Rev Ben’s Collective Worship
In today’s collective worship, Rev. Ben began by engaging the children in an interactive challenge, where three children had to use two pieces of paper as stepping stones to cross the hall. This activity set the stage for the theme of the session: perseverance and trust in challenging times. Rev. Ben then shared the Bible story of Moses and the Israelites' long journey through the desert, highlighting the struggles and faith they experienced along the way. After listening to the story, the children were encouraged to reflect and discuss key questions: 'What did God's people do during their journey through the desert?' and 'What are some positive alternatives to complaining when things get tough?' These discussions helped the children connect the story to their own lives, exploring how patience, gratitude, and faith can guide them through difficult situations.
.png)
Year 3- Class Worship-How important is it to know about the author behind the book?
During our class worship, Year 3 explored a story from Picture News about a book vending machine at Linlithgow Academy in Scotland. The machine offers children access to a diverse selection of over seventy books. The children discussed their preferred books and authors and why they liked them, with suggestions including humorous books, books that enhance vocabulary, and books that provide insights into historical events. We thanked God for allowing us to read books and learn from them, including the Bible and books written by other people.
Whole School Worship: What is Spirituality?
In our Tuesday worship, the theme was spirituality and what it means to us. Mrs Ham talked about things that we can see (physical/ material things) and things that we just feel (spiritual things). We played a fun game where we had to put on a pretend pair of binoculars if it was something physical/ material that we can see or cover our eyes if it was something spiritual that we can't see. We had things like connecting with nature, a big house', money, connecting with friends, inner peace and believing in a God. She introduced the ‘windows’ looking out on the world and how we should take time to learn, to gaze, to wonder and admire and ask ‘why?’ We looked at some of the ways we can live life in all its fullness and today we particularly focused on being 'grateful' for all of God's creations. We also explored how taking notice is one of our five ways to wellbeing too. We looked at some of God’s creations in a video and discussed our favourite ones with our partner. There were lots of 'WOWs' and 'aahhs' at some of God's amazing creations. We finished with a prayer thanking God for all of his creations and sang 'If I were a butterfly' to sing thank you to God. Across this academic year, we will continue to further explore what spirituality means to us at St Barnabas.
Singing Worship- Harvest
What a joyous way to start a new week at St Barnabas! We first discussed why we sing and we had some wonderful answers such as : to communicate with God, to learn new words and vocabulary, to learn new sign language so we can communicate with those who can't speak or hear, to have fun and to say thank you to God. Today some of our fabulous volunteers taught Reception class some of the signs and actions for some of our Harvest songs that we will be singing in our Harvest Festival on Thursday 17th October. We sang 'If I were a butterfly' and 'Sing a song of Harvest' to thank God for all of the wonderful living things he created such as animals, plants and trees.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by thanking everyone for their very generous Macmillan Coffee Morning donations, saying a huge thank you to our wonderful teaching assistants on National Teaching Assistant day and saying a special prayer and thinking about both our Cidari family of schools and local schools on ‘National Pray for Schools Day.’ We then presented Olivia, Reggie, Joey, Lydia and James in EYFS and KS1 and Olivia, Lana, Luke, Ted, Eden, Summer, Brooke and Charlie-Rose in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for being fantastic role model for their peers, having a fantastic work ethic and always demonstrating our Barney’s 4Bs (being ready, being safe, being kind and being respectful). Then, we heard from our well-being warriors who told us about ‘Hello Yellow Day’ coming up on Thursday 10th October and asked us to make a contribution on ParentPay in return for dressing in yellow to promote positive mental health. We also congratulated Year 2, Year 3 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and River Darwen as the value award winners this week with 410 points. Finally, we congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Hendrix Elijah, Maggie and Callie for completing the Summer Reading challenge, Ava for being awarded her ‘Little Puffin’ certificate at swimming, Scarlett for being achieving an award for her positive contribution to West Pennine Netball, Maggie for achieving a super drawing award, Bobby-Ray for achieving his white belt at kickboxing and stage 1 at swimming, Lyla for achieving two gold awards at gymnastics, Isabella for earning her brown belt at kickboxing and achieving all of her badges at Rainbows and moving up to Brownies, Peyton for red and white belt at kickboxing, Bella for achieving ‘The Little Darreners’ Player of the Week,’ Iris for being a super swimmer, Marley for being a yoga superstar, Charlie for achieving his brown belt at kickboxing, Olivia for achieving her Stage 6 swimming certificate and Layla for achieving a special rosette for being a super horse rider. Finally, we said the Grace and we sang ‘We Can Make a Difference.’ We thank all those who could attend celebration worship and we said an extended thank you to the rest of our school family for all of your continued support. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend.
