Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by reflecting on our very busy yet wonderful week. This week, we celebrated St Barnabas Day on Wednesday and remembered Him as the encourager. Mrs Ham explained that next Friday 20th June is Sports Day which will be the perfect opportunity for us all to be an encourager just as St Barnabas was. Mrs Ham also congratulated all of our school for achieving the 'National School Attendance Award' for our attendance being in the top 10% of all Primary Schools in England. We then reflected on our highlights of the week. We dedicated time to prayers for perseverance and resilience, aligning with the Diocesan Year of Prayer. Worship sessions included a reflection on Ascension and Pentecost with Mrs. Ham, and a focus on transformation with Rev. Ben. Year 4 visited St. Matthew's as part of their linking schools project. We celebrated Father's Day with two special events: a "Stay and Play" session in Reception and the "Donuts for Dads" event, successfully run by FOSB and Mrs. Wilkinson. The first Cre8ability session took place, and Years 1-5 enjoyed attending the Darwen Literature Festival at Darwen Library. Our sports teams also achieved notable success, with the Year 6 cricket team representing the school exceptionally well at Darwen Cricket Club on Wednesday, and the Year 5/6 Netball Squad securing another two victories in the DPSSA Netball league, maintaining their impressive unbeaten record. This week, we were pleased to announce several awards. Year 1 and Year 3 were recognised as our attendance winners. Darwen Tower earned the weekly value award with 289 points. Furthermore, River Darwen was celebrated as the overall value award winner for the last half-term and will be rewarded with a non-uniform day and disco, with the date to be announced shortly. We then moved on to congratulate our individual value award winners which were Fiia, the whole Year 1 class for their amazing phonics this week, Frankie, the whole of Year 3 for their fantastic behaviour at the Literature Festival, Year 4 for being superstars at their linking schools visit to St Matthews, Matthew and Freddie. We then moved on to our out of school awards. Ava was recognised as a fabulous mini medic and scientist at Squirrels; James was awarded "Beaver of the Week" for his success and perseverance in the treasure trail and consistently making positive choices; Seb achieved "Player of the Week" in football; Mollie was recognised as a superstar at Rainbows; Eleanor earned her Rainbows Bronze and Health awards; Marley demonstrated kindness and helpfulness at Rainbows, achieving her Rainbows Silver and Health awards; Desmond, Charlie, Sonny, and Leo were commended for their fantastic efforts in a recent football tournament; Charlie achieved Stage 5 in his swimming; Thea was "Star of the Week" at gymnastics for her incredible vault and bar work; Eliza reached won the Silver Cup Final at the weekend and was recognised for being an incredible goalkeeper; Grace achieved bronze in ballet, silver in acro and tap, and was named "most hardworking dancer" in a recent dance competition; and Summer was celebrated as "Star of the Week" at ballet. To end our worship, we had some heartfelt prayers. Mrs. Ham led prayers for all the victims and their families affected by the tragic aeroplane crash yesterday, travelling from India to London, and encouraged us to be grateful for the many amazing things in our lives, including our families. We also heard some beautiful prayers from Sofia and Callie, who prayed for those in conflict and war, and expressed gratitude for our wonderful world and the beautiful people in it. Mrs. Ham explained that Rev Ben and Rev Matt would be holding a special 24/7 week of prayers that we could all get involved in and wished everyone a lovely, restful weekend. We closed our worship with a singalong to 'Shine from the inside out'. Slides can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/about-us/church-and-worship#tab-4370
Reception PE Sports Day Practise
Reception have been practising the different races in preparation for Sports Day next week. They completed a sack race, running race, egg and spoon race and an obstacle race. They worked very hard and are ready to go next Friday!
Whole School Worship-The Road to Damascus - Change, and Forgiveness
Today's worship with Rev. Ben began with the sign of the Trinity. Rev. Ben then presented the children with images of four well-known fictional "Super Villains": Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter, The Joker, Mrs. Trunchball, and Gru from Minions. The children enthusiastically shouted out the characters' names. This engaging activity led into the story of Damascus, focusing on the transformation of Saul into Saint Paul. The narrative explored how Saul, perceived as a "Villain", could undergo a profound change. Saul was initially a fervent persecutor of early Christians. While on his way to Damascus with authority to arrest followers of Jesus, a blinding light from heaven suddenly enveloped him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" When Saul asked who was speaking, the voice replied, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." This encounter left Saul blind for three days. He was led into Damascus, where a disciple named Ananias, guided by a vision from Jesus, healed his sight. After this miraculous experience, Saul was baptised and became a devoted follower of Jesus, changing his name to Paul. He tirelessly preached the Christian message from then on, becoming one of its most influential apostles. Following the story, the children were given time to consider a key question: Can a 'baddie' become a 'goodie'? If so, how and why?" This prompted thoughtful discussion among the children. The worship concluded with everyone singing "Shine from the Inside Out. and a prayer led by Rev Ben.
Reception Father’s Day Outdoor Stay & Play
It was lovely for the children to have their special grown ups with them for an exciting outdoor stay and play. They loved playing football on the MUGA and showed some of the Dads how to use the outdoor gym! We would like to wish them all a very Happy Father’s Day for Sunday and a big thank you to everyone who attended.
Amazing Attendance
We’re delighted to let you know that our school has been recognised not once, but twice in this year’s FFT National Attendance Awards. These awards celebrate the hard work and commitment of our staff, pupils, parents and carers in promoting excellent attendance and our school has stood out in both the autumn and spring terms of 2024/25. We are so proud that we are in the top 10% of schools nationally for our Spring term attendance! Well done everyone!
