Batley Buzz November 2023

A Trust at the heart of the Batley community November 2023 Edition 3 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

Focus on Reception All of our children in Reception have been working so hard since they started in September. These first few months at school are so important, we believe in firm foundations. Our children are showing great growth academically, emotionally and socially.

Within our school we have a huge focus on developing our communication and spoken language. This is shown in reception by book based work in our 'Talk through stories'. Our Reception classes get to know texts really well, and then extend their vocabulary using sentence starters and tier two language.

One of our focus texts over the last half term was 'We're going on a bear hunt'. The children explored the book, before undertaking their own bear hunt, role playing, story mapping and making props to retell the story. Developing a love of reading is a key driver for us here at Manorfield. Our Reception classes have also been developing their understanding of families through looking at The Family Book by Todd Parr. There is an amazing display in the Reception shared area at the moment celebrating how families can all look different, but are all equally amazing. The children's voice has been captured brilliantly as part of this display.

Diwali We love a celebration here at Manorfield! Mrs Gosal, our RE leader has led our Diwali celebrations in school this half term. All of our learners have engaged in lots of fun Diwali celebrations and activities to develop our understanding of other religions and cultures. Children have made sweets, tasted traditional foods, made divas and dressed up in saris to celebrate Diwali.

New website Our new school website is now live and we are incredibly proud of it. It gives a real flavour of who we are as a school and showcases our values that we embody in everything that we do.

Stronger Together Our last Stronger Together meeting was organised by Miss Clarke in her new role as SENDCo, alongside Debby from Northorpe Hall and Kirsty from PCAN. The focus last month was on self care and wellbeing for parents/carers.

We know that parents/carers can't pour from an empty cup. A variety of wellbeing activities (as well as a cuppa, a biscuit and a friendly smile) were available for all parents/carers, including mindfulness colouring, self care hints and tips and even a hands on course for hand massage.

Each of our Stronger Together meetings this year will have a specific focus for parents/carers. Our next meeting is taking place in The Fields community space attached to Nursery on Wednesday 29 November 9-10am. Everyone is welcome!

Once in a lifetime…

Incredible Home Learning

Umar from our Year 3 class walked out with the players at a Liverpool football match against Nottingham Forest. 51,000 people attended the match. What an amazing experience!

We have been bowled over by the amazing learning that has been going on at home during the half term break.

Families learning together is so powerful!

Street Bikes!

Year 5 have loved their Street Bikes experience, practising their skills at the Spen Valley Athletics Track.

Energy Heroes

Celebrating Diversity

Earlier this month November, Key Stage 2 were involved in the start of an exciting new project: in training to become Energy Heroes! The morning began with a fantastic assembly about global warming and the impact it has on our world, from flash floods and droughts to extreme heat waves and cold snaps. We learned about renewable energy and how, as individuals, we can help reduce the damage we are causing to our planet.

Year 5 then participated in a workshop designed to help us save electricity in our homes and around our school. We calculated percentages, looked at pie charts and came together to discuss how energy usage has changed over the past 40 years - it was a fascinating morning!

A special thank you to the facilities team for allowing our class 'Auditors' to assess the school and begin to put together an action plan to hopefully save money both at home and at school.

As part of our Reading for Pleasure initiative this year, we held a competition on: Celebrating Diversity.

Children were encouraged to research and produce a project on a significant person born in a different country. We were so pleased to receive over 50 fantastic projects, submitted in a variety of formats videos, posters, booklets - and to see the incredible efforts our children went to with their work! It was also lovely to see the children researching lots of different people and talking about their research!

Remembering… the Gunpowder Plot Who was Guy Fawkes and what was the Gunpowder Plot? Year 1 and 2 have been exploring these questions to learn about the Gunpowder plot.

They were then visited by a special guest who has given them more information about who the plotters were and how we remember this unsuccessful event.

The classes enjoyed playing games, a true or false quiz and participating in drama activities.

They are now Gunpowder Plot experts!

Year 6 visited the Northern Morris Cottage Road Cinema in Leeds, this week, for a screening of The Railway Children Return, as part of the National Into Film Festival. The film is set in 1944 at the height of World War II and was the perfect ending to the Year 6 Autumn 1 topic of ‘Batley in the Blitz’, a bespoke history unit of work centred on our local area.

Year 1 have been learning traditional fairy tales and they have loved bringing them to life in drama to develop speaking and listening skills around the story of ‘The Three Little Pigs’. In forest school, they found leaves and sticks, and discussed their characteristics. They made houses from straw and blew them down, just like the big bad wolf! The Year 1 team planned this unit of work to incorporate many cross-curricular links.

