EYFS and KS1 Mental Health Workshop
This morning, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 had the pleasure of welcoming Erika and Pete from the Lily Jo project for a fun and energetic workshop focusing on our mental health and wellbeing. Erika talked about our three types of health. The first which was our physical health, the second which was our spiritual self and the third which was our mental health. Erika told us that today we would be focusing on our mental health. She explained that our mental health is our our thoughts, feelings and emotions and it is our responsibility to look after it. However, sometimes we struggle with this like being on a rollercoaster. Sometimes we are on the top of the rollercoaster feeling amazing, somewhere in the middle or on the bottom of the rollercoaster feeling down and blue. After this, we learnt how to become a hero of our mental health. We learnt all of the tricks and tips for this. They were: 1) Helping others. We shared ideas such as sharing your toys, giving people a hug, helping at home with the dishes, asking your teacher if they need help and standing up for something that is wrong. 2) Exercising such as taking part in swimming, cycling, play football, running, jogging, jumping or playing with your friends. 3) Relaxing such as watching TV, having a nap, reading a book, having a bath and doing breathing exercises. 4) Opening up by talking to a grown up about how you are feeling. Helping, exercising, relaxing and opening up spells the secret code of HERO. Then, Erika introduced her three very special friends who shared their experiences with us to help us become unstoppable heroes. Marcus was feeling sad because he was being bullied online. People were leaving him nasty comments online. However, he stood up against this and chose to be kind to people to show that kindness is stronger than hate. Jade was feeling worried because she wants to be an amazing singer. However, she got worried about standing on the stage in front of lots of people. She then opened up to someone she trusted to conquer her fear and be brave enough to display her talent. Tyler was feeling angry because he doesn’t know how to express his feelings and emotions. However, he found the strength to open up to someone close to him which made him feel positive and more confident talking about his feelings. Then we listened to and joined in with a couple of songs. The first one was called ‘Unstoppable’ and we said I am unstoppable (pointing at ourself), you are unstoppable (pointing at a partner) and we are unstoppable (pointing in the air). We watched a video of an unstoppable child called Skye Brown who loved to skate and sing. Although people said she was too small to skate, she proved them wrong and went on to be a very successful skater in the Olympics. This proves that with hard work and determination we can be successful. The second song was called ‘Be the Change’ and we all had a boogie and sing along as exercising and singing is good for our mental health. We also enjoyed the message of us being in control of our own mental health.
Year 1- Experiencing a Mock Baptism
This afternoon, Lillian welcomed us into St Barnabas Church to experience a baptism first hand. Lillian baptised baby Poppy and made the parents, godparents and other guests make promises to look after Poppy and teach her to be kind and respectful. We also made a promise to be good role models to her. Lillian showed us the font and blessed Poppy with the water to symbolise that she had been baptised. Lillian told us that it isn’t only babies that get baptised but you can in fact be baptised at any age. Lillian also showed us the baptism candle which represents the light of God and the baptism register which has all of the names of people that have been baptised in St Barnabas church for many many years. We said thank you to Lillian for showing us what happens at a baptism and making us feel so welcome. We then went back to school and had a little party to celebrate Poppy’s baptism. We sang the song ‘Shine From the Inside Out,’ enjoyed a drink of juice, a biscuit and played some fun party games.
Year 1- Lowry Inspired Artwork
This afternoon, Year 1 have been looking at artwork by LS Lowry. We noticed that his artwork was often based around a city landscape. We spotted buildings such as terraced houses, churches, shops and factories. We were then inspired by Lowry to draw some of these types of buildings that feature in Darwen such as India Mill, the row of terraced houses where the laundrette is positioned and Darwen Market Hall. First, we took our time to draw the outline of our building/s thinking about the size and shapes and then we took our time to add details to our buildings such as windows, roofs and doors. We can’t wait to use Duplo next week to make a print of our chosen building.
