Year 5 - RotaKids
Kathleen and Julia from Darwen Rotary Club visited Year 5 to help choose our RotoKids. The children elected a president, vice president, secretary and treasurer who will help organise our fund raising efforts this year. We will have events to support the school, our local community as well as making contributions to international relief efforts. Congratulations to Desmond, Olivia, Daisy and Miles!
Whole School Worship - School Pride
Our first collective worship was a chance for us to celebrate being back together as a school family and reflect on what we hope for the year ahead. Mrs Ham began with a look at our school vision and invited the children to share ideas of how we can all contribute to our 'love-filled Christian family'. The children spoke in depth about acts of respect and kindness, which led Mrs Ham on to a recap of our school rules: Barney's 4 Be's- Be ready, be kind, be safe and be respectful. We discussed the importance of following our rules in order that we take real pride in our school and help every part of our school family to flourish. Some of our children even chose to come to the front of worship to demonstrate exemplary behaviour such as wonderful walking and legendary lining up. There were also reminders about healthy snack choices and the importance of attending school each day. We are so proud of our overall school attendance for the previous academic year and the children shared some reasons why regular attendance is important. We left our worship feeling energised and excited about the year ahead.
Year 4 - Class Rules
The Year 4s were introduced to the 'walking gallery' activity this week. We talked about what our 4 school rules meant and the children had to walk around the room adding examples of each behaviour to the posters. Some of the children wanted to add non-examples too as a reminder of what not to do. These ideas will be collated into our rules posters that will remain on display in the classroom throughout the year.
Whole School Worship - St Barnabas & St Paul
In Rev Ben's worship this week, some of our Year 6 children had a race balancing beanbags on their heads to demonstrate the value of perseverance and the importance of completing a difficult task without giving up. Rev Ben then told us the story of Barnabas and Paul, who travelled to many countries, spreading the good news about Jesus' sacrifice for mankind. We were shocked to find out that they even risked being arrested or killed, but they never gave up. We ended our worship with a reflection, thinking about what happened in the story and how we can best use our own talents to serve others.
Whole School Worship - St Paul: Amazing Grace
In Rev Ben's collective worship this week, he started by asking us all to think of the most important thing someone ever said to us. The children shared examples of words of wisdom and good news, such as being told about a new sibling. Rev Ben shared some of the most important words St Paul ever said about the grace of God and being justified by Jesus's death, resurrection and ascension. He used role play to explain the complicated concept of grace and that God's grace isn't something which can be earned. The children acted out scenarios in which someone received something by working for it, and someone received the same thing just because the person chose to give it to them. Rev Ben went on to say that God's love is given to us all; we don't have to earn it. He reminded us that friendship with God develops from faith in Jesus.
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Year 3- R.E-A Visit from Rev. Ben
Today, we welcomed Rev. Ben into our R.E. lesson. He came to speak to Year 3 about the qualities of a Christian and what it means to live a Christian life. Rev. Ben shared examples from his own experiences and the Bible, helping the children understand key values such as kindness, forgiveness, honesty, and compassion. The pupils were incredibly engaged and asked thoughtful questions, such as “How do Christians show love to others? Is it hard to forgive people? Do Christians have to attend church every Sunday? After the discussion, the children reflected on what they had learned and worked on writing their own set of guidelines for how someone might live as a Christian. These included ideas such as “Help others in need,” “Treat everyone fairly,” “Pray when you feel thankful or worried,” and “Forgive people, even when it’s hard.”
Growing from Year 3 into Year 4’s Transition Day
What a fantastic day we have had with our soon to be Year 4 class! We have had a PSHE lesson - All About me , a Creative Writing session which focused on a dragon called Targon and a boy named Seb, plenty of artwork and we even managed to squeeze in some time on the MUGA and outdoor gym at the end of the day. The children have shown the four B’s and have been super enthusiastic, producing some wonderful pieces of work for our new displays. We can’t wait to welcome them back in September as they are definitely more than ready!
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Years 2 & 4 - RE: Exploring the Church
Both Year 2 and Year 4 are currently studying the Church in RE. To develop the children’s knowledge and understanding, Rev Ben invited both classes to church to explore the features and talk about why they might be found in a church. The Year 2 children have been learning about various features and labelling them, which was further developed through experiencing how they are used and why. The Year 4 children have been learning about the similarities and differences between different churches and other places of worship, and they have been finding out about how some common features are connected to the Bible. Thank you for inviting us, Rev Ben. The experience definitely enhanced the children’s learning.
Year 1 RE- Joseph the Ruler (Forgiveness)
Yesterday, Year 1 continued their exploration of the story of Joseph, reading Part 3: "Joseph the Ruler." They learned a powerful lesson about forgiveness as Joseph chose to forgive his brothers after seeing their genuine change. We connected this to the Christian value of forgiveness and then engaged in an activity identifying scenarios where forgiveness might be needed due to unsafe, disrespectful, or unkind actions. Examples included throwing rubbish on the floor, saying unkind words, pushing in line, running in the dinner hall, playing football indoors, and snatching items. Year 1 then discussed how asking for forgiveness should be accompanied by a commitment to change our future behavior.
Year 3- Picture News Worship-Curiosity and Faith
Today in class worship, we explored "a Picture News Worship" focusing on a shipwreck discovery and the Christian value of Wisdom. We learned about the SS Nantes, a ship found off the coast of Devon nearly 140 years after it sank. We discussed how exciting it feels to discover new things and why people enjoy solving mysteries. Isabelle read our prayer, thanking God for creating a world full of wonder and mystery, and asking for help to be curious and respectful as we explore His amazing creation.
Year 4 - Linking Schools: End of Year Celebration
What a brilliant way to finish our Linking Schools journey! We all had great fun in Year 4 on the Schools Linking Celebration Zoom. We reminisced about all the enriching activities we took part in this year and shared some of our favourite moments, such as playing the whiteboard game, meeting St Matthew’s and making new friends. We have learned so much about ourselves and who we are, as well as learning about our link class. Tolerance, respect and friendship were definitely key themes as we realised that, although we were different to our new friends in many ways, we also had so much in common. There is just one more step for us to complete, which is our social action project. After collating ideas about improving God’s world, we voted for the most popular idea and decided we would act on it - writing to residents of a care home. Look out for more news about our happy post soon.
Whole School Worship - The Unforgiving Servant
The theme in this worship was “forgiveness”. Mrs Ham continued to reveal the meaning behind the Lord’s Prayer, today, focussing on the line “and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”. To explain what Jesus taught us about forgiving others, Mrs Ham chose to share the story of The Unforgiving Servant with the help of some willing participants. Rev Ben and a couple of the children gave a fabulous performance, showing us that we should replicate to others the mercy shown to us, and that forgiveness should be given as many times as necessary. The children reflected on the story’s moral and shared their opinions about this.