The cinema also introduced the start of our Year 6 Autumn 2 topic ‘The Invention of Hugo Cabret’, which centres around the growth of the film industry in the 1920s. The Cottage Road Cinema is arguably one of the oldest cinemas in the country, in that it has been open and continuously showing films since 1912 and therefore is steeped in history.

Does your woolly mammoth need a wash? It's not a very easy thing to do...

Year 3 have been writing instructions, using the book: ‘How to Wash A Woolly Mammoth’, by Michelle Robinson. Through instructional writing, they then went on to make their woolly mammoths, using design, editing, writing as well as creative art and DT skills.

Being kind and being a good friend are the key messages for anti-bullying week, and beyond. Children and staff wore odd socks to celebrate differences and to show that we are all unique, in our own special way.

Believe - Achieve - Succeed

Our Secondary News

Setting the stage for future public speakers

The winner was one of our own BG6 students; chosen by an independent panel of University Earlier this month we hosted the regional heat of academics from Leeds Beckett, Newcastle, Bradford and Huddersfield. She will go on to The Great Debate, one of only two schools in take part in the National Final - watch this Yorkshire to be selected as a venue. Young people from Batley Grammar School and Upper space!

Batley High School came together with our students for the event.

Political insight during Parliament Week Earlier in November, nine of our Year 10 students visited Heckmondwike Grammar School to attend the UK Parliament Week event hosted by our local MP, Kim leadbeater. This event saw young people from across Batley and Spen, come together to discuss politics, learn how the political system works and quiz the MP on current policy.

They also learned about careers in the civil service and about the Kirklees Youth Forum. The young people really enjoyed the experience and they learned a great deal about how the government is run as well as sharing their views on current and future policy.

Students spoke for five minutes, about people and places they’d researched that were of local historical significance.

Feed your mind…

As well as your body, with our new book vending machine located in the cafeteria to inspire our young people to read for pleasure in their leisure time. This vending machine will soon be filled with books chosen by our young people to form part of the school rewards system. BG6 also have their own-watch this space for the machines being filled and used by all.

Remembrance and Reflection Remembrance Sunday is always a poignant day in our calendars and it allows us to reflect on the ultimate sacrifices made by those in the Armed Forces. This Remembrance Sunday, two of our Year 8 students, along with Kirklees Mayor, Cllr Cahal Burk and others, gathered at Dewsbury Town Hall to pay respects to the fallen. They were excellent representatives of the school and we were particularly proud of their performance and behaviour.

CCF Inspection Day In mid-November, we were pleased to welcome Sgt Walker and Sgt Fox as part of the school’s Combined Cadet Force (CCF) Inspection Day. Cadet’s from years 9 to 11, including both the Army and RAF assembled for the parade and to meet our visitors. They performed an exemplary and disciplined parade inspection, despite the variable weather conditions on the day. Sgt Fox enjoyed speaking with cadets during the inspection and also noted how impressive their behaviour and performance was.

After their parade and inspection, cadets separated into groups to complete various activities including camouflage and concealment, and creating shelters.

It was a great opportunity for the cadets to showcase some of the many skills they have acquired in recent months. In addition to the sergeants who joined us on the day, we also welcomed back former Colonel Graham Dawson who was a teacher of the school for over 30 years.

Forest Café Funding

Work experience and social action

We are delighted that we have been allocated a grant from The Bupa Foundation and Groundwork UK - Green Community Grants' scheme after submitting a proposal to build a café area within our Forest School site.

One of our Year 10 learners created a banner during his work experience with Impress Printers. It's proudly displayed on the roadside at the school entrance to remind and encourage people across our local community to complete the public consultation in support of the Save our Sports Centre campaign. This demonstrates not just the value of experiencing working life for our learners, but how they are able to express themselves through the way we empower them in their learning and their lives outside school.

It's been awarded specifically for the purpose of connecting young people with nature and each other, to build social, emotional and physical wellbeing. Both the build project and the enjoyment of the finished café will deliver these experiences to our learners.

Groundwork UK will be monitoring the projects throughout the delivery phase. We're really excited to see this germ of an idea come to fruition and aim to have it ready to enjoy for the spring.

Careers Fair We held our annual Careers Fair for all learners with a range of providers in further education and higher education as well as uniformed services and businesses in the local area.

All learners from Year 7 to Year 11 took part and were supported with structured questions to help them get the most from the event.

Our partners were very impressed with learners' conduct and how they engaged.

A big thank you for all their help and support.

Our Sixth Form News

Opening our doors…

A brand new look!

We were really excited to welcome prospective students for open evening to show them around BG6 and chat about the new developments as well as our mission for all our young people to fulfil their full potential.

