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

NOVEMBER 27TH 2015 Issue 4

A National Teaching SchoolA National School of Creativity

ST AMBROSE BARLOW RC HIGH SCHOOL

open eveningdepartmental information

IMPORTANT DATES & FORTHCOMING EVENTS

6th Form Open Morning November 28th 10.00am Year 9 Reviews November 30th, December 1st and 2nd Headteacher’s Surgery December 2nd 5 pm Christmas Jumper Day December 4th Christmas Lunch December 9th Year 9 reports to parents & guardians December 11th Barcelona Trip December 12th - 13th Headteacher’s Surgery December 14th 5 pm

Advent Liturgy December 15th School closes for Christmas December 18th 12.00 pm School reopens January 4th 2016 8.45 am

MENTAL HEALTH AND WELLBEING focus

Next week (from December 2nd) we begin a series of extended forms on the theme of mental health. Our aim is to eradicate the stigma of mental ill-health and promote positive mental health. This is a whole school initiative and many aspects of it are led by students themselves. Information for parents will be sent home.

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

What’s going on in… english?

This week Year 9 could be found studying the play ‘Blood Brothers’ by Willy Russell. In some classes students explored the script by acting it out and attempting to capture the nature of the characters in their work. Others looked at language and the names of key character by producing wordsearches that led to a lot of competition between authors.

This was a week in which we put a focus on literacy. Arranged by Mrs. Tulloch and led by Julia Skinner, a former Headteacher, pupils and staff underwent training in the 100 word challenge. Out of this came clued-up pupil Literacy Ambassadors. The pupils were led by Julia Skinner to explore a picture before writing and publishing a 100 word response. The environment in the room was enhanced by the use of classical music and the ideas flowed as pupils and staff shared thoughts and responses to the work. We will be rolling out the 100 word challenge across a year group in the near future. Julia was full of praise for our staff and pupils and the way in which they had engaged with the challenge.

100 Word Challenge

AID FOR REFUGEES

Co-ordinated by Mrs Dwyer-Moores we are continuing our collection of goods and clothing for refugees. There is a real emphasis this year on developing our charity work thorough pupil leadership and participation. If you have any goods or clothing that could be donated we will receive it gratefully and will pass it on to a local aid agency for distribution to the many refugees who have come to this area. We already have a substantial amount of donations which is a testimony to the generosity of the school community. Later this month we will begin to have these picked up from the school.

One of the highlights of the week occurred early on when we welcomed a team from Greater Manchester Police to the school to talk to various year groups about a number of issues. The workshops they led encompassed knife crime, drink and drugs and antisocial behaviour. A real highlight for many of the pupils and staff was when the police dogs were brought out. Cute though they looked we were reminded that they had enough power in their jaws to break an arm and, judging by the reactions from the staff who faced them, they were not be messed with.

GMP visit the school

Two of our pupils were successful in the regional heats of the Future Chef competition this week. Beating off challengers from across the Northwest Leah and Daniel went on to earn, respectively the winners crown and special commendation for a dessert.

The standard of the competition was, as ever, very high and it is worth remembering that there had already been an internal competition in school amongst a large group of pupils to determine who would be going to the finals. So watch out for our young chefs in the future - at a restaurant near you!

Future chef competition success

What’s going on in… PE and sport?

There was no shortage of success in amongst our teams and competitors this week and they showed no sign of flagging as Christmas draws nearer. Our netball teams in Year 7 and Year 10 both recorded victories against Swinton High (9-3 and 6-2 respectively). This built on the great success of the Girls Football team last week who thrashed St. Patrick’s High School Seniors 3-1 and Juniors 6-0. The Key Stage 3 girls badminton team completed a School Games winning streak as well earning themselves gold medals.

T H I S W E E K I N P I C T U R E S

FUTURE CHEF COMPETITION

FROM TOP LEFT: two of our fantastic Year 7 students for whom Christmas has come early. This is Billy and Jamelee from form 7f both of whom have received over 50 green writings from their teachers this term - an outstanding feat. Also on this page: the winning dish in the Future Chef competition from Leah Thompson; Leah with her dishes at the competition; Leah and Daniel, our two representatives at the competition.

FROM TOP: the Literacy ambassadors doing the 100 word challenge; poring over Blood Brothers word searches; acting out Blood Brothers; Charlotte the police dog and her handler