Year 2 - Geography
In Geography, we had a closer look at the continent of Asia. I was extremely impressed with the countries we could remember such as Japan, The Philippines and Saudi Arabia! We found lots more out about Asia today such as that Asia is made up of 48 countries. I’m sure the children will remember these facts just as well.
Year 5 - Mountain Life
During geography, Year 5 have started learning about life in the mountains. They began by exploring Lyfta, where they met Simon Mtuy, who lives on Mount Kilimanjaro. Through this platform, the children experienced his way of life, the local culture and how people adapt to living near the mountains. They explored his surroundings and gained insight into his daily life. Afterwards, the children engaged in thoughtful reflection, discussing the advantages and disadvantages of living near a mountain. They considered aspects such as access to natural resources, tourism opportunities and breathtaking scenery. As well as challenges like isolation, harsh weather conditions and limited infrastructure. This reflective discussion encouraged them to think critically about how environment shapes lifestyle.
Year 3- Geography- Locating different climate zones
This afternoon, Year 3 geographers started their climate zones unit. They learned the difference between weather and climate, identified key lines of latitude like the Equator, and explored the diverse climate zones across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
Whole School Worship - World Toilet Day
In worship yesterday, we looked through our spirituality windows and out into the world on toilets. We were shocked and saddened to find out that around 700 children under 5 die every year due to poor sanitation. We heard about Jeremiah in Kenya who doesn’t have access to a toilet. In his community, people would mostly use a hole in the ground or a plastic bag, which some people would tie up and throw on other people’s roofs. We talked about how this affects people’s health and shared ideas of what we could do to help. The children then learned about our Toilet Twinning project for which we raised money a few years go to sponsor the building and maintenance of toilets in Nepal, Uganda, Tanzania, and Afghanistan. We reflected on how we should never take our toilets for granted and thought of ways we could save loo paper and water.
Year 4 - Class Worship: How Do We Know Who We Are?
We had an extremely thought-provoking class worship today. We found out about Amur, a Muslim boy in Denmark, using Lyfta. He shared a small snapshot of his daily life and explored the question “Who am I?” The discussion which followed was the perfect opportunity for us to practise our talk tactics and listening skills as we shared our opinions on who Amir is as a person, whether or not we thought he was a good person, and how we could tell. There was a lot of agreement among the children with some building on others’ ideas, and a couple of respectful disagreements.
Reception: Exploring the Snow
Our Reception children enjoyed exploring the snow today. They worked together in small groups to build snowmen! They collected resources for the arms and they all had carrots for their noses. The children also found some icicles so we looked closely at them and how they had formed. It was also wonderful to look around at the winter sight and really feel the snow too. Our world is beautiful in all types of weather and what a treat we all had this morning.
Year 5 - Fun in the snow
Year 5 had an amazing time in the snow today, building creative snowmen and making wonderful memories together. It was heartwarming to see the children laughing, playing, and truly enjoying the wintry weather. They also took a moment to reflect on the beauty of our snow-covered surroundings, sharing thoughts about how lucky we are to have such fantastic outdoor spaces to explore and appreciate as a school community.
Year 3 - English- Discovering Bear Island
Today, Year 3 worked in pairs to explore the book "The Last Bear." They made predictions and inferences about the story based on the front cover of the book. Next, they looked at the double-page illustration (map) of Bear Island. The children debated whether it was a real place and explored the map, identifying locations like Tromso and Svalbard. We used Google to research the island and discovered that it is a small, uninhabited island in the Arctic Ocean. The children were fascinated to learn that there is a Bear Island in Norway, not far from the UK.
Year 3- Interfaith Week- Prag's trip to India- Hinduism
Year 3 celebrated Interfaith Week by learning about Hinduism. Prags, who was born in East Africa, shared her experiences of visiting India. She showed pictures of both traditional and modern parts of the country, highlighting its diversity. Prags also discussed the importance of recycling and her love for visiting sacred sites like the River Ganges and the Golden Temple. The girls then wore colourful, sequined skirts while the boys wore jackets and they all learned a dance routine together. The children asked insightful questions about the language and clothing and enjoyed trying the vegetable samosas that Prags brought in. It was great to learn about the traditions and religious beliefs of Hinduism.
Reception: Developing our Gross Motor Skills
Today our Reception children challenged themselves to climb trees. They used their muscles in their tummies, arms and legs to help them to safely climb the trees. Some of the children swang on the branches and balanced too. Well done for being so brave!
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today for Reception’s Muddy Monday session, the children walked to Jacks Key. To celebrate bonfire night, the children collected twigs, sticks and leaves to create their own bonfires. The children had to work together as a team and did a brilliant job.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today, our Reception children went for a walk into our local environment. We went on a mile walk to Jack Keys reservoir. The children enjoyed looking at the reservoir, the fallen leaves and loved listening to the birds singing. The children really concentrated on what they could see and hear, exploring spirituality. It was a rainy walk and the children persevered and enjoyed splashing in the puddles too.
Year 1 Art-Cold Landscapes
As part of their Art unit this half-term, Year 1 have been building up the art skills to create a cold landscape. They have learnt about warm and cool colours, the composition of a landscape, how to use watercolours to create a background and how to use different materials to create different textures. This week, they have completed their final piece of artwork incorporating all of these skills and I’m sure you’ll agree that the end results look amazing. Well done Year 1!
Reception: Surprise Frog Visit
Reception had a very exciting afternoon. Some of the children found a frog in our outdoor area. We put the frog in some water and let it out safely in its natural habitat.
Year 4 Geography - What do I Know About The Amazon Basin
Today we compiled a fact file about what we know about the Amazon Basin. We had subheadings to add information based on what we have learnt over the past few weeks. We included; The Amazon Rainforest, The Amazon River, Life in Manaus and Deforestation. We then went on to label a map of South America and all of its countries.
Year 3- R.E- Comparing harvest festivals around the world
In RE today, Year 3 learned about how harvest is celebrated around the world. We watched a short clip and explored images and text from different countries like India, Italy, America, and China. It was fascinating to see how people celebrate this important time in different ways. India celebrates it with fireworks, lights and sweets, while America often has a roast dinner with family and friends, In China they eat mooncakes, a traditional pastry and in Italy they have parades.
Creating Optical Illusions - Year 4 Art
This week we have started to create optical illusions using a tropical rainforest theme. First the children selected two images such as toucans, macaws, tropical fish and tribes people. Working within a small group they then cut each of the pictures into 2cm strips. Following this they placed the strips down one side of a vertical fan and the same with the other picture. It is extremely difficult to place the strips in the correct place so that the image isn’t distorted, so we numbered the strips to help us. We are using a carousel of art activities so that each group can focus on their own optical illusion and ask for support where needed. We can’t wait to see everyone’s final piece which will go on to be displayed in the school hall.
Year 4 - English : Information Texts
We have started our first non-fiction unit in English this week. We will be making good use of the rich geography knowledge we have gained about the Amazon Rainforest in order to create information texts over the next couple of weeks. We began by researching the Amazon using a range of secondary sources such as fact files and websites. We then looked at a number of examples of information texts and spent time identifying key features, such as subheadings and text boxes.
Year 4 Geography - What is it like in a rainforest city?
In our geography lesson we are studying the Amazon Rainforest. Today we compared and contrasted Darwen with Manaus which is a city located with the Amazon. We highlighted physical and human features and then moved onto looking at climates within each continent across the world.
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Year 4 - Writing Metaphors in Poetry
We are currently studying similes and metaphors in free-form poetry and, today, we started writing our own poems. We used images, word banks and oral rehearsal to create metaphors about the Amazon rainforest. Our finished poems will be entered into a poetry competition with a chance of them being published.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Reception class had their first Muddy Monday session and they walked up to our school field. The children stayed close to each other whilst walking and they all managed to get to the field safely. The children enjoyed rolling down the hill, racing and finding bugs in the grass. It was pouring down but the rain did not stop the,. They are looking forward to next week's Muddy Monday.
Year 5 - Mayan Challenges
This afternoon, Year 5 continued to explore the challenges the Mayans faced while living in the rainforest. The children learned about the difficulties the Mayans encountered, such as the dense forest environment, lack of resources, and the need for sustainable farming. Before discovering the historical solutions used by the Mayans, the children engaged in critical thinking, offering their own creative solutions to these problems. Afterward, they compared their ideas to the actual strategies the Mayans employed, deepening their understanding of how this ancient civilisation adapted to their challenging environment.
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Year 4 Art - Soap Sculptures
Our art session this week focused on Soap sculptures. We looked at the work of Barbara Hepworth and how things can be sculpted from a variety of materials. We used bars of soap for our sculptures and decided to stick with our rainforest animal theme. We decided between a butterfly, fish or turtle and then selected various tools to create our design. The children soon realised the need for a calm and steady hand in order to make intricate designs especially with the fish scales. As you can see we had some wonderful examples by the end of the lesson.
