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Year 3 - English- Presentation Of Learning- My name is not a Refugee
Year 3 presented their learning about refugees to the Year 2 class today. The session began with a clear definition of the word "refugee," helping the younger students understand this term. The children then went on to share some facts they had learned about refugees, for example, some refugees walk for miles and miles, refugees are just people, like you and me, who need a safe place to live and sometimes, refugees can only take a small bag, they have to leave their toys, schools, and homes behind. What brought their learning to life was the opportunity to meet some refugees yesterday and hear their stories firsthand. Sharing these powerful personal accounts with the Year 2 class was an amazing experience, allowing the students to grasp the concept of "living life in its fullness" even in the face of adversity. Naomi read out a prayer to keep all the children and grown-ups who have left their homes safe. Help them find a new, happy place to live. And help us be kind to everyone. Amen.
Whole School Worship with Rev. Matt
During our worship with Rev. Matt, we began with a fun but thought-provoking challenge of Chinese Whispers. This simple game highlighted how messages can become distorted as they are passed along. Rev. Matt then thoughtfully linked this to prayer, reminding us that unlike in the game, when we pray, our words are not misheard or changed—God hears us clearly and completely. He then read the story of King Hezekiah from the Bible, who turned to God in prayer during a time of great trouble. Through Hezekiah’s example, we reflected on the power of prayer, the importance of trusting in God, and how spiritual strength can guide us in difficult times. The worship encouraged us to think about how we can communicate with God openly and honestly, knowing that our prayers are heard and valued. It was a meaningful reminder of how spirituality can give us comfort, courage and clarity when we need it most.
Year 3- Year of Prayer- Fruity Smells
For our year of prayer, the children guessed the flavour of fruity tea bags and appreciated some of the amazing smells and tastes God has given us. When we think about all those delicious fruits and colourful vegetables like strawberries, crunchy carrots, and sweet bananas, we remember how amazing God is to provide us with such wonderful gifts.
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Year 3-Exploring Spirituality Through Refugee Week
Today, as part of Refugee Week, 12 children from Year 3 visited a local church where they had the wonderful opportunity to meet refugees from 17 countries, such as Iraq, Palestine, Greece, South Africa, Afghanistan and Sudan. They listened to powerful, real-life stories of resilience, hope, and strength, gaining insight into these individuals' journeys and the challenges they have overcome. The experience helped to build empathy and deepen the children’s understanding of what it means to seek safety and rebuild a life in a new place. We ate food from Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Palestine, Italy, Greece and drank Arabic coffee. The children sang songs for the refugees. Reverend Gilbert spoke to the children about how our donations to DARE - Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise have helped refugees and ensured they are always welcomed, and they encourage more donations, etc. This visit linked beautifully with our Spirituality school model of Windows, Mirrors, and Doors. Through Windows, the children looked out and learned from the lives of others, seeing the world through different perspectives. Mirrors encouraged them to look inward, reflect on their own lives, and think about how they might feel in similar situations. Finally, Doors inspired them to step out and consider how they can live more compassionately, supporting others and making positive choices in their own lives. The visit was a meaningful extension of our R.E. learning but also connected closely with Mrs Ham’s worship this week, which focused on raising awareness and showing solidarity with people in need. It encouraged our students to reflect on how they can contribute to a more welcoming and understanding world. Overall, today’s experience supported our whole-school aim of helping children to live life in all its fullness, by inspiring them to be open-hearted, thoughtful, and active in making a difference. #RefugeeWeek
Year 4 - Year of Prayer: Fruity Smells
The Year 4 class are really enjoying the Year of Prayer theme this week. Each day, they have been guessing the scent of a different fruit/herbal teabag. We began with a tricky one, which was more spicy than fruity (turmeric and cinnamon), but the other two were a bit more of a familiar scent. The favourite so far has been blackcurrant and blueberry. After a little guess, we reflected on our favourite foods and said a prayer of thanks to God for the wonderful foods He provides for us.
