Street Dance 3 in Year 4
In our third dance session we revised all of our previous dance moves and then added another which was called a top rock. We continued to build our group dance with step cross, step cross, scoop up the sweets, push, push, cross, cross. The moves were done at a quicker pace this week so the children found it quite challenging but everyone worked really hard to improve their ability to join the moves successfully.
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.
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Year 4 Street Dance - Session 2
In our second street dance lesson, Jess asked us if we could remember what moves we had covered in the previous week. This included; bounce, rock, ripple, Smurf and happy feet. Today we added Bart Simpson and then moved into our work on canons. We split into two groups and created a routine of Smurf, push, drop, canon and windmill. The children were super enthusiastic and listened carefully to each instruction that Jess gave them. Every week it’s wonderful to see them incorporating more moves to develop their final piece.
Harvest Church Service 2024
Thank you to our Wow group, EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 classes for leading our Harvest celebration at church today. I have uploaded some videos to class dojo and additional photos can be found here: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/harvest-church-service-2024 It was wonderful to see so many of our families in attendance. A huge thank you to you all for coming to watch and thank you to all of our families for your continued support this half term. Thank you for all of your kind harvest donations, these can be continued to be sent in during the first week that we are back at school. Wishing you all a wonderful half term, Mrs Wilkinson
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Rocksteady Session 1
Wow! The children all had a brilliant time today with Jess from Rocksteady! They started to learn how to play their chosen instrument. We had some wonderful singers, drummers, keyboardists and guitarists. We can’t wait to see them grow into rockstars!
Reception: Speaking and Listening
We have been really focusing on our listening skills this week. We looked at our proof of listening rules as part of our Oracy session. The children know to sit properly, look at the speaker and listen carefully. Some of our children were very brave and became the speaker. They came to the front and sat on the speaker podium or stood on it to tell the children some news. They used clear voices and worked on how loud they were talking so everyone could hear.
Year 6 - Alice in Wonderland Workshop
After watching the Alice in Wonderland production, year 6 were lucky enough to take part in a workshop with the cast. They had a discussion about what goes into making a good show: costumes, direction, technology, acting and got to have a go at some of these elements themselves. Hopefully, some of the knowledge they have gained from this experience will be carried forward into their own performance at the end of the year.
Alice in Wonderland Production
Wow! Our whole school family really enjoyed watching Alice in Wonderland this morning. It was a fantastic production and it was lovely to watch all of the children’s expressions throughout the performance.
Reception: Outdoors
Our Reception children explore outdoors in all weathers. We are trying really hard to put on our puddle suits and wellies independently. The children have enjoyed playing on our bikes, in our superhero cave, in our mud kitchen and sandpit and with our resources under our canopy.
Year 6 - Perfecting Our Performance
Well, all we can say is that the parents of these talented performers are in for a treat! The children have been working hard to develop their acting, singing and dancing skills. The performance is coming along nicely and Year 6 can’t wait to entertain their teachers and families. Bring on the show!
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!
Year 6 - The Jungle Book
The Year 6 class put their acting skills to the test this week as we began pulling our end of year performance together. The children have been working on learning their lines and they are now perfecting their reactions and movements on stage. Just three weeks to go!
Barney's Got Talent
To celebrate World Music Day, Mrs Ham supported by our Heads and Deputies (Lucy, Skye, Isaac and Wilson) presented a very special Barney's Got Talent this morning. We are collecting donations that will be going to East Lancs Hospice to support the wonderful work they do. All of the talents that we witnessed from our school family were absolutely incredible and we commend all of the children for being so courageous and sharing these talents with such a large audience. A huge well done to Callie the Tangled Twin , Super Summer the Gummy Bear, Haydn and Percy as the Football Friends, Olivia and Lydia as the Barbie Girls, Ballerina Annabel dancing to the instrumental version of ‘Dance Monkey,’ Super Ted and Electric Elijah with their amazing street dancing, The Friendship Band of Iris and Naomi singing ‘This Girl is on Fire,’ Jack, Ella-Grace and Chay as The Conga Monkeys, Miles, Daisy and James as The Brilliant Believers singing Believer by the Imagine Dragons, Toffee Tristen singing Pure Imagination dressed as Willy Wonka, Sparkly Sofia singing ‘Beautiful Things’ by Benson Boone, Dramatic Darcy singing ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri, Mason and James as the MJ Boys singing ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra, Amazing Annabelle as a magician , Graceful Grace dancing to ‘ABC’ by the Jackson 5, Beau, Jess, Laila, Brooke, Charlie-Rose and Betsy dancing to ‘Who Runs the World? (Girls)’ as the 6 Golden Stars, Eliza as The Joyful Joker, Outstanding Oscar playing and singing ‘Believer’ on the Piano, R’Kid Seb singing ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ by Oasis, Archie the Arrow thrashing Mr Bloomfield at darts and The WWE Wrestlemania team of Charlie, Carlton and Alfie. Wow! What a lot of talent. Thank you to the parents who could attend our Barney's Got Talent, we hope you enjoyed the performances. For those who couldn’t, Mr Bloomfield kindly recorded it and this will be shared with you all. We wish you a lovely restful weekend. Thank you for your continued support.
