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Year 5 - French
In this French lesson, the children began by learning the names of different locations around school. They revised familiar phrases for saying their name, age and where they live then compared and contrasted British and French schools. The main focus was using the phrase ‘Je suis dans’, meaning ‘I am in’ and ‘Il/elle est dans’, meaning ‘he/she is in’.
Bee Stinger Netball Final
We are incredibly proud of our netball squad tonight! 🐝🏐 They left absolutely everything on the court in the Bee Stinger Netball Final. While we have proudly taken home the trophy for the last three years, unfortunately, tonight just wasn’t our night. A massive congratulations to Feniscowles on a well-played match and a deserved win! 👏🏆 We couldn’t do what we do without our amazing staff. A special thank you to Mrs Gardner for her brilliant coaching, and to Miss Kachwalla for her wonderful support this evening. 🌟 Finally, a huge thank you to all our amazing parents for showing up and cheering the team on. Your continued support means the world to us! Heads held high, Team B! You played with so much heart and we couldn't be prouder. We will be back stronger next time and have the rest of the netball league to look forward to. 💪 🌟
Year 5 - School of Kindness
Today Krish from the School of Kindness visited to help us all be kinder people. In a whole school worship, he told us that being kind is based on three key ideas: friendliness, generosity and consideration. We developed examples of these from our everyday lives before discussing how being kind can actually boost our physical and mental health. We then returned to class and made a personal gift for a friend or family member to show our appreciation of them. For more information about this organisation, please visit https://schoolofkindness.org/
Whole School- Be the Change: Our Kindness Workshop
This morning, Years 1-6 took part in an inspiring 'Kindness Workshop' delivered by Krish, centred on Mahatma Gandhi’s famous quote: "Be the change you want to see in the world." The children explored the three pillars of kindness, being friendly, generous, and considerate, and brainstormed simple everyday actions like smiling, sharing, hugging, complimenting, etc. We looked at powerful, real-life examples from 52 Lives, a charity founded by Jamie in 2013, including Clare from Australia and Andrea from Romania, whose £5,000 operation goal was doubled to £10,000 by kind strangers. This sparked a wonderful discussion about how fortunate we are to have the NHS in our country compared to places where healthcare is very expensive. After watching a video of a young boy comforting an upset football fan after Portugal beat France, the children learned that kindness is actually scientifically proven to make us happier, give us healthier hearts, slow down ageing, and help us live longer. Best of all, kindness is contagious; a single act can spread to 125 people! During the workshop, the children had the opportunity to share kind words with their peers in pairs. They mentioned that giving and receiving compliments felt anywhere from a bit "weird" to really "joyful". At the end of the workshop, the children had a quiz with a series of questions. Arlo, Jack, Molly, Beau, Sophia, Phoebe, Elijah, Eden, Isaac, James, Desmond, Chay, Declan, and Archie did a brilliant job answering the questions, showing great listening skills, and everyone demonstrated our 4 school rules exceptionally well. Afterwards, the children went back into their classrooms to complete their kindness activities. They had a fantastic time making chatterboxes, bracelets, letters, poems, and posters. Lots of kindness has been shared today, and we will definitely continue to share it. We must remember that kindness doesn't cost anything, so we should all use it more.
Year 5 - RE
Our new topic in RE concerns the role that women played in the Bible. The first lesson was about Jochebed, the mother of Moses who saw that her baby was special and risked her own safety to save him despite the Pharaoh’s wish. We connected this story to important women of the modern world, such as artists, scientists, politicians and sports people.
Wraparound Care is coming to St Barnabas!
🎉 Exciting News! On-Site Wraparound Care is Coming to St Barnabas! 🎉 We are delighted to announce that starting in September 2026, we will be offering our own on-site wraparound care service, exclusively for our children! We have partnered with Progressive (formerly Progressive Sports) to deliver high-quality, activity-focused care right here on school grounds. Progressive is the perfect fit because: They provide a strong sports element, creative, wellness, and discovery activities—all popular choices from our parent survey! We will be working closely with them to ensure their provision meets the same high expectations for behaviour and support that we maintain during school hours. Affordable & Flexible Options: We’ve negotiated affordable rates and flexible sessions for our families: Breakfast Club (7:30 am–8:55 am, including breakfast): £5.00 per session. After School Club (3:20/3:30 pm–6:00 pm, including a snack): £8.00 per session. Reduced Session Price: Only £6.00 if attending after a school enrichment club! A 10% sibling discount is available, and Tax-free/Universal Credit childcare vouchers are accepted. Progressive will also offer holiday clubs during some school breaks. We are confident this new service will offer affordable, convenient and high-quality care. Please read the attached letter for further information.
DPSSA Netball League
This evening Team B took part in their second evening of netball fixtures. First we played against Sudell and came away with an 11-0 win and then we played St Joseph’s which was a super tight game but we managed to secure a 6-5 win in the end. A great evening of superb play and sportsmanship by every member of the team- well done!
Year 5 - History
In History, we concluded our study of Ancient Greece by learning about some of the great philosophers including Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. We then looked in greater depth at the trial of Socrates and how his anti-democratic stance and questioning of authority created powerful enemies. The children were then asked to decide if they thought Socrates was deserving of his punishment.
Year 5 - Smart School Council
The Year 5 members of Miss Kachwalla’s school council convened a meeting to discuss the latest issues brought up at the last council discussion. The children participated in group discussions before sharing their thoughts and ideas to the councillors, who recorded them. Year 5 proposed sensible improvements to school life at St Barnabas, such as new clubs and alternative uses of the school grounds. These ideas will go forward and be considered by the council.
Whole School Worship - Pentecost
This week, Tuesday’s worship focussed on the Christian celebration of Pentecost. Mrs Ham began by asking the children what they remember about Pentecost, to which some children replied, “When the Holy Spirit came”, “Fire on people’s heads” and “When they spoke in different languages”. We watched a film about a group of pandas waiting for a special gift of some new musical instruments. They woke very early for the delivery but they had the wrong day and the gift wasn’t due until the day after. They had a bedtime story about Jesus’ disciples waiting for a wonderful gift, but they were unsure when it would arrive. Suddenly a strong wind blew and they all had flames on their heads and a warm feeling inside, they knew God’s power had struck them and he was living inside their hearts. Jesus will always be with them and he asked them to always be with him as he was with them. They ran into the streets and Peter shouted to the people that Jesus had rescued them and that Jesus’ love is never breaking and always and forever. Even though not everyone could speak the same language, they all still understood Peter’s words. Mrs Ham told us that Pentecost is also known as the birthday of the church. We all then sang one of our favourite hymns, “He Is Alive” to finish our Pentecost celebration.
Year 5 - Money Matters
Debt Aware: Money Matters visited Year 5 today to talk about banking, including the names of high street banks and building societies as well as their role in providing loans and deposit accounts. The children learned about the growth of online banking and the decline of cash as a payment method. Different types of saving accounts were discussed as well as the role of interest.
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Year 5 - Science
We learned how levers and pulleys allow you to lift objects more easily before making our own simple and compound pulley systems. By using cereal boxes, pencils, string and paper clips, we discovered that adding more wheels to our pulley system reduced the effort to lift a weight. The children then extrapolated this information to other pulley systems with more wheels. I owe thanks to all the children who brought in cereal boxes and to Mr Fairbanks who allowed us to use his washers.