To encourage and develop relationships between home, parish, school and the wider community in order to prepare our pupils to become responsible, caring citizens.

Communications and Relationships

To develop an effective system of communications and relationships which is based on the Gospel values of mutual respect, tolerance, care and understanding towards all members of the school community. Individual Support and Development

To celebrate the unique nature of each person and to encourage their development as individuals. Curriculum

To introduce all pupils to a broad, balanced, relevant and differentiated curriculum and to equip pupils with the necessary knowledge, skills and Christian values required in a rapidly changing society. To provide a curriculum for our pupils which develops them academically, spiritually, morally, culturally and physically.

Our AimsIn accordance with our Mission Statement the School’s aims are:

Faith and Worship

To help us to grow spiritually as followers of Christ and as members of a Catholic community: to make prayer, worship and liturgy central to school life.

School and Community

To ensure that all pupils receive their entitlement to a first class education our school recognises that additional provision of support and guidance may be required to further enable some pupils who have particular needs. Our Special Educational Needs Policy is designed to precisely identify and match specific individual needs to appropriate help and support.

The school operates a staged approach to special educational needs in accordance with the Code of Practice document on the identification and assessment of Special Educational Needs as outlined by the Department of Education.

St Ambrose Barlow School fully endorses and adheres to the Government’s Inclusion Development Programme which focuses on supporting, training and empowering staff to identify pupils’ specific needs and support those pupils in the most effective ways in the classroom.

Whilst each pupil is at St Ambrose Barlow School, their progress is carefully monitored through our detailed assessment and reporting procedure and use of tests which can identify special abilities or difficulties.

At St Ambrose Barlow School we have a Learning Support Centre in addition to our Special Educational Needs Department, this is to support pupils on a short term basis who may have particular difficulties which prevent them from accessing the curriculum effectively at certain times throughout their school career. We also offer some alternative qualifications in key stage 4 to pupils who may have difficulties with traditional optional subjects.

If a pupil is identified as requiring additional support, an assessment is made in consultation with parents and all those concerned with that particular pupil’s education. An individual education plan is then devised where targets are set and a review date arranged to ensure that progress is being made. We regard the parental partnership as vital in ensuring that pupils are successful in achieving their targets.

In most circumstances our procedures and support occur in the classroom under the direction of the classroom teacher.

We feel that our experience of tactfully and sensitively responding to a wide range of different pupils’ additional educational requirements has contributed to the educational achievement at St Ambrose Barlow School.

Special Educational Needs Statement

St. Ambrose Barlow RC High School

WEEKLY NEWSLETTER

MARCH 11TH 2016 Issue 12

A National Teaching SchoolA National School of Creativity

ST AMBROSE BARLOW RC HIGH SCHOOL

open eveningdepartmental information

IMPORTANT DATES & FORTHCOMING EVENTS Year 9 Enterprise Event March 14th

Easter Liturgy March 14th/15th

Year 10 Parents' Evening March 16th

School Closes for Easter March 18th

Pupils return April 5th

Year 10 Take the Lead A large group of wonderful Year 10 pupils have been giving of their time each week at some of the primary schools with which we work. Currently they are heading out each Tuesday lunchtime to St. Edmund’s, St. Charles’ and Christ the King. When they are there they

are involved in leading lunchtime activities and getting to know younger pupils which will no doubt provide the basis of strong relationships as the primary pupils come to St. Ambrose in the future.

It is precisely the sort of the leadership, service and faith in action that we encourage in our pupils.

Curriculum Evening Thank you to all parents and guardians who gave up their time to attend the three events last Wednesday evening: the Year 9 options evening, the Year 7 & 8 assessment information evening and the Year 10 focus on English and Maths new GCSE. Your attendance and comments were very appreciated.

Celebrating 60 Years of Outstanding Learning

60

I love coming to work here each day.

Often it doesn’t feel like work. We are a Catholic community of faith where it is a privilege to see our young people flourishing, to speak with them, to learn their ways and watch them grow in confidence. They are an inspiration. Every day, every lesson great adventures and stories unfold born out of curiosity, imagination and creativity. Our equally inspiring staff are dedicated to nurturing every young person in their care. They may get outstanding results, but their commitment brings so much more to the education of our students. We believe in doing things differently so that every child can realise their gifts and talents and celebrate who they are. Doing this means that we are bringing to life the Catholic mission and ethos of the school.

There is great spirit and energy in this school. You can see it in the range of extra-curricular activities, in the array of research projects undertaken by staff and in the creativity that flows through our learning. There is also support and care: no-one is left behind, no-one is left out. Visitors often comment on the quiet sense of purpose they find in the school; this comes from outstanding relationships, particularly those between teachers and pupils.

