Abraham Moss Community School is a 3-16 school serving a cosmopolitan community in North Manchester. The school is oversubscribed in all-year groups. From September 2014 we extended our provision to include nursery provision and there are currently over 470 pupils in the Primary Phase and over 1300 pupils in the Secondary Phase. We are a truly inclusive, community school that is the first choice for the majority of families in the local community.
We believe in education being about giving children the best possible start in life. We recognize the primary need for achievement in academic skills and abilities but success in life requires more, especially the early acquisition of mature attitudes and a sense of purpose.
Our expectations are high. We demand hard work in an atmosphere of mutual respect, harmony, tolerance, and a celebration of diversity. We expect courteous and respectful behavior towards others, both in school and at home. Restorative Justice is a central facet of our practice.
We have a strong focus on the acquisition of literacy skills recognizing that this is paramount for any child to succeed. The re-designation of the school into an all-through school has offered us wonderful opportunities to re-examine the manner we embed academic language and vocabulary into our practice.
The Arts are embedded into our curriculum and creativity is nurtured and allowed to flourish. Our commitment to the Arts is fundamental to our practice. We are fortunate, through secure financial planning, to have a well-resourced provision in all our curriculum areas. We work closely with North Manchester Regeneration, the Local Authority, and Manchester Adult Education Services to improve the provision for the whole community.
The highly qualified staff at the school are skilled and committed to the ethos and values that underpin our practice. The opportunities to learn outside the classroom through visiting speakers and educational trips and visits are key to us providing all children with the opportunities to succeed post-16. There is a strong commitment from the leadership team and governors to professional development for staff.
The school is highly skilled in meeting the needs of bilingual children. There are over 63 languages spoken at the school and over 20 countries of origin. Pupils with English as an Additional Language and International New Arrivals make outstanding progress. The bilingual staff at the school work with the whole community to ensure the success of all pupils and to support parents in understanding how best to support their children. Consequently, we support the Somali supplementary school that is housed in the school every Sunday – alongside the Iqra and Malay supplementary schools that have run at Abraham Moss for many years.
We are a barrier-free school and are therefore able to cater fully to the needs of pupils with movement difficulties. Our work with hearing-impaired children is well supported by the Local Authority and other agencies. Our Barrier-Free children regularly sweep the board in medals at local and national events. Since September 2012, we have resourced provision for Autism as well as Speech and Language.
For us, being a community school means everybody is welcome. We are committed to the partnership of schools in North Manchester. We are proud of our ethos of Ex Diversitate Vires (from diversity, strength) and, in our community, we make sure that everyone is treated as individuals. We see education, not as merely an examination factory to gain a place in a performance table, but as the means to provide children with an opportunity to succeed and to provide choices for pupils and their families.
As a state school, we follow the National Curriculum set out by the Department for Education. As an inclusive school, we believe in developing creativity, resilience, employability skills, and positive engagement with the wider community. The Spiritual, Moral, Social, and Cultural aspects of education are a strength of the school and are well supported by the comprehensive PSHE and Citizenship curriculum. Religious Education is delivered throughout the school with pupils in the Primary Phase engaging in a comprehensive curriculum entitled: Friendship, Community and Diversity. This encompasses RE, PSHE, and Social, Emotional Aspects of Learning. By the end of Key Stage 4, all pupils have studied RE as a discreet subject throughout the Secondary Phase and all pupils are entered for a full GCSE.
Improving literacy and numeracy skills are a cornerstone of our curriculum. We aim to develop a love of individual subjects, a thirst for knowledge and provide opportunities for pupils to excel as they progress through the school. To support our aims the school invests in enriching the curriculum in all phases through a wide variety of visiting speakers, curriculum trips, and extra-curricular activities. The development and promotion of the Arts and STEM activities are central to our beliefs.
The Government has removed the need for schools to assess pupils without the use of levels. From September 2014, we have taken the advice of the National Association of Headteachers and are continuing to use levels for a transition period. We are building a new assessment policy that will give clearer guidance to parents on whether their child is working below the expectations for their age, in line with their peers, or exceeding age-related expectations. In the Secondary Phase, this will relate directly to their performance in the new GCSEs.
Ongoing assessment throughout the year. This is formally recorded half termly and reported to parents at Parents’ Evenings (3 times a year) and in a final annual report at the end of the year. In Key Stage 3 parents receive information on their child’s progress termly. This shows their target level, what they are currently working at and what they predict they will achieve by the end of the year. Parents also have a lengthy appointment with their child’s tutor and receive an annual report from subject tutors. Heads of Year are available to speak about children’s progress throughout the year.
In Key Stage 4 parents receive information on progress four times a year. This shows their target grade and what the teacher predicts they will achieve if they continue working with the same effort and attitude they are currently demonstrating. There is also a lengthy appointment with their child’s tutor, an annual report from subject tutors, and a specific meeting with their child’s teacher for each subject. All year groups in the second phase will sit formal exams from September 2015.
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