Whole School Worship - Agent Ananias
We learned about a very special mission given by God this week in worship. God directed Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, to heal Saul of his blindness and baptise him. Despite Ananias's fear due to Saul's reputation as a persecutor of Christians, he obeyed the Lord's assurance that Saul was a "chosen instrument". Ananias laid hands on Saul, restoring his sight, and then baptised him, marking his dramatic conversion from persecutor to the apostle Paul, a key figure in spreading Christianity. We reflected on what we learned from the story and the children shared their thoughts, including that we should trust God’s choices, and that everyone has the ability to change.
Year 4 - Class Worship
In order to support the children’s understanding of this week’s worship theme, the Year 4s listened to the story of Ananias and Saul again. They discussed why God chose Saul to spread the word about Jesus, especially after spending a lot of time persecuting Christians. The children thought about the benefits and dangers of giving someone unexpected an important job. They recognised that the message meant more coming from a former non-believer. The Year 4s were then chosen for a special mission of their own: to be agents of respect. Their job will be to look out for anyone treating our spiritual garden with respect and nominate them for some extra value points. They are looking forward to announcing their nominations next week.
Harvest Singing Worship
What a joyous way to start a glorious Monday morning with our Harvest singing worship. It was the first time that our new Reception class had joined us for collective worship and they were little superstars. They joined in with our Harvest songs with enthusiasm. A huge thank you to our Year 5 and 6 children for modelling the actions to our Reception children. We are looking forward to singing these special songs of praise in our school Harvest Church Service on Thursday 23rd October and we have been invited to sing in our church for a special Harvest Sunday service on Sunday 12th October. All welcome.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we took a moment to reflect on what has been a busy and wonderful third week of school. Our week began with a focus on God’s Big Story in Whole School Worships, where we came together to deepen our understanding. Year 6 had a fantastic time creating artwork in the Darwen Town Centre, while Years 3, 4, and 6 took part in a Let’s Go Sing Choir workshop, which has inspired even more children to sign up for our school choir. Year 5 enjoyed a Move and Learn session with BwD, and our entire school embraced the excitement of the new clubs that started this week, including Foodie Friends, Football, Fred & Pearl Craft Club, Choir, Netball, and Forest Schools. We also took time to celebrate our individual value award winners, with a huge well done to Zachary and Hollie in KS1, and Eva, Emily, Jack, and Elsie in KS2, for their dedication across the curriculum, their embodiment of our Barney’s 4Bs and Christian Values, and for spreading joy throughout the school. In addition, we were pleased to award India Mill as our Value Award winners for the second consecutive week, and Year 6 as the winners in KS2 with 100% attendance, while Reception and Year 1 in EYFS and KS1 earned recognition with a fantastic 99.3% attendance. Next, we celebrated our out-of-school achievers, including Albie for earning his 5m and 10m swimming certificates, Evie for her bravery in attending Rainbows for the first time, Alice for being awarded Cheerleader of the Week, Peyton for winning Star of the Week at gymnastics, Grace for achieving a highly commended in her recent acro exam, Charlie for being named Student of the Week at Junior Dragons Martial Arts Club, Ava for being awarded Squirrel of the Week, Mason for being runner-up in a recent darts tournament, Lyla for receiving a certificate of excellence for her gymnastics and acro talent, and Annabel for being named Star of the Week at her dance school. Finally, we ended our worship with some heartfelt prayers from Mason, Ella, and Zachary, who prayed for those affected by war and conflict, for those suffering from illnesses, and for those who don’t have enough food—especially as Harvest approaches. We also sang “Our God is a Great Big God.” A quick reminder from Mrs. Ham: Next Friday, September 26th, we’ll be hosting the Macmillan Coffee Morning. All donations will be greatly appreciated.
