Year 3- Class Worship- Is it important to feel proud of where you come from?
The Times newspaper recently surveyed young people aged 18 to 27 about their perspectives on life and living in the UK. The results revealed a range of opinions, with 4 out of 10 respondents expressing pride in being British. Year 3 engaged in a discussion, unanimously agreeing on the importance of treating everyone fairly, as they believed this is what Jesus would want. The Bible and other sacred books teach that everyone is valued and has a place in the world. Following this, the children were asked to thank God for helping them appreciate the good in their surroundings and celebrate the uniqueness of each place. To end the worship, the children sang This Little Light of Mine.
Year 3- 40 Days of Kindness – Day 1
Following this morning’s school worship, where Mrs. Ham introduced the 40-day kindness challenge, we began Day 1 today. As we explored the similarities between Lent and Ramadan, we discussed how both are times to feel closer to God, give things up or fast, and give back to others. To start our challenge, each of the 31 children drew a picture, some chose suns, love hearts, stars, rainbows, books, cups, flowers, and even ice creams. At the end of the day, Chloe went around with a basket and handed each child a picture created by someone else. This small but thoughtful act brought smiles to everyone’s faces and reminded us how simple gestures can brighten someone’s day. We also spoke about the importance of kindness, especially during break and lunchtime when small disagreements can happen. Instead of only giving to our best friends, we challenged ourselves to give selflessly and spread kindness to others, seeing the joy it can bring. This discussion helped us reflect on how our words and actions shape the friendships and community around us.
.png)
Whole School Worship- How to make an enjoyable lunchtime?
Our whole school worship today began with the signing of the Trinity by the Heads and Deputies. Mrs. Araujo then led the worship, introducing our new behaviour focus: creating a calmer and more enjoyable lunchtime experience, while continuing to practice the good manners we have already learned. Mrs. Ham highlighted the importance of feeling safe at school, emphasizing that it is everyone’s responsibility to ensure a secure and supportive environment for all. To help improve lunchtimes, Mrs Araujo used a data logger to measure noise levels in the dining hall, which ranged from 79.5 to 80.5 decibels as loud as a truck! Many children noted that the high noise levels were overwhelming, made them want to cover their ears, and could prevent them from hearing important instructions in an emergency. During the worship, children worked with talk partners to discuss the question: If we use good table manners, how could this improve our lunchtimes? Through these discussions, they identified key areas for improvement, such as sitting properly at the table, using a knife and fork to eat, and avoiding walking while eating to reduce choking risks. The WOW group played a key role in visually demonstrating positive lunchtime behaviours. They were featured in photos and role-play scenarios, modelling both the correct and incorrect ways to behave in the dining hall. These demonstrations helped reinforce the importance of eating safely and respectfully. To support these changes, new posters have been placed around the school, reminding everyone to face the table while eating, lean over trays or lunchboxes to avoid spills, and wait until they have swallowed their food before getting up. These expectations will continue to be reinforced through modelling, praise, and reminders, ensuring that lunchtimes are a safe, calm, and enjoyable experience for everyone.
Friday Celebration Worship
Our celebration worship today began with the signing of the Trinity by the Heads and Deputies. Moving onto expressing our gratitude to everyone who supported the school's Valentine's Disco, which promoted love and kindness. We also acknowledged Safer Internet Day, which classes have been focusing on this week. The whole school also enjoyed a fantastic science show presented by Mad Science. The children were buzzing with excitement as we witnessed multiple experiments involving, an egg, fire and a red cabbage. The children in Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 shared their thanks for wonderful dance and gymnastics sessions led by Rothwell Arts. We've also had a great half term of extra-curricular clubs, including Foodie Friends Club, Craft Club, Basketball, SATS and Multi-Sports. Next half term's clubs include Mad Science Club, Edstart Dodgeball and Gymnastics, Craft Club, Performing Arts, SATs Club, Choir, Cross Country, and Netball. Sign up soon, as spaces are limited! All class teachers presented value awards to children in their class that received the most value points this week, Luna, Joey, Lyla, Chloe, Lilly, Isabelle, and Daisy for demonstrating our 4 Bs: being respectful, kind, safe, and ready along with our Christian Values. Well done to these children for their excellent attitude and commitment to learning. The WOW group announced the ‘Wow Badge Winners’ for their amazing badge creations: Reception: Eva, Year 1: Elsie, Year 2: Renee, Year 3: Cassidy, Year 4: Alexis, Year 5: Bella, and Year 6: Daisy. They all received a big bar of chocolate for their entries. Well done to Year 2 and Year 5 for their amazing attendance this week! We also celebrated our out-of-school achievers: Hayden (good tackling), Hendrix (key game at Squirrels), Maggie (Rainbows badges), Olivia (gymnastics), Annabel (Rainbows badges for healthy mind), Grace (song and dance), Molly (swimming), Jack (swimming, Stage 7), Olivia (player of the match), and Tristan (imaginary green belt for kickboxing). Our Sports Hall Athletics team came 3rd in the final! Well done to the whole squad! Our house teams with the highest points will be rewarded with a house points disco and non-uniform day after the holiday. Congratulations to the Green (Whitehall Park) and Red (India Mill) teams tied with an overall score of 11 points for the half term. This week Darwen Tower placed 4th, India Mill came 3rd place , 2nd place Whitehall Park and 1st place River Darwen. Mrs Ham read out a special prayer called the Lord is my Shepherd which focuses on Jesus being like a shepherd by guiding us and always being there for us and Lydia placed the “ Year of Prayer” sticker on our special chart. We thank all those who attended the celebration worship and wish our school family a lovely, restful half-term break. Thank you for your ongoing support.
