Year 3- Maths-Reading time on a clock
This week, our Year 3 mathematicians have been diving deep into telling the time, revisiting and building upon their knowledge from Year 2. We focused on digital and analogue clocks, emphasising how we describe time on a digital clock. The children continued to practice using the phrases "minutes past" and "minutes to" the hour. This helped them understand the important convention that a digital time like 3:40 is best described as "20 minutes to 4," rather than "40 minutes past 3." This session was key in helping them connect times past the hour to times to the hour.
Year 3- Year of Prayer-Reflecting with Pebbles
This week, as part of our Year of Prayer, the children visited our spiritual area. Each child picked up a pebble and held it tightly, taking a quiet moment to think about the difficult things they face in life. They then asked God for help with these challenges. Afterwards, they placed their pebbles around the cross, a way of showing they were asking God for help with difficult times.
Year 3- Picture News Worship-Curiosity and Faith
Today in class worship, we explored "a Picture News Worship" focusing on a shipwreck discovery and the Christian value of Wisdom. We learned about the SS Nantes, a ship found off the coast of Devon nearly 140 years after it sank. We discussed how exciting it feels to discover new things and why people enjoy solving mysteries. Isabelle read our prayer, thanking God for creating a world full of wonder and mystery, and asking for help to be curious and respectful as we explore His amazing creation.
Reception: Jonah and the Whale
Continuing with our unit on Prayer, Reception class listened to the story of Jonah and the Whale. They used Godly play to retell the story. Reception class discussed how Jonah prayed to say sorry to God. We discussed how God listened to Jonah and answered his prayer. We discussed how God always listens to us all when we pray and will always try to answer our prayers. The children enjoyed retelling the story in continuous provision.
Year 5 - The Birth of Moses
In Year 5, the children explored the Bible story of Moses’ birth, learning about how God protected him through the courage and faith of several important women. They discovered the vital roles played by Moses’ mother (Jochebed), his sister (Miriam) and even Pharaoh’s daughter, who showed compassion by rescuing Moses from the river. Through this story, the children reflected on the significance of women in the Old Testament and how their actions were guided by faith, bravery and a deep sense of purpose. The children also discussed the broader theme of how God works through people, especially those who trust in Him during difficult times. They made links between the story and their own lives, considering how they can show faith, kindness and courage.
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Year 6 - Performing Arts
The Annie rehearsals were in full swing this week. The Year 6s are really getting into their roles, singing their hearts out and perfecting their stage presence. Next week, we’ll be trying without scripts!
Year 2- Connecting church to the Bible
Next week, our Year 2 students are looking forward to a special visit to our church with Rev. Ben! To get ready for this, we spent some time during our RE lesson exploring various items and areas they'll see in the church. We connected these to different Bible stories, like the Last Supper, where items were placed on a table similar to a church altar. We also discussed the font and how Jesus was baptized in the River Jordan, rather than a font. The children really enjoyed remembering these stories and linking them to what they'll observe next week. To conclude our lesson, we prepared some thoughtful questions that the children are eager to ask Rev. Ben during their visit.
Whole School Worship - The Unforgiving Servant
The theme in this worship was “forgiveness”. Mrs Ham continued to reveal the meaning behind the Lord’s Prayer, today, focussing on the line “and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”. To explain what Jesus taught us about forgiving others, Mrs Ham chose to share the story of The Unforgiving Servant with the help of some willing participants. Rev Ben and a couple of the children gave a fabulous performance, showing us that we should replicate to others the mercy shown to us, and that forgiveness should be given as many times as necessary. The children reflected on the story’s moral and shared their opinions about this.
Year 3- Design Technology-Features of a Castle
Today, our young designers started their final D.T. unit on structures by learning about castles. They explored the different features of a castle, such as turrets, battlements, moats, and drawbridges. We discussed why castles needed to be strong and stable, and linked this to stories and real-life examples of castles and how they were built to protect the people inside. The children then sketched their castles using 2D shapes, carefully labelling key parts. This helped them develop the skills and understanding they’ll need to build their 3D castles using boxes and cardboard tubes later in the unit. They showed fantastic creativity and a growing understanding of how structures are designed for strength and purpose.
Whole School Worship - How Can We Flourish Together?
