Image of Year 6’s visit to our adopted war graves.
7 Nov

Year 6’s visit to our adopted war graves.

Year 6 today visited our school’s adopted war graves to give them a tidy up in preparation for a special service at Darwen Cemetery on Remembrance Day this Friday.

Image of Super Sports Stars!
4 Nov

Super Sports Stars!

Well done to our fantastic sports starts this week! We had our brilliant Boccia team and our winning football team. In celebration worship, children have the opportunity to bring in any certificates or achievements from outside of school, to talk about and celebrate on the golden podium! Today we had awards for swimming, saddlery skills, being a magician's assistant, jenjitsu, morris dancing and even a card from King Charles! What super stars!

Image of Celebration Worship
4 Nov

Celebration Worship

This morning we had our whole school celebration worship. We celebrated all of the fantastic work that the children at St Barnabas had completed and announced our KS1 and KS2 attendance winners! Well done Year 2 and Year 5! Each class teacher presented the values award to a pupil in the class who had achieved the most values points this week. We also had some super sports achievements! Finally, Mrs Ham thanked all of the children who had entered the remembrance art competition and the heads and deputy’s spoke to the school about the remembrance shop and how we can support the poppy appeal this year.

Image of Invitation to Celebration Worships
4 Nov

Invitation to Celebration Worships

Good morning, a quick reminder that parents, carers and grandparents are always very welcome to attend our Celebration Worships on Fridays at 9.15am. Potential parents of children who are due to start school in September are very welcome too. Refreshments will be served from 8.55am too. Parents of children who have received the most values points each week will be invited to attend via class dojo but other parents, carers and grandparents are very welcome to attend to hear about the great things we have been learning, attendance winners and sports stars etc. If your child has an award from an out of school club, please send it into school so they can receive their award on the golden podium and our whole school family can show them how proud we are. We look forward to welcoming you into school. Yours Sincerely, Mrs Ham

Image of Year 6 Class Worship- NSPCC
3 Nov

Year 6 Class Worship- NSPCC

Today, year 6 joined in with a NSPCC virtual worship. The theme was all about speaking out if we ever have any worries and the amazing resource available to the children in ‘childline’.

Image of Monday Worship: All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls’ Day
31 Oct

Monday Worship: All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls’ Day

Today is All Hallows Eve. We noticed that the word 'hallow' was in the Lord's Prayer that we sang on the way into Worship. It means Holy. Tomorrow, it is All Saints day which is a Christian celebration. A Saint is somebody who is really special and has done something really wonderful. Leonora said a Saint is somebody who follows God and Jesus’ example. On Wednesday it is All Soul’s Day and we remember everybody who has passed away. We watched a video about the origin of Halloween and All Hallow’s Eve. It was celebrated thousands of years ago by the Celts. Christians then celebrated it and honoured all of the Saints. Mrs Ham asked the children about the names of different Saints. Ella said Saint Barnabas, Matthew said Saint Paul, Miles said Saint James, Jack said Saint George, Charlie-Rose said Saint Joseph and Sofia said Saint Edward. The children noticed that Saints have halos around their heads. Mrs Ham shared some images of different Saints and which country they were the patron saint of. During our reflection, we thought about what we could do to follow Jesus, live our lives well and be Saints ourselves. We thought about what kind of person we really want to be. We ended our worship by singing ‘Oh when the Saints, go marching in’.

Image of Whole school Harvest service in Church
20 Oct

Whole school Harvest service in Church

This morning our WOW group, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children led our Harvest service in church. Our wonderful choir led the singing during the service. We gave thanks to the farmers and our WOW group reminded everybody about the charities that we are supporting, The Mother’s Union in Burundi and DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). The children made us all very proud. A huge thank you to all of the parents, carers and family members that attended too, it was lovely to see you all.

Image of Year 5- Class Worship- How do you think rules should be decided?
19 Oct

Year 5- Class Worship- How do you think rules should be decided?