Year 1 Geography- Identifying Hot and Cold Places on a World Map
In Geography, Year 1 have been learning to name and locate the 7 continents of the world. They have done amazingly well at this and have used their observations to help them identify which one is which. For example, they used clues such as Asia being the biggest, Africa being on the equator, Australia being the smallest and Antarctica being the South Pole. They have also explored a map and identified where the warm places are such as Africa and the top of South America which are on or near to the equator and cold places such as the Arctic (North Pole) and Antarctica (South Pole) because they are furthest away from the equator. Well done Year 1.
Year 4 English - Planning a narrative based on The Explorer
As part of our English lessons, we are reading The Explorer by Jaqueline Wilson which is set in the South American rainforest. Today we have started to write our own narrative linked to a specific success criteria which included using fronted adverbials for time and place. We can’t wait to carry this on over the next few weeks to produce a final piece.
Year 4 Geography - Where is the Amazon Rainforest?
In our first geography lesson of the year we looked at where the Amazon rainforest is in terms of continent and where it sits with reference to the equator and both tropics. The children worked hard to establish which countries the Amazon covered and then they moved on to labelling all seven continents, equator and tropics on a world map. The children used the atlases confidently and worked well in pairs to label accurately.
Class Worship- How can communities help each other in times of difficulty?
During our class worship, Year 3 looked at a story about the summer when riots occurred in England and Northern Ireland, causing damage to cars and buildings. We defined the term 'communities' and discussed the importance of everyone feeling welcome and safe within their community. The children reflected on their differences and similarities, recognising that our school community is special because it is made up of so many different individuals with unique interests. We discussed our British value of mutual respect and tolerance, considering how our words and actions can impact others. We then sang ' When I needed a neighbour' and ended the worship by thanking God for our school community.
Reception: Our First Day Group 1
This morning we welcomed our first group to Reception. They were superstars and settled in really well. They enjoyed exploring our indoor classroom today. We are so glad they have joined our St Barnabas family.
Reception: Our First Day Group 2
This afternoon we welcomed our second group to Reception. They were superstars and settled in really well. They enjoyed exploring our indoor classroom today. We are so glad they have joined our St Barnabas family.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Wow! What a year we have had in Reception. The children have made so much progress during our forest schools sessions. They have improved in their stamina, risk taking, problem solving and imagination skills. We have loved seeing all of the children blossom and made the most of our last Muddy Monday session together!
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Reception: Muddy Monday
Reception enjoyed our Muddy Monday session at Whitehall Park. After our growth mindset assembly today, we made sure we used our growth mindset instead of our fixed mindset to challenge ourselves and take risks. The children really engaged with this and it was wonderful to see how far they have come since they started with us. Well done!
Reception: Our New Classroom
The children in Reception have loved our new outdoor canopy that was built last week. This has extended our classroom to provide an outdoor area that the children can access in all weathers. Our indoor classroom has also had a refresh and the children have loved exploring all of the areas!
English- Year 3- Refugees from Sudan and Libya
Today in Year 3, we welcomed two refugees. Zinab from Libya and Samah from Sudan. They both had to leave their families because it was not safe in their countries. Zinab and Samah told us about their struggles and worries about fitting in here in the UK. They were very grateful to the UK for providing them with housing and support. They also reminded us to be thankful that we don't have wars, and that we have safe places to stay and food to eat. The question and answer session helped the children understand the challenges refugees face, which they could then portray in their writing.
WOW Badge Winners for May
Huge congratulations to all of the children who have managed to ‘Walk Once a Week’ or ‘Park and Stride’ once a week during the month of May. We saw so many children receiving their badges but we can only have one overall class winner and that went to Year 5 ….again! Well done to all involved and keep up the hard work.
Year 4 English - The Mousehole Cat
In our English session this morning we have been focusing on our new class novel ‘The Mousehole Cat’ by Antonia Barber. After sharing more of the story, our objective was to sequence and discuss events using a story map. The children first discussed their ideas, working in pairs to sequence pictures. Then then created a whole class word bank that included key vocabulary from the story. Finally they wrote a paragraph for each picture. The children produced some lovely writing during the session with lots of complex sentence, uplevelling their work as they went along.
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Year 1 Geography- A Local Area Messy Map
To finish their most recent geography unit on their immediate local area, Year 1 worked together to create a messy map. Over the last half-term Year 1 have explored the features of our local area through both mapwork and fieldwork and this led them onto being able to create the wonderful messy map that they did. On their messy map, the roads were represented as were many other features such as our local park, chemist, shops, church, post-office, laundrette, detached houses, semi-detached houses, terraced houses and cemeteries.
Year 5 - Geography
Year 5 have been exploring and investigating the world’s most famous earthquakes around the world. The children located them on a map and created a report detailing how severe they were, location and damage.
Reception: Active Explorers
It has been wonderful to see how our Ducklings are developing in problem solving and how they are all actively exploring all areas. They are constantly wanting to improve their work and are able to complete tricky tasks independently. This week, our Ducklings are learning all about dinosaurs and have created some fabulous Diplodocuses, labelled dinosaurs, created a dinosaur habitat and painted some marvellous dinosaurs whilst telling the class some wonderful facts about the knowledge they have learnt so far. Keep it up!
Year 1 Geography- Ordnance Survey Map Symbols
In their geography lesson, Year 1 have been looking at what the Ordnance Survey Map symbols mean. They had to look for clues within the symbols to make accurate judgements. They found the toilet, post office, school, telephone box, place of worship and carpark easier to guess from the symbol than the road, train station, foot path and footbridge. Year 1 then looked at an ordnance survey map of our immediate local area (Whitehall) and circled the symbols that they could see.
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Year 3- Geography- Exploring US States
In Geography, this afternoon, Year 3 worked in small groups to explore various U.S. states and assess their suitability as places to live. They investigated what it's like to live in different states, considering their similarities and differences, and examined how climate and landscapes could affect the quality of life in a particular location. They then shared their findings with the class.
Year 3 - Persuasive Text- Why should you visit North America?
Year 3 have been learning how to write persuasively in the past week and a half. They've been using words like "could," "should," and "must" to convince people to visit North America. In geography, they've been learning a lot about North America, which helped them with their research. They've also been incorporating subordinate clauses in their writing using phrases like "Because North America has diverse landscapes." Now they're ready to show their persuasive writing to a wider audience and convince them to travel to North America.
Year 3- Collective Worship- Earth Day
During our class worship this morning, Year 3 enjoyed exploring the wonders of our planet and learning what we can do to keep it safe. The children thanked God for creating a wonderful world and how blessed we are to be surrounded by nature on our doorstep. The children made promises on how they will save the Earth. Some of the promises were, to not waste water, to recycle more and switch off lights when they leave the room.
Year 5 - Earth Day
As part of Earth Day 2024, year 5 have been exploring the variety of ways that we can protect our planet. The theme this year is about plastic pollution and how we can reuse and recycle more to protect our planet. The children created door handles and wrote on them the many ways that we can protect and save our planet.
Year 2 - Class Worship
Today we had our class worship! As it has been World Earth Day this week, we used resources from Sir David Attenborough and Children in need. This has linked nicely with our Geography topic of Hot and Cold Places. At the end of the day we watched highlights of Planet Earth III. The episode we chose was narrated by children as anyone can have a voice for nature.
Year 1- Local Geography Fieldwork
Year 1 are studying their local area as part of their most recent geography unit. Yesterday, they were busy exploring their local area with the help of a map. There were various symbols on the map and they had to investigate what human features the symbols were representing e.g. Whitehall Park, Bolton Rd Laundrette, St Barnabas Church and the cemetery. As part of their fieldwork, they also identified and created a tally of the types of houses that they could see on route e.g. terraced, detached, semi-detached and bungalows. When we got back to school, we discussed what types of houses were most popular in the area of Whitehall and we came to the conclusion that it was terraced houses. We thought that this might be because we can fit more terraced houses into a small area which means that more people can live there. We also linked this back to our previous learning on the Victoria era when Darwen was a very popular cotton town. We thought that maybe Darwen would have needed to provide somewhere for all the factory workers to live in those times hence why there are so many terraced houses.
Earth Day- EYFS and Key Stage 1 Lunchtime
The children enjoyed celebrating Earth day this lunchtime as a reminder to look after our planet by making their own Earth creation using collage materials.
Year 3 - Geography- Identifying and locating countries and states in North America on a map.
This afternoon, Year 3 Geographers delved deeper into their studies of North America. We explored the diverse landscapes of Canada, the tropical beauty of Costa Rica, the bustling streets of New York City, and the vibrant culture of Mexico. Afterwards, the children located these countries on a map and carefully labelled them for better understanding.
Reception: Forest Schools
Our Ducklings love our forest school sessions at Whitehall Park! Letting their imaginations run wild is so important for their development. They enjoyed developing their gross motor skills too whilst exploring the outdoors.
