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

APRIL15TH 2016 Issue 14

A National Teaching SchoolA National School of Creativity

ST AMBROSE BARLOW RC HIGH SCHOOL

open eveningdepartmental information

IMPORTANT DATES & FORTHCOMING EVENTS School Day consultation meeting

April 21st

Year 8 Girls’ HPV injections April 21st

Staff Training Day April 22nd*

Year 8 Parents’ Evening April 28th

Bank Holiday May 2nd

Year 7 Parents’ Evening May 18th

School closes for half-term May 27th

School re-opens June 6th

Year 9 Retreat June 7th - 10th

Year 10 reviews June 13th -15th

Y6 Transition Days June 16th - 20th

Sports Presentation Evening June 16th

Malham Trip June 20th - 24th

New Intake Parents’ Evening June 22nd

Y7 Conway trip July 4th - 8th

Year 10 Plas Menai July 11th - 15th

School closes July 15th

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

*Please remember that the school is closed to pupils on April 22nd for staff training.

This week saw the culmination of a term-long project between Manchester Collaborative Centre for Inflammation Research, University of Manchester and a group of Year 11 pupils. The university students and staff have been working in teams with our pupils to investigate the way our body responds to inflammation. In doing these projects they have brought together high level science with art and graphic design. As result the pupils have been able to investigate medical and anatomical issues in great depth and also explore how their findings can be communicated and understood. It is very impressive that students of ours are working at such a demanding level and we are very grateful to the university and to Salford Royal Hospital for hosting this week’s presentations and lectures. The project was co-ordinated in school by Mrs. Grindley, Head of Geography.

ART & SCIENCE

GROWTH MINDSET Throughout the week we have, once again, been treated to assemblies led pupils. Daisy Adaje and Ola Kowslowska wrote and presented a thoughtful input to each assembly on the important subject of Growth Mindset. The girls talked about the importance of pupils, parents and staff not viewing ability as fixed or simply giving-in when things get challenging. This is part of a wider attempt across the school to encourage a a positive approach to learning in all our pupils - there’s much more to come on this. Parents and guardians who are interested can google the terms ‘Growth Mindset’, ’Angela Duckworth’ and ‘Carol Dweck’ and will find much information that explains it more detail. .

It is a sad fact that far too many young people are injured and even killed on railway lines. Whilst many of us appreciate the obvious dangers, too often these are forgotten by those seeking thrills or simply ignored without any consideration of the consequences. There is a local section of track not far from the school that is one of the worst nationally for injuries and worse. So it was with great pleasure that this Thursday we hosted an assembly for Year 10 on track safety by Tackling Track Safety UK, an organisation that seeks to address these issues in schools. The hard-hitting presentation and accompanying films certainly had an impact on Year 10.

TRACK SAFETY

We are in the process of piloting a new approach to celebrating and recognising achievement in school. House points were introduced last week and have been, it would seem, a roaring success. Please ask your son or daughter each day if they have been awarded any. Towards the end of May we will be holding major celebration events across the school. Vivos are being phased out and there will be opportunities for pupils to cash in their stash!HOUSE POINTS

PRO-LIFE DAY

This year has seen our Pro-Life Group come together and take-off under the leadership of Miss Singleton. There are over 30 young people who are members and they have developed a strong sense of mission and identity, designing a logo, presenting at assembly and meeting regularly. Impressively they have also turned belief and principle into action by putting together packs of baby materials and a crib to support mothers and children in need. This week they had arranged for the charity Life to come into school and present to all year groups. Our pupils were very receptive to the presentations and asked very thoughtful and insightful questions of the presenters. The staff from Life commented on the extraordinary and unusual dynamism of the group it was, they said, very rare in schools.

SALFORD FOUNDATION Large numbers of our Year 11s have signed up for the National Citizenship Service this summer. to celebrate Salford Foundation came in and dished out some pizza for those who have made a commitment to serving their communities. As a school we place a very high value on service and celebrate it whenever we can - it absolutely expresses our faith.

CALLUM DANIELS How proud we were at Year 8 assembly to celebrate the talents of Callum Daniels. Callum was recently presented with a special medal by the Humane Society for his life-saving skills in swimming. Mr. Morrison (Head of Year 8) enjoyed making a fuss of him in front of the year group and showing off his medal. Well done Callum.

HOLLY AND AIMEE: RUGBY EXCELLENCE! Congratulations to Aimee and Holly who played recently in regional and national rugby matches. It’s great to see our talented students developing to such a high level.

JOSH HART PERFORMING AT G-FEST You may remember recently that we celebrated the musical success of Josh Hart at a Battle of the Bands competition. He’s now going one step further with his band when they perform G-Fest, Worsley on Sunday 1st May.  They will be on the main stage at 1.30pm.  All proceeds go towards a very good cause, 'Georgia's Children of the World' (a very inspirational story). Family tickets are £20. You can find out more at http://georgiaschildren.weebly.com/main-stage.html

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK do you have a growth or fixed mindset? that’s what assembly was about this week.

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK Look at the amazing work our year 11 have produced with manchester university looking at inflammation and exploring art and science together.

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK more of the collaborative work between manchester uni and year 11. the students and pupils are pictured above.

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK ABOVE: THE YOUNG ENTERPRISE TEAM; BELOW: OUR LATEST MY AMBROSE POSTER AND FEATURE http://www.stambrosebarlowswinton.org/my-ambrose/jacob-farr/

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK holly and aimee in action this week; the presentation on track safety below.

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK the pro-life group lunch with life charity; callum daniels and his medal.