KS2 Christmas Church Service
This morning, we had a special Christmas Church Service led by Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 to celebrate Advent. Year 6 lit the first candle for hope and shared their hopes and dreams for the future. Leonora and Daisy shared their dream of being a teacher to inspire others in the same way that they have been inspired in their own education, Alice shared her dream of being a paediatric nurse to support children in their time of need and suffering, Matthew shared his hope of travelling the world and experiencing the awe and wonder it can offer, Oscar shared his desire to be a kind and respectful citizen as he grows into adolescence and adulthood and Jake shared the hope of being like his parents who love and care for him and inspire him every day to be kind and positive. Year 5 then showed their beautifully crafted origami doves, symbolising peace and hope. They then read their heartfelt prayers, expressing their wishes for peace. Year 4 lit the candle for joy and shared their wonderful metaphors for Jesus through artwork such as Jesus being a torch and a lighthouse. This symbolised the joy Jesus brings us. Finally, Year 3 told us about the final theme of Advent which was love. They spoke about how we are able to share love by being kind and supportive of one another and shared some examples of how Jesus showed love through the miracles that he performed. The candle for love will be lit this Sunday. To end our collective worship, Mrs Ham gave us a few moments to reflect on how we can spread hope, joy, peace and love this Christmas time. We had examples such as smiling, giving hugs and kisses, giving a high-five, making and giving someone a card, encouraging others to challenge and overcome things, letting others join in with our games and giving our friends and family the precious gift of time. She thanked all of the staff for their outstanding commitment to our school family, our parents for their fabulous support and our amazing children for being so well behaved and working so hard. We then heard from Rev Ben who shared a lovely Christmas blessing and we had the pleasure of watching our fabulous Christmas video which showcased all of the Christmas fun we have had over the last few weeks and it brought lots of joy and laughter to the whole congregation.
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Christmas Lunch
We had a fabulous traditional Christmas lunch of roast chicken, roast potatoes, carrots, sweetcorn, yorkshire pudding, stuffing and gravy following by a Christmas shortbread biscuit. It was lovely to pull crackers with our friends and sing along to our favourite Christmas songs. Thank you so much to Mrs Norton, Miss Beech and Miss Norton for the wonderful food and to all the staff who helped serve the children!
Year 6 and Choir - Carol Singing
Year 6 and the choir sang fantastically well in Darwen Market spreading Christmas joy to members of the public. What an amazing way to end the half term!
FOSB Fundraiser Thank you
Good morning, A huge thank you to you all for your support with our recent fundraisers. Our total profit from our spooky disco was £426.89. Our total profit from our Christmas gifts and cards fundraiser was £222.12. Our total profit from our Christmas Fayre was £810.08. This means we have raised £1459.09 Thank you to our FOSB for all of their support and help with planning and running our fundraisers. The money will help us to purchase chrome books and repair our trim trail. Thank you, Mrs Wilkinson
India Mill Winners Disco
Well done to our children who are in India Mill House Team. Their team won the most Values points this half term and were rewarded with a non-uniform day and a disco. The children enjoyed some sweets, danced lots and played musical bumps too.
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Autumn Amazing Attendance Alert
A huge congratulations to all of our children who were awarded with an amazing attendance award for having over 96% attendance, for the whole of this Autumn term! We are so proud of you all! There have been quite a few winter bugs doing the rounds so if you didn't manage to get a certificate this time due to being off poorly, we are hopeful that you will achieve one at the end of the Spring term, if you continue to have good attendance.
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Collective Worship- Love at Advent
This morning in our collective worship we walked in to the song 'Wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas' which is from one of Mrs Ham's favourite Christmas films, The Muppets Christmas Carol. We then signed and lit our trinity candles and then lit our advent candles of hope, peace and joy. We then learnt about the fourth candle, which represents love. We watched a special video called from God with love which told God's big story and how he loves us so much that he sent his special son, Jesus. We then reflected on how we can show love to others this Christmas and we had some wonderful ideas such as smiling, giving our time, hugs, food for the homeless, giving presents and showing gratitude for everything we have. We thought about all of the lovely ways we have shown love to others over the last week through singing in care homes, delivering Christmas cards to East Lancs Hospice and bringing joy to others with our Nativity and Christmas Cracker Concerts. We then said a special prayer thanking God for his most amazing gift of Jesus and sang some Christmas carols. Whilst we were singing, Mrs Ham gave every single child in our school family a special gift of a small wooden heart with love engraved on it to remind us that God loves us, she loves us, all the teachers love us and our friends and family love us. She explained that everytime we look at it we can remember how loved we are and it can encourage us to show love to others in all the fantastic ways we thought of earlier.
Years 4, 5 and 6 Christmas Party
It was party day today and the children in Years 4, 5 and 6 came together to play games and show off their best dance moves. They enjoyed a round of pass the parcel and a couple of games of corners, but their highlight was definitely dancing in their flashing glasses to an array of nineties and noughties pop classics.
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Whole School Celebration Worship
During this week’s celebration worship, we reflected on the theme of joy this Advent, alongside the lighting of the peace and hope candles as part of our preparations for Christmas. We discussed how joy can be found in simple moments and acts of kindness, and the children were reminded of the many wonderful events that brought happiness throughout the week. These included the Rocksteady concert, where children showcased their musical talents, the magical pantomime Aladdin on Ice, the school Pantivity Production and the festive fun of the Christmas Fair. Our Values Award winners were celebrated with great applause: Harry in Reception, Molly in Year 1, Evie in Year 2, Chay in Year 3, Sofia in Year 4, Elsie in Year 5, and Poppy in Year 6. Their contributions to school life have been amazing and have been reflected in their awards. Year 1 and Year 4 were also recognised as the winners of this week’s attendance award for their commitment to being present and ready to learn. A heartfelt special thank you was given to all the children who contributed their creative talents to produce the stunning Christmas artwork now proudly displayed in the Rose Garden at Whitehall Park. This beautiful display adds a festive touch to the community and each class will now take a trip to the park to admire all the children’s artwork. Prayers were shared during the worship, led by the children, who asked for peace in countries experiencing conflict and war, kindness to those without food or shelter, and blessings for everyone to have a safe, warm, and joyful Christmas. The Team Values Points results were eagerly awaited, with Darwen Tower placing fourth, India Mill third, River Darwen second, and Whitehall Park taking first place for the week. In addition, India Mill was announced as the overall half-term winner, earning a well-deserved non-uniform day and disco celebration as a reward for their hard work and teamwork throughout the term. This will take place on the last Thursday of the term. We proudly acknowledged the remarkable achievements of our children. Lydia was recognised for earning her Rainbows Influencer Skills Builder badge and for taking action to make a difference, while Naomi received her Christmas badge for Brownies. Isabella celebrated swimming 5 meters, and Lyla earned a Medal with Rothwell Arts for her dedication to ballet. Marnie May was applauded for her accomplishments in tap dancing and gymnastics and Grace achieved her Bronze Award for earning multiple badges at Brownies. Olivia was named Star of the Week for her excellent performance in gymnastics and Tristen celebrated earning his blue belt in kickboxing. Scarlett shone with her Netball Shooting Award, while Oliver achieved a swimming award for swimming 5 meters. Elana was recognised for her Rainbows Influencer Skills Builder and taking action and Luna was honored as Dancer of the Day. Alice and Evie were recognised as they performed beautifully in Over the Bridge and Leonora and Desmond proudly represented their swimming competition in the regionals. Well done to all for these incredible accomplishments! The worship concluded on a high note, with everyone coming together to sing joyful Christmas songs, filling the room with festive cheer.
Year 6 - What affect do different types of exercise have on my body?
Year 6 looked at the effect different types of exercise had on their heart rate. We started by taking our resting heart rate and then gradually increased the intensity of the activity we took part in. We found out that as the intensity of the activity increased, our heart rates also increased. Based on our previous learning, we concluded that, because the intensity of the activity increased, the more our muscles demanded water, nutrients and oxygen.
Whitehall Park Rose Garden Art Trail
Thank you to all the children who created fantastic Art work for our ADVENTure trail at the Whitehall Park. A selection of the Art work is now on display in the Rose Garden for everyone to see. All classes will be visiting next week to look at the Art work, talk about the Nativity story and sing some Christmas carols to get us all in the festive spirit!
Worship with Rev. Ben
During worship with Rev. Ben, the children began by playing a game of "Spot the Difference," where they had to identify which picture was missing from a selection of displayed images. Following this, Rev. Ben shared the story of Daniel and the Lions' Den. The children learned how Daniel, despite knowing that following God and continuing to pray would put him in danger, trusted in God and was unharmed by the lions. This led to a thoughtful discussion about Daniel's courage and faith. The children then reflected on how they could show courage in their own lives, drawing inspiration from Daniel’s example.
Not Getting Inn!
Our whole school was treated to a modern day version of the Nativity story. 4Front Theatre put on a wonderful production for our children. There was lots of laughter, singing and chanting throughout. Most importantly, there was a wonderful heartfelt message at the end of hope and joy. The photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/not-getting-inn-1
Whole School Worship: Joy at Advent
This week, our advent theme is JOY. We learned about the joy of Jesus’s birth and how we can bring joy into the lives of others this Christmas. We looked at the John Lewis advert about the man in the moon and how the little girl brought joy to the man, who had been very lonely. We also watched an alternative to the original advert about a girl searching for God and when she almost gave up looking, he sent to her his greatest gift: his son, Jesus. We finished with a look at all of the ways our classes have been bringing joy to each other and the community, including litter picking and singing in the local care home and reflected on how we can bring joy to to others this Christmas.
Aladdin on Ice
The children are all very excited for Aladdin on Ice at Planet Ice. We are very lucky and appear to have the best seats in the house! Oh no we haven't, oh yes we have!! All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/aladdin-on-ice
Aladdin on Ice
Our whole school family watched Aladdin on Ice this afternoon at Planet Ice. We all got involved in lots of singing and dancing at the beginning. Santa, a snowman and even the Grinch made an appearance! During the show it was wonderful to see so many talented ice dancers and actors. We enjoyed a bag of sweets as a treat and some of us even got to high five members of the cast. A well deserved Christmas treat for all of our children. All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/aladdin-on-ice
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Whole School- Design Technolgy
This half term, our students have been busy creating a range of designs in Design Technology. From Reception's wooden Christmas decorations to Year 6's electronic steady hand games, our children have showcased their imaginative and creativity skills. Year 1 brought their imaginations to life, creating interactive moving storybooks using slider mechanisms. Year 2 developed their sewing skills, designing and creating a range of Christmas puppets. Year 3 designed and made festive pouches, perfect for holding small gifts or treats. Year 4 stitched up Christmas stockings, ready to hang by the chimney, finally, Year 5 created festive cushions. These creations were showcased and sold at our Christmas Fayre. We're incredibly proud of the hard work and imagination our students have demonstrated in these festive DT projects.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by reflecting on another week in school. This week, we have been thinking about peace and how this is especially important at this time of the year when things can feel busy and chaotic on the run up to Christmas. We also thought about our many highlights such as watching the fabulous Nativity Performances led by Reception, the final dance sessions in KS2 with Rothwell Arts, our fabulous choir and their siblings bringing lots of festive cheer to the residents at Acer Lodge Care Home in Blackburn yesterday evening and our Year 5/6 football team for representing school at Witton Park last night and bagging several wins. We then congratulated Marnie-May, Percy and Fletcher in EYFS and KS1 and James, Desmond, Bella and Jake for being the individual value award winners this week. Furthermore, we congratulated Reception and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, River Darwen as our overall value award winners this week with 451 points and Year 3 on being the overall ‘Walk to School’ winners for the month of November. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Thea for achieving a super 5m in swimming, Ralphy for being a superstar swimmer and being awarded his Duckling 1, 2 and 3 award and his Stage 1 and 2 award, Reggie and Albie for having the best decorated tractor at the Turton Young Farmers Tractor Run at the weekend, Beau and Haydn for achieving a fabulous 10m in her swimming, James for winning ‘Player of the Match’ at Darwen FC Aces, Hollie for achieving stage 2 in her swimming, Callie for being a wonderful swimmer and achieving her 10m backstroke and butterfly, Stage 8 in her gymnastics and working exceptionally hard at Stage Coach, Archie for being awarded his orange belt in kickboxing, Harriet for achieving 200m in her swimming and Stage 4 water skills award, Grace for being awarded two medals for ballet and acro dancing, Penelope for gaining the ‘Most Improved dancer’ in Acro at Rothwell Arts, Renee for gaining her white belt at kickboxing and her Stage 2 in swimming, Eleanor for achieving her Stage 2 at swimming and Charlie for achieving Stage 4 at swimming. To end our worship, we had two beautiful prayers from Lydia and Harry who said a prayer for refugees and keeping them safe as they flee their countries. We then sang ‘We Three Kings’ and ‘Ding Dong.’ 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 weekend.
Worship with Rev. Matt
During worship with Rev. Matt, the children began with a lively game of musical statues, setting a joyful tone for the session. They then listened attentively to the story of The Men Who Liked to Say No, which illustrated how unwavering faith can triumph over even the greatest challenges. The story emphasised the courage and resilience needed to stand firm in one's beliefs. Following the story, the children engaged in a thoughtful reflection on its message. They discussed the true meaning of Christmas, explored practical ways to do good, even in difficult situations. They shared ideas on how small acts of kindness and faith can make a big difference, connecting the lessons of the story to their own lives. It was a meaningful session that left the children inspired to carry the spirit of Christmas into their everyday actions.
