Reception: Snail and the Whale Book Launch
This morning, Reception class read 'The Snail and the Whale'. We listened carefully to the story. The children focussed on two words 'slimy' and 'ginormous'. We discussed the characters in the story and described how they moved and their size. We then drew the characters and had a special key to make them move. Our keys varied from tricky words to different sounds that we have learnt. What a super start to the week!
Year 1 PE: Understanding Tactics
Year 1 built their understanding of tactics in PE. A tactic is tricking your opponent. We focused on underarm throwing and tricking our partner by pretending we are aiming one way, but throwing another. It was lovely to see them working together and being kind, even if they were tricked. Their aim has also improved.
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Doodle and Dance Club Session 3
This week, children in EYFS and key stage 1 focussed on mindfulness. We listening to some acoustic Disney music whilst completing some mindfulness colouring. It was lovely to hear all of the children chatting together. We finished with some wake and shake- fire and ice and the wiggle dance were a firm favourite!
Foodie Friends Club-Victoria Sponge Cupcakes
To make Olivia’s birthday extra special today, we made classic Victoria Sponge cupcakes in our Foodie Friends Club. The bakers carefully weighed the flour, sugar, and butter, cracked the eggs, and worked together to prepare the mixture before baking. Once the cakes had almost cooled, the bakers got to work on the best part: the assembly. They carefully sliced the tops to create a space for a generous dollop of rich strawberry jam and freshly whipped cream.
Year 3 - PSHE-Body Team Work
In PSHE today, the children participated in a "Body Team Work" lesson where they explored how the human body’s internal organs function. They identified the specific roles of key parts, such as the brain acting as the control centre, the heart pumping blood, and the lungs passing oxygen into the bloodstream. To understand the concept of cooperation, the children completeda whole class activity sheet where they explained what each organ does and, crucially, what it needs from other body parts to work properly. The session concluded with a creative teamwork exercise where the children worked in groups to devise unique sounds and actions for each organ.
Whole School Worship - How can we be peacemakers?
On Monday, during our whole school worship we came together to think about peace, how the bible tells us to show peace and also how we can learn from the past to ensure we create a world of peace and not war. Olivia and Desmond beautifully read our Peacemaker Bible readings from this week's kindness kite whilst we made doves, a symbol of peace, from our hands being linked together. We thought about world Holocaust Memorial Day, which is today, and reflected on how during that time peace and forgiveness were not shown and how cruel and unfair that was. We prayed for all those who lost their lives during the Holocaust and also asked God to help us to be courageous peacemakers when we see cruelty and also to love our neighbours and treat everyone with kindness and respect. We lit a special candle of peace for all those who cruelly lost their lives during the Holocaust and were shocked to learn that if we held a moment of silence for each person then we would have to be silent for 11 and a half years. We then sang a song about living without division but together, 'As One'.
Year 6 - Mixed Media
Year 6 continued to develop their mixed media artwork, building on previous skills and techniques. The children explored the use of background, scale and composition, considering how foreground, middle ground and background work together. Using images of everyday objects, the children creatively transformed them into buildings and structures, reimagining them as part of a cityscape landscape. The children experimented with layering, texture and colour to add depth and detail, showing increasing confidence in their artistic choices and ability to adapt ideas as their work progressed.
