Whole School Worship-The Road to Damascus - Change, and Forgiveness
Today's worship with Rev. Ben began with the sign of the Trinity. Rev. Ben then presented the children with images of four well-known fictional "Super Villains": Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter, The Joker, Mrs. Trunchball, and Gru from Minions. The children enthusiastically shouted out the characters' names. This engaging activity led into the story of Damascus, focusing on the transformation of Saul into Saint Paul. The narrative explored how Saul, perceived as a "Villain", could undergo a profound change. Saul was initially a fervent persecutor of early Christians. While on his way to Damascus with authority to arrest followers of Jesus, a blinding light from heaven suddenly enveloped him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice say, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?" When Saul asked who was speaking, the voice replied, "I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." This encounter left Saul blind for three days. He was led into Damascus, where a disciple named Ananias, guided by a vision from Jesus, healed his sight. After this miraculous experience, Saul was baptised and became a devoted follower of Jesus, changing his name to Paul. He tirelessly preached the Christian message from then on, becoming one of its most influential apostles. Following the story, the children were given time to consider a key question: Can a 'baddie' become a 'goodie'? If so, how and why?" This prompted thoughtful discussion among the children. The worship concluded with everyone singing "Shine from the Inside Out. and a prayer led by Rev Ben.
Amazing Attendance
We’re delighted to let you know that our school has been recognised not once, but twice in this year’s FFT National Attendance Awards. These awards celebrate the hard work and commitment of our staff, pupils, parents and carers in promoting excellent attendance and our school has stood out in both the autumn and spring terms of 2024/25. We are so proud that we are in the top 10% of schools nationally for our Spring term attendance! Well done everyone!
Donuts for Dads Event
Good afternoon, Thank you so much to everybody who came to our Donuts for Dads and for making the event a huge success. We haven't got an official total but it is around £300 so thank you so much for your kind donations. Further pictures will be available on our gallery on our website. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/donuts-for-dads We do have plenty of doughnuts available so there will be a doughnut sale after school tomorrow to sell the remaining doughnuts for a donation. All of the money will be spent to benefit our children in school. Thank you to our FOSB and to our staff for helping to set up, for running and for tidying up after the event too. I will post the raffle draw results shortly. Thank you, Mrs Wilkinson
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Year 3- Year of Prayer- I Spy-A Lesson in Perseverance
As part of our Year of Prayer, the children took part in a fun hunt around the classroom. Hidden in various places were special items, including a cross, a torch, a heart made of stone, a magnifying glass, and a bottle of sprinkles. The children were excited and eager to find them all, searching enthusiastically until we paused the hunt after 1 minute and 30 seconds. Interestingly, one item, the bottle of sprinkles hidden inside a shoebox, wasn’t found. This led to a discussion about perseverance. The children reflected on the importance of not giving up, even when something feels tricky or takes time. They recognised that determination, effort, and not giving up are key parts of our everyday life. To end the session, the children offered a special prayer, asking God to help them continue to try their best, especially when they feel like giving up.
Year 3- Class Worship-Jesus Teaches Us to Forgive
Today in class, we watched a worship across the diocesan video that helped us explore one of our important Christian values: forgiveness. Through the story of Jesus and Peter, we learned how meaningful and powerful it can be to forgive others and to accept forgiveness ourselves, even when it's not easy. The story showed us how Jesus sets a great example of how to mend friendships and love one another, so we can live together in peace and understanding.
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Year 3- Celebrating Literature Festival at Darwen Library
Today, as part of the Children's Literature Festival, Year 3 went on an exciting adventure, walking to Darwen Library to meet the wonderful Blackburn-born author, Christina Gabbitas. She shared a fascinating glimpse into her background, highlighting the importance of living life to its fullest. Christina also spoke about her love for audiobooks, explaining how she enjoys listening to stories. The children then had the amazing opportunity to read one of her powerful poems about saving our oceans aloud. Christina also captivated us by reading a section of her book, 'Believe in Magic', using wonderful expression in her voice that brought the story to life. Christina generously gave every child a signed copy of her book, 'Believe in Magic'! It was a truly inspiring session!