Year 4 Go on Residential to The Anderton Centre
Well that’s a wrap! What an amazing adventure we have had at The Anderton Centre. The children have loved tree climbing, archery, fairy den building, night line guide line, bushcraft, marshmallow toasting, team building, XL stand up paddle boarding, midnight feasts, sleepovers (with not much sleep) and AI food. The children have really challenged themselves, attempting things that have really pushed them out of their comfort zones. Team Gardner, Team Araujo andTeam Lyon’s were a pleasure to take and conducted themselves in true St Barnabas style, showing our four Bs along the way at all times. A huge thanks to the parents and carers for allowing us to share such a magical experience with them, labelling every item under the sun and all with the packing skills of a scout leader! We now have very tired children but they have made memories that will last a lifetime! For all of the photos, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/year-4-anderton-centre-residential
Reception - Bird feeders
Alongside our ‘Spring’ week, reception have been learning about ‘migration’ when the birds leave in Winter to find warmer countries. Now that it’s Spring, the birds will be returning from their migration back to the UK in search of food again so we spent the afternoon making bird feeders using pipe cleaners and cereal hoops to welcome the birds back. We will hang some of them on the tree in our Reception yard in the hope we may have some visitors.
Year 4 - PE: Final Orienteering Session
Our final orienteering session was all about testing map-reading skills. The children were put in mixed pairs and challenged to create a route to find 10 points on the school map. The team who completed their 10 points quickest were the winners. The children had to then challenge their partners to find the chocolate bars they hid and marked on the map. Needless to say, they keenly worked out where their bars were located and enjoyed their reward afterwards. Year 4 has thoroughly enjoyed this PE unit!
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Year 5 - Fairtrade Letters
This week Year 5 received a special letter on behalf of the Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak at 10 Downing Street in recognition of their persuasive writing to purchase more Fairtrade products. The children wrote a letter detailing the worldwide benefits of Fairtrade and they have been writing to persuade the Prime Minister to promote the purchasing of Fairtrade. Our letter states that our letters have been forwarded to the Department for Business and Trade to make them aware of our views and options. Well done Year 5 for making a stand and trying to make a difference!
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Year 5 - Trout Release
This week, Year 5 RotaKids said goodbye to the trout that they have been looking after. The class has raised them since they were eggs and carefully helped them starting their life journey. We released the trout in our local river stream and learned all about the life cycle and what benefits we have brought to the life cycle. The children also explored a variety of wildlife; classifying many different insects. The children also had a lesson in water safety to ensure that when dealing with water, they understand and know how to remain safe.
Well-being Club
For our final session, we walked to Jack Keys and enjoyed a nature walk! It was lots of fun and it was lovely to enjoy the outdoors with everyone.
Year 6- Thames River Cruise
Our Year 6 children enjoyed seeing some of the famous sights of London from the River Thames. They also learnt about the history of the buildings from our tour guide. Can you spot any you know? For all of the photos, click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/thames-river-sightseeing-cruise
Year 6- London Sightseeing
Year 6 saw lots of London's famous sights such as Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament , the Tower of London and we watched the changing of the guard. For all of the photos, click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/london-sightseeing
Year 5 - Orienteering
Today, Year 5 continued progressing with their orienteering unit and explored a scatter lesson. The children used their map skills and orienteering skills to locate the given targets and worked within their teams to find the quickest routes.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Our reception children really enjoyed our Muddy Monday session today at Whitehall park. They climbed up trees, created a cafe, travelled on a ‘steam engine’ and created a bug hotel. Super imaginations!
Year 3-Food and Nutrition- Making a Seasonal Tart
This term in D.T. Year 3 have been exploring food worldwide, recognising that food grows in different climates and identifying locally grown foods in the UK. At the start of the unit, the children made Japanese skewers, additionally, we were lucky to have a professional baker join us to create a delicious fruit crumble. For our final lesson, the future bakers/chefs had a hands-on experience creating a seasonal tart using some of our key ingredients: mushrooms, rocket, kale, cheese, and tomatoes. Next week, the children will evaluate their dishes, provide feedback and identify strengths.
Reception British Science Week - Weather Charts
For British Science Week, we have been looking at the weather locally! We looked at the weather forecast for Darwen for the week and discussed the different types of weather we often get. Then we made our own weather charts in the creative area that we can use at home to show when the weather changes.
WOW Ambassador Training
In our very first WOW Ambassador meeting today, we met to discuss the children’s role and how they will promote this walk to school initiative throughout school. We also completed training on how to access the travel tracker and monitor each class on a weekly basis. The children can’t wait for the launch of this exciting new walking to school initiative next week!
Year 4 - PE: Orienteering
It was all about symbols this week in orienteering. We began by matching the map symbols to the meanings and then identifying some of these on our maps of the school grounds. We used this information to place cones around the outside of school for their friends to find. The hard part was deciphering whereabouts on the map they were located so that their points could be plotted. The class did really well at this and they’re really starting to grasp map reading.
Year 5 - Orienteering
During our orienteering session, the children worked really hard to remember symbols on a map. The children then used the symbols to locate objects around the school grounds. The children worked as teams to locate the items and find the best possible routes to find them efficiently.
The Big Plastic Count
THE BIG PLASTIC COUNT We're excited that our school is joining the Big Plastic Count initiative from March 11th to 17th. The issue of plastic waste affects us all, and our young ones must have a say in finding solutions. Click on the link below for more information. https://youtu.be/x0nQHO7Mw-k?si=76vpk8Hf9wXOKqn1 During this initiative, your children will play a vital role in gathering evidence about what happens to our plastic waste. This information will be used to advocate for change at national and global levels, urging UK ministers, supermarkets, and major brands to take action towards phasing out plastic production. In the coming days, your child will receive a ‘Let’s count tally sheet’. Count as you throw from Monday 11th March morning until Sunday 17th March! Simply mark every piece of plastic package as you throw it away on the tally sheet. We encourage you to support them in this activity, and they can then input their findings at home using the unique class link provided on their class page between 18-31 March. Once all the results are in, we'll create our class footprint and share it with the children. We appreciate your continuous support in involving our pupils in these significant initiatives. Thank you, Smart School Council and Miss Kachwalla
Year 4 - PE: Orienteering
It was an extremely physical orienteering session for the Year 4s this week. The children were using a map of the school grounds to locate specific posts around the outside of the school. In pairs, they were given a letter to locate. They had to firstly ensure they had their maps facing north, and then they had to figure out where their given letter was. When they found their letter they had to remember the two-digit number on the post and return to the leader with the answer. They were then sent off to find another letter. All of the children had great fun exploring the school grounds with their maps, and showed some fantastic map-reading skills.
Year 5 - Orienteering
This week, Year 5 continued with practising their orienteering skills. The children worked well in teams to read maps and locate items based around the school. The children understood the concept of orientation and navigated their maps well in order to complete their tasks in the most efficient way.
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Year 3- Big Lent Walk
This afternoon, Year 3 went on the 'Big Lent Walk', covering a distance of 2.8 km. A small donation has been made to CAFOD to help fight poverty worldwide. We also had fun being Geologists exploring different kind of rocks.
Year 5 - Trout
As part of Year 5 RotaKids, the children in year 5 have been learning about and looking after trout. This initiative is support by the River Ribble Trust who have been supporting our class throughout our journey. The children have been looking after the trout from the first day when the eggs were planted in the class tank. Throughout their life cycle the trout are now at the fry stage in which the children feed them on a regular basis. Once at a suitable size, the trout will be released into our local river to support and aid the life cycle process.
Reception: Imagine That Educational Visit
Wow, what a fantastic day our Ducklings had today. We visited Imagine That in Liverpool and had lots of fun! The children did lots of experiments with dry ice, made magical snow and made slime too. They used their imaginations in the roleplay area, painted a car, explored the creative area and made their own magnets. They were well behaved and represented the school beautifully!
Year 5 - Orienteering
Today, Year 5’s orienteering session consisted of creating and reading maps to locate items. The children created a map of the class and created a key that matched items in the class. The children used these maps to locate items and understand points of view.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Our Ducklings enjoyed our Muddy Monday session today at Whitehall park. They were super explorers! They found pine cones, natural resources for their dens and also different minibeasts.
Year 5 - Geography
Today, Year 5 looked at the Himalayas in depth during geography. The children looked at the location of the Himalayas and what life is like around that part of the world. The children look closely at tourism but mainly what challenges they face from climate change to danger risks.
Year 4 - PE: Orienteering
In Year 4 this half term, one of our PE sessions each week is orienteering. Our first lesson with our orienteering leader Jack went brilliantly, with the children working well in their pairs. They worked cooperatively to locate the markers and remember the details on each one. Back in the classroom, we learned how to create a birds’ eye view diagram of the classroom, paying attention to furniture and the location of fixed points such as doors and windows. We are looking forward to next week’s session.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Our Reception class really enjoyed our Muddy Monday session at Whitehall park. We looked at some habitats for different minibeasts that we found and also enjoyed creating dens and continued to take risks climbing trees. They walked 3.84km and enjoyed contributing to the Big Lent Walk!
