Year 3- History- Mapping Our Prehistoric Past
In history class today, the Year 3 Historians took their learning beyond the classroom and became true historians as they explored the Prehistoric Ages. We started by investigating the massive timeline in our school hall, which shows how humans have lived in Britain for over 900,000 years. To deepen our understanding, we then used an interactive timeline. We discovered how the Stone Age lasted for a vast amount of time as humans mastered flint tools and early farming, followed by the Bronze Age, where the discovery of metal-working changed how people traded and lived. Finally, we saw the rise of the Iron Age, characterised by powerful hillforts and advanced tools.
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Year 3- Class Worship- Building a Community of Kindness
In our class worship, we learned about the development of Barking Riverside, a brand-new town in East London designed to provide up to 20,000 new homes. We discussed how this new community will include schools, parks, and shared spaces where neighbours can show mutual respect and tolerance so that everyone feels they belong. This led to a thoughtful conversation about new children starting in our own class; we talked about how every child has the right to a safe place to live and grow, and how we can be "good neighbours" by making others feel welcomed. Evie read the school prayer, thanking God for safe homes and asking for help to treat our neighbours with kindness so that our hearts can be filled with peace. We ended worship with singing 'When I Needed a Neighbour'.
Year 3- R.E- Exploring Sadness and Joy with Rev Ben
This afternoon, we welcomed Rev Ben to our class to investigate the emotional journey of Holy Week through a deep discussion. We used our oracy skills to recap the Easter story and explore how church services transform from sadness to joy. Rev Ben explained that on Good Friday, the service is solemn and quiet to reflect the sadness of the cross. However, we also talked about how everything changes on Easter Sunday, when the church bursts into a joyful celebration with loud bells and happy songs to show that Jesus is alive. By talking and listening to Rev Ben, we learned that churches use different moods, sounds, and symbols to help people feel the big emotions of the Easter story.
Whole School Worship - The Value of Kindness
Today, our whole school worship was focussed on the value of kindness and our Kindness Kite of God rewards kindness. We talk about kindness frequently at St Barnabas, especially as it is one of our 4 Be’s. As we came into worship, a video was playing that showed how kind acts affect the recipient, prompting them to pay the kindness forward so that it spreads. The children spotted some acts of kindness in the video and linked these to the charitable activities we have taken part in as a school family recently. Mrs Ham read some motivational quotes and we all acted out sprinkling a glitter trail of kindness and throwing around kindness like confetti. She then showed us the story of The Good Samaritan and explained that showing kindness isn’t something we reserve just for our friends and family; it’s for everyone. Quotes from the Bible about kindness were read brilliantly by Matthew, Darcy and Charlie from this week's Kindness Kite. We then spent some time reflecting on how we will show kindness this week and beyond, and we finished by singing one of our favourite songs, Rich in Kindness.
Year 3- Science- Investigating Contact and Non-Contact Forces
Today, we began our new science unit on forces and magnets. We started by exploring how objects move and learned that a force is essentially a push or a pull acting upon an object. We discovered that while some forces require objects to touch (known as contact forces, such as kicking a football), others can act at a distance (known as non-contact forces, such as the pull of gravity or a magnet). By experimenting with magnets and clips, we observed non-contact forces in action, watching objects rise without being touched. We also explored contact forces by stretching elastic bands and pushing balls. We realised that forces are responsible for starting motion, stopping it, and even changing the shape of an object.
Mad Science After School Club- Exploring the Chemistry of Curiosity: pH Levels
We had a fantastic start to our Science club today, delivered by the Mad Scientist, Jo. Our future scientists focused on the power of pH levels, learning how to identify acids and bases using professional liquid indicators and pH paper. The children put on their safety glasses and learned the vital importance of protecting themselves while conducting experiments. From observing the chemical reactions used to clean oxidised coins to testing the acidity of common household liquids. It was inspiring to see the children’s curiosity come to life as they realised that science isn’t just found in a textbook, it is happening in their kitchen cupboards and the world around them.
*Spring Amazing Attendance Awards *
*Spring Amazing Attendance Awards * A huge congratulations to all of the children who achieved an amazing attendance certificate today for having over 96% attendance throughout the Autumn and Spring terms! We are so proud of you!
Whole School Worship - God’s Green Earth
As we approach the end of Lent, Mrs Ham led a special worship to celebrate all the efforts our school community has made to give back by looking after our local area and beyond. We couldn’t believe just how much we’ve all achieved in 2026 so far. Some key actions include: Reception class earning the Ruby Robin Award through building bug hotels, spotting birds and taking part in a wildlife quiz; our collective Big Winter Wander to raise money for the World Fund For Nature; our whole-school tree planting day on Jack’s Key; the WOW group planting two community orchards on school grounds; Mr Fairbanks building bird boxes and placing them around school; the Rota Kids collecting pre-loved teddies and coats for charity; the WOW group creating posters about the community poo bag dispenser located outside school, and putting them up all around the local area; and some of our children and parents choosing to go litter picking to help keep our streets clean. We have much more planned for the future, so keep a lookout for our next initiative. We ended our worship with prayers of thanks for God’s creations and singing one of our favourite Fischy Music songs: Make A Difference. Key Stage 2 stayed behind to hear the winners of the March TT Rockstars battle. A huge well done to the winning classes, Years 3 and 6, and to our class champions: Charlie, Charlie, Isabella and Isabelle.
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Heroes of Troy
We are so proud of our drama club for their fantastic production of ‘Heroes of Troy’. We loved seeing you all shine on stage and it was amazing to see how much your confidence has grown over the last ten weeks. A huge thank you to Miss Woods and Mr Mealor for their support and direction. Also a massive thank you to all of the parents and carers who came to support. All of the photos are available here and the recording will be shared soon. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/heroes-of-troy-drama-club-production
Year 3- East Lancashire Hospice Hop, Skip and Jump
Today, our Year 3 class hopped, skipped, and jumped. They took on our 1k track to raise money for the wonderful East Lancs Hospice, and they did it in style, wearing their own, handmade Easter crowns. We are so proud of their incredible effort and teamwork. To celebrate their hard work, every child was rewarded with a chocolate egg. Parents, you can still support this amazing cause! Donations can be made easily via ParentPay.
Times Table Rockstars Champions
A huge well done to our KS2 Times Table Rockstars champions for this month! Congratulations to: Charlie G – Year 3 Isabelle – Year 4 Charlie – Year 5 Isabelle – Year 6 A special shoutout to our class winners too: Lower Key Stage 2: Year 3 Upper Key Stage 2: Year 6 A Fantastic effort by everyone—keep rocking those times tables!
Year 3 Food Technology: Peeling, Cutting and Grating
Today, we became young chefs as we mastered essential food technology skills like peeling, cutting, and grating to prepare for our seasonal tarts. At our busy preparation station, we practised the "claw" and "bridge" cutting techniques to safely slice sweet strawberries, crunchy carrots, and juicy pears. We also revisited our Year 2 skills by grating and snipping ingredients to create different textures. By focusing on our Year 3 progression, we learned how to handle a peeler effectively and decided which parts of our fruit and vegetables were best to eat. To ensure we didn't waste any food, we used our prepared ingredients to make our fruit tarts in the afternoon. ready for us to evaluate in our next lesson!