Year 4 - PSHE: Kindness Workshop
On Tuesday, Years 1-6 took part in a kindness workshop delivered by 52 Lives. Following the workshop we were tasked with creating something for somebody else in an act of kindness. The Year 4 class had a plethora of fantastic ideas to make some very thoughtful and imaginative gifts for friends and family. These included chatterboxes containing positive affirmations, cards with moving parts revealing messages of love, paper aeroplanes delivering kind notes, friendship bracelets and much more. Krish from 52 Lives was amazed with the children’s creativity when he came to our classroom to see what we were making. The children were very proud of the items they had made and couldn’t wait to give them to their friends and family members.
Year 4 - PE: Introduction to The GULP Project
One of the weekly PE sessions in Year 4 this half term will be delivered by Blackburn Rovers FC in conjunction with Blackburn with Darwen Council. The GULP Project aims to get children active and also think about the drinks they consume, encouraging them to make healthy choices. This week was our first session in which we completed a sugary drinks quiz and an A to Z of drinks. We also received our free reusable GULP water bottles and were given a brief idea of the exciting activities that we will take part in over the next 4 weeks.
Year 1 PSHE: Basic First Aid
Year 1 developed skills in basic first aid. We started by learning about the British Red Cross which is an organisation that responds to disasters, conflicts and personal emergency. We discussed what first aid is and agreed that we would not feel confident to give first aid to someone who needs help. In pairs, we followed the steps to help someone in different emergencies such as an asthma attack, choking, bleeding, burns, someone who is unresponsive and breathing/not breathing and head injuries. Year 1 listened very closely to the instructions and also practiced calling 999. They all felt more confident to know how to help someone or themselves if these emergencies occurred.
Reception - PSHE - A growth mindset
Today we revisited the idea of ‘bouncing back’ when things go wrong. We reread the story of Rosie Revere and then shared our own things that ‘we can’t do-yet’ using the magic word yet to train our brain and allow it to grow, every mistake is a clue that we need to try again a different way. We worked in pairs to build a tower and kept trying to build it as high as possible when it fell down.
Year 5 - School of Kindness
Today Krish from the School of Kindness visited to help us all be kinder people. In a whole school worship, he told us that being kind is based on three key ideas: friendliness, generosity and consideration. We developed examples of these from our everyday lives before discussing how being kind can actually boost our physical and mental health. We then returned to class and made a personal gift for a friend or family member to show our appreciation of them. For more information about this organisation, please visit https://schoolofkindness.org/
Year 6 - 52 Lives
This week, our whole school was treated to an inspiring worship session delivered by 52 Lives, a charity that celebrates the art of being kind and encourages people to make a positive difference in the lives of others. Following the workshop, Year 6 returned to the classroom to focus on their own kindness project. The children explored different ways to spread kindness and positivity within our school community. They created thoughtful poems, designed kindness-themed chatterboxes, set up affirmation stations filled with encouraging messages and produced colourful posters celebrating the importance of kindness. It was wonderful to see the children embracing the message of the worship and demonstrating creativity, empathy and thoughtfulness as they reflected on how small acts of kindness can make a big difference. Our classroom was filled with positivity as we celebrated kindness together.
Whole School- Be the Change: Our Kindness Workshop
This morning, Years 1-6 took part in an inspiring 'Kindness Workshop' delivered by Krish, centred on Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote: "Be the change you want to see in the world." The children explored the three pillars of kindness, being friendly, generous, and considerate, and brainstormed simple everyday actions like smiling, sharing, hugging, complimenting, etc. We looked at powerful, real-life examples from 52 Lives, a charity founded by Jamie in 2013, including Clare from Australia and Andrea from Romania, whose £5,000 operation goal was doubled to £10,000 by kind strangers. This sparked a wonderful discussion about how fortunate we are to have the NHS in our country compared to places where healthcare is very expensive. After watching a video of a young boy comforting an upset football fan after Portugal beat France, the children learned that kindness is actually scientifically proven to make us happier, give us healthier hearts, slow down ageing, and help us live longer. Best of all, kindness is contagious; a single act can spread to 125 people! During the workshop, the children had the opportunity to share kind words with their peers in pairs. They mentioned that giving and receiving compliments felt anywhere from a bit "weird" to really "joyful". At the end of the workshop, the children had a quiz with a series of questions. Arlo, Jack, Molly, Beau, Sophia, Phoebe, Elijah, Eden, Isaac, James, Desmond, Chay, Declan, and Archie did a brilliant job answering the questions, showing great listening skills, and everyone demonstrated our 4 school rules exceptionally well. Afterwards, the children went back into their classrooms to complete their kindness activities. They had a fantastic time making chatterboxes, bracelets, letters, poems, and posters. Lots of kindness has been shared today, and we will definitely continue to share it. We must remember that kindness doesn't cost anything, so we should all use it more.
Year 3- PSHE- Spreading Kindness
After our 'Kindness Workshop', we put our values into practice by creating personal postcards for each other. Every child took the time to write down kind words, compliments and encouraging messages for a student. It was wonderful to see everyone's faces as they handed out the cards and read the thoughtful messages from their peers. This workshop was a fantastic reminder of how a few small, kind words can make a big difference and help us look after one another in our school community.
Reception: Muddy Monday
What a difference a rainy morning makes! The Reception class children were bracing themselves for a very soggy afternoon, but right on cue, the clouds parted, the rain stopped, and the sunshine burst through just in time for our Muddy Monday session at Whitehall Park. The children had an absolute blast making the most of the fresh air and the damp ground (which made for some top-tier mud squelching!).
Reception PSHE - Why sleep is important for our bodies.
This week we talked about why we need sleep and how important it is for our bodies. The children talked about how it helps us grow and get stronger, it repairs our bodies and stops us being grumpy. We then read 3,2,1 Bedtime and shared our own bedtime routines and favourite bedtime stories. We role played getting washed, cleaning our teeth and going to sleep.
Online Safety: Minecraft
Minecraft continues to be a highly popular platform for children, combining creativity, problem-solving and social interaction. While the game can offer positive opportunities for learning and play, features such as public servers, multiplayer modes and in-game communication can create safeguarding challenges. Our latest guide supports educators and parents in understanding these risks and helping children play more safely. The guide explores: • Public server communication and contact with unknown players • Griefing, disruptive behaviour and online conflict • In-game spending and subscription costs • Addictive gameplay loops and balanced screen time • Safer settings, private servers and suitable game modes With clear, practical advice, the guide helps adults set boundaries, encourage safer choices and support responsible Minecraft use. Access the guide: https://vist.ly/54tfx #Safeguarding #OnlineSafety #Minecraft
Year 5 - Money Matters
Debt Aware: Money Matters visited Year 5 today to talk about banking, including the names of high street banks and building societies as well as their role in providing loans and deposit accounts. The children learned about the growth of online banking and the decline of cash as a payment method. Different types of saving accounts were discussed as well as the role of interest.