Macmillan Coffee Morning
A huge thank you to everyone who has supported our Macmillan Coffee Morning this morning with donations of cakes and/ or money. Every child in school was able to have a cake at break time thanks to your generous donations. Donations can still be made on parent pay or after school. We have some cakes left over so we will have a stall after school on the infant yard.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by thanking everyone for their very generous Macmillan Coffee Morning donations, saying a huge thank you to our wonderful teaching assistants on National Teaching Assistant day and saying a special prayer and thinking about both our Cidari family of schools and local schools on ‘National Pray for Schools Day.’ We then presented Olivia, Reggie, Joey, Lydia and James in EYFS and KS1 and Olivia, Lana, Luke, Ted, Eden, Summer, Brooke and Charlie-Rose in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for being fantastic role model for their peers, having a fantastic work ethic and always demonstrating our Barney’s 4Bs (being ready, being safe, being kind and being respectful). Then, we heard from our well-being warriors who told us about ‘Hello Yellow Day’ coming up on Thursday 10th October and asked us to make a contribution on ParentPay in return for dressing in yellow to promote positive mental health. We also congratulated Year 2, Year 3 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and River Darwen as the value award winners this week with 410 points. Finally, we congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Hendrix Elijah, Maggie and Callie for completing the Summer Reading challenge, Ava for being awarded her ‘Little Puffin’ certificate at swimming, Scarlett for being achieving an award for her positive contribution to West Pennine Netball, Maggie for achieving a super drawing award, Bobby-Ray for achieving his white belt at kickboxing and stage 1 at swimming, Lyla for achieving two gold awards at gymnastics, Isabella for earning her brown belt at kickboxing and achieving all of her badges at Rainbows and moving up to Brownies, Peyton for red and white belt at kickboxing, Bella for achieving ‘The Little Darreners’ Player of the Week,’ Iris for being a super swimmer, Marley for being a yoga superstar, Charlie for achieving his brown belt at kickboxing, Olivia for achieving her Stage 6 swimming certificate and Layla for achieving a special rosette for being a super horse rider. Finally, we said the Grace and we sang ‘We Can Make a Difference.’ 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.
Key Stage 2 - Rocksteady Workshop
This morning, Key Stage 2 had a fantastic time during a Rocksteady workshop, where they got the chance to create their own rock band! The children were able to step into the roles of musicians, playing instruments like the drums, guitar, bass guitar, and keyboard. A huge well done to all the children who participated, showing confidence and enthusiasm as they took to their instruments and played with impressive skill. The session was a great opportunity for them to experience the excitement of performing together as a band.
Rocksteady Launch
This morning, we were treated to an exciting Rocksteady assembly, where children explored the world of electrical musical instruments. The children were introduced to instruments such as drums, guitar, bass guitar, and keyboard, learning how each contributes to creating music. They were captivated by the live demonstrations and enthusiastically sang along, filling the hall with energy. Mr Norris, Mr Bloomfield and Mr Prescott also got to live out their dreams as they got the chance to be in their own boyband The session offered a wonderful opportunity for the children to discover different musical sounds and rhythms, sparking their curiosity and love for music. Information about how you can sign your child up to play in a rock band will be being brought home this evening.
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Year 3- PSHE-How can we solve this problem?
In our PSHE lesson, I shared a scenario where a close friend's big birthday celebration is coming up in a couple of weeks, and I've been invited. However, another family member has arranged a trip to the seaside for the same weekend, inviting many of the same people. Neither knew the other had planned something and when they found out, they got into a big argument, shouting at each other and storming off. Now, they’re not speaking, and it’s caused a lot of tension. We discussed how they might have felt, why they argued, and how shouting didn't help the situation. Year 3 came up with some brilliant solutions to solve the problem. They suggested that one way to fix the situation could be for one person to change the event date so that everyone could attend both the birthday party and the seaside trip without a clash. Another idea was to have a joint celebration, where everyone could come together for one big event that includes the birthday and the trip. Some children even suggested talking calmly and finding a compromise to make both people happy, rather than arguing and storming off. We also discussed how important it is to think about other people’s feelings and find a solution that’s fair for everyone involved. We also looked at an online safety poster about Instagram. The children shared what they like to watch and post online, and some were surprised to learn about the age restrictions. Many didn’t know that Instagram has a minimum age requirement of 13 years old. We talked about why these restrictions are in place, such as to protect young people from inappropriate content and ensure their safety online. The children were able to understand that being careful about what they watch, post, and share is really important, and we discussed how some online spaces might not always be safe for younger users.