During our class worship this morning, the children were fascinated to learn about the history behind the Lindt chocolate bunnies. The first Lindt bunny saw the light of day in 1952 inspired by a father and a young daughter. Over 150 million chocolate bunnies are produced and distributed in 50 countries. However, Lidl (supermarket) were offering a cheaper alternative to shoppers, therefore Lindt took Lidl to court and won the case. This then opened a discussion about rules, how rules are decided, whether we should follow rules and what might happen if rules were broken. The children agreed that rules are in place to keep us safe and if there were no rules things could get chaotic. ”It's about having the freedom to do what you want as long as it's within the law and you're safe” (British Value)

Image of Monday Worship: Blackburn Diocese Harvest Appeal 2022
17 Oct

Monday Worship: Blackburn Diocese Harvest Appeal 2022

During the start of our worship, we discussed what literacy and numeracy meant. We then discussed if any jobs do not require us to read and write. It was really interesting which jobs the children thought didn’t require you to read and write but Mrs Ham proved the children wrong! All jobs require you to read and write. Reading is like a key. If you can’t read, you can’t unlock all of those possibilities. You wouldn’t be able to be a teacher, cook, builder etc. We discussed the British Value of individual liberty. We all have rights. We have the right to education and it is free. This year, the Bishop of Blackburn’s Harvest appeal is supporting the Mother’s Union. The Mother’s union is a Christian charity but it shows the British value of tolerance of all faiths and helps everybody. Mrs Ham showed the children 4 tools and the children explained what each tool does. Mrs Ham explained that in some countries, they do not have the tools to do things that we take for granted: our reading and writing. The Mother’s Union helps people in Burundi which is one of the poorest places in the entire world. In Burundi, families live on £1.50 per day. Our Wow group have set us a challenge to raise £1.50 each to help to support families in Burundi. Wow group explained that we can do chores to help raise the money. Monies can then be paid on parent pay. We can also collect tins and cans for Dare. Mrs Ham has also asked if we can write prayers for families in Burundi. This week, we need to think about how we can help other people and help to make a difference. Our choir group led our song at the end ‘The Harvest of Love’.

Image of Celebration Worship - Value Awards
14 Oct

Celebration Worship - Value Awards

In Celebration Worship this morning we saw lots of children who had demonstrated our Christian values and British values and have worked hard to achieve great things. We can’t believe how quickly six weeks has gone by and all of our children are growing in confidence and maturity by the day! It’s lovely to see how they all support and respect each other both in and out of the classroom. Well done to all of our Value winners this week.

Image of Celebration Worship  - Sports Awards and House Team Half Term Winners
14 Oct

Celebration Worship - Sports Awards and House Team Half Term Winners

As part of our Celebration worship, we saw so many children sharing their fantastic achievements out of school too. Our football team had some fantastic wins at the DPSSA football games last night, showing great sportsmanship and serving our school so respectfully. We also shared the end of this half term “House Team Value Winners” Drum roll………… WINNERS - Whitehall Park - 18 2nd - India Mill - 15 3rd - River Darwen - 11 4th - Darwen Tower - 7 Congratulations to every single child in school for working so hard to demonstrate our Christian values both in and out of the classroom

Image of The Bishop of Blackburn's Harvest Appeal- Burundi Harvest Challenge
11 Oct

The Bishop of Blackburn's Harvest Appeal- Burundi Harvest Challenge

This morning in worship, the WOW group launched our Harvest appeal challenge. We are asking for donations of £1.50 from parents in exchange for the children completing 3 helpful challenges at home. Each challenge is worth 50p. The challenges can be any of those mentioned in the poster, or any that you and your child decide at home. Donations will go to the Bishop of Blackburn's Harvest Appeal and this year they are supporting the Christian charity, Mothers' Union, to support the delivery of literacy and numeracy programs to women in Burundi so that they can help earn money to support their families. Donations will be collected by next Thursday 20th October on Parent pay. We are also collecting tins and packets for our local Darwen Refugee and Asylum Enterprise (DARE) to support refugees who have had to flee their homes due to conflict. Please send any donations into school next week. Parents and carers are welcome to join us at our Harvest Festival next Thursday 20th October at 9.30am at St Barnabas church. Our WOW group, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes will be leading the service and the rest of the school will be joining in with songs and prayers.