Year 1- Year of Prayer- The World
This week as part of the Diocesan Year of Prayer, Year 1 prayed for the world. First of all, we started by singing the seven continents song (which we absolutely love) to remind us of how vast our world is. Year 1 then highlighted places on the world map that they have visited such as London, Turkey, Italy and Belfast and thought about places in the world that they would like to visit such as Brazil to visit the rainforest, the North Pole to see the reindeers and meet Father Christmas, Africa to see the desert animals, Florida to meet the Disney characters, Greece to enjoy the sunshine, beaches, churches and swimming pools and China for the experience. We then finished with some beautiful prayers from Harry, Olly and Olivia who prayed to God to thank Him for the amazing animals that He created for us to love, care for and experience as well as the varied foods that we get to experience from around the world such as Indian foods, Italian foods and beautiful, exotic fruits. We also had a prayer to remind us to care for the world that God created for us all.
Year 3- English- Describing items found in the bin-
As part of our narratives topic in English, Year 3 are reading Clive King's 'Stig of the Dump'. To help us recognise the setting for this adventure, we investigated the types of things you would find in a dump, and used expanded noun phrases to describe the objects we could see. This will help us to visualise and develop our ideas for a setting when we write our narratives.
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Barney's Best Bits- Summer 1 Week 3
Dear parents and carers, I hope this message finds you well. As we wrap up a short but eventful week of living life in all its fullness at St Barnabas, I wanted to take a moment to express our heartfelt gratitude for your continued support and partnership. Highlights of the Week: *We commemorated the VE Day 80-year anniversary with school-wide worships and a vibrant red, white, and blue day. Thank you for your generous donations to the Royal British Legion via Parent Pay. *Our Years 1 and 2 pupils visited The Crocky Trail, demonstrating remarkable courage on the huge slides and impeccable behaviour throughout the trip. *Congratulations to our Year 4 pupils for securing 3rd place in the tennis competition! * Year 1 enjoyed a visit to our church for a mock baptism, followed by a delightful party. A special thank you to Rev Ben for his support. *Our Year 5/6 netball team celebrated a fantastic achievement, winning their first three matches of the league. * Year 5 students completed their peer mediation training and are now encouraged to write a letter of application to become peer mediators. All of this week’s news in detail can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Coming Up Next Week: * Year 6 SATS: We are incredibly proud of the progress our Year 6 students have made. While SATS are important, they don't capture the full extent of their talents in sports, art, music, or their kindness. We encourage them to do their best, knowing they are blessed with skills beyond what SATS test. To ensure a positive start each day, a breakfast of bacon and/or sausage baps will be provided. * Year 5 PGL Residential: From Monday to Wednesday, Year 5 will be heading to Winmarleigh Hall for their PGL residential, participating in various outdoor and adventurous activities. * Year 3 Rock and River Visit: On Thursday, Year 3 will be heading to Rock and River in Ormskirk for an exciting day of outdoor activities. * Reception Class: Nightingale Farm will be visiting as part of their Spring topic, offering an enriching experience for our Reception class. * Work Experience: We will be welcoming previous Barney's students from DACA for their Year 10 work experience. All of our upcoming events can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/events As we look forward to another week filled with learning and growth, I wish everyone a wonderful weekend in the sun. Thank you once again for your unwavering support, Becky Ham
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VE Commemoration- Red, white and blue day
Today, our pupils and staff dressed in red, white and blue to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. We came together to remember and honour those who served, and to reflect on the importance of peace and unity. As part of our celebrations, we’re supporting the Royal British Legion. If you’d like to make a donation, you can do so easily via ParentPay. Every contribution helps support veterans and their families. Thank you for helping us make this day meaningful for our school family! #VEDay80 #StBarnabasRemembers #RoyalBritishLegion #RedWhiteBlueDay
