Virtual Tour & Information

Headteacher’s Welcome

On behalf of the children, governors and staff of Saint Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School may I welcome you to our school’s website and our Virtual Tour & Information page.  Not all families are able to visit our magical school before applying for places for their children, so in lieu of this we have created this section to help share some of the different aspects of our wonderful school and allow you to better inform your choice of application. We hope that this will give you an idea of what makes Saint Ambrose Barlow the special, spiritual and enriching environment we are all so proud of.

At Saint Ambrose Barlow we believe that every child is a unique being, created in the image of God. Within our school, we seek to create a happy, friendly and supportive environment, where every child has the opportunity to develop spiritually, intellectually and socially.  As a distinctly Catholic school we take pride in our school’s mission statement – ‘I have come that they may have life and have it to the full’ and strive to live it out each and every day.  It is the aim of everyone in our school to provide the best possible opportunities for the children in our care and to help them grow in their journey of faith, with Gospel values at the centre of everything we do.

In our school children are encouraged to aim for the highest possible standards by providing a range of exciting opportunities and experiences within our broad and balanced curriculum. Our dedicated staff play an integral role in fostering a family atmosphere, where children feel secure and are able to thrive.

Our partnership with families begins the moment you walk through our doors and become part of our school family.  We are, at our core, a Catholic school family, working together to prove the very best for the children in our care.   Please feel free to contact school with any additional queries you might have, and thank you again for your interest in our school community.

Mr Doherty and Saint Ambrose Barlow Team

Please click the link below for our latest prospectus or continue to scroll for more information:

St Ambrose Barlow School Prospectus 2025-26

Admissions Arrangements and Admission Criteria 2025-26:

https://www.saintambrosebarlow.co.uk/information/admissions/

Mission Statement

‘I have come that they may have life and have it to the full.’

John 10:10

Our Mission is to enable our children to have life to the full; to learn and grow in God’s light.

St Ambrose Barlow is a Catholic School in which each individual grows in the knowledge and love of Christ. In partnership with parents and the whole community our purpose is to provide the highest standard of education giving the maximum opportunity to realise each person’s potential developing their lives to the full.

We believe that to make the vision a reality, we must: –

• Follow the example of Christ and treat our children, families and staff with dignity and respect by showing Christ’s love throughout the wider community
• Help our children, families and each other know of God’s love for all of us and to learn about the message of Christ through the Gospels.
• Provide a high quality, inclusive education for all where creativity and personality are allowed to blossom and thrive and where independence, motivation and perseverance become life-long skills.
• Encourage and motivate a highly skilled team of staff by continually developing their knowledge to ensure the best possible education for all of our children.
• Support our children, their families and each other in their faith journey by developing a knowledge and understanding of the traditions of the Catholic church and especially in sacramental preparation.
• Foster in the children respect for themselves and all human beings including the environment and the society in which they will live so that they grow into kind and caring young people who respect others regardless of their faith or cultural backgrounds.

Values & Ethos

In St Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School we follow in the footsteps of Jesus spreading the Gospel values to our school community

At St Ambrose Barlow we have a commitment to the wellbeing of our children. All are welcome in an inclusive community with the development of the whole child at the heart of our mission as a Catholic school.

Our values underpin our school life and encompass “British Values” in all our actions to prepare us to :

Be Ready  –  We nurture a growth mindset  to encourage all members of our school family to be receptive to learning and life through organisation, preparation and showing initiative.

Be Respectful –   As Jesus welcomed all, we encourage everyone to be aware of the value of every person and treat them with respect and appreciation regardless of difference.   We expand understanding so we can appreciate and respect different cultural traditions and beliefs.

Be Kind –   Every human being is equal and valued and loved by God so within our school we look upon everyone with due care, compassion and consideration.  We cherish our environment and the world around us to preserve God’s gift to us and conserve it for the future.

Be Safe  – As we travel through our  lives, challenge and a sense of enquiry is encouraged to achieve successful goals. We accept it as our duty to give the strength, help and confidence to provide the skills to nurture the belief in the peace that the Lord will bless and keep us safe.

