Read all about the latest news and activities happening, and reasons to celebrate our school in the below Headteacher's blog.
Last week we received some inspirational news regarding a selfless act from one of our Year 7 learners. They received high praise from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service after coming to the aid of an injured cyclist. Showing maturity and compassion beyond her years, our learner stayed by his side to ensure he was comfortable, safe, and not left alone during the distressing ordeal until emergency services arrived.
After learning that the injured gentleman had not eaten all day, they went to a nearby takeaway and purchased food for him using their own pocket money.
A paramedic responding to the emergency call from the Yorkshire Ambulance Service was so moved by their actions that they reached out directly to the school to ensure her selflessness was recognised. The paramedic noted that the patient was immensely grateful for the care, describing the gesture as a wonderful example of how a small act of kindness can have a significant and lasting impact on someone else’s life. We are very proud of their actions and will be recognising this in school.
Gary Kibble
The points below summarise the information shared with learners this week.
General Guidance: Due to ongoing site works, all learners must follow directional signs and strictly keep to the left in corridors.
4. Year Group Highlights & Upcoming Assessments
Year 7: Congratulations to 7SJO/AAL for top attendance (100%) and 7ZBO for leading positive points. Weekly 100% attendance winners receive lunch queue skip passes.
Year 8 & 9: Year 8 achievement focus is on Motivation & Employability. Year 9 learners are focusing on Managing Stress, with a low-effort/high-progress mentoring program launching soon.
Year 10: Congratulations to the newly elected Form Champions.
Year 11 Key Dates & Assessments:
We are looking forward to inviting members of our school community and prospective learners into school on Thursday 24 September for our annual open evening. This is an exciting time to showcase our site with some significant building projects on the go. As ever such work means some short term challenges for some significant long term gains. In particular our amphitheatre work is progressing well and will provide a much needed covered, spacious social area that our learners deserve, as can be seen at the end of this blog.
All are invited to attend.
Gary Kibble
The points below summarise the information shared with learners this week.
General Guidance: Due to ongoing site works, all learners must follow directional signs and strictly keep to the left in corridors.
The Chemistry Assessment will cover the following 5 key topics:
Note: There is no coaching on Thursday 24 September due to the school Open Evening.
|
Day of Week |
Subject(s) |
Autumn Term Start Date |
|
Monday |
Art, Craft and Design |
14 September |
|
Photography |
14 September |
|
|
Mathematics |
28 September |
|
|
Tuesday |
Computing |
15 September |
|
Geography |
29 September |
|
|
History |
6 October |
|
|
Wednesday |
Science |
16 September |
|
Thursday |
Fine Art |
10 September |
|
Sport Studies |
17 September |
|
|
English |
1 October |
|
|
Friday |
MFL (French, Spanish, Urdu) |
18 September |
The building work has started in earnest, which will significantly enhance the facilities in school for our learners. It has presented some logistical challenges, but learners have been fantastic in following the new systems in school.
Logistical challenges was certainly the watch word last week, with Windmill Lane and adjacent roads blocked at the end of school due to the number of cars parked inconsiderately and at times illegally. This of course causes significant disruption to local residents, but also puts our learners at risk as it becomes increasingly difficult to cross the road at a safe point.
Please ensure that if you are collecting your daughter at the end of school you are parked appropriately, not on double yellow lines, away from junctions and ensuring driveways and roads are still accessible for residents to move freely between their property and their destinations. We have liaised with Kirkless Parking Enforcement who supported us last week and they will continue to visit the area to ensure our learners can leave the site safely. We thank you for your support.
Gary Kibble
The points below summarise the information shared with learners this week
Behavior for Learning & School Expectations The school utilizes a transparent four-stage Graduated Warning System to support classroom focus:
Positive & Negative Points on ClassCharts
Learners earn or receive points based on three core values:
Attendance & Movement
Clubs & Enrichment Opportunities
Curriculum & Reading Initiatives
Year Group Focuses & Support
Safeguarding Team Contacts
School has come alive this week as we welcome back our learners from the summer holiday break. Once again we have had record numbers applying and attending bg6. Being able to take many of our learners from 11 to 18 is a real privilege and we are delighted so many want to remain with our school community. Change is the watch word this half term and year as building work starts at last to remove the RAAC and develop our school facilities. This does mean some changes to movements around the school, but these short term challenges will be worth it. More updates and images to follow on this over the half term.