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Year 3- R.E-Exploring Sawm: Islam's 4th Pillar
Today in R.E., Year 3 explored the 4th Pillar in Islam: Sawm (Fasting). We discussed what it feels like to go without things we enjoy, imagining life on a remote island without modern amenities. This led to a deeper understanding of why Sawm is a Pillar of Islam, as an act of obedience to the Qur'an during Ramadan. The children also watched videos and took notes on key aspects of Ramadan. Following this, the children individually wrote in their books about how Sawm makes Muslims feel, giving examples such as feeling empathy for the less fortunate, a closer connection to Allah, and developing greater self-discipline and gratitude.
Year 3- Art- Observational skills
As part of our Art topic, Year 3 artists are developing their observation skills by focusing on the intricate details of everyday objects. Today, inspired by the meticulous studies of Charles Darwin, the children used magnifying glasses to create highly detailed drawings of flowers. They then applied their shading techniques to beautifully capture the effects of light on their floral subjects.
Collective Worship- Pentecost
This morning Mrs Ham welcomed all of the children and staff back to our school after our half term holiday. We started worship by listening to a special prayer written by St Francis, 'Make me a channel of your peace' as that is our special Year of Prayer prayer for the week. We then learnt about Ascension and Pentecost with the help of some super actors and actresses who played the part of the disciples and the wind and fire. We enjoyed joining in with actions to the rhyming Bible stories and we learnt that Pentecost was a special time when God sent His Holy Spirit and it was then the birth of the church. We reflected on how Jesus is always with us through the Holy Spirit that God sent and thought of ways that we could show God's love to each other. We then said a special prayer for Pentecost and sang 'Let me walk beside you', said Jesus one day' song and focused on the 'come follow me forever, with you I'll always stay' which was the promise that Jesus made to his disciples before he ascended into heaven.
Welcome back to school!
We are looking forward to welcoming everyone back to school tomorrow! We hope you all had a fantastic half-term break of living life in all its fullness and the children are feeling refreshed and ready for an exciting final half-term of the school year. Upcoming Events & Important Information This week is packed with fun and important events, so please make a note of the following and see here for further details https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/events * Year 4 will be completing their multiplication times tables check throughout the week and Year 1 will also be completing their phonics screening check on Wednesday or Thursday. Monday: Year 4 will be visiting their linking school, St Matthew's in Blackburn. A reminder that they will need a packed lunch please in a disposable bag. Tuesday: FOSB Non-Uniform Day! To help us prepare for our "Donuts for Dads" afternoon, Tuesday will be a non-uniform day. Children are welcome to wear their own clothes in exchange for a donut donation. Years 1-5 will also be walking to Darwen Library for a special Children's Literature Festival at different times across the day. Please ensure your child is wearing sensible shoes and brings a coat. Wednesday: Donuts for Dads We'd love to invite all Dads and Grandads to join us in the school hall at 2:30 PM for our special "Donuts for Dads" event. Come along and enjoy some delicious treats with your children! Reception Dads are welcome into the Reception class for a special Father's Day stay and play at 2.30pm and can then take their child to the FOSB Donuts for Dad event in the hall. Thursday: Class and Individual Photos Reception and Year 6 will have their class photos taken. Additionally, Year 6 students will have individual photos taken for their memories books. Please ensure children in these year groups come to school in smart school uniform on Thursday. Friday: Year 6 Northern Games Gaelic Football competition in Manchester. The squad will be informed tomorrow. There will be NO Celebration Worship this Friday. Saturday: Whitehall Park Table Top Sale Everyone is welcome to the Whitehall Park Table Top Sale fundraiser on Saturday, June 14th, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM in the Rose Garden. This event is being held by the Whitehall Park Supporters group in association with our school. If you're interested in having a table to sell your goods for £5.00, please contact Marjan on 07837364728 or email [email protected]. See you all tomorrow, classroom doors open at 8.45am to give all children time to get into their class with their coats and bags off ready for a prompt 8.55am start. We're looking forward to a brilliant last half-term filled with learning, fun, and memorable events. Let's achieve great things and live life in all its fullness!
