Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship discussing the ‘Big Lent Walk’ challenge that we are currently participating in as a school to fundraise for CAFOD to help to fight poverty globally and boost our mental health and well-being. At present, we have exceeded our 200km target and we are confident that we can double and maybe even triple it so please get involved and send your pictures through to Mrs Ham or Mrs Wilkinson. We also thought about how we’ve lived life in all its fullness this week with the help of our amazing science, running, well-being and messy church clubs and all the wonderful learning in our classes. We then presented Olivia, Renee, Roman, Penelope, Isaac, April, Luca, Ella, Joshua and Oliver as our value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently following the 4Bs and demonstrating a wonderful attitude to learning. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, River Darwen who are our overall value award winners this week and Tristen, Daisy and Desmond for achieving their pen licenses. We also said a huge well done to Carter, Ivy, Rio, Molly, Luca, Daisy, Charlie and Matthew for participating in our SIG5 times tables competition and pushing themselves out of their comfort zone. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Eliza and Carmen for showing commitment and achievement in their keyboard lessons, Eliza for demonstrating fantastic skill in her football, Tristen for a achieving his yellow belt in kickboxing, Mila for getting Olivia at Rainbows for showing lots of kindness and being both helpful and creative, Marley and Maggie for achieving their ‘World Thinking Day’ and some other badges for their commitment to Rainbows, Elsie, Eden and Grace for completing their promise at Brownies and achieving lots of badges for attending Brownie camp and completing several challenges and also to Elsie for working exceptionally hard at her English tuition lessons. We then ended our worship by saying the grace altogether and listening to a song called ‘You’ve Got to Sing’ by the choir that they will be performing at KGH next week. Just a reminder that it is the Mother’s Day Breakfast run by FOSB next Wednesday 6th March at 8.15am-8.45am. The cut off for purchasing tickets will be Monday. It is also World Book Day next Thursday 7th March and we have asked the children to dress up as a word for example courageous, athletic, mythical and disciplined. We can’t wait to see what you come up with. We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Year 4 Class Worship - Jesus and the Taxman
In our Class Worship this morning, we looked at the story of Jesus and the Taxman and how your life can be transformed by loving Jesus. We found the story in the New Testament in The Gospels. Zacchaeus was a hated taxman who at first hid from Jesus. He hid in a tree until Jesus invited him for tea. Jesus chose Zacchaeus for a reason. He learnt that Jesus loves you just as you are so go and invite him into your hearts. After realising his wrongs Zacchaeus said that he would pay back everyone that he had stolen from x4 and he would sell half of what he owned and give this to the poor. He remembered that whatever you trust and rely on is probably your God and God shares his love with everyone.
Year 3- Class Worship-R.E- How does Jesus change lives?
In today's class worship and Religious Education lesson, Year 3 explored the story of Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector, which meant he collected taxes for the government. However, many disliked him because he was known to cheat people out of their money. When he met Jesus, everything changed. He felt sorry for tricking and lying to people in the past. After hearing the story, the children generated questions asking Zacchaeus about how he felt during different parts of the story. Then they got into the role of Zacchaeus and answered those questions, imagining his feelings. The story of Zacchaeus teaches us that people can change for the better. Even if someone has done wrong things in the past, they can choose to make things right. When Zacchaeus met Jesus, he decided to be honest and kind instead of cheating people. It shows us that it's important to say sorry when we make mistakes and try to be better people. We learnt that everyone deserves a second chance, and it's never too late to do the right thing.
The W.O.W. Group - Messy Church: Faith in Action part 2
The WOW Group Messy Church activities continued this week with the final KS2 Faith in Action session. Participants watched the story of David and Goliath and talked about how David believed in God and himself. They then chose an affirmation bookmark to decorate and take home. Next week the WOW Group will be moving on to the KS1 sessions, with a focus on creation.
Rev Matt’s Worship: Perseverance
Rev Matt’s worship began with a balloon challenge this morning. The aim was for the children to persevere and keep the balloon up in the air for as long as possible. All three contenders did extremely well. He then shared the story of the man through the roof, in which the sick man’s friends had persevered in seeking help for him. After bringing their friend to Jesus they discovered the house was overcrowded, but they refused to give up. Instead they made a hole in the roof and lowered him in so that Jesus might heal him. We spent time reflecting on how we could help our friends, and those in need.
Easter Singing Worship
What a joyous start to the week! This morning we practised some of our Easter songs ready for our Easter church service in a few weeks. Each class took a turn to show our Reception and Year 1 classes the actions. We sang 'When I think about the cross', 'Give me oil in my lamp', 'This is the story of the cross' 'We have a King who rides a donkey' and our favourite Easter song 'Lord of the Dance'. Well done everyone for your amazing actions, beautiful singing voices and wonderful enthusiasm!