Performing Arts Club
Our young thespians are working hard to learn their lines in our weekly focussed script-reading sessions. The end of year performance is fast approaching and so the performers are making those final tweaks to perfect their roles. Eight weeks to go!
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Little Voices after school club
Our Little Voices after school club had lots of fun playing games to develop their confidence and they then practised the song that they will be performing to their parents next week.
Year 1- Performance Poetry
Today, Year 1 recited and performed the poem ‘Oh Dear’ by Michael Rosen. They have been working on their performance skills and today they did brilliantly at putting these into practice during their performance. They worked hard to project their voice, speak clearly and with expression and use the appropriate facial expressions. Well done Year 1!
Year 2 Performance Poetry
Mrs Ham had the privilege of teaching Year 2 for a performance poetry lesson. In English the children have been exploring a poem called The Fight of the Year by poet Roger McGough which imagines the transition from winter to spring as a boxing match. Roger reads the poem like he is a commentator at a boxing match to help build excitement. We had lots of fun adding expression and actions to the poem first as a whole class and then in pairs. Some children showed lots of courage by performing the poem in front of the class and we had some wonderful encouraging comments and ways to improve from the audience. Great work Year 2!
Little Voices After School Club
What a super first session with Little Voices! Our little superstars played several games that helped to develop their confidence and they learnt and performed an amazing song! Well done everyone! There are still places available if you would like your child to take part for the next five weeks on Tuesday evenings. CONTACT HAYLIE: Email: [email protected] Mobile: 07717 711715
Year 6- Matilda in the West End
Year 6 watched Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End. We had seats in the stalls so we had a great view. The children’s faces were priceless as they were so mesmerised by the production and in particular the child actors and actresses. We hope it’s given them some ideas and confidence for their end of year Jungle Book production.
Let’s Go Sing concert 2024
Wow, we are so proud of our school choir for their amazing singing and enthusiastic actions this evening at the Let’s go sing concert at King George’s Hall. I’ve loaded some videos onto class dojo and the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/let-s-go-sing-concert-2024 A huge thank you to Mrs Govan for her wonderful leadership of our choir and to Mrs Wilkinson for her support this afternoon. Thank you to all of our choir parents for their support in helping the children learn their words and for supporting them this evening. We are hoping to have more choir members next year and will be opening choir open to more KS2 children in the next few weeks. If your child is interested in joining, they are welcome to come along on Thursday lunchtimes to give it a try. It was an absolute pleasure to watch our children sing their hearts out. They will be performing their favourite song in worship on Friday. You are very welcome to join us.
Reception: The Last Supper
Today the children listened to the story of the last supper. They thought about what Jesus did because he loved everyone. Before Jesus and his disciples sat down to eat, Jesus washed their hands and feet. Harry was Jesus and the rest of the class were the disciples. We role-played the story and thought about what Jesus did.
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!
Let’s Go Sing Worship
Our choir took part in a workshop with Rachel from Let’s Go Sing. Rachel was amazed at their wonderful singing. Please come and watch our wonderful choir perform at King George’s Hall on 6th March 2024.
Aladdin Pantomime
This afternoon our whole school family enjoyed a wonderful production of Aladdin by M&M productions. Oh no they didn't! Oh yes they did! It was fabulous to see all of the children joining in through cheering, booing, singing and dancing along to the songs. They particularly enjoyed Mr Prescott and Mr Norris' dancing! The cast said they had never had a school who joined in so well and who all stood up and danced at the end! Thank you so much to our FOSB for their donation and to all of your parent contributions, as without your support, we wouldn't be able to provide such exciting enrichment activities.We hope this has inspired some of our children to audition for our upcoming Barney's Got Talent show next half term. What a fabulous way to end a brilliant week of 'achieving great things' at St Barnabas!
