christmasNEWSLETTER SEPT - DEC2015

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“Inspiring students with LOTS OF IDEAS!

Local MP

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Since I took up my post on July 1st I have been immersed in the many stories that make up this great school. I started on the hottest day of the year, when the big news was not a brand new Headteacher, but whether or not blazers could be removed on account of the soaring temperatures. In the months that have followed I have been absorbed by our stories: the successes and challenges of the young people in this school. I have shared with them, and with the staff, the inevitable highs and lows of daily life in school. This edition of the newsletter is packed with stories and pictures of life in and around school: trips, learning experiences, artwork, enterprise. The list goes on, but packed though it is, the newsletter is but a snapshot of life at St. Ambrose Barlow RC High School and Sixth Form College. I hope you enjoy reading about our school.

Since September we have made excellent progress with the Sixth Form, fashioning a unique offer as a small, nurturing creative environment. It is an experience that no other college can match. We have drawn up a new and ambitious development strategy for the next three to five years placing a strong emphasis on improving communication with parents and guardians and building on our already successful external partnerships. It has been a pleasure to get to know the young people - those for whom this school exists - and even more of a joy to partake in spirited discussion with them via the expansion of opportunities for student voice and leadership. The Inclusion Quality Mark inspection in early July praised our ethos so it is very rewarding to see each day the difference that this makes each day to all our young people, particularly the many who are vulnerable.

This month we have begun a new focus on promoting positive mental health and wellbeing. I regard this as the most important of all the initiatives that have started this term. It is vital that our approach is courageous and thoughtful, underpinned by our faith and values. Our faith imbues every interaction in this school, no matter how minor. It is worth reminding ourselves of the importance of even the smallest action and its potential to improve or diminish relationships. A renewed focus on mental wellbeing asks that we revisit how we build these relationships, especially with our students, but also between departments and beyond the school gates. It

challenges us to be open to new ideas, to be creative and it is right that we consider afresh how the values that bind us are expressed.

I love coming to work here each day for many reasons, but the support and friendship of the staff, students and parents is a great factor. I would like to thank to all staff for their work this term, but I feel that I should mention particularly the teaching assistants, administration, welfare and finance staff who make a vital contribution. I am sure that all parents and guardians will join me in thanking our staff for the difference they make each to the lives of our students. They are dedicated, hardworking and show great care towards the communities we serve. Finally, I must pay tribute to George Glover (Teaching Assistant) and Gill Brunt (Head of Languages) who retire this term. In different ways they exemplify the goodness that lives in this school with their calm outlook, humour and sense of commitment. They will be missed.

I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a peaceful and Happy New Year for 2016. If I have not yet had a chance to meet with you I look forward to doing so soon. I am always keen to hear from parents, guardians and members of the local community so please do not hesitate to get in touch.

Yours faithfully,

Ben DavisHeadteacher

Ben.davis@salford.gov.uk

MusicReligious EducationModern Foreign LanguageDramaMathsComputer ScienceSport

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departments

School CouncilCharityCareers

our school

Senior Citizens PartyTeacher Training

events

Year 7 - Eat healthily this Christmas!

Selection of Year 11 Art work

art

Give students a voice

Record incidents

Simple categorisation and control

Powerful real-time reports

Accessible anytime, anywhere

Instant, custom notifications

Access control

tootoot

Ammended 2015-16 School Calendar

calendar

01 departments

MusicSalford and the Somme Project.

Fifteen Year 8 pupils have been involved in this project. They have been working with Professor Davismoon from Salford University to produce their own compositions which reflects on the Battle of the Somme, and the effect that it had on Salford. Their compositions will be broadcast at the Bridgewater Hall on the 1st of July. School Choir

The school choir have been busy performing during the last few weeks of term. They have performed for the Senior Citizen’s party, at the Ellesmere Shopping Centre for the Rotary Club to raise money for charity, along with singing at the Swinton Hall care home. The choir meet on a Wednesday after school from 3.20 until 4.20 - new members welcome!

Religious Education8th December

On 8th December, the Solemnity of the Immaculate

Conception, Mr Davies (RE) and Mrs Thompson

were privileged to take three pupils to Salford

Cathedral for the Launch of Pope Francis’ Year of

Mercy. Brendan, Logan and Hana had a brilliant

time and the Mass, presided over by Bishop

John Arnold, was really geared to the youth of the

Diocese. Year 8 pupil, Logan, also represented the

school in the Offertory procession.

As part of the Year of Mercy, every school in the

Diocese will receive the ‘Holy Doors’ – St Ambrose

Barlow will be one of the last schools to receive the

Doors on 21st November 2016. However, this Mass

gave us a sneak preview. We look forward to joining

in lots of activities during the Year of Mercy when we

will have many opportunities to explore forgiveness,

love and mercy as a school.