Year 3- Food Technology- Making Japanese Skewers
This afternoon, we kicked off our Food and Technology unit, exploring the diverse climates where fruits and vegetables grow. We then followed a recipe to create delicious Japanese skewers. We had some very eager children who enjoyed them right away while others took them home.
Reception Chinese Food tasting
As part of our learning about Chinese New Year, Reception have been tasting traditional vegetable spring rolls and prawn crackers. The spring rolls were very popular and the children said the prawn crackers were delicious!
Year 5 - Information text
Year 5 completed their information text about the four main peaks in the United Kingdom. The children researched all the four peaks and wrote some amazing facts about them with a report style.
Reception - Chinese New Year
Reception have been learning about the celebration of Chinese New Year. We listened to the story of the great race and found out how the animals have a year named after them. We also learned about how people across the world prepare for Chinese new year by cleaning their houses, decorating and spending time with family and friends. We also learned to say ‘Kung Hei Fat Choy’ which means Happy New Year.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Our Ducklings enjoyed exploring the forest schools area in Whitehall park. Their imaginations were really flowing. We found dinosaur shaped claw leaves, eggs, some of our children created a roleplay restaurant and we had squirrels climbing up the trees!
Year 4 - English: Debate
In Year 4, we have made a great start on our debate topic. We looked at statements linked to deforestation and decided whether each one was an argument for or against. We find far more arguments against deforestation than for it.
Reception: Forest Schools
Today, our Ducklings explored Jacks Key. They worked in small groups to collect resources to create elf and fairy houses. They had to explore the environment to find the best twigs and leaves to use. They also had to work as a team and communicate with each other. Well done!
Year 2 -History
Over the past 3 weeks, we have been looking at famous explorers. In particular, explorers who helped us learn how to fly. From the Wright Brothers flight in 1903 which lasted 12 seconds, to Amelia Earhart’s brave mission across the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. We have found this very interesting and are looking forward to exploring the next step in aviation.
Year 6 Geography
The focus of our geography lesson today was the UK’s physical features, paying close attention to mountains. We discovered that Slieve Donard (Northern Ireland), Scafell Pike (England), Ben Nevis (Scotland) and Snowdon (Wales) were the highest peaks in their respective countries. The largest of the four, Ben Nevis, can be found in Scotland in the Grampian mountains.
Reception: Snow much fun!
Our Ducklings loved exploring the snow today! They learnt how to make snowballs and we discussed the shape of them and how they look like balls we throw! We problem solved to build a snowman and enjoyed creating snow angels. The children loved throwing snowballs at Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs Thompson! We had lots of fun!
Reception: Muddy Monday
Our Ducklings enjoyed exploring a different forest schools area of Whitehall park. They created dens, roleplayed in a restaurant, searched for hedgehogs and loved climbing trees.
Year 6 Geography- Population
Today, year 6 investigated where people live in the UK. They looked in more detail at where they live and identified that the most populated region in England was the South East. We discovered that this was more than likely because of it being so close to London and the access to well-paid jobs and famous landmarks.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Our Ducklings visited the forest schools area of Whitehall Park today for the first time. They enjoyed exploring and also had a go at making camp fires and bug houses.
Reception: Christmas Artwork visit to the Rose Garden
Our Ducklings really enjoyed looking at all of the artwork at the rose garden in Whitehall Park. They looked in detail at the children’s drawings and have all said they’d love to show their families over the Christmas holidays. We also enjoyed singing some Christmas songs.
Reception: End of term treat
We are so proud of our Ducklings . They have completed their first term and it has been lovely watching them all blossom. As a treat, after viewing the art in the rose garden, we all had a play on the playground equipment. We had so much fun together.
Year 3- Class Worship- Who is responsible for Antarctica?
WOW! Year 3 were amazed as they learned about drastic changes in Antarctica's weather because of melting snow and ice. Penguins are struggling to find a place to live, because plants and flowers are being replaced by ice and snow. A polar explorer named Robert Swan is extremely worried about these changes, he wants schools to encourage children to recycle more. Year 3 have volunteered to become champions of Antarctica, and they have promised to recycle more. They hope their actions will have a ripple effect on the environment and the world. We ended the class worship by thanking God for giving us the wonderful world.
Year 3- Class worship- Peace
During our class worship, the Year 3 class created a peace chain. They are hoping their peace chain travels the world and their messages of peace makes a difference.
Year 3- English- Story prediction activity- 'The Last Bear'
In English today, the children made predictions based on the cover and title of 'The Last Bear' book. They made predictions about who the characters might be, what themes the story could have, where it takes place, and what genre it falls into. Following this, Year 3 explored the map of Bear Island. Initially sceptical about its existence, we researched on Google, and the children were fascinated to discover that Bear Island is situated within the confines of the Norwegian and Barents Seas.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today our Ducklings visited the war memorial at Whitehall park. We had a look at the photographs and pictures of soldiers, their uniform and their armour. We noticed that there were only boy names so we discussed why. A few of our children found their forenames too! We then walked back to school through Jack Keys so we could get a little muddy!
Reception: Muddy Monday
We had a very busy Muddy Monday session today! We started the session with Mrs Ham. We discussed signs of Autumn and enjoyed singing Autumnal songs. We then went to a woodland area with Mrs Wilkinson and collected sticks to make some bonfire pictures this week. We enjoyed playing in the mud and the stream and even had a go at climbing trees!
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today our Ducklings explored our local environment. We learnt all about road safety. The children learnt to stop, look and listen every time they got to a road. We then went to Jack Keys and had a look at the reservoir. Super walking and exploring!
Year 4 Information Texts - All About the Amazon
Over the past few weeks in our English lessons, we have been looking at information texts. We have looked at the features, vocabulary and how to build sentences using quantifiers and openers. We have learnt so many new things about tribes, animals, plants and deforestation. Our final pieces of writing include all of the above and they are all beautifully presented.
Art - Year 4 - Lenticular Prints
In our art lesson this week we have been studying the artist Luz Perez Ojeda. This has involved cutting up two images with an Amazon theme into strips and alternating them side by side in sequential order to create an optical illusion piece of art.
Year 4 Art - Willow plate painting
Our art focus for this week has been on willow plate painting which originates from China. We adapted the design to go with our topic of the Amazon and our class novel The Explorer. The children used different shades and added pictures of planes, trees, characters and animals. The end result was a collection of wonderful examples.
Year 4 Art - Soap Sculptures
In our art session this week we have been making soap sculptures. First we watched a video on how to complete this step by step starting by drawing our animal designs on to paper. We then transferred this onto our bars of soap and began sculpting. We used lots of different tools to sculpt our animals and it was very tricky! As you can see from our designs, we created animals that we could find in the rainforest including butterflies and fish.
Year 1- Completing our Challenges
This week, Year 1 have been busy completing challenges in the areas. They have used their knowledge of the different animal groups to classify animals in the investigation area, completed number sequences in the maths area, used warm and cool colours to colour in pictures in the creative area, consolidated the sounds ‘ng’ and ‘th’ in the phonics and writing area, completed a jigsaw containing the 7 continents in the construction area and used their observations of the shapes and sizes of the continents to make them on the peg boards e.g. making Asia very big and Australia much smaller.
Year 4 Geography- How can we protect the Amazon?
In our geography session today, we have been looking at how we can protect the Amazon rainforest and the impact that deforestation has on it. We looked at reasons both for and against then moved onto how some of the issues may be solved.
Reception: Fun in the rain
Our Ducklings love to go out in all weathers. Today the children enjoyed exploring in our sandpit. Some of the children were making soup in our mud kitchen and some children enjoyed making a volcano!
Y4 Geography - The Amazon
Today we have started our new geography unit on The Amazon. We looked at which continent the Amazon is, country and area coverage. Using atlases we added various information to a world map including tropics, equator and other continents.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today the children showed lots of courage and perseverance as they enjoyed a very wet Muddy Monday adventure walk. They splashed their way through puddles and really enjoyed walking in the rain. It was our last session and the children said it was one that they will never forget!
Forest Schools in Reception
We saw lots of teamwork during our forest schools session today. The children enjoyed collecting resources to build bug houses and log fires. They also enjoyed creating dens and climbing trees!
Year 2 - Explanation Texts
As part of our English unit the children wrote amazing explanation texts on hot and cold places around the world (linking with our geography unit) The children chose to compare the climate and tourist attractions of both Rio de Janeiro in Brazil and Reykjavík in Iceland. The children loved comparing these locations and wrote explanation texts comparing the climates.
Year 6 geography
In year 6, we have been looking in more detail at the north west region and if it appeals to our needs. The children started out by thinking of 6 things that they believe are needed to live a happy and healthy life. They then researched if these needs were being met in the north west and then we looked more specifically at Darwen and whether, as a town, it meets the needs of its people.
Reception - Understanding Of The World - Erosion
This week, Reception class have learned all about erosion. We looked at videos of the waves crashing against the cliffs and discussed what has happened over time. We looked at houses that had moved closer the cliff edge and decided we wouldn’t like to live there! We then conducted an investigation by crashing the water against the rocks in a tray and watched them erode away. The children also enjoyed investigating this in their choosing time.