Reception: Rhyme and Story Time
Our Ducklings enjoyed their first rhyme and story time of 2024. We sang lots of songs and read Oi, Frog! The children enjoyed joining in with the rhyming couplets. Rhyme and story time continues next week at 9am. Our Reception parents, toddlers and pre school children from our community are welcome to join us.
KS1 Christmas Cracker
We are so proud of our Year 1 and 2 children for their fantastic Christmas Cracker performances. To see all of the photos, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/ks1-christmas-cracker Here is the video of the dress rehearsal : https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NtkPAWaaymw Please see class dojo for the secure links to the videos. Thank you so much to everyone who came along to support and for the wonderful Christmas clothes that you provided for your child. A huge thank you to our KS1 team, Miss Flynn, Mrs Hegarty, Miss Baxendale and Mr Norris for all of their efforts to create such an amazing show! Our children certainly brought lots of joy to everyone who watched and we hope you enjoyed it as much as we did. Well done Year 1 & 2, you are little singing superstars!
Choir Christmas Carols at Darwen Market
A huge well done to our amazing choir and Year 6 singers for a wonderful performance today! Thank you to Darwen Market for inviting us. Thanks to everyone who came to watch. We hope we spread some festive cheer and joy to you all!
Reception Nativity
We are so proud of our Ducklings who performed the Nativity today. Their singing was beautiful and they told the story using their loud, clear voices. Their confidence shone and it was enjoyed by all!
Performing Arts Club
We took to the stage to practise in performing arts this week. Being on stage really helped the children to get into character, adding movement and facial expressions, rather than just reading lines. The performance is starting to take shape already!
Year 3 - Science- Shadow Puppet Show
For their final lesson on light, the children worked in groups to create a shadow puppet show. They used skills learnt from their previous lessons to demonstrate their understanding on how shadows are formed using props made out of black paper. They worked with great enthusiasm and creativity.
Performing arts workshop
Year 6 were very lucky to take part in a performing arts workshop with Lucy from Rothwell Arts Dance Academy. She very kindly linked the session to the children’s end of year performance, ‘The Jungle Book’, and choreographed a dance routine for them. Year 6 showed fantastic enthusiasm and really let themselves go. Well done year 6!
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Play Leader Training
We have now had our first practical session in play leading. The children took part in various activities throughout the afternoon to enable them to establish what makes a great Play Leader. They cooperated well and demonstrated great leadership skills but also showing empathy and understanding. We can’t wait to trial our new skills now in next week's final session!
The Jungle Book
Years 1-6 have had an amazing morning watching The Jungle Book production. They joined in so well and were transfixed throughout. Our Year 6 children got to take part in a special workshop afterwards where they learnt about the different roles that are needed in a theatre production as they will be performing The Jungle Book at the end of the year. A huge thank you to our FOSB for their generous donation towards the cost of the production and a massive thank you to you all for supporting our FOSB events. Without your generosity we wouldn’t be able to provide these sort of memorable opportunities for our children, as our school budget is very tight. For all of the photos, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-gallery-category/our-gallery
Jungle Book Performance
The whole school enjoyed a performance of the Jungle Book today by the talented individuals from M&M Theatrical Productions. The children had such a good time and year 6 were lucky enough to take part in a workshop with the cast. The children were taught about what goes into making a successful performance and even had the opportunity to carry out some acting for themselves.
Reception: First day at school
We are so proud of our Ducklings on their first day at school. They have all been superstars. They have been making new friends, exploring our classroom and doing lots of super talking. What a super start to their school journey!
D.T Club- Lion King Props
The Year 4, 5, and 6 students have worked really hard to create props for our end-of-year performance, inspired by The Lion King. They used cardboard to make masks, giving them special designs and paying attention to the little details. They also used paper mache to make African fruits and Pumba's prop. African fruits have been tied to a stick, which they found in our forest school grounds. It adds a realistic touch to the show. They have made caps for Zazu using real feathers from birds. They also used garlands to create a grassy environment using green ribbons. Together, we have created an environment that encourages creativity, teamwork, and doing our best. The children's fulfilment in creating props with a real purpose is evident, and their hard work is truly commendable.
D.T Club- Lion King props
The Year 4, 5, and 6 students have worked really hard to create props for our end-of-year performance, inspired by The Lion King. They used cardboard to make masks, giving them special designs and paying attention to the little details. They also used paper mache to make African fruits and Pumba's prop. African fruits have been tied to a stick, which they found in our forest school grounds. It adds a realistic touch to the show. They have made caps for Zazu using real feathers from birds. They also used garlands to create a grassy environment using green ribbons. Together, we have created an environment that encourages creativity, teamwork, and doing our best. The children's fulfilment in creating props with a real purpose is evident, and their hard work is truly commendable.