MFL¡Hola Bienvenida al Español!

The MFL department have recently returned from Barcelona. We have all had a fantastic time. I am so proud of each and every one of them! They were enthusiastic and appreciative of everything we did. I hope they have lots of fond memories of the trip.

Drama

An Evening of Monologues and Duologues, Wednesday 21.10.15

On the evening of Wednesday 21st October we

welcomed an audience of students, ex students,

teachers, parents and other family members to

support both the year 10 and year 11 GCSE Drama

students. The work presented was exceptional

and was warmly appreciated by the audience.

This year for the first time we finished the evening

with a round of ‘Beyoncelogues’ and other similar

performances where the monologues are made of

well known lyrics. These were received extremely

well on the evening itself and on Open Evening. We

even got a tweet from the queen of ‘Beyoncelogue’

monologues herself after the event!

Victoria Burrows, Drama Director: Professional Debut

We are delighted to report that ex Ambrose Barlow

student, Victoria Burrows, has made her professional

debut in Manchester’s newest theatre venue, HOME.

She took on the role of lead Chorus member in the

condensed version of the Greek Tragedy Trilogy,

THE ORESTEIA. A number of teachers have made

the effort to see the show, which Vicky has really

appreciated.

Year 11 Theatre Trip to the Lowry to see ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’

On Wednesday 18th November the year 11

GCSE Drama class visited the Lowry to see the

professional production of their set text. We were

extremely fortunate to have secured seats for this

popular show and all absolutely LOVED it!

Drama

The Drama Department welcomes the NEW GCSE year 10 group

The new GCSE drama group started work in September with a deep think about the philosophy of UBUNTU (‘Together we get there stronger’). We recreated the circle of the African Tribes who practice this philosophy and thought deeply about how significant we are to each other’s’ learning.

Drama Club (Years 7 -10) and Neon Sounds (Year 7)

The Drama Club is run on a Friday after school for students in year’s 7 to 10. Neon Sounds (a choir that focuses on recreating modern chart tunes) is run on Friday lunchtime for year 7 students; with older students from last year rehearsing independently afterschool on Fridays. The clubs are regularly attended by over 20 students. Both groups have been a pleasure to work with and will be performing in the MMADD concert after the Advent Liturgy on Tuesday 15th December.

Stage Blocks for the Drama StudioTHANK YOU!

We have been able to order these stage blocks after continues fund raising at all our public performances. These are the same blocks used by the National Theatre Company in the play ‘The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time’, which year 11 are studying as their set text this year. If you came to a performance and contributed, we all thank you! These blocks will be used to stage drama and show art work.

Maths

Maths Primary Road Show

The Maths Primary Road show ran for 2 mornings

with children from St Marks, St Marys, St Lukes,

St Charles, St Edmunds and Christ the King in

attendance. It was a morning of fun maths games

and puzzles which was enjoyed by all the children.

The year 6 pupils demonstrated an excellent

attitude and worked very hard, everyone received

a certificate. There were also prizes for teams who

completed the challenges in the quickest time. A

big thank you to the year 9 pupils who supported

the morning, they were a credit to the school!

Computer Science

Hour of Code:

The 7th – 10th December was Hour of Code week.

This international event was established to promote

Computer programming to young people. All Key

Stage 3 classes have completed the hour of code

this week and they will receive their certificates

soon.

Mr Clancy’s coding club has now met 4 times.

Pupils have been learning to program in a number

of different languages including; Python, Java and

Scratch.

Year 7 need to keep an eye out for the arrival of

the “Microbit”. More information to follow after

Christmas.

PE

Rugby League

The year 8 rugby team are currently the Salford Champions and have had a busy and challenging start to the year. They have been taking part in the toughest rugby league competition in the country.

The ‘Champions Schools’ is not for the faint hearted. It consists of the toughest rugby league teams in the country. Their first game was against Standish High School in Wigan. Ambrose Barlow channelled their aggression and played out of their skins to an emphatic victory.

Unfortunately they were outclassed by a fantastic Cowley High School in the next round. They look forward to defend their title in the Salford league which starts later this year.

PE

Year 9

The year 9 rugby team have had a successful season. The finished Salford 7’s champions overcoming some tough opposition. They also finished third in the league.

Year 11

The year 11 team who are also Salford Champions have had a busy start to the year. They have made an excellent start to season by winning the Salford 7’s competition for the third consecutive year. The also top the table in the league.They were unlucky in the ‘Champions Schools’ competition and were knocked out by a strong Wade Deacon High School from St Helens.

