Image of Year 3- D.T- Running stitch
29 Oct

Year 3- D.T- Running stitch

Building on their skills from Year 2, the little elves have started a new unit on textiles this afternoon, preparing for our school Christmas fair. By the end of this unit, the children will design and create a Christmas-themed pouch, practising essential techniques along the way. Today, they focused on mastering the running stitch, aiming for regular-sized stitches and learning the importance of knotting both ends to secure their work. They also revisited how to thread a needle and tie a knot. Although threading needles and stitching proved challenging today, we’re excited to see their skills and confidence grow as they work toward completing their Christmas creations.

Image of Year 3- English- History-Understanding Mummification Through Experiment
28 Oct

Year 3- English- History-Understanding Mummification Through Experiment

In History, this afternoon, Year 3 continued their learning on the Ancient Egyptians with a writing stimulus focused on mummification. To support their writing unit, where they’ll explain the mummification process, the children “mummified” an orange. They cut the orange in half and removed the inside (representing the internal organs), then carefully dried it using a mixture of salt and baking soda. After removing the insides of the orange (just like the Ancient Egyptians removed internal organs), the children carefully dried the inside of the orange using salt and baking soda. This mixture acted like the natron salt the Egyptians used to preserve bodies by drawing out moisture. Next, they filled the orange with more salt and baking soda to prevent decay and dryness. Finally, they wrapped the orange carefully in strips of cloth to resemble linen bandages, just as the Egyptians would have wrapped their mummies. Over the coming days, the oranges will be left to sit, allowing the "mummification" process to take effect. The children will observe any changes and use this experience to help explain the process of mummification in their upcoming writing unit.

Image of Year 3- R.E- What does it mean to be called by God?
28 Oct

Year 3- R.E- What does it mean to be called by God?

In R.E. today, the children explored what it means to be "called" and shared times when they’ve been asked or called to do something, whether by friends, family, or teachers. They discussed different kinds of tasks they’re asked to do and how they feel when it’s something important versus something they may not want to do. Some shared moments when they didn’t feel skilled enough but tried because they trusted the person asking. This led to a conversation about feeling called by God, with many children expressing that they believe God may send signs through different forms, like weather, friendships, or even a beam of light, to guide and encourage them. They felt this calling could be an invitation to try new things, make good choices, and grow in confidence. It was a wonderful session of reflection.

Image of Year 3 - English- Identifying features of an explanation text
28 Oct

Year 3 - English- Identifying features of an explanation text

In English today, Year 3 looked at the main features of an explanation text. Working in small groups, they wrote step-by-step explanations for different tasks: making a sandwich, helping a plant grow, making a cup of tea, and creating a scroll using papyrus paper. This activity helped them understand how to write clear explanations and allowed them to collaborate and share ideas.

Image of Choir - Let’s Go Sing workshop
17 Oct

Choir - Let’s Go Sing workshop

Choir took part in their first Let’s Go Sing workshop in preparation for their concern in March next year. Rose was super impressed with how much they have learnt in such a short space of time! They represented our school brilliantly and demonstrated so many of our Christian Values throughout the workshop, showing lots of courage and respect. I have no doubt that they will be amazing on the stage when we get to Blackpool! Well done choir!

Image of Harvest Church Service 2024
17 Oct

Harvest Church Service 2024

Thank you to our Wow group, EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 classes for leading our Harvest celebration at church today. I have uploaded some videos to class dojo and additional photos can be found here: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/harvest-church-service-2024 It was wonderful to see so many of our families in attendance. A huge thank you to you all for coming to watch and thank you to all of our families for your continued support this half term. Thank you for all of your kind harvest donations, these can be continued to be sent in during the first week that we are back at school. Wishing you all a wonderful half term, Mrs Wilkinson

Image of Year 3- PSHE- Friends are Special
16 Oct

Year 3- PSHE- Friends are Special

Year 3 had a fantastic time exploring the meaning of friendship in our PSHE lesson today. We used Harold the Giraffe, Kiki the Kangaroo, and Derek the Penguin to discuss the qualities of a good friend and how to maintain strong friendships. We discussed the qualities and strategies of a good friendship. such as A best friend is someone you trust and care about deeply. Good friends are kind, trustworthy, honest, loyal, and respectful. Even best friends can have disagreements, but it's important to forgive and understand. Ways to make up with a friend include talking about it, apologising, spending time together, and being a good listener.

