Christmas Video 2025
Dear Parents and Carers, What a truly magical and festive end to an incredible first term at St Barnabas! As we reach the final day of this seven-week half term, I am filled with such pride reflecting on everything our school family has achieved. First and foremost, I want to say a heartfelt thank you to all of you. Your partnership and engagement are vital to our children’s success, and your generosity this term—from the Macmillan Coffee Morning to our wonderful Christmas Fair—has been overwhelming. We are so lucky to have such a supportive community. To our children: you are quite simply wonderful. Whether you were settling into Reception for the first time, representing our school in sports, or shining on stage in our Nativity and "Christmas Cracker" performances, you have lived life in all its fullness. You have worked your socks off, and you truly deserve this rest. For photos of our Christmas fun, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo.../christmas-2025 and also see our weekly news: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news I also want to extend a huge thank you to our fantastic staff team. Their hard work and dedication ensure our school is a love-filled Christian family where every child can thrive. I am particularly grateful for them being such brilliant sports this week; they completely threw themselves into the filming of our annual Christmas video! The children had a wonderful time spotting themselves in the video during our church service this morning. I think the definite highlight for them was seeing exactly what the teachers get up to in school between the hours of 6- 7! We truly hope you enjoy watching it as much as we enjoyed making it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONfmvpqhqag A reminder that we break up early today at 2:00 pm. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas. I hope your holiday is filled with love, laughter, and joy. We look forward to seeing everyone back, refreshed and ready for a new chapter, on Monday 5th January. Take care and God bless, Mrs. Ham
Year 3 visit the Rose Garden
It was a lovely morning as Year 3 followed the church service with a walk to the rose garden. The children took great pride in spotting their own artwork and their siblings' pieces.
Year 3, Living Life to its Fullness- Whitehall Park
After viewing the artwork in the Rose Garden, Year 3 received a surprise treat: a visit to Whitehall Park. Joined by Year 4, the children made the most of the fresh air and sunshine before heading back to the classroom. It was a beautiful reminder of the importance of living life to its fullness, finding joy in creativity, friendship, and the world around us.
Whole School Christmas Church Service
This morning, our whole school enjoyed a joyful and reflective visit to church to celebrate the Christmas season together. During the service, children from Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 confidently shared the work they have been doing in class, exploring the true meaning of Christmas and the special joy, hope and kindness that Jesus brought to others. Their contributions helped everyone to pause and reflect on the importance of love, generosity and togetherness at this special time of year. We also enjoyed singing a selection of our much-loved Christmas carols, filling the church with festive cheer. A highlight was watching our whole-school Christmas video, which captured many of the wonderful activities and celebrations from the past couple of weeks. The children thoroughly enjoyed seeing themselves on screen taking part in the festivities and were especially delighted to see members of the school staff joining in and having fun. It was a warm and uplifting celebration that truly reflected the spirit of Christmas and brought our school community together. A huge thank you to Parents and to all who attended to celebrate with us. We wish you a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Year 6 - Breakfast with Mr Bloomfield
This morning, as part of the Year 6 Early Morning SATs Club, the children were delighted to enjoy a special Breakfast with Mr Bloomfield. They shared a tasty breakfast while chatting with friends and taking part in festive activities, creating a relaxed and cheerful start to the day. It was a fantastic way to celebrate their commitment and all the hard work they have put into their SATs preparation. Well done, Year 6 — we are very proud of you!
Choir singing at Darwen Market
Thank you Darwen Market for inviting our choir to sing today! We had a wonderful time spreading festive cheer on the way through waving to cars and wishing everyone that we met a merry Christmas! It was brilliant to bring some Christmas joy to our community and thank you so much to the parents and grandparents who came along to support the children!
Year 1 Science: Our Sense of Smell
Yesterday, we learnt about our sense of smell. We discovered that we have small sensors in our nose which communicate with our brain for us to understand the odour of something. We also found out that without our sense of smell, we would not be able to taste as strongly. Our experiment was to smell vanilla extract, garlic, chilli flakes, an orange and flowers and describe them as either sweet, strong, spicy, fruity or floral. We also gave them a rating out of 10. Year 1 understood that to really smell something, they had to sniff hard as this sucks up the molecules into our nostrils.
Year 1 Provision: Advent Wreaths
This week in continuous provision, Year 1 created some Advent Wreaths in the spirit of Christmas, as we have been learning about Advent in our collective worships. The candle on the wreaths symbolises Jesus coming to our world as the light. Year 1 really enjoyed this and cannot wait to display these at home.
Whole School Worship with Rev Matt
Rev Matt led our Whole School Worship today and we started by lighting the Advent Wreath. We have already lit the candles that represent Hope, Peace and Joy and we signed the name of The Trinity. Next we had our weekly challenge. Rev Matt put various items in a stocking and as we removed items Theo, Jacob, Mason and Harry had to guess which ones had gone missing. One of the items was a birthday candle which represents the birth of Jesus on Christmas Day. Our Bible story this week was The Birth of Jesus. An angel told Mary she would have a special baby, Jesus, the Savior. Due to a Roman census, Mary and her husband Joseph traveled from Nazareth to Bethlehem, where Jesus was born in a stable (barn) and laid in a manger. Angels announced the news to shepherds, who then visited Jesus, and later, Wise Men followed a star to find and worship the baby, bringing gifts. The story is about how Jesus is a surprise gift of compassion from God. The children then reflected on what would be the best thing that they could give this Christmas. We had love, a smile and kindness which were all beautiful examples.
Year 6 Junior Jam - French
This week in French, year 6 recapped everything they have been learning this term. They played games and sang songs all about: members of their family, rooms and furniture in the house, days of the week and telling the time, and describing their daily routines. They also learned some interesting facts about how families in France celebrate at Christmas time and how their traditions differ to ours.
Reception: Reindeer Food
Santa and his elves left Reception class a very important job. He asked the class to make some reindeer food. The children had to listen to instructions and follow them step by step to make sure they could all make magic food to help the reindeer fly. How exciting!
Year 5 - Christmas Party
Year 5 joined Year 6 today for the Christmas party. The children danced and played party games like musical statues, pass the parcel and musical bumps. Mr Bloomfield, DJ and party master, led the festivities with a musical set of Christmas bangers that got every child on their feet and singing along. A great time was had by all.