Year 1 History Walk in Darwen High Street
Year 1 have really enjoyed walking around Darwen High Street identifying different types of shops and finding out which type of shops used to be around many years ago. With the help of an expert from the Darwen Heritage Centre, they were shown different places that used to be bakers, butchers, grocery stores, pharmacies, shoe shops or different types of clothes shops (such as hat shops). They also walked through Darwen Market Place and found some placards explaining which shops used to exist in the 1800s.
Year 1 Local History Lesson in Darwen Heritage Centre
Year 1 had a super history lesson learning about the changes that have happened within Darwen Town Centre in the past couple of centuries. Our expert (Albert) from the Darwen Heritage centre showed the children a range of different historical images and photographs of the town centre many years ago and was able to explain what is in place of them geographically today. The children couldn’t believe that a few live bears and their keepers roamed the streets of Darwen for entertainment purposes years ago, or that the butchers hung their meat outside their shops! They got to handle and see artefacts including olden day money and a wooden cash register too.
Year 5- English- A visit from Salma (Sudanese refugee)
Today, Year 5 had a special guest, a Sudanese refugee visitor who shared her remarkable journey and life experiences with us. She spoke about the journey she undertook with her four young children when they were forced to flee their home country due to injustice and an oppressive regime. She spoke about the challenges she and her family have faced while adapting to life in the UK. The weather, the food, and the language barrier have posed significant adjustments for them. However, it was inspiring to witness the resilience and determination with which they have approached these challenges. The children were incredibly engaged and displayed remarkable curiosity. They asked numerous insightful questions, delving into the details of her experiences and seeking to understand the impact of her journey on her life and her children's lives. We want to say a big thank you to our visitor for sharing her story with us. It was an important lesson for all of us about how strong people can be, even when things are tough. We also want to thank John East for helping to arrange this visit.
Year 2 - Exploring South America
As part of our geography unit hot and cold places. Year 2 have been exploring the continent of South America and looking at the climate in Rio de Janeiro. The children learned many facts, figures and reasons for why the climate is as it is. The children used their knowledge to write a section of their explanation text in English.
Reception: Muddy Monday
We continued our learning by comparing two local environments, Knowsley Road and Jack Keys reservoir. Seb said there are lots of animal habitats at Jack Keys. Albie said there are lots of trees at Jack Keys. Fletcher said it is much quieter at Jack Keys. Piper-Jo said there are more children at Knowsley Road. Heidi said there are more cars at Knowsley Road. Super comparison. We finished exploring by enjoying a short forest schools session.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today the children went on a Muddy Monday adventure. The children walked 2.5km and walked up steep hills, along the reservoir, around the woods and back to school. We started to explore the differences between Jack Keys and the main road.
Reception: Blackpool Zoo
Reception class had a brilliant time at Blackpool Zoo. They saw Orangutans, gorillas, penguins, sea lions, elephants, lions, flamingoes, aardvarks, camels, tortoises, giraffes and we also went on a dinosaur safari! The children’s behaviour was exemplary and it was lovely to put our learning into context.
Year 6 geography
In geography, year 6 investigated the north west region by operating online mapping tools. They set up buffers at a 10, 20, 30 and 50 mile radius from St Barnabas to see what sort of landmarks or cities they would come across as they venture out of Darwen.
Year 1 Geography and Science Walk
Year 1 have been learning about their local area and have been making key observations about where they live ready to create a map of the local area after the half term. We have been learning about different types of plants in science and spotting different deciduous and evergreen trees as well as wild flowers. There has also been lots of opportunities to discuss the changes from Winter to Spring and to think about the changes that will be happening soon as we move from Spring to Summer.
Reception: Outdoor Learning
Reception love outdoor learning. The children enjoy playing sports on the MUGA, making musical instruments out of natural materials, role playing, climbing and balancing.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Reception enjoyed their forest schools session today. We created a den and the children enjoyed role playing inside it. The children also found a variety of minibeasts and enjoyed climbing trees too.
Year 6 Geography
In Geography, year 6 have started to focus on their local area of Darwen and how it fits into the wider world. They discovered that there were more local and regional links and less national and international links. We then thought about how our diagrams would compare to a big city and concluded that they would have many other national and international links. For example, they may have an airport that provides international travel.
Reception - Farms
On Thursday afternoon, Reception class went for a walk to Jacks Key to see if we could spot different animals in the farmer’s fields. We saw horses and cows and the children did some observational drawings. The children loved looking at the farmer's tractors too!
Mad Science Club
Today was the last session of Mad Science Club and the children all really enjoyed learning about the density of different liquids today. They carried out group experiments and watched our science expert carry out an experiment too, whilst learning about how different liquids in our seas and rivers can affect the environment. They experienced first-hand, how difficult it is to get oil out of water and got to take home a little souvenir from the lesson at the end of it too.
Year 3 Geography
Year 3 have been exploring our local area, thinking about how Darwen compares to New York. We discovered lots of similarities and differences. The class were so well behaved and respectful while out and about and came up with a variety of ideas, considering not only what they could see, but hear and smell too. Well done year 3!!
Reception - All about farms
This week we have been learning all about farm animals and farmers. We looked at which animals we could find on a farm and the role of the farmer. We know that some farms grow crops and some look after animals. We’ve enjoyed playing in the farm small world area this week, making tractors using 2d shapes and making our own farms using the tap it boards.
Year 1 Human and Physical Features in our Local Area
Year 1 have been exploring our local area and finding different human and physical features in their house colour teams. Their team leaders have recorded this information as we have walked around our local area. We also got the opportunity to talk about the seasonal changes happening from Spring to Summer and identified different wild flowers that we have been learning about within our plants science topic.
Reception: Den building
The children enjoyed creating a den on our school grounds today. They all worked together and had a brilliant time. They then roleplayed camping and enjoyed making a camp fire.
Reception: Muddy Monday
The children in Reception visited Whitehall park for their Muddy Monday session. They climbed trees, built bug houses, found creatures and discussed their habitats and created their own games. The children enjoyed looking under logs to discover minibeasts. They have all been super explorers.
Reception - Migration
This week in our Amazing Animals topic we learned all about migration. We looked at why birds migrate to warmer climates and made our own bird feeders. We have put a bird feeder outside of our window too so that we can watch the birds!
Monday Worship: Looking after God’s World
Mrs Ham showed the children the big frieze and focussed on the creation. This morning we thought about Earth Day and God’s creation and had a think about all of the things that are damaging God’s creation. We threw globes around the room to think about how we are damaging our Earth. We watched a video of Greta Thunberg who is helping our world. Greta challenged world leaders to take action on climate change. Greta shared some advice to help look after the world and the children shared their ideas of how we can make a positive difference. Finn said “we can stand up for what is right”, Hamza said “use both sides of paper”, James said “stop throwing litter on the floor”, Darcy said “turn the tap off to save water” and Annabel said “switch off the lights”. The children looked through a bin and had a think about what they could do with the items instead of just throwing items into a bin. Eliza chose a bottle. Some of the children said they could use it for junk modelling, you could reuse it or you could use it as a bath toy. Harriet chose a Maltesers box. The children suggested you could use if to make a fairy house or a puppet. Harry chose a plastic bag. Ella said that you could use it as a bin bag and Scarlett said you could reuse it when you go shopping. Rosie chose some paper and the children discussed how it could be used to make a paper aeroplane and then put into the recycling bin. This week, Mrs Ham asked us all to think about how we can help to protect God’s creations and how we can protect our world. We finished our worship by singing ‘God’s world’.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Reception went to Whitehall park today to find lots of different minibeasts. They lifted up logs to see what they could find. They used magnifying glasses to investigate. We then went and continued our forest schools session climbing trees, making dens, building bug houses and making camp fires!
Reception - Earth Day
In Reception we have been celebrating ‘Earth Day’ by thinking about how we can take better care of our planet and local area. We discussed recycling at home, conserving water and energy and litter picking. They had some brilliant ideas about how we can look after our planet.
Year 5- Earth Day
To celebrate 'Earth Day' we have made promises to look after our planet. The children have promised to use less water, recycle more, walk to school and plant a seed. They will make these simple changes to help protect our planet.
Year 3- Earth Day
In Year 3 we have been celebrating ‘Earth Day’ by thinking about how we can take better care of our planet and local area. They each made a promise which they will try to stick to, to help our environment.
Reception: Forest Schools
Wow, what a super session Reception had today. We found squirrels, looked for mole tunnels and saw lots of different mini beasts. The children built fires, bug huts and dens too. They climbed trees and explored the forest schools area in Whitehall park.
Reception- Continuous Provision- The Royal Family
This week the children have been learning all about the royal family. During continuous provision the children haven carrying out different activities in our areas which are all linked to the royal family. We have been painting King Charles in the painting area, we’ve had Buckingham palace and a London scene set up in the small world area, we have been building Buckingham palace in the construction area and we have been making cakes for a royal afternoon tea in the malleable area. We have been really interested in asking and answering lots of questions about the royal family.
