Year 5 - PSHE
In PSHE, we continued our topic on valuing differences between people by playing a role playing game in which children adopted the role of a speaker, listener and observer in a variety of different scenarios. These scenarios included not being able to hear properly, being too busy to listen and receiving support from a friend. The children then considered how it feels to be listened to or not listened to as well as the moments when it is hard to be a good listener.
Year 5 - Inter Faith Week
Miss Kachwalla kindly told Year 5 all about her faith - Islam. She told us about how the 5 pillars of Islam are rules to guide Muslims. She showed us pictures of her trips to Saudi Arabia and Jerusalem and told us about her pilgrimage to Mecca. Miss Kachwalla also showed us her prayer mat and discussed how prayers allow her to feel closer to God. To celebrate Inter Faith Week, we tried foods recommended by the Prophet for being healthy and natural: dates, bread, figs, honey, olives and melon.
Friday Celebration Worship: Children in Need
This morning in our celebration worship, we gathered as a whole school family to mark Children in Need, offering heartfelt thanks for the generosity shown in raising awareness and funds for such a worthy cause. This week, we have also celebrated the start of Anti-Bullying Week by wearing odd socks, a joyful reminder of the importance of uniqueness and individuality. Together, we reflected on how love, friendship, generosity and kindness can help us use our power for good and stand against bullying and nurture one another’s mental health. Throughout the week, our after-school clubs have brought great excitement and creativity, with children enjoying board games, football, forest school, Warhammer painting and a lively Let’s Go Sing workshop. Reception delighted in a terrific Trekking Tuesday, Year 3 welcomed Rev Ben and enjoyed a memorable visit to Nightingale Farm, and all classes began their new Design & Technology units as they prepare to create products for the Christmas Fair. Our worship continued with the presentation of awards. We celebrated our Value award winners Alfie, Beau and Haydn in EYFS and KS1, and Joshua, Luke and Mason across KS2, for demonstrating an excellent work ethic, thoughtful listening, teamwork, independence and our Christian values. We congratulated the whole of Year 3 for representing our school so beautifully during their farm visit, Darwen Tower as the overall value award winners with an impressive 233 points, and Year 2 and Year 3 as our attendance champions. We then celebrated our out of school star achievers. We celebrated Bo for earning both ‘Player of the Week’ in football and ‘Best in the Cast’ at Made for Stage, Haydn for his ‘Player of the Week’ award and an incredible 27 goals in just seven games, Ralphi for achieving his 5m swimming badge, Poppy for her wonderful dancing, Isabella for being ‘Star of the Day’ in acro, Hendrix and Maggie for completing Stage 1 gymnastics, Jack for his courage and skill as ‘Player of the Match’ with Blackburn Eagles, Marley for her dedication to Brownies, Grace for exceptional success across her dance competition, Freddie for swimming a fantastic 25 metres, Evie for achieving her laughter, communication, drawing and promise badges at Rainbows, Lydia and Naomi for demonstrating kindness, helpfulness and bravery at Rainbows and Brownies, and Ohana in Reception class for swimming an impressive 75 metres. We also celebrated our Year 5/6 football team for their two brilliant league wins last night in the DPSSA Football League and for representing our school proudly at the Blackburn Rovers Senior Ground on Wednesday as part of the KS2 BRFC Kids Cup. Mrs Ham and Mrs Govan then awarded certificates to Luna, Beau, Lyla, Skye, Olivia, Edward, Alana and Naomi for their success in the Spring Vale Ramblers Club Art Competition, with their artwork chosen for display in the Darwen Heritage Centre. Mrs Govan also introduced our Christmas ADVENTure Trail Art competition, inspired by the Nativity story and soon to be showcased in Whitehall Park, with a chocolate treat awaiting all who take part. We closed by thanking Renée, Callie and Harry for their beautiful prayers and offering our appreciation to everyone who joined us in worship, as well as to our whole school community for their continued support. We wish you all a peaceful and restful weekend as we look forward to the busy and joy-filled weeks leading up to Christmas.
Sportshall Athletics Trials
Today we held the first one of our Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics trials. The children practiced long jump, triple jump, obstacle race, speed bounce and the baton exchange in relays. Everyone worked so hard and showed a great attitude when trying out new skills! What a great way to end the week!
KS2 Football Team
Tonight our KS2 football team competed in the DPSSA Football League, playing two fantastic matches. The boys showed great teamwork and determination, beating Sudell 5–0 and St James’ Darwen 6–2. A brilliant effort from everyone, well done, boys!
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Year 5 - PE
The children continued developing their skills in badminton, becoming more comfortable with forehand and backhand shots. Working in pairs, one child threw the shuttlecock to the other player’s right and left side, encouraging the player to switch shots and accurately hit the shuttlecock back to their partner. Then we started building rallies, with children serving underhand and hitting the shuttlecock back and forth until it hits the ground.
Year 5 - Class worship- Climate Change
In class worship, we considered the current United Nations Climate Change Conference. We discussed how leaders from around the world are meeting to discuss ways to reduce pollution and save forests. The children highlighted how deforestation can lead to habitat loss and species extinction. We then read how the Bible encourages us to be responsible for God’s creation.
Year 5 - Computing
The children continued to focus on debugging programs, using the knowledge they gained to tackle increasingly complex challenges. Then the children selected one program to develop further and create a new branch of that game.
KS2 BRFC Kids Cup
A huge well done to our KS2 football team, who represented the school brilliantly at the BRFC Kids Cup! They played exceptionally well and narrowly missed out on reaching the quarter-finals.
After-School: Board Game Club
Wow, what an amazing first session of Board Game Club! The children showed all 4B’s, it was lovely to see them all taking turns and sharing. The older children were so great with helping the younger children and teaching them some of the games. They all had such a lovely time.
Year 5 - Design and Technology
We started our big design and technology project this week. We are making Christmas cushions using a variety of planning and technical skills. The children cut out their felt Christmas designs and began sewing them onto their cushion covers. The children showed great skill and perseverance threading needles, tying knots and beginning their precise running stitches. In future lessons, we will develop the use of blanket stitches to sew the pocket.
KS2 Football Training
This week, we began our football training for the half term. We focused on game-based sessions with specific rules designed to enhance players’ style of play and support their overall development within the game.