We thrive on connections: with parents and carers, with parishes, with businesses. We love to look out and have give our pupils a global perspective on learning. By doing this our students can see a higher purpose in their learning. It isn’t just about passing exams, getting a job or going to university. It is about pursuing passions, developing new skills and building character so that life after school can be rich and fulfilling lived in the service of others. Our pupils go out into the world with the capacity to contribute, to lead and to play their part in the community with joy and hope. The greatest measure of our success is seeing students who have the capacity to take charge of their future (at a time when the world is changing faster than ever), to be curious, make change and be comfortable in their own skin. As a parent myself I hope for the same for my own children.

If you like the sound of this, please come and see us. Everyone is welcome here. I look forward to meeting you and saying, ‘This is Ambrose...’

Ben Davis

Headteacher

Celebrating 60 Years of Outstanding Learning

1955 - 2015

On Monday, March 7th we welcomed four guests to the school: two Ofsted inspectors and two serving local headteachers. They spent the day along with staff from St. Ambrose visiting lessons, speaking with pupils, parents and staff and looking closely at the way we do things.

At the same time virtually all teaching staff observed one another teaching as way of finding and sharing good practice. We have also spent several months surveying pupils, staff and parents, holding many consultation meetings and have recently issued a parental questionnaire.

All of this data and information is being brought together to allow us to assess the effectiveness of our school over time. Once it has been fully collated we will issue a summary report. The School Review day was, overall, very positive, with our guests having considerable praise for many aspects of school life.

SCHOOL REVIEW

BBC SCHOOL REPORT The work of the past few weeks paid off in full on Wednesday and Thursday. The BBC School Report team (the only one making their mark in Salford) spent a day in central Manchester gathering stories and interviewing the public. They then edited and refined furiously all day on Thursday before the publication deadline. With stories about coding, the EU referendum and much more besides the standard of journalism was astonishing and we’re sure that the BBC will have spotted a few budding journalists.

PSHE SUPER DAY We enjoyed a fantastic PSHE Super Day at which we looked at literacy, enterprise and mental health. Students took part in the Plimsoll Challenge, setting up small teams to design and market a trainer design. They also enjoyed fantastic discussion groups on mental health and wellbeing.

This week we welcomed a unique initiative from the Diocese of Salford. The Mercy Bus is a double-decker that travels around the northwest offering the Sacrament of Forgiveness.

On board when they came to us were six priests who, through the course of the day, heard over 500 confessions both in the bus and even al fresco! The commitment from the young people to the Sacrament was deeply moving and shows the depth of faith in our school.

Thanks to Miss Singleton of the RE department for co-ordinating the visit.

SALFORD DIOCESE MERCY BUS

Our Year 7 team were crowned Salford Champions this week, beating St. Patrick’s. Congratulations to them and their manager and coach, Miss Hyland.

NETBALL SUCCESS FOR Y7

I AM CREATIVE

Students from Year 10 and our 6th form have been working in the iMedia class with teacher Mr. Cammann to put together a marketing and communications strategy for Coutts Bank to engage with younger users. Last week the teams presented to marketing specialist Libby who had come all the way from London for the day. She was really impressed the the quality of ideas and the confidence and sophistication of the presentations.

Parabongo Challenge Our Design Engineer Construct! Year 11 students heard this week that they were the national Runners Up in the so-called Parabongo Challenge, narrowly beaten to the trophy by another school from the north west. Their work was praised for its originality, skill and precision.

CHARLOTTE RAMSDEN VISITS On Friday Salford’s Director of Children’s Services visited us to look around the school and talk to staff. She went into some classes and was particularly impressed by the pupils who were finalising their Speaking for Ourselves British Values work and the Y9 pupils who are collaborating with a Digital Textile Designer from Manchester University.

SALFORD BOOK AWARDS As many of you will be aware already we are in the process of setting up a library in school, so it is all the more important that books and book illustrators are something we celebrate. A small group of pupils were guests at the Salford Book Awards, accompanied by Mr. Lewis. They heard a number of authors speak, including Lucy Hawking, science author and daughter of Stephen Hawking.

MATHS TRIPS TO LONDON What a fantastic time we had in London last week. A large group of pupils accompanied by Maths staff and led by Mrs Ashton visited the capital to participate in a challenge, learn about the application of the subject and take part in a Maths-based adventure around central London. They also got to enjoy a theatre performance and had the thrill of a night away from home. A wonderful experience!

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK the year 7 netball team - salford champions; pupils on the netball trip to see Thunder vs surrey storm.

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK the mercy bus visits; team parabongo celebrating their success

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK the bbc school report team at work in school and in central manchester at rise

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK the i am creative teams presenting to coutts; year 7 in one the workshops for world book day

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK pupils in london for the maths trip. Above they are at the british museum; below they are pondering the diameter of the london eye.

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK a week of assemblies on homophobia was led by pupils such as those in 10 m who challenged prejudice and stereotype; year 9 working with schools on british values