Year 6 - Class Worship
This week, in our class worship, year 6 discussed what it means to feel included. We explored a new incentive from the FA to raise participation of disabled people in football and expressed how we felt about this. The overarching views were positive, but we also explained how this incentive could have happened sooner. We then linked this to school life and spoke about what it means to feel fully included. The word that epitomises this is ‘belonging‘.
Year 6 - DT Products
Over the last couple of weeks, year 6 have worked hard on designing and making their Christmas themed electrical loop games. They are all set to be sold at this year’s Christmas Fair. They look brilliant year 6!
Year 6 - Exploring osmosis and diffusion
Today, Year 6 explored how our bodies get the water and nutrients they need through the process of osmosis and diffusion. To highlight these processes, we soaked gummy bears in 3 different liquids (Coca Cola, water and salty water) for 24 hours. We discovered that the gummy bear in the water grew in size because the water molecules moved from a higher concentration (water), to a lower concentration (gummy bear) which is exactly what happens in our bodies. The water in our blood would move into our cells in order to keep us hydrated. However, the gummy bear in the salt shrank. This tells us that if there is too much salt in our blood stream, the water will actually move away from our cells, where it is needed, and back into the blood to restore balance. As a result, we can become dehydrated and our cells become less efficient.
KS2 After School Club
During this week’s after-school club, the children focused on improving their movement off the ball. They played an engaging game of bench ball, enhanced with various conditions to challenge them tactically and help develop their football skills. It was a fantastic session filled with teamwork, strategy, and enthusiasm!
Collective Worship: Peace at Advent
Our school is starting to get ready for Christmas and has been decorated. There was one final job to do- our youngest child, Annie placed the star on our Christmas tree. This week we started our worship by looking at the Year of Prayer, which we will be taking part in along with lots of other schools from across our Diocese. Our WOW group explained what we would be focusing on this week in classes. All classes will have a go at alphabet prayers. The children will all think about something that brings joy to them. We then looked at our whole school focus which was on the value of peace. Mrs Wilkinson led the children in prayer. Mrs Wilkinson recapped what Christians focus on in the first week of advent: hope. She lit the first Advent candle. We then looked at what we would be focussing on this week which was peace. The children watched a video all about peace. Leonora said that if we experience conflict in school, we could walk away or not argue with our friends and remain at peace. Matthew said smiling brings us joy and peace. We all reflected on what the world would be like if it was always at peace. The children discussed how loving everyone can bring peace. We ended our worship by singing 'We Three Kings' and 'Ding Dong'.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Today, every child in school helped to decorate our real Christmas tree in the hall. They have been busy decorating their classrooms too so it really is beginning to look and feel like Christmas! On Monday, as part of our St Barnabas tradition, the youngest child in our school will place the star on top of the tree in Worship.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by reflecting on another very busy week in school. On Monday, we started the week by introducing our children to the Diocese ‘Year of Prayer Challenge,’ we’ve had some fabulous clubs such as sportshall athletics, choir, lego and football training, great enthusiasm whilst rehearsing for our Christmas productions and making Christmas products in our D&T units to sell at our Christmas Fair. We then congratulated our individual value award winners. Well done to Minnie, Olivia and Marley in EYFS and KS1 and Cassidy, Peyton, Theo and Grace in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these fabulous children for consistently showing our Christian Values, Barney’s 4Bs and always demonstrating a positive attitude to learning. We also congratulated Elsie, Mollie, Haydn, Joey, Archie, Seb, Mila, Lyla and Heidi for representing school in the KS1 Multi-Skills Festival at St Bedes, our amazing Sports Leaders for supporting this KS1 Multi-Skills event and our fantastic Year 5/6 football team who represented school at BRFC Kids Cup. Despite their defeat, they bounced back amazingly and had two successes last night against St Edwards and Avondale. Well done boys! Furthermore, we congratulated Year 1 and Year 6 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park as our overall value award winners this week with 296 points. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Vienna for swimming 100m without armbands and achieving her Stage 4, Arabelle for achieving Stage 5 in her swimming, Haydn for achieving his 5m and Stage 3 in his swimming, Sofia for achieving a medal for demonstrating great perseverance in her commercial dancing, Lyla for her fabulous audition as Glinda in Wicked, Grace for her fabulous dance talent, Eleanor for being a super Rainbow, Mollie for achieving her Stage 1 water skills award, Elsie for achieving 75m without armbands in her swimming, Olivia for getting Emily at Brownies for demonstrating kindness and using her manners, Beau for being awarded her Stage 2 at swimming, James for achieving the team captain arm band this week at football and Matthew for playing and winning in a special tournament for Manchester United at the weekend. We then said a farewell to a valuable member of staff, Mrs Stanton. We thank her for her dedication over the past 18 months in her role as Key Stage 2 Teaching Assistant and previously in her role as office admin. We wish her all the best in her new role as a design and technology teacher. To end our worship, we had three beautiful prayers from Hamza, Leonora and Olivia who said prayers about appreciating all the things that we can sometimes take for granted and being grateful for everything that we receive this Christmas. We then sang ‘Ding Dong' with great enthusiasm! 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 weekend.
Year 5&6 Football
It was an outstanding evening of football for the St. Barnabas team. In their first match, they secured a solid 2-0 victory against St. Edwards. Building on this success, they went on to their second game, defeating Avondale 3-0. Exceptional teamwork and effort from everyone in the team. Huge well done to the boys!
Worship with Rev. Ben
During worship with Rev. Ben, the children explored the story of Daniel and "the boys who liked to say no." Worship began with a fun game of yes or no, where the children decided which foods they would or wouldn’t eat. In the story, Daniel and his friends said no to the king’s food to show their obedience to God. Because they supported one another and remained loyal to their faith, they were granted strength and looked healthy. Rev. Ben explained that, unlike Daniel and his friends, Christians today don’t follow food rules in the same way. However, there are many ways we can remember God in our daily lives. The children reflected on how Daniel and his friends stayed faithful and considered how they could remember God this week—in their prayers, words, and actions.
Year 6 - Designing our Christmas themed loop game
Year 6 have been working towards their Christmas themed loop games this week. They started by researching existing products and how it is important that form follows function. Following on from this, the children then designed their loop game, keeping in mind that it is to be sold at the Christmas fair. The designs are absolutely fantastic and I look forward to seeing all of the final products.
Year 6 - Road safety workshop
Today, year 6 visited DACA for a road safety workshop. The children listened attentively and explored the importance of minimising distractions when walking to school. In a world that is surrounded by technology, it is very easy to get distracted, but it is really important to take precautions when we are near roads.
Whole School Worship - Bishop Philip’s Year of Prayer Launch
The St Barnabas school family were thrilled to join a live worship with Bishop Philip this afternoon, along with nearly 60 other church schools in Blackburn Diocese. Lisa and the Bishop met us via Zoom to talk to us about prayer, why we pray and what happens to our prayers. We were fascinated to learn that Jesus knows each and every one of us, and that he hears all of our prayers. We also learned some new ways to pray. These included quiet prayers, for which we were silent and focused on just being with our thoughts, and noisy prayers, for which we shouted out our school name and our own name as loud as we could. Over the course of this academic year, we will be focusing on a new way to pray each week in whole school collective worship, and in our classrooms. We know the children will enjoy exploring prayers along with hundreds of other children across the Diocese.
Year 6 - Parliament Week
On Friday, Year 6 rounded off ‘Parliament Week’ with a meeting with Baroness Wilcox of Newport. Baroness Wilcox started the session with a presentation about the House of Lords before answering some questions that the children had prepared prior to the session. Some of the questions were fantastic and a big thank you to Baroness Wilcox for answering them so openly and honestly.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by reflecting on our busy week in school and all the fabulous snowy weather that we’ve had. We then congratulated our individual value award winners. Well done to Albie, Millie and Alice in EYFS and KS1 and Naomi, Walter, Jenson and Harry in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these amazing children for showing great enthusiasm across the curriculum, working hard to consistently demonstrate our Barney’s 4Bs and being fantastic role models. We also congratulated Martha, Declan, Harry and Tilly for representing school in the Pantathlon Bowling Competition and Charlie, Darcy, Eliza, Carter, Ivy and Edward for representing school at a Dodgeball Festival this week, Year 2 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and India Mill as our overall value award winners this week with 428 points. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Ava and Hendrix for taking part in Squirrels at Bold Venture Park, Eliza for achieving many rosettes for being a fabulous jockey, Reggie for doing a fantastic pass and being ‘Player of the Week’ at Little Darreners, Thea for showing amazing skill and bar work at gymnastics, Olivia for achieving the team captain arm band this week at football, Harry for achieving ‘Man of the Match’ for showing grit and determination at football, Marley for being amazingly creative, Maggie for achieving her ‘Animal Lover’ and ‘Family Tree’ badge at Rainbows, Desmond and Leonora for being super swimmers and achieving many PBs and Isabella for achieving 5m in her swimming without armbands. To end our worship, we had three beautiful prayers from Finn, Cassidy and James. Finn said a prayer for those who have sacrificed their lives in the war past and present, Cassidy prayed for those who are less fortunate than us including those without toilets and James prayed for us all to have a lovely and restful weekend and for our safe return on Monday. We then sand ‘Sing a New Song’. 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 weekend.
Rev Matt Worship
Today, Rev Matt led a fantastic worship that focused on how we can often lose sight of things that are important. He started with a challenge that involved watching a video with a focus in mind, but in doing so, we missed some other events that occurred. This linked nicely to the story ‘God Sends Fire’ as King Ahab had lost faith in God and decided to worship a false God called Baal. To show everyone that God was the true God, Elijah challenged the prophets of Baal to a contest. They had to build an altar and ask their God to set it on fire. The prophets of Baal danced and prayed all night, but nothing happened. Then, Elijah asked people to drench his altar with water. He prayed to God, and fire came down from heaven! It burned up the altar and all of the water. Everyone saw this and knew God was the true God. This story can help us remember to have faith in God, even when things are tough, and to always trust that He is in control.
Year 6 - Dance
Today, year 6 continued their dance P.E. unit. They worked extremely hard on putting elements of a dance together, that can be used in their production of Annie at the end of the year.
Whole School Worship - World Toilet Day
In worship yesterday, we looked through our spirituality windows and out into the world on toilets. We were shocked and saddened to find out that around 700 children under 5 die every year due to poor sanitation. We heard about Jeremiah in Kenya who doesn’t have access to a toilet. In his community, people would mostly use a hole in the ground or a plastic bag, which some people would tie up and throw on other people’s roofs. We talked about how this affects people’s health and shared ideas of what we could do to help. The children then learned about our Toilet Twinning project for which we raised money a few years go to sponsor the building and maintenance of toilets in Nepal, Uganda, Tanzania, and Afghanistan. We reflected on how we should never take our toilets for granted and thought of ways we could save loo paper and water.
KS2 - Fun in the Snow
Our classes in Years 3 to 6 had a whale of a time in the snow yesterday. They made snowmen and snow sculptures of varying sizes. We even had some Year 5s using a mould to create duckling sculptures.
Year 6 - Fire Service Visit
This week, year 6 were visited by the fire service. They recapped the learning that they received in year 2 and moved onto the topic of ‘Roadsense’. As year 6 move to secondary school, they will no doubt become more independent and may be trusted to walk to school. It is really important that they keep themselves safe and make sure they are visible and give roads their full attention.
Year 6 - Parliament Week
This week, year 6 have spent some time getting to grips with Parliament and how the country is run. They discovered that Parliament is split into two houses: House of Commons and the House of Lords, and this Friday the children will actually get the chance to put some questions to Baroness Wilcox, who sits in the House of Lords. They will have the chance to ask questions about her role and the House of Lords itself. This is a fantastic opportunity which will be enriched further when we actually visit the Houses of Parliament during our London trip in March.
Year 5&6 Football Club
Today at football club, Year 5 delved into the tactical elements of football, focusing on space, awareness, and movement off the ball. They participated in an exciting game of handball, where they applied rules such as no travelling with the ball, encouraging their teammates to move dynamically to create space and opportunities to score. The session was filled with energy, collaboration, and lots of learning. As these foundational skills will soon be implemented in football matches to enhance their overall gameplay and team strategy.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by reflecting on our very special and busy week in school. This week has seen us celebrate Remembrance Day, Anti-Bullying Week, Inter-Faith Week and Children in Need. We then congratulated our individual value award winners. Well done to Beau, Leila and Roman in EYFS and KS1 and Emily, Olivia, Mason and Daisy in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for working exceptionally hard across the curriculum, demonstrating our Christian Values. We also presented Emily with an additional award for achieving her pen license, our Year 5/6 football team for bouncing back from last week’s defeat and representing school with exemplary behaviour and brilliant sportsmanship which saw them win two matches at the Darwen School’s League last night, Year 1 and Year 6 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and River Darwen as the overall value award winners this week with 404 points. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Ava for taking part in Remembrance Day at Bold Venture Park, Callie for always listening and following instructions beautifully during her singing, dancing and acting lessons at Stage Coach, Seb for getting ‘Man of the Match’ and ‘Trainer of the Week’ at football, Elijah for achieving ‘Player of the Week’ at football for mastering a new skill called the step over, Finn for achieving ‘Player of the Day’ at Football and achieving ‘Most Improved Player’ for his cricket team, Quinn, April, Walter, Eve and Percy for attending the ‘Little Potting Club’ at Whitehall Park and achieving an environmentalist award, Beau for achieving 5m in her swimming, Jack for being awarded with his Stage 6 swimming certificate, James for attending the remembrance service with Beavers and Haydn for showing super skills in a recent football match. To end our worship, we had three beautiful prayers from Darcy, Olivia and Mason who thought about fuelling children in need with food and remembering those who sacrificed their lives for us and we sang ‘Build Up’ to reinforce the message of ‘building each other up’ this Anti-Bullying Week. 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.
