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.
Whole School Worship - How Can We Flourish Together?
Today, in our collective worship, we shared ideas of what it means to flourish. The children had some fantastic thoughts, including being the best you can be, persevering, sharing with others and appreciating what God has given us. We looked at each one of our Christian values and decided how they could help us to learn and grow together. Mrs Ham reminded us of some of the “wows” and the “ows” in the world and we discussed how they make us feel. We reflected on the part we can all play by taking action to prevent the suffering in the world. We ended our worship with a reminder and a celebration of the ways we at St Barnabas have affected change in our communities and in the wider world. These included supporting our local refugees, collecting preloved coats for the homeless, raising money for East Lancs Hospice and collecting tinned food and toiletries for our harvest appeal. The children articulated that we all flourish when we aim to make the world a better place.
Another Week of Achieving Great Things & Living Life in All Its Fullness!
Dear Parents and Carers, What another truly fantastic week we've had, packed with children living life in all its fullness and achieving great things! The enthusiasm and effort from our children continue to make us incredibly proud. *This Week's Highlights* It's hard to pick just a few, but here are some of the wonderful things that have happened: *Our Year 5 Peer Mediators have been outstanding! On Monday morning, they led a Worship all about justice and forgiveness, and then bravely started their new role at break and lunch times, helping to resolve conflicts among children. They're doing an amazing job and have put all their training to good use! *On Monday we also had great fun singing our favourite Worship songs at a live Fischy Music Concert. *Year 3 has been deeply engaged in learning about refugees through the book 'I am Refugee'. As part of Refugee Week, some of them were invited to a special Refugee Week Tea Party by Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE), and the whole class confidently presented their learning to the Year 2 class. *A massive congratulations to our Year 5 and 6 netball squad who won the Darwen Netball League for the second year in a row! They were undefeated in all their games over the last five weeks – what an incredible achievement!They also won the Bee Stinger Netball a few weeks ago so will be representing BWD on the 8th July. *Reception class enjoyed a spiritual walk as part of their Muddy Monday and appreciated all of God's creation and gave thanks to Him all the way along. *We've seen the exciting start of some of our new out-of-school enrichment clubs, including Forest Schools, Cre8ability, Racquet Skills, Jag Tag, Craft Club, and Multi-skills. It's wonderful to see the children engaging in such a variety of activities. *In our Year of Prayer focus, we explored fruit tea smells in class, taking time to thank God for the amazing variety of fruits and vegetables He created. *During Worship with Rev Matt, we continued our focus on different ways to pray, reminding ourselves that we can pray anytime, anyway, and anywhere. We also dedicated worship time to Refugee Week, with some classes joining the Big Live Assembly for Refugee Week. The absolute biggest highlight of the week was our Sports Day this morning! We were completely overwhelmed by the fabulous turnout of parents, carers, and family members who came along to support and encourage in true St Barnabas style. A huge thank you to everyone who came – your presence truly made it special for the children. We are so incredibly proud of each and every child for their determination, courage, and effort, as well as for the fantastic encouragement they showed each other. For all of the news in detail from each class, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Next week promises to be another busy and exciting one: Monday: Our Year 6 children will be showcasing their writing to the writing moderators from the local authority. We are super proud of all their hard work! Tuesday: Our SIAMS Church School Inspection will be taking place. We are so excited to show the Inspector our amazing school family and how we live out our vision of 'Achieving great things through learning and growing together in a love-filled Christian family' and how we all live life in all its fullness. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to speak to the Inspector and to everyone who has filled in the survey. If you haven't done so already, there is still time to fill this in. https://forms.gle/KUNHYgF69mgkLtM49 Also on Tuesday, Years 1 and 4 will have workshops from the Environment Agency about how they can reduce, reuse, and recycle waste, a great way to protect our planet. Thursday: Darwen Rotary will be visiting our RotaKids to thank them for their fantastic fundraising and projects this year and to start planning for next year. Please note, we've had to postpone our Barney's Got Talent Auditions by a week as our Sports Day ran over today. Thank you for your continued support – it means the world to us and we couldn’t do what we do without your support. Wishing you all wonderful weekend and I hope the sun continues to shine, Mrs Ham
Year 3-The Great Big Live Assembly: A Journey Into Refugee Lives
Today, Year 3 joined hundreds of schools for The Great Big Live Assembly to mark World Refugee Week. Led by Krish Kandiah, the worship helped us learn about the lives of millions of children who have been forced to leave their homes because of war, violence, or danger. We discovered that over 43 million children and young people worldwide are refugees or displaced. Through stories and real examples, including a live connection with children living in refugee camps, we got a better understanding of the challenges these children face every day. Krish encouraged us to think about what “home” means and how important it is to show kindness, support, and hope to those who have lost so much. The worship helped us reflect on the courage and strength of refugees and inspired us to be more compassionate and aware of global issues.