FOSB Summer Fayre
Calling all local business, youth clubs, charities, entertainers (ALL STALLS WELCOME!!!)
Year 1 Science
As part of their science unit on plants, Year 1 went on a hunt to find wild plants. They saw yellow dandelions, white dandelions, daisies, stinging nettles, bluebells, foxgloves, poppies, violas, forget-me-nots, buttercups and primroses. Next week, they'll be looking at garden plants.
Year 1 Maths- Making Arrays
Today in maths, Year 1 have been making arrays.
Year 1-Class Worship
Today in our class worship, we talked about and celebrated differences. We read Danielle’s story from Picture News about her experiences of living with dwarfism. We talked about how Danielle doesn’t deserve the mean comments or laughter that she sometimes faces from strangers and how this must make her feel upset, devastated, uncomfortable and angry. We then read a story about Esther’s first day at school. Esther started a new school where she had been judged before people got to know her so we talked about how we must get to know people’s likes and dislikes rather than making our own judgements about them. To end our worship, we had some beautiful prayers from some children who held those with mental and physical disabilities in their prayers and prayed for the world to show kindness and respect to others.
Friday Celebration Worship
Despite it being a very short week in school this week, we still had lots to celebrate in Worship this morning. We reflected on how we have been showing generosity this week and shared our well wishes for Year 6 in preparation for their SATs next week. There were sports stars galore on the golden podium, as we had many children showing us how they are living life in all its fullness. A big well done to Charlotte who has raised £710 for East Lancs Hospice by running a mile a day! We also had football achievements (with a signing for Manchester United) and awards for swimming, cycling, martial arts and cubs! Wow, what another brilliant week at St Barnabas!
Year 1-PSHE
During their PSHE lesson, Year 1 have been learning about how to dial 999 if there is an accident or emergency and what to say.
Year 1 Maths
Year 1 have been learning about identifying and making equal groups in their maths lesson.
Whole school Worship: Generosity
Today during our worship we discussed what generosity means and why it is important to be generous. The children discussed how we can be generous. They said we can give to charity, help others, smile and make others happy. We looked at how important it is to give up our time to be generous and reflected on what this means. The children said they could stop playing on their games and could stop watching TV so that they would have more time to give to others. We looked at Mother Teresa and how she dedicated herself to helping others. This week we will be reflecting on how we can be generous and to see if we can create a positive ripple effect. We will also reflect on being truly grateful for anything that we receive.
Friday 29th April- Celebration Worship
Today in celebration worship, we reflected on Monday’s worship about St George and how we have shown our Christian value of courage this week just as he did. Annabelle in Year 2 said she showed courage by diving into the swimming pool and Oscar in Year 3 challenged some behaviour that he didn’t think was right. Then, our wonderful choir performed the song ‘Time to Shine’ for our whole school as they did last night at Ewood Park for an audience of 4,200. We then heard from our cross country team who participated in the DPSSA cross country on Tuesday night and showed amazing sportsmanship and our netball team who played against St Peter’s in the DPSSA netball league and won 11-0. A special well done to Kaycie who was voted player of the match for her determination. We then celebrated our out of school award winners. Well done to Katie, Harlow and Eva in Year 5 for their team success in coming 2nd in their football tournament, Eliza in year 1 for her success in horse riding and achieving trainer of the week in football, Daisy in Year 1 and Grace in Year 2 for earning a special badge at rainbows for learning sign language and Charlotte in Year 5 for her yellow belt in jujitsu and for fundraising for East Lancs Hospice. She has raised £600 by running a mile a day for 40 days. Amazing work Charlotte! We heard from our teachers who shared their highlights from the week. A huge well done to our whole school for their achievements and successes in class. Finally, Mrs Ham reminded us about the upcoming Royal Variety show that we’ll be having in school on 27th May to celebrate the Queen’s Jubilee and we had some beautiful prayers from David and Lucy to end our worship.