Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we began our worship by reflecting on what has been a busy but thoroughly enjoyable week. Mrs Ham started by thanking everyone for their wonderful efforts in raising awareness for mental health during last Friday’s Hello Yellow Day. She also expressed her appreciation to all the children who attended the Harvest Church Service at St Barnabas Church on Sunday, accompanied by Mrs Araujo, Mrs Wilkinson, and Mrs Govan. The children sang beautifully and truly gave it their all. We also recognised the many children supporting Rotakids by donating winter coats and shoeboxes filled with essentials for DARE (Darwen Asylum Refuge). Mrs Ham reminded us that we can continue to support important causes by taking part in Bishop Phillip’s Pedalathon, raising funds for Christians in South Africa by getting out on our bikes and putting in some miles. We are also still collecting Harvest donations for the local food bank and DARE. We took time to congratulate our individual Value Award winners this week: Poppy, Olivia and Skye in EYFS and KS1, and Renee, Lyla, Walter and Ruby in KS2, for consistently following Barny’s 4Bs, working incredibly hard across the curriculum, and showing great growth and maturity during their first half-term in their new classes. Our congratulations also went to our Year 2 and Year 3 classes for being this week’s attendance winners. A big well done to India Mill, who were our weekly Value Award winners with an impressive 236 points, and also our overall Value Award winners for the half-term. As a reward, they will enjoy a non-uniform day and disco — with the date to be announced shortly. We were delighted to recognise a number of pupils for their achievements outside of school this week. Well done to Jonas for settling in so well after recently joining Squirrels, and to Phoebe for earning a badge at Rainbows and always bringing positivity and laughter. Callie has been an excellent role model at martial arts, while Elijah was awarded Beaver of the Week for his enthusiasm and willingness to get involved. James impressed with his fantastic fielding in cricket, Lyla performed beautifully in her lyrical dancing, and Sofia was named Star of the Week at acro while also earning several badges at Brownies. Charlie achieved 25 metres in all swimming strokes, Olivia received her Silver Award at Rainbows, Willow showed amazing gymnastics skills, Lydia earned her Gold Award at Rainbows, and Eleanor achieved her Amazing Helper badge. We also congratulated our Year 4 pupils for representing the school so well at the Cidari Earth Conference at Blackburn Cathedral yesterday, and praised our girls' football team for their continued efforts in the DPSSA league. Finally, a reminder that next week is a four-day week due to an INSET day on Friday. We also have our Halloween Spooky Disco on Wednesday evening, organised by FOSB, and our Harvest Church Service taking place on Thursday morning. Please check Class Dojo for more details. Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!
.jpeg)
Cidari Earth Conference
Seven Year 4 children represented our school family brilliantly at the Cidari Earth conference at Blackburn Cathedral. They participated in activities addressing environmental challenges like plastic pollution, war and conflict, and global warming. The children made new friends by working in groups with students from other schools in the Trust. Rev Ben led an opening worship about God's creation and our responsibility to care for it. After activities, they admired the "Gaia" Earth installation and listened to Bible stories like David & Goliath and Jesus calms the storm, which emphasised faith and courage in tackling these "insurmountable giants." Each group also created prayer stations, which will be displayed in The Temple Gallery at the Cathedral over half term. Families are encouraged to visit and see the Earth installation, photographs, and prayer stations. Some of the children said “It’s been the best day ever!” A huge thank you to Mrs Araujo for planning and leading one of the activities
Rev Matt’s Whole School Worship
Rev Matt led our Whole Worship today which focused on second chances. We started with a quick game in which we had eight items on a tray. Rev Matt then covered it over and removed some of the items and the children had to guess which were missing. The items included a duck, a bottle of cordial and tins. The children highlighted the fact that we were given second chances by Rev Matt to have a guess. Our Bible story had the actions for running, walking and watching. It was the story of Jacob. Jacob had cheated his brother in the story and his brother now wanted him dead. God watched and watched Jacob run away. When Jacob was tired he fell exhausted onto the desert floor. When he was ready to listen to God he had a dream with a ladder. At the top of the ladder was God and he promised Jacob that the land was his and his family’s and God would always protect Jacob. When he woke he said thanks to God and then he ran all the way to his friends and his mother told him he would be safe but also learnt a very important lesson. Jacob met a girl and after seven years she became his wife. On the day of his wedding, he pulled back the veil and realised that the girl was in fact the sister of the girl he thought he was marrying. He felt that he had been cheated. The cheater had been cheated. Eventually he could marry the correct sister and return home. On his return home, Jacob walked and walked eventually seeing his brother walking towards him. Jacob told his family to stay behind as he would face his brother alone. He believed that God would protect him. His brother forgave him and the two brothers were friends again just as God had promised. He had given Jacob a second chance. In our discussion we looked at why God gives us second chances even when we don’t deserve it . Rev Matt also asked us who we could give a second chance to? The children shared that they could have a second chance if they had made a mistake or done something wrong. We could given second chances to lots of people including our friends, family and people around us. We finished in prayer asking for God to give everyone a second chance .
Year 2 Class Worship- Picture News
This week in class worship, Year 2 caught up on last week’s Picture News and explored the inspiring story of 23-year-old Ellie Goldstein, a model and current contestant on Strictly Come Dancing. Some of the children recognised Ellie from the show, and we learned that she is the first person with Down’s Syndrome to take part in the full series. We discovered Ellie’s motivations for joining the show, including her desire to challenge herself and to prove that people can achieve incredible things—sometimes even surprising others with what they’re capable of. We reflected on the important messages we can take from Ellie’s story. The children shared some brilliant thoughts, such as the importance of facing our fears, ignoring negativity, being brave, and working hard to achieve our goals through perseverance and practice.
