Meet the team
Laura Dixon
Assistant Head: BG6 Director
Laura grew up in Bradford having benefited from an exceptional, aspirational all girls' education from 11-18. She began teaching in 2013 and has always been passionate about enabling every young person to have every possible choice of post 18 destinations, regardless of where and how they started in life. Laura believes that exceptional pastoral care and compassion, working in close partnership with families, coupled with the highest quality teaching and learning will unlock student aspirations and future goals.
She has loved teaching and leading across secondary and sixth form settings in inner city London, Leeds and Bradford throughout her career. As an Ambition Institute alumna, she is a champion of equity in education, with a desire for our young people to have every opportunity for excellence; to access the same experiences and educational pathways of the most privileged and bridge the 'Dream Gap': making student dreams a reality.
Laura joined Batley Girls' High School as Director of BG6 in September 2023 after working in various settings, having held different leadership roles across Quality of Education, Curriculum and Raising Standards and supporting vulnerable student groups to reach their potential. She is very excited to build on the strong ethos in BG6 to unite students, staff and parents/carers, to break the wall of impossibility and reach even greater heights with BG6 students; leaving a legacy for future generations of BG6 learners.
Sanam Ali
BG6 Respect Lead
We appreciate that our young people should be inspired, which is why we offer wide-ranging opportunities for self-transformation so our students enjoy a truly enriching experience both in and out of the college environment.
We also recognise that our students are young adults; we understand their needs and that they will excel best in a respectful and safe setting, which is why we operate an open-door policy so we’re as accessible as possible to all students at all times.
Our commitment is to ensure we put students first and we will do everything in our power to enable our young people to be happy and successful now and in the future.
Aashiya Shiliwala
BG6 Progress Lead
Aashiya has a profound passion for education and is committed to improving the lives of young people. She has 20 years teaching experience as well as in other roles working in multicultural schools and sixth forms across Batley and Bradford. She also has extensive knowledge and understanding of the diverse needs of young people, and the role sixth form plays, in developing opportunities for both learning and enrichment to transform their lives. Her commitment to raising achievement and improving the educational attainment and outcomes for all students is demonstrated throughout her career, managing and leading departments, and as a UCAS coordinator. Aashiya has established her specialism within the sixth form category spanning academic, pastoral and career progression.
Aashiya joined BG6 in 2021 as Recovery Lead; she created a recovery and intervention programme for students addressing the academic, pastoral and transformative aspects of the educational experience, with measurable impact. Now, as BG6 Progress Lead, she continues to build on this, developing a robust academic monitoring programme that focuses on partnerships between students, subject teachers, tutors, the BG6 Team and parents/carers to give every student the ability to reach for excellence.
Here, academic progress goes hand-in-hand with high-quality pastoral care and the delivery of vast transformative and career opportunities for all students. We work relentlessly to ensure our BG6 students are provided with accurate guidance and dedicated support coupled with high quality learning, targeted academic intervention and study tools so that when our BG6 students complete their journey with us, they are not only confident in participating in the working world, but are empowered to be forces for innovation.
Stacey Lister
BG6 Administrative Assistant
Stacey joined the BG6 team in 2022 after working in various roles at Batley Girls' High School since 2010. She was also a student here 2003-2010 so has got to know the staff team and student community well over the years.
Studying IT, Media, English Language and Photography at A Level has provided her with the ideal combined skill set to support both the BG6 students and team; and her passion for ICT enhances how she is able to apply these skills.
Her role involves student wellbeing and supervised study, essentially acting as Student Services for BG6, as well as recruitment support.
Iffat Ahmad
Careers Education
We believe that partnership work is central to unlocking the potential of all students. We work with local higher education institutions, which provides our students with a significant relationships as they begin the journey towards university study. We have also developed our Pathways Programme for students who want to take the direct route into the world of work and require business contacts or work experience placements.
Her role has always been central to the support and encouragement of our young people, across the high school and BG6, to be inspired and achieve their full potential.
As an experienced Careers Leader, Iffat has the opportunity to work across all curriculum areas, with progress leaders and PSHE coordinators to implement successful careers programmes and initiatives for both BGHS and BG6. From 2008-2010 Iffat was seconded to work with Kirklees LEA for two years as the Aim Higher Project Officer, which led to development work with a range of employers and higher education providers. The strength of these connections and maintenance of these relationships have consequently supported and become embedded in our careers programme .
Katie Spence
Enrichment Lead
Katie’s passion about enrichment lies in her belief that what happens outside of the classroom is equally as important as what happens inside the classroom.
Through the delivery of a varied programme, Katie aims to deepen and enrich academic learning as well as engage and excite our BG6 students to create motivated lifelong learners. In doing so, we are able to prepare our young people for life after their time here, through instilling confidence in themselves and allowing them to explore what drives them.
By building on existing knowledge and developing specific skills, including critical thinking, Katie's vision is to open up new and exciting opportunities for BG6 students. This empowers them to be the best version of themselves, gaining attributes such as; self-regulation, collaboration, security, employability, high aspirations and resilience.
Katie began her teaching career in 2013 and has been at Batley Girls’ High School since 2014. She is also part of the Year 7 Transition team and has therefore gained a deeper understanding of the evolution of student development, which means she has greater insight into young people’s needs during periods of change.
What sits at the heart of everything, is her core belief that enrichment is about breaking down barriers to learning, building self-confidence and self-belief, and developing skills that can be applied to every aspect of life.
Heather Green
UCAS Coordinator, BG6 Form Tutor
With a career that spans over 30 years, Heather continues to live by her principles of helping young people to achieve their goals.
She has worked at BG6 since 2013 and, during this time, she has led the students themselves, as well as an experienced team of tutors in supporting our young people in their UCAS applications.
Heather advises both students and staff on all aspects of the UCAS process, from arranging for students to attend the UCAS Discovery Events, where students have access to over 300 Higher Education providers, to support with personal statements and making their final choices.
In addition to her work with university applications, Heather leads the Social Science team in providing a range of courses available to study at Key Stage 5 as well as being a BG6 Form Tutor.