Whole School Celebration Worship
This week has been full of joy, community and Christmas spirit across our school! We started our celebration worship by lighting our first Advent candle together. Mrs Ham also thanked all the children and staff for decorating Christmas trees across school and highlighted a special moment when Phoebe, our youngest child in school, put the star on top of the tree in the school hall. We also said a huge well done to Reception who did an incredible Nativity performance. We also celebrated a couple of children who proudly represented our school at a local care home, singing for the residents and spreading Christmas cheer. We also had a fantastic time at the pantomime this week so a big thanks to Mrs Wilkinson for organising it. This week, our Values Awards were presented to the following children: all of Reception for their fantastic performance, Eleanor in Year 1, Teddy in Year 2, James in Year 3, Arabelle in Year 4, Sophia in Year 5 and Isabelle in Year 6. These children have been working so hard, following our 4’Bs and demonstrating Christian values. Mr Mealor also awarded Alexis, Miles, James, Harriet and Charlie with pen licenses for excellent progress in their handwriting. We also celebrated our Team Values Points with India Mill finishing in fourth place, River Darwen in third place, Whitehall Park in second place and Darwen Tower in first place! Mr Bloomfield also announced our first Times Table Rock Stars Winners: Charlie in Year 3, James in Year 4, Ivy in Year 5 and Charlie in Year 6. Our overall winners were Year 6! Well done. We are very proud of all the children who received special sports awards this week. Ava received Squirrel of the Week for her kindness. Zachary achieved his Stage 2 swimming certificate. Charlie was named Player of the Week for his excellent goal scoring. Desmond and Iris both competed in swimming events and placed in the top three, earning several medals. Thea was recognised for her fantastic balancing skills in gymnastics. Olivia was awarded the Olivia doll at Rainbows for her hard work. Vienna achieved her Stage 5 swimming certificate for completing 400m. Finn was named Player of the Week for his good passing skills. Willow achieved an impressive 19 skills in gymnastics. Luna earned the red belt in kickboxing. James received the Wilson Cup Trophy after finishing second with fewer players and also swam an impressive 50 metres. Grace was celebrated for helping others and persevering. Mollie was awarded the Claire doll for being helpful. Jack earned Captain of the Month for his encouragement, discipline and leadership. Tristan earned both his blue and purple belts in kickboxing and completed three minutes of continuous punching. Harriet was praised for her amazing progress in MMA. Lilly achieved a distinction in her Grade 1 acting school exam. Lila reached the finals of a dance competition, placing first in improv, first in commercial and second in lyrical. Our KS2 football team also showed great resilience this week. After losing their first match 7-0, they came back stronger to draw 2-2 in their next game. The winners of the Walk to School Challenge was also won by Reception, well done! We also celebrated our attendance winners this week which are Year 2 and Year 3. We have several exciting events coming up. The Lantern Parade will take place this Saturday in Whitehall Park. Our Christmas Fayre will be held next Wednesday in the school hall. The Christmas Carol Service will take place next Sunday. We also have an Advent Art competition with submissions open until Wednesday. Year 1 and Year 2 are performing their Christmas Cracker Show on Thursday and Friday. Year 1 are continuing to collect Christmas Hamper donations for the Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise. We are so proud of our wonderful children and look forward to another week of joy and celebration through our Advent journey.
Year 3- Class Worship-The Importance of Togetherness
Today in our class worship, we discussed the importance of togetherness and the Princess of Wales's Carol Service, which aims to bring people together to celebrate kindness and community. We learned that togetherness means noticing others, caring, listening, and showing kindness. This helps create a sense of belonging for everyone. Charlie read the prayer out.
Year 3- Maths- Making arrays using counters
In Maths, we have started our Multiplication unit. Today, the children were fantastic mathematicians, demonstrating their understanding of arrays by working in pairs and using counters.
Snow White Pantomime
The children had a brilliant time today at Blackburn Empire Theatre. The whole school watched Snow White. It was wonderful to see their faces light up, Christmas is in full swing at St Barnabas! All of the photos will be uploaded shortly to here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/snow-white-pantomime
Year 3 'Living Life in All Its Fullness' Our Panto Adventure!
Today, we truly embraced living life in all its fullness with our incredible trip to the pantomime! From the minute we got on the coach marked the start of a fantastic adventure. The performance was amazing. The children fully immersed themselves in the festive spirit, enthusiastically joining in with all the songs and music, cheering the heroes, and shouting the catchphrases. A special moment of unexpected joy was seeing Elijah randomly picked from the audience to collect a prize on stage.