Year 2 - Music
During year 2’s music lesson they have been focusing on chords in music. Children have opportunities to play many different chord patterns and express themselves creatively in their music session using instruments.
Year 2 - Exploring Drama Techniques
In year 2 we have started our new unit based on A Winters Child. The children explored many drama techniques and retold the story of the child and conveyed many emotions during their acting to influence their writing. The children were amazing and really embedded the characters they were playing and this really helped to make emotion jump off their page with their writing.
Choir Workshop- Let’s Go Sing
This afternoon the choir have taken part in a Let’s Go Sing workshop with one of their fantastic singing instructors! We practiced and perfected our songs, in preparation for our concert at King George’s Hall on Monday 13th March! It has been lovely to see the progress that the children have made with their singing and performing this half term and we cannot wait to dazzle the audience at the concert in March!
Year 3: Performing our own dialogue!
Over the past few weeks, Year 3 have been looking at the clip 'Soar'. The story begins with a young girl called Mara. A thirteen-year-old who dreams of one day becoming an airplane designer. But every day, she test flies her model airplanes in the fields behind her house and every day, they crash. She is feeling downhearted and wants to give up, until a young boy falls from the sky and changes everything! We have been discussing how even though there is no dialogue in the clip, we can still follow the characters and understand their journey. In this lesson, we started to create our own dialogue for the story in pairs! This was also a great opportunity for the children to practice their performance and drama skills! Next week, we will be planning and writing our own playscripts for 'Soar'.
D.T Club- Papier Mache Mask Making
This week, Years 4, 5, and 6 have been busy making a start on their props for the Year 6 end-of-year performance in our DT after school club.
Christmas Service at St Barnabas Church, Lead by KS2
This morning, the whole school came together for our Christmas Service at St Barnabas Church, lead by KS2. Over this term, KS2 classes have been preparing short presentations for the service, about an element of Christmas that they have been focusing on in R.E. In Year 3, the class presented pieces of artwork, focusing on the shepherd's visiting Jesus in the stable and being in the presence of God. Year 4 looked at Christingle's and created a fantastic rap, about the meaning of the Christingle and Jesus being the light of the World. Year 5 spoke about how different countries celebrate Christmas around the World. Finally, Year 6 spoke about Advent and what it means to them. Some children also shared their hopes and dreams for the future. The WOW Group also helped to lead parts of the service and we sang a selection of Christmas Carols as a whole school. Overall, we really enjoyed learning about different elements of Christmas and KS2 presented their learning brilliantly!
St Barnabas Choir: Let's Go Sing Workshop
This afternoon, the school choir took part in a singing workshop with 'Let's Go Sing'. During the workshop, the children took part in some fun warm up activities and practiced a selection of songs, that we they will be singing and performing at King George's Hall, on Monday 14th March. It was great to see the choir so enthusiastic and the children particularly enjoyed dancing and performing the song 'It's Carnival Time' around the hall!
English- Year 5 - Poems
This week in English, the children have started their writing unit on classical narrative poems. In their lesson today the children in Year 5 worked in mixed-ability groups, with a ‘group leader’ in each who was confident at performing poetry. This way they supported each other to bring ' The Highwayman' poem to life.
Choir Let’s Go Sing Workshop
This afternoon, the choir took part in a singing workshop with Let’s Go Sing! We warmed up our voices and listened to and sang some of the songs that we will be performing, at a concert in March at King George’s Hall.
Year 6 Oliver Production
On the hottest day on record, our Year 6 children put on a fabulous production of Oliver. They blew us away with their amazing acting, singing and dancing. We are so proud of how well each child learned their lines, encouraged each other and gave it their all. Wow, I am so incredibly proud of each and every single one of our amazing Year 6 children! What a way to end their time at St Barnabas! Thank you so much to their parents for the support with learning lines, songs and costumes. A huge thank you to Mr Prescott for his dedication and for working really hard with the children on their lines, acting and songs. Thanks to Miss Craig, Lily and Jack for their amazing props. Thank you to Mrs Wilkinson for filming and to our FOSB for serving much needed refreshments. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching the children the songs although I don’t think I will get them out of my head for months. I’m sure you will be the same too. It’s been great to see them all let themselves go and enjoy themselves. Here is the link to the photos: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/oliver-production-year-6-2022 Here is the link to the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FJRaZf-_Ivg Our whole school family watched the dress rehearsal this morning and they loved it. Well done to all of Year 6 for a fantastic performance on the hottest day of the year!
