2nd last month in the walk to school challenge
February’s WOW walk to school Top Ten challenge is finished! We are thrilled to have gained 2nd place on the leaderboard this month! Thank you to our parents and carers for encouraging their children to travel actively to school! This term’s #WOWTopTen schools in Blackburn with Darwen are:
Reception Visit to Imagine That
Our Reception class visited Imagine That today. They had a brilliant time using their imagination in imagination village, creating art making magnets and bags. They also made snow and slime! The children really enjoyed the dry ice experiments and loved the science room where we got to explore and learn. It was a wonderful trip where lots of memories were made. The staff commented on the children's behaviour and how amazing they all were, what superstars! For all images, please look at our gallery: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/reception-visit-to-imagine-that
Year 6 Class Meeting - How Safe Do You Feel Online?
Year 6 had a fantastic pupil-led class meeting, this week. The focus was online safety and centred around the key question - how safe do you feel online? The children watched a Newsround interview discussing online safety and had group discussions and debates around the key question.
Online Safety: Marvel Rivals
Marvel Rivals has skyrocketed to success in recent months, currently boasting 40 million players but popularity doesn’t always mean ‘safe’. This week’s guide and the latest episode of the #WakeUpWednesday Podcast offers expert advice on the risks of this competitive online game, with tips on safeguarding younger players. Download here >> https://nationalcollege.com/guides/marvel-rivals Listen here >> https://nationalcollege.com/podcasts/what-parents-educators-need-to-know-about-marvel-rivals
Year 3- Debate- How safe do you feel online?
During our class debate, led by Ella and Alfie, the children unanimously agreed that they only feel safe online some of the time. This led to an important discussion about the steps we can take to feel safer in our daily lives. We emphasised the importance of speaking to a trusted adult when feeling uncertain or uncomfortable, as well as the need to use only age-appropriate apps and online platforms. Through this conversation, we reinforced the message that staying safe is a shared responsibility and that making informed choices can help protect ourselves and others.
WOW Badge Design Winners
A huge well done to our seven WOW badge design winners! We had so many entries for the badges which made it very difficult to pick a winner from each class. Thank you to every child who created their designs and submitted them to the competition. We picked the top three from the age group winners which have been sent off to the national competition which closes this week so fingers crossed .
Reception final Street dance session
Reception have had their final street dance lesson with Miss Jess today and showed off just how much they’ve learned in 6 weeks! They went on a space adventure and thought about how they could create fast, slow, soft and sharp movements. Then they performed their full dance sequence for the last time and were amazing. What super stars and thank you to Miss Jess for teaching us so much!
Year 6 - Safer Internet Day
This year’s Safer Internet Day is based around scams. Year 6 discussed what a scam is, the types of scams we can come across on the Internet and what we can do to keep ourselves safe, for example double-checking things that we see online and telling a trusted adult if we are unsure about anything. The children discussed with their partners how online scams made them feel and how the Internet is an excellent tool, if used correctly.
.jpeg)
Year 4 - Year of Prayer: Foam Prayers
As we continue the Blackburn Diocese Year of Prayer, this week we took a moment to be thankful for our ability to move. We chose different whisking implements in order to create bubbles in our soap solution whilst showing gratitude for the fantastic things we can do by moving different body parts. We said thanks for our legs to play football, our mouths to speak and our arms to swim, to name just a few. We are really enjoying having the opportunity to explore different ways to pray and we’re already developing some favourites.
Reception- Safer Internet Day
Reception class learnt how to stay safe online on Safer Internet Day. We discussed where and how we use the Internet. The children said they use it on tablets, iPads, their grown ups phone and on their televisions. The children said they watch YouTube, play games and watch videos. We watched a video of Jesse who watched something scary online. Jesse told her Daddy and it made her feel safe and happy again. The children said they could tell their teachers, grandparents or parents if they ever felt worried or scared. We then learnt the ‘Funny Tummy’ song. ‘If it makes you feel funny in your tummy, worried scared or sad. Then you must tell a grown up you trust, like your teacher, Mum or Dad’.
Children’s Mental Health Week and Dress to Express Worship
Today was our special ‘ Dress to Express’ Worship to celebrate Children’s Mental Health Week. The theme of Dress to Express this year is ‘Know Yourself and Grow Yourself’. Children's emotional well-being is just as important as their physical health. Good mental health helps them develop the resilience to cope with whatever life throws at them and grow into well-rounded, healthy adults Our Heads and Deputies led the worship this week and started by telling everyone how they express themselves and they asked us all how we express ourself best. We heard that some children express themselves through playing football or other sports, dancing, listening to music and art etc. Mrs Ham showed us photos of how she likes to support her mental health through walking up huge fells with her dogs and her family. We then watched a clip from Inside Out the movie when Riley looked at various memories. We met sadness, joy, fear, disgust and anger. The children and Mrs Ham then acted out an emotion and the rest of the children had to guess what it was. We all feel different emotions but these affect our mental health. 5 Ways to Well-being are a great way to support our mental well-being such as: being physically active, connecting with others, learning new skills, giving to others and paying attention to the present moment (mindfulness). A question that the children presented asked ‘ How well do we really know ourselves?’ The children really enjoyed watching the clips and guessing the emotions that the characters were showing. The children shared when they too had experienced the emotions and how it made them feel. In another clip, we learnt about a boy named Malaki who felt like he was bad at everything he tried. Malaki was encouraged to ‘level up’ by his friends and people around him who cared for him. He was challenged to try a new skill which included skiing and ballet and tried his best with both. Although he wasn’t great at ballet he was awarded recognition for his determination and resilience. The children were asked what they had learnt from the video and the responses were: to keep going even if you aren’t the best, to not fall at the first hurdle and you can do anything that you set your mind to. We are all unique and special and God gave us many talents, some of yet we might not have discovered. We should let our light shine for all the world to see. We said our special Year of Prayer about our talents again and thanked God for the talents we have and the ones we are yet to discover. Our Heads and Deputies then finished with a special prayer for Children's Mental Health Week. To end our Worship we had the pleasure in listening to Renee, Molly, Alice and Lyla who read their acrostic poems ‘ Being Me’ and we sand 'Shine from the Inside Out' with our best singing voices and actions. What a wonderful way to start our day and a great end our Children's Mental Health Week, although we know that we need to focus on our mental health and wellbeing every day, not just this week.
Year 3- PSHE-Staying Safe Online: Spotting Scams and Fake Content
During our PSHE lesson, Year 3 discussed the importance of staying safe on the internet and how to recognise scams and fake content. We talked about common scams, such as fake competition messages claiming, “You’ve won a prize!” that trick people into clicking unsafe links, as well as fake emails pretending to be from banks or companies asking for personal details. We also looked at edited images that make things appear real when they are not, such as fake celebrity endorsements or photoshopped pictures used to spread false information. Parents should have open conversations with their children about these dangers, teaching them to check sources, spot warning signs like poor spelling and urgent messages, and always avoid clicking on unknown links. Encouraging critical thinking by asking, “Does this seem too good to be true?” helps children become more aware. Setting up safe browsing habits with parental controls and child-friendly search engines is essential, along with reminding children to always ask before downloading apps or making purchases. Keeping communication open ensures they feel comfortable reporting anything suspicious without fear of punishment. Finally, leading by example verifying information before sharing and being cautious with online messages, emails, and deals helps reinforce good digital habits.