Monday Worship
Today we learned that we are going to be sharing a vicar with St Paul’s Primary School. We found out all about Saint Paul. Saint Paul was not a very nice man and as a result, he was blind for 3 days. After this time, he spent the rest of his life finding out about God and telling everybody about Jesus. St Paul found Saint Barnabas, the encourager. He encouraged people to like Saint Paul and they went out together to spread the word of God. Saint Paul changed and became a better person. Everybody can change and can do the right thing. Leonora said “we can forgive them”, Ella-Grace said “we can include them” and Jack said “we could share with them”. At our school, we are all encouragers. This week it is national sports week and the theme is belonging. We can all encourage each other and we can all help each other to feel a part of our school family. By doing this we can live out our vision by learning and growing together in a love-filled Christian family. Mason said “we can support each other”, Aisha said “we can give them a thumbs up” and Grace said “we can cheer and encourage everybody”. This week we are going to think about how we can build each other up and how we can be like Saint Barnabas the encourager. We finished our worship by singing ‘Build up’.
Year 2 History
This week in History, we started our Victorian Seaside topic. To start, we thought about the things we think of when we think of the seaside. We then discussed together the places we think of, when we think of the seaside. Over the next few weeks, the class will be exploring what seaside resorts were like in the past and comparing them to now.
Year 2 Geography
Our topic in Geography is all about Weather and Pollution and this week, Year 2 have been identifying the hottest and coldest countries around the World. We used globes and atlas to help us research and identify the countries with the hottest and coldest climates.
Celebration Worship
This morning we had lots to celebrate in our Worship. Year 4 and 5 received their certificates for their courage and commitment at PGL. We had plenty of sports stars with our high fives netball team storming through to the finals next week and we had plenty of personal achievements with super swimmers in the infants, cycling awards, gymnastics, Morris dancing and athletics. We also announced the 6 winners of the Darwen Rotary Club competition for the Queen’s Jubilee - a big well done to Alice, Summer, Ella, Wilson, Isaac and Eva for their entries and a big well done to everyone who entered. We will keep you updated with any further developments in the competition and the date for when the winning entries will be displayed in Darwen.
The Queen's Platinum Jubilee Celebration Day
On Friday 27th May we will be having a special day to celebrate the Queen's Platinum Jubilee. Children may come to school dressed in red, white and/ or blue or they may want to wear a queen, princess, king or prince clothing. Please do not go out and buy anything new though. In the morning we will have a special 'Royal Variety Performance' with 20 talented acts. The Mayor and Mayoress of Blackburn with Darwen will be attending and parents are welcome to come and watch too. At lunchtime we will be having a Royal Variety Afternoon Tea and weather permitting we will have a picnic outside. Each child will receive a special commemorative Platinum Jubilee Coin from our Trust and a special Jubilee book. What a great way to end such a brilliant term and to show our thanks to her Majesty the Queen for her service to our country over the last 70 years!
Year 2 Geography: Weather and Pollution
This week in Geography, Year 2 explored the different types of weather that we get in the U.K. We watched some videos of a selection of different weather types and the class described the different types of weather that they could see.
Community Groups
We have lots of different community groups and activities for children and/or adults that meet either in our school or in our local community. Please see our community groups page for further information. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/parents/community-groups We are always looking for different opportunities for our children to be involved in a variety of activities out of school and we love hearing about their achievements in our weekly Friday Celebration Worship. If you run a community group or club and you would like us to promote it, please send any flyers to [email protected] and we will add them to our website.
Gift for the Queen Competition Entries
We have had so many fantastic entries for the Jubilee gift competition with Darwen Rotary Club! Lots of children have made such thoughtful gifts for the Queen, so a big thank you to all those who entered. Unfortunately, we can only select 6 finalists to submit to Darwen Rotary Club for judging and we will be announcing these in Celebration Worship tomorrow with a small prize for each winner.
Year 2 P.E
Today in P.E, Year 2 looked at getting into the ready position when throwing and catching. We also focused on the skill of how to catch a ball. Over the course of the year, I have been really impressed with how much the class have progressed with their team work in P.E. The class are now starting to apply the skills learnt in P.E lessons to team games, which is great to see!
KS1 Story and Craft Club
Today in after school club, we read The Rainbow Fish. We had a great discussion about the book which reinforces important messages about friendship and kindness. We then decorated our own rainbow fish using a weaving technique and added further decoration using felt tips. The children were very creative in their designs.
Collective Worship- Christian Aid Week and Courageous Advocacy
This morning in worship, we introduced Christian Aid week. First we discussed the phrase, ‘Your Kingdom Come.’ Mrs Ham asked us to imagine what heaven was like. We said that we imagine it as peaceful and calm and when we use the phase, ‘Your Kingdom Come,’ this phrase means that God would like our world on earth to represent heaven where the world is fair and at peace. Then Mrs Ham discussed the term ‘Courageous advocacy’ with us all which is the act of speaking out against injustice (wrongdoing) and then we watched and listened carefully to a video to see some of the injustice that is happening in the world. The children shared what they saw. Lily saw a sea turtle trapped in a fishing net, Skye said that there were people who were hungry, Jack said there were people without clothes, Harlee and Manni said they noticed people who were extremely thirsty, James said that he saw a man who didn’t have much furniture in his house and Lucy said there were people living in unclean places. Mrs Ham asked us what Jesus would like us to about this injustice. Desmond said we should try to be like Jesus and love our neighbour. Mrs Ham agreed and discussed how we all need to be a courageous advocate and love our neighbours as Jesus did. We then looked at some inspirational people who were courageous advocates and spoke out for those who didn’t/don’t have a voice such as Martin Luther King, Gandhi, David Attenborough and Marcus Rashford. We also recognised some children in school who have recently stood up for something that they believe in. These courageous advocates were Neve, Lily, William and Charlotte who recently promoted initiatives to raise money for Ukraine and East Lancs Hospice. Lastly, we ended our worship with a video called ‘Starfish’ which summed up the message that small things can make a huge difference and Mrs Ham asked us to reflect on small things that we can do in the next week and beyond to help to make a difference such as donating to the local food or clothes bank and reusing and recycling plastic.
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.
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