Rev Ben’s Whole School Worship
Our Whole School Worship was lead by Rev Ben this morning. We started by playing Rev Ben says which the children loved. The game was all about listening carefully,which led us nicely into the story of Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve were told not to touch the tree in the middle of the garden as it would make God unhappy. Then one day the serpent came to visit and told Adam and Eve to eat the fruit from the tree. They both ate from the tree and became I’ll as they has gone against Gods wishes. He asked them to leave the garden so sadly they left the garden as they had changed Gods will forever. This helps us to understand why the world is the way it is. Christians believe Jesus is Gods Ultimate Rescuer and he sacrificed Himself so that those who follow Him can know they are God’s friends. Following the story, Rev Ben asked the children what went wrong and how was God still generous? The children shared their ideas by answering that they are the fruit and this created badness to enter the world but God promised to send a rescuer. Then we discussed who. Might God be asking you to show sacrificial generosity tot his week? The children suggested teachers, parents, friends and people that don’t have much. For our time of prayer we took time to say sorry to God asking him for forgiveness for things that we have done wrong.
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Worship: Worship Behaviour & Living Out God's Big Story
This morning in Worship, Mrs Araujo, our Behaviour Lead shared our behaviour focus for this term- Behaviour in Worship. We recapped our manners and lunch time behaviour focuses from last year and how they were linked to our 4 B's of Be Safe and Be Kind. This term we are going to focus on our 4 B's of Be Respectful and Be Ready and Mrs Araujo showed us special widgit symbols and Makaton signs that our teachers will be using to remind us of good listening, track the speaker, stay silent until asked to participate and good sitting. We then watched the latest Worship across the Diocese video about Bringing the Kingdom to life. After Pentecost what did the disciples do next? How did they make sure that they were following Jesus' teaching? In this episode we explored the actions of Jesus' followers that meant that they brought God's Big Story to life at that time, and the ways in which we can do the same today. We reflected with Bishop Philip on how we can be storytellers of God's big story as we can learn about Jesus, pray, eat together and give to others.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning marked our second celebration worship of the new academic year, and what an incredible week it has been! A definite highlight was the fantastic "Treasure Island" production by M&M Productions, which truly captivated our entire school. We've also enjoyed settling into our new classes, launching into new curriculums, and electing our Smart School Councillors and Well-being Warriors. We then had the pleasure of congratulating our amazing Value Award winners for this week. These children have made a fantastic start to the new academic year by consistently demonstrating Barney's 4Bs and our Christian Values, alongside working incredibly hard across the curriculum. A huge well done to Evie and Alice in KS1, and to Charlie, Scarlett, Daisy, and Brodie in KS2! We also celebrated some wonderful out-of-school achievements: Alayna for achieving grade excellence in her recent acro exam, Maggie for earning Star of the Week for super effort at gymnastics, Haydn for demonstrating great skill and sportsmanship at a holiday sports club, earning him a huge trophy!, Hendrix for achieving Squirrel of the Week, Scarlett for her impressive achievements in Netball, Sofia for earning a distinction, the highest possible grade, in musical theatre, Annabel for being a superstar on her first day at Brownies, Samuel for showing fantastic courage in his swimming lessons, Thea for being a super Rainbow and attending the Rainbows fun day, Mikey for swimming 10m, Ava for being awarded her builders badge at Squirrels, and Eleanor and Olivia for being super creative at Rainbows this week. Additionally, we recognised Reception and Year 4 for achieving our amazing attendance award this week! Well done to Reception with an impressive 99.6% and Year 4 with 98.6%. Mrs. Ham then shared some exciting events for next week: Years 3, 4, and 6 will participate in a ‘Let’s Go Sing’ concert on Monday, Year 5 will enjoy a Move and Learn session with Blackburn Rovers, and a reminder that Wednesday is School Photograph Day and we will also have our Meet the Teacher sessions. We concluded our worship with special prayers from Harry, Minnie, and Harry, who encouraged us to show respect, spread positivity at school, and consider those less fortunate, such as those without easy access to clean water. We then shared the Grace and had a lively sing-along to ‘We Can Make a Difference.’
