Year 6 - Managing Exam Stress
During our Year 6 class worship, we discussed how to manage exam stress as the children approach their SATs. We talked about how these feelings are completely normal and explored practical ways to cope with them, such as taking time to relax, talking to someone we trust and keeping a positive mindset. We also reflected on the importance of trying our best without putting too much pressure on ourselves. We reminded ourselves that tests do not define who we are, we are all unique individuals with many strengths, talents and qualities beyond the classroom.
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Reception-PSHE- The Well-being Wheel
In PSHE we set up five areas of the well-being wheel in class. We had ‘be active’ where we set up a dance party area. We had a ‘give to others’ station where the children could draw a picture for someone and put it in an envelope and give it to someone special. In our ‘Mindfulness’ area we had binoculars and magnifying glasses so the children could look at the finer details of things. We demonstrated ‘being creative’ by working together to make tall constructions. We ‘connected with others’ by telling each other something we liked about them in the ‘chatty corner’.
Year 6 Junior Jam - Computing
This week in Computing, year 6 learned about vocal stems and song remixes. They learned that a vocal stem is the isolated singing of a song, without the music behind it. Their task for this lesson was to remix a song on the 'GarageBand' app, by taking a vocal stem and changing the genre. They used live loops to add the music, and changed the tempo and the key so that they complimented the vocal stem.
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Year 1 Geography: Darwen Heritage Centre
Year 1 enjoyed exploring Darwen Heritage Centre. The volunteers gave us lots of information about Darwen Tower, Whitehall Park, Sunnyhurst Woods and Bold Venture Park. One volunteer was even a student at St Barnabas when he was younger! The children were shocked to hear that at one time, Darwen did not have any schools. When schools were created, children only came to school for five years then went to work. We loved seeing the models of Darwen Tower and India Mill.
Year 1 Geography: Fun at Bold Venture Park
To celebrate the end of our long 8km walk, we had lots of fun playing at Bold Venture Park. The children took turns kindly and helped each other on the swings. We could also spot the lion statues that we had seen previously in Darwen Heritage Centre.
Tag Rugby Festival
Some of our Year 6 children had a fantastic time tonight visiting Blackburn Rugby Club for an action-packed session of tag rugby! It was wonderful to watch them master the basics, from perfecting their lateral passes to understanding the strategic flow of the game. The highlight of the day was undoubtedly the matches, where the children showed off their newfound skills and sprinted across the line to score some brilliant tries. A huge thank you to the club for hosting us and helping our children discover a new passion for the game! Thanks to our parents and carers for transporting and supporting!
Year 2 - Geography - Mugurameno Village
Year 2 have been learning about Mugurameno Village in Zambia. We wrote questions about what life is like in the village.
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Year 2 - English - Identifying Diary Features
In Year 2, we worked in talk partners to identify the features in a diary entry.
Times Tables - April Battle Week Winners
Our KS2 children have been really stepping it up with their times tables practice lately and we couldn’t be prouder. They’ve racked up THOUSANDS of correct answers between them, resulting in one of our biggest point-scoring battles yet. A huge congratulations to this month’s winners: Piper-Jo in Year 3, Lottie in Year 4, Charlie in Year 5 and Charlie in Year 6. And to our class champions, Year 4 taking the LKS2 trophy and Year 6 taking the UKS2 trophy. May’s battle will be slightly different with the children requesting a boys vs. girls battle. Good luck, everyone!
Year 4 - Science: How Sound Travels
This week’s science involved a carousel of activities to investigate how sound travels. The children learned that sound must travel through a medium: solid, liquid or gas. And that it’s the vibration of the particles around the sound source that causes sound waves. The children found out that sound travels more quickly through solids as the particles are packed more densely than in water or air. They then investigated differences in how they heard the sound through different mediums.
Year 4 - Linking Schools: Social Action
We are now in Phase 2 of our Linking Schools journey and we have discussed issues we are passionate about in our community. It became evident quite quickly that the children took umbrage with inconsiderate road users. They reported concerns about drivers breaking the speed limits near their homes and around town, and they listed a number of problems they’d encountered due to inconsiderate parking. Following this discussion, we decided to look at the Highway Code and create posters to remind road users to show courtesy. The children created some super posters that were colourful, eye catching and delivered clear messages for drivers. We will be writing to our local MP and sending in our posters, requesting that they may be used to create signs for the worst affected areas of Darwen.
Year 1 Geography: Exploring Darwen
As part of our Geography unit, Year 1 explored our local area in Darwen. We visited many places such as India Mill, Darwen Town Hall, Darwen Heritage Centre, Darwen Leisure Centre and Bold Venture Park. It was a long 8km walk and the children enjoyed seeing different areas in their town.