ calendar. which was kindly donated by one of the children’s parents. Our young learners have then filled the calendar with good deeds. Each day they open a new one and work on how they can implement the good deed into their day. Every day is a good day!

World Book Day 2024

We always celebrate reading at Healey School and this year’s World Book Day was the highlight of Reading for Pleasure. We had some amazing costumes of favourite book characters – Gangster Granny by a boy in Year 6 was a special favourite!

Later that day, all classes joined up for ‘Buddy Reading’, with the older children reading with younger ones. This was thoroughly enjoyed and motivated the children so much that it is something that will continue each half term. The photos above show Year 6 and Year 1 reading together. We are continuing with the whole school book study and this year we have chosen ‘Our Tower’ by Joseph Coelho and Richard Johnson.

We held a competition for the children to create their favourite character, using a paper plate. We had some fantastic designs and it was difficult to choose a winner from each class. Here are just a few of the winning entries.

Sporting Success

We’ve been sports mad this term, with everything from bowling, to multi-sports, speed stacking, dodgeball and basketball, not to mention celebrating International Women’s Day with Girls’ Football. Sports Leaders from Batley Girls’ High School supported children from both Field Lane and Healey to develop their football skills and ability.

Our Secondary News

Nero Novels and Booky Bake

There was a lot to live up to for World Book Day 2024, after the success of the 2023’s activities, but we put on another superb suite of events for everyone to enjoy!

With the library being transformed into Nero Novels with hot chocolates on offer, as well as the Booky Bakes (cakes created and decorated as favourite books) - sweet treats were savoured. We raised £425 from the 'BGHS Booky Bake Off' which will be donated to Book Aid International, whose aim is for everyone in the world to have access to books.

The 'Decorate the Door' entries are all amazing. A true testament of teamwork, creativity and commitment - many students worked on these doors during their lunchtime, after school and at home in their own time. Next time you’re at BGHS - please take a walk around school to admire their true brilliance!

Geography Trip

Our Year 10 and 13 geography cohorts enjoyed a day's visit to York on the final Tuesday of the term as part of their GCSE and A Level studies.

The focus of the visit was to consider whether York city centre was a sustainable environment for tourism to flourish in the future. Providing students with valuable experiences; interacting with York's famous Shambles' shopping street, alongside the great York Minster. There were many highlights; most notably the impeccable behaviour and respect shown by all throughout the day. Our students demonstrated both confidence and bravery when interacting with members of the public and drew praise from several passers by who commented that they were a credit to our school. It was wonderful to see some of the thoughtful gifts and presents that were purchased in advance of the holiday season and this further underlined the strength of our school community. Well done all!

Themed Escape Rooms

On Tuesday and Wednesday 5-6 March, students who attend our ‘Aspire’ Life Learning Lessons held an event for parents. Students in Years 7, 8 and 9 who had completed a project on Escape Rooms, had 60 minutes to dress a space in school so that it became a themed Escape Room. Later, they had another 60 minutes to work alongside parents/carers and visitors to rescue explorers lost in the Rainforest. Collaboration, communication, problem solving, creative thinking, attention to detail and stress management were just some of the life skills our young people demonstrated, and we could not have been prouder.

GCSE Food Exam

Our GCSE Food and Nutrition students have had a busy few days as they completed the practical part of their exam. Students had to plan, prepare, cook and present three dishes for the final part of their NEA that celebrates an event, occasion or festival from around the world. Each component had to be made from scratch, with no shop-bought goods. The young people were exemplary and presented many technical skills through their complex recipes - Bon Appétit!

Careers Convention

Roses for International Women’s Day

This International Women's Day a few of our Year 9 students handed out roses to female members of staff to recognise and appreciate their efforts in the day-to-day running of the school and the impact they have in our young people's lives. It was a lovely, thoughtful gesture that was very well received.

Students and parents/carers from Year 6 through to 11 were invited to the annual Careers Convention at the end of February. Over 35 organisations turned up to speak with our young people, which included sixth-forms, colleges, universities and a larger number of apprenticeship providers and local authorities.

It was a great opportunity for students and it presented many chances for them to explore the qualities and skills that employers and educational establishments are looking for.

We'd like to thank Mrs Chunara and Mr Hussain for their tireless work in order to make this year's Careers Convention bigger and better.

Trip for English Ambassadors

We ran a trip to the University of York for our Year 9 learners who are our English Ambassadors, which included a super tour of the campus and our young people were surprised at how much space there was!

The highlight of the day was a creative writing workshop with the lecturers and university students. Being exposed to these kind of experiences and environments really inspires our learners. We also have some samples of the university students' work, which we will collate into a booklet and share with our young people so they can take it home and show their families.

World Book Day: behind the scenes

Table Tennis Tournament

Some of our learners recently took part in the annual table tennis tournament against Thornhill. We had a number of winners; with gold for Year 7 and bronze for Year 9 in lower school and a silver for Year 10 in the upper school category.

National Reading Champions

World Book Day would not happen quite like it does without our superbly talented Creatives Department working hard behind the scenes to transform the Bistro with fun and fantastical scenes. This year, the theme was Harry Potter. Life size characters were created and the flying car with Harry and Ron was flying across the ceiling! Inspired by the fantastic Great Hall; carpet tubes were painted to recreate the floating candles. At one end Harry was chasing the golden snitch and the eerie scene of the Forbidden Forest was depicted with 3D spiders erupting out and into the Bistro.