Rev Ben's Worship: Creation
Today’s whole school worship was led by Rev Ben where we explored the story of creation. We thought about why and how God created our world, which is rich in variety and we are trusted to look after. As we look around our world and as we go through our day, Rev Ben reminded us to reflect on how we can show love, respect and generosity to others and our world.
Year 4 - Class Worship
This week, in our class worship, we looked again at Lisa and Bishop Philip’s worship about living out God’s big story. We looked at our big frieze and recapped the story, using the pictures to help us. We discussed how Bishop Philip lives out God’s big story and shared ideas about how we could do this in our daily lives. Towards the end of our worship, the children shared their favourite parts of the big story, explaining the reasons for their choices. Here are some of their ideas: “I like Kingdom of God because it’s about everyone getting along.” “I like Creation because it’s reminds me of nature.”
Living out God's big story Worship
Today we joined Lisa and Bishop Philip for another Worship across the Diocese worship. They introduced this year's theme of 'Living out God's big story' and had a conversation about what it means to live out God's Big Story. Bishop Philip told us about the ways in which he lives out God's Big Story through his work and when he is on holiday! We then reflected on how we can live out God's Big Story. To finish we practiced singing 'Welcome Everybody' and 'Stronger Together'. Thank you to our amazing Year 6 class for singing brilliantly at the front and demonstrating the actions to the rest of our school family.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, in our first celebration of the new academic year, we began by reflecting on a fantastic first week back at school. Over the past few days, we have revisited our Barney’s 4Bs and our Christian Values, warmly welcomed our new Reception starters, and transitioned smoothly into our new classes. We then turned our attention to celebrating some incredible out-of-school achievements. Well done to Ava for earning her 10m and Stage 3 swimming certificates, Grace for collecting multiple medals in ballet, song and dance, and acro, and Willow for being named Star of the Week at Gymfinity Kids for her outstanding skill. Congratulations also to Mollie, Samuel, and Olivia for their hard work completing the BwD Summer Reading Challenge, Lyla for her medals and trophy in improvised and commercial dance, and Callie for her exceptional achievements in gymnastics, Stage 6 swimming, and earning her dragon belt in Jiu-Jitsu. We also applauded Phoebe for her 5m swimming certificate, Charlie for helping his football team secure 2nd place in a recent tournament and winning the Manager’s Cup, and Hendrix for earning numerous badges at Squirrels. A big congratulations to Year 2 and Year 5 for winning this week’s attendance awards—Year 2 achieved an incredible 100% attendance, and Year 5 closely followed with 98.8%. Mrs Ham then shared some exciting upcoming events to look forward to: the whole-school production of Treasure Island on Tuesday 9th September, a ‘Let’s Go Sing’ workshop for Years 4, 5, and 6 on Monday 15th September aimed at boosting choir participation, our ‘Meet the Teacher’ meetings on Wednesday 17th September, our annual Macmillan Coffee Morning on Friday 26th September, and a ‘Stay and Play’ morning on Thursday 2nd October for children due to start school in September 2026. We ended our worship with heartfelt prayers from Renee, James, and Mason, who prayed for kindness and for all those suffering from illness or living amidst war and conflict and a singalong to ‘Shine From the Inside Out.’ Thank you to everyone who joined us this week—we look forward to welcoming more of our school family to Friday Celebration Worship in the coming weeks.
Let your light shine worship with Bishop Philip
This morning in our collective worship, Bishop Philip welcomed everyone back to school. We reflected on why we come to school and how Jesus was a teacher and his disciples were the learners. He encouraged us all to shine out with the gifts and talents that God has given to us. If we shine with the light of learning, service and love we can make the world a better place. We thought about how we can shine from the inside out this school year and finished with one of our favourite songs, 'Shine from the Inside Out'.