At St Barnabas we love to show our Christian Values of generosity, friendship, respect and service to others through a variety of fundraising events over the year. Our children often come to us with their own fundraising ideas and our Rotakids and Friends of St Barnabas (FOSB) PTFA also fundraise for the school, local and national charities. Please see our events for information about the next fundraising events.

 

So far this year we have taken part in the following fundraising activities:

 

DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise) Christmas 2023 Donations

Thank you so much to our staff team and our Year 1 kindness elves for donating Christmas items to Darwen Asylum and Refuge3 Enterprise. The donations have been used to create Christmas hampers for families in need. They were distributed at the DARE Christmas party and were gratefully received.

 

DARE Christmas 2023 Toys

The RotaKids, Smart School Council of Years 5 and 6 and the rest of the school family at St Barnabas would like to say a massive thank you for your generosity. In just over two weeks, we have been overwhelmed with donations of toys for families in need. The donations will now be distributed amongst families and refugees of Darwen. This will definitely make this time extra special for so many families and that is because of you. 

 

 

Poppy Appeal- November 2023

Our Heads and Deputies sold Poppy Appeal merchandise and poppies during break times and raised a wonderful £365.50. 
We focused on Remembrance Day in our Worships and our Year 6 class took part in a special Remembrance Service in Darwen Cemetery. We will remember them. 

  

Book Donations- Darwen Rotary Club November 2023

As part of Year 5’s pledge to supporting Darwen Rotary, Year 5 have sorted and organised books to be donated to children and families that are less fortunate than ourselves. They have come up with some amazing and fantastic ideas of how they can support their local community and work as a team to make their community a better place. 

Children in Need 2023

Thank you to everyone who put on their spots and donated to Children in Need!

      

 

 

September 2023- Morocco Earthquake Appeal

As part of RotaKids, Year 5 chose to raise money for the families that have been affected by the earthquakes in Morocco. In order to raise money, Year 5 hosted a non uniform day and children came into school wearing the colours of the Moroccan flag to show their support and compassion for those affected. 

The money raised will help provide: food, water, shelter, medical essentials and survival equipment to help. 

Macmillan Coffee Morning 2023

A huge thank you to everyone who supported our annual Macmillan Coffee Morning. There was a wonderful turnout and every child got to take part too. We raised a brilliant £274.62. Thank you so much for your cake donations.

 

Hop, Skip and Jump for East Lancashire Hospice

Each class took part in a fun Hop, Skip and Jump around the playground to raise money for East Lancs Hospice. Thank you so much for your kind donations. 

 

Easter Eggs for DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise)

On Friday 31st March, we will be hosting a non uniform day. In exchange for the children wearing non uniform, we would really appreciate an Easter egg donation. Any donations received will be donated to Darwen and Asylum Refugee Enterprise (DARE) who will pass them on to families in need, the elderly who are isolated and Ukrainian families. We are sure the children will be able to tell you all about what we have been discussing during our worships about giving something to our community during Lent. This is a great way to show our Christian value of generosity by giving something to those in need during Lent and we really appreciate your generosity as always.

 

Smart School Councillors-Fundraising for Turkey and Syria Earthquake Relief

Following our last school council meeting, the children voted to hold a fundraising event on Friday 17th of March, where they will wear the flag colours of Turkey and Syria to show their support for those affected by the earthquakes. We are asking for a minimum donation of £1.00 for each child who participates in this cause, via parent pay.

The colours are red, black, green and white. Do not go out to buy anything new, please wear what you have at home.
All funds raised will be donated to a reputable charity actively working to provide relief to the earthquake victims.
 

 

Our RotaKids collected toys for DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise) and children in Ukraine

 

Children in Need

 

Poppy Appeal for the Royal British Legion

 

Bishop of Blackburn's Harvest Appeal 

Our Worship our Way (WOW) group launched our Harvest appeal challenge. We asked for donations of £1.50 from parents in exchange for the children completing 3 helpful challenges at home. Each challenge was worth 50p. The challenges could be any of those mentioned in the poster, or any that you and your child decided at home.

Donations went to the Bishop of Blackburn's Harvest Appeal and this year they are supporting the Christian charity, Mothers' Union, to support the delivery of literacy and numeracy programs to women in Burundi so that they can help earn money to support their families.

We are also collected tins and packets for our local Darwen Refugee and Asylum Enterprise (DARE) to support refugees who have had to flee their homes due to conflict. 



It was lovely to see so many parents and carers joining us at our Harvest Festival on Thursday 20th October at St Barnabas church. Our WOW group, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes led the service and the rest of the school will be joined in with songs and prayers.

 

Hello Yellow Day for World Mental Health Day

We all dressed in yellow to raise awareness of mental health and money for Young Minds so they can support youngsters with their mental health. We raised a wonderful £143.50. Thank you for all of your support. 

 

Macmillan Coffee morning led by our FOSB.

 

Thank you to everyone who donated cakes, their time and money towards this year's MacMillan Coffee Morning.

We have raised a total of £151.00 this year.

Thank you once again for your continued support.

 

RotaKids

The children in year 5 have put their hearts and soul into RotaKids. Their dedication throughout this project has been immense and we are so proud of each and every one of them. They have expressed themselves with the utmost energy, enthusiasm, and determination.

The role of a RotaKid is to raise funds to support local, national and international good causes.

