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 3- Class Worship- What can flags represent?
This morning in our class worship, we used a "Picture News" to discuss a recent news story about flags being displayed across the UK. We explored different opinions, considering why people might see the flags as a way to show pride for their country and support for sports teams. We also discussed the concerns of others who feel the flags can be used to make some people feel unwelcome. After our discussion, the children were challenged to create their own flags to represent something important to them, such as their family or school. They had the chance to think about what symbols, colours, and words they would include to show what they believe in. The activity helped them understand how flags can be powerful symbols that bring people together but can also be used to divide. Some of the children created a flag with a drawing representing each family member, their favourite sports, favourite colours and hobbies etc.
Year 6 Leavers- End of Year Award Ceremony
Today, we celebrated our wonderful Year 6 leavers with a special awards ceremony at St Barnabas Church. The ceremony began with the children sharing some of their most treasured memories from their time at St Barnabas. Mr Prescott then delivered a heartfelt address, warmly commending children on their incredible journey through school. He particularly highlighted their exceptional hard work and unwavering dedication throughout the year. The eagerly anticipated individual awards were then presented: Jack proudly received the Progress Award, Will was deservingly named Star of the Year, Harry was overwhelmingly voted the Children's Champion, Leonora earned the Spirituality Award, Daisy shone bright with the Performing Arts Award, Esme and Freddie were celebrated with the Sports Award, Poppy bravely accepted the Kevin Keegan Courage Award, and Matthew was honoured for his outstanding Overall Commitment to School. What a truly inspiring group of young individuals! Mrs Ham extended a huge thank you to our current Head and Deputy Head boys and girls, as well as the Sports Leaders, for their exceptional work and for impeccably representing our school throughout the academic year. Our Year 6 children also received special leavers presents from Katie, on behalf of Friends of St Barnabas, Mr Ashworth, our Trust CEO and Rev Ben. We then enjoyed a wonderful video celebrating their time at St Barnabas, expertly created by Mrs Ham and filled with precious memories. On behalf of the Year 6 parents, children, and our entire school family, we also expressed our immense gratitude to Mrs Gardner for her unwavering commitment and dedication to sports and we bid a very special farewell to Mr Prescott, a dedicated member of our staff team for 8 years. We thank him for all of the support that he has given to our school family for nearly a decade and we wish him the best of the luck as he takes up his promotion at Meadowhead Junior School in Blackburn. He will be missed enormously by our whole school family. Thank you to Rev Ben for ending our church service with a final blessing for our wonderful Year 6 children and our whole school family. Our thanks also go to Rev Ben for concluding our church service with a final blessing for our wonderful Year 6 children and our entire school family.
Year 6- Attendance Superstars
During our special Year 6 Awards Ceremony, we also took the opportunity to present attendance awards to children who achieved 100% attendance and those with attendance above 96% this academic year.
End of Year Awards Ceremony
This morning, we held a truly special Thursday Awards Ceremony, honouring students from EYFS to Year 5 with our Progress Award, Star of the Year Award, and Children’s Champion Award. We also proudly announced our new Head Boy and Girl, and Deputy Head Boy and Girl. In Reception, Minnie received the Progress Award, Finn was recognised as the Children’s Champion, and Reggie earned the Star of the Year award. For Year 1, the Progress Award went to Thomas, Lydia was named Children’s Champion, and Skye received the Star of the Year. Year 2 saw Roman earn the Progress Award, Renee the Children’s Champion Award, and Albie the Star of the Year Award. In Year 3, Joshua was presented with the Progress Award, Scarlett with the Children’s Champion Award, and Alfie with the Star of the Year Award. Year 4 celebrated Tristen with the Progress Award, Sonny with the Children’s Champion Award, Peyton with the Star of the Year, Sofia with the Sharon Kay Cup for Kindness (awarded since 1984 to a Year 4 student epitomising kindness), and April with the Planet Protector Award for her exceptional care for our world. In Year 5, Neve earned the Progress Award, Bella the Children’s Champion, and Ella the Star of the Year Award. Our current Head Boy revealed Charlie as our new Head Boy, and our current Head Girl announced Isabelle as our new Head Girl. The current Deputy Head Boy announced Edward as the new Deputy Head Boy, and our current Deputy Head Girl named Eden as the new Deputy Head Girl. Finally, our current Sports Leaders proudly announced our new Sports Leaders: Neve, Summer, Ella, Theo, Seb, and Luca.
Our Amazing Attendance Winners for 2024/25
This morning at our Special End of Year Award Ceremony, we also celebrated our students with amazing attendance awards, recognising those who achieved 100% attendance and above 96% attendance across all Year groups from EYFS to Year 5. Congratulations on your exceptional attendance—you're all superstars!
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.
