Image of Year 3- Class Worship-How important is it to know about the author behind the book?
3 Oct

Year 3- Class Worship-How important is it to know about the author behind the book?

During our class worship, Year 3 explored a story from Picture News about a book vending machine at Linlithgow Academy in Scotland. The machine offers children access to a diverse selection of over seventy books. The children discussed their preferred books and authors and why they liked them, with suggestions including humorous books, books that enhance vocabulary, and books that provide insights into historical events. We thanked God for allowing us to read books and learn from them, including the Bible and books written by other people.

Image of Year 3- Science- Investigating how shadows are created and change size.
3 Oct

Year 3- Science- Investigating how shadows are created and change size.

Year 3 scientists had planned to conduct a shadow experiment outdoors using natural sunlight, but the weather turned overcast. Instead, they used a torch as an artificial light source in the classroom. The children recorded their findings using simple scientific language and drawings. They observed that the size of shadows changed when they moved the torch. They noticed that the shadows were smaller when the flashlight was closer to the object and larger when it was further away.

Image of Whole School Worship: What is Spirituality?
2 Oct

Whole School Worship: What is Spirituality?

In our Tuesday worship, the theme was spirituality and what it means to us. Mrs Ham talked about things that we can see (physical/ material things) and things that we just feel (spiritual things). We played a fun game where we had to put on a pretend pair of binoculars if it was something physical/ material that we can see or cover our eyes if it was something spiritual that we can't see. We had things like connecting with nature, a big house', money, connecting with friends, inner peace and believing in a God. She introduced the ‘windows’ looking out on the world and how we should take time to learn, to gaze, to wonder and admire and ask ‘why?’ We looked at some of the ways we can live life in all its fullness and today we particularly focused on being 'grateful' for all of God's creations. We also explored how taking notice is one of our five ways to wellbeing too. We looked at some of God’s creations in a video and discussed our favourite ones with our partner. There were lots of 'WOWs' and 'aahhs' at some of God's amazing creations. We finished with a prayer thanking God for all of his creations and sang 'If I were a butterfly' to sing thank you to God. Across this academic year, we will continue to further explore what spirituality means to us at St Barnabas.

Image of Year 3- Music- Playing "Ghostbusters" at full speed using the interactive class jam video.
2 Oct

Year 3- Music- Playing "Ghostbusters" at full speed using the interactive class jam video.

Today in music, the young musicians from Year 3 reviewed what they learned last session and looked at keywords like melody, harmony, major, and minor. They listened to a piano playing the harmony to "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Then, put their new knowledge to work by playing "Ghostbusters" at full speed using the interactive class jam video.

Image of Year 3- Maths- Partitioning 3 digit numbers using place value counters
1 Oct

Year 3- Maths- Partitioning 3 digit numbers using place value counters

Today, Year 3 were introduced to place value counters for the first time. They compared them to familiar resources like base 10 blocks and learned to represent numbers using the counters. By breaking down numbers like 253 into 2 hundreds, 5 tens, and 3 ones, the children started to understand place value concepts more easily. They also learned about the hundreds column on a place value chart. It was great to see them supporting each other and using the place value chart to visualise the numbers and their place values.

Image of Singing Worship- Harvest
30 Sep

Singing Worship- Harvest

What a joyous way to start a new week at St Barnabas! We first discussed why we sing and we had some wonderful answers such as : to communicate with God, to learn new words and vocabulary, to learn new sign language so we can communicate with those who can't speak or hear, to have fun and to say thank you to God. Today some of our fabulous volunteers taught Reception class some of the signs and actions for some of our Harvest songs that we will be singing in our Harvest Festival on Thursday 17th October. We sang 'If I were a butterfly' and 'Sing a song of Harvest' to thank God for all of the wonderful living things he created such as animals, plants and trees.

Image of Year 3- P.E- To catch a ball
30 Sep

Year 3- P.E- To catch a ball

In PE today, Year 3 started with a challenging throwing and catching game! They practiced throwing the ball in the air and catching it with either their right or left hand, depending on the variation. Then, they were challenged to work in small groups and catch two softballs simultaneously. This activity required speed and coordination as they aimed to catch both balls before they hit the ground. Great teamwork and effort from all.

Image of After-School Club- Foodie Friends- Making Rice Krispies cupcakes
30 Sep

After-School Club- Foodie Friends- Making Rice Krispies cupcakes

Year 3 and 4 had fun making rice Krispies cupcakes today. Although they might have gone a little overboard with the rice Krispies, it was clear that everyone had a lot of fun. They worked together to chop butter into small pieces, add syrup, and melt chocolate on a small pan using an electric hob. To finish off , they sprinkled some sweet decorations on top to make them look pretty.

Image of Macmillan Coffee Morning
27 Sep

Macmillan Coffee Morning

A huge thank you to everyone who has supported our Macmillan Coffee Morning this morning with donations of cakes and/ or money. Every child in school was able to have a cake at break time thanks to your generous donations. Donations can still be made on parent pay or after school. We have some cakes left over so we will have a stall after school on the infant yard.

Image of Friday Celebration Worship
27 Sep

Friday Celebration Worship

Today,  we started our celebration worship by thanking everyone for their very generous Macmillan Coffee Morning donations, saying a huge thank you to our wonderful teaching assistants on National Teaching Assistant day and saying a special prayer and thinking about both our Cidari family of schools and local schools on ‘National Pray for Schools Day.’ We then presented Olivia, Reggie, Joey, Lydia and James in EYFS and KS1 and Olivia, Lana, Luke, Ted, Eden, Summer, Brooke and Charlie-Rose in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for being fantastic role model for their peers, having a fantastic work ethic and always demonstrating our Barney’s 4Bs (being ready, being safe, being kind and being respectful). Then, we heard from our well-being warriors who told us about ‘Hello Yellow Day’ coming up on Thursday 10th October and asked us to make a contribution on ParentPay in return for dressing in yellow to promote positive mental health. We also congratulated Year 2, Year 3 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and River Darwen as the value award winners this week with 410 points. Finally, we congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Hendrix Elijah, Maggie and Callie for completing the Summer Reading challenge, Ava for being awarded her ‘Little Puffin’ certificate at swimming, Scarlett for being achieving an award for her positive contribution to West Pennine Netball, Maggie for achieving a super drawing award, Bobby-Ray for achieving his white belt at kickboxing and stage 1 at swimming, Lyla for achieving two gold awards at gymnastics, Isabella for earning her brown belt at kickboxing and achieving all of her badges at Rainbows and moving up to Brownies, Peyton for red and white belt at kickboxing, Bella for achieving ‘The Little Darreners’ Player of the Week,’ Iris for being a super swimmer, Marley for being a yoga superstar, Charlie for achieving his brown belt at kickboxing, Olivia for achieving her Stage 6 swimming certificate and Layla for achieving a special rosette for being a super horse rider. Finally, we said the Grace and we sang ‘We Can Make a Difference.’ 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 Key Stage 2 - Rocksteady Workshop
26 Sep

Key Stage 2 - Rocksteady Workshop

This morning, Key Stage 2 had a fantastic time during a Rocksteady workshop, where they got the chance to create their own rock band! The children were able to step into the roles of musicians, playing instruments like the drums, guitar, bass guitar, and keyboard. A huge well done to all the children who participated, showing confidence and enthusiasm as they took to their instruments and played with impressive skill. The session was a great opportunity for them to experience the excitement of performing together as a band.

Image of Rocksteady Launch
26 Sep

Rocksteady Launch

This morning, we were treated to an exciting Rocksteady assembly, where children explored the world of electrical musical instruments. The children were introduced to instruments such as drums, guitar, bass guitar, and keyboard, learning how each contributes to creating music. They were captivated by the live demonstrations and enthusiastically sang along, filling the hall with energy. Mr Norris, Mr Bloomfield and Mr Prescott also got to live out their dreams as they got the chance to be in their own boyband The session offered a wonderful opportunity for the children to discover different musical sounds and rhythms, sparking their curiosity and love for music. Information about how you can sign your child up to play in a rock band will be being brought home this evening.