Attendance remains a key focus for us and has been perfectly illustrated with our GCSE exam results this year as illustrated in the table below:
| Attendance | No of days absent | Average Grade | % Chance of passing English and Maths |
| 92% - 90% |
15 -20 days (96- 140 lessons missed) |
4 | 68% |
| 80%-89% |
21- 40 days absent (147 -280 lesson missed) |
3 | 38% |
| 9% - 70% |
41 - 60 days absent (287 - 420 lessons missed) |
2 | 33% |
Please support your daughter by ensuring all appointments are made outside school time and encourage them to develop the resilience required to attend school everyday. Everyday does really count when it comes to achievement and gaining the core qualifications to enable our learners to access the next steps in their educational careers.
Gary Kibble
The points below summarise the information shared with learners this week.
A transparent 4-stage classroom system ensures clarity and fairness:
| Stage | Action / Outcome |
| C1: First Misbehaviour | Quiet verbal reminder (unrecorded). |
| C2: Second Misbehaviour | Verbal correction; learner may be moved. Recorded on ClassCharts. |
| C3: Third Misbehaviour | 30-minute after-school detention; parents/carers notified via ClassCharts. |
| C4: Fourth Misbehaviour | Removal to Reflection room; parents/carers notified via ClassCharts and call. |
Positive Rewards: Points are earned on ClassCharts under three key areas: Respect Self (resilience/creative learning), Respect Environment (tidiness/care), and Respect Community (collaboration/positive citizenship).
The final Headteacher blog of this academic year and yet again we have a week that is packed. The appropriate finale will be the Year 9 graduation, appropriate in that we are the point in the academic year when learners think about KS4 and the subjects they have selected, in a week when a number of staff (including myself) will be attending their own children's university graduations. We know just how significant a date this is for you as parents.
The criteria to graduate is significant and as you would expect focuses on the approach in lessons and attendance. Everyone has had the opportunity to reach these standards, but not all will; a lesson in itself to illustrate the actions needed in KS4. The ceremonies will take place over two days as indicated below :
Graduation Ceremonies:
Note: Graduating learners will have an early lunch from 12:20pm to 12:45pm to get into their gowns. Learners not participating will attend normal lessons.
We look forward to seeing parents and carers there.
Thank you for your support this year.
Gary Kibble
Important Notices for the Holidays
As the holidays approach, learners are reminded of the 5 Ways to Wellbeing: Connect, Be Active, Take Notice, Keep Learning, and Give.
A comprehensive list of support helplines has been provided for families over the summer break, including:
Yet another action packed week has passed and it is important to highlight the tireless work of staff to make sure a range of activities are organised so well. Following the success of the Year 13 prom we were able to enjoy the Year 11 prom. As always our learners arrived looking very elegant and their conduct throughout the evening was impeccable, all were fantastic ambassadors for the school.
On Tuesday, we saw the largest visit in a number of years leave the school, with 500 learners visiting Alton Towers as a reward for their Brilliance Bucket activities. Central to this was of course good attendance and sadly attendance following the visit was far from good at below 90%. As always we review activities and their success. In this case we responded to learner voice, offered a larger visit, but sadly it did not have the impact we would have liked. We will now focus on smaller, more frequent rewards to encourage and recognise the efforts of learners through the year.
Gary Kibble
Information for Parents & Carers
It was fantastic to invite the parents of our new year 7 intake to school on Thursday to outline the routine for those learners about to join our school community. I was also grateful to members of our Stronger Together Parent Forum who attended to support and talk to our parents about the importance of these events and how to become an active member of this forum. We will share dates of the new forum meetings via the website so please come along if you can. We very much value this group and the impact they have in school.
Despite the hot weather restrictions we were also able to run a smaller ‘Step into the Future Event’ with BGHS learners only. Our local MP Kim Leadbeater attended and was happy to take questions from our learners on a variety of topics. As ever our learners did not disappoint with some tricky questions posed. We are grateful for the time Kim gave up to attend and for the central message she was there to reinforce that “we have more in common than that which divides us.” With cooler weather now forecast we can return to normal uniform and school routines.