Year 1- Garden Centre Visit
On Tuesday morning we walked down to ‘Four Seasons Garden Centre’ in preparation for our next science topic about plants. We found out lots of information about plants and the seasons they grow in. At the end of our tour around the garden centre we purchased some seeds to bring back to school to watch them grow.
Year 1: Garden Centre Visit Thank you!
We would like to say a HUGE thank you to everyone at “Four Seasons Garden Centre” for making us all feel welcome. Sonia said she was really pleased with how we respected the garden centre and how well they represented our school. Sonia gave us some free gifts to bring back to school (Planters, soil and flowers) we can’t wait to plant these.
Year 5- Explanation text about Volcanoes and Earthquakes
Over the course of two weeks, Year 5 has learnt the features of an explanation text and written their text all about earthquakes and volcanoes. They have used their learning from their Geography lessons. They have explained the cause of earthquakes, identified famous volcanoes and explained the short and long-term effects of natural disasters.
Year 6 P.E.- Orienteering
Year 6 have been working hard to orientate their map whilst moving around the school’s orienteering course.
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Year 5 - Young Geographers-What lies beneath the surface of the Earth?
This afternoon in our Geography lesson, the Year 5 geographers watched a short clip on how Earthquakes occur. We then used a boiled egg to grasp a deeper understanding of how tectonic plates move. The plates come in different sizes and shapes and move when there is too much pressure. The children moved on and worked in pairs to identify the Earth's surface on a map and explore why they think earthquakes happen. They noticed that the plates were either moving in the opposite direction, away from each other and towards each other which created a fault. They also labelled the core, crust, and mantle parts of the Earth in their books.
Year 5 - Orienteering- Identifying Maps
During our orienteering lesson this morning, we first identified key information located on our school map by exploring the areas around our school. We then drew a map of our classroom and our school yard. This will help us plan our route for our next P.E lesson.
Reception: Muddy Monday
As part of our learning all about caring for our environment, we went on a litter pick around our local area. We used our fine motor skills to collect the litter using the litter pickers. We collected lots of litter and all received a certificate and sticker for being great litter picking superheroes. Thank you to Blackburn with Darwen Council for providing all of the resources we needed for our litter pick.
Year 3 Geography: Where is North America and what is it like?
This afternoon in Geography, we started our new unit on North America. We began by recapping our knowledge and understanding of the 7 continents and 5 oceans around the world, before discussing what we already know about North America. The class then carried out their own research, to find out about North America’s Top 8.
Year 6 P.E.
Year 6 completed their first orienteering session this week. They were working on keeping their maps set whilst moving.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today the children explored the changes of weather and different areas of Whitehall park. The children commented on how the weather can be sunny, cloudy, rainy, foggy and windy. The children explored the waterfall and other forest schools sections. They showed the Christian value of courage as we had to walk up a steep hill and walked a long way around the park.
Year 5- Collective Worship
During our class worship this morning, we looked at this week's news on equality and the earthquake which has caused major damage to the families of Turkey and Syria. We discussed equality in detail and mainly focussing on men and women's football team. The children shared their opinions and thoughts on the topic and concluded that humans are equal and Jesus wants everyone to treat each other equally. He also teaches us to challenge individuals and social structures, that do not treat all humans equally. We watched a short clip of the damage that has been caused by the 7.8 magnitude Turkey-Syria earthquake and looked at the support that is already out there. We learnt about how earthquakes are measured and the damage it can cause. We then thought of ways that we could help by sending them a prayer and that we are thinking of them all.
Year 1- Human and physical features in Darwen
Yesterday we went on a walk to find some human and physical features in Darwen. This afternoon we’ve discussed what we found and wrote about the differences between human and physical features.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today, the children have focussed on maps and why we have them. We discussed where we had seen maps. Roman said you can find a map on your phone, Marley said you can find a map at Jack Keys and Elijah said you can buy one from a shop. Eddie told the children that maps tell you where to go and Seb said that you can use a map if you ever get lost. We then went to Whitehall park and found a map. We followed it to find the duck pond. We then went to the forest school area and looked at the hedgehog house and bug house. We also made fires, our own bug hotels and climbed trees. Super exploring!
Reception Forest Schools- Muddy Tuesday
On Tuesday we had a forest school session in our school grounds. The children were split into five groups with six children in each. Each team were given a pet log to build a shelter for. The children worked amazingly well together and showed great teamwork and co-operation. Each team successfully built a natural shelter for their pet.
Year 4 Geography- What is the Congo Rainforest like?
Our focus in todays lesson was to study what life is like in the Congo Rainforest. We looked at the plants and trees we would find there, various animal species and tribes such as Babongo and Aka. We found amazing facts such as how the UK could fit into the rainforest 16 times over!
Year 4 - Researching ecosystems in the Amazon rainforest
In science, we have been conducting research on ecosystems in the rainforest. We were surprised to find out that there was typically only one season all year round - 'humid' season.
Reception - Chinese New Year
This week, we have been learning all about Chinese New Year. We have practised writing Chinese numbers, tasted different Chinese foods, learned all about the famous dragon parades and even made our own dragon! We have really enjoyed learning all about the traditions of Chinese New Year and comparing them to our own experiences and celebrations.
Reception - Chinese New Year
This week, we have been learning all about Chinese New Year. We have practised writing Chinese numbers, tasted different Chinese foods, learned all about the famous dragon parades and even made our own dragon! We have really enjoyed learning all about the traditions of Chinese New Year and comparing them to our own experiences and celebrations.
Year 1- Human and Physical features
This afternoon in geography we have been looking at human and physical features in the UK. We decided to have a wander up to Jack Keys to see if we could spot some human and physical features in Darwen.
Reception: Muddy Monday
This week the children in Reception built up their walking stamina by walking to Whitehall Park. They walked up a hill and were really sensible. It was freezing cold so the children saw some ice. We revisited previous learning and identified evergreen and deciduous trees. The children also explored the rose garden.
Year 5 - Geography- UK'S Highest Mountains
This afternoon, Year 5 have been using the atlas to explore mountain ranges in the United Kingdom and the highest peaks in each UK country.
Year 6 Geography
This week, in geography, year 6 have been focusing on the most important industries to the UK. The manufacturing of cars and aeroplanes, and tourism were just some of the most important industries to the UK. We also delved a little bit deeper into tourism and located the UK’s 15 national parks and thought about the jobs that people may have if they lived within one of them.
Reception: Muddy Monday
We have been developing our characteristics of effective learning by taking risks today. The children enjoyed their adventure at Jack Keys. They had to climb under and over branches, walk through a stream and travel in the mud. We were very muddy at the end and had a brilliant time!
Geography - Rainforests
We started our new geography topic - Rainforests today. We identified what a rainforest is, key features and found examples of rainforests from across the world. We then plotted the rainforests on a map of the world, highlighting country and continent.
Year 2 - Exploring human and physical features of different continents
This week year 2 have been exploring many different continents; finding out facts and exploring the many human and physical features. They have been using their learnt knowledge to write similarities and differences between two contrasting continents.
Reception: Outdoors
The children have enjoyed being really creative outside. They explored the leaves and described them. They also created fires and dens. Well done!
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today, the children in Reception enjoyed looking for signs of Autumn at Jack Keys Reservoir. We enjoyed looking at the views to discuss the signs of Autumn. The children learnt the meaning of deciduous and evergreen trees and they were able to identify them.
Year 3 English: The Last Bear
This term, Year 3 will be writing their own adventure/mystery stories, based on the novel 'The Last Bear' By Hannah Gold. On Monday, we explored the text title and front cover and thought about what the main themes in the text might be. We then explored the setting of the story 'Bear Island'. We discussed whereabouts Bear Island may be located and explored the island, using google maps.
Year 2 - Exploring Continents and Oceans
Year 2 used an atlas and explored the continents and oceans of the world. We discussed the variety of climates the world has to offer and used our knowledge of direction to answer location questions.
Geography- Year 5
In our Geography lesson this afternoon, the children used an atlas to locate the world's Seven Summits for each continent.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today, the children in Reception learnt how to cross the road. With their partner they stopped, looked and listened and shouted “Clear!” to Mrs Wilkinson when it was safe to cross. They all remained very alert and looked all around them. We then went to the park to collect some sticks in preparation for our bonfire pictures.
Year 1- Autumn walk
This afternoon year 1 have been on a walk around Jack Keys looking for signs of Autumn
Year 4 English - Information Texts
Today in English we have been identifying the key features within an information text. The children selected examples of these key features from two texts about the Amazon - one about the Awa tribe and one about deforestation which links directly to our Geography study on The Amazon.
Geography Year 4 - How does the Amazon Basin compare to where we live?
We have been looking at how the Amazon Basin compares to where we live. We researched temperature, climate, hemispheres, proximity to the equator and much more. The standard of work produced in todays session was amazing!