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning in a special worship, we came together to remember and celebrate Victory in Europe (VE) Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Thank you to our whole school family for dressing in red, white, and blue today to help us to show our support for this important moment in history and raise money for the Royal British Legion. We also reflected on many of our other highlights this week which have included further exploration of the Lord’s Prayer and learning about VE Day in our collective worships, focusing on reflective prayers as part of our Diocesan Year of Prayer, Reception having a visit from the Animal Garden pet shop, who brought along a fascinating collection of minibeasts for the children to explore, Year 1 visiting St Barnabas Church for a mock baptism , Year 1&2 visiting the Crocky Trail and showing extreme courage, Year 5 have enjoying another Peer Mediation session, our Year 4 tennis team who represented our school with pride and positivity at the Blackburn Northern Tennis Club on Wednesday afternoon and our Year 5/6 Netball Squad who represented St Barnabas brilliantly in the DPSSA Netball league in the first round of games. We then moved onto congratulating this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Willow in EYFS and Oliver, Alexis, Beau and Austin in KS2. Well done to these children for showing our Barny’s 4Bs (being kind, safe, respectful and ready) and consistently pushing themselves to achieve great things. We also congratulated the whole of the Year 1 & 2 classes for being amazing on their trip to the Crocky Trail. They were extremely brave, encouraged each other every step of the way and demonstrated impeccable manners. Furthermore, we congratulated our Year 1 and Year 5 class for being our attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park as our value award winners this week with 161 points. We then moved onto congratulating all of our out of school achievers. Well done to Piper-Jo for achieving her white belt in kickboxing, Marnie-May for being awarded her 20m swimming certificate, Mikey and Marley for achieving their 5m swimming certificates, Eleanor for being awarded Olivia at Rainbows for super behaviour and achieving her 5m and 10m swimming certificates, Charlie for being a super football star and competing amazingly well in a recent football tournament, Olivia, Olivia and Ivy for their recent success in winning the under 8s Cup Final 2025, Eliza for achieving ‘Girl of the Game’ in her most recent football match and Grace for achieving a distinction and a merit in her recent tap and jazz exams. To end our worship, we wished our fabulous Year 6 children good luck in their SATs next week, Olivia, Lana and Percy shared some beautiful prayers and we sang happy birthday to those who have an upcoming birthday or have celebrated their birthday recently. We then invited our Year 6 children to lead us in singing the National Anthem. Thank you to all of our school family who could attend celebration worship and we thank you for your ongoing support. We send an extended thank you to the rest of our school family. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend in the sunshine.
Year 1&2 Trip- The Crocky Trail
Today, our Year 1 and 2 children had an fantastic adventure on their trip to the Crocky Trail! The day was all about pushing boundaries and building confidence, and every child rose to the challenge with extreme courage. It was equally wonderful to see them encouraging each other every step of the way—cheering on their friends, offering a helping hand, and celebrating each other’s achievements with joy. Not only did they have a fantastic time, but they also represented the school beautifully. Their behaviour throughout the day was impeccable—polite, respectful, and full of team spirit. It was a brilliant day full of laughter, bravery, and unforgettable memories. Well done, Year 1 and 2—you were amazing! For all of the photos that were taken, please visit: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/year-1-2-visit-crocky-trail
Year 2 - The slides at Crocky Trail
We began our day on the slides! Let’s just say, the slides were bigger than expected but that didn’t stop the children from flying down. It was amazing to see the children pushing themselves and being really happy that they conquered their fears.
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Reception - Minibeast Visit
Today, our Reception class enjoyed an exciting visit from the local Animal Garden pet shop, who brought along a fascinating collection of minibeasts for the children to explore. The children were thrilled to get up close with a range of creepy crawlies and even a tarantula! They had the opportunity to ask questions and observe the creatures carefully. This hands-on experience sparked lots of curiosity and discussion, supporting our current topic on minibeasts and helping to build confidence, language skills and respect for living things.
Year 5- Peer Mediation training
Year 5 had their final peer mediation training session today. They role played a session, looked at scenarios that they could and could not mediate and looked at problems they might encounter. Year 5 have now been asked to apply to become a mediator by writing a letter. We can't wait to introduce our new peer mediators soon.
Year 2 - The Big Ones
Let’s just say, the slides were bigger than expected but that didn’t stop the children from flying down. We have great pictures of terror turning to joy. It was amazing to see the children pushing themselves and being really happy that they conquered their fears.
Year 2 - The Foampit slide
The foam pit slide was a hit and the children went back on this many times! After the steep decent, they plunged into a foam pit. Climbing out was another adventure all on its own.
Year 2 - The Foampit Slide
The foam pit slide was a hit and the children went back on this many times! After the steep decent, they plunged into to foam pit. Climbing out was another adventure all on its own.