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

JUNE10th 2016 Issue 19

A National Teaching SchoolA National School of Creativity

ST AMBROSE BARLOW RC HIGH SCHOOL

open eveningdepartmental information

IMPORTANT DATES & FORTHCOMING EVENTS

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

Year 11 Prom July 1st

Y7 Conway trip July 4th - 8th

Year 10 Plas Menai trip 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

Armed Forces Day

June 27th sees us mark national Armed Forces Day. All pupils and students who are members of the cadets or other service organisations are encouraged to come to school in their uniforms.

Speaking for Ourselves Top performance poet Louise Wallwein joined us on the Friday we broke up for half-term to work with a group of Year 9 pupils. Together they explored all sorts of exciting and challenging themes and ideas through poetry. Under Louise’s keen guiding eye each pupil wrote and read out their work, with many pieces provoking strong reactions and thoughtful debate and discussion. We intend to publish the pupils’ work later in the year.

Imperial War Museum trip “It’s much better than copying out of a text book,’ observed one pupil as he got lost in modern history this week at the Imperial War Museum, Salford Quays. Led by Miss Chester a class of Year 9 pupils learnt about conflict and found that through engagement with objects, first-hand accounts and displays the past came to life and understanding was improved.

Faith Formation Day We were delighted to welcome over 300 primary pupils to the school on Thursday. They were from schools across the Diocese of Salford and were here to work with an educator and performer from Sydney, Australia. They spent the day being looked after by Year 10 guides and leaders and the event was organised in school by Mr. Sanders.

First Aid Training Salford Foundation and Street Doctors came to school to work with pupils on developing the skills needed for life-saving and looking after the injured. The work was very challenging and exciting and our pupils rose to those challenges. Great to see citizenship and commitment to others in action.

Year 9 Retreat Earlier this week an excitable group of Year 9s headed south on the M6 to Alton Towers and then on to the Soli Centre for several days of retreat, prayer and reflection. Led by the Head of RE, Mr Davies, the pupils already seem to have had an excellent time. More to follow in the next edition.

World Environment Day Sunday, June 5th was World Environment Day and several forms from all year groups took the lead in marking this in assembly.

They focused on the many challenges faced by the environment, particularly water shortages, deforestation and population increase. A thoughtful and arresting series of presentations from our talented pupils.

Pro-life The pro-life group met with volunteers from the charity Life to hand over their baby baskets and other donations collected over the last 6 months. Many thanks to all those who contributed second hand or new items, they will be so valuable to the expectant mothers who are struggling to prepare for the birth of their new babies. Life were very grateful for the donations and commented once again on how impressive our pupils have been in rallying around this issue.

Special Assemblies: Standards and Expectations In our first week back after the holiday we held special assemblies for all year groups to remind them of our standards and expectations and to encourage them to seek to be the best versions of themselves this term. A letter has been sent home outlining three of the issues discussed: uniform, energy drinks and the use of social media.

ACTS OF KINDNESS The following pupils were nominated by their peers for a variety of reasons:

Year 7: Ella Whitling - Creativity and confidence; Jessica Jones - Kindness; Fern Williams-Gardner - Service to others; Abigail Sutton - Kindness

Year 8: Katie Moss - Courage and Honesty; Emily Costello - Kindness and Service to others

6th Form: Alison More - determination/service to others

Winning Forms Our trial run of the new house points system has been successful. In the last week of term the winning forms all enjoyed a special treat. They are: 7C, 8B, 9M, 10F, 11B.

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK above: year 9 at the imperial war museum; below: the pro-life group presenting donations to Life Charity

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK above: working with poet louise wallwein; below: learning about first aid from salford foundation.

OUR SCHOOL THIS WEEK above: year 11 art on display; team-building on retreat at the soli centre.