Children in Need 2024
Our Y6 Heads and Deputies asked everyone to dress in pyjamas or spots to show our support for Children in Need this year. Yesterday we had a special visit from Pudsey Bear and Christine from Asda. They told us all about how Asda are raising money for Children in Need and they said a special thank you to us all for our fundraising to help children who are less fortunate than us. Thank you so much to our staff, children and parents for the effort you have gone to in dressing in your pyjamas or spots and thank you for your generous donations on parent pay. Together we can make a positive difference to the lives of so many disadvantaged children around our country.
Year 5&6 Football Team
Year 5 and 6 football team had an outstanding day on the field, winning both of their matches with determination and skill! They kicked off with a strong victory over St. Joseph’s, and then, in a thrilling second match against St. Cuthbert’s, they made an incredible comeback. After trailing 2-0, the team showed true grit and teamwork to turn the game around and win 6-2. A fantastic display of resilience, teamwork, and sportsmanship!
Year 6 - Anti-Bullying Live Lesson
At the beginning of this week, Year 6 took part in a PSHE lesson and a CBBC live lesson that focused on Anti-Bullying Week. The theme this year is ‘Choose Respect’. Year 6 were made aware that disagreements are actually a natural part of life and that we can’t avoid them. However, what we do have control of is the ability to be respectful when we have a disagreement. If we manage to do this, a resolution is easier to find.
Year 5&6 - Football Training
Year 5 and 6 had an action-packed football training session tonight! The children demonstrated excellent teamwork, focusing on passing, dribbling, and positioning skills. With each game, they worked on communication and precision, challenging each other to improve their techniques. It was fantastic to see such determination and enthusiasm from all the players!
Odd Socks Day at St Barnabas
To launch Anti-Bullying week, we celebrated Odd Socks Day in style today with some brilliant demonstrations of uniqueness. The children showed off their odd socks to their peers and shared reasons for their choices that really showed off their different preferences and personalities!
Year 6 - Hinduism Workshop
Year 6 welcomed Prags into our school today, who led them in a Hinduism workshop. She was very impressed by the children’s knowledge of pilgrimages and she then spoke in more detail about a Hinduism pilgrimage. She explained how the River Ganges is sacred to Hindus and that they believe the water washes sins away. When Prags first went on this pilgrimage, she expressed how it is an emotional event and one that she will never forget. Year 6 listened attentively and showed fantastic levels of respect.
KS2 - Observing 2 minute silence
At the end of break time today, KS2 observed a 2 minute silence to show respect to the fallen soldiers of the World Wars and any conflicts that have occurred since.
Darwen Remembrance Service
Our Year 6 class attended the Darwen Schools Remembrance Service this morning. They were so respectful when observing the two minutes silence and joined in the prayers with enthusiasm. Our head boy and head girl laid a lovely wreath that the class had created with Mrs Stanton which had special prayers for those who gave up their lives so that we could live ours. After the service we found out that the bagpiper used to attend St Barnabas when he was younger so he let us try on his hat. We then placed poppy crosses on our adopted war graves and took some time to say our own prayers for those who lost their lives in the wars. We also prayed for some of our children's loved ones who are buried in the cemetery. What a lovely morning of remembrance!
Year 6 Golden Time
After showing so much respect and gratitude at the Remembrance Service, Year 6 were rewarded with an early golden time on the new play area in Whitehall Park. It was wonderful to see them all having fun and getting along with each through comprising and waiting patiently. They also took risks and pushed themselves out of their comfort zone and it was great to hear them encouraging each other. Well done Year 6!
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by reflecting on our week of remembering to honour ‘Remembrance Day.’ We said that we have been thinking about the people who sacrifice their life to keep us safe and/or bring about positive change in our world such as the soldiers, The Royal Navy, the NHS, the firefighters, the police and the charity workers and we observed a two minute silence to pay our respects. We then congratulated our individual value award winners. Well done to Tommy-Joe, Teddy and Archie in EYFS and KS1 and Rosie, Jack, Grace and Hamza in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for always being respectful, kind, well-mannered and exceptionally hardworking. We also congratulated Desmond, Eliza, Daisy, Jack, Sofia and Tristen for achieving their pen licenses, Ted, Sofia, Daisy, Alice, Darcy, Walter and Sonny for representing our school amazingly well yesterday at the Cidari Moon Conference at Blackburn Cathedral, our Year 6 JagTag team for also representing our school superbly at the Soccer Dome on Tuesday and our Year 5/6 football team for representing school well at the Darwen School’s League last night, Year 1 and Year 3 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and India Mill as the overall value award winners this week. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Ava for her swimming certificate, Grace for passing her jazz exam, Eliza for demonstrating phenomenal skill in her horse riding mounting games and for placing 1st and 2nd in her most recent event, Olivia for achieving Player of the Match in a recent football match, Tristen for achieving his blocks badge and yet another belt in his kickboxing, Fletcher for being awarded with his green belt in genjitsu, Thomas for being a super pool player, Cassidy for being a super gymnast and achieving a silver medal for her vault work, Isaac for being an incredible captain and leading his football team with great confidence and skill, Mila, Eden and Sofia for taking part in a remembrance parade and Sofia for achieving several awards for her Brownies. To end our worship, Mrs Ham reminded us that next Tuesday 12th November is Odd Socks Day to celebrate Anti-bullying and Interfaith week and then next Friday 15th November is Children in Need and the children can wear pyjamas, spots or Pudsey merchandise. Rev Ben said a special remembrance prayer and then we sang ‘A Song of Peace’ to pray for a world of peace. 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.
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Sportshall Athletics Club
Tonight we started our first Sportshall Athletics Club. We practised various events including lap sprints, javelin, long jump and specialist obstacle skills such as the tunnel. The children worked hard to develop their agility and speed.
Year 5&6 Remembrance Walk
Today, our Year 5 and 6 children made a heartfelt visit to the remembrance graves to honor and remember those who courageously sacrificed their lives in times of war. Standing among the headstones, the children took time for quiet reflection, paying their respects to those who gave everything for the freedoms we enjoy today. With gentle hands, the children tended to the graves—a simple yet powerful act of care and gratitude. This experience reminded our children of the bravery and selflessness that paved the way for peace. This moment of reflection encouraged the children to find gratitude in the everyday blessings we often take for granted, fostering a sense of mindfulness and appreciation for the many freedoms we cherish today.
DPSSA Football
Tonight, the boys got off to a flying start with a comprehensive 8-0 victory in their first league game. However, they then suffered a 2-1 defeat to Turton and Edgworth who were worthy winners. No doubt, the boys will bounce back from the defeat next week. Well done boys!
Christmas at St Barnabas
Good morning parents and carers, Christmas will soon be here and we know what a busy time of year it is for everyone. We have lots of exciting things planned at St Barnabas so I thought it might help to have all of the dates in one place. Here are all the important dates you need in the lead up to the Christmas holidays. Please save it to your phone or device and I will also send it to you as a message. I hope this is helpful, Mrs Ham
Whole-School Worship: Remembrance
At St Barnabas, we always take the time leading up to Remembrance Day to reflect on the people who kept us safe in the past and those who keep us safe now. In worship, we heard examples of people who came from other countries to help defend the UK during the World Wars, and the courage and friendship they demonstrated in doing so. We also thought about how we would like to remember those who lost their lives in war. The children had some lovely ideas, including writing or saying prayers, drawing poppies, visiting memorial sites, attending church services, and even holding a two-minute silence at their weekend football matches. We remember those who gave up their lives for our country and also say a huge thank you to those who work hard everyday to protect us such as the armed forces, the police, firefighters and the NHS. We sang a lovely song of peace at the end of our worship in hope that the world will one day be filled with peace.
WOW Year Group Winners for October
A huge WELL DONE to Year 4 who gained the most walk to school badges for the month of October! It was great to see so many more children gaining their badges this month now we can take part in school through choosing to do the 1K A Day too. Thank you to parents and carers too for all of your support with this super initiative.
Edstart Jag Tag Festival
What a fantastic opportunity we had today in taking part in the Edstart Jag Tag Festival at Soccerdome. In the morning session, the children developed their skills and game tactics and then this afternoon they played games against other schools that were attending the festival. Team B showed great respect, encouragement and passion in every game and came away with a MVP ( Most Valued Player) in every single game with super results : Game 1 - 18-0 WIN vs St Oswalds MVP - Freddy Game 2- 20-6 WIN vs St Matthew’s MVP - Matthew Game 3 - 18-2 WIN St Anthony’s MVP Brooke Huge thanks to all of the coaches from Edstart , the other schools and support staff.
Year 6 - PSHE
In PSHE, Year 6 continued their work on relationships. They found out that sometimes we encounter challenges in friendships and that we need to try our best to resolve those challenges. Year 6 provided some fantastic examples of advice and I was extremely impressed by the levels of maturity.
Year 6 - Dance
At the end of last week, Year 6 started their dance unit. A few of the children were a bit reluctant to begin with, but as the session progressed they really let themselves go and produced a fantastic routine in just their first session. Thank you Jess from Rothwell Arts for a fabulous first session!
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by reflecting on the wonderful week that we have had in school. We lit a special candle for All Souls Day on Sunday to remember all those who have sadly passed away and reflected on the positive behaviour that we’re seeing around school such as holding open the doors for each other and using our wonderful manners. We also thought about all the amazing experiences that we have had in school such as Reception showcasing their Diwali learning to the whole school, Year 1 and Year 3 visiting Nightingale Farm, Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 fully embracing their dance sessions led by Rothwell Arts and the WOW group for giving the harvest donations to DARE (Darwen Asylum Refugee). Firstly, we congratulated the amazing children who took part in the 6 week Cre8ability programme which has allowed them to explore many of their creative talents such as painting, sculpting and being musicians and learning about their superpower emotional intelligence. We then presented Jasper, Vienna and Maggie in EYFS and KS1 and Ella-Grace, James, Quinn and Matthew in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for working extremely hard across the curriculum, showing a positive attitude to learning and using exceptional manners. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Eleanor who has recently made her Rainbows promise, Ava for achieving her Stage 1 swimming certificate, Fletcher for being awarded with his 25m swimming certificate, Lyla and Darcy for achieving a medal for their incredible gymnastic talent, Lydia and Naomi for receiving a letter from the head of royal correspondence thanking them for their very thoughtful letter to Princess Charlotte, Grace for being an amazing dancer, brownie and physicist, Olivia for being an incredible captain and leading her, Eliza for being an outstanding footballer and Sofia for achieving her intermediate award in gymnastics. We also congratulated our Year 4/5/6 girls football team who attended the DPSSA football league presentation evening last night and coming in 3rd overall, Year 2 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners, India Mill for winning the Inter-house sports competition before the holidays and River Darwen as the value award winners this week. We also congratulated River Darwen as being the half-termly award winners for last half-term. They will be awarded with a non-uniform day and disco next week. Our heads and deputies also announced that they will be selling the Remembrance Day merchandise every break time next week to raise money for The Royal British Legion. To end our worship, we sang ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’ in celebration of All Saints Day. 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.
Worship with Rev. Matt
During this week’s worship, Rev. Matt engaged the children with a game of ‘Real or Fake,’ encouraging them to think carefully about what they see and question whether images are genuine or not. This led into the story of Elijah, who courageously stood against people worshiping a statue made of sticks and stones, teaching the children about the importance of true faith over false idols. To close, Rev. Matt invited the children to reflect on what they would like God’s help with, creating a moment of thoughtful prayer and connection.
Year 6 - Cricket
Year 6 have made real progress in cricket and taken part in their sessions with such enthusiasm. This week, they took part in a game situation that combined their fielding, batting and bowling skills.
Year 6 - Money Matters
This week, year 6 welcomed a member of the money matters team into their classroom. It was great to hear them discussing potential careers they would like to pursue in the future and the mature responses they gave throughout the session.
Year 6 - Maths
Today, Year 6 focused on the ability to be flexible in maths and were encouraged to try out different mental strategies to find one that suits them. We discussed that we can often revert back to strategies that we feel comfortable with, but sometimes, if we step out of our comfort zone, we can discover more efficient ways of completing a task. It was great to see plenty of mathematical talk! Well done year 6!
