Where has this half term gone?
At the end of today our staff and students will head home for a well deserved half term break. It has been a blistering six weeks and I am thrilled with so much that has been a feature of our work over that time. Much of my delight has been shared with you in previous blogs but, despite my last one only being last week, I still have a great deal to tell you about before we finish.
It is Children’s Mental Health week and so much has been happening across school. As you know we are heavily invested in supporting our entire community in terms of mental health. We have four days each week of Place2Be and an additional four days of provision from the Mental Health Support Team giving us the equivalent of eight days per week of bespoke support for our staff and students. In addition, we are very open about our views on mental health through such things as tutor time, assembly time, notice boards and display, our curriculum, our enrichment programme and so much more. I very much want our students to feel that they belong at Beckfoot and that they are cared for and matter the most. I want them to know that it is ok not to be ok sometimes and that we are here to help in any way we can. I think they know that because so many have benefited directly or indirectly from what we do here. Indeed, we have had the privilege to support over five hundred families and a great deal more students over the past two years especially. 
The impact is a more settled student population, increased attendance and more aspirational and happy young people. For those of you that know me, you will be very aware that I do not believe that we are perfect. My fundamental belief is that we do a great deal that is right but we also make mistakes which we are determined to learn from. Our school is a happy place for most. At times we need to do more for our students but the determination and strategy to do just that is there and I am very proud of that. This week has enabled us all to think about our mental health and to be more aware of the impact on ourselves and others. That will always be a good thing.
I want to let you know about some work that has been happening in music over the course of this half term. Selected Year 9 students have been taking part in a Lyrics and Poetry writing workshop with a well known local poet, Kirsty Taylor and rapper, Josh Depass. The workshops are linked to a larger production written by Josh called "Tale of 2 Estates", a story about Bradford's youth which fuses Rap, Theatre and Film. In the workshops the students have been exploring themes of culture, class and race, whilst picking apart character profiles from the 2 main characters from the story of Tale of 2 Estates. Throughout the students have demonstrated an improved understanding of the key themes, by writing lyrics and performing some theatre based on them. They have thoroughly enjoyed the workshops and the opportunity to develop their creative writing and lyric writing skills as well as their performance skills. I guess the really special thing about this work is that it has been led by two of my ex-students. Josh was a student at Beckfoot about fifteen years ago and Kirsty is an ex student of mine from my time in an inner city Bradford School. Both were very excited about giving back and working with our students. I was also thrilled that they felt I have not changed a bit in over twenty years. Not sure I believe them but I will take that most days of the week!
This week our commitment to our Religious Education curriculum and wider provision has been assessed by a national provider following our application in 2022 to be recognised as a RE Quality Mark school. The application was led by Ms. Noble and ably assisted by Ms. Towler and Ms. Lowde. The application itself took months of work and indeed was a very strong submission. It was followed this week by an incredibly rigorous interview process which involved staff, students and the Leadership team of the school. We were really hoping to achieve this award so to be told just this morning that we have achieved the Gold Standard has meant the world to us. We have always felt our provision here is second to none and delivered by some of the most talented teachers that you would hope to work with anywhere. This award is testament to our commitment to ensuring our curriculum is as strong, challenging and aspirational as possible not just in RE but across our school. I am thrilled.
Finally, I had the honour of being a judge at the Year 8 First Give presentations afternoon yesterday. Normally, as part of our enrichment provision across year groups, we would run the First Give programme in Year 9. This year, given the quality of our year 8 cohort we felt that they could cope with it a year earlier. Since Autumn each tutor group has chosen a charity they wanted to work with in the hope of raising the profile of their work in Bradford and nationally. They got involved in various social action campaigns over the past three months and raised over £800 for their charities. They were expected to learn as much as possible about the work of their chosen charity, who they work with, how they support others, where their funding comes from and what they could do to help. They invited the charities into school to talk with them, educate them and begin to form a bond that will last for many years. The culmination of the programme was yesterday when every Year 8 student came into our main hall to listen to each tutor group present on their chosen charity and win a prize of £1000 would mean so much to them. It was a simply stunning afternoon where I and other guest judges, including Adam from Year 10, got to listen to our students talk with such confidence, passion and knowledge about their work, the work of their charity and why what they do is so important. 
In the end it was 805 who won the £1000 prize for The Bradford Curry Project. This money will go a long way to feed hundreds of people hot meals over the next few weeks across the city but will also provide some much needed positive publicity that can only help their work in the future. Other charities supported included Pink Paws, MNDA (Motor Neurone Disease), two Autism charities, Bradford Night Stop, Down Syndrome association and many more. I absolutely know that our young people are capable of doing the most amazing things in their lives. All we have to do is provide them with a continuous flow of opportunities, care, guidance and support and then watch them fly. They were amazing yesterday and it was very special to be a part of it once again.
Have a great half term break. Get some rest and stay safe.
Take care
Simon Wade, Headteacher
