Reception- Phonics-We’re going on a word hunt
This afternoon our Reception children went on a word hunt. Their challenge was to find words hidden around our playground. They took a clipboard and a pencil and they went hunting for the words. Once they found one they read it and wrote it on their clipboard, they could use the sound mats for reference. Once they had collected all the words they could find they chose one of the words to put into a sentence.
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 Story Club with Miss Flynn and the Librarians
Today in Story Club, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 read ‘The Great Dog Bottom Swap’ with Miss Flynn and the librarians and then did a fabulous dog themed craft. They had great fun!
Reception- Year of Prayer- Class Worship
During our class worship we had a look at the word map and the children told us places they had visited and we marked it on the map and had a look at how far away it was from our country. The children then shared with us the places they would like to visit. We had a discussion about out favourite things in the world that God created and we then prayed for some of those things. We prayed for the trees, the sea, creatures, the sun and the grass.
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Reception: The Church as a Special Place
As part of our learning on special places, Reception class visited St Barnabas Church and met Rev Matt. Rev Matt asked us to explore the church to find things we wouldn't find at home. Reggie said he saw a cross, Harry said a microphone, Beau said the font, Cassius found some musical instruments and Will found a chalice. Rev Matt asked why is church special for people. Ava said we worship here and Thea said we worship Jesus here. Rev Matt shared the chalice and plate and explained that we have a special meal to remember Jesus known as communion or the Eucharist. Rev Matt explained that all churches look different and that is ok. We watched a video to explain why. For Christians, church is a place and a way to describe people who trust in Jesus. It is a place where people meet which makes it really special. Thank you so much Rev Matt for putting our learning into context, we really enjoyed our visit.
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Reception: Collective Worship
We started our Worship across the Diocese with a call and response. God gives us wisdom all the time, Amen. We listened to a story from the Old Testament. We explored where this was in the timeline of God's big story. Mark told the story of 'A Woman's Victory'. Bishop Jill explained the story. A usual person stepped up to stop the chaos that was happening in Israel. Men usually led everything but a woman called Deborah saw an opportunity to find courage to approach and question the leader of the Israeli army. Lots of women have stepped into roles usually led by men to change things for the better. God gives courage to those people to do better for the greater good. Bishop Jill was the first woman bishop in Lancaster. Jesus wants us to be ourselves and it is really important for us to have courage and not to count ourselves out of situations. God gave Deborah the victory to succeed. We discussed things that we need courage for. Evie said writing, Zac said to build a house in our construction area, Thea said to draw a turtle and Willow said she needs courage to carry things from one place to another. We prayed to God to be ourselves and to use the gifts and talents that God has given us. We ended our worship by singing 'My Lighthouse'.
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VE Commemoration- Red, white and blue day
Today, our pupils and staff dressed in red, white and blue to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. We came together to remember and honour those who served, and to reflect on the importance of peace and unity. As part of our celebrations, we’re supporting the Royal British Legion. If you’d like to make a donation, you can do so easily via ParentPay. Every contribution helps support veterans and their families. Thank you for helping us make this day meaningful for our school family! #VEDay80 #StBarnabasRemembers #RoyalBritishLegion #RedWhiteBlueDay
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning in a special worship, we came together to remember and celebrate Victory in Europe (VE) Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Thank you to our whole school family for dressing in red, white, and blue today to help us to show our support for this important moment in history and raise money for the Royal British Legion. We also reflected on many of our other highlights this week which have included further exploration of the Lord’s Prayer and learning about VE Day in our collective worships, focusing on reflective prayers as part of our Diocesan Year of Prayer, Reception having a visit from the Animal Garden pet shop, who brought along a fascinating collection of minibeasts for the children to explore, Year 1 visiting St Barnabas Church for a mock baptism , Year 1&2 visiting the Crocky Trail and showing extreme courage, Year 5 have enjoying another Peer Mediation session, our Year 4 tennis team who represented our school with pride and positivity at the Blackburn Northern Tennis Club on Wednesday afternoon and our Year 5/6 Netball Squad who represented St Barnabas brilliantly in the DPSSA Netball league in the first round of games. We then moved onto congratulating this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Willow in