Year 3- Science-Investigating the Body's Framework
Today, as expert scientists, we investigated the human skeleton and its vital roles, a framework shared by humans and some other animals. Our scientific mission was to understand that bones and muscles work together to provide support, protection, and movement. The skeleton gives our bodies support and shape, allowing us to stand upright. It also protects by encasing delicate organs; for instance, the skull protects the brain, and the ribcage protects the heart and lungs. Finally, our muscles attach to the bones, creating a system of levers that allows us to move so we can run, jump, and play. We successfully identified key bones, including the humerus, femur, tibia, and fibula.
Year 3- Class Worship- The Spread of Christianity
Today, during our class worship, we explored the fascinating story of The Spread of Christianity and how the faith journeyed from its beginnings to our very own local area (our Diocese). We learned that after Jesus left, his first followers were given the special job, known as the Great Commission, to share his message of love and hope with everyone. Key stories, like the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost and the incredible journeys of figures like the Apostle Paul, showed us how the Church grew and traveled across the world, eventually leading to the formation of the network of churches we belong to today. This movement is why we can gather together right here to worship. After learning about the growth of the Church, we took part in our own special way of spreading something good: thankfulness. Instead of using paper or screens, we used the power of our voices and our actions to share what we were grateful for. Each person was encouraged to verbally share something they were thankful for with the person next to them, creating a "chain" or "ripple" of gratitude that spread across the room, showing how quickly and easily good words can travel when we speak them aloud.
Whole School Worship - The Importance of Trees
This week is National Tree Week and Mrs Ham introduced an exciting new tree-planting project that we will be undertaking as a school. Following on from Switch Off Fortnight, we will continue our Planet Protectors mission by planting trees on our school grounds and, of course, our fantastic children will be involved. To kick start the project, we had a discussion about why trees are amazing. The children gave some very thoughtful answers, such as “they give us oxygen”, “they take harmful carbon dioxide out of the air”, “they provide protection for animals”, “we love playing in the trees”, “we use trees to make things”. Mrs Ham also told us the story, The Man Who Planted Trees. It was about a shepherd who saw the barren land and wanted to improve it, so he started planting trees. He planted over 1000 acorns, and after many years, the landscape was filled with lush, green trees, rivers flowed and a town was built. We learned from this 100-year-old story that one person’s small act can make a huge difference. Just like in the Parable of the Talents, we learned that it’s important for us all to use what we’ve been given to make a positive impact on the world. We can’t wait to use the trees that have been donated to us by the National Trust to make a positive impact on our community.
KS2 Football Practice
Today’s football session focused on the effective use of a target man, emphasising intelligent movement to create space, link play and support attacking transitions. Players worked on timing their runs, offering clear passing options and using body positioning to shield the ball and bring teammates into the game.
Year 3- TT Rockstars: The Battle is ON!
This week, we've kicked off the TT Rockstars Battle of the Bands, where our year groups go head-to-head to see who can answer the most correct times tables questions. We are dedicating 15 minutes each day over three days to this tournament during class time. The rivalry is fantastic! Currently, Year 6 is leading the charge on the leaderboard, but Year 3 is incredibly competitive, they are going home and logging extra time on TT Rockstars, determined to practice their way right into the Top Ten!
TT Rockstars Battles
Good evening, To further promote times tables within our school, we have set up a Key Stage 2 battle on TT Rockstars, where the children will compete once a month, for a week, to see who can take the top spot. We encourage all pupils to get involved, both at school and at home, battling it out to improve their times tables skills. Prizes will be awarded to the child with the highest score in each year group and an overall trophy will be given to the winning class. I will update next week with the winners of each year group and the overall winner. The battle will take place once per month and is scheduled for the week commencing the 24th of each month. This month’s battle is now live! Many thanks, Mr Bloomfield
Meet Our Science Ambassadors
We are absolutely thrilled to announce that we have expanded our Science Ambassadors and now have seven passionate representatives! For the first time ever, the role was open to both KS1 and KS2 students (previously KS2 only). We were overwhelmed by the incredible enthusiasm, receiving a huge number of applications from students explaining their passion and suitability for the role. The selection process was tough, but we have chosen our final seven. These enthusiastic leaders will be crucial in supporting our upcoming science initiatives; specifically, they will play a key role in the planning session with the Science Leader for British Science Week (BSW), where the team will focus on three key areas: determining the Big Idea by aligning the BSW theme with school goals; planning engaging Shows & Activities, including booking external providers, aiding teachers during practical lessons and assisting peers with scientific investigation to foster a culture of curiosity and learning across the school. We are so proud of them and look forward to Grace, Daisy, Jack, Harry, Elijah, Oliver and Minnie shining in their new role!