Friday Celebration Worship
Celebration Worship this week was full of wonderful moments and achievements from across our school community. We were delighted to reflect on recent NSPCC visits and our much-loved Harold the Giraffe sessions, which helped reinforce important messages about keeping safe and healthy. It has also been lovely to see kindness shining through our WOW group kindness kites and the continued enthusiasm for our brilliant clubs. A big well done to everyone who has taken part in the January Reading Challenge, it has been fantastic to see such a love of reading. Thank you also to families for sending in photos for us to share and celebrate together. We celebrated our school values and were proud to recognise Tommy as our Reception values winner, followed by Hendrix in Year 1, Callie in Year 2, Frankie in Year 3, Lennox in Year 4, James in Year 5 and Ella in Year 6. A special mention goes to Albie and Eva from Year 3, who were awarded a pen license for consistent handwriting. In our team values, Darwen Tower came in fourth place, Whitehall Park third, India Mill second and a huge congratulations to River Darwen for taking first place. Sporting achievements were a real highlight this week, with so many children being recognised for their dedication and hard work outside of school. Llewyn achieved a red belt in kickboxing, Jonas earned a badge in Squirrels and Willow was awarded star of the week in gymnastics for her back handsprings. Minnie achieved her 5m swimming certificate, Samuel was awarded a white belt in martial arts and Tommy Joe earned his 10m swimming certificate. Isaac received a football trophy for winning the Christmas Cup, Finn was recognised for good passing in football and Maggie achieved star of the week in gymnastics. James was awarded Cub of the Year for earning lots of badges as well as achieving his Stage 7 swimming certificate. Chester received the crab award in swimming and player of the week in football, while Mollie earned a Girl Power badge for learning how to save electricity. Olivia was awarded a medal for completing a 2k run for East Lancashire Hospice and raising money, George was named Squirrel of the Week and Luna received the Olivia doll from Rainbows for being a superstar in her very first week. Ella also celebrated achieving her 10m swimming certificate. We were incredibly proud of our Sportshall Athletics team, who demonstrated fantastic behaviour and teamwork throughout the event. They achieved an impressive third place and every child was awarded a medal for their efforts. Attendance celebrations this week went to Year 2 and Year 6, well done for your excellent commitment to being in school and ready to learn. Looking ahead, we would like to remind families that it is National Storytelling Week, and we warmly welcome family members who would like to volunteer to come in and read with the children. We will also be celebrating Dress to Express Day on Friday 13th February where children can express themselves through what they wear. We ended our worship beautifully with thoughtful prayers shared by Callie, Lydia and Seb. A big thank you to everyone who contributed to such a positive and joyful celebration.
Year 6 - E-Safety
Today, the children’s e-safety focus was on Roblox and how to stay safe online. The children explored some of the potential risks linked to online gaming, including communication with others and in-game content and discussed how these risks can be reduced. Using their talk tactics, the children confidently shared their ideas, identified their top risks and explained sensible strategies for staying safe online, such as protecting personal information and knowing when to seek help from a trusted adult. This session helped to develop the children’s understanding of responsible online behaviour and how to make safe choices in the digital world.
Inter- House Sports with Reception
Our Sports Leaders did an Inter- House Indoor Athletics session with Reception class on Friday which went down a storm! Every single child was engaged, enthusiastic and had huge smiles on their faces. They completed various relays which focused on their fundamental skills and speed, agility and quickness. Well done Reception class and huge thanks to the Sports Leaders!
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Whole School Worship with Rev Matt
Whole School Worship was led by Rev Matt this morning and it looked at the Bible story - John the Baptist. We started with the usual challenge that helped us think about being courageous in times of change. How easy do different people find change. Rev Matt gave instructions that the children had to follow. This included clapping, sticking our tongue out to make an ocean, using our hands to make a V shape and rubbing out tummy whilst we pat our heads. The children loved this challenge but found different ones more challenging ~ not everyone found the same challenge to be problematic and this shows how we are all different. Next Rev Matt shared the Bible story and he asked the children to say the word “Wow” every time the word “special” was used. The story of John told us that he lived simply in the desert, wearing camel hair and eating locusts and wild honey, growing close to God. John preached a message of repentance (saying sorry for wrongs) and baptized people in the Jordan River, telling them God's promised Messiah (Jesus) was coming. When Jesus came, John baptized Him, and the Holy Spirit came down like a dove, showing everyone Jesus was God's Son. Baptism is all about change and through the story and our discussions we learnt that even though Jesus doesn’t need Baptism he shows us the way anyway.
Year 6: Coram Life Education
This week, year 6 had their Life Education session, which focused on making decisions. The session began with a recap on how we can keep our bodies healthy and the importance of mental health. The session then moved on to discussing drugs: that they change the way a person thinks, feels and behaves and that there are legal and illegal drugs. The children learned that medicines contain drugs and that medicines can sometimes be unsafe if used incorrectly. The session ended with a discussion around how we can avoid peer pressure and what is meant by being a bystander or an upstander. The children really enjoyed this session and learned a lot, conducting themselves in a very sensible and mature manner.