Gary Kibble
Information for Parents & Carers
Homework Reminders
Extra-Curricular Enrichment & Key Events
I was fortunate enough to be invited to present at the Pixl National Conference this week, where Amy Wilby and I were able to outline the range of strategies in school to promote our sense of belonging, improve attendance and of course progress. Of course whilst we may have been sharing this information, the work and imperative for this is shared across the school and I am very grateful for the constant dedication of our school leaders at all levels and of course the support of our associate staff to communicate and facilitate these initiatives.
It is this sense of a shared common goal that brings people together to create the sense of community we are constantly striving to have and reinforce. This week was an important week in the ‘More in Common’ calendar with a range of community events planned. Following the Run for Jo on Sunday we have the ‘Batley Bake Off’ held at UBHS and the ‘Step into the Future’ event, which I am delighted BGHS is able to host. BBEST schools will join together to reinforce that central message that “We have more in common than which divides us.” A fantastic way for us to finish this week.
The points below summarise the information shared with learners this week.
1. Attendance & The "Brilliance Bucket" Reward Scheme
Please remember that there is a strong link between high attendance and exam achievement. Appointments during school time must be avoided to limit any negative impact on your daughter's progress. Learners earn 20 premium reward points for achieving 100% weekly attendance.
Learners receive 10 points for completing weekly extra-curricular "Brilliance Activities". To log completed tasks and claim bonus rewards (such as chocolates or stickers), learners should visit Mr Scurr in the LRC on Mondays at breaktime.
Reward points accumulate over the school term. Learners who perform in the top 25% are designated as Bronze, Silver, Gold, or Platinum VIPs and become eligible for special prize draws and bonus rewards.
2. School Standards & Expectations
As the weather warms up, form tutors will notify learners when blazers may be removed. However, shirts must remain tucked in at all times. Please ensure your child brings a refillable water bottle to school daily.
3. Extracurricular Opportunities & Reading Awards
To promote literacy across the curriculum, teachers are handing out "Reading Awards" on Class Charts to learners showing exceptional effort toward reading or vocabulary. Each week, five nominated learners (across Years 7–11) are drawn from a reward wheel to win a free book from the school's book vending machine.
4. Personal Development, Character & Wellbeing
Our reward culture is built around cultivating five core values: Character, Creativity, Collaboration, Community, and Connection. Learners are awarded positive points on Class Charts when they demonstrate these traits in class or around school grounds.
This week's curriculum focus celebrates Helen Keller Day (commemorating her birth on June 27, 1880), encouraging learners to reflect on determination, courage, and overcoming educational barriers.
One of my first assemblies delivered in school was about a group of trapeze artists called the “The Flying Wallendas”, who “ flew through the air, … like they were flying”. The key learning point was that nothing is effortless and such exercise requires dedication, self discipline and hours of practice to perfect the routine.
Such dedication and expertise were evident on Thursday 11 June with the performance of Matilda. The first musical performance within school was delivered expertly, with confident accomplished performances throughout. Of course this sort of performance does not happen without hours of rehearsals and the dedication of staff and learners alike. Congratulations to all involved.
The points below summarise the information shared with learners this week.
Key Information & Academic Expectations
Rewards, Enrichment & School Clubs
Careers, Digital Skills & Competitions
Personal Development & Culture
You may have heard the old proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child." In the world of modern education, that village isn’t just a nice concept—it is an absolute necessity.
Teachers and our associate staff cannot do it alone. Two of the most important ways members of our school community can enhance the educational offer is through active volunteering and collaborative parent forums. When these two elements thrive, schools don't just function—they flourish.
Our Stronger Together Parent Forum meets every half term between 10am and 12 noon and is an invaluable source of support and positive challenge. This has helped us clarify misconceptions and develop policies so that all members of our school community are working together. The latest initiative is to highlight the importance of attendance to discourage parents from taking trips and holidays in school time. We are always keen to see some new faces at our Stronger Together Forum and would welcome as many parents/carers as possible to attend our last meeting this academic year on Tuesday 23 June at 10am. If you are interested in attending please email Miss Aswat on aaswat@batleygirls.co.uk.
The points below summarise the information shared with learners this week.
1. Whole-School Initiatives & Announcements
2. Year Group Specific Updates & Leaderboards
3. The 5 Cs Community Positive Points (w/c 02.02.2026)
Learners accumulate positive points on Class Charts by demonstrating the school's core values: Character, Creativity, Collaboration, Community, and Connected.
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