Harvest Heptathlon
Today, each class took part in our Harvest Heptathlon obstacle course challenge for the Bishop’s Harvest appeal. The course consisted of running, hurdles, travelling through a hoop, hopping, skipping, speed bounce and star jumps. A huge well done to every child that took part. They gave it their best effort. And an extra big thank you to all of the Year 6 helpers for helping to set up, replace equipment, demonstrate the course and support and encourage the younger children to complete the course. Let’s hope we can raise some much needed funds for developing classrooms and literacy in church schools in Multan, Pakistan.
Year 6 - School Council Class Meeting
This morning, Year 6 took part in their class meeting and discussed how their half first term had been. It was great to hear them speak with such openness and justify what they have enjoyed, what could be better and what they are looking forward to as the year progresses.
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Whole-School Worship: Allhallowtide
In our first collective worship of the week, Mrs Ham looked at Allhallowtide through our three spirituality lenses. Lens 1 - Windows: we looked out into the world at a photograph from Bangladesh depicting Christians gathered around graves with lit candles on them and discussed our observations and ideas about what the people were doing and how they might have felt. We had some fabulous ideas such as it must be a place of worship as they could see a cross and candles like we have in our worship, that they might be praying and that they were remembering. Lens 2 - Mirrors: we learned about All Souls’ Day and reflected on how we might remember our loved ones. The children had some lovely ideas about lighting candles and going to a special place. Lens 3 - Doors: we learned about All Saints’ Day and thought carefully about how we could be like saints. The WOW group introduced our behaviour focus for this half term , which is using good manners around school, and the children immediately put these into action by saying please and thank you, holding doors for each other, and letting people past. What a fantastic start to the new half term!
Harvest Church Service 2024
Thank you to our Wow group, EYFS, Year 1 and Year 2 classes for leading our Harvest celebration at church today. I have uploaded some videos to class dojo and additional photos can be found here: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/harvest-church-service-2024 It was wonderful to see so many of our families in attendance. A huge thank you to you all for coming to watch and thank you to all of our families for your continued support this half term. Thank you for all of your kind harvest donations, these can be continued to be sent in during the first week that we are back at school. Wishing you all a wonderful half term, Mrs Wilkinson
Year 6 - Black History Month Worship
Year 6 took part in a worship, that schools across the country joined, to celebrate ‘Black History Month’. We discussed how we can ensure that all children feel welcome in school and explored some inspirational figures. One Individual that stood out to year 6 was Ruby Bridges. She is an American civil rights activist who attended a formerly all-white school at the age of 6. Despite having to be escorted into school and jeered at daily, she battled adversity in order to get the best possible education for herself.
Monday Worship: Harvest Appeal
This week is Recycle Week so we will be thinking about all of the rubbish we throw away and how it could be rescued and reused or recycled. Bobby-Ray said what one man’s rubbish is another man’s treasure! Thank you for all of the donations of coats we have had so far for our Rota Kids Wrap Up Appeal. Mrs Ham showed us two bin bags that at first she thought was rubbish but they were filled with coats that can be donated to the homeless. Mrs Ham then introduced the Bishop’s Harvest appeal which our WOW group have chosen to support this year at Harvest along with DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). We started by exploring our spirituality window and looked at a photo of the classrooms of a church school in Multan in Pakistan. We stopped and reflected on what is great about our classrooms. Lottie loves the amount of paper, Ella-Grace said our teachers, Callie said our books, Eleanor said our friends, Jacob said the opportunities to learn, Olivia said the view of Darwen Tower and Will said everything. There are some boys and girls in Multan in Pakistan that are unable to go to school and some who do but don't have many resources in their classroom. We took some time to look at a picture and reflect on what we could see. The classrooms in Multan do not have any chairs, tables, pictures, windows or toys. The children reflected and felt empathy for the Christian children in Multan who did not have the same experience and resources as we all do at St Barnabas. We then started to think about what we could do to make a difference to their lives. The Bishop’s Harvest Appeal has helped the children to receive books, solar panels and hand washing facilities in the past. Rosie said we could do a sponsored run and James said we could collect books. Bishop Philip has asked us all do to a Harvest Heptathlon . We need to think of seven things we could do to help the children in our area and also the boys and girls in Multan. Over the next few weeks, we will be thinking about how we can help and make a difference. We ended our worship by singing ‘I can make a difference’.
Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by thanking everyone for dressing in yellow yesterday for World Mental Health Day. What a fabulous day we had! This week, we have also been thinking about courageous advocacy. Well done to our Rotakids who are being courageous advocates by collecting coats to keep people warm this winter and our WOW group for collecting harvest donations for DARE (Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise). We then presented Ralphy, Skye and Ella in EYFS and KS1 and Lyla, Harriet, Ruby and Noah in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for working extremely hard across the curriculum and always demonstrating our Barny’s 4Bs (being ready, being safe, being kind and being respectful) and our school Christian values. We also congratulated our Year 5/6 football team who worked exceptionally well as a team in the Kids Cup Heat on Monday during all of the group stages and will now be competing in the final in the 23rd November, our Year 4/5/6 girls football team who played amazingly well in the DPSSA football league last night, Year 1 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners for the second week running and River Darwen as the value award winners again this week. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Lyla and Carmen for achieving their Stage 5 in swimming, Tristen for achieving his green and white belt in kickboxing and completing the BwD Summer Reading challenge, Maggie for being a superstar rainbow and being awarded Olivia this week and Isabella for being a fantastic swimmer. Finally, we had some beautiful prayers from James, Iris and Elijah to pray for those who have been affected by the hurricane in Florida and to give thank you this Harvest time and then we sang ‘Sing a Song of Harvest.’ 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.
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Inter-House Sports Dodgeball led by Sports Leaders
A huge thank you to our new Sports Leaders who ran their very first Inter- house competition today. They chose to do dodgeball and every class thoroughly enjoyed it! The children showed each other respect, demonstrated the 4 B’s and encouraged each other every step of the way. We can’t wait to hear who the overall winners are next week
Hello Yellow Day
To celebrate and raise awareness for World Mental Health Day, all the children and staff dressed in yellow to show their support. During a special worship, the children danced to happy songs. We reflected deeply on our emotions, exploring how they shape our inner lives and how we can find strength in times of struggle. We discussed the importance of nurturing our mental well-being through kindness, prayer, and community support. This spiritual reflection reminded us that we are never alone in our challenges; by turning to our faith and embracing hope, we can find peace and resilience within ourselves.
Rev Matt’s Whole School Worship
Today, during Rev Matt’s worship, the children were captivated by a short clip showing the powerful moment when Moses received the Ten Commandments. The video illustrated how, with people's disbelief in God, dramatic lightning and clouds appeared, revealing the presence of God as he delivered these sacred laws. Through this visual and the accompanying story, the children were guided to understand not only the importance of the commandments but also the broader significance of rules in our lives. This reflection helped them recognise that rules, much like the Ten Commandments, are there to keep us safe, fostering a sense of responsibility and care for one another within our community.
Year 6 - Hello Yellow Day
Year 6 celebrated ‘Hello Yellow Day’ by exploring ways in which they can make themselves feel better if they are going through a tough time. We discussed that an effective strategy is to take the time to think about how great we are as an individual. To highlight this, we designed badges containing words and symbols. It was great to see the children celebrating what makes them great and focusing on the positives as it is sometimes hard to pay ourselves compliments.
DPSSA Girls Football
Our girls football team, once again, represented the school with pride and determination. While they faced some tough opponents and unfortunately suffered two losses, their performances were nothing short of impressive and they were able to end the night with a comfortable 2-0 victory. Well done girls!
Year 6 Art- Symbolic Imagery
Year 6 continued their work on symbolic imagery by recreating Maya ‘Wayob’ that best suited their character. These were displayed in a 15x15cm tile within sketchbooks and decorated with colours that also reflected the individual. In addition, they started to look at the technique of Chiaroscuro which involves making something look more 3-dimensional on a flat surface. Leonardo Da Vinci, among others, was well known for his use of this technique.
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St Barnabas do Hello Yellow Day 2024
Today in school, we celebrated Hello Yellow Day 2024. Hello Yellow Day is a day when we can show our support for young people and let them know they're not alone with their mental health. Thousands of children came together to make World Mental Health Day that little bit brighter by wearing something yellow and donating to YoungMinds. Right now, the world is a really tough place for children and young people to grow up in. We want young people to know that they don’t have to go through this alone. Things can get better. Because we stand brighter, together. At St Barnabas, we celebrated through our whole school worship led by Mrs Ham and her minion friends, Harry, Hamza, Daisy and Rosie. Each class then used their PSHE session to explore Hello Yellow Day further and it was clear to see that every class made a super effort with their outfits too. What a super day being loud and proud in yellow. #HelloYellow
WOW Group- Harvest Donations
Dear parents, Harvest is almost upon us and, this year, our wonderful WOW group have chosen to support two charities. They would like to continue to support refugees in our local area through the charity D.A.R.E. (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise) and are asking for donations of non-perishable food items, toiletries and good quality clothing. Please send these into school any time over the next week (by Thursday 17th October) and we will ensure they get to D.A.R.E. More details of the second charity we have chosen will be released shortly. Thank you, Mrs Araujo :)
Walk Once a Week Challenge September Winners - Year 3
Congratulations to Year 3 for having the most children who either walked, park and strode or completed the 1K a day in the month of September. They received a whopping 29 badges in total and will now take their place on the WOW hall of Fame. A huge well done and thanks to all of the parents and carers who have encouraged their children to take part in the scheme. Don’t forget - if you can’t manage the walk or park amd stride, you can always do the 1K a day with your teacher in school so that you have the opportunity to gain your badge as well! The WOW ambassadors highlighted that October is National Walk to School month so it is really important to try and travel more actively to school either in the morning or after school has finished.
KS2 Football Training
KS2 had another exciting football training session following their impressive win in the Kids Cup heat. The energy and enthusiasm from their recent victory carried over, as the children worked exceptionally well as a team, showing great cooperation and communication on the field. Their teamwork was evident in their passing, positioning, and overall gameplay, with everyone contributing to the practice matches. The session not only helped to sharpen their football skills but also reinforced the importance of collaboration and supporting one another both on and off the pitch. The team's hard work and dedication are clearly paying off!
Whole School Worship: Courageous Advocacy
Today in worship we continued to explore the meaning of spirituality, looking at adversity in the world, how it makes us feel, and talking about what we can do about it. We discussed how we can turn our sparks into flames, our ideas into actions. The children were really inspired by some of the images and shared some great ideas, such as donating warm clothing to the homeless, picking up litter so that it doesn’t hurt wildlife and donating food to local shelters and charities. We will be putting some of these ideas into action over the next few weeks, through our Harvest festival and our Rotakids initiatives.
BRFC KIDS CUP WINNERS
We are so proud of our amazing football team for their wonderful performance this morning at the BRFC Kids Cup at BRFC training ground. They are through to the final after winning our heat and then going down to penalties in the semi-final. The final will be played at Blackburn Rovers indoor centre (BRIC) before the BRFC vs Portsmouth game on Saturday 23rd November. Well done Barneys! ⚽️
Whole School Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by thanking everyone for their very generous Macmillan Coffee Morning donations last Friday. The heads and deputies will be announcing the final amount later today. We also lit a candle for gratefulness to say thank you for all of the wonderful things that we have in our lives including our loved ones and the beautiful nature around us. We then presented Ava, Isabella, Callie and Mila in EYFS and KS1 and Martha, Carmen, Edward and Will in KS2 as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for working extremely hard across the curriculum and always demonstrating our Barny’s 4Bs (being ready, being safe, being kind and being respectful) and our school Christian values. We also congratulated Walter and Alice in Year 4 for gaining their pen licenses, all of the children who have achieved their ‘WOW’ badges this month for walking to or from school at least once a week, Year 1 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and River Darwen as the value award winners this week with 549 points. We gave our girls football team a huge round of applause for their three amazing wins last night and particularly congratulated our Year 4 members of the team who stepped up into the Year 5/6 team. Finally, we congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Beau, Jack and Lyla for completing the Summer Reading challenge, Darcy for being awarded Star of the Week at gymnastics, James and Grace for gaining their Stage 5 swimming certificates, Leonora and Desmond for their fantastic swimming whilst competing for Blackburn Centurions, Isaac for being awarded Soccer HQ Player of the Day for demonstrating fantastic football skills, Daisy for being awarded 3 medals in the Paris Olympic Competition at gymnastics, Harriet for swimming 100m in her swimming, Fletcher for celebrating his uncle, Charlie for being a super football star, Laila for being the Player’s Player of the Match at football and Brooke for being awarded the Opposition Player’s Player of the Match. Finally, we had some beautiful prayers from, Renee, Callie and Mason and sang ‘If I was a Butterfly’ in celebration of ‘World Animal Day.’ 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.
Rev Ben’s Collective Worship
In today’s collective worship, Rev. Ben began by engaging the children in an interactive challenge, where three children had to use two pieces of paper as stepping stones to cross the hall. This activity set the stage for the theme of the session: perseverance and trust in challenging times. Rev. Ben then shared the Bible story of Moses and the Israelites' long journey through the desert, highlighting the struggles and faith they experienced along the way. After listening to the story, the children were encouraged to reflect and discuss key questions: 'What did God's people do during their journey through the desert?' and 'What are some positive alternatives to complaining when things get tough?' These discussions helped the children connect the story to their own lives, exploring how patience, gratitude, and faith can guide them through difficult situations.