Be a light for Christ – In all our actions, words and thoughts we share the love of Jesus.  In our spiritual journey we encourage the use our gifts to the full, living side by side as Christ would expect us to, with an understanding of truth, justice and peace.

The Catholic Life in our school is lived out everyday

The Catholic life of the school is rich in opportunities for children to encounter God and to deepen their relationship with Him as a loving, compassionate Father. Through prayer, both traditional and informal, through liturgies and Religious Education lessons, where children receive direct teaching of the faith, through the relationships and support for each other that children, staff and parents enjoy within the school community, we enable children to come to know and love God.

Religious icons and artwork can be found throughout the school, often made by the children themselves. Displays of work in RE are of a very high quality and can be seen in classrooms and all around the school, including the school’s main reception area. Each class has a prayer focus area, with a liturgical cloth in the appropriate colour for that period of the church year.  Statues or crucifixes are present in every room in the school, highlighting the underlying belief that everything that we do at our school is founded on our Catholic faith.

The Christian values at the heart of our Catholic faith incorporate our British values and we aim in everything we do to further each child’s sense of commitment and responsibility to themselves, to others and in the wider world.

We try to share special moments with our families wherever possible. Often this is captured and then tweeted via our school or class twitter feeds, or directly shared with families via our online platform Seesaw.

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Curriculum

At St Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School we aim to create a safe, secure, inspiring and creative learning environment where children feel valued and happy. We want our pupils to become independent and resilient learners, who enjoy learning, and are enabled to achieve excellence and experience success.

St Ambrose Barlow Catholic Primary School is committed to meeting the requirements of the primary National Curriculum. We offer a broad and balanced curriculum, which ensures coverage of all objectives and requirements of the National Curriculum and endeavours to inspire a passion for learning and exploration.

School leaders have used these to plan an ambitious programme which offers breadth and variety in the knowledge and skills children need to be equipped with in order to become successful, life-long learners. The progression of skills has been carefully planned and logically sequenced so that children can build on prior learning, integrating it into the acquisition of new knowledge and skills with appropriate support and challenge.

Teachers are clear about the expected outcomes for children’s learning and make provision for any children who are identified as having gaps in their knowledge or skills. Curriculum teams have responsibility for ensuring that there are clear linked learning opportunities in order to enable children to apply and further deepen their learning in meaningful ways to support deeper learning. The curriculum is enriched with opportunities to develop children’s cultural capital.

We utilise educational trips and visits throughout the local area and across the country to further enrich children’s learning outside the classroom.

We provide a secure, stimulating environment rooted in the context of our Catholic faith, where all pupils feel comfortable, happy, valued and respected.  Our pupils are encouraged and taught to be responsible citizens and to take an active role in their school, parish and wider community, as well as exploring global issues.  There is an active partnership between the home, school, parish and wider community which we see as essential to the success of our school in all areas.

Our Catholic ethos permeates everything that we do in school and through our School Curriculum, Religious Education programme Come & See, children learn about the importance of moral values such as respect, forgiveness, truth, kindness and equality.  Our school’s mission statement ‘I have come that they may have life and have it to the full’ John 10:10 is at the heart of all that we do.

Please follow the link below for further information on our whole school curriculum:

Curriculum

Standards

We expect the very highest standards from our staff and pupils at Saint Ambrose Barlow in all areas of school life.  We aim to live out the Gospel Values each and every day, and  work to create a challenging and invigorating curriculum that is accessible to all children.  We set high expectation for the children and support them to ensure that they achieve their potential.  Staff work incredibly hard to develop the spiritual, social, moral, cultural and physical needs of all, whilst providing a safe and secure environment in which the pupils thrive and achieve their very best.  Our staff work to ensure that children enjoy coming to school and provide equal opportunities in an inclusive and supportive environment by developing responsibility, compassion and tolerance of others.

Our five school rules encompass all areas of our school life in a simple and concise manner providing a common language for all children to communicate our expectations for work, behaviour and attitude.

Our high expectations are reflected in our high academic achievement at all stages of our school.

School
Performance