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by signing the trinity and discussing our week in school. We reflected on our wonderful Lent worship with Rev Ben and the launch of our Big Lent Walk to fundraise for CAFOD to help to fight poverty globally and boost our mental health and well-being. At present, we have walked 129.7km and raised £91. We are confident that we can exceed our 200km target and raise even more money so please get involved and send your pictures through to Mrs Ham or Mrs Wilkinson. We then presented Olly, Charlie, James, Iris, Charlie, Lola, Neve, Rosie and Molly as our value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently demonstrating our 4Bs, working hard and participating whole-heartedly in class discussions. We also congratulated Reception and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park who are our overall value award winners this week with 619 points. The Year 6 Heads and Deputies announced that over the past two weeks, we have collected 2067 values points as a school-how amazing! We also said a huge well done to Luca in Year 4 who achieved his pen license this week, our Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics who achieved 4th place in BwD just before the half-term, our KS2 gifted and talented gymnastics team who attended a competition at St Bedes before the half-term and demonstrating wonderful skill and sportsmanship and our Year 3/4 Sportshall athletics team who came 4th place last night at St Bedes. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Charlie and Isabella for being awarded their green belt in martial arts, Grace for achieving several medals in her song and dance and improv dancing, Jacob for achieving his water skills stage 3, Lyla for achieving a medal for her incredible ballet, Finn for achieving 2k Winter Warmer running challenge, Isaac for achieving a medal for great leadership in his performing arts and taking part in some wonderful fundraising, Archie for being awarded a trophy to be proud of for exceptional darts, James for achieving his stage 1 in his swimming, Annabel for her successes in achieving stage 2 in skating and being star of the week at dancing, Naomi for being awarded her Stage 3 at swimming, Mila for achieving her ‘World Thinking Day’ badge at Rainbows, Cassidy for achieving her ‘World Thinking Day’ badge at Brownies, Annabelle for showing commitment and achievement in her keyboard lessons, Eden for achieving her ‘World Thinking Day’ badge at Brownies and Heidi for being awarded her First Aid Badge at Rainbows. We then ended our worship with a lovely prayer about being generous, especially during Lent and sang ‘Build Up.’ We thank our children for another wonderful week and we look forward to next week. Just a reminder that ‘The World Book Day competition’ entries need to handed in by next Friday 1st March so please get your entries in by then and also the Mother’s Day Breakfast that FOSB are running on Wednesday 6th March. You can find further details on Class Dojo. We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Year 3- Collective Worship- Should we learn sign language at school?
Today in Year 3's class worship, we explored different ways of communicating, including prayer to connect with God and the importance of British Sign Language. The children feel learning sign language at school is vital to support the deaf community, break down barriers, and promote understanding between different communities. They also discussed the importance of respect and celebrate difference. We ended our worship by thanking God for creating each of us uniquely different.
Rev Ben’s Worship- Jesus chooses his disciples
This morning in Collective Worship, Rev Ben started with a fun game where we had to guess the superpowers that our wonderful volunteers, Walter, Lottie, Isabella, Charlie-Rose and Matthew acted out. We guessed the superpowers of speed, strength, sports, invisibility and flight. We then followed on from Jesus' 40 days in the desert and we watched a story from the Bible that showed what happened next. We watched as Jesus chose his followers, called his disciples. They didn't have superpowers and were very ordinary and often made mistakes, just like us. Rev Ben told us that the best followers of Jesus don’t have super-powers and God works today through ordinary people who love Jesus and admit it when they get things wrong. He then told us about Ash Wednesday and how that is a time to ask God for forgiveness for the things we have done wrong. Wilson, our Head Boy, volunteered to have an ash cross put on his head. We then reflected on what we can do when we get things wrong and how God will always forgive us. We finished by singing My Lighthouse and My God's the King of me. Thank you Rev Ben for another wonderful worship.
Whole-School Worship: Understanding Lent
In worship today, Mrs Ham explained that Lent is a time in the Christian calendar in which we observe Jesus’ time in the wilderness and prepare for Easter. We discussed what we could do to observe Lent. Some of the children’s suggestions included giving up sweets, chocolate, crisps, time on devices, or giving back by helping at home or making an extra effort to show kindness to others. We also learned more about THE BIG LENT WALK and how each member of our school family can contribute by walking a few kilometres over the Lenten period and raising money that will go towards ending global hunger. More information is available on Class Dojo.
The Big Lent Walk
During Lent, our school are currently fundraising for CAFOD. We are taking part in the big Lent walk where we are collectively trying to walk 200km. Please help us to raise as much money as possible by sponsoring our whole school family. If you have been on a walk, please either sponsor and leave a message with how many km you have walked or send me a message and I can update our page. We will also be walking during the school day in our classes to achieve our target so any sponsorship will be greatly appreciated. Your sponsorship can change lives. Every £1 raised through the Big Lent Walk will help fight poverty globally in countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. This year, CAFOD’s Lent Appeal is helping fishing communities feed their families in Liberia, and SCIAF’s Wee Box Appeal is focused on women and girls in Rwanda facing gender-based violence. Also in Ethiopia, CAFOD and SCIAF are working together to respond to the devastating food crisis there. Years of drought caused by the climate crisis means families are no longer able to cope, but your support means we are working with people right now, providing them with water, emergency food and healthcare. With your hard work and sponsorship this Lent, we can change families’ lives for good and tell poverty to take a hike. Please access our page here where you can sponsor your child: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk Thank you for your kindness, Mrs Wilkinson
Dress to Express 2024
What a fantastic day we’ve had celebrating Dress to Express! It was lovely to get together as a whole school to raise awareness for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Every single member of our school family certainly dressed to express themselves and made themselves heard as we all have a voice. Well done to all of the children that spoke about why they had chosen their outfits and how it allowed them to express themselves.