Reception: Muddy Tuesday
Due to hello yellow day, Reception’s muddy Monday became a Muddy Tuesday. This week they explored the school field. They made nests, big houses, rolled down the field, explored the Autumnal leaves and discussed the reasons why they had changed colour and they also had a look at the shape of the clouds. It was a fantastic afternoon which they all enjoyed!
Reception: Muddy Monday
What a fabulous Muddy Monday the children in Reception have had. Today, the children continued to explore their local environment and we went to Jack Keys Reservoir. We explored the differences between Knowsley road and the reservoir. The children said it was a lot quieter, there were a lot more trees and water. We then built some birds nests after reading Owl Babies. The children also enjoyed getting very muddy in an area of the woods. They described the mud and what it felt and sounded like.
Year 4 Geography-Why does the Amazon matter?
As part of our geography topic, we have been looking at how the Amazon is under threat.We have researched the key ideas on deforestation, animal, plants and tribes. As part our our work today we also designed posters to highlight how these threats can impact on our environment and across the world.
Reception: our local environment
Today, the children learnt how to put their wellies and puddle suits on and we went to explore our environment around our school. The children learnt what the term environment meant. We then found a pharmacy, trees, our school field, houses and lots of different vehicles. Well done! The children found out what road our school was on and learnt the name of our town.
Year 5- R.E- Faith Walk
Year 5 have been on a faith walk around Darwen with John East as part of our RE curriculum, to visit churches from different denominations of Christianity. We visited St Joseph's, the United Reform Church on Duckworth Street and Spring Vale Methodist. The children had lots of opportunities to ask thought provoking questions which they had prepared earlier. They also had the chance to look around the church, explore the symbols displayed, do a quiz, look at artefacts and experiment a pretend wedding by two of our class pupils. During the walk, we stopped and looked at some of the historic buildings and ruins that are still standing to this date.
Year 4 Geography - The Amazon
We have started our new geography topic today in Year 4. We will focus on the Amazon, looking at the Amazon Basin and surrounding rainforest. In today’s lesson we identified South America using atlases and globes. We then moved into identifying the countries within South America and where the Amazon river runs.
Reception: Exploring outdoors
Reception have really enjoyed exploring their outdoor area. They have built houses using ‘cement’ in the sand, created potions in the water area, been busy roleplaying in the shop, painting, made mud pies, travelled around Darwen on the bikes and scooters and also enjoyed balancing on the equipment. They have been busy bees!
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Celebrating 50 Years of St Barnabas- Year 5
Celebrating 50 years of St Barnabas. During worship this morning, Mrs Ham showed us old pictures about what our school looked like 50 years ago. We compared prices of food, fuel, cars and houses from then and now too. In the afternoon in our classes we looked at old newspaper articles, log books and registers. One of the books had a lock which children were very inquisitive about. We also went for a local walk to look at buildings that used to be St Barnabas. The children were super excited to find out about the nursery they had attended used to be St Barnabas.
Reception- Map skills
Today we looked at a map from our visit to Blackpool zoo. We discussed the features and what we found. We then gathered our own resources to make a messy map. The children shared this with Mrs Ham and Miss Ashworth and explained how to follow it. Super work!
Year 2 Blackpool Trip!
Year 2 had a fantastic day at Blackpool on Tuesday! Our class topic this term is ‘Beside the Seaside’ so the aim of the trip was for the children to experience a day at the seaside and think about the activities that we do now at the seaside and comparing this to the Victorian’s. We played on the beach, listened to a talk about beach safety, went to the the top of Blackpool Tower and walked along The North Pier! The children showed so much respect to the general public and represented St Barnabas brilliantly! Well done Year 2!
Reception Treasure Map Making
As a part of Understanding the World in reception, the children have made a treasure map of our outdoor yard using natural recourses and loose parts. They were amazing at telling us where each area was located in the yard and finding the right materials to represent each part.
Year 6 London Thames River Cruise
Our Year 6 children enjoyed seeing some of the famous sights of London from the River Thames. They also learnt about the history of the buildings from our tour guide. Can you spot any you know?
Buckingham Palace & St Jame’s Park
We’ve just had a singalong of the National Anthem in front of Buckingham Palace! We’ve learnt so much from our guide Liz.
London Sightseeing Tour
We have seen lots of sights around London and have been learning all about the History of London from our tour guide Liz.
Reception: Environment explorers
Following on from last week, we have continued to explore our local environment and focussed on the roads around our school. We looked at how it is different to Jack Keys reservoir. Archie said that there aren’t any cones at Jack Keys, Ella-Grace discussed how you don’t see any chimneys at Jack Keys, Isaac said there are no houses, Scarlett said that there are lots of cars and vans that pass us compared to at Jack Keys and Chay said that you can smell coffee on the main road! Super observations!
Reception Environment Explorers!
This afternoon, Reception went on a walk to Jacks Key to be environment explorers! The children were looking for different plants, buildings and animals that make up our local environment. They loved looking at all the different types of flowers and animals we share our environment with and we talked about how important certain things like trees and bees are to our environment.
Year 2 Geography
Our topic in Geography is all about Weather and Pollution and this week, Year 2 have been identifying the hottest and coldest countries around the World. We used globes and atlas to help us research and identify the countries with the hottest and coldest climates.
Year 4 Geography- Rivers
In geography today, we started our new topic all about rivers. We looked at the water cycle, what a river is and researched the ten longest rivers in the world, locating them on a world map with the help of an atlas and chrome books. We look forward to our class visitor next week who will help us to broaden our knowledge even further.
Year 1 Geography- Creating a Messy Map
Year 1 have been looking at the immediate local area in their geography lessons. They have collaboratively worked together to create a messy map to represent this. They have included our school, Everest Pharmacy, The Tramway Cafe, The bowling green, Whitehall Park, The Park Pub, St Barnabas Church, the local shop, the post office, the graveyard, the hairdressers, bungalows, terraced houses, detached houses, semi-detached houses and Jack’s Key Clough with its reservoir and footbridge.
Year 2 Geography: Weather and Pollution
This week in Geography, Year 2 explored the different types of weather that we get in the U.K. We watched some videos of a selection of different weather types and the class described the different types of weather that they could see.
Year 1-Local Area Walk
Year 1 went on a local area walk this afternoon as part of their geography unit. They explored the area and recorded the types of houses (semi-detached, terraced, detached, bungalow, caravan and flats) that they saw on their journey. They also had to follow a map to find some of the human and physical features that are local to our school such as the post office, the shop, the chemist, Jack’s Key Reservoir, Whitehall Park and the hairdressers. As we were walking past our local shop (Bargain Booze on Bolton Road), a very kind lady who worked in the shop gave each of us a galaxy chocolate bar. We were very thankful for her kindness and enjoyed our chocolate bar sat down at Whitehall Park.
Reception: Forest Schools
Reception enjoyed their forest schools session today. The children walked to Whitehall park where they explored and found different minibeasts in their natural habitats.
Reception- minibeasts!
Reception have enjoyed learning the names of different minibeasts. We then went outside to see if we could find any. We found spiders, woodlouse, beetles, worms and slugs to name a few! Tomorrow, we will be learning more about their habitats their forest school session.
Year 2 follow the River Darwen
As part of their local geography fieldwork, Year 2 followed the River Darwen and learnt lots of things along the way. They also identified human and physical features and created their own maps.
Year 1 Geography
This afternoon, Year 1 took part in some fieldwork as part of their geography unit. They used to a map to locate and identify some of the human and physical features of our school ground. Then they completed an activity where they had to describe the location of some of the human and physical features that we had seen and other areas of school from our classroom e.g. the rainbow room, the staff room and the office. They had to identify those that were near such as the MUGA and the staff room, some that were further away such as the junior playground and the woodland and some that were the furthest away such as our field.
Earth Day- Year 5
Happy Earth Day! The children decorated the Earth template with things they love about the Earth and wrote a poem to celebrate.
Year 3 PSHE - Earth Day
Year 3 have been exploring different ways that they can look after our planet Earth. They began by decorating a picture of the Earth with the things they love about it. Then they thought about what actions they could take to look after and protect the Earth.
Year 3 Class Worship - Earth Day
Year 3 have been thinking about God’s wonderful creation and how we can help look after it. They wrote prayers and ended their worship by singing “Shine”.
Reception - Migration and Bird feeders
This afternoon, we have been learning about Migration, where in the Winter, flocks of birds fly to warmer countries like Africa to find sources of food and new homes. Then when Spring arrives in the UK, the birds fly back here. We wanted to welcome the birds back to the UK by making bird feeders and hanging them in the trees in the school grounds. The children are very excited to see which birds will arrive to nibble on their treats.
Year 2 Local Area Walk
Year 2 have had a busy day exploring their local area. We visited a variety of different landmarks and followed The River Darwen to the town centre. Throughout the day, the children recorded some of the different human and physical features that they could see and next week, we will be creating our own maps of Darwen and locating some of the places that we have visited today on our own maps!
Year 2 Earth Day: Litter Picking
Year 2 have been helping out the local community and the environment, by collecting litter during their local area walk!