Earlier this month some of our learners took part in the National Literacy Trust’s, National Reading Champions Quiz. We had two teams taking part and both teams did amazingly well, representing the school brilliantly in the regional heats. Team A came in joint 2nd place and Team B won the Yorkshire & Humber Heat, making UBHS the winners out of 27 competing schools. Our winning team will now travel to London by train on Wednesday 5 June to take part in the live final.

Our Sixth Form News

Oxford Law Taster Day

We had an inspiring two days experiencing Oxford and the Law at a taster day with one of our students. Thank you so much to the Faculty of Law at the University of Oxford for organising such a successful event and unlocking ambition, potential and self belief. We encourage all our students to follow their dreams and reach for the stars.

University lecture series at Leeds Playhouse

Some keen Social Science students have been using their spare time, and their initiative to further their independent learning. They attended a series of lectures to spotlight social justice champions, held at Leeds Playhouse. The series, made up of five lectures and in conversation sessions, was organised by Leeds Trinity University's Office for Institutional Equity.

Medicine Futures

WBD author retweet

BG6 students also participated in the ‘Decorate a Door’ competition and form 12 RAG received a special mention from the author on their insta-stories. How brilliant!

Well done to to 12AR and 13MKS for winning tier respective year groups - pictured below.

A great student has been accepted onto the University of Leeds’ Medicine Futures outreach programme. It is designed to inspire and support Year 12 students interested in pursuing careers in Medicine. It also provides opportunities to take part in talks, workshops and other enrichment activities.

Windsor Castle incoming…

Wishing our super star Year 12 student so much luck for the final of The Great Debate at Windsor Castle this weekend!

Our Curriculum Enrichment

CCF (Combined Cadet Force)

- based at Batley Grammar School.

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

Over the last few weeks, Cadets at Batley Grammar School have been focusing on developing their teamwork and leadership skills.

One of the main activities required the cadets to build a functioning stretcher out of old clothes, ropes and some poles.

The stretcher had to be strong enough to carry their fellow teammates around the school grounds. The cadets demonstrated a high level of confidence and a very good ability to work as a team.

They also took part in a first aid course, where they were taught basic first aid, which included demonstrating CPR. All cadets demonstrated the ability to perform basic first aid and subsequently passed the course.

Our Staff Super Heroes

Joanne has worked at Healey for 23 years, and has been a brilliant Safeguarding and Attendance Support Officer as well as Learning Mentor in the past. Joanne will be deeply missed by all.

Jenni-Rose is has completed her two year ECT programme at Healey and taught in Year 2 and Year 4. Jenni will be venturing into pastures new and we all wish her the very best of luck in her future career.

At Batley Grammar, Nathan works flexibly to meet the requirements of our young people with additional needs. Nathan’s ability to work with staff to create positive and happy learning experiences for those who use the hub is fantastic.

As an Early Years teacher at Batley Grammar - Emily’s ability to see learning experiences in the most mundane items, like a wet tennis ball leaving splat patterns, demonstrates the importance of nurturing the curiosity of young minds.

For always being so positive with everyone at Manorfield. Salma is always so kind and nurturing with the children and is a supportive member of staff. Her 1:1 phonics sessions have also being highlighted as exemplary practice.

For having an amazing year at Manorfield as a teaching apprentice. Jacqui is enjoying her journey into becoming a fully qualified teacher and we are loving having her as a member of our teaching team.

For all their diligent efforts in organizing 'Nero Novels' on World Book Day, fostering an engaging atmosphere for the students, and providing an abundance of hot chocolate - over a 1000 cups!

Tabussum is one of our lunchtime supervisors who is sadly leaving Field Lane. She has ensured that all our young people make healthy choices at lunchtimes.

Nathan Hayley

Laura Sawyer and the Library Team: Meirul Din-Manning and Rebecca Sokol

Joanne Garforth and Jenni-Rose Ashby

Salma Hamid

Jacqui Hall

Tabussum Makda

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.

Batley Breakfast at Field Lane

Hilary and the team at Field Lane hosted a fabulous Batley Breakfast event - thank you to our Members, Trustees and Governors that were able to attend.

The newly refurbished - The Fields Community Space - was packed full of people enthused about learning more about what Field Lane offers to its young people and community.

Field Lane does so much to engage all stakeholders and has a huge array of community activities taking place. The Batley Buzz was definitely in the air!

We made the front page!

After the resounding success of our Trust Us careers’ event the Batley & Birstall News printed an article, which featured on the front page earlier this month. A huge well done to everyone involved, it was a real team effort that benefited everyone in our Trust family of schools as well as the local community.

You can see more photos from this fantastic event on the next page, which showcases our careers’ work…

Careers work

Trust Us: Community Careers Convention success - in the heart of Batley.

All six schools in our Trust family attended along with over 35 organisations and over 150 attendees from the wider community.

A huge thank you to everyone who supported the event in our family of schools, our university and business partners, and local community who joined us for the evening session.

The feedback has been overwhelmingly positive from both the organisations and from people in the community.

And, as you’ll have already seen, we made the front page of the Batley & Birstall News.

The most important thing, of course, is that our young people and those in the wider community found the the event useful and informative.

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/

Childnet

0800 11 11

www.childline.org.uk

0808 800 500 www.nspcc.org.uk

The

0800 800 2222 www.familylives.org.uk