Teaching of Phonics at St Ambrose Barlow

At St Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School, we aim to foster a love of language and reading and, therefore, attach great importance to enabling our children to become fluent readers.

We use ‘Supersonic Phonic Friends.’ As our phonics scheme. This programme is a fully systematic, synthetic phonic approach ranging from the simple to the complex spellings of the alphabetic code. Supported by their Supersonic Phonic friends, this approach will ensure children develop confidence and apply each skill to their own reading and writing.

The benefits of this approach include:

• Active engagement at all times ensuring every session is maximised, making every minute count. Fun and physical indoor and outdoors and so much more…
• Supersonic Phonic Friends fully meets the DFE’s 16 Essential Core Criteria. It ensures commitment, consistent, creative quality first teaching of phonics across all key stages.
• Injecting new life into phonics. Exciting, engaging and brain friendly phonics made simple and easy for teachers and children.
• Every child is taught tailored phonics sessions to suit their stage of development each and every single day for approximately 30 minutes per session.
• All staff have been trained in this approach which means we ensure that our phonics times are protected.

Please visit the website for more information and to meet the characters!

https://www.supersonicphonicfriends.co.uk/

By the end of Year 2, most children will have completed the Phonics scheme of learning and are ready to access the NC spelling programme. However, no child is left behind at St Ambrose Barlow. For a small number of children that may require further teaching to support reading and writing, we offer further intervention in Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 where required.

A link to our full Curriculum Statement document can be found by clicking the image below:

Teaching & Learning

Our teachers are committed to teaching each pupil to fully develop their talents and aptitudes to the fullest.

The curriculum is a broad and balanced one taught within the Catholic ethos of the school. The curriculum is challenging and rigorous. Pupils will learn good habits of work, develop their intellectual, moral and spiritual skills to emerge as well-educated, responsible and Catholic citizens, both of their communities and the wider world.

Pupils are taught using a variety of methods including whole class teaching, group work and on a one-to-one basis. Teachers are very conscious that every child matters and adapt their teaching methods accordingly. The school actively promotes the National Curriculum aims to foster independent learning.

Assessment is regular, objective and an integral part of learning allowing the pupil and the teacher to identify strengths as well as areas for development, thereby motivating the pupil to see how progress can be achieved.

The school has adopted Assessment for Learning which involves teacher, peer and self assessment in order to enhance learning. All these approaches aim to ensure that all pupils achieve their academic potential.

Staff development is of great importance and all staff are highly valued. The support staff are a large and vital part of the school who provide a high standard of work which all contributes to the pupils’ success.

Growth Mindset

At Saint Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School, we know that pupils who have a positive attitude towards their learning will make good progress and be successful. Consequently, instilling all our pupils with ‘growth mindsets’ has become a key priority for the school. We have introduced the theories of Dr Carol Dweck to staff and pupils and are determined to embed its ideas within our school ethos. 

We want all our pupils to relish challenges, embrace their mistakes as part of the learning process, value the importance of effort, respond carefully to feedback and take inspiration from others. This will help them to achieve, not only with us, but also in their future lives as adults.

Our School Curriculum:

You can find the curriculum assessment criteria for each year group by selecting the relevant tab below:

Please feel free to speak to your child’s teacher for further information regarding the curriculum.

A link to the full DfE National Curriculum Document can be found by clicking the link below: