Image of Year 4 Art Willow Painting
25 Sep

Year 4 Art Willow Painting

Our art session this week focused on Willow Style painting on plates. We linked this to our class novel The Explorer and selected three key elements of the story such as the plane, the Amazon river and an animal featured in the story such as the sloth. Next we drew these onto our paper plates faintly so that we could then go over them with a fine brush and ink. The children really tried hard to keep to the outlines with super fine brush strokes but it proved a difficult job! The final plate designs were all unique and when put together, looked very effective.

Image of Year 4 Gymnastics
25 Sep

Year 4 Gymnastics

Today we had a gymnastic taster session with Passion 4 Gymnastics. We started with a warm up using different ways of moving around the room. Next we moved onto stretches which included doing three small bounces in a crouched position then stretching up and touching our toes. The children moved into straddle, tuck and pike positions and continued their stretching to ensure that they were fully prepared for the session. In the next stage of the session, the children moved onto the six stations All of the stations involved some form of rolling and worked on developing core strength. The children really enjoyed taking part in today's session and we hope that we can get some of them to take part in an after school club and gym competition in the spring term.

Image of Whole School Worship - Agent Ananias
24 Sep

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.

Image of Year 4 - Science: Researching Habitats
24 Sep

Year 4 - Science: Researching Habitats

This week our Year 4 scientists were working scientifically by conducting research to answer questions about habitats. Each group was given a habitat and asked to use the National Geographic site to answer the following four questions: Which animals live there? Which plants live there? What is the climate like? What are the conditions? The children then used their group research to present their findings in their books.

Image of Year 4 - Class Worship
24 Sep

Year 4 - Class Worship

In order to support the children’s understanding of this week’s worship theme, the Year 4s listened to the story of Ananias and Saul again. They discussed why God chose Saul to spread the word about Jesus, especially after spending a lot of time persecuting Christians. The children thought about the benefits and dangers of giving someone unexpected an important job. They recognised that the message meant more coming from a former non-believer.  The Year 4s were then chosen for a special mission of their own: to be agents of respect. Their job will be to look out for anyone treating our spiritual garden with respect and nominate them for some extra value points. They are looking forward to announcing their nominations next week.

Image of Football Club
23 Sep

Football Club

This week at Football Club, the children took part in game-based sessions, giving them the opportunity to showcase and refine their skills in realistic match situations. They worked on teamwork, communication, and tactical awareness, all in preparation for the upcoming league fixtures.

Image of After School Foodie Club- Choc Chip Cookies
22 Sep

After School Foodie Club- Choc Chip Cookies

Today at the After-School Club, Years 3 and 4 bakers made delicious chocolate chip cookies. They carefully weighed out the sugar and flour, and the children especially loved cracking the eggs, one of the highlights of the session. Apparently, one of the best cookies they've ever had!

Image of Friday Celebration Worship
19 Sep

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.

Image of Blessed with beautiful views in Year 4
18 Sep

Blessed with beautiful views in Year 4

Today, Year 4 took some time to admire what beautiful views we have from our classroom window, especially when rainbows appear! A rainbow is often a sign of hope, the beauty after the storm or good fortune and this led us wonderfully into our lunchtime prayers.

Image of Year 4 - RE: What is Prayer?
17 Sep

Year 4 - RE: What is Prayer?

This half term, the Year 4s are on a RE quest to discover what prayer is. We began by studying images of people around the world from different faiths praying. We recorded our best ideas and also posed questions for Sally the Social Scientist about how the people were behaving. We then studied some quotes from the New Testament and tried to uncover Jesus’ teachings about prayer. The children will be choosing where they want their quest to go in next week’s lesson.

Image of Year 4 - Times Tables
17 Sep

Year 4 - Times Tables

Look at those proud faces! Our rockin’ Year 4s have had a fantastic start to their TT Rock Stars journey. They trialled some of the single player games and earned coins to spend on their rockstar avatars. We talked about the benefits of doing our times tables little and often, but I think it’s going to be more hardworking keeping some of the class off this app!