DPSSA Girls Football League
The girls got off to an absolute flying start in the league tonight. 3 games and 3 wins. It was great to see them all play with a smile on their face and watch the more experienced players guiding those who are new to the game through it. Well done girls!
Whole School Worship: What is Spirituality?
In our Tuesday worship, the theme was spirituality and what it means to us. Mrs Ham talked about things that we can see (physical/ material things) and things that we just feel (spiritual things). We played a fun game where we had to put on a pretend pair of binoculars if it was something physical/ material that we can see or cover our eyes if it was something spiritual that we can't see. We had things like connecting with nature, a big house', money, connecting with friends, inner peace and believing in a God. She introduced the ‘windows’ looking out on the world and how we should take time to learn, to gaze, to wonder and admire and ask ‘why?’ We looked at some of the ways we can live life in all its fullness and today we particularly focused on being 'grateful' for all of God's creations. We also explored how taking notice is one of our five ways to wellbeing too. We looked at some of God’s creations in a video and discussed our favourite ones with our partner. There were lots of 'WOWs' and 'aahhs' at some of God's amazing creations. We finished with a prayer thanking God for all of his creations and sang 'If I were a butterfly' to sing thank you to God. Across this academic year, we will continue to further explore what spirituality means to us at St Barnabas.
Year 6 - Developing batting and fielding skills
Year 6 continued their cricket sessions and started to focus on batting and fielding. The session involved a drill in which the batter had to hit the ball off a tee and the fielders retrieve it. This allowed the children to experiment with different shots and see how their body shape affected the flight of the ball, and see how important communication is when fielding as a team.
Year 6 Science - Designing and making our own set of traffic lights
In year 6, we combined the knowledge that we have gathered over the course of our electricity unit and attempted to make our very own set of traffic lights. The children had to make a complete circuit and ensure that only one light illuminated at a time. In order to do this, they had to be creative and create a three-way switch out of conductive material.
Singing Worship- Harvest
What a joyous way to start a new week at St Barnabas! We first discussed why we sing and we had some wonderful answers such as : to communicate with God, to learn new words and vocabulary, to learn new sign language so we can communicate with those who can't speak or hear, to have fun and to say thank you to God. Today some of our fabulous volunteers taught Reception class some of the signs and actions for some of our Harvest songs that we will be singing in our Harvest Festival on Thursday 17th October. We sang 'If I were a butterfly' and 'Sing a song of Harvest' to thank God for all of the wonderful living things he created such as animals, plants and trees.
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.
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.
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.
KS2 Football
KS2 participated in another exciting training session today, where they continued to develop their football skills. The children played a series of engaging games, focusing on teamwork, communication, and tactical awareness. These activities not only helped them refine their passing, dribbling, and shooting techniques but also emphasised the importance of working together as a cohesive unit on the field. As they prepare for the upcoming school football league, the children are building their understanding of game strategies and positioning, setting the foundation for success in the competition ahead.
Year 6 - Cricket
In year 6, the children took part in their first cricket session. The focus was on bowling and developing their technique. However, the children did have the opportunity to try out batting and fielding in a game situation.
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.
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
Year 6 Science - Does the number of components affect the output of a circuit?
In science, year 6 have been investigating whether the number of components in a circuit affects the output. To ensure this was a fair test we had a control test, which consisted of a battery, wires and a light bulb, and made sure only one variable was changed throughout the investigation: the number of bulbs. We noticed that as we added more bulbs, the dimmer they got. This is because the more components you have, the more resistance there is in the circuit.
Year 6 Art - Experimental Mark Making
In Art, year 6 have started their unit by experimenting with mark making inspired by the Mayans. They looked for patterns that interested them and carried these on in their sketchbooks using pencils and other media.
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’.
Rev Ben's Collective Worship- Moses
Collective Worship - 19.09.24 During this week's worship session, Rev. Ben shared the story of Moses and the burning bush. He explained how, when God gave Moses a mission, Moses initially struggled to obey, feeling unsure and inadequate for the task. However, God revealed his power and presence to Moses, showing him the way and helping him develop trust. With God's guidance, Moses was able to achieve far more than he ever thought possible. The children engaged in thoughtful discussions, exploring questions like: What might it look like for you to recognise God's presence in your life? Some children reflected on seeing God's presence in acts of kindness, through nature, or in moments of peace when they feel supported by their friends and family. Others spoke about sensing God during quiet times or prayer, feeling that God is guiding them in difficult situations. When asked, Why do you think Moses was hesitant to follow God's instructions? The children expressed that they could relate to Moses’ fear and uncertainty. Some mentioned how Moses might have felt unworthy or scared of failing, while others said that like Moses, they too sometimes feel afraid when they are asked to do something new or hard. The group agreed that trusting God, even when they feel unsure, can help them overcome their fears. The final question, How does it change things for you, knowing that God is always with you? brought a range of responses. Some children said it gave them comfort to know they are never truly alone, even in hard times. Others felt it gave them courage, knowing they could rely on God’s strength when facing challenges. Many agreed that just like Moses, having faith in God’s presence helps them feel more confident in the tasks they are given, knowing they have divine support.
Year 6 - Class Meeting
Year 6 discussed how we can show kindness in our school community. Each group justified which options they thought were the most important, but accepted that they could all play a huge role in promoting kindness throughout our school family.
Year 6 - Applying passing skills to a game situation
Today, year 6 built on the work they did in their last P.E. lesson and developed their passing skills further. Some of the children then applied these skills to a game situation in which they had to avoid a defender.
Year 6 - DACA Visit
Earlier in the week, year 6 were visited by Mrs Lewis and Dominic (a previous St Barnabas pupil) who spoke about life at DACA. This gave the children who are thinking about attending DACA in September an insight into what they can expect.
KS2 Football Trials
Our Upper KS2 children participated in this season's school football trials, demonstrating both their skills and teamwork. Everybody played exceptionally well, showcasing their impressive talents, from sharp dribbling and accurate passing to strong defence and goal-scoring techniques. The enthusiasm on the field was contagious, as the children gave their best efforts and enjoyed the opportunity to compete and improve their abilities. It was fantastic to see their passion for the game, and we're excited to see how their football journey progresses this season.
Whole School Worship: The Good Shepherd
Today, we were learning about Jesus’s parable of the Lost Sheep. We discussed why Jesus said 'I am the good shepherd', and how he will always come to us when we feel lost. Thanks to Mr Bloomfield and some of our younger children for acting out the story so brilliantly. We reflected on how we can life live in all its fullness knowing that Jesus is always watching over and protecting us, just like a good shepherd does for his sheep.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our first celebration worship of this academic year by signing the trinity and talking about our extremely busy couple of weeks in school, especially focusing on our Barny’s 4Bs (being ready, being safe, being kind and being respectful) and our school values. We then presented Thomas and Fletcher in Years 1 and 2 and Alfie, Eliza, Ella and Leonora in KS2 with certificates for being our value award winners this week. Well done to these children for starting the academic with an amazingly positive attitude, demonstrating fantastic behaviour for learning and consistently displaying our school values. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Harry for completing the Summer Reading challenge and being awarded a huge trophy for demonstrating kindness at SportsCool Summer club, Albie, Samuel, Renee, Carmen, Olivia and James for completing the Summer Reading challenge, Grace for being awarded the lyrical and jazz winner of the week, 3rd place for song and dance and a silver medal for her acro, Sofia for achieving Star of the Week at gymnastics club, Maggie for being a super Rainbow and working exceptionally hard to achieve all of her badges and Marley for achieving all of her badges at Rainbows and moving up to Brownies. We also congratulated Reception, Year 2 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and India Mill as the value award winners this week with 427 points. Finally, we had some lovely prayers of thankfulness and appreciation from Leonora, James and Lennox and we sang ‘Shine.’ 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.
Netball Club
What a great start to our new year netball club. A super turn out, hard work, determination and encouragement all round. We had some new members and some old with everyone showing great respect towards each other.
Year 6 - What makes a good play leader?
Today, Year 6 spent their P.E. lesson thinking about the qualities of a good play leader. They took part in a relay race and had to create a group image that displayed symbols representing these qualities. We spoke about the importance of being prepared, observant, patient, understanding and a good communicator. I’m sure year 6 will be great role models to the younger children in our school.
Year 6 - Alice in Wonderland Workshop
After watching the Alice in Wonderland production, year 6 were lucky enough to take part in a workshop with the cast. They had a discussion about what goes into making a good show: costumes, direction, technology, acting and got to have a go at some of these elements themselves. Hopefully, some of the knowledge they have gained from this experience will be carried forward into their own performance at the end of the year.
Years 5 and 6- Smart School Councillors
We are proud to introduce our ‘Smart School Councillors’ for the year. From Year 5 we have Luca, Mason, Theo, Summer and Eden. Representing Year 6, we have Leonara, Oscar, Daisy and Laila. These dedicated pupils will meet fortnightly to discuss school matters. Smart School Council is an important and useful way for our school to provide leadership and development opportunities for all of our pupils. It is an excellent way in which to increase participation, teaching our pupils about democracy, local and global citizenship and accountability. Their mission is to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard and ideas considered.
Our new Heads and Deputies
Introducing our new Heads and Deputies! We are so proud of our new Head and Deputy Head boys and girls as they have made a great start to the school year already with a meeting with Mrs Ham planning out how they can support our school family , they have been involved in our worships and today they counted up all of our values points across school. On Friday they will be announcing the winning house teams in our Celebration Worship and they have lots of exciting things planned for our school in the coming months. Well done Harry, Hamza, Daisy and Rosie!
Alice in Wonderland Production
Wow! Our whole school family really enjoyed watching Alice in Wonderland this morning. It was a fantastic production and it was lovely to watch all of the children’s expressions throughout the performance.
Multiplying and dividing by powers of 10
In year 6, we have been developing our place value knowledge and moved onto multiplying and dividing by powers of 10. We discussed what happens to the digits in numbers when they are multiplied and divided by 10, 100 and 1000.
Year 6 - Picture News Worship
Year 6 took part in a virtual worship which followed on nicely from our class worship. It focused on the clean up and the importance of community in the aftermath of this summer’s riots, that took place up and down the country. We discussed how we can all come together, no matter what our background, and work towards a common goal.
Year 6 - Developing passing and receiving skills in hockey
In P.E. year 6 started to look at how they can improve their passing and receiving skills in hockey. They noticed how they can increase the surface area of their hockey stick, making it easier to gain control of the ball, and play a pass of their own.
Whole School Worship: Paralympic Values
We began our Monday worship with a race this week, except the race wasn’t very fair. One person was running the race, one was hopping and one was blindfolded. We discussed why this wasn’t a fair race and then we watched some athletes’ performances from the Paralympics. We were amazed to see people with no arms playing the piano, flying aeroplanes, brushing their teeth and driving cars etc and then we reflected on how we can learn from the Paralympians and have a 'yes, I can' attitude. We learned about the Olympic and Paralympic values and how some of the values are the same or similar to our Christian Values., We discussed how we can do anything with hard work, determination and self-belief and read in the Bible that with God, all things are possible.
Sports Leaders 2024-2025
Our new Sports Leaders were presented with their new smart jackets this morning and are raring to go! We look forward to planning and supporting events both in and out of school for Inter and Intra school events. In today’s meeting we have already planned our first Inter- House Sports event for the whole school which is super exciting.
School Admissions
Good morning parents and carers, the applications are now open for primary and secondary school admissions for September 2025. Primary school applications are open from 3 September 2024 until 15 January 2025. Secondary school applications are open from 3 September 2024 until 31 October 2024. For further information, please click here: https://www.blackburn.gov.uk/SynergyWeb/ We will be holding a 'Stay and Play' session for children who are due to start primary school in September 2025 on Thursday 3rd October from 9.00am-10.30am. Here you will get to meet our EYFS staff team and Mrs Ham will take you on a tour of our school to meet our amazing children and staff. There is no need to book and further information will be shared shortly. If you are not able to make the stay and play morning, please contact our school office on 01254 702996 to arrange a tour with Mrs Ham at a time that is convenient for you. Parents of children who are due to start secondary school in September 2025. Here are the dates of the open evenings for our local high schools that have been released. I will share the dates of the other schools once they have been published. DACA: Wednesday 2nd October 4.00-7.00pm https://www.daca.uk.com/Open-Evening/ St Wilfrids: Thursday 26th September 4.00-8.00pm https://www.saintwilfrids.co.uk/events/academy-open-evening Darwen Vale: TBC St Bede's: TBC
Rev Ben’s Worship- Trust
Rev Ben welcomed us back to school by reflecting on our school holiday and what we were most looking forward to this school year. He then told us the Bible story about Abraham going on a journey but he didn't know where he was going but he put his trust in God. Rev Ben said that our life can be a wonderful journey if we put our trust in God and remember that he is always with us. We then discussed with our partners how we can make the most of this year and live life in all its fullness. We finished with a lovely back to school blessing and sang a special back to school song.
Fun in the sun!
We have had lots of fun playing in the sun with our friends at lunch time!
