Year 5 - Rose Garden Visit
Year 5 visited the Rose Garden to view the beautiful Easter artwork on display. The children took time to reflect on the meaning of Easter as they explored the creative pieces, which celebrated themes of hope, new life and resurrection—reminding us of the message of living life in all its fullness. They also collectively contributed 70km to our Big Lent Walk.
Year 4 - Big Lent Walk to the Rose Garden
Yesterday, the Year 4s took advantage of the lovely weather and completed a Big Lent Walk to the Rose Garden at Whitehall Park. Whilst there, we spent time exploring the selection of artwork and poetry shared by each class. We helped the Reception children read the poetry and completed challenges to find each part of the Easter story.
Year 3- R.E-Exploring Easter Through Art
This afternoon, Year 3 walked to the Rose Garden at Whitehall Park to admire artwork created by the whole school. The displayed pieces reflect the Easter story and have been inspired by what pupils have learned in their R.E. lessons over the past few weeks. Year 3 took time to pause, reflect, and appreciate the powerful expressions of both sadness and joy, brought to life through art. The visit gave the children a chance to think, feel calm, and feel connected. They thought about how the Easter story teaches us to live life to its fullness. They thoroughly enjoyed the experience and were proud to see how their learning has been transformed into something so meaningful and creative.
Reception: Easter Artwork
For their Muddy Monday session, Reception class walked to Whitehall park and explored the Easter artwork our school family have created. The children enjoyed looking at the artwork and enjoyed listening to the poems that some of the children wrote. As a treat after, the children visited the playground. Also Reception class collectively walked 72.5km for the CAFOD's Big Lent Walk. Well done!
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Year 3- R.E- Artwork Reflecting the Sadness and Joy of the Cross
Year 3 has created artwork that represents both the sadness and the joy of the cross. Through their work, they have explored the events of Holy Week, reflecting on the sorrow of Good Friday, when Jesus was crucified, and the overwhelming joy of Easter Sunday, when He rose again. The cross, a symbol of suffering, also becomes a symbol of hope and salvation. Their artwork captures this emotional journey, showing how these two powerful feelings, sadness and joy, are connected in the Christian story of Easter. Some of the artwork will now be displayed in the Rose Garden for everyone to experience and reflect upon.
Easter Singing Worship
We had a joyous start to the week with a singalong to all of our favourite Easter songs ready for our church service on Thursday morning at 9.15am. KS2 will be showcasing their Easter artwork and parents and carers are very welcome to come along and support.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and reflecting on another extremely busy yet wonderful week in school. First of all, we started by saying a huge thank you to all of the children who attended St Barnabas Church last Sunday in celebration of Mothering Sunday and Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs Araujo for supporting this event. We also thanked the children in the Year 4/5/6 swimming squad who represented our school in the DPSSA Swimming Gala at Darwen Leisure Centre on Friday evening and Mrs Gardner for supporting this event. Well done to these children for demonstrating courage, determination and giving each other lots of encouragement. We then thought about our highlights in school this week. We enjoyed an unforgettable science show delivered by the amazing Science Boffin Katja, a fabulous rock performance by the brilliant members of our Rocksteady Rock Bands, Year 5 enjoyed an introduction to peer mediation as well as their second bike ability session, Year 2, 3 and 5 enjoyed a walk to contribute to ‘Our Big Lent Walk’ and all of our children across school have enjoyed some fantastic clubs such as Choir, Lego Serious Play led by WOW group, Story Club led by the school librarians, Gymnastics and Dodgeball Club led by EDSTART and Craft Club led by Fred and Pearl. Other highlights include our Year 5/6 football team who played in the B team festival at Witton Park on Tuesday evening and our Year 4 football team who played their final matches in the BRFC League on Tuesday evening. Well done to these incredible footballers for showcasing incredible teamwork and finishing as proud runners-up. We then moved onto congratulating this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Finn, Phoebe and Reneé in EYFS and KS1 and Iris, Miles, Theo and Jack in KS2. Well done to these children for demonstrating a consistently