Year 3- Class Worship - Tourism - Should we be allowed to travel anywhere we like?
In class worship today, Year 3 explored the Christian value of respect, connecting it to the recent news about increased Everest climbing permit fees in Nepal. From September, peak season climbs will cost $15,000 (a 36% rise from $11,000), while off-season permits (Sept-Nov and Dec-Feb) will also increase by the same percentage, costing $7,500 and $3,750 respectively. These fees are a crucial source of income for Nepal, with climbing and trekking contributing over 4% to their economy. We discussed how our travel decisions impact the environment and the importance of responsible tourism that respects both the planet and its people, reflecting on what the Bible says about this. Children shared examples of local issues, like litter around Darwen Tower and how we should do our bit by not littering. We sang a hymn celebrating God's creation and asking for guidance in making thoughtful travel choices. A big thank you to Harry for leading our prayer, and to Lotti and Lyla for reading out facts about Everest climbers.
Year 4 - RE with Rev Ben: Prayer
One of the key experiences in the current Year 4 RE unit is to learn from a Christian visitor about what Christians believe and how this is revealed in the way they pray. Rev Ben loves coming into school to explore faith with the children, and the children, in return, always offer their own insights. This lesson offered a fantastic opportunity to exchange thoughts and ideas, and we fully encourage respectful discussion of different worldviews in RE. The children loved exploring Christian belief through song, liturgy and 5 finger prayers. Thank you, Rev Ben.
.jpg)
Children's Mental Health Week Launch Worship & YOP- Talents
This morning Mrs Ham launched our Children's Mental Health Week theme of 'Know yourself, Grow Yourself'. We started by looking at our school vision that says 'Achieving great things through learning and growing together'. We thought about what the growing together means and we had some super suggestions such as growing emotionally and mentally, getting better at things and not giving up when we find things hard. We then looked at our emotions and how they control our brain, just like in the film Inside Out. We thought about the times when our brain tells us that we aren't good at things and we had some great examples such as in acro when doing cartwheels, in maths or art and when we do things for the first time. We thought of ways to challenge our brains and help ourselves grow by doing things that we enjoy such as listening to music, taking part in sports or other hobbies, showing courage to try new things etc. We then focused on our Year of Prayer for this week which is thanking God for our talents. We shared our talents and thought about ways we could express our talents this week and especially on our dress to express day on Friday. We reflected on how we should shine from the inside out and always respect each other's God given talents and the way we like to express ourselves. We discussed that if we laugh at the way someone likes to express themselves then that might hurt their feelings and they will feel sad and won't want to express themselves that way again. We said a lovely prayer thanking God for our talents and how we promise to share them with others and respect others' talents. We finished with singing one of our favourite songs 'Shine from the inside out' which reminds us that God knows us, loves us and fills us with talents that we need show to everyone we meet.
Year 6 Class Worship
Year 6’s class worship this week was led by our members of the Wow Group. They did a fantastic job of leading a discussion around the government’s recent decision to promote more educational content on social media platforms like YouTube and TikTok. The class talked about the influence that social media can have on us, both positive and negative.
The W.O.W. Group: Year 4 Class Worship
Thank you to the W.O.W. group today for leading our class worships across school. The theme was online content. Our worship leads began by introducing the topic and the news story linked to the topic. They played a couple of games of ‘Follow me’ and that we have the choice not to do something that makes us feel uncomfortable. They talked about the Christian value of courage and how we can show courage in the way we protect ourselves when viewing content online. The Bible link was from St Paul’s teachings, that we should seek out what is true, pure and trustworthy. In reflection, the Year 4s were in agreement that strict rules should be in place for children accessing content online.
Holocaust Memorial Day Worship
Our first collective worship of the week had a serious and somber tone as we held in our thoughts and prayers all of the Jews who suffered in the Holocaust. We looked out of our spirituality windows to learn how the Nazis did not show love to their Jewish neighbours like God commanded but instead treated them really badly during World War II. We watched a BBC interview with a Jewish survivor, who described some of the personal tragedies he faced at the young age of 6 when his family sent him away to save his life from the Nazi regime. He shared how he travelled on the Kindertransport and a British family showed him love and compassion and became the light in the dark. Through our spirituality mirrors we were able to reflect on how hearing of these events made us feel, and how the Jews must have felt back then. Finally, through our spirituality doors we learned of the many survivors who have worked tirelessly to make people aware of the devastation that was caused so that it would never happen again. We reflected on how we should always love our neighbours regardless of whether they look like you, pray like you, speak like you or think like you and stand up to anyone who is being mean to others.
Year 2 - The importance of the Gospels
Today we continued to look at all of the miracles Jesus had performed in his life. We looked at where many of these miracles can be found in the Bible. The gospels are where lots of these stories are told as they are the start of the New Testament which tells stories from when Jesus was alive. We discussed why Christians believe these are important and therefore why they are important to us. Next week, we will explore the teachings we can find and use in the Gospel stories.
.jpeg)
Rotakids Non-uniform day to support those affected by the LA fires.
As part of Year 5 RotaKids, we are determined to make a difference and support the 180,000 people who have been affected and forced to flee their homes due to the devastating LA wildfires. On Friday, 31st January, RotaKids will be hosting a non-uniform day to raise money for those impacted by this tragic event. We encourage everyone to get involved by wearing their favourite clothes and contributing to this important cause. We kindly ask for a minimum donation of £1, but any additional contributions will be greatly appreciated. This will be available on parent pay next week. Every penny raised will go towards helping families rebuild their lives and providing essential supplies to those in need. This is a wonderful opportunity to teach our children the value of helping others and making a positive impact on the world around us. Thank you for your generosity and support, Year 5 RotaKids