We had a great turnout and the young people kept our subject tutors busy with lots of questions!

The common room refurbishment is now complete; to ensure the holistic student experience matches our academic ambition.

It has been totally revamped to make it a more welcoming and inspiring place for our young people and provide them with a comfortable and modern space to meet, relax or study.

Social Mobility Foundation Recently came to speak to our brilliant young people about amazing mentoring, application support and advice, and internships.

Revealing… our Great Debate winner!

Who will go on to represent us at the National Final, watch this space….

It also features its very own branded book vending machine, for which our students will be selecting books of interest to them, to enrich their minds and excite their imagination.

Imagination lives in pages…

Student-led fundraising BG6 students have been proactive in helping others by organising a colour theme day to raise money for their chosen charities; Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders (Médecins Sans Frontières) to support the humanitarian crisis.

The Year 13 BG6 Student Leadership Team then served refreshments at open evening and asked for voluntary donations for these charities. In total over £310 was raised, which is absolutely brilliant, and those students who supported the open evening were truly excellent ambassadors.

Our Curriculum Enrichment

Our Trust family of schools offers a wide range of curriculum enrichment activities.

This greatly enhances our young people's educational experience, and also supports their health & wellbeing.

Our Staff Super Heroes

Claire Virr

Ruth Hirst

Iffat Ahmad

Stacey Lister

Olivia Fluck

Claire is the Key Stage Leader of Healey’s Early Years. Claire works tirelessly with her team to make each and every day exciting and engaging for Nursery and Reception classes.

Everybody loves Claire!

For taking on the role of Lead SENDCo, in addition to being an excellent Year 1 teacher and the music coordinator.

It has been a mammoth task, but Ruth is determined that all children and their families receive the best support we can offer.

For her efforts and additional work across the wider organisation including aspects of staffing/catering, her work with parents/carers for Stronger Together and building lasting relationships with external partners in respect of careers.

Has done absolutely brilliantly in her new full time role at BG6. She's thrown herself into the supervised study programme, bursary work as well as attending trips. She was absolutely invaluable for Open Evening and supporting the logistics for the event. She's adept at learning new processes and skills and using her own initiative to support our BG6 young people.

Head of RE at UBHS, Olivia joined the school over a year ago and has already made such a difference, not only to the school, but in supporting the local area with her specialism. She has hosted events and provided support materials to other RE teachers across West Yorkshire. She really is an asset to the Humanities team and the school!

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.

Our great, well brilliant actually, debaters!

Young people across our Trust secondary schools came together to take part in the regional heat of The Great Debate, run by the Historical Association, which took place at Batley Girls' High School.

It was a fantastic display of our young people challenging themselves and stretching their comfort zones to undertake something they’re passionate about, as well as supporting their fellow peers across the Trust.

Hampers for families Our staff came together to help families in our local community making hampers with a range of donations contributed for this purpose.

The hampers will make such a difference to families across our Trust community.

We will continue to collect donations and make hampers until mid-December.

Careers work As a Trust we pride ourselves on our Careers provision and the opportunities we create for our young people across all our Trust Schools.

Batley Girls’ High School recently held their Careers Fair which was a resounding success showcasing further education establishments, BG6, apprenticeships providers and businesses; breaking down stereotypes and introducing their young people to the next stages of their career journey.

Earlier this month, Upper Batley High school held their Careers Fair with great success also with some excellent feedback received. Year 11 parents/carers were invited to attend a talk on the Labour Market and which jobs will be in demand within the Leeds City Region. Apprenticeship and T level pathways were explained before parents/carers were allowed to access the fair with their children.

Batley Grammar will be holding their Careers Fair in March so watch this space.

As a Trust we are combining forces to deliver a Trust wide event for all our Trust schools and our community.

Save the date…

Community Careers Fair Thursday 29 February 2024 at Batley Town Hall For all the schools in our Trust family of schools, as well as the local community.

Employability Skills

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.

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

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 270 schools across our region.

The purpose of the hub is to provide high-quality professional development for teachers and leaders.

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;

For families;

Other specialist services;

Childline Providing help & support for under 18s.

0800 11 11 www.childline.org.uk

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

0808 800 500 www.nspcc.org.uk

Get it right from a genuine site Find out which sites are legal for downloading movies, music and games www.getitrightfromagenuinesite.org

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

Family Lives Free, professional non-judgemental advice.

0800 800 2222 www.familylives.org.uk

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

Batley Multi Academy Trust Our family of schools

Batley Multi Academy Trust C/O Batley Girls’ High School Windmill Lane WF17 0LD Telephone: 01924 350080 Website: batleymat.co.uk