Whole School Worship - Preparing for Harvest Time
This week in worship it has been a time of reflection. We thought about some of the many injustices around the world with the aid of picture and video prompts. The children explored what they saw in the video and explained the injustice of each situation. Mrs Ham then talked about the causes we are supporting this Harvest and we celebrated the charitable efforts made so far by members of our school family. Then it was over to the children as they taught the teachers how to sing a Harvest song in Zulu. We’re all in for a treat at the Harvest service next Thursday.
Whole School Singing Worship
This morning our whole school family came together to discuss harvest, thinking of others in need and singing some harvest songs. This week we looked at a new song called Siyahamba from South Africa, looking at how others worship God through song and how we will be supporting Christians from South Africa during our Bishop's Harvest Appeal and Pedal Along with Bishop Philip. We are looking forward to performing Siyahamba /Marching in the light of God in our Harvest Church Service on Thursday 23rd October.
Bishop Philip’s Harvest Pedal Along
Mrs Ham and her husband took on a cycling challenge today to pedal along with Bishop Philip for this year’s Bishop’s Harvest Appeal. They cycled 30 miles from Fleetwood to Lytham and back. We would love to see our school family pedalling along on bikes or scooters throughout October to raise money for Christians in South Africa. Donations can be made on Parent Pay. How about getting family and friends to sponsor you £1.00 per mile! Please send in photos and distances to Mrs Ham or Mrs Wilkinson. Happy pedalling! ???? ????
St Barnabas Family Harvest Service
Thank you to all who attended our St. Barnabas Harvest family service. The children sang beautifully, and it was wonderful to see so many of them participate. We appreciate your efforts in bringing them. A special thank you to Rev Ben for inviting us, Mrs. Govan for helping to lead and to Mrs. Araujo for her support. Enjoy a beautiful Sunday, Mrs Wilkinson
Friday Celebration Worship and Hello Yellow Day
This morning, we enjoyed an extra special celebration worship to mark ‘Hello Yellow’ Day for World Mental Health Day. We began by exploring the range of emotions we all experience and discussed ways to lift our spirits when we're feeling down, with thoughtful suggestions like listening to favourite music, taking deep breaths, watching a funny film, reading a book, singing wholeheartedly, having a cuddle, or counting to ten. To boost our mood even further, we had a joyful singalong to Golden by K-pop and lit candles to pray for those facing mental health challenges. We then celebrated our Value Award winners across the school—well done to Coban, Reggie, Olly and Percy in EYFS and KS1, and to Harry, Olivia, Carter and Jenson in KS2—for their outstanding attitudes to learning and for consistently demonstrating our Barney’s 4Bs. Congratulations also to India Mill for being our overall Value Award winners with an impressive 979 points, as well as to EYFS and Year 2 for 100% attendance in the infants and Year 3 for an excellent 99.3% in the juniors. Mrs Ham shared the fantastic news that we had 100% attendance across the whole school on Tuesday. We also celebrated the achievements of our pupils beyond the classroom—well done to Mason for swimming 5m, Chester for earning ‘Player of the Week’ as a goalkeeper at Darwen FC, Phoebe for her wonderful dancing, Callie for her gymnastics skills, Callie and Alice for completing the Summer Reading Challenge, Grace for excelling in a recent dance competition with acro, song and dance, classical and her own choreography, Harry for achieving his yellow belt in kickboxing, Thea for being named Star of the Week in gymnastics, Scarlett for being a superstar netballer and earning Player of the Match, Willow for achieving her Puffin award in swimming and Star of the Week in gymnastics, and Eleanor for earning her Stage 4 in swimming, her recycling badge at Rainbows and completing the Summer Reading Challenge. A huge congratulations also went to our brilliant Year 4/5 Girls Football Squad for their outstanding performance in the Girls DPSSA Football League, and to the group of eight Year 2 children who represented our school so brilliantly in the Key Stage 1 Multi Skills Festival. To finish our worship, Mrs Ham reminded us of the upcoming Harvest Family Service at St Barnabas Church this Sunday at 11am, and how we hope to see as many of our children there as possible for a joyful Harvest singalong. We are also proud to be supporting Year 5 and the Rotakids in their campaign to collect as many shoeboxes as possible filled with essentials for local refugees and The Bishop's Harvest Appeal 2025—please see Class Dojo for further information.
Whole school Rev. Ben Worship
Today in Rev. Ben’s Worship we looked at The Story of Jacob, who was a cheat and he wasn’t kind at all as he tricked his brother out of a special gift from his father. God saw Jacob's wrong doings and still showed his family generosity. If we make the wrong choices sometimes, God will always forgive us, showing us grace and love.
Year 3 - Class Worship-Finding God's Love in Our Gifts
During our class worship, Year 3 were inspired by the story of Ellie Goldstein, the first contestant on Strictly Come Dancing with Down's syndrome. Her story beautifully illustrates that everyone is wonderfully made by God and has unique gifts to share. Ellie shows us that when we use our talents, we can help others and spread God’s love in the world. Her journey is a powerful reminder of the courage, joy, and determination that allow us to overcome challenges. By sharing her light, Ellie inspires us all to do the same. To conclude our worship, Ella read a prayer. Her words reminded us that with compassion and faith, we can all make a difference.
Year 4 - Black History Month
In our class worship this week, the Year 4s joined in with the Great Big Live Assembly to learn about Black History Month. This year’s BHM assembly began with a look at current issues in our localities. They addressed the division becoming more apparent within communities and raised the questions: ‘What does the St George’s flag mean to you?’ and ‘How can we help to make everyone welcome?’ The children had some lovely, heartfelt answers about the flag being a symbol of pride, of peace and of our amazing sports teams. As usual, there were many ideas for welcoming visitors and people new to our school. Being welcoming is definitely a strength of our fantastic children.