Back with our friends
It is wonderful to be back with our friends! We have had a brilliant day so far and we had lots of fun playing with our friends at break time.
First day in our new classes
We’ve had a super first day in our new classes. Mrs Ham and our class teachers have been so impressed to see everyone following our four B’s and demonstrating our Christian Values. So many children have moved onto ‘time to shine’ and have been awarded values points. Well done everyone, it’s wonderful to have our school family back together again! We are so proud of our new Reception class children as they have settled so brilliantly and were so brave!
Whole School Worship: Jesus the Good Shepherd
We were all so happy to have everyone back for our first day of the school year. In our first worship we recapped and celebrated all of the amazing ways we live out our school vision and what Jesus meant when he said we should have life in all its fullness. We heard about His teaching of the sheep and the gate and learned that He wished for all of us to use Him as our gate to God; that we can have a good life if we follow His word. We then recapped our 4 B's school rules and our Christian Values. Our teachers will be looking for our children to demonstrate these in order to gain values points each day and get on our 'time to shine' board. We reflected on what we are looking forward to this year and how we will achieve great things and live life in all its fullness.
Year 6 Leavers Service
This morning we said a special goodbye and good luck to our Year 6 children. It has been a fantastic seven years with them and they should be so proud of all the great things they have achieved. The following memories video shows how much they have lived life in all its fullness throughout their journey at St Barnabas. We wish them all the luck in the world at their new high schools and hope they will continue to shine from the inside out. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bjd1YKm-gFs&feature=youtu.be All the photos from today can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/year-6-leavers-service-2 We also said a goodbye and thank you to Miss Baxendale. Her new school are so lucky to have her as she is a star! Thank you so much Miss Baxendale for your hard work and dedication to our school family over the last seven years. Thank you parents and carers for all of your wonderful support. Thank you also for your lovely words, cards and gifts. It has been a pleasure to have all of your amazing children in our school family and we hope they all have a well deserved rest. Wishing you all a fabulous Summer holiday and fingers crossed the weather stays like this. Many thanks, Mrs Ham
Whitehall Park Disco
Whitehall Park team enjoyed a disco in the school hall at break time today. They received the most house points this term. The children enjoyed some sweets, danced and also played musical bumps.
Rev Ben’s Worship: Talents
Today, Rev Ben set a task for our volunteers: to carry a balloon from one side of the hall to the other without using their hands. He shared the story of Paul and the shipwreck and talked about the Christian belief that it is their task to share the good news of God and His Son, Jesus. We also considered the talents God gave us and how these talents can be used to serve God and others.
Summer Reading Challenge 2024
This morning, Angela came in to invite us all to join in with ‘The Summer Reading Challenge 2024- Marvellous Makers’. This is a national reading activity, which aims to encourage a love of reading in children and develop their literacy skills throughout the summer. To get started, drop in to either Darwen or Blackburn Library. Angela told us that once you’re enrolled, each member needs to read 6 library books (or eBooks/eAudio), with stickers or a prize being awarded for each book that is read and returned. Prizes will include origami paper and pencil crayons. Those who complete the scheme (all 6 books), will receive a medal and a certificate that they can bring into school in September and have presented in Friday celebration worship. Angela asked us why it would be amazing if we all completed the Summer Reading Challenge. Our children said that reading can help us to learn new words, increase our imagination, get us excited so our hearts will beat fast and help us to challenge our brains. We look forward to hopefully presenting lots of ‘Summer Reading Challenge’ certificates and medals in September. Extra Information To enrol, simply go to your nearest Blackburn with Darwen library and complete an application form between 1st July & 30th September. Enrolment in the scheme is free of charge, and involves children borrowing books on a library card. If your child does not yet have a library card, we would encourage you to take this opportunity to enrol them as a library member. This is a quick process, and you will simply be asked to complete and sign another form. However, those children without library cards may still join the Summer Reading Challenge, and temporary arrangements will be put in place to allow them to borrow books.
Rev Matt’s Worship - Seeking Truth
Rev Matt shared with us the fantastic news of his recent ordination. Some of the children even helped with a little re-enactment. He explained that his duty as a Christian is to live a life of truth. We listened to the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; three men of faith who were punished for refusing to turn their backs on God in order to worship an image of the king. Rev Matt spoke about how it isn’t always easy for us to stand by our beliefs and we discussed times when this might be particularly difficult.
Year 6 - Perfecting Our Performance
Well, all we can say is that the parents of these talented performers are in for a treat! The children have been working hard to develop their acting, singing and dancing skills. The performance is coming along nicely and Year 6 can’t wait to entertain their teachers and families. Bring on the show!
Witton Athletics 2024- 3rd place
A huge congratulations to our athletics squad for their super performance at Witton Athletics which gained us 3rd out of 13 Darwen schools. Medalists were: Matthew- 1st place cricket ball throw Ella- 3rd in Year 3/4 400m Sophie- 2nd Year 5/6 600m 1st- Year 5/6 Girls relay 2nd- Year 5/6 Boys relay Summer- 3rd Year 4 sprint Brooke- 3rd Year 5 sprint Freddy- 2nd Year 5 sprint A huge thank you to our parents for their support with transport and encouragement to the squad. Thank you to Mrs Gardner, Mrs Ham, Mr Bloomfield and Mr Norris for their super support.
Growth Mindset Assembly
Today, our school had a very special assembly by Liz from Growth Mindset. The children explored the differences between fixed and a growth mindset. The children understood the advantages of growth mindset and how we can channel our growth mindset to overcome challenges and hurdles that we face daily. Liz shared a story about her uncle David who overcame many challenges to compete in the Para Olympic Games which demonstrated the powers of growth mindset. The children were faced with a variety of scenarios and shown how a growth mindset can help achieve and succeed. Just remember: “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step” A huge thank you to Liz from Grow Your Mindset!
Fundraising - East Lancs Hospice
A huge well done to the whole of St Barnabas, we have raised a massive £277.30 for the East Lancs Hospice through our Hop, Skip and Jump event and our Barney's Got Talent Show. The money will be used to help care for those in need and will support the wonderful staff that do an amazing job within the health care system.
Friday Celebration Worship- Whole School
Today, in celebration worship, we began by signing the Trinity and discussing the busy week. Mrs Ham thanked the children who sang at Blackburn Cathedral for the celebration of Cidari's 10-year anniversary. These children were recognised for demonstrating our Christian value of courage. All classes were praised for their transition day to new classes. They showed bravery and respect throughout. The class teachers presented value awards to the following students for always doing the right thing and trying their best in everything: Joey from reception, Harry from Year 1, Harry from Year 2, Darcy and Ivy from Year 3, Eden from Year 4 and Brooke from Year 5. Well done!. Year 1 and Year 4 won the attendance award this week. Well done for ensuring you are always in school, ready to learn. We also celebrated children for their extracurricular activities outside of school. Many showcased their trophies, medals and certificates in swimming, football, ballet, brownies, dancer for the year, gymnastics, performing arts, horse riding, Iron Kids Run, and lifeguarding skills. The Wellbeing warriors presented the children with walk to school badges and we sang' School Rules' which the children enjoyed. To conclude our worship, prayers were led by Lilly, Olivia and Mrs Ham.
Rev Ben’s Worship - Living a Life of Truth
This week, in Rev Ben’s worship, we learned the importance of telling the truth and we discussed the consequences of lying. We found out that part of being a Christian is aiming to live a life of truthfulness. We also reflected on ways we could stay truthful in our daily lives.
Year 6 - The Jungle Book
The Year 6 class put their acting skills to the test this week as we began pulling our end of year performance together. The children have been working on learning their lines and they are now perfecting their reactions and movements on stage. Just three weeks to go!
Barney's Got Talent
To celebrate World Music Day, Mrs Ham supported by our Heads and Deputies (Lucy, Skye, Isaac and Wilson) presented a very special Barney's Got Talent this morning. We are collecting donations that will be going to East Lancs Hospice to support the wonderful work they do. All of the talents that we witnessed from our school family were absolutely incredible and we commend all of the children for being so courageous and sharing these talents with such a large audience. A huge well done to Callie the Tangled Twin , Super Summer the Gummy Bear, Haydn and Percy as the Football Friends, Olivia and Lydia as the Barbie Girls, Ballerina Annabel dancing to the instrumental version of ‘Dance Monkey,’ Super Ted and Electric Elijah with their amazing street dancing, The Friendship Band of Iris and Naomi singing ‘This Girl is on Fire,’ Jack, Ella-Grace and Chay as The Conga Monkeys, Miles, Daisy and James as The Brilliant Believers singing Believer by the Imagine Dragons, Toffee Tristen singing Pure Imagination dressed as Willy Wonka, Sparkly Sofia singing ‘Beautiful Things’ by Benson Boone, Dramatic Darcy singing ‘A Thousand Years’ by Christina Perri, Mason and James as the MJ Boys singing ‘Shotgun’ by George Ezra, Amazing Annabelle as a magician , Graceful Grace dancing to ‘ABC’ by the Jackson 5, Beau, Jess, Laila, Brooke, Charlie-Rose and Betsy dancing to ‘Who Runs the World? (Girls)’ as the 6 Golden Stars, Eliza as The Joyful Joker, Outstanding Oscar playing and singing ‘Believer’ on the Piano, R’Kid Seb singing ‘Don’t Look Back in Anger’ by Oasis, Archie the Arrow thrashing Mr Bloomfield at darts and The WWE Wrestlemania team of Charlie, Carlton and Alfie. Wow! What a lot of talent. Thank you to the parents who could attend our Barney's Got Talent, we hope you enjoyed the performances. For those who couldn’t, Mr Bloomfield kindly recorded it and this will be shared with you all. We wish you a lovely restful weekend. Thank you for your continued support.
Mrs Ham's Highlights
Dear parents and carers, wow, another super busy week of living life in all its fullness at St Barnabas! The highlights of the week have been: *Our Barney’s Got Talent show this morning. We are so proud of our super talented and courageous children who took part in it. Thank you so much for all of the parents and grandparents who came along to support. Thanks so much for your kind donations to East Lancs Hospice. You can still make a donation on parent pay if you would like to. Photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/barney-s-got-talent-june-2024 *Learning about refugees in class worship as part of refugee week and Years 3 and 5 have special visits from two refugees from DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise. * Our high fives netball team winning the league and will now go on to represent BWD in the Lancs school games. *Our boys cricket team crowned champions of the DPSSA cricket competition. * Our tennis team did brilliantly at the tennis tournament. *Our new after school clubs started with Little craft club and Little Voices. *We had a carbon monoxide safety assembly for the whole school and workshops in Years 5 and 6. * Our WOW group have started to create our Spirituality garden with the help of Mr Fairbanks, Mr Ham and Mrs Ham’s son. We still welcome donations of pots and plants if you have any spare ones lying around at home. Next week we are looking forward to our Sports Day on Friday. Fingers crossed this lovely weather stays. The Infants ( Reception, Year 1 and Year 2) will go first at 9.15am- 10.30am and then the Juniors (Years 3,4,5 and 6) at 10.45am- 12.15pm. Parents are very welcome to attend and we are hopeful that we will be able to have our Mums, Dads and toddler races too. Work will begin next week on a new canopy on our Reception class yard. Therefore the Reception class yard will be closed and children will need to walk around the outside path to get to and from their class, rather than through the Reception yard. Further information will be sent out on Monday about where to drop off and collect Reception children from. Yesterday I sent out information about our children being invited to sing at a ‘Cidari 10 Year Celebration’ on Wednesday evening. I’m aware this clashes with out of school activities for some of our older children. Therefore, I have opened this up to children in any year group and they do not need to be choir members, just anyone who enjoys singing. We will be singing songs that we already know and sing in worship. We would really appreciate your support. If you would like your child to take part, please fill out the following google form and further information can be found on my previous post. https://forms.gle/sahNa3JH1UFz88Vu6 A polite reminder to please park considerately to our neighbours. This morning a white car parked on one of our resident’s drives to drop off, which meant the resident’s visiting family couldn’t park on their drive. Wishing you all a fantastic weekend and thank you for your continued support, Mrs Ham
Whole School CO Safety Worship
Steph visited us to talk about how we can stay safe at home. We watched a video of Safety Seymour and the CO crew and learned about the dangers of CO - Carbon monoxide, a poisonous gas that can’t be detected by our senses alone. We have to be careful if we have gas fires or log burners and check them yearly to make sure they are clean. If we suspect there is a CO leak, then we must contact the gas emergency services to come and check. We must also check our boilers and gas cookers for any changes - if the flame turns floppy and orange it means CO is being produced and a gas safe engineer needs to look at it. Always get an adult to turn it off straight away. If we breathe in CO we might feel unwell and it can be very dangerous so we must remember the 3 safety steps: have our appliances tested regularly, look for signs and symptoms of feeling unwell and install a CO alarm at home.
Year 6 - Safety Seymour
Today, Year 6 took part in the Safety Seymour workshop. The children discussed and explored the dangers of carbon monoxide and discussed how they can spot it in their homes as this is something that cannot be detected by our senses. The children explored a variety of ways that if carbon monoxide is detected, what can be done to mitigate the spread of the harmful gas.