Year 3- French- Emotive language-Comment Ca Va'
During French with Junior Jam, the children revisited their previous learning, practising phrases like "How many?" and "How old are you?" in French. Today, they learned how to ask "How are you?" in different ways, expanding their vocabulary. They were brilliant and showed great progress with their French-speaking skills.
Year 3- Media- Exploring the function of a verse.
In computing, the children revisited their previous learning of keyboard skills. Today, they explored the function of a verse in a pop song and examined the key characteristics that make up a song. They were having an absolute blast, fully engaged and enjoying every moment of the lesson!
Rev Ben’s Worship: God the Rescuer
Rev Ben came in today to talk about rescuers. He began with a dressing up challenge in which 2 teams had to create their own superhero. Mind Reader won the most votes as the best superhero. Rev Ben linked this to a great rescuer from the Bible: Moses. He told us about God recruiting Moses to talk the Pharaoh into setting his people free. It was a difficult task but, with God’s help, he achieved it. The children spent some time thinking about what made Moses a rescuer and what made Jesus the ultimate rescuer.
Year 3- Science- Exploring reflective and non-reflective materials.
This afternoon, Year 3 scientists investigated the concept that, while all objects reflect light to make them visible, certain materials are more effective at reflecting light than others. The investigation involved testing a variety of materials such as mirrors, tin foil, wood, sequins, ribbon, marble, and black cards using a reflective tester. The children created their reflection testers using a white card and a torch. They observed and recorded the effects of shining the torch on each material and documented their findings in a table. They experienced many "wow" moments throughout the investigation. They had a fantastic time acting as young scientists and also learned the importance of wearing reflective materials at night for safety.
European Day of Languages 2024 - Harvest Songs
Today, in singing worship, the children were introduced to some Harvest-themed songs in different European languages. This was in celebration of European Day of Languages, which will take place on Thursday. We have set the children a challenge to learn part or all of one of these songs. They can do this for next week. We are not expecting them to know it by Thursday. There may be some value points available to those who try! :) Here are the links: Harvest songs Portugal - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C2iZZ9GBUFE Germany - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuzQraV8d1Q France - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fjU3YhaM_50
After-School Foodie Friends Club- Mouth Watering Shaped Biscuits
During our after-school foodie club today, the children had fun turning into little bakers, making all kinds of shaped biscuits. They even got to use their maths skills, carefully weighing out the butter, sugar, and flour on the scales. Cracking an egg was a highlight before mixing everything into a soft dough. It was wonderful to see them helping each other roll it out and using shape cutters to create stars, hearts, flowers, and bunny rabbits. Once baked in the school oven, they packed their biscuits into little paper bags to take home and share with their families.
Friday Celebration Worship
During our celebration worship this morning, Mrs Ham began the worship by lighting the candles and reflecting on the many things we are thankful for and grateful for, which led to some children sharing their thankful moments, such as our school, our outdoor area and our families. We then moved on to celebrating a very special member of staff, Mrs Pendlebury who is sadly leaving us today to enjoy her retirement. She has been with us for over 25 years. Heads and Deputies expressed some of their fond memories shared with Mrs Pendlebury. Rosie, expressed by stating that Mrs Pendlebury is one of a kind, Daisy remembered a time when Mrs Pendlebury kindly gave her a hat to wear on a class trip to rock and River. Harry and Hamza recalled moments when Mrs Pendlbury almost fell off a chair which they found amusing. We also watched a short video celebrating Mrs Pendlebury’s time at our school, filled with wonderful memories, a true legend. Mr Bloomfield and Mr Prescott shared a few words too, though no words can capture or express how much Mrs Pendlebury has meant to the school. Her grandchildren Jack and Beau, helped present Mrs Pendlebury with gifts and flowers from the school and staff. Mrs Ham then shared the awards that children received outside of school, including achievements for Charlie, Molly and Isabelle swimming, Isabella, Annabel and Phoebe for the summer reading challenge, James football, Grace dancing and Ella-Grace scouted for Manchester United. Reception and Year 5 won the attendance award. Darwen Tower gained an extra break for the most value points received this week. We then had prayers from Naomi, Sonny and Oscar and sang Mrs Pendlebury’s favourite songs, ‘Welcome everybody’ and Our God is great big God’.