Image of Easter Eggs for DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise)
3 Apr

Easter Eggs for DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise)

A huge thank you to everyone who donated an Easter egg as part of our Lent challenge of showing generosity and kindness to others. On Wednesday they will be given to families in need in our community.

Image of Year 5- Rotakids- Discussing our next project
13 Mar

Year 5- Rotakids- Discussing our next project

This afternoon, the Year 5 class received a certificate for the outstanding work that they are doing. The children could discuss the work they have already done for the local community and the international project. The children were keen to share their next project, a movie night for KS1 and KS2 to raise money for our school minibus.

Image of Rotakids- Toy Collection
9 Dec

Rotakids- Toy Collection

The Year 5 Rotakids have fulfilled their promise of helping the community and the world. Over the past few weeks, the children have been collecting used toys and soft toys for the needy families of Darwen and refugees living in Darwen. Some of the toys will also be sent to children in Ukraine, who have lost almost everything in the war. Amazing achievement from families, staff, and children.

Image of Rotakids- Year 5
1 Nov

Rotakids- Year 5

Year 5 has shown respect, trust, and service and demonstrated our British Values (democracy) by voting for the students they think are best suited for the position of President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer. The votes were counted and verified by Mrs. Lyons and the Rotary Club. We now have Isaac as (President), Archie (Vice President), Charlie (Secretary), and Lola (Treasurer). Over the course of the academic year, the RotaKids will engage in important, lively activities that will make a positive difference to our school, local community, and globally.

Image of Whole school Harvest service in Church
20 Oct

Whole school Harvest service in Church

This morning our WOW group, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children led our Harvest service in church. Our wonderful choir led the singing during the service. We gave thanks to the farmers and our WOW group reminded everybody about the charities that we are supporting, The Mother’s Union in Burundi and DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). The children made us all very proud. A huge thank you to all of the parents, carers and family members that attended too, it was lovely to see you all.

Image of Monday Worship: Blackburn Diocese Harvest Appeal 2022
17 Oct

Monday Worship: Blackburn Diocese Harvest Appeal 2022

During the start of our worship, we discussed what literacy and numeracy meant. We then discussed if any jobs do not require us to read and write. It was really interesting which jobs the children thought didn’t require you to read and write but Mrs Ham proved the children wrong! All jobs require you to read and write. Reading is like a key. If you can’t read, you can’t unlock all of those possibilities. You wouldn’t be able to be a teacher, cook, builder etc. We discussed the British Value of individual liberty. We all have rights. We have the right to education and it is free. This year, the Bishop of Blackburn’s Harvest appeal is supporting the Mother’s Union. The Mother’s union is a Christian charity but it shows the British value of tolerance of all faiths and helps everybody. Mrs Ham showed the children 4 tools and the children explained what each tool does. Mrs Ham explained that in some countries, they do not have the tools to do things that we take for granted: our reading and writing. The Mother’s Union helps people in Burundi which is one of the poorest places in the entire world. In Burundi, families live on £1.50 per day. Our Wow group have set us a challenge to raise £1.50 each to help to support families in Burundi. Wow group explained that we can do chores to help raise the money. Monies can then be paid on parent pay. We can also collect tins and cans for Dare. Mrs Ham has also asked if we can write prayers for families in Burundi. This week, we need to think about how we can help other people and help to make a difference. Our choir group led our song at the end ‘The Harvest of Love’.

Image of The Bishop of Blackburn's Harvest Appeal- Burundi Harvest Challenge
11 Oct

The Bishop of Blackburn's Harvest Appeal- Burundi Harvest Challenge

This morning in worship, the WOW group launched our Harvest appeal challenge. We are asking for donations of £1.50 from parents in exchange for the children completing 3 helpful challenges at home. Each challenge is worth 50p. The challenges can be any of those mentioned in the poster, or any that you and your child decide at home. Donations will go 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. Donations will be collected by next Thursday 20th October on Parent pay. We are also collecting 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. Please send any donations into school next week. Parents and carers are welcome to join us at our Harvest Festival next Thursday 20th October at 9.30am at St Barnabas church. Our WOW group, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes will be leading the service and the rest of the school will be joining in with songs and prayers.

Image of RotaKids- Year 5
12 Jul

RotaKids- Year 5

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, board games for wet playtimes, and give a donation to Christian Aid, Macmillan Cancer Support and East Lancs Hospice.

Image of Rotakids Annual Conference 2022- Year 5
17 Jun

Rotakids Annual Conference 2022- Year 5

Today, some of our Rotakids went to the University of Cumbria, in Lancaster. They had a day full of fun-filled activities. They made friendship bracelets, had a lot of fun with arts and crafts, and learned about different types of food chains and how to extract DNA from a strawberry. For the recognition of their work, they were all awarded a certificate for taking an active part in the Annual Rotakids Conference.

Image of Collective Worship- Christian Aid Week and Courageous Advocacy
16 May

Collective Worship- Christian Aid Week and Courageous Advocacy

This morning in worship, we introduced Christian Aid week. First we discussed the phrase, ‘Your Kingdom Come.’ Mrs Ham asked us to imagine what heaven was like. We said that we imagine it as peaceful and calm and when we use the phase, ‘Your Kingdom Come,’ this phrase means that God would like our world on earth to represent heaven where the world is fair and at peace. Then Mrs Ham discussed the term ‘Courageous advocacy’ with us all which is the act of speaking out against injustice (wrongdoing) and then we watched and listened carefully to a video to see some of the injustice that is happening in the world. The children shared what they saw. Lily saw a sea turtle trapped in a fishing net, Skye said that there were people who were hungry, Jack said there were people without clothes, Harlee and Manni said they noticed people who were extremely thirsty, James said that he saw a man who didn’t have much furniture in his house and Lucy said there were people living in unclean places. Mrs Ham asked us what Jesus would like us to about this injustice. Desmond said we should try to be like Jesus and love our neighbour. Mrs Ham agreed and discussed how we all need to be a courageous advocate and love our neighbours as Jesus did. We then looked at some inspirational people who were courageous advocates and spoke out for those who didn’t/don’t have a voice such as Martin Luther King, Gandhi, David Attenborough and Marcus Rashford. We also recognised some children in school who have recently stood up for something that they believe in. These courageous advocates were Neve, Lily, William and Charlotte who recently promoted initiatives to raise money for Ukraine and East Lancs Hospice. Lastly, we ended our worship with a video called ‘Starfish’ which summed up the message that small things can make a huge difference and Mrs Ham asked us to reflect on small things that we can do in the next week and beyond to help to make a difference such as donating to the local food or clothes bank and reusing and recycling plastic.

Image of Easter Eggs for Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE)
6 Apr

Easter Eggs for Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE)

A huge thank you to everyone who donated Easter Eggs to DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterpise). 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.

Image of Movie Night - Year 5 - RotaKids
5 Apr

Movie Night - Year 5 - RotaKids

The Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 classes had such a good night. The children enjoyed their pre-ordered meal whilst watching the magical and enchanted Disney film ‘Encanto’.