Batley school celebrates the joys of giving and receiving on Christmas Jumper Day

The alternative provision academy on Park Road, Batley, celebrated Christmas Jumper Day on Thursday, December 8, with family, carers and a special guest appearance from Father Christmas.

All three classes (Penguins, Whales and Dolphins) entertained their visitors with fun and festive performances, which including telling jokes and singing, to which they were all cheered on by a very proud audience who stayed to join them for a festive feast.

The excitement continued with the arrival of Father Christmas and the children were thrilled to each receive a special Christmas gift and a selection box kindly provided by Batley Sporting Foundation, friends and families of staff and education recruitment specialist, Vision For Education.

Before the event finished, all children and their families were also given a raffle ticket with the chance to win from a selection of prizes including hampers of food, gifts and toys donated by Tesco Extra on Bradford Road in Batley and the friends and families of Engage staff.

Reflecting upon the success of the event, Headteacher Alison Ward, said: “I am so grateful to everyone that helped make our Christmas event so special.

“From the time given by our staff and families and the generous donations from our community – not to mention the joy our children gave us all in their wonderful performances and baked goodies.

“It’s really encouraging to know that our community understands the significance of today’s event and want to support our children in their journey to become exemplary role models of tomorrow.

“Every parent, carer and staff member that works with children will understand the delight of seeing their children having fun and really enjoying all the festivities around this time of year.

“But the difficult life challenges many of our children at Engage have experienced in their young lives means that these milestones are really significant.

“An event like this brings our enriched curriculum alive as it affords our children the opportunity to be creative, work as a team, develop new skills and try new things.

“It has opened up interesting discussions around the importance of giving and receiving and what it means to be a positive role-model in the community.

“I am so proud of every one of them today (December 8) – they have come so far and I hope they will have some very happy memories that will last a life-time.”

As well as receiving generous donations from the community to make the day happen, the school was also able to provide every child with a brand new school jumper for the new year thanks to Let June Make A Difference - a charity dedicated to helping children and young people across North Kirklees

Alison added: “It’s a difficult time for all and the generosity of our community is truly wonderful.

“I am also so very proud of my team and thank them so much for everything they do.

“They are passionate about making a difference to our children and their families and go the extra mile every day to ensure they deliver the very best care and education to create better life chances for them all.”