Friday Celebration Worship
*Celebration Worship* Today, we started our celebration worship by signing this week’s Makaton sign which was ‘How Are You?’ and we thanked everyone for their enormous generosity on the lead up to Easter. We walked 2627.6km and raised a wonderful £214 for the Big Lent Walk to help fight poverty globally and we also thanked our whole school for participating in the ‘Hop, Skip and Jump’ to raise money for East Lancs Hospice. The final amount raised will be confirmed shortly. We then reflected on our highlights in school this week. We have enjoyed learning about Earth Day- thank you Year 5 for your wonderful presentation of learning, Year 3 enjoyed a visit from author and quizmaster Jay Flynn, Reception have enjoyed a visit from the dentist and we have also enjoyed joining in with the Diocesan Year of Prayer. This week it was the 'robes of righteousness' which helped us to understand that God is always with us—surrounding us with His love, comfort, and protection. We then moved onto congratulating this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Mikey, Alayna and Annabel in EYFS and KS1 and Harry, Carter, James and Brooke in KS2. Well done to these children for showing growth, maturity and resilience in their approach to learning by working extremely hard across the curriculum and always demonstrating our Barny’s 4Bs (being kind, safe, respectful and ready). Furthermore, we congratulated our Year 2 and Year 5 class for being our attendance winners this week with 96.9% and 98.5% attendance and Whitehall Park as our value award winners this week with a record 720 points. River Darwen have won the half term award for receiving the most values points and they will have a non-uniform day and disco next Friday. We then moved on to congratulating our out of school award winners. Well done to Ava for achieving a sleepover, swimming and adventure badge at Squirrels, Callie for achieving a medal for showing strength and technique in her amazing vault, bar, floor and beam work in a recent gymnastics competition, Beau for achieving her Stage 3 swimming certificate, Harry for being the Blackburn Eagles ‘Star of the Week’, Fletcher for being awarded ‘Beaver of the Year for 2024/25’ for being an extremely kind and respectful beaver, Lilly for achieving a super effort award during her recent Easter holiday club and making a fantastic start to her performing arts lessons at Little Voices, Annabel for wonderful projection of her voice in her singing lessons, Lyla for achieving a stage 3 award in a recent gymnastics competition, Jack for being Blackburn Eagles ‘Player of the Match’ in his first game playing for them, James for achieving his Stage 6 swimming certificate and Isabella for achieving ‘Player of the Week ‘ for her wonderful goalkeeping in a recent game playing for Little Darreners. To end our worship, Mrs Govan reminded us about an upcoming Art Competition led by Spring Value Ramblers Club to celebrate their 130th anniversary. The deadline is in 3 weeks time. Please find further information on Class Dojo. We then had a singalong to ‘Oh When the Saints Go Marching In’ for St George's Day and had some beautiful prayers from Olivia, Archie and Cici. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend in the sunshine.
Year 6 Class Worship
Today, year 6 took part in a class worship and discussed moments when they have felt genuinely surprised, shocked, puzzled, amazed and confused. These are emotions that Mary would have undoubtedly felt when she discovered the empty tomb and heard Jesus saying her name. We then heard from Bishop Phillip who spoke about how Jesus won victory over death and that means Christians can be friends with him forever.
Year 3- Class Worship- The Beginning of Hope: The Empty Tomb
During our class worship today, we explored the story of the empty tomb from the Bible . The empty tomb was a huge surprise that showed everyone that even though Jesus died, he was alive again, bringing hope and joy after sadness. Following this, the children reflected on moments in their own lives when they experienced surprise and shock. Some of their suggestions included the birth of a baby cousin, the unexpected school closures during the COVID-19 pandemic, when Isaac found out he was going to Italy for a football tournament, Naomi, when she got locked in a toilet at a play centre, Ella-Grace was invited to a Manchester United trial and when Lottie was surprised with a special birthday party. We concluded worship by sending a prayer of joy and thankfulness for Jesus coming back to life, bringing hope and new beginnings to the world.
Year 4 God's Big Story - Class Worship
Year 4 Class Worship - Gods Big Story - The Empty Tomb Today in class worship we started off by discussing if we had ever had a special surprise. We looked at how we made sense of it, what emotions it evoked and how we felt. The children exchanged their experiences with each other and then shared these with the rest of the class. Next we shared the story - The Empty Tomb which came from the Salvation brick, at the very end of the gospels and told the story of Jesus dying on the cross and raising back to life again. Bishop Philip then shared his experiences with us and linked this to the shock that Mary experienced when Jesus died, was buried and then came to life again. If Jesus is alive then love overcame hatred. We can experience love, hope and joy. We can rejoice as Jesus is alive! Over Easter we as Christian’s made a declaration: Christ is risen. He is risen indeed. Hallelujah. We then finished our worship by learning the song - Praise Ye the lord and a short prayer.
Year 5 - Presentation of Learning
On Tuesday Year 5 hosted a special worship to share their Presentation of Learning all about Earth Day 2025. This year’s theme, ‘Our Power, Our Planet’, encouraged our children to reflect on how individuals and communities can work together to make a positive impact on the environment. Their worship was both informative and inspiring, reminding us all that we have the power to protect our planet and God's creations through the choices we make every day. The children led a whole-school diagnostic quiz to test everyone’s knowledge about Earth Day and share what they had learned throughout their presentation. We then said a special Earth Day prayer written by Pope Francis and took a few moments to think about him as he sadly passed away earlier in the week. We finished with singing 'I can make a difference in this world of ours'
Whole School Worship- Year of Prayer
During our first whole-school worship after the Easter break, the children explored the power of prayer and how it can support us during difficult times. This week the focus for our Diocesan Year of Prayer was the 'robes of righteousness'. As part of the reflection, two children were gently wrapped in robes to symbolise that God is always with us—surrounding us with His love, comfort, and protection. This visual reminder helped the children understand that even in challenging moments, we are never alone. Through prayer and faith, we can experience hope, peace and life in all its fullness.