Whole School Worship - Refugee Week
In Collective Worship today, we continued looking in detail at the Lord’s Prayer. This week we are focusing on ‘give us today our daily bread’. We had lots of ideas about what Jesus meant when He said these words. Of course, food and nutrition was mentioned, but the children said that this can also mean other things we need daily in order to live life in all its fullness, such as love, kindness, a safe place to live, clothing, education, fun and freedom. Mrs Ham then introduced Refugee Week and we looked through our spirituality opening to learn more about it. We were surprised to learn that some well-known people in Britain came as refugees, like Rita Ora and Mo Farrah and we also discussed how Jesus was a refugee when Mary and Joseph had to flee with him to Egypt. We also spent some time celebrating our work with D.A.R.E (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise) . As a school, we have collected toys, books, Easter eggs, tinned foods and toiletries to help out our local refugees. Some of our Year 3 children will be taking part in a special Refugee Week Tea Party tomorrow at the United Reformed Church and will be meeting a number of refugees and will learn more about what has led them to come to Darwen. Hamza told everyone how he was a refugee from Kenya when he was only 3 and he was given a warm welcome at St Barnabas. Lana shared how her Grandma was a refugee from Palestine. We then reflected on how we can continue to support refugees and give them a warm welcome into our community, just as Jesus wanted us to love our neighbours as ourselves. We watched a video celebrating 80 years of the Moomins and learnt that the Moomin House became a refuge for all different animals who had to leave their homes. We reflected on how we want St Barnabas to be like the Moomin house where everyone feels welcome, accepted and loved.
Year 6 - Year of Prayer
As part of our Year of Prayer, the focus this week has been to immerse some fruit/herb tea bags in warm water and then to smell them to see if we could identify which flavour they were. We then said prayers to thank God for the variety of fruit and vegetables that he has provided us with to eat.
Whole School Worship - Resolving Conflict
Yesterday’s worship began with some fantastic news! A representative from East Lancs Hospice came in to tell us that our Hop, Skip and Jump event raised £163. Following this, Mrs Wilkinson introduced this week’s Year of Prayer theme: Favourite Places. We spent some time sharing our favourite spaces and then we talked about how God has created so many amazing and healthy spaces for us to enjoy. This led us on to considering the fantastic outdoor spaces we have around school in which we can enjoy time with our friends. We were introduced to our Year 5 peer mediators and Mrs Wilkinson explained how they are going to help us all resolve any fallings out between us and our friends. We are all looking forward to learning to compromise and play together more harmoniously.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by reflecting on our very busy yet wonderful week. This week, we celebrated St Barnabas Day on Wednesday and remembered Him as the encourager. Mrs Ham explained that next Friday 20th June is Sports Day which will be the perfect opportunity for us all to be an encourager just as St Barnabas was. Mrs Ham also congratulated all of our school for achieving the 'National School Attendance Award' for our attendance being in the top 10% of all Primary Schools in England. We then reflected on our highlights of the week. We dedicated time to prayers for perseverance and resilience, aligning with the Diocesan Year of Prayer. Worship sessions included a reflection on Ascension and Pentecost with Mrs. Ham, and a focus on transformation with Rev. Ben. Year 4 visited St. Matthew's as part of their linking schools project. We celebrated Father's Day with two special events: a "Stay and Play" session in Reception and the "Donuts for Dads" event, successfully run by FOSB and Mrs. Wilkinson. The first Cre8ability session took place, and Years 1-5 enjoyed attending the Darwen Literature Festival at Darwen Library. Our sports teams also achieved notable success, with the Year 6 cricket team representing the school exceptionally well at Darwen Cricket Club on Wednesday, and the Year 5/6 Netball Squad securing another two victories in the DPSSA Netball league, maintaining their impressive unbeaten record. This week, we were pleased to announce several awards. Year 1 and Year 3 were recognised as our attendance winners. Darwen Tower earned the weekly value award with 289 points. Furthermore, River Darwen was celebrated as the overall value award winner for the last half-term and will be rewarded with a non-uniform day and disco, with the date to be announced shortly. We then moved on to congratulate our individual value award winners which were Fiia, the whole Year 1 class for their amazing phonics this week, Frankie, the whole of Year 3 for their fantastic behaviour at the Literature Festival, Year 4 for being superstars at their