- Junior Jam- Year 5
In computing, the children have been detectives trying to solve a real crime that happened many years ago. They have been working in small groups watching the clues given to work out who the prime suspect is. In drama, the children have been working on stage directions to create an informed performance. The children will have an opportunity to show case what they have learnt to the class. In music this week, they have been using a variety of musical instruments with increasing accuracy, to conduct their performances.
Reception Junior Jam
Today the children had a junior jam session. They started with a dance session to warm up and they were given some scarves to use. They then had a go at singing ‘A Whole New World’ from Aladdin. They were amazing at remembering the lyrics to the song ! The next session was Music where they learned all about the instruments Boomwackers. They were shown how to use the boomwackers and discussed how they make their sound. They even had a go at using them and learned the names of the different notes. In the next session they watched some clips and they were asked to identify how the characters were feeling. They then used a new app this week called Toon Tastic to make a setting and characters to create a story- they had to create a beginning, a middle and an end for their story.
Whole School Singing Worship led by St Barnabas Choir!
Well done to our school choir for planning and leading our whole school singing worship this morning! During choir club on Monday, the children decided on their favourite worship songs and we voted on 5 songs to sing in worship today! The school particularly enjoyed singing My Lighthouse and School Rules!
Reception Junior Jam
The children have been involved in some junior jam sessions this morning. The started off with a performing arts session which involved learning about characters from the story/film of Aladdin. They discussed which characters were bad and which ones were good. They then learned some dance moves to ‘Arabian Nights’ from Aladdin. In the music session they learned about the importance of warming up their voices when singing, so to not hurt or damage their muscles in their throat. They also listened to some songs and discussed which songs they thought sounded sad and which ones sounded happy. They then sang ‘If your happy and you know it’ to understand and demonstrate the different emotions in the song. We then had a technology session, where the children learned the difference between a video and a photograph. They then had a go on the iPads where they played a coding Safari game.
Matilda West End Workshop
Year 6 had a great time working on their drama skills at the Matilda West end workshop in London! They then got to meet a member of the Matilda cast and ask her questions. They are really looking forward to watching Matilda this evening at the Cambridge Theatre.
Year 6 watch Matilda in the West End
Year 6 enjoyed a lovely meal together in Covent Garden and watched some of the street entertainers. They then watched Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End. We had the first four front rows so were so close to the stage. The children’s faces were priceless as they were so mesmerised by the production and in particular the child actors and actresses. We hope it’s given them some ideas and confidence for their Oliver production.
Auditions for Oliver
Year 6 production auditions have taken place this morning. Children have been given time during Junior Jam to work on their parts and we have been busy working on the songs from the show in the hall. We're so excited to move onto building the scenes once the parts are cast.
The Queens Platinum Jubilee Celebration - The Royal Variety Performance
What a fantastic morning we have had watching our ‘Royal Variety Performance’ . The 20 talented acts showcased a wealth of talents. Even the Mayor and Mayoress of Blackburn with Darwen said it was a spectacular event and St Barnabas should be very humbled and proud to be part of such a lovely school family with many, many talents. What a way to show our thanks to her Majesty the Queen for her service to our country over the last 70 years!
Reception Junior Jam Sessions
Reception have been fantastic in taking part in the different junior jam sessions. They started off with a street dance session where they learned the importance of warming up and cooling down during exercise. After that, they learned all about musical instruments and had a go at playing the glockenspiels. The last session involved using the iPads to problem solve on the coding safari game.
Reception Street Dancing
The children in Reception had an amazing time learning some street dance moves as a part of a junior jam taster session. They listened really well and everybody joined in with their fantastic dance moves.
Choir workshop
This afternoon the choir took part in their final singing workshop, before our concert at Ewood Park! The children sounded absolutely fantastic and it has been wonderful to see how much the children have blossomed and grown in confidence in choir!
Year 6- Junior Jam
Year 6 had a great morning with their Junior Jam teachers.
Choir Let’s Go Sing Singing Workshop
Our school choir have taken part in a singing workshop this morning, with specialist singing teachers from Let’s Go Sing. We practiced some of the songs ready for our concert at Ewood Park in April.
Year 6- Junior Jam
Year 6 had lots of fun in Junior Jam, trying out accents in drama, singing and making badges on a device, to represent their interests.
Year 1 Drama with Junior Jam
A brilliant Effort from all of year 1 this morning in Drama.