During Christmas, every year group sent a Christmas e-card to our local care homes. This was something that the Rotakids organised. They felt it was vital for everyone to receive a card on Christmas day because not everyone has a family. This certainly put smiles on their faces and a few happy tears.

For the Spring term, we were given an Entrepreneurial Project. We were given £100.00 to start a small business the money was to be transferred back if we made any profit. This was a competition running between four schools.
We were definitely in it to win it!

The Rotakids came up with some great ideas. All of the ideas were planned during breaks. We successfully ran two movie nights, one for KS1 and KS2. This is something that we will most definitely consider doing again next year. The children absolutely loved it!

Following on from this, we did ' Guess How Many Sweets In The Jar' which was a huge success. Some children had four or five guesses. Every child walked away with a treat and a smile.

So for the final bit, we raised a total of £939.00! We came joint first.
We were then able to buy outdoor equipment for KS1 and KS2 playtimes and board games for wet playtimes. The children also voted on which charities they would like to donate to. They gave a donation to Christian Aid, Macmillan Cancer Support and East Lancs Hospice.

Easter Eggs for DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise)

A huge thank you to everyone who donated Easter Eggs to DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). They were collected today and we were given these special thank you cards for our support to enable children in our community have a lovely Easter.

 

Support for Ukraine 

In light of the current devastating situation in Ukraine and the wonderful generosity and compassion of Neve in Year 2, we decided to change our red nose day on Friday 18th March to a 'Red day for Ukraine' supporting the British Red Cross. As well as dressing in red (or children decided to wear yellow and blue like the Ukrainian flag), we also be held a cake sale. Neve and her friends and family baked cakes along with some of our infant classes. All of the money raised went to the British red cross and every pound donated by the UK public will be matched by the UK government through its Aid Match scheme up to the value of £20 million.

A huge thank you to you all for your kindness and generosity towards our support for Ukraine day on Friday. 
Our special visitor, The Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen, Councillor Derek Hardman was so impressed with the effort that our children had put into the day and he thanked them all for their generosity. 

Our cake sale planned and led by Neve in Year 2 raised a wonderful £148.36 after she also sold the left over cakes to her neighbours. 

William in Year 6 raised an amazing £106 with his bath bomb lucky dip! 

Tyler in Year 6 made a wonderful banner in support of Ukraine. 

Lily in Year 6 arranged for a collection of shampoo, shower gel and hairbrushes. These are being packed at the moment and will be take to Ukraine tomorrow. 

A fantastic £526.49 was raised through the Red Cross Appeal for wearing blue and yellow non uniform. 

The money has all been added together and £780.85 will be sent to the British Red Cross. The government will then also match each pound we have raised. 

Thank you so much for the effort you all put into the day and for your generous donations. Together we really have made a difference!

Dress to Express to raise money for Children's Mental Health Services

Children in Need- Friday 19th November

A huge thank you to you all for putting on your spots and for your generous donations to Children in Need. You have raised a fabulous £256.50 so have helped to make a positive difference to the lives of many children in the UK. 

 

Harvest fundraising for DARE- Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise

Thank you to everyone who attend our Harvest Festivals this year or donated generous gifts of food or toiletries for local refugees.  We were fortunate to be joined by John, Patsy and Shameem from DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise) who have taken all of your donations, the children’s welcome posters, local maps, prayers and poems. They will be sorted into parcels for refugees who have joined our community in order to give them a warm welcome and will also be shared with others in need in our community. We heard a harrowing account from Shameem, who fled from Afghanistan seven years ago due to being persecuted as a female teacher there. She has only just managed to get two of her children here seven years later and they are now attending our local high school and are being supported by one of our past pupils, who remembers Shameem visiting St Barnabas several years ago. 
We are so thankful for the work that John and Patsy are doing to support people in our community who are in need and so grateful for your donations. We are so proud of our children for showing our Christian Values of generosity, friendship and respect through the warm welcome they have shown refugees through their prayers, poems, welcome posters, maps and songs. 

Thank you so much for your generous donations for Harvest this year. Darwen Asylum & Refugee Enterprise (DARE) were overwhelmed with your support and generosity. The donations were created into care packages along with the children’s maps of the local area, welcome to Darwen posters, prayers and poems which enabled refugees to receive a warm welcome to Darwen. 

Hello Yellow Day for Young Minds- Friday 8th October 2021

Our whole school family dressed in yellow to brighten up our school, raise awareness of mental health and raise money for Young Minds. Our Year 4 class led our Hello Yellow Day Worship and really got the message across and raised awareness of mental health. We are so proud at St Barnabas to say we are working hard to make a difference to young people’s mental health.

 

The Brain Tumour Charity

Georgie in Year 3 took on an amazing challenge to raise money in memory of her Daddy who passed away last year from a brain tumour. She has raised over £3000 for The Brain Tumour Charity from her paddle, pedal and plod challenge. Children in Year 4 were so moved by Georgie's story in Worship that they decided they wanted to help to support The Brain Tumour charity too. They created a list of names for a giant teddy and children chose names for a donation of 50p and a chance to win the teddy.

 

Macmillan Coffee Morning

It was wonderful to be able to have parents and grandparents back in school for our Macmillan coffee morning and afternoon tea sessions. Due to the overwhelming generosity of our parents donating cakes and money donations, we raised an amazing £398.23. Thank you so much for your support of such an important cause, one of which is close to the hearts of many of our staff and parents who have lost loved ones to cancer.