010917UpperBatleyPRIDEAutumn201711347B

Issue 7 Autumn 2017 The news magazine of Upper High SchoolSuperPAGE7 skilledFocus on the DesignTechnology department

2 Pride in all we achieve Exam excellence WELCOME to the autumn edition In January, we launched our of our PRIDE magazine. new, bespoke Career Pathways LEARNERS have risen to the challenge in the new, more programme, and we have already difficult GCSEs, particularly in relation to their Key Stage Upper Batley High School received regional praise. Mr 2 starting points. Several boys have achieved the highest enjoyed an exciting academic Sherrard leads this area of work, grades (A*-A) in all of their subjects. year during 2016/17, and this and you will hear a lot about our school year is going to be careers provision over the next There were excellent performances in Mathematics, much the same. 12 months. Computing, Business Studies, Fine Art, Product Design, Photography and RE, and our Science department We had a wide range of Your son’s future is incredibly yet again achieved great results in Biology, Chemistry celebrities visit us, including important to us, and that’s why and Physics. Gary Neville, Marcellus Baz and we aim to provide a first-class Niel Danns, as well as Jo Cox’s education for him every step of Success at this level relies on the culmination of hard wonderful family and numerous the way. We believe that this is the work from our young people, the best academic and local and regional business key to a successful, happy and pastoral support from school – and amazing parenting. leaders who were all keen to fulfilling future. In that respect, we are very fortunate to be part of strong motivate, inspire and mentor our community where our boys have such caring, supportive young men. Sam Vickers, Headteacher and loving families. We wish all of our Year 11 boys the very best of luck for the exciting future that lies ahead of them, and we look forward to welcoming a record number of boys who are joining our school in September. Sam Vickers The best staff, the best education THIS term, we welcome three new staff To all four colleagues, we extend a very members to our team. warm welcome, and we are delighted they have chosen Upper Batley High School for this phase Miss Gjata joins our highly successful English of their respective careers. department, Mr Rasib joins our high-achieving Mathematics department and Mr Parkin is a Upper Batley High School has a rigorous Geography specialist, who will be the leader of recruitment process, and we only employ the our Humanities department. best staff in order to provide the best education and all-round provision for the high-achieving We also welcome a new associate member boys who come here. of staff, Mrs Bazan, who joins our cleaning team on a permanent basis. Sam Vickers

3Living Jo Cox’s legacy, every dayAS many of our readers will already absolutely delighted that Jo’s familybe aware, we are very fortunate could join us for this event, and thatto have conference facilities her sister and mum and dad gaveon our school site, namely our such moving speeches and cutBlenheim Centre. This facility is the ribbon to formally rename ourused for meetings, staff training, conference centre in memory of Jo.learner activities and events, andcommunity workshops, to name Jo believed in a better world, andjust a few. she fought for it every day – she believed in equality and respect On 16th June, in honour of for all humanity, and that peopleour late MP, Jo Cox, we held a should work together to createrenaming ceremony, and our safe and cohesive communities toBlenheim Centre is now named the provide a better future for ourselvesJo Cox Conference Centre. and our children. Our school aims to carry on the legacy of Jo’s work Jo Cox was a very special by providing a first-class educationwoman who was not just a friend to the young men in our area.of the school but also a mother,sister, wife, much-loved daughter Sam Vickersand a wonderful MP. We were

4Welcome to our thrThrough times of adversity, the kindness and generosity shown by people acro More In Common AT Upper Batley High School, we aim to be pathfinders in our field. As such, we are always forward-thinking in our approach to providing the very best education and all-round care, guidance and support for our Learners. We see our school as being at the very heart of our community via our work with the local hub network and by our community outreach work. In 2017, our PSHCE programme (personal ,social, health and citizenship education) received high praise and our PSHCE leader, Mrs Farrar, was one of only a few teachers across the country to receive the PSHCE accredited teacher award. In 2017/18, our PSHCE and RE curriculum, together with our community outreach work, will be called the More In Common curriculum. We feel this better prepares our Learners to understand the application of the knowledge and skills they learn in school within their own communities and to the wider world in which they belong. In memory of Jo Cox Throughout June and July, Upper Batley High School took part in a wide range of community events to honour the memory of Jo Cox. These demonstrated that, despite the tragedy in 2016, there is a rich and diverse set of skills, talents and attributes across our community. Events included a coffee morning at the Tour de Yorkshire in Birstall; a Great Get Together coffee morning; the Run for Jo at Oakwell Hall; a charity rugby match at Batley Bull Dogs; the Great Get Together in Batley Market Place; the Big Iftar event, at which move than 900 people filled Batley Memorial Gardens; and the Step Into the Future walk, where 950 children from Years 6 and 7 paraded through Batley and took part in a range of events at Batley Bull Dogs Stadium. In August, three of our boys also took part in a production of Les Miserables in memory of Jo Cox, organised by our MP Tracy Brabin and London theatre director Nick Evans. We would like to say a huge thank you to all of the local companies and businesses who have supported us with our community events, especially Words&Pictures who sponsored our new signage for the Jo Cox Conference Centre. Sam Vickers Photography courtesy of Dawn Robinson.