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Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by reflecting on our theme for this week which was ‘Heaven on Earth.’ Mrs Ham asked us to think about things that we have done in school this week to support this. We had answers such as encouraging each other, helping people up when they are hurt and sharing our kind words and manners. We reflected on many of our other highlights this week which have included prayers for our fears and worries as part of our Diocesan Year of Prayer, enjoying a worship with Rev Matt on the theme of dedication and perseverance, learning the Makaton sign for ‘sad,’ Year 4 welcoming St Matthews into our school on Monday as part of their linking schools project, two of our Worship Our Way group members (Daisy and Grace) attending the Pupil’s RE Conference 2025, Year 4 delivering a whole class worship on Mental Health Awareness, our Year 5/6 Netball Squad representing our school brilliantly in the DPSSA Netball league again last night and coming away with two victories, our Year 5/6 Netball team who attended the Bee Stinger Netball finals at St Bedes on Tuesday and being crowned the BwD champions, Isaac, Ivy, Charlie and Oscar attending the Times tables Rockstar competition at Belmont on Wednesday afternoon and our Year 3/4 mixed cricket team for playing brilliantly at Darwen Cricket Club on Wednesday showing super teamwork and determination. Furthermore, we congratulated Peyton and Elliott in Year 4 for working hard to achieve their pen license, our Year 1 and Year 4 classes for being our attendance winners this week and Darwen Tower as our value award winners this week with 393 points. We then moved onto congratulating this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Max, Leila, Lenny and Maggie in EYFS and KS1 and Cassidy, Alfie, Reuben and Tyler in KS2, Well done to these children for working incredibly hard across the curriculum and consistently displaying exceptional behaviour through demonstrating our Barney’s 4Bs (being kind, safe, respectful and ready). We then moved onto congratulating all of our out of school achievers. Well done to Ralphy for being the coach’s dream and showing super skill at football, Charlie and Isabella for achieving their red belts at kickboxing, Annabel for being a super committed Rainbow, Fletcher for being award the Player’s Player of the Match in a recent football game, Cassius for achieving Stage 2 in his swimming, Hendrix for taking part in the Squirrel’s Sports Day, Callie for swimming 25m and being award the dragon at jiu jitsu, Thea for being a superstar Rainbow and achieving Olivia doll, Olivia for achieving Stage 3 in her gymnastics and Esmae, Leonora and Desmond for competing in the micro-league at Darwen Leisure Centre. To end our worship, Mrs Ham wished us all a lovely restful holiday and we had a singalong to ‘Our God is a Great Big God’.
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Happy half term!
Dear Parents and Carers, As we reach the end of another busy half term, we want to extend our sincerest thanks for your continued support. Your partnership is invaluable, and we truly appreciate everything you do for our school family. It's been another fantastic week, full of learning, achieving great things, and fun! Here are just a few of the highlights: * Year 4 had a wonderful time welcoming visitors from their link school, St. Matthew's. They're already looking forward to visiting them on the first Monday back after the holiday! *Our incredible netball team has been on a winning streak! They won the final of the Bee Stinger Netball competition and will now go on to represent our borough – a truly amazing achievement! Our netball squad also won all of their games for the third week in a row in the netball league. *Year 3 enjoyed a fascinating session learning all about Judaism from Lennox's auntie. *Our Reception class had a fantastic time with Muddy Monday, hunting for bugs, and a brilliant forest school session building habitats and dens. *A big well done to our Year 4/5 cricket team for their outstanding sportsmanship in the cricket competition. *Reception class also enjoyed learning all about Islam from Miss Kachwalla. *Two of our WOW group members and Mrs. Araujo had a brilliant day taking part in the Diocesan RE Conference. *Year 4 led a super worship all about how we can support our mental health and wellbeing – an incredibly important topic. *We had great fun in Worship with Rev. Matt, especially with the mystery game and learning about the miracle of Tabitha being brought to life. For all of the news in detail from each class see our news page: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news You can find details of our upcoming events next half term here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/events Thank you to our staff team for their phenomenal hard work and unwavering dedication this half term, as well as supporting and transporting at sports competitions. Now, it's time for a well-deserved break! We wish you all wonderful two-week half term holiday. Take this time to rest, recharge, and truly live life in all its fullness! We look forward to welcoming everyone back refreshed and ready for an exciting next half term on Monday 9th June! Enjoy your holidays, Becky Ham