Image of Year 3- Art- Ancient Egyptian Scrolls
15 Oct

Year 3- Art- Ancient Egyptian Scrolls

Throughout this half term, Year 3 have explored the fascinating world of Ancient Egyptian art. They learned about the unique styles, patterns, and techniques used by the Egyptians. To showcase their knowledge and skills, they created their own scrolls on papyrus, which they created using coffee and tea. They’ve carefully chosen colours and materials to make their scrolls visually appealing and historically accurate. They’ve also used sketchbooks to record their observations, experiment with different ideas, and plan their scroll-making process. By studying how artists in the past produced art, they’ve gained a deeper understanding of the influence and impact of historical methods and styles on contemporary art. This knowledge has inspired them to create their own unique and meaningful works of art.

Image of Monday Worship: Harvest Appeal
14 Oct

Monday Worship: Harvest Appeal

This week is Recycle Week so we will be thinking about all of the rubbish we throw away and how it could be rescued and reused or recycled. Bobby-Ray said what one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure! Thank you for all of the donations of coats we have had so far for our Rota Kids Wrap Up Appeal. Mrs Ham showed us two bin bags that at first she thought was rubbish but they were filled with coats that can be donated to the homeless. Mrs Ham then introduced the Bishop’s Harvest appeal which our WOW group have chosen to support this year at Harvest along with DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). We started by exploring our spirituality window and looked at a photo of the classrooms of a church school in Multan in Pakistan. We stopped and reflected on what is great about our classrooms. Lottie loves the amount of paper, Ella-Grace said our teachers, Callie said our books, Eleanor said our friends, Jacob said the opportunities to learn, Olivia said the view of Darwen Tower and Will said everything. There are some boys and girls in Multan in Pakistan that are unable to go to school and some who do but don't have many resources in their classroom. We took some time to look at a picture and reflect on what we could see. The classrooms in Multan do not have any chairs, tables, pictures, windows or toys. The children reflected and felt empathy for the Christian children in Multan who did not have the same experience and resources as we all do at St Barnabas. We then started to think about what we could do to make a difference to their lives. The Bishop’s Harvest Appeal has helped the children to receive books, solar panels and hand washing facilities in the past. Rosie said we could do a sponsored run and James said we could collect books. Bishop Philip has asked us all do to a Harvest Heptathlon . We need to think of seven things we could do to help the children in our area and also the boys and girls in Multan. Over the next few weeks, we will be thinking about how we can help and make a difference. We ended our worship by singing ‘I can make a difference’.

Image of Foodie Friends After- School Club- Making chocolate and plain cupcakes.
14 Oct

Foodie Friends After- School Club- Making chocolate and plain cupcakes.

Our little chefs had a blast baking cupcakes today! They weighed ingredients, cracked eggs, and carefully filled cupcake liners with chocolate and plain batter.

Image of Celebration Worship
11 Oct

Celebration Worship

Today,  we started our celebration worship by thanking everyone for dressing in yellow yesterday for World Mental Health Day. What a fabulous day we had! This week, we have also been thinking about courageous advocacy. Well done to our Rotakids who are being courageous advocates by collecting coats to keep people warm this winter and our WOW group for collecting harvest donations for DARE (Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise). We then presented Ralphy, Skye and Ella in EYFS and KS1 and Lyla, Harriet, Ruby and Noah in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for working extremely hard across the curriculum and always demonstrating our Barny’s 4Bs (being ready, being safe, being kind and being respectful) and our school Christian values. We also congratulated our Year 5/6 football team who worked exceptionally well as a team in the Kids Cup Heat on Monday during all of the group stages and will now be competing in the final in the 23rd November, our Year 4/5/6 girls football team who played amazingly well in the DPSSA football league last night, Year 1 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners for the second week running and River Darwen as the value award winners again this week. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Lyla and Carmen for achieving their Stage 5 in swimming, Tristen for achieving his green and white belt in kickboxing and completing the BwD Summer Reading challenge, Maggie for being a superstar rainbow and being awarded Olivia this week and Isabella for being a fantastic swimmer. Finally, we had some beautiful prayers from James, Iris and Elijah to pray for those who have been affected by the hurricane in Florida and to give thank you this Harvest time and then we sang ‘Sing a Song of Harvest.’ We thank all those who could attend celebration worship and we said an extended thank you to the rest of our school family for all of your continued support. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend.

Image of Inter-House Sports Dodgeball led by Sports Leaders
11 Oct

Inter-House Sports Dodgeball led by Sports Leaders

A huge thank you to our new Sports Leaders who ran their very first Inter- house competition today. They chose to do dodgeball and every class thoroughly enjoyed it! The children showed each other respect, demonstrated the 4 B’s and encouraged each other every step of the way. We can’t wait to hear who the overall winners are next week