02 our school

School Council

#MakeYourMark

November 16th - 20th marked the annual Parliament

Week in the UK. Our School Council used the recent

#MakeYourMark campaign to show how powerful

student voices can be! Following that, this enabled

our Council to arrange for our local MP and Youth

MP to visit our school. The event was a huge

success and we used the forum to debate about

current issues; ranging from the plight of the Syrian

refugees and the events in Paris, to more local and

community issues that our students feel passionate

about. Take a look at the event in pictures... We had

a great time!

Check back next time, for an update from our very

own Oliver lea - voted as Salford’s Youth Councillor

for St Ambrose. Well done Oliver!

Charity

We are collecting items for refugees and food for

Loaves and Fishes at the drop in centre in Salford.

Hollie Mellor and pupils have helped to raise £155

pounds so far for St Ann’s Hospice and we are

hoping to raise more by the end of term.

Please be aware, we will also be holding a Fairtrade

stall at St Edmund’s Parish Church on Sunday

December 13th.

CareersYear 11 Mock Interview day

Each year, the careers team hold a mock interview day for all year 11 pupils, this year including year 12 and 13. This was held in November. All the pupils who took part looked extremely smart and did themselves, the school and their parents proud by their conduct in the interview with representatives from the world of work. Well done to you all. Careers week/ Year 10, 12 and 13 trip to the Big Careers Fair.

The school has held a focus week for career opportunities during the week of 25th November, where part of all lessons and form time was focused on informing pupils about the world of work and post-14/post-16 options. During this week, year 10 pupils went on a trip to the Etihad stadium for the Big Careers Fair event. All the pupils who went were excellent ambassadors for the school and felt that this was a valuable research opportunity.

03 events

Dragons DenYear 7 pupils at St Ambrose Barlow RC High School

saw all their hard work on a Dragons Den enterprise

challenge pay off this week at their Christmas fair.

Over the course of the past 8 weeks pupils have been

working to set up their own businesses, working in

teams to develop a product and pitch their idea to

a group of dragons to gain a £10 loan from school

to set up their business. After successfully gaining

their loan they then developed their products to sell

them to friends, parents at the Christmas Fair.

Business and ICT teacher at the school, Sally

Cheshire, said: “The project has been a huge

success and all pupils were a credit to themselves

and the school at the Christmas fair. There were

30 businesses in total selling products at the fair

and each one was fantastic. Between them they

managed to raise over £1000 of which we have

donated half to St Ann’s Hospice and the rest has

been given back to the pupils to split equally in their

businesses. Thank you so much to all who attended

on Tuesday to support the pupils. We believe

developing enterprise skills is a key to success for

our pupils. This is the first time the project has run

and we are so impressed with the results.”

One pupil said: “I enjoyed the enterprise project

because it gave me the chance to work as a team

and earn a bit of money. It was exciting to set

everything up and make our products as a group.

It was an opportunity to build a stronger friendship

with the people in my group. We were having lots

of fun by selling our products to customers, and we

were making lots of profit! Over all it was a good

experience and it taught me to work as a team to

make money.”

Senior Citizens Party

For more than 20 years, St Ambrose Barlow RC

High School has put on an afternoon of festivities for

our local Senior Citizens. We advertise in our local

Parishes and local area next to the school.

The families in school donate a small amount of

money (usually £1.00), which is used to buy goods

that is made into hampers for our guests. School

staff donate gifts, which are wrapped and handed

out by Father Christmas on the day as an additional

gift with the hamper. Our students make mince pies

and Christmas cakes for each person too.

The whole afternoon was a celebration of Liturgy,

recognising the birth of Jesus and a showcase of

students’ singing voices and dancing. Our Senior

Citizens are usually Grandparents and friends from

the community and they too join in with the singing.

Our aim is to let them know that we are thankful for

the support they give to school and their families and

some of them will be ex-students themselves!! The

Concert was our chance to bring them all together

and thank them for all they do.

Prizes!

Over the past few days we have been giving out

prizes to those pupils who have made exceptional

effort within school. Those pupils attend before

school and after school to make quicker progress

in relation to their studies. We are super proud of

their commitment and effort to better themselves in

a variety of areas.

Year 11 Rewards Trip - The Rock Bowling

Jacob Andrews and Josh Hart

Staff Dance

Your students have the WOW factor! I was seriously impressed. Exceptional teachers! exceptional school.

Marilyn Comrie

“ “

Ambrose Got Talent

Teacher Training

Are you interested in training to become a primary or secondary school teacher?

Our school is part of a growing number of schools

that is leading the way for more school-led teacher

training. This is really important to us because

it means we can choose the very best talent and

develop them into teachers. Being able to choose

who we train as teachers helps us in delivering

the best outcomes for the students at St Ambrose

Barlow.

We have vacancies now to start training from

September 2016 and we would be very interested

to hear from you if you are thinking of becoming a

teacher, or know someone who is. We’re looking

for people who have (or will have) a degree, have

a passion for teaching and want to inspire young

people to fulfil their potential. There are bursaries of

up to £30K available for priority subject areas.

