Year 6 - Football with Stephen Sama
A huge thank you to Stephen Sama for coming into school to deliver a fantastic football session for our Year 6 children! ⚽ It was brilliant to see everyone getting involved, having fun and developing their skills. The children were also inspired by hearing about Stephen’s journey through football, showing them where passion, hard work and determination can lead. Thank you, Stephen, for giving our children such a memorable experience! The Stephen Sama Football Academy launches at DACA for Year 7 in September 2027. Led by former professional footballer Stephen Sama, who developed at Liverpool FC and now coaches Baller League champions PRIME FC alongside KSI. ⚽ Up to 20 boys & 20 girls selected 🏋️ Specialist coaching & S&C 🏆 Competitive football 📚 Full DACA education We are hopeful that some of our football stars will make it into the Stephen Sama Football Academy in September.
Year 1 Science: Signs of Autumn Walk
Year 1 had a great time looking for signs of Autumn in our walk to Whitehall Park. They found conkers, red, brown and yellow leaves, sycamore seeds, pine cones and we even saw squirrels! They also collected some autumn things for our Provision areas next week.
Year 2 RE- A Visit From Rev Ben
Today, Year 2 enjoyed a wonderful visit from Rev Ben as part of our learning about the Bible. We explored why the Bible is special to Christians and discovered that it is often compared to a torch, honey and gold. Through thoughtful discussions and sharing our ideas, we concluded that the Bible is like a torch because it helps Christians find the right path in life. It is like gold because it is special and precious, and it is like honey because it is full of sweet stories about kindness and love. We then had the opportunity to ask Rev Ben some fascinating questions. We asked him about his favourite Bible story, how long he has been a vicar, why God created the world and how old the stories in the Bible are. Rev Ben also shared some of his own Bibles with us. We had the chance to look at one he received when he became a vicar, one he reads with his family and another that contains a different reading for every day of the year. We showed great respect and handled these special books with care. Rev Ben warmly invited us to visit St Barnabas Church on a Sunday, where a different Bible reading or story is explored each week. He also told us about Palm Tree, where children come together to learn more about the Bible, that runs alongside the normal Church Service. A huge thank you to Rev Ben for visiting us, answering our questions and helping us deepen our understanding of why the Bible is so special to Christians. We thoroughly enjoyed our visit and learned so much!
EYFS Stay and Play
A huge thank you to all the parents who joined us for our stay and play session! At the end of the session, it was wonderful to see the children light up as they shared their phonics knowledge with you, enthusiastically showing off the sounds they have learnt alongside all the matching actions. A real highlight of the session was listening to them proudly retell the story 'The Something' through song, where they amazed us all by weaving in fantastic vocabulary like remarkable, peered, delighted, and wondered. They were equally excited to play teacher and explain the four key parts of a story using our friendly characters—Octopus Opening, Build Up Bear, Problem Penguin, and Elephant Ending. We are so grateful for your continued support and partnership, and we hope you enjoyed seeing your children's learning in action. Our next Stay and Play session is on 12th November at 2.30pm.
Reception Mystery Reader
Our Reception children were treated to another Mystery Reader this afternoon. Liliana's Mummy joined us to read 'The Wonky Donkey' and 'There's a bear in your book!' The children thoroughly enjoyed listening to these funny stories and were so engaged. A big thank you to Liliana's Mummy for giving up her time to share these wonderful books with the children.
Reception Stay and Play
Our Reception children were thrilled to welcome so many parents and carers to their very first Stay and Play session this week! It was wonderful to see such a brilliant turnout, and we want to extend a massive thank you to everyone who joined us. The children took great pride in taking their visitors on a tour of their learning environment, showing off all the hard work they do every day in both the classroom and the outdoor area. From creative crafts and construction to exploring the outdoor learning zones, the room was buzzing with excitement and collaborative play. To top off a fantastic session, the children gathered together to perform 'Our God is. Great big God' for their special guests. Thank you once again to all the families who came along. We look forward to welcoming you back for the next one! It was great to see some pre-school children there too and thank you to the families who came to visit our school yesterday at one of our open days. It was lovely to meet you and we hope you will bring your children back to one of our upcoming stay and play sessions or open days. All of the dates can be found here: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/events
Year 5 - Money Skills
Miss Burnside from Debt Aware visited the class on Monday afternoon to introduce the children to managing money. They started off by discussing the difference between a want and a need by considering how essential to living different products and services are. Then the class considered borrowing and the difference between good and bad debt before identifying money saving tips such as turning lights off when not in use.
Year 4 Visit to Thorncliffe Nursing Home
Today Year 4 took their ‘I Wonder’ poems to Thorncliffe Nursing home and shared them with the residents there. It was such a lovely experience and the children were truly humbled. The residents then asked if we could sing to them so we did and tears of joy were shed. It was a heart warming day which everyone will remember.
Reception: Mystery Reader
In preparation for Give Like Dolly Day, Reception enjoyed a very special storytime session today when Georgie’s mummy came to visit. The children were completely captivated as she read two fantastic stories: The Dinosaur That Pooped the Bed and Charlie Cook’s Favourite Book. It was a wonderful way to celebrate the joy of reading, and we would like to send a big thank you to Georgie’s mummy for taking the time to share these brilliant books with us!
Year 6 - DACA Visit
Today, Year 6 had the exciting opportunity to meet Mr Glover, Principal of DACA, who came to speak to the children about the exciting opportunities that await them as they make the transition from Year 6 to Year 7. He also invited them to the open evening on Wednesday 30th September. Mr Glover shared lots of information about life at DACA, helping the children understand what they can expect when they move to high school. He spoke about the wide range of subjects they will have the opportunity to study, including how their learning will develop and become more specialised as they progress through the school. The children were also able to find out more about the different clubs, activities, trips and opportunities available at DACA, as well as the support they will receive as they settle into Year 7. A huge thank you to Mr Glover for taking the time to speak to our Year 6 children and helping them look ahead to this exciting new chapter in their education!
Worship with Bishop Philip: What can you offer this year?
In Worship we were welcomed back to the new school year by Bishop Philip, who visited our school in the Summer term. He told us the Bible story of the little boy who shared his lunch and Jesus turned it into enough to feed about 500 people. We then reflected on how God has given us gifts that we can offer to others. Some of the children told us about their gifts that they can share with others including kindness, friendship, generosity, making people laugh and peace. We then sang some of our favourite worship songs including Shine from the inside out, My Lighthouse and Welcome Everybody.
Year 2 English- Gruffalo Granny
This morning, Year 2 were delighted to enjoy a special livestream of The Gruffalo Granny, read by the wonderful Julia Donaldson. We won’t give too much away for those who haven’t read it yet, but we absolutely loved seeing the mouse getting up to his usual tricks! We also enjoyed a fantastic illustration lesson from Axel Scheffler, where we followed along and had a go at drawing our very own Gruffalo Granny. The children were fantastic illustrators and thoroughly enjoyed bringing the character to life! What a lovely way to celebrate one of our favourite storybook characters!
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