Year 5&6 Cricket
A huge well done to our year 5&6 cricket team. They played six teams across Darwen including: Avondale, Ashleigh, Lower Darwen, St James and St Peter’s; winning every game. The team showed amazing team spirit and talent winning the tournament.
Year 5/6 Tennis Competition
A huge well done to Sophie, Lucy, Archie and Ross for taking part in our tennis competition today. They showed perseverance, courage and great sporting behaviour throughout the competition.
Year 6 - Computing
This week during computing, Year 6 created their own advertising campaign and a website to match. The children explored many creative tools to make their adverts appealing to their audience and make people want to read their campaigns. The children used their amazing creative skills to personalise their adverts.
High Fives Netball Winners
A huge congratulations to our Netball team for winning the Blackburn with Darwen Bee Stinger High Fives netball finals tonight. This means we will go on to represent BwD at the Lancashire School Games in a few weeks time. Thank you so much to Mrs Gardner for her commitment and dedication to our netball team and to our parents for their wonderful support. Well done Team Barneys!
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning in celebration worship, we started by signing the trinity and discussing a very busy first week back after the half-term holidays. This week, we have had a worship about St Barnabas, the encourager and how St Paul was originally called Saul and how he changed his behaviour, a worship from Rev Ben about Jesus being a compass and helping us to find the way when things become difficult and a wonderful Father’s Day Stay and Play in Reception Class. This week also saw a group of our Year 6 children taking part in The Darwen Primary Schools Netball Finals event at Darwen Vale and coming away with joint first but second on goal difference, a group of our Year 6 children for taking part in a BwD cricket competition at Darwen Cricket Club and coming an overall 8th and Year 5 class for being the class who walked to school the most in May. This week, we also said a huge well done to Haydn, Carter, Bluebelle, Miles, Elsie, Ruby and Isaac who were awarded as our value award winners this week for always striving to do their best and showing respect and kindness and we also congratulated Year 1 and Year 4 on being our attendance winners and Darwen Tower as our overall value award winners this week with 275 points. We then moved on to hearing about what great things our children at St Barnabas have been achieving outside of school. Well done to Charlie for achieving his brown belt in martial arts, Ella-Grace for being awarded with a trophy for demonstrating fantastic football skills, Callie for working extremely hard and showing amazing skill in her gymnastics, Carter for achieving his silver award at swimming, Amelia for running 5k in the Race For Life and raising £600 for Cancer Research, Olivia for being an amazing Brownie, Daisy for achieving 2nd place at a recent gymnastics competition, Finn for achieving ‘Player of the Week’ at football, Lyla for achieving 10m in her backstroke, Isabella for achieving her brown belt in martial arts and 20m in her swimming, Eliza for achieving ‘Player of the Season’ in her football and being invited back to Blackburn Rovers after trialling out for their girls team, Leonora for swimming amazingly for the centurions and achieving both ‘The Funkiest Hairstyle’ and ‘Heart of Gold Award’ from the club she went to while on holiday, James for achieving a silver medal at Jiu Jitsu for demonstrating very powerful kicks and punches, Maggie for achieving a fantastic 50m in her swimming, Edward for being a super reader and achieving 100% in his reading eggs quiz, Tristen for achieving yet another impressive kick-boxing belt, Miles for achieving 3rd place in a recent football tournament, Annabel for being an incredible tap dancer and achieving her first steps certificate and Summer for achieving a first class medal for demonstrating incredible skill in her gymnastics. Finally, we ended our worship with two beautiful prayers from Jack and Leonora thanking all of our amazing staff for all that they do and praying for those who are in the midst of war and conflict. We also sang, ‘Build Up' as this week we have been thinking about how we can be like St Barnabas and encourage each other and build each other up. Thank you as always for those who could attend celebration worship today and we send an extended thank you to the rest of our school family for their continued support. We wish you all a lovely weekend when it arrives and we hope all of the Dads and Grandads have a wonderful Father's Day on Sunday.
DPSSA Netball Finals Night
This evening we took part in The Darwen Primary Schools Netball Finals event at Darwen Vale. We had three really tough games winning our first 5-2, drawing our second 1-1 and again winning our final game 5-1. This saw us gain joint top place finishers. Unfortunately it then went down to a goal difference of just three goals so we came away with silver medals. The children played brilliantly and are such a joy to watch. Great team spirit and true St Barnabas encouragers. Well done Team B - you have really done yourselves proud!
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Rev Ben’s Worship: Jesus is Our Compass
This week, Rev Ben joined us for worship to talk about seeking the truth. He began with a true or false quiz in which the options become progressively more difficult. We discussed why sometimes it’s hard to know what’s true and how it feels to feel lost. We learned that Christians believe that Jesus will always guide them to the truth if they put their trust in him.
Year 6 - Striking and Fielding
Year 6 have begun their striking and fielding unit. The children began with ball control and showing awareness of receiving the ball. The children then began to explore the technique of balling and began to improve their accuracy. Later on the children put their skills to the test in game situations.
Year 6 - Buzz Education
Year 6 had a session from Buzz Education. The children worked really hard creating digital media for their upcoming Jungle Book production. The children created some fantastic work inspired by real life media mixed with their own creative designs to inspire and appeal to their audiences.
St Barnabas Day Collective Worship
It was wonderful to welcome our school family back again this morning after the half term break. Tomorrow it is St Barnabas day so we focused on St Barnabas, the Encourager this morning in our Collective Worship. We also looked at how St Barnabas and St Paul became friends and we thought about how Rev Ben is the vicar at both St Barnabas and St Pauls in Hoddlesden. We learnt how Paul was originally called Saul and he was mean and didn't like followers of Jesus. One day Jesus appeared to him on the road to Damascus and after that Saul became a good person, changed his name to Paul and spread the word of God. Barnabas met Paul and encouraged others to listen to him and to give him another chance as he always saw the good in others. Barnabas and Paul went on lots of missionaries together to spread the word of God and the good news of Jesus. We reflected on how we could be like St Barnabas and encourage each other in the coming weeks. We discussed the bible quote 'encourage one another and build each other up' and had some wonderful answers. We thought about how our vision 'achieving great things through learning and growing together in a love-filled family' can only be achieved if we encourage each other and build each other up. We then finished with a prayer and sang 'Build up one another'.
Year 6 Money Matters
Year 6 had their final money matters session this week led by Debt Aware- Money skills for life. They at enterprise and entrepreneurs.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and talking about our extremely busy week in school. This week, we saw The Little Voices after school club showcase their amazing learning over the last six weeks, Year 1&2 visit BeWILDerwood in Cheshire, Year 2&4 visit St Barnabas Church to learn about the symbols of the church with Rev Ben, amazing learning in computing, music and French through our Junior Jam sessions, and two wonderful worships with Mrs Wilkinson about mental health awareness and Rev Matt about Pentecost. We then presented Percy, Isabella, Euan, Hamza and Archie as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for demonstrating an amazing attitude to their learning. Miss Flynn then presented all of Year 1 as value award winners this week for challenging themselves to try new activities at BeWILDerwood and representing school amazingly well by showing an amazing amount of courage, friendship and teamwork and Mr Norris presented all of Year 2 as value award winners for approaching their recent tests with amazing smiles on their faces and a huge amount of perseverance as well as being amazing on our trip to BeWILDerwood yesterday. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, Whitehall Park as the overall value award winners this week with 329 points, Annabelle, Mason, Jenson and Elsie for achieving ‘Rock Legend’ status for being able to rapidly recall their timetables and to Lily-May for achieving her pen licence for amazing handwriting across all of her subjects. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Callie for being awarded a certificate and trophy for demonstrating high standards of courtesy, respect and a black belt attitude at martial arts, Leonora for her certificate of recognition for her effort in working towards an award in her gymnastics, Iris for achieving her stage 1 grading at gymnastics and all of her hard work that has gone into achieving this, Ella-Grace for being a super football star and being selected as the manager’s player in her football team, showing amazing commitment to her training at Manchester United and achieving 20m in her swimming, Ed for achieving 25m in his swimming, Isaac for playing for being voted as the players’ player in his football team, Archie for running 2km in the Winter Warmer at Witton, Maggie for being awarded Olivia at Rainbows for being a superstar and always being kind, caring and showing wonderful behaviour, Lyla for her commitment to Rainbows and achieving lots of badges, James for achieving his Stage 2 swimming certificate, Annabelle for achieving an incredible gold award in swimming, Sofia for achieving her Stage 1 gymnastics award and Lucy for being awarded the manager’s player of the year. Her manager said although she’s younger than the other players, she certainly makes up for it on the football pitch. To end our worship, we had a message about Barney’s Got Talent from our heads and deputies. They told us that auditions for this will be W/C 10th June and the showcase of these amazing talents will be on Friday 21st June. Finally, we had some lovely prayers from Sofia and Olivia in Year 3 and we sang ‘Our God is a Great Big God.’ 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 half-term holiday.
Happy half term
Good afternoon parents and carers, I can't believe that we only have a half term left in school and it feels like this year has flown by. We have had a brilliant last week of the half term and the highlights have been: *Year 1 and 2's visit to BeWILDerwood in Cheshire. All the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/year-1-2-bewilderwood-trip-may-2024 *Year 2 and 4's visit to our church For all of the news from each class, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Our Heads and Deputies told our whole school about the Barney's Got Talent show that they will be hosting on Friday 21st June. If children would like to enter, they have the next two weeks to practise their talents and auditions will be held the first week back. A reminder that our FOSB are selling Father's Day breakfast in bed boxes that can be collected on Friday 14th June. These can be purchased through parent pay until Monday 10th June. They will not be able to accept orders after this date as the boxes will need to be prepared. As Thursday 4th July is now a General Election, we will be closed on this day for all staff and children as our school is used as a polling station. Sorry for any inconvenience caused. I would like to say a huge thank you to our staff team for their support and dedication to our school family. I hope they all have a well deserved rest and chance to recharge. Thank you so much for all of your continued support and I hope that you all have a wonderful half term break. We look forward to seeing you all on Monday 10th June and I hope the weather is kind to us all, Mrs Ham
Year 6- Islamophobia Workshop
This week, year 6 took part in an islamophobia workshop. They discovered what islamophobia is, why we have islamophobia and how we tackle the issue. The overriding theme from the workshop is that it exists from a lack of education around the Islamic faith and it can be tackled through education. This will allow the children to make informed choices as they go out into the world.
Year 6 History
Today, year 6 devised some questions to find out more about Jack Banks. With these questions, they then carried out some research to form an explanation about who he was. He was an extremely courageous young man who actually lied about his age in order to get accepted into the army. Tragically, this led to his death at the tender age of 16.
Year 6 P.E.
In P.E. Year 6 started to look at cricket and have worked hard on developing their bowling and batting skills.
Year 6 RSHE
On Friday, year 6 took part in an RSHE session with Karen from Coram Life Education. This session focused on how the children’s bodies can change and how they can keep safe as they grow up. Year 6 listened attentively and acted in an extremely mature manner.
Year 6 Maths
In maths, year 6 have looked at developing their understanding of shape. This started by familiarising themselves with the properties of shapes which then moved onto identifying 3D shapes from 2D representations.
Performing Arts Club
Our young thespians are working hard to learn their lines in our weekly focussed script-reading sessions. The end of year performance is fast approaching and so the performers are making those final tweaks to perfect their roles. Eight weeks to go!
Rev Matt’s Worship - Pentecost
Today Rev Matt came in to lead a worship all about Pentecost and being filled with the Holy Spirit. As a challenge, a group of children were chosen to blow up a balloon as large as possible in 30 seconds. He told us about the events of Pentecost and how the disciples received the Holy Spirit. Pentecost is considered the birthday of the church.
Monday Worship: Mental Health
Last week was mental health awareness week and the theme was find your moments for movement. We began our worship by thinking about what mental health is. Isaac said it is about how you feel, Lucy said it was all about your emotions and Seb said it was about how you feel inside, not outside. We watched a video all about how people can look ok but actually may feel scared, worried or anxious and it is important to talk to someone, to exercise or to take time out for yourself. David told everybody how he felt worried about his SATs but he came into school smiling so people may not have known. Mrs Wilkinson led a mindfulness activity for everybody to really focus on their body. We then discussed how we can move more. The children suggested that we could play outside, go swimming, play football and dance. We then took part in a moodbuster get active workout where we all jumped, did star jumps, squatted and ran on the spot repeating affirmations. We then reflected on how we can move more and how we can promote mental health to ourselves and others. We ended our worship by singing Lighthouse to remind us that Jesus is always there to listen to us.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and talking about our extremely busy week in school. This week, we saw Year 6 showing an amazing amount of courage as they faced their SATs, Year 5 having a wonderful 3 day PGL residential at Winmarleigh Hall and lots of amazing lunch time and after school clubs such as Cricket, Little Voices, Mad Science, Choir, Netball and Story and Craft. We also congratulated our wonderful Year 4 tennis team (Jenson, Summer, Annabelle and Quinn) for performing amazingly on Wednesday afternoon and coming in 2nd place out of 8 schools in BwD. What an achievement! Thank you to Mr Foy for training up the tennis team in his lunch times and Miss Baxendale for taking them to the competition. We also congratulated our Year 5/6 Netball team who competed in the DPSSA Netball League on Thursday night. We are hopeful that they will qualify for the final in a few weeks. We then presented Lenny, Archie, Rosie, Layla, Neve and Millie as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for impeccable manners, an amazing attitude to learning and working extremely hard across the curriculum. Mr Bloomfield then presented all of Year 5 as value award winners this week for challenging themselves at PGL and showing an amazing amount of courage, friendship and teamwork and Mr Prescott presented Year 6 for approaching SATs with amazing smiles on their faces and a huge amount of perseverance. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 6 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Darwen Tower as the overall value award winners this week with 208 points. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Summer for being an incredible gymnast, Grace for achieving Star of the Week at Little Voices after school club, Annabel for achieving a Certificate of Excellence from Butterflies After School Club for pushing herself out of her comfort zone by trying new things, Isaac for achieving an amazing 25m in his swimming, Teddy for achieving his red stripe belt at kickboxing, Sofia for achieving an honours in her musical theatre and being highly commended, Lottie for showing incredible swimming talent and achieving her level 4, Archie for achieving his black shirt in darts, James for starting Beavers this week and being awarded Beaver of the Week, Archie for demonstrating a wonderful attitude at football, Oscar for being a super scientist and taking part in various science (biology, chemistry and physics) investigations, Elliott for demonstrating an amazing attitude and wonderful behaviour during his football training and Darcy for being an incredible gymnast. To end our worship, we heard from Rev Ben who congratulated our wonderful Year 6 team for completing their SATs, Year 5 for an incredible few days at PGL and a lovely prayer thanking God for being with us and giving us the love, strength and power we all need. We then sang, ‘My Lighthouse’ with lots of enthusiasm and thanked 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 weekend.