Rev Ben’s Worship: God the Rescuer
Rev Ben came in today to talk about rescuers. He began with a dressing up challenge in which 2 teams had to create their own superhero. Mind Reader won the most votes as the best superhero. Rev Ben linked this to a great rescuer from the Bible: Moses. He told us about God recruiting Moses to talk the Pharaoh into setting his people free. It was a difficult task but, with God’s help, he achieved it. The children spent some time thinking about what made Moses a rescuer and what made Jesus the ultimate rescuer.
European Day of Languages 2024 - Harvest Songs
Today, in singing worship, the children were introduced to some Harvest-themed songs in different European languages. This was in celebration of European Day of Languages, which will take place on Thursday. We have set the children a challenge to learn part or all of one of these songs. They can do this for next week. We are not expecting them to know it by Thursday. There may be some value points available to those who try! :) Here are the links: Harvest songs Portugal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2iZZ9GBUFE Germany - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzQraV8d1Q France - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjU3YhaM_50
Friday Celebration Worship
During our celebration worship this morning, Mrs Ham began the worship by lighting the candles and reflecting on the many things we are thankful for and grateful for, which led to some children sharing their thankful moments, such as our school, our outdoor area and our families. We then moved on to celebrating a very special member of staff, Mrs Pendlebury who is sadly leaving us today to enjoy her retirement. She has been with us for over 25 years. Heads and Deputies expressed some of their fond memories shared with Mrs Pendlebury. Rosie, expressed by stating that Mrs Pendlebury is one of a kind, Daisy remembered a time when Mrs Pendlebury kindly gave her a hat to wear on a class trip to rock and River. Harry and Hamza recalled moments when Mrs Pendlbury almost fell off a chair which they found amusing. We also watched a short video celebrating Mrs Pendlebury’s time at our school, filled with wonderful memories, a true legend. Mr Bloomfield and Mr Prescott shared a few words too, though no words can capture or express how much Mrs Pendlebury has meant to the school. Her grandchildren Jack and Beau, helped present Mrs Pendlebury with gifts and flowers from the school and staff. Mrs Ham then shared the awards that children received outside of school, including achievements for Charlie, Molly and Isabelle swimming, Isabella, Annabel and Phoebe for the summer reading challenge, James football, Grace dancing and Ella-Grace scouted for Manchester United. Reception and Year 5 won the attendance award. Darwen Tower gained an extra break for the most value points received this week. We then had prayers from Naomi, Sonny and Oscar and sang Mrs Pendlebury’s favourite songs, ‘Welcome everybody’ and Our God is great big God’.
Rev Ben's Collective Worship- Moses
Collective Worship - 19.09.24 During this week's worship session, Rev. Ben shared the story of Moses and the burning bush. He explained how, when God gave Moses a mission, Moses initially struggled to obey, feeling unsure and inadequate for the task. However, God revealed his power and presence to Moses, showing him the way and helping him develop trust. With God's guidance, Moses was able to achieve far more than he ever thought possible. The children engaged in thoughtful discussions, exploring questions like: What might it look like for you to recognise God's presence in your life? Some children reflected on seeing God's presence in acts of kindness, through nature, or in moments of peace when they feel supported by their friends and family. Others spoke about sensing God during quiet times or prayer, feeling that God is guiding them in difficult situations. When asked, Why do you think Moses was hesitant to follow God's instructions? The children expressed that they could relate to Moses’ fear and uncertainty. Some mentioned how Moses might have felt unworthy or scared of failing, while others said that like Moses, they too sometimes feel afraid when they are asked to do something new or hard. The group agreed that trusting God, even when they feel unsure, can help them overcome their fears. The final question, How does it change things for you, knowing that God is always with you? brought a range of responses. Some children said it gave them comfort to know they are never truly alone, even in hard times. Others felt it gave them courage, knowing they could rely on God’s strength when facing challenges. Many agreed that just like Moses, having faith in God’s presence helps them feel more confident in the tasks they are given, knowing they have divine support.
Year 6 - Class Meeting
Year 6 discussed how we can show kindness in our school community. Each group justified which options they thought were the most important, but accepted that they could all play a huge role in promoting kindness throughout our school family.
Whole School Worship: The Good Shepherd
Today, we were learning about Jesus’s parable of the Lost Sheep. We discussed why Jesus said 'I am the good shepherd', and how he will always come to us when we feel lost. Thanks to Mr Bloomfield and some of our younger children for acting out the story so brilliantly. We reflected on how we can life live in all its fullness knowing that Jesus is always watching over and protecting us, just like a good shepherd does for his sheep.
Reception: Our First Worship
Today, our Reception class took part in their first whole school worship in the hall. They showed lots of respect entering the hall and loved being with our whole school family. Mrs Wilkinson led a singing worship and the older children helped them to sing songs with lots of actions. We sang Hello, Build up, Our God is a great big God, Build up and I can make a difference. Thank you to our choir for helping lead worship.