Today, in our collective worship, we shared ideas of what it means to flourish. The children had some fantastic thoughts, including being the best you can be, persevering, sharing with others and appreciating what God has given us. We looked at each one of our Christian values and decided how they could help us to learn and grow together. Mrs Ham reminded us of some of the “wows” and the “ows” in the world and we discussed how they make us feel. We reflected on the part we can all play by taking action to prevent the suffering in the world. We ended our worship with a reminder and a celebration of the ways we at St Barnabas have affected change in our communities and in the wider world. These included supporting our local refugees, collecting preloved coats for the homeless, raising money for East Lancs Hospice and collecting tinned food and toiletries for our harvest appeal. The children articulated that we all flourish when we aim to make the world a better place.
Another Week of Achieving Great Things & Living Life in All Its Fullness!
Dear Parents and Carers, What another truly fantastic week we've had, packed with children living life in all its fullness and achieving great things! The enthusiasm and effort from our children continue to make us incredibly proud. *This Week's Highlights* It's hard to pick just a few, but here are some of the wonderful things that have happened: *Our Year 5 Peer Mediators have been outstanding! On Monday morning, they led a Worship all about justice and forgiveness, and then bravely started their new role at break and lunch times, helping to resolve conflicts among children. They're doing an amazing job and have put all their training to good use! *On Monday we also had great fun singing our favourite Worship songs at a live Fischy Music Concert. *Year 3 has been deeply engaged in learning about refugees through the book 'I am Refugee'. As part of Refugee Week, some of them were invited to a special Refugee Week Tea Party by Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE), and the whole class confidently presented their learning to the Year 2 class. *A massive congratulations to our Year 5 and 6 netball squad who won the Darwen Netball League for the second year in a row! They were undefeated in all their games over the last five weeks – what an incredible achievement!They also won the Bee Stinger Netball a few weeks ago so will be representing BWD on the 8th July. *Reception class enjoyed a spiritual walk as part of their Muddy Monday and appreciated all of God's creation and gave thanks to Him all the way along. *We've seen the exciting start of some of our new out-of-school enrichment clubs, including Forest Schools, Cre8ability, Racquet Skills, Jag Tag, Craft Club, and Multi-skills. It's wonderful to see the children engaging in such a variety of activities. *In our Year of Prayer focus, we explored fruit tea smells in class, taking time to thank God for the amazing variety of fruits and vegetables He created. *During Worship with Rev Matt, we continued our focus on different ways to pray, reminding ourselves that we can pray anytime, anyway, and anywhere. We also dedicated worship time to Refugee Week, with some classes joining the Big Live Assembly for Refugee Week. The absolute biggest highlight of the week was our Sports Day this morning! We were completely overwhelmed by the fabulous turnout of parents, carers, and family members who came along to support and encourage in true St Barnabas style. A huge thank you to everyone who came – your presence truly made it special for the children. We are so incredibly proud of each and every child for their determination, courage, and effort, as well as for the fantastic encouragement they showed each other. For all of the news in detail from each class, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Next week promises to be another busy and exciting one: Monday: Our Year 6 children will be showcasing their writing to the writing moderators from the local authority. We are super proud of all their hard work! Tuesday: Our SIAMS Church School Inspection will be taking place. We are so excited to show the Inspector our amazing school family and how we live out our vision of 'Achieving great things through learning and growing together in a love-filled Christian family' and how we all live life in all its fullness. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to speak to the Inspector and to everyone who has filled in the survey. If you haven't done so already, there is still time to fill this in. https://forms.gle/KUNHYgF69mgkLtM49 Also on Tuesday, Years 1 and 4 will have workshops from the Environment Agency about how they can reduce, reuse, and recycle waste, a great way to protect our planet. Thursday: Darwen Rotary will be visiting our RotaKids to thank them for their fantastic fundraising and projects this year and to start planning for next year. Please note, we've had to postpone our Barney's Got Talent Auditions by a week as our Sports Day ran over today. Thank you for your continued support – it means the world to us and we couldn’t do what we do without your support. Wishing you all wonderful weekend and I hope the sun continues to shine, Mrs Ham
KS1 Sports Day- Mums’, Dads’ and Toddler Race
A huge thank you to all the amazing toddler siblings, mums, and dads who joined us for our Sports Day! You all did brilliantly, especially in the Mums', Dads', and Toddler Race, and brought so many smiles to the children's faces.