positive attitude to their learning and working hard to show the Barney’s 4Bs. Furthermore, we congratulated Carter and Nevaeh in Year 4 for working hard to achieve her pen license, our Year 2 and Year 4 class for being our attendance winners this week with 99.6% and 99.2% attendance and Whitehall Park as our value award winners this week with 354 points. We then moved on to congratulating our out of school award winners. Well done to Charlie and Albie for being the Players of the Week at Little Darrener’s FC for super dribbling, Annabel for demonstrating amazing skill in her recent ballet and tap exam, Seb for being Player of the Match for his super tackling, Scarlett for demonstrating great skill in her interceptions and goal scoring at football, Summer for being a super dancer in modern jazz and tap, Brooke for achieving Player of the Match and Laila for being the opposition’s Player of the Match at football, Minnie for achieving a badge at squirrels, Olivia H for achieving a medal at gymnastics for working hard and demonstrating super listening skills, Leonora and Iris for their resilience and determination at gymnastics, Olivia R for achieving the Goalkeeper of the Week at Soccer HQ and Jack for achieving his 400m and Stage 7 swimming certificate. To end our worship, Mrs Govan told us about an upcoming Art Competition led by Spring Value Ramblers Club to celebrate their 130th anniversary. More information to follow on Class Dojo. We then had a joyous singalong and dance to ‘He is Alive’. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend in the sunshine. The slides can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/about-us/church-and-worship#tab-4370
Reception- Year of Prayer- hot cross buns
As part of our year of prayer, we looked at the smell and taste of the hot cross bun. We spoke about how the cross on the bun symbolises the cross that Jesus died upon. We spoke about why Jesus died and that he died to take away the things we have done wrong. We said thank you to Jesus for giving his life so that we could have the chance of a new start.
Worship with Rev. Ben
Today, during Rev. Ben’s worship, the children explored the theme of living life in all its fullness through movement and storytelling. They engaged in a series of dynamic actions that brought a Bible story to life, immersing themselves in an active and reflective experience. The story they focused on was the Road to Emmaus from the Gospel of Luke. It tells of two disciples walking to Emmaus, filled with sadness and confusion following Jesus’ crucifixion. Along the way, they met a stranger who walked with them and explained the Scriptures, helping them understand God’s greater plan. As evening approached, they invited the stranger to stay and share a meal. It was only when he broke the bread that their eyes were opened—they realised the stranger was the resurrected Jesus! In that moment, Jesus disappeared, leaving them filled with renewed faith and joy. This interactive worship session helped the children connect with the story in a meaningful way, encouraging them to embrace faith, discovery and the joy of living life to the fullest.
Year 4 - Mother’s Day Cards
We’ve had to save this news from last week as we didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but Year 4 made some lovely Mother’s Day cards for the special people in their lives. They folded origami tulips for the front of their cards and wrote love-filled messages inside. We hope all the mums, grandmas, aunties and special people who received them loved them and enjoyed Mothering Sunday.
Year 3-Year of Prayer-Hot Cross Buns and Prayer
As part of our Year of Prayer this week, the children enjoyed hot cross buns. The cross on the bun symbolized Jesus' death on the cross. We reflected on how Jesus' sacrifice takes away our wrongdoings, and we expressed gratitude for the new beginnings his death makes possible.
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Year 2 - Big Lent Walk
Today, Year 2 embarked on their Big Lent Walk, exploring the scenic surroundings of Jack's Key. This provided a wonderful opportunity for the children to appreciate the natural beauty we are fortunate to have within our local area. During the walk, the children were encouraged to observe and identify signs of spring. They were delighted to spot daffodils, butterflies, and bees, whilst enjoying being outdoors in the glorious sunshine. The total distance covered by Year 2 will contribute 75km to our overall Big Lent Walk initiative. We are continuing to strive towards our fundraising goal and would be grateful for any donations, however small, to acknowledge and support the children’s efforts. Donations to Cafod can be made here: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-ce-primary-academys-big-lent-walk