EYFS and Oliver, Alexis, Beau and Austin in KS2. Well done to these children for showing our Barny’s 4Bs (being kind, safe, respectful and ready) and consistently pushing themselves to achieve great things. We also congratulated the whole of the Year 1 & 2 classes for being amazing on their trip to the Crocky Trail. They were extremely brave, encouraged each other every step of the way and demonstrated impeccable manners. Furthermore, we congratulated our Year 1 and Year 5 class for being our attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park as our value award winners this week with 161 points. We then moved onto congratulating all of our out of school achievers. Well done to Piper-Jo for achieving her white belt in kickboxing, Marnie-May for being awarded her 20m swimming certificate, Mikey and Marley for achieving their 5m swimming certificates, Eleanor for being awarded Olivia at Rainbows for super behaviour and achieving her 5m and 10m swimming certificates, Charlie for being a super football star and competing amazingly well in a recent football tournament, Olivia, Olivia and Ivy for their recent success in winning the under 8s Cup Final 2025, Eliza for achieving ‘Girl of the Game’ in her most recent football match and Grace for achieving a distinction and a merit in her recent tap and jazz exams. To end our worship, we wished our fabulous Year 6 children good luck in their SATs next week, Olivia, Lana and Percy shared some beautiful prayers and we sang happy birthday to those who have an upcoming birthday or have celebrated their birthday recently. We then invited our Year 6 children to lead us in singing the National Anthem. Thank you to all of our school family who could attend celebration worship and we thank you for your ongoing support. We send an extended thank you to the rest of our school family. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend in the sunshine.
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Reception - Minibeast Visit
Today, our Reception class enjoyed an exciting visit from the local Animal Garden pet shop, who brought along a fascinating collection of minibeasts for the children to explore. The children were thrilled to get up close with a range of creepy crawlies and even a tarantula! They had the opportunity to ask questions and observe the creatures carefully. This hands-on experience sparked lots of curiosity and discussion, supporting our current topic on minibeasts and helping to build confidence, language skills and respect for living things.
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2- Story and Craft Club
At lunch time, the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children were invited to Story and Craft Club led by Miss Flynn and the Librarians. We read ‘Nibbles the Book Monster’ who caused lots of havoc in some very well known fairy tales such as Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk and then created our very own book monsters. What an enjoyable lunch time!
Reception: 5 Ways to Wellbeing
Our Reception class had a wonderful session focussing on wellbeing through being active, staying connected, and taking notice. The children thoroughly enjoyed their Forest Schools session, where they were actively running, exploring, and building together. This hands-on experience fostered both their physical health and their ability to stay connected as they collaborated on projects and supported each other's play. Creativity blossomed as they used "God's creations" to make art. Leaves, twigs, and pebbles became their media, encouraging appreciation for the natural world. This activity also promoted connection as they shared materials and ideas. Moments of quiet reflection helped the children practice taking notice. They listened to the birds singing, observed the beauty around them, and explored their spirituality by expressing gratitude for their environment. This encouraged mindfulness and a sense of wonder. These engaging activities provided valuable lessons in looking after their wellbeing through movement, positive relationships, and appreciating the present moment.
Reception- Year of Prayer
For this week's year of prayer the children each took a wooden spoon and wrote on a word which reflects what the children would like to pray for. We then put all the spoons in a jar in the reflection area and the children can then choose a spoon to quietly pray for the word written on it.
Whole School Worship - V.E. Day & The Lord’s Prayer
Our worship began with an introduction to V.E. Day. Mrs Ham gave a short explanation about the Second World War and the celebrations that took place after Europe’s victory in 1945. There will be a number of worships and activities taking place across the week to commemorate 80 years since the end of World War II, including our Red, White and Blue day on Friday. Mrs Ham and Mrs Araujo then launched this week’s Year of Prayer activities. Our focus was then directed to The Lord’s Prayer. Mrs Ham spent some time explaining the first few lines to make sure everyone in our school family understands what they are praying about when they recite The Lord’s Prayer. We focused particularly on the word “hallowed” and that this means holy. We shared our ideas of how we can carry out God’s wishes and that we can all try to be like saints. The children had some extremely thoughtful ideas about welcoming people and why it is important to make others feel welcome. We finished by reciting The Lord’s Prayer once more and then singing one of our favourite worship songs, My Lighthouse.