Harvest Appeal
This morning we launched our Harvest Appeal for this year by hearing from Bishop Philip about his Pedalathon on 17th October where he will be cycling to visit and pray at a school or church in all 14 deaneries across the Diocese. We will be supporting Bishop Philip's Harvest Appeal for Christians in South Africa by joining in with his pedalathon over the next few weeks, including half term. We are encouraging our school family to cycle on bikes or scooters just like we did for the Big Lent Walk and we would love for you to send your photos in and the distance. Donations can be made on parent pay shortly. Our RotaKids are also supporting Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE) and Darwen Rotary this Harvest by creating Winter Warmer boxes filled with toiletries, packets or tins of food and warm clothing for DARE families, the elderly, isolated, poor and vulnerable people in our community . They are also collecting winter coats for the homeless and poor through Darwen Rotary club. Please send in any donations and thank you in advance for your generosity. We then sang some of our Harvest songs for our Church Harvest Festival this Sunday 12th October at 11.00am- all welcome and our school Harvest Festival on Thursday 23rd October led by our WOW group and Reception, Years 1 and 2. All welcome.
Reception- Understanding the world- Our senses
During our understanding the world lessons we’ve been learning all about our senses. Today we have learnt about the job of our ears and that they are used for hearing so we are able to listen. The children closed their eyes and had to match the hidden sounds to the correct objects. We listened to bells, pasta, feathers and coins in different bowls to see if we could identify their sounds just by listening alone.
Reception - Our sense of smell
This week, for our understanding of the world, we have been focusing on our noses and our sense of smell. We have talked about the important job our nose has in helping us to identify different things from the food we eat to the fresh scent of flowers. It also helps to keep us safe if we come across a bad smell, we know not to eat it. We discussed what smells nice and what smells horrible, and how sometimes we might feel differently about those smells. We then used our noses to smell a range of different tubs which contained familiar and unfamiliar smells.
Reception - All about 3
This week in Maths we have been looking at numberblock 3 and the parts it is made up of. We know that we can make 3 by adding 1, and another 1, and another 1. We used this knowledge when thinking about the story Goldilocks and the three bears - there were 3 bowls of porridge - just enough for each bear! We then created our own ‘toy’s picnic’ where we checked that each toy had one each of everything. The children were great at spotting when we had not enough, just enough or too many things for the picnic.
Reception - PSHE - Hand hygiene
This week in PSHE we have been learning all about how important it is to keep your hands clean and how germs pass onto different people and objects. We used different coloured glitter on our hands and practiced hand shakes and ‘high fives’ then touching objects and pieces of fruit to see how the germs mixed and spread. We then put glitter in a bowl of water and added a drop of soap to disperse the glitter and demonstrate how the soap kills the germ and why it is important to wash our hands with soap and water.
Reception: Class Worship
Today during our class worship, we listened to Mark tell the story of Brother Andrew. Bishop Joe told us about the story. Andrew knew there were other countries in Europe who didn't like Christians. He shared the Bible with them because he was so enthusiastic that other people should read God's word. It shows us how much God loves us. We thought about how we could be just like brother Andrew by telling people how much God loves us all and by being kind and loving to everybody. We ended our worship by learning a new song and singing 'Our God is a great big God'.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Our Reception class took part in a Muddy Monday session in our school grounds this morning. They climbed trees, made mud soup and collected resources to build bonfires and dens. The children used their gross motor skills and imagination brilliantly today. Well done!
Reception :Creative - Building rockets
This week we made rockets in our creative area using recycled materials and foil. This is tied to our weekly story Aliens love underpants. The children really enjoyed building these and telling us where they wanted to fly to.
Whole School Worship - Agent Ananias
We learned about a very special mission given by God this week in worship. God directed Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, to heal Saul of his blindness and baptise him. Despite Ananias's fear due to Saul's reputation as a persecutor of Christians, he obeyed the Lord's assurance that Saul was a "chosen instrument". Ananias laid hands on Saul, restoring his sight, and then baptised him, marking his dramatic conversion from persecutor to the apostle Paul, a key figure in spreading Christianity. We reflected on what we learned from the story and the children shared their thoughts, including that we should trust God’s choices, and that everyone has the ability to change.
Reception: A Helicopter Discovery
Whilst playing outside, the children saw a helicopter. It was collecting water and transporting it over the moors. They were amazed and asked lots of questions to find out more about its special job.
Reception: Elmer challenges
This week the children are reading Elmer. They are learning to retell the story and have completed some wonderful challenges. They have created their own elephants for an Elmer parade, learnt how to create different patterns in our mark making area, created patterned elephants using printing in the paint area and decorated Elmer crowns for our Elmer parade.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we took a moment to reflect on what has been a busy and wonderful third week of school. Our week began with a focus on God’s Big Story in Whole School Worships, where we came together to deepen our understanding. Year 6 had a fantastic time creating artwork in the Darwen Town Centre, while Years 3, 4, and 6 took part in a Let’s Go Sing Choir workshop, which has inspired even more children to sign up for our school choir. Year 5 enjoyed a Move and Learn session with BwD, and our entire school embraced the excitement of the new clubs that started this week, including Foodie Friends, Football, Fred & Pearl Craft Club, Choir, Netball, and Forest Schools. We also took time to celebrate our individual value award winners, with a huge well done to Zachary and Hollie in KS1, and Eva, Emily, Jack, and Elsie in KS2, for their dedication across the curriculum, their embodiment of our Barney’s 4Bs and Christian Values, and for spreading joy throughout the school. In addition, we were pleased to award India Mill as our Value Award winners for the second consecutive week, and Year 6 as the winners in KS2 with 100% attendance, while Reception and Year 1 in EYFS and KS1 earned recognition with a fantastic 99.3% attendance. Next, we celebrated our out-of-school achievers, including Albie for earning his 5m and 10m swimming certificates, Evie for her bravery in attending Rainbows for the first time, Alice for being awarded Cheerleader of the Week, Peyton for winning Star of the Week at gymnastics, Grace for achieving a highly commended in her recent acro exam, Charlie for being named Student of the Week at Junior Dragons Martial Arts Club, Ava for being awarded Squirrel of the Week, Mason for being runner-up in a recent darts tournament, Lyla for receiving a certificate of excellence for her gymnastics and acro talent, and Annabel for being named Star of the Week at her dance school. Finally, we ended our worship with some heartfelt prayers from Mason, Ella, and Zachary, who prayed for those affected by war and conflict, for those suffering from illnesses, and for those who don’t have enough food—especially as Harvest approaches. We also sang “Our God is a Great Big God.” A quick reminder from Mrs. Ham: Next Friday, September 26th, we’ll be hosting the Macmillan Coffee Morning. All donations will be greatly appreciated.
.png)