Spring Walk: Reception
Today, the children in Reception went on a walk to find signs of Spring. They enjoyed finding items and ticking it off their checklists. The children found blossom, daffodils, birds, a bird nest, leaves on trees and birds tweeting. They are now ready to write some super sentences all about Spring. Super hunting!
Reception Muddy Monday
The rain didn’t stop our Muddy Monday! This week the children went to Whitehall Park to visit the rose garden. The rose garden has a selection of Easter art work that our whole school have created. The children really enjoyed looking at the different pieces.
Year 6 Geography
Today Year 6 have been looking at ‘population pyramids’. Identifying patterns and thinking about reasons why populations are affected. Considering genders, resources and ages.
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Year 2 Geography: How can a map show what a place is like?
This week in Geography, Year 2 have been looking at how map's can show what a place is like. We looked at a variety of ordnance survey maps and completed an activity, where the children had to match the map symbols to the correct picture and words.
Reception Muddy Monday
This week the children walked 5500 steps around Jack Keys reservoir. They persevered and challenged themselves to walk through mud and climb very steep hills. We were so impressed with their determination! Well done Reception!
Year 2 Geography: Human and Physical features
Last week in Geography, Year 2 explored the school grounds, looking at different human and physical features.
Commonwealth Baton Relay Handover to St Pauls
Following the collection of the baton from St Peter’s yesterday, our Year 6 Heads and Deputies took charge with the handover to St. Paul’s today. Year 5, Year 4, Year 2 and Reception made flags and banners to cheer them on their journey. We can’t wait for the games to start now and have loved the experience! Thanks @LancSchoolGames #Lancsbatonrelay22
Receiving The Commonwealth Games Baton
Today we had the privilege in taking part in the Commonwealth Games Baton Relay as part of the lead up to the Commonwealth Games which will take place in Birmingham this year. We received the baton from St Peters this afternoon, with our Year 6 Sports Leaders in charge of the safe hand over. Year 6, Year 3 and Year 1 classes were there to provide a warm welcome and wave their flags. Tomorrow, Year 5, Year 4, Year 2 and Reception class will be there to wave the baton onto its next journey to St Pauls Hoddlesden. What an experience! Thanks @LancSchoolGames #Lancsbatonrelay22
Year 2 Geography
Year 2 have been exploring the school grounds to find human and physical features.
Reception Muddy Monday
This week, Reception stayed around their school grounds. We climbed trees, made bug houses and used binoculars and magnifying glasses to find creatures and explore the ground.
Year 3 Geography - locating Italy on a map
Year 3 Geography - Year 3 have been using atlases to locate Italy on a map of Europe. They have also identified the four countries that border Italy.
English - Persuasive Leaflets about Darwen
We have been working extremely hard over the past few weeks to develop our understanding of persuasive texts. Today we added the final touches to our Darwen leaflets, checking that we have used persuasive devices and created interesting content, which is appealing to the audience. Thank you to Mrs Ham and our Head and Deputy Girls for deciding on two overall winners. Well done to Oscar and Wilson. Every single child produced a quality piece of writing which they should be very proud of. They included many of the landmarks or places of interest in Darwen after researching them.
Year 6 Geography
Investigating how changes can influence birth and death rates.
Reception: Muddy Monday
The children really enjoyed visiting Whitehall park for their Muddy Monday session. We looked at all of the evergreen and deciduous trees. We also climbed trees and made bug hotels. The children were very excited when they found worms and insects for their hotels!
Y6 Geography- Focusing on population
Year 6 have been learning about population, density and it’s effects in Geography this week.
Year 3 Class Worship - Fairtrade
Year 3 wrote some prayers during Our Class Worship remembering all the poor farmers in developing countries who don’t always get a fair price for the fruit and vegetables that they grow.
Year 2 Geography: Exploring rural and urban areas
This term, Year 2 are going to be exploring the local area in Geography. This afternoon, we explored the differences between rural and urban areas and thought about whether Darwen is mostly a rural or urban area.
Year 1 Geography-Human and Physical Features
In Year 1, we have been exploring the United Kingdom. Today, we learnt what a human and physical feature is. We then went on to sort the human and physical features of our hometown, Darwen. We looked at features such as Darwen Tower, India Mill, Darwen Market, DACA, The River Darwen, Darwen Moors, Everest Pharmacy and Whitehall Park as well as lots of others. Next week, we will explore some of the physical and human features of our capital cities in the UK.
Year 4- Identifying cities and football stadiums
Today in Geography, we looked at the features of a city, major cities in England and what football teams have their stadiums in a city. We used Google earth, Google maps and atlases to add cities to a blank map. Our extension task was to identify which teams from the Premier League have their stadiums in a city. Our chilly challenge was then to identify what county they were also in. We found that London had the most premier league side stadiums.
Year 1 Geography-Human and Physical Features
In Year 1, we have been exploring the United Kingdom. Today, we learnt what a human and physical feature is. We then went on to sort the human and physical features of our hometown, Darwen. We looked at features such as Darwen Tower, India Mill, Darwen Market, DACA, The River Darwen, Darwen Moors, Everest Pharmacy and Whitehall Park as well as lots of others. Next week, we will explore some of the physical and human features of our capital cities in the UK.
Year 3 - History - locating Roman roads
Year 3 have been using atlases in order to locate roads built by the Romans in England.
Geography - Counties in England
In our geography lesson today, we have been looking at identifying counties in England. We used compass points to solve problems such as which counties border other counties and which are the largest/smallest counties in our country.
Exploring time zones- Year 5
The afternoon in our Geography lesson , Year 5 have been looking at different countries and comparing them to each other using the GMT lines on a map. We have used Digimaps for schools to help us with our investigation. We then moved onto looking at flight paths. We tracked live flight paths, noting time zone changes.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Reception really enjoyed their walk today around Jack Keys. The children showed the Christian value of courage whilst climbing over a stile independently. The children enjoyed investigating the marsh land and looked for moles and rabbits!
Year 6: Den Building
Some of the children in Year 6 went to Whitehall park. The children enjoyed working as a team and used their problem solving skills to create their own dens. They found resources themselves. Mrs Wilkinson was very impressed with their efforts.
Reception Muddy Monday
Reception really enjoyed their first muddy Monday of 2022. They enjoyed creating animal houses at Whitehall park. They showed brilliant teamwork as they found different resources to build their houses.
Reception launches their under the sea topic
Reception are really enjoying the start of their brand new topic! They are starting to learn all about different animals that live in the sea and ocean.
Outdoor exploration in Reception
Reception love to use the outdoors in all weathers. We have been building houses, making potions, building bug houses and performing on our stage.
Reception: Forest schools
During Reception’s ‘Muddy Monday’ walk, the children have enjoyed creating fairy and bug houses. The collected different resources such as twigs, leaves and stones. They also learnt how to use shears safely. What a super way to start the week!
What is the Equator?
This afternoon in Year 2, the class have been learning about The Equator. The children looked at different countries and continents in the Northern and Southern Hemisphere and labelled The Equator on their own maps of The World.
Creative Minds
This model of Darwen Tower was built in our peace garden, using wooden planks.
Reception: Exploring Autumn
This week, Reception have been finding out all about Autumn. They have learnt all about what happens in Autumn and have learnt some new vocabulary too: deciduous and evergreen. Super learning!
Human Geography
This afternoon in Year 4 we have been looking at what the Human Geography is. We have identified that human geography explores the people, communities and cultures of the world. We have used the chrome books to complete research on the human geography of South America.
Year 5- Geography
This term in Geography, Year 5 have been learning about Greece in context to its position with Europe, identifying regions within a country and Greece’s climate zone. This afternoon, we used digi maps to check what human and physical features are on a map of Greece.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Today, the children went to Whitehall park. They enjoyed looking for signs of Autumn. Everybody found a conker and we explored the different colours of Autumnal leaves. The children enjoyed throwing leaves in the air and also climbed under and over a fallen tree.
Why is London the way it is?
In geography, we have been looking at the reasons why London is the way it is today. We have been looking at the physical and human features of geography within London and what we can expect London to be like in the future.
Deforestation debates
We have been working hard on our ‘Deforestation Debate’ in Year 4 today. So far, we have looked at key language, points for and against and how a piece is structured. We have very different opinions and this has been highlighted in our discussions throughout the week.
Year 1 Geography- Hot and Cold Places of the World.
Year 1 have been looking at a map of the world and learning about where the hot and cold places are.
A very ‘Muddy Monday’ in Reception
Today, our Ducklings went on their first ‘Muddy Monday’ adventure in the local area. We explored Jack Keys reservoir. The children walked all of the way around the reservoir which took just over an hour. We were extremely impressed with how they showed our Christian values. They took risks, showed resilience and courage throughout the adventure. The children got stuck in the mud, splashed in muddy puddles and enjoyed climbing and balancing along the way! What a super start to the week!
Great Geography in Year 4
Year 4 had a brilliant afternoon being Geographers by learning all about South America.