Reception: Our First Day Group 1
This morning we welcomed our first group to Reception. They were superstars and settled in really well. They enjoyed exploring our indoor classroom today. We are so glad they have joined our St Barnabas family.
Reception: Our First Day Group 2
This afternoon we welcomed our second group to Reception. They were superstars and settled in really well. They enjoyed exploring our indoor classroom today. We are so glad they have joined our St Barnabas family.
Reception: Our school rules
Today, we introduced our school rules: The 4 B's. We explored what be ready, be kind, be respectful and be safe meant. We all discussed how we need to be kind and share toys with each other, look after and tidy our classroom, listen to each other and sit beautifully on the carpet to name a few. We all then made a handprint to say we would follow our school rules.
Whole School Awards Ceremony
This morning, we had a special award ceremony to celebrate a fantastic 2023-2024 academic year here at St Barnabas. First of all, we said a huge well done to Harvey and Miss Reynolds. We thank Mrs Reynolds for the amazing support that she has given to Harvey and the rest of our school family this year and we celebrate all of the wonderful things that Harvey has achieved. We wish him lots of luck at his new school. We then moved on to our Progress Award, Star of the Year and Children’s Champion winners in Years Reception-5. We congratulated Olly in Reception, Eli in Year One, Martha in Year 2, Alfie in Year 3, Elsie in Year 4 and Betsy in Year 5 with the Progress award, Elsie in Reception, James in Year 1, Naomi in Year 2, Alice in Year 3, Declan in Year 4 and Matthew in Year 5 as the Stars of the Year and Edward in Reception, Evie in Year 1, Alfie in Year 2, Daisy in Year 3, Annabelle in Year 4 and Harry in Year 5 as the Children’s Champion. Well done to all of these children for their incredible effort this year. Mrs Gardener and Mrs Ham also presented two of our Year 4 children with special awards. We said a massive congratulations to Annabelle who won our Protecting the Planet award. This is an award that Rev David left after retiring a couple of years ago. It goes to Annabelle for her fantastic commitment to preserving the planet. They also presented the Sharon Kay Cup for Kindness to Bella for her kind, caring, loving and empathetic nature. Mrs Ham, our current Heads and Deputies and Sports Leaders then presented Harry as our new Head Boy, Hamza as our new Deputy Head Boy, Daisy as our new Head Girl and Rosie as our new Deputy Head Girl for next academic year and Matthew, Freddie, Austin, Ezmae, Brooke and Poppy as our new Sports Leaders for next academic year. Well done to all of these children for their very successful applications-we are sure that you’ll all do a fantastic job in your new roles! Mrs Ham then presented all the children in school who have achieved 96% attendance across this academic year- a huge well done to these children for their commitment to learning. Finally, the Rotakids then presented Darcy and James as the sweet jar winners. Thank you to all of our children who guessed the number of the sweets in the jars to raise money for East Lancs Hospice and well done to Darcy and James for guessing correctly. We are so proud of our whole school family for their hard work and dedication, they really have achieved great things and lived life in all its fullness.
Whitehall Park Disco
Whitehall Park team enjoyed a disco in the school hall at break time today. They received the most house points this term. The children enjoyed some sweets, danced and also played musical bumps.
Rev Ben’s Worship: Talents
Today, Rev Ben set a task for our volunteers: to carry a balloon from one side of the hall to the other without using their hands. He shared the story of Paul and the shipwreck and talked about the Christian belief that it is their task to share the good news of God and His Son, Jesus. We also considered the talents God gave us and how these talents can be used to serve God and others.
Summer Reading Challenge 2024
This morning, Angela came in to invite us all to join in with ‘The Summer Reading Challenge 2024- Marvellous Makers’. This is a national reading activity, which aims to encourage a love of reading in children and develop their literacy skills throughout the summer. To get started, drop in to either Darwen or Blackburn Library. Angela told us that once you’re enrolled, each member needs to read 6 library books (or eBooks/eAudio), with stickers or a prize being awarded for each book that is read and returned. Prizes will include origami paper and pencil crayons. Those who complete the scheme (all 6 books), will receive a medal and a certificate that they can bring into school in September and have presented in Friday celebration worship. Angela asked us why it would be amazing if we all completed the Summer Reading Challenge. Our children said that reading can help us to learn new words, increase our imagination, get us excited so our hearts will beat fast and help us to challenge our brains. We look forward to hopefully presenting lots of ‘Summer Reading Challenge’ certificates and medals in September. Extra Information To enrol, simply go to your nearest Blackburn with Darwen library and complete an application form between 1st July & 30th September. Enrolment in the scheme is free of charge, and involves children borrowing books on a library card. If your child does not yet have a library card, we would encourage you to take this opportunity to enrol them as a library member. This is a quick process, and you will simply be asked to complete and sign another form. However, those children without library cards may still join the Summer Reading Challenge, and temporary arrangements will be put in place to allow them to borrow books.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Wow! What a year we have had in Reception. The children have made so much progress during our forest schools sessions. They have improved in their stamina, risk taking, problem solving and imagination skills. We have loved seeing all of the children blossom and made the most of our last Muddy Monday session together!
Rev Matt’s Worship - Seeking Truth
Rev Matt shared with us the fantastic news of his recent ordination. Some of the children even helped with a little re-enactment. He explained that his duty as a Christian is to live a life of truth. We listened to the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; three men of faith who were punished for refusing to turn their backs on God in order to worship an image of the king. Rev Matt spoke about how it isn’t always easy for us to stand by our beliefs and we discussed times when this might be particularly difficult.
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Reception: Muddy Monday
Reception enjoyed our Muddy Monday session at Whitehall Park. After our growth mindset assembly today, we made sure we used our growth mindset instead of our fixed mindset to challenge ourselves and take risks. The children really engaged with this and it was wonderful to see how far they have come since they started with us. Well done!
Friday Celebration Worship- Whole School
Today, in celebration worship, we began by signing the Trinity and discussing the busy week. Mrs Ham thanked the children who sang at Blackburn Cathedral for the celebration of Cidari's 10-year anniversary. These children were recognised for demonstrating our Christian value of courage. All classes were praised for their transition day to new classes. They showed bravery and respect throughout. The class teachers presented value awards to the following students for always doing the right thing and trying their best in everything: Joey from reception, Harry from Year 1, Harry from Year 2, Darcy and Ivy from Year 3, Eden from Year 4 and Brooke from Year 5. Well done!. Year 1 and Year 4 won the attendance award this week. Well done for ensuring you are always in school, ready to learn. We also celebrated children for their extracurricular activities outside of school. Many showcased their trophies, medals and certificates in swimming, football, ballet, brownies, dancer for the year, gymnastics, performing arts, horse riding, Iron Kids Run, and lifeguarding skills. The Wellbeing warriors presented the children with walk to school badges and we sang' School Rules' which the children enjoyed. To conclude our worship, prayers were led by Lilly, Olivia and Mrs Ham.
Year 1 Transition Day
Reception enjoyed their transition day in Year 1. In the morning, they had computing, French and music sessions led by Junior Jam. in the afternoon, they explored the classroom. Miss Flynn read the children a story about a caterpillar called Cody who didn’t want to change into a butterfly but when she found the strength and courage to do so, she loved it. They learn that although change can seem scary, it can also be really exciting. The children then went on to make their own beautiful butterflies. They also accessed many other activities in the classroom such as making a house out of Lego or construction straws and putting their family inside so that Mrs Hegarty and I could get to know them, drawing themselves, making CVC words out of magnetic letters, colouring by number and building using the multi link.