Christmas Church Service
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us this morning for our Christmas Church Service. I have attached some photos and snippets for those of you who were unable to join us due to work commitments. A huge well done to our Key Stage 2 children for showcasing what they have been learning in RE this half term and a special thank you to Year 6, who led our service. We thanked Rev Ben and Rev Matt for their service to our school family. We also gave a special gift to Glenda, who has decided to retire from her volunteering role in school. Thank you so much Glenda for everything you have done for our school family over the years. It was wonderful to hear about all the great ways that our children have been spreading love and joy to our community through singing carols, delivering Christmas cards to the elderly and donating toys and gifts to the Rotary Club and DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). Thank you so much for your generous donations.
Year 4 - Visit to the Rose Garden
Year 4 class had a great time in the Rose Garden. They chose their top 3 card designs and then we all sang some of our favourite carols. Merry Christmas to you all!
Reception Christmas Party
Reception have had a super morning at their Christmas party and were so excited to have a special visitor in class - Father Christmas! They each got a present for being such good boys and girls.
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!
Year 3- Class Worship- Are decorations an important part of celebrations?
During today's class workshop, Year 3 discussed the significance of decorations in celebrations. Some children express that decorations are important as they bring joy and help spread the purpose of the celebration. However, the majority felt that spending money on decorations is worthwhile only if they can be reused each year. As we reflected on the discussion, we reminded ourselves that Christmas is a special time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, who is considered the most precious gift. We thanked God for the festive season and, most importantly, for the gift of Jesus. The children decided to end class worship by singing the carol 'Away in a Manger.'
Collective Worship- Love at Advent
This morning in collective worship we focused on Love for the fourth week of Advent and Colton and Sophie lit our fourth candle on our advent wreath. We reflected on how we have been showing love to our community by donating toys and chocolates to DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise) and Darwen Rotary Club and through our wonderful carol singing at our Christmas Fayre, Darwen Market and our church yesterday evening for the Carol Service. We then thought about others ways that we can show love to each other and our community this advent. We had some lovely ideas such as to smile at people, give hugs, donate clothes that are too small for us, show kindness to each other and help out your parents. Mrs Ham said that it was particularly important to show kindness and love to each other this week after such a long term and everyone is feeling tired and excited for Christmas. We watched a clip from Mrs Ham's favourite Christmas film, 'A Muppet's Christmas Carol' and watched how the mean and grumpy Scrooge started to smile and enjoy himself when the Christmas spirit sang 'Wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas' song and others showed him love and kindness. We then joined in with a lovely prayer asking God to help us show love and kindness to everyone around us and to be grateful for everything we receive. We finished by practising our Christmas carols ready for our church service on Friday morning.
Year 1 RE- The Nativity Story
Year 1 loved watched the Reception class perform the nativity last week so this week they have really enjoyed using the figures to act out the story themselves. Well done Year 1.
Reception: Rev Ben Visit
Our Ducklings had a visit from Rev Ben today. Rev Ben brought in some figures to tell us about the Christmas story. Christians believe that Jesus is the star of the story. We need to really think about Jesus and if we listen really carefully to the story, it can change us from the inside out if we let it. Rev Ben finished his visit with a special thank you prayer. Thank you Rev Ben for visiting our class, we always enjoy your visits.
Rev Ben Worship: Isaiah the Rescuer
Rev Ben led our worship today. We began our worship with a listening game. Rio, Jay, Lucy and Isaac hummed a Christmas song and the children had to use their listening skills to guess the song. Our story from the Bible is all about listening well. Isaiah was a prophet and he came to tell people that God’s people’s hearts needed rescuing. People did not listen. God wanted to rescue people as he was compassionate and loving. God sent Jesus to rescue God’s people but we need to listen really carefully to the Christmas story. Christians believe that if we listen carefully, Jesus can still change us today. Christians believe the rescuer came at Christmas in a manger. We ended our worship by singing ‘Rescuer’.
Joy at Advent Collective Worship
This morning in our Collective Worship we lit our third advent candle for Joy. We learnt that J is for Jesus, O is for others and Y is for yourself. We reflected on the joy that Jesus brought to the world and how he came so that we could live life in all its fullness. Mrs Ham reminded us of some of the ways that we are bringing joy to others by donating books and toys to DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise), making cards for the elderly in care homes and our choir are singing in Darwen Market and in our church. We then discussed with a partner how we can bring joy to others and ourselves this advent. We had some fabulous answers such as give toys and clothes to others in need, spend time having fun with our friends and family and show kindness to others. We also realised that we all find joy in different ways as we had so many different answers for what brings us joy such as playing with friends, chocolate, being with our family, school, reading, etc. We then watched the new John Lewis advert and discussed how everyone finds joy in different ways and has different Christmas traditions. Some children commented that the advert made them think that 'it's not what's on the outside that counts, but what is on the inside'. We finished our worship with a prayer and then practised our Nativity songs ready for our church service next week.
Year 4 - RE: How did Jesus bring light?
Some super acting was displayed in RE in Year 4 this week. We learned about who Jesus helped most and why, role playing the well-known religious figures Zacchaeus, Matthew and the rich young man. The children were tasked with spotting the parts in each story where Jesus brought light.
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!