Reception Maths - Number Track games
This week, Reception have been revisiting the order of numbers 1-10 and discussing how we know the position of each number. We said that each number increases by one more each time and we can use this to find any numbers which are missing. The children then took part in number track games with a partner where they had to roll the dice and move their counter the equal amount along the number track.
Donuts for Dads Event
Good afternoon, Thank you so much to everybody who came to our Donuts for Dads and for making the event a huge success. We haven't got an official total but it is around £300 so thank you so much for your kind donations. Further pictures will be available on our gallery on our website. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/donuts-for-dads We do have plenty of doughnuts available so there will be a doughnut sale after school tomorrow to sell the remaining doughnuts for a donation. All of the money will be spent to benefit our children in school. Thank you to our FOSB and to our staff for helping to set up, for running and for tidying up after the event too. I will post the raffle draw results shortly. Thank you, Mrs Wilkinson
Reception- Year of Prayer- Playdough
Today as part of our Year of Prayer we thought about situations where people are fighting with each other and countries that are involved in conflict. We made two different colours of playdough to represent two countries and we took a piece of each colour and blended them together to make a new colour. Whilst doing this we prayed to God to bring peace to the situations we had been thinking about to help the two sides come together.
Reception: Class Worship
We started our worship across the Diocese with a call and response with God loves us, all the time, Amen. We discussed if we have ever done something wrong to a friend and if we have ever had to say sorry. This does happen in class and this is what our story is about today. The story comes from the New Testament and is about the Salvation. The story is called Jesus forgives Peter. Bishop Philip explained the story further. Bishop Philip asked us to imagine that we have done something really bad to somebody. He asked us what we would do the next time we see that person. Bishop Philip hoped we would walk towards them and try to mend the relationship. Peter pretended he did not know Jesus three times. He was full of guilt and shame. Peter swam towards Jesus to say sorry and wanted Jesus to forgive him. Jesus forgave Peter and said I love you. The friendship was mended. We discussed how when we do things that are wrong, it is important to be like Peter and say sorry to mend the friendship. Forgiveness is one of our Christian values and it is really important to help to make the world a better place so that we can all live well together. We ended our worship by singing Build up.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Reception class have had a fabulous time at Whitehall park. The children found treasures, built dens and bug hotels, found minibeasts, balanced and climbed trees too! It was lovely to hear the children's excited voices amongst the trees and they really enjoyed getting muddy too! The rain certainly didn't spoil a fabulous afternoon of living life in all its fullness!
Collective Worship- Pentecost
This morning Mrs Ham welcomed all of the children and staff back to our school after our half term holiday. We started worship by listening to a special prayer written by St Francis, 'Make me a channel of your peace' as that is our special Year of Prayer prayer for the week. We then learnt about Ascension and Pentecost with the help of some super actors and actresses who played the part of the disciples and the wind and fire. We enjoyed joining in with actions to the rhyming Bible stories and we learnt that Pentecost was a special time when God sent His Holy Spirit and it was then the birth of the church. We reflected on how Jesus is always with us through the Holy Spirit that God sent and thought of ways that we could show God's love to each other. We then said a special prayer for Pentecost and sang 'Let me walk beside you', said Jesus one day' song and focused on the 'come follow me forever, with you I'll always stay' which was the promise that Jesus made to his disciples before he ascended into heaven.
Welcome back to school!
We are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to school tomorrow! We hope you all had a fantastic half-term break of living life in all its fullness and the children are feeling refreshed and ready for an exciting final half-term of the school year. Upcoming Events & Important Information This week is packed with fun and important events, so please make a note of the following and see here for further details https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/events * Year 4 will be completing their multiplication times tables check throughout the week and Year 1 will also be completing their phonics screening check on Wednesday or Thursday. Monday: Year 4 will be visiting their linking school, St Matthew's in Blackburn. A reminder that they will need a packed lunch please in a disposable bag. Tuesday: FOSB Non-Uniform Day! To help us prepare for our "Donuts for Dads" afternoon, Tuesday will be a non-uniform day. Children are welcome to wear their own clothes in exchange for a donut donation. Years 1-5 will also be walking to Darwen Library for a special Children's Literature Festival at different times across the day. Please ensure your child is wearing sensible shoes and brings a coat. Wednesday: Donuts for Dads We'd love to invite all Dads and Grandads to join us in the school hall at 2:30 PM for our special "Donuts for Dads" event. Come along and enjoy some delicious treats with your children! Reception Dads are welcome into the Reception class for a special Father's Day stay and play at 2.30pm and can then take their child to the FOSB Donuts for Dad event in the hall. Thursday: Class and Individual Photos Reception and Year 6 will have their class photos taken. Additionally, Year 6 students will have individual photos taken for their memories books. Please ensure children in these year groups come to school in smart school uniform on Thursday. Friday: Year 6 Northern Games Gaelic Football competition in Manchester. The squad will be informed tomorrow. There will be NO Celebration Worship this Friday. Saturday: Whitehall Park Table Top Sale Everyone is welcome to the Whitehall Park Table Top Sale fundraiser on Saturday, June 14th, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM in the Rose Garden. This event is being held by the Whitehall Park Supporters group in association with our school. If you're interested in having a table to sell your goods for £5.00, please contact Marjan on 07837364728 or email [email protected]. See you all tomorrow, classroom doors open at 8.45am to give all children time to get into their class with their coats and bags off ready for a prompt 8.55am start. We're looking forward to a brilliant last half-term filled with learning, fun, and memorable events. Let's achieve great things and live life in all its fullness!