Harvest Appeal
This morning we launched our Harvest Appeal for this year by hearing from Bishop Philip about his Pedalathon on 17th October where he will be cycling to visit and pray at a school or church in all 14 deaneries across the Diocese. We will be supporting Bishop Philip's Harvest Appeal for Christians in South Africa by joining in with his pedalathon over the next few weeks, including half term. We are encouraging our school family to cycle on bikes or scooters just like we did for the Big Lent Walk and we would love for you to send your photos in and the distance. Donations can be made on parent pay shortly. Our RotaKids are also supporting Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE) and Darwen Rotary this Harvest by creating Winter Warmer boxes filled with toiletries, packets or tins of food and warm clothing for DARE families, the elderly, isolated, poor and vulnerable people in our community . They are also collecting winter coats for the homeless and poor through Darwen Rotary club. Please send in any donations and thank you in advance for your generosity. We then sang some of our Harvest songs for our Church Harvest Festival this Sunday 12th October at 11.00am- all welcome and our school Harvest Festival on Thursday 23rd October led by our WOW group and Reception, Years 1 and 2. All welcome.
Year 1 - Fundamentals - Jumping for Distance
In today’s fundamental skills session, Year 1 focused on jumping for distance. We followed various teaching points including crouching with knees bent, swing arms back and forward, explode forward and push off from toes. The children quickly developed their movements using the theory of uncoiling like a spring. We finished with the challenge of can you jump as long as you are high?
Year 1 Golden Time
This afternoon Year 1 had a special golden time. Over the weeks they have been working really hard to fill up their kindness bucket. We had so many children sharing how they have been kind at playtime or during lessons. To celebrate we watched a movie with biscuits and juice. Well done Year 1!
Year 1 English: Question Marks
In our English today, we looked at sentences that need question marks. Year 1 understood that if a sentence is telling you something then it just needs a full stop, but if a sentence is asking something it needs a question mark. We practiced using actions for question marks and then they independently fixed some sentences in their books with the correct punctuation. Well done Year 1!
Fundamentals in Year 1
In our Fundamentals Skills session today, we looked at a range of elements which included both side gallops and rolling a ball. We warmed up to music from the Jungle Book where the children moved around like big bears, scary black jaguars, mischievous monkeys and slithering snakes. Next we practiced our galloping, concentrating on moving in different ways with a lead leg and facing forwards. Following on from these we used the dodgeballs to develop our rolling of a ball. The children aimed to get the balls in the hoop, with many aiming and predicting as they went along. What a great first session we had in Year 1!
Year 1 Art: experimenting with colours and materials
Today we chose if we wanted to create a cold landscape or a warm landscape. We then reminded ourselves about warm and cool colours so that we could create a background for our landscape. We experimented with watercolour to see how we could use colours and blend them together. Then we looked at different materials and discussed how we might be able to use them on our landscape. For example, cotton wool for a polar bear or green crepe paper for plants in the desert.
Year 1 Science: Animal Diets
Today we became scientific poo detectives. We examined the poo of a lion, cow, bear, rabbit and wolf to decide if they are omnivores, carnivores or herbivores. For carnivores, we were looking to see if there was meat in the poo. For herbivores, we were looking to see if there were leaves in the poo. For omnivores, we were looking to see if there were leaves and meat in the poo. Year 1 correctly identified the animal diets.
Whole School Worship - Agent Ananias
We learned about a very special mission given by God this week in worship. God directed Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, to heal Saul of his blindness and baptise him. Despite Ananias's fear due to Saul's reputation as a persecutor of Christians, he obeyed the Lord's assurance that Saul was a "chosen instrument". Ananias laid hands on Saul, restoring his sight, and then baptised him, marking his dramatic conversion from persecutor to the apostle Paul, a key figure in spreading Christianity. We reflected on what we learned from the story and the children shared their thoughts, including that we should trust God’s choices, and that everyone has the ability to change.
Year 1 Geography: Signs of Autumn
Today we took a trip to Whitehall Park to spot some signs of Autumn. The children did a brilliant job at finding conkers, acorns, yellow and orange leaves, berries and empty branches. We tried to stay really quiet to spot a squirrel but we had no luck. The children loved collecting the conkers and acorns too!
Year 1- Fun on the Park
After our brilliant walk finding signs of Autumn, we had to celebrate by playing on the park. We are so proud to see Year 1 showing kindness to each other and respect to other members of the public too. What a fun afternoon!
Year 1 Art- Materials and their textures
Today in Art, we looked at different materials such as cardboard, bubble wrap, buttons, plastic etc and used some new vocabulary to describe their texture. We decided if the material was rough, smooth, bumpy, soft or hard. Then we matched our materials to their describing word independently. Well done Year 1!
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we took a moment to reflect on what has been a busy and wonderful third week of school. Our week began with a focus on God’s Big Story in Whole School Worships, where we came together to deepen our understanding. Year 6 had a fantastic time creating artwork in the Darwen Town Centre, while Years 3, 4, and 6 took part in a Let’s Go Sing Choir workshop, which has inspired even more children to sign up for our school choir. Year 5 enjoyed a Move and Learn session with BwD, and our entire school embraced the excitement of the new clubs that started this week, including Foodie Friends, Football, Fred & Pearl Craft Club, Choir, Netball, and Forest Schools. We also took time to celebrate our individual value award winners, with a huge well done to Zachary and Hollie in KS1, and Eva, Emily, Jack, and Elsie in KS2, for their dedication across the curriculum, their embodiment of our Barney’s 4Bs and Christian Values, and for spreading joy throughout the school. In addition, we were pleased to award India Mill as our Value Award winners for the second consecutive week, and Year 6 as the winners in KS2 with 100% attendance, while Reception and Year 1 in EYFS and KS1 earned recognition with a fantastic 99.3% attendance. Next, we celebrated our out-of-school achievers, including Albie for earning his 5m and 10m swimming certificates, Evie for her bravery in attending Rainbows for the first time, Alice for being awarded Cheerleader of the Week, Peyton for winning Star of the Week at gymnastics, Grace for achieving a highly commended in her recent acro exam, Charlie for being named Student of the Week at Junior Dragons Martial Arts Club, Ava for being awarded Squirrel of the Week, Mason for being runner-up in a recent darts tournament, Lyla for receiving a certificate of excellence for her gymnastics and acro talent, and Annabel for being named Star of the Week at her dance school. Finally, we ended our worship with some heartfelt prayers from Mason, Ella, and Zachary, who prayed for those affected by war and conflict, for those suffering from illnesses, and for those who don’t have enough food—especially as Harvest approaches. We also sang “Our God is a Great Big God.” A quick reminder from Mrs. Ham: Next Friday, September 26th, we’ll be hosting the Macmillan Coffee Morning. All donations will be greatly appreciated.