We have held the Investors in People award now for 10 years, in recognition of high standards of training and development that we provide for all our staff. As an educational establishment, learning is of course at the heart of all we do. We believe that we must role model to our students the value of life-long learning. After undergoing a rigorous 4 day assessment, involving over sixty staff, we are proud to announce that our achievements were recognised and we were awarded IiP GOLD - the highest possible award. Below are some extracts and quotes taken from the report. We are sure you will share our pleasure in reading them.

• Throughout the formal interviews, informal conversations and site observations it was very apparent that this School continually and consistently demonstrates the very best of what makes an Investor in People exemplar. Learning and Development, of course, is the very language that any school speaks. What is unusual at Batley Girls’ is the very fluid and imaginative way that staff are continually developed and that learning and development is promoted beyond the school gates, within the local community and through family learning.
  • “Here it’s not just ‘every child matters’ but ‘every person matters’ - that’s what makes it special.”
  • There is a willingness by staff to go the extra mile in terms of supporting students. This does not go unrecognised and there is a very mature ‘give and take’ culture which supports the Work-Life balance strategy. Many staff feel that the biggest payback if they’ve given additional time (for example after school or indeed in school holidays) is the achievement of students.
  • The campaign to ‘Save our School’ really demonstrated the passion that staff have for the continued success of their school, how they are committed to this success and how there is a true sense of ownership and pride in working for Batley Girls’ High.
  • “There is a culture of continuous learning and growing our own here. Jackie Eames is excellent at spotting talent and enabling people to blossom.”
  • “People feel challenged but not threatened, therefore development is encouraged naturally – this sums up the culture here for me.”
  

Eighty students and staff attended our fifth annual Year 13 Leavers' event which was held this year at The Great Hall, the University of Leeds followed by a celebration meal at Akbar's in Leeds. The Great Hall provided a wonderful setting, befitting such an occasion. A range of special awards, voted for by staff and students, were presented by representatives of the school and our partners. These included the prestigious University of Leeds Achievement Award presented by Dr Jon Barber to Zara Fiaz and the Head's Aspiration Award presented by Jackie Eames to Maryam Bi Zafar. The evening proved to be a highly enjoyable one and we look forward to hearing of all the future successes achieved by this special group of young women.

On Friday 13th June 24 excited Year 7 and 8 students set off on a Residential trip to Wales. We stayed at the Centre for Alternative Technology in Wales in an eco cabin. This allowed us to monitor the energy that we used and even see how many warm showers we had left! On Saturday we explored the Centre and learnt about different types of renewable energy, then went horse riding. Despite many of us being nervous, especially Mr Boocock, we all had a brilliant time and wanted to go again! We also went on a sensory trail that meant us following a course whilst blindfolded.
There were lots of jobs that needed doing including washing up that some of us had not done before. We all took turns to cook the food we ate; we particularly enjoyed the angel delight and squirty cream! Bringing in the wood for the fire was lots of fun and Mr Goddard was determined that it would not go out! When we got back on Sunday all of us were tired, but having had a brilliant weekend.

In June our annual field trip to Malham gave Year 12 Biology students the opportunity to carry out a field study in woodlands. This is in preparation for their A2 studies. At the field centre the students were taught sampling techniques and carried out a study on the distribution of Dogs Mercury under Ash and Sycamore trees. Although it was a rather soggy day, Biologists at Batley Girls' are now experts in using quadrats and random sampling!

As part of our Primary Arts Network, Lydgate and Field Lane schools have worked with Mrs Clark this term. Children from Year 3 and 4 at Field Lane have been into school on two consecutive Wednesdays to work in Art and Design for some of the day. Then they enjoyed finding out about our animals, feeding them and watching Sapphire the goat being milked. In Art and Design they compared block printing by hand with producing repeat patterns using Adobe Photoshop. They finished the day by planting some flowers to take back to school. Everyone involved had a very enjoyable day.