We’d love for you to come in and have a chat with

us about the exciting teacher training opportunities

available. We can also provide you with support and

guidance on your application form and offer you

school experience if you just want a taster of what

teaching could be like. For more information contact

tracy.reeves@salford.gov.uk or call 0161 9211600.

You can also find more information on our website

http://www.stambrosebarlowswinton.org/teaching-

school/train-with-us/

For any further information on what becoming a

teacher might involve more generally, you can also

visit http://www.education.gov.uk/get-into-teaching.

04 art

Art

Year 7

A reminder from year 7 to eat healthily this

Christmas! Year 7 pupils are currently making

artwork inspired by book Illustrator Eric Carle.

The artwork in this image was created by Esme

McComb, Lilly Murray, Cameron Ashton, Madison

Egerton, Jack Kelly, Mia Tierney and Molly Collier.

05 tootoot

Tootoot will be launched by the school in January. Here is how and why it works

Whether you’re a primary school or a university, giving your students a safe place to

confidentially disclose their worries and concerns is the most important thing, and it’s central

to how tootoot works. We provide your students with a platform to communicate anonymously

1-to-1, directly with a member of your staff.

Give students a voice

Record incidents

Outside of responding and resolving student’s concerns, tootoot allows your staff to quickly

and easily record and log any incidents they observe. Whether it be a fight on the playground,

a dirty uniform, instances of discrimination, harassment or any other safeguarding related

incident, tootoot can document everything. It is also much faster and more convenient than

paper-based reporting forms.

TootootSimple categorisation and control

Incidents recorded by your staff and concerns reported by your students can quickly and

easily be categorised upon resolution, which allows your senior leadership to create eye-

opening reports. These incidents and student concerns can also be reassigned between

your team, ensuring the right person is on the case at all times. It’s simple to use and very

insightful.

Powerful real-time reports

Senior leadership teams, governors and regulatory bodies such as Ofsted each require

different data at different times, but how long does it take you to get it right now? With the

click of a button, tootoot collects, analyses and creates detailed reports instantly, anytime of

the day. You’ll no longer have to spend hours riffling through filing cabinets.

Accessible anytime, anywhere

Students can report concerns and worries around the clock from anywhere in the world, either

on a computer via a web browser, or on a mobile with native apps for iOS, Android, Windows

Phone and Blackberry. Your staff are able to respond to your students, resolve their concerns

and even record safeguarding incidents on-the-go, using the very same app.

Instant, custom notifications

Everytime you, your staff or your students carry out an action on tootoot, an email will

automatically be sent out to notify those relevant. Whether it’s to notify your pastoral team that

a student has reported a concern, or to notify a head of year that they’ve been assigned to

an incident, tootoot will send out the right emails at the right time, meaning there’s no need to

check tootoot every day. And don’t worry about being bombarded, everyone can customise

their notification settings so they only receive the emails that are important to them.

Access control

With tootoot you can ensure that members of your staff have the appropriate access, and it’s

really easy to control. For example you may want to give some staff members the ability to

help students resolve their concerns, whilst giving higher access to members of your pastoral

team, who would be able to see a student’s entire incident and reporting history.

This is such an amazing school. An amazing Presentation Evening always makes me so proud to work with talented students and teachers.

Alison Watson, A Class of Your Own

“ “

06 calendar

School closes at 3.15 pm on the days indicated below School re-opens

2016 Autumn Term

Term begins Thursday 3rd September 2015

Mid Term Friday 23rd October 2015 Monday, 2nd November 2015

Christmas Friday 18th December 2015

2017 Spring Term

New Year Monday 4th January 2016

Mid Term Friday 12th February 2016 Monday 22nd February 2016

Easter Friday 18th March, 2016 Tuesday 5th April 2016

2017 Summer Term

Staff Training Thursday 21st April 2016at 3.15pm Monday 25th April 2016

May Day Friday 29th April, 2016 Tuesday 3rd May 2016

Mid Term Friday 27nd May 2016 Monday 6th June 2016

Summer Friday 15th July 2016

STAFF TRAINING DAYS

Tuesday 1st September 2015

Wednesday 2nd September 2015

Friday 22nd April, 2016

TwILIGHT (commencing at 3.15pm)

Thursday 21st April, 2016

Monday 4th April, 2016 (additional training day approved by the Governors)

St Ambrose Barlow RC High School

Holiday Dates 2015/2016

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37 Ash Drive | Wardley | Swinton | M27 9QP | Tel 0161 921 1570 | office@ambrose.salford.sch.uk | www.stambrosebarlowswinton.org

St Ambrose Barlow RC High School & Sixth Form CollegeA National Teaching School

A National School of Creativity