Whole School Easter Service in Church
This morning, we celebrated our last day of the Spring term with a fantastic Easter church service. Our KS2 classes showcased their Easter artwork and our teachers led the service ‘’The Greatest News Event Ever” in the style of news reporters. Thank you to those who could attend and we wish you all a fantastic Easter holidays.
Easter Singing Worship
We had a joyous start to the week with a singalong to all of our favourite Easter songs ready for our church service on Thursday morning at 9.15am. KS2 will be showcasing their Easter artwork and parents and carers are very welcome to come along and support.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and reflecting on another extremely busy yet wonderful week in school. First of all, we started by saying a huge thank you to all of the children who attended St Barnabas Church last Sunday in celebration of Mothering Sunday and Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs Araujo for supporting this event. We also thanked the children in the Year 4/5/6 swimming squad who represented our school in the DPSSA Swimming Gala at Darwen Leisure Centre on Friday evening and Mrs Gardner for supporting this event. Well done to these children for demonstrating courage, determination and giving each other lots of encouragement. We then thought about our highlights in school this week. We enjoyed an unforgettable science show delivered by the amazing Science Boffin Katja, a fabulous rock performance by the brilliant members of our Rocksteady Rock Bands, Year 5 enjoyed an introduction to peer mediation as well as their second bike ability session, Year 2, 3 and 5 enjoyed a walk to contribute to ‘Our Big Lent Walk’ and all of our children across school have enjoyed some fantastic clubs such as Choir, Lego Serious Play led by WOW group, Story Club led by the school librarians, Gymnastics and Dodgeball Club led by EDSTART and Craft Club led by Fred and Pearl. Other highlights include our Year 5/6 football team who played in the B team festival at Witton Park on Tuesday evening and our Year 4 football team who played their final matches in the BRFC League on Tuesday evening. Well done to these incredible footballers for showcasing incredible teamwork and finishing as proud runners-up. We then moved onto congratulating this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Finn, Phoebe and Reneé in EYFS and KS1 and Iris, Miles, Theo and Jack in KS2. Well done to these children for demonstrating a consistently positive attitude to their learning and working hard to show the Barney’s 4Bs. Furthermore, we congratulated Carter and Nevaeh in Year 4 for working hard to achieve her pen license, our Year 2 and Year 4 class for being our attendance winners this week with 99.6% and 99.2% attendance and Whitehall Park as our value award winners this week with 354 points. We then moved on to congratulating our out of school award winners. Well done to Charlie and Albie for being the Players of the Week at Little Darrener’s FC for super dribbling, Annabel for demonstrating amazing skill in her recent ballet and tap exam, Seb for being Player of the Match for his super tackling, Scarlett for demonstrating great skill in her interceptions and goal scoring at football, Summer for being a super dancer in modern jazz and tap, Brooke for achieving Player of the Match and Laila for being the opposition’s Player of the Match at football, Minnie for achieving a badge at squirrels, Olivia H for achieving a medal at gymnastics for working hard and demonstrating super listening skills, Leonora and Iris for their resilience and determination at gymnastics, Olivia R for achieving the Goalkeeper of the Week at Soccer HQ and Jack for achieving his 400m and Stage 7 swimming certificate. To end our worship, Mrs Govan told us about an upcoming Art Competition led by Spring Value Ramblers Club to celebrate their 130th anniversary. More information to follow on Class Dojo. We then had a joyous singalong and dance to ‘He is Alive’. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend in the sunshine. The slides can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/about-us/church-and-worship#tab-4370
Worship with Rev. Ben
Today, during Rev. Ben’s worship, the children explored the theme of living life in all its fullness through movement and storytelling. They engaged in a series of dynamic actions that brought a Bible story to life, immersing themselves in an active and reflective experience. The story they focused on was the Road to Emmaus from the Gospel of Luke. It tells of two disciples walking to Emmaus, filled with sadness and confusion following Jesus’ crucifixion. Along the way, they met a stranger who walked with them and explained the Scriptures, helping them understand God’s greater plan. As evening approached, they invited the stranger to stay and share a meal. It was only when he broke the bread that their eyes were opened—they realised the stranger was the resurrected Jesus! In that moment, Jesus disappeared, leaving them filled with renewed faith and joy. This interactive worship session helped the children connect with the story in a meaningful way, encouraging them to embrace faith, discovery and the joy of living life to the fullest.
Year 3-Year of Prayer-Hot Cross Buns and Prayer
As part of our Year of Prayer this week, the children enjoyed hot cross buns. The cross on the bun symbolized Jesus' death on the cross. We reflected on how Jesus' sacrifice takes away our wrongdoings, and we expressed gratitude for the new beginnings his death makes possible.
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Year of Prayer and Singing Worship
What an uplifting and joyous way to start a Monday morning practising 'When I think about the cross' and the new upbeat Easter song from Pop Uk called 'He is alive'. We loved putting our own actions to the song and Year 6 modelled enthusiastically at the front, encouraging everyone to join in. We also introduced the Year of Prayer in classes for this week which involves everyone eating hot cross buns, which Mrs Ham brought in. We then said had our special Year of Prayer prayer for this week which thanked Jesus for praying for us just before he died and for always loving us and being there to hear our prayers.