linking schools visit to St Matthews, Matthew and Freddie. We then moved on to our out of school awards. Ava was recognised as a fabulous mini medic and scientist at Squirrels; James was awarded "Beaver of the Week" for his success and perseverance in the treasure trail and consistently making positive choices; Seb achieved "Player of the Week" in football; Mollie was recognised as a superstar at Rainbows; Eleanor earned her Rainbows Bronze and Health awards; Marley demonstrated kindness and helpfulness at Rainbows, achieving her Rainbows Silver and Health awards; Desmond, Charlie, Sonny, and Leo were commended for their fantastic efforts in a recent football tournament; Charlie achieved Stage 5 in his swimming; Thea was "Star of the Week" at gymnastics for her incredible vault and bar work; Eliza reached won the Silver Cup Final at the weekend and was recognised for being an incredible goalkeeper; Grace achieved bronze in ballet, silver in acro and tap, and was named "most hardworking dancer" in a recent dance competition; and Summer was celebrated as "Star of the Week" at ballet. To end our worship, we had some heartfelt prayers. Mrs. Ham led prayers for all the victims and their families affected by the tragic aeroplane crash yesterday, travelling from India to London, and encouraged us to be grateful for the many amazing things in our lives, including our families. We also heard some beautiful prayers from Sofia and Callie, who prayed for those in conflict and war, and expressed gratitude for our wonderful world and the beautiful people in it. Mrs. Ham explained that Rev Ben and Rev Matt would be holding a special 24/7 week of prayers that we could all get involved in and wished everyone a lovely, restful weekend. We closed our worship with a singalong to 'Shine from the inside out'. Slides can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/about-us/church-and-worship#tab-4370
Whole School Worship-The Road to Damascus - Change, and Forgiveness
Today's worship with Rev. Ben began with the sign of the Trinity. Rev. Ben then presented the children with images of four well-known fictional "Super Villains": Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter, The Joker, Mrs. Trunchball, and Gru from Minions. The children enthusiastically shouted out the characters' names. This engaging activity led into the story of Damascus, focusing on the transformation of Saul into Saint Paul. The narrative explored how Saul, perceived as a "Villain", could undergo a profound change. Saul was initially a fervent persecutor of early Christians. While on his way to Damascus with authority to arrest followers of Jesus, a blinding light from heaven suddenly enveloped him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" When Saul asked who was speaking, the voice replied, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." This encounter left Saul blind for three days. He was led into Damascus, where a disciple named Ananias, guided by a vision from Jesus, healed his sight. After this miraculous experience, Saul was baptised and became a devoted follower of Jesus, changing his name to Paul. He tirelessly preached the Christian message from then on, becoming one of its most influential apostles. Following the story, the children were given time to consider a key question: Can a 'baddie' become a 'goodie'? If so, how and why?" This prompted thoughtful discussion among the children. The worship concluded with everyone singing "Shine from the Inside Out. and a prayer led by Rev Ben.
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Year 4 - Class Worship and Year of Prayer
Year 4's class worship this Wednesday was from Blackburn Dioceses' Worship Together. We heard the well-known story from the Old Testament, David the Giant Killer. We thought about this story in different ways - about trying hard and using critical thinking when tackling a huge problem. We finished our worship with our Year of Prayer for this week, I Spy prayers, in which children hid objects around the room for everyone to try their best to find. We prayed about not giving up and asked for God’s help so that we may persevere.
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Year 3- Year of Prayer- I Spy-A Lesson in Perseverance
As part of our Year of Prayer, the children took part in a fun hunt around the classroom. Hidden in various places were special items, including a cross, a torch, a heart made of stone, a magnifying glass, and a bottle of sprinkles. The children were excited and eager to find them all, searching enthusiastically until we paused the hunt after 1 minute and 30 seconds. Interestingly, one item, the bottle of sprinkles hidden inside a shoebox, wasn’t found. This led to a discussion about perseverance. The children reflected on the importance of not giving up, even when something feels tricky or takes time. They recognised that determination, effort, and not giving up are key parts of our everyday life. To end the session, the children offered a special prayer, asking God to help them continue to try their best, especially when they feel like giving up.