5hriving communityoss our rich and diverse community demonstrates that, together, we are strongerBeacon of excellenceFOR the past two years, now be able to work with otherUBHS has been working on schools and be a beacon ofbecoming a beacon school in successful PSHCE provisionPSHCE. Our hard work has within Kirklees. We look forwardnow paid off, and we have been to developing our PSHCEawarded school and teacher curriculum further in the future.Charter Status. Louise Farrar Our improved PSHCEprovision will enable ourLearners to stay safe, enhancetheir physical and emotionalwellbeing, and contribute totheir spiritual, moral, social andcultural development. As part of our charter, we will

6Enhancing our Learners’ employability WE have had an exciting year at Upper Batley High pathway School, developing an outstanding Careers team. Together, they have created a bespoke careers programme that will inform and develop our Learners’ employability skills, as well as leading the way across the region. As part of our provision, we have developed our Career Pathways, which will be inserted in our Learners’ planners, and will be used across the school in ASPIRE time. The Career Pathways programme will be launched on Going For Gold day on 5th September, and will be asking parents and guardians to take an active part in raising awareness of the career possibilities that await our Learners. In addition, we are developing careers resources on the new school website to help parents and Learners make informed choices. Nial SherrardA bespoke career‘Seize every opportunity’ cGhaamngeerBRITISH and European skateboarding champion they delivered a variety of sporting workshops I HAVE been part of a teamNeil Danns has visited Upper Batley High School during National School Sports Week. that has been involved in an– not once, but twice – as part of the Sky Sports exciting educational projectLiving for Sport programme. On his second visit, Neil led a skateboarding to develop fun, engaging taster session and, during Year 10 and Year 11 and educational careers Neil first visited us in early May, to work with, assemblies, inspired Learners to seize every resources for schoolsand inspire, a group of Year 7 Learners. The full- opportunity in the expectation that one might be across Yorkshire andday session involved team-building workshops to a life-changing experience. Humberside.enhance our Learners’ confidence. As a result, Dave Hallam Run by Future Jobs, and paid for by European funding, the finished product will be trialled at 30 schools in the region. After meeting on three occasions, we have now developed the concept for a board game, and are currently receiving feedback from students at Upper Batley, Holmfirth and Brighouse high schools. We are also working closely with businesses, and a designer from a games company who will make the concept a reality. The next stage is to develop a prototype and actually play the game, in order to find out if there are any improvements that can be made before it goes into production. Nial Sherrard

Designers of the future 7THIS year, we have recordnumbers of Learnersopting for Design andTechnology (DT) at GCSE. Technology is alwaysevolving, and so is ourdepartment. Our new DTcurriculum will focus ondeveloping practical skillsin making high qualityproducts out of wood,metal and plastic. Learners will alsolearn about commercialprocesses and careersin related industries,alongside developinglife skills such ascollaboration andcommunication. We can’t wait for ourdesigners of the futureto start! Curt FarrarCchaodcb-fuurlyl ’osfvmisiat igs ic Learners reap rewards A GROUP of lucky Year 10 Business Studies ATTENDANCE and behaviour reward trips this year have ranged from visiting the Learners had the opportunity to visit Cadbury theatre to see An Inspector Calls, to watching Manchester United at Old Trafford. World at Bourneville, near Birmingham. My personal favourites included Whitby, where we learnt about Dracula and Everyone was given a selection of Cadbury’s relaxed on the beach, as well as Flamingo Land and Blackpool Pleasure Beach, chocolate bars to sample as they toured the where our brave Learners rode some of the scariest rides. museum, where we learnt about the history of the cacao bean used by the ancient Mayans, and I can’t wait to see what next year has in store! how the Aztecs introduced chocolate to Europe. Gareth Cutler Among the highlights was the tasting area, as well as the 4D cinema, complete with motion tKhinegcsaosftle! seats, which took us on an amazing roller coaster and hot air balloon journey through a magical THE History department recently celebrated chocolate world. its second, annual Year 7 castle model- building competition. Angela Brackley Learners created more than 40 castles, which were showcased in our assembly hall, alongside a special prize-giving ceremony. The previous winner, Huzaifah Jasat, helped to present prizes to five Learners, including this year’s winner, Salim Ugharadar. Julia Affleck

Upper Batley High School Batley Field Hill, Batley, West Yorkshire WF17 0BJ Call: 01924 326343 Fax: 01924 326348 Send: [email protected] Click: www.ubhs.co.uk Produced by Words&Pictures Tel: 01943 854800Alumni share their amazing journeysIRFAN SONI AHMED PATELI ATTENDED UBHS from 1994-1999. I LEFT UBHS in 2006 with 14 GCSEs. II left with good GCSE results and went then went to Heckmondwike Grammaron to the Islamic Institute to become Sixth Form, where I studied Chemistry,a scholar. Afterwards, I worked in Biology, Maths and Psychology. Afterwards,the retail industry for eight years, but I studied Clinical Sciences at BradfordI began to realise that this wasn’t University for four years, and also did a yearthe career for me. I’m now a Cover there as a PGCE student. After getting a jobSupervisor at Warwick Road, and really at Thornhill Academy for a year, I was givenenjoy my role. the opportunity to be a Science teacher at UBHS, and jumped at the chance. ABU CHOPDAT Joanne Grogan I WAS a student at Upper Batley High School from 1975, and left in 1982 after studying in the Sixth Form, which we had back then. I then went on to De Montfort University in Leicester where I studied Maths and Statistics for four years, and also did a one-year PGCE placement at Leicester University. In January 1989, I was offered a temporary place at UBHS as a Maths teacher. I have now been here for 29 years, and in September 2006, I was made Head of Department.Triumph for DemocracyON 13th July, Learners attended school in theirPE kit for Upper Batley High School’s annualSports Day, and the opportunity to competein their House groups and win the covetedHouse Trophy. Blessed with a dry and sunny day, competitorsand spectators alike enjoyed dodgeball, footballand traditional athletics events. The results were: fourth place, Respect, with172 points; third place, Law, with 185 points;second place, Freedom, with 201 points; andfirst place, Democracy, with 240 points. Dave Hallam