Whole School Worship: The Good Shepherd
Today, we were learning about Jesus’s parable of the Lost Sheep. We discussed why Jesus said 'I am the good shepherd', and how he will always come to us when we feel lost. Thanks to Mr Bloomfield and some of our younger children for acting out the story so brilliantly. We reflected on how we can life live in all its fullness knowing that Jesus is always watching over and protecting us, just like a good shepherd does for his sheep.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our first celebration worship of this academic year by signing the trinity and talking about our extremely busy couple of weeks in school, especially focusing on our Barny’s 4Bs (being ready, being safe, being kind and being respectful) and our school values. We then presented Thomas and Fletcher in Years 1 and 2 and Alfie, Eliza, Ella and Leonora in KS2 with certificates for being our value award winners this week. Well done to these children for starting the academic with an amazingly positive attitude, demonstrating fantastic behaviour for learning and consistently displaying our school values. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Harry for completing the Summer Reading challenge and being awarded a huge trophy for demonstrating kindness at SportsCool Summer club, Albie, Samuel, Renee, Carmen, Olivia and James for completing the Summer Reading challenge, Grace for being awarded the lyrical and jazz winner of the week, 3rd place for song and dance and a silver medal for her acro, Sofia for achieving Star of the Week at gymnastics club, Maggie for being a super Rainbow and working exceptionally hard to achieve all of her badges and Marley for achieving all of her badges at Rainbows and moving up to Brownies. We also congratulated Reception, Year 2 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and India Mill as the value award winners this week with 427 points. Finally, we had some lovely prayers of thankfulness and appreciation from Leonora, James and Lennox and we sang ‘Shine.’ We thank all those who could attend celebration worship and we said an extended thank you to the rest of our school family for all of your continued support. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend.
Year 1 Art- Composing a Cold Landscape
This week in their art lesson, Year 1 explored landscapes. First of all, we looked at some landscapes (particularly cold ones) and brainstormed some of the features that we could see such as mountains and icebergs. We learnt about how to draw a horizon and then an additional line for where the sea meets the land. We then cut out images of features of our cold landscapes and positioned them on our own scenes, discussing where they should go: on the land, in the sea or in the sky. Next lesson, we will be exploring textures so that we can collage our landscape appropriately e.g. collaging the mountains in a hard, rough material and the polar bear in a soft, fluffy material.
Year 1 Science- Can I Identify What Group an Animal Belongs to?
This afternoon in Year 1, we explored the different animal groups (mammals, amphibians, reptiles, birds and fish) and discussed the features of animals in each of these groups such as having hair, scales, wet skin and feathers. We then looked at a variety of animals and sorted them into each of the five groups.
Alice in Wonderland Production
Wow! Our whole school family really enjoyed watching Alice in Wonderland this morning. It was a fantastic production and it was lovely to watch all of the children’s expressions throughout the performance.
Whole School Worship: Paralympic Values
We began our Monday worship with a race this week, except the race wasn’t very fair. One person was running the race, one was hopping and one was blindfolded. We discussed why this wasn’t a fair race and then we watched some athletes’ performances from the Paralympics. We were amazed to see people with no arms playing the piano, flying aeroplanes, brushing their teeth and driving cars etc and then we reflected on how we can learn from the Paralympians and have a 'yes, I can' attitude. We learned about the Olympic and Paralympic values and how some of the values are the same or similar to our Christian Values., We discussed how we can do anything with hard work, determination and self-belief and read in the Bible that with God, all things are possible.
Year 1 Science- Grouping Animals
Today in Year 1, the children made some observations about animals. The children noticed various things such as some animals having feathers and some not, some having hair or fur and some not, some having ears but some having earholes, some having scales and some not, some being patterned and some not and so on. Year 1 then used their observations to sort a group of animals in their own way. Next lesson, the children will build on this to sort the animals into their animal groups such as mammals or reptiles.
Year 1 Phonics- Phonics Bingo
Today in Year 1, the children took part in some phonics activities. First of all, they looked for sounds that Miss Flynn read out to them such as b for bag, i for insect and qu for queen. This was a great way of getting some practise in using our sound mats after the six week holidays and reminding ourselves of the pictures and actions that go with each sound. Year 1 then enjoyed a couple of games of phonics bingo. They had 6 sounds and had to listen carefully to see if they had it. It was a great way of revising the sounds that the children had learnt when they were in Reception.
Year 1 Art- Warm and Cool Colours
In their art lesson, Year 1 explored warm and cool colours. They then applied this knowledge to complete an activity where they had to sort some landscapes by the colours that had been used within them (warm or cool). The children could also choose to complete an extra activity. This was to colour a picture in and represent the warm part of the picture with colours such as orange, red and yellow and the cool part of the picture with colours such as blue, green and purple. For example, the children coloured the ocean in cool colours but a sunrise in warm colours. Year 1 will be using their understanding of warm and cool colours when they come to create their own landscape in a few weeks time.
Rev Ben’s Worship- Trust
Rev Ben welcomed us back to school by reflecting on our school holiday and what we were most looking forward to this school year. He then told us the Bible story about Abraham going on a journey but he didn't know where he was going but he put his trust in God. Rev Ben said that our life can be a wonderful journey if we put our trust in God and remember that he is always with us. We then discussed with our partners how we can make the most of this year and live life in all its fullness. We finished with a lovely back to school blessing and sang a special back to school song.
Year 1 Art- Self Portraits
This week in Year 1, the children have used various paper techniques such as folding, fringing and bending to make a self-portrait. They have done a wonderful job and they will be displayed outside of our classroom. Well done Year 1!
School Admissions
Good morning parents and carers, the applications are now open for primary and secondary school admissions for September 2025. Primary school applications are open from 3 September 2024 until 15 January 2025. Secondary school applications are open from 3 September 2024 until 31 October 2024. For further information, please click here: https://www.blackburn.gov.uk/SynergyWeb/ We will be holding a 'Stay and Play' session for children who are due to start primary school in September 2025 on Thursday 3rd October from 9.00am-10.30am. Here you will get to meet our EYFS staff team and Mrs Ham will take you on a tour of our school to meet our amazing children and staff. There is no need to book and further information will be shared shortly. If you are not able to make the stay and play morning, please contact our school office on 01254 702996 to arrange a tour with Mrs Ham at a time that is convenient for you. Parents of children who are due to start secondary school in September 2025. Here are the dates of the open evenings for our local high schools that have been released. I will share the dates of the other schools once they have been published. DACA: Wednesday 2nd October 4.00-7.00pm https://www.daca.uk.com/Open-Evening/ St Wilfrids: Thursday 26th September 4.00-8.00pm https://www.saintwilfrids.co.uk/events/academy-open-evening Darwen Vale: TBC St Bede's: TBC