Barney’s Got Talent
This morning, we had an extra special Friday celebration. Our amazing school family showcased their fabulous talents in the annual ‘Barney’s Got Talent Show.’ Our performers included ‘The Frozen Friends’ of Luna and Martha, ‘Rocket Reggie’ with his super speedy skipping, The APT, The Stars & The Sassy Girls, Percy, The Joker, The Baby Sharks featuring Lydia, Lenny and Olivia, The Gymnast Monkeys featuring Callie, Mollie and Hollie, Barney’s Song and Dance Group featuring Harry, Ella, Evie and Heidi singing ‘Beautiful Things, The JW Band featuring Carter, James, Elijah, Charlie and Seb singing ‘Green Green Grass,’ The Swifites featuring Naomi and Luna, Dramatic Darcy singing ‘Pink Pony Club,’ The Terrible Two featuring Sonny and Walter with their own version of ‘I’m a Teenage Dirt Bag Baby,’ Sassy Lilly with ‘Our Song’ by Taylor Swift, Star Sofia singing ‘Titanium,’ Graceful Grace showcasing her phenomenal tap skills, Omazing Oscar playing the Cello and last but not least our fabulous Year 6 children gave us a snippet of their performance to come next week and sang ‘It’s a Hard Knock Life.’ Well done to all of our performers for their amazing courage getting up on the stage in front of our huge audience of parents. Also, a huge well done to our heads and deputies (Hamza, Rosie, Daisy and Harry) for leading the whole show with great humour and confidence and finally, Mrs Ham for all of her enthusiasm and organisation. We have more of this to come with our Year 6 Performance of Annie on Tuesday, our Rocksteady Concert on Wednesday, our End of Year Award Ceremony on Thursday and our Year 6 Leavers next Friday. Thank you to the parents and carers who came along to support on such a hot day!
Year 1 Class Worship- Picture News
Yesterday, during their class worship, Year 1 explored this week’s Picture News theme: What Makes Somewhere a Good Place to Live? We began with a story about a group of Australian scientists who discovered evidence that humans lived in high mountain regions over 20,000 years ago. This led us to reflect on how those early people made the most of the resources around them to survive. We then considered how a “good” place to live can look different for everyone—even today—and the importance of respecting other people's homes and needs. To end our worship, we gave thanks for our own loving and comforting homes, and offered prayers for those facing difficulties where they live, including those affected by war, flooding, or the lack of basic necessities such as clean water, gas, or electricity.
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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Monday Worship
This week we began our worship thinking about countries that are not as fortunate as ours. Some countries do not have access to food and clean water so we collectively prayed for them as part of the Year of Prayer. Mrs Araujo then introduced our year of prayer class activity which was to think about our achievements from the year and to draw and stick something to reflect that on the window to thank God. We then sang some of our leavers song ready for our special Leavers Service next Friday. The children sounded beautiful.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning's worship reflected on a very busy, yet rewarding week. all of our children got the opportunity to transition into their new year groups, we welcomed our new Reception starters into school, our Year 2 and Year 4 students enjoyed their visit to St Barnabas Church and many children also participated in another engaging Cre8ability session. Mrs. Govan thanked all entrants for the recent Rota Kids Art Competition, congratulating Luna, Beau, Olivia, Skye, Alayna, Lyla in EYFS/KS1 and Naomi and Edward in KS2, whose artwork will be displayed at the Darwen Heritage Centre over the Summer holidays. Our athletes achieved great success: Our Year 3 ,4 5 & 6 Athletics squad were winners at Witton Athletics on Monday evening, and a group of Year 3 and 4 children excelled in the Quad Kids competition, qualifying for the Lancashire School Games at UCLAN next Tuesday! We also celebrated our individual value award winners: Annie, Hendrix, Oliver, Noah and Carter in EYFS/KS1 and Lana, Isabelle and Grace in KS2 for consistently following Barny’s 4Bs and showing growth. Additionally, Year 1 and Year 3 were attendance winners, India Mill was the overall Value Award Winner, and Olivia, Leo, Lilly earned their pen licenses. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Beau, Thea, Annie and Olivia for achieving their Explorers badge at Rainbows and Annie for being awarded Olivia at Rainbows, Thea for being a super gymnast, Willow for achieving backwards flip on the bars at gymfinity and for showing extreme kindness by donating her beautiful long hair to the Princess Trust, Reggie for achieving 20m in his swimming, Marley for ‘Star of the Day’ at the Edstart Multi-Sports Club for super listening and demonstrating outstanding dodgeball skill, Harry for showing super skill and teamwork in a football tournament and Mason for working towards the purple stage at The Darts Academy. To finish our worship, we had some beautiful prayers from Harry, Lilly and Callie who prayed for those in the midst of conflict and war, homeless people and those in Heaven. Mrs Ham wished us all a lovely restful weekend and we had a singalong to ‘The School Rules Song’.