Year 6 SATS
Today, year 6 completed their final SATS paper. They have approached the whole week with fantastic maturity and given the test papers their all. Well done year 6!
Year 6 P.E.
In their JAGTAG session, year 6 started to decide on routes they were going to take as a team. The quarter back would communicate this to their team, who would then have to put it into action. The defending team, on the other hand, had to decide on the players they were going to pick up in order to stop the attack.
Year 6 History
In history, year 6 started to look at the impact air raids had on the town and people of Darwen during WW2. They looked at eye-witness accounts and realised that, although on a smaller scale to other towns and cities, Darwen was affected a great deal by air raids. There was death, destruction and injuries, but in a time of peril the town pulled together to support each other.
DPSSA Netball League at DVHS
Tonight was the final qualifying night for the DPSSA Netball Finals in a few weeks time. Team B worked really hard in both of their games. Game 1 was another fantastic result - 12-0 Win but Game 2 saw us pitched against a really strong opposition. We lost 7-3 but the children represented school in such a positive and mature manner. Fingers crossed that we finish in the top two and qualify for the final after half term.
Year 6 Class Worship
Yesterday, our class worship was led by our WOW group members Luca and Archie, who did a superb job. The focus was all about how the past can help us learn about modern life. From the past, we can learn from mistakes, the consequences of actions and how they have impacted the world, and be inspired by positive outcomes.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and talking about how we have lived life in all its fullness this week. We kickstarted the week on Tuesday with Rev Ben and his worship about the ascension and we’ve enjoyed a variety of lunch time and after school clubs such as Cricket, Little Voices, Mad Science, Choir, Netball and Story and Craft. We also congratulated our wonderful Year 5/6 netball team for performing amazingly on Wednesday night in the DPSSA Netball League and winning both of their matches. As it stands, they are unbeaten and look forward to competing against St Peter’s next week. We then presented Millie, Molly, Cassidy, Nevaeh, Seb, Daisy and Lucy as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for always their amazing attitude to learning and consistently demonstrating the 4Bs and our Christian Values. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park as the overall value award winners this week with 143 points. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to sisters Lydia and Naomi for getting Olivia at Rainbows for being superstars, Callie for being awarded Bruno Bear at Stagecoach for being a super brave performer, Cici for being this week’s Little Voices after school club superstar, Archie for achieving a certificate for the level of bravery that he showed whilst getting his bloods taken at the hospital, Lyla for achieving highly commended in her Musical Theatre exam, Bluebelle for achieving a fabulous 25m in her swimming, Evie for being awarded with a trophy for her wonderful gymnastics, Olivia for achieving her Stage 5 at swimming, Bindi and Elsie for swimming an amazing 50m, Jenson for being able to swim a phenomenal 800m and his Bronze swimming award, Nevaeh for achieving level 4 in her gymnastics, Tristen for gaining his orange belt in kickboxing and we congratulated Lucy for winning the East Lancs Final whilst playing for her football team Lammack. To end our worship, we had some beautiful prayers from Darcy, Oscar and Harry who prayed for people who are less fortunate and those in countries that are currently faced with war and uncertainty. We then sang, ‘Sing a New Song to the Lord.’ 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 hopefully sunny) weekend!
Glorious Golden Time
This afternoon our children have enjoyed a glorious golden time outside. We are so lucky to have such large grounds to explore and play in. We have had some children playing sports on the MUGA, some on the outdoor gym and trim trails, some building and playing in the sand, some getting creative and some playing Jag Tag. The children work their socks off in class each week, follow our Four B's and complete their reading and homework to earn their golden time each Friday. What a fantastic afternoon!
Mrs Ham's Weekly Highlights
Good afternoon parents and carers, we hope that you all had a lovely bank holiday weekend. We have had another short but busy week of living life in all its fullness at St Barnabas. The highlights have been: *Reception class farm animal visitors from Nightingales Farm * Year 1's mock Baptism and party at our church with Rev Ben * Two more brilliant wins for our netball team * Our WOW group leading our KS2 class worships * Continuing learning how to play the keyboard in Junior Jam * A glorious golden time outside in the sun this afternoon Coming up next week: *Our Year 6 children are very much looking forward to their free breakfasts as we have the KS2 SATs. We know that they will try their very best and make us all proud. We also know that our children have been blessed with skills and qualities that SATs don't test. *Our Year 5 class are very excited as they are going on their three day PGL residential to Winmarleigh with Mr Bloomfield, Miss Kachwalla and Rev Ben. We are sure that they will make some amazing memories. *Years 1 and 3 have road safety officer workshops. *Year 2 have a visit from the fire service. *The Year 3/4 mini tennis competition. * Years 4, 5 and 6 have a PSHE RSE session from Coram Life Education *Our netball team have more matches. As the weather is warming up, please ensure that your child has a water bottle in school each day and that they put on all day sunscreen before coming to school. Sunhats would be brilliant too for playtimes and lunchtimes. Thank you for your continued support to our school family. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend in the sunshine with your loved ones, Mrs Ham
Year 6 SATs
Good afternoon Year 6 parents and carers, the week of Year 6 SATs is nearly here. We will be keeping the week as relaxed as possible and I will be sharing the attached poems with the children in worship tomorrow morning & will be explaining that we are so proud of them already and just want them to try their best, as we already know they are superstars. The children are to arrive at school for 8.45am and they will have breakfast together. Monday and Wednesday will be a hot breakfast of bacon and/or sausage baps. Tuesday and Thursday are a continental breakfast with a choice of pastries such as pain au chocolates and croissants plus yoghurt and fruit. Toast will also be available. Please feel free to give them their usual breakfast before they arrive though if they are used to having their breakfast earlier or have large appetites. We will be carrying out the assessments in the Year 5 and 6 classrooms whilst Year 5 are on their residential trip. Myself, Mr Prescott, Mrs Pendlebury and Mrs Hegarty will be supervising the children during their assessments. For further SATS information, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/classes-curriculum/class-pages/year-6#tab-6632 It is really important that they are in school and on time each day as the tests have to be carried out on certain days and times. Please see the attached timetable. Please ensure that your child gets lots of rest and food this weekend and next week and try to reassure them that SATsare only a small part of their primary school experience and to not put too much pressure on themselves. We are so proud of how they have grown in confidence and flourished throughout their time at St Barnabas and we know they will continue to shine and achieve great things when they start at high school. Thank you for your continued support. I wish the children all the luck in the world in their SATs, although we know that they have been blessed with so many amazing and wonderful skills that SATs don’t test and are kind, polite and fantastic little superstars, Mrs Ham
DPSSA Netball League
No team photo because we got carried away and were so focused on the task in hand, so a pile of bibs and ball with impressive wins on show. The children worked really well to develop their game play today. Our shooters were on point and we played across the whole of the court. Two games and two spectacular wins for Team B again! Super proud of you all.
Year 6 KOOTH workshop
On Friday, year 6 took part in a virtual workshop with KOOTH. KOOTH is an online, anonymous mental well-being platform for children. The children can sign up to this service by: visiting the website, selecting sign up, select their area (Darwen, Lancashire) and filling in a few details (DOB, gender, ethnicity, username). This service can provide support for SATS or anything else that the children may be worrying about.
Year 5&6 Cricket
Today was another fantastic session with our cricket group. The children put into practise all their skills and played by the Dynamo rules that the children will be playing in. They learnt the tactical side of the game whilst perfecting their strike, bowling and fielding skills.
Rev Ben’s Worship: The Ascension
Rev Ben spoke about the exciting events between Jesus’s crucifixion and his ascension. Many see Jesus’s ascension as a sad time, but Rev Ben explained that Christians believe that, although Jesus helped many people whilst he was here on Earth, he can help all of us from heaven. We also spent time thinking about when someone was helpful to us and how we can be helpful to others.
Year 5 and 6 Hop, Skip and Jump for East Lancs Hospice
Last Friday, year 5 and 6 took part in a fundraiser for East Lancs Hospice. It involved them hopping, skipping and jumping around the school yard. They took part with such enthusiasm. Well done year 5 and 6!
Year 6 P.E.
Year 6 continued their athletics unit. This week, we focused on our running, jumping and throwing skills. As always, we emphasised the importance of being in competition with yourself and trying to better your own personal outcomes. Year 6 took part with great enthusiasm and listened attentively on how to better their technique.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and talking about how we have lived life in all its fullness this week. We kickstarted the week on Monday with two amazing science shows, had a wonderful worship about ‘The Road to Emmaus’ with Rev Matt on Tuesday and enjoyed a variety of lunch time and after school clubs. We also congratulated our wonderful Year 5/6 netball team for performing amazingly on Wednesday night at the High 5s Bee Stinger Qualifiers. They will be attending the grand final in a few weeks. We then presented Alessia, Ella, Bobby-Ray, Desmond, Edward, Jacob and Sophie as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for always working exceptionally hard and demonstrating great enthusiasm, respect and kindness. We also congratulated Reception and Year 3 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and River Darwen as the overall value award winners this week. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Alessia for achieving her stage 1 swimming certificate, Hayden for winning ‘The Little Darreners’ Player of the week,’ James for also achieving ‘Player of the Week’ as a goalkeeper for his football team, Elsie for achieving a fabulous 25m in her swimming, Annabel for showing both generosity and courage to complete a swimathon to raise money for Marie Curie and Cancer Research, Marley for being awarded with the Rainbow Bronze award, Harry for achieving his green stripe at kickboxing, Molly for being awarded her green belt at jui jitsu, Darcy for achieving her Stage 4 at gymnastics, Daisy for participating in a gymnastics competition in Lancaster and taking 2nd place, Grace for achieving an honours in her classical ballet exam and we congratulated Archie for winning the East Lancs Cup alongside the rest of his football team. We then presented all of the children in school who have achieved their WOW badges this month. Well done to these children for their efforts in walking to school. Finally, we ended our celebration with a wonderful prayer from Rev Ben and a sing along to ‘Shine from the inside out.’ Thank you to those who attended celebration worship and we wish our whole school family a lovely and restful extended weekend.
Mrs Ham's Weekly Message
Good afternoon parents and carers, we have had a short but busy week due to the school being used as a polling station yesterday. We hope all of our school family had an enjoyable day in the sunshine. This week the children have continued to achieve 'great things' and have lived life in all its fullness. The highlights of the week were: * The fantastic Science shows on Monday. Thank you Miss Kachwalla for organising them. * Our high fives netball team won their Bee Stinger qualifier by winning every game so are through to the grand final. Thanks Mrs Gardner for training the team and supporting at the matches, even on your days off. * Year 2 visited Four Seasons Garden Centre to learn more about plants and growing. * We had great fun learning about perseverance by trying to keep two giant inflatables off the floor in Worship with Rev Matt on Tuesday. * We've had some fantastic clubs such as Little Voices, Cricket, Jag Tag, Netball, Forest Schools and Mad Science. Miss Flynn and our librarians also ran a wonderful lunchtime story and craft club too. * Year 5 and 6 had another brilliant Jag Tag session each this afternoon. For all of this week's news from each class, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news On Monday we won't be in school as it is bank holiday Monday but we look forward to welcoming our school family back to school on Tuesday. Wishing you all a wonderful bank holiday weekend and thank you for your continued support, Mrs Ham
Year 6 JagTag
Year 6 have continued with their JagTag unit. This week, they started to explore some of the positions involved in American Football and carried out some passages of play.
Bee Stinger Netball Qualifiers - Winners
This evening we attended the Bee Stinger Netball Qualifiers at St Bedes. We played four games and managed to achieve some fantastic results - 1-0, 6-1, 4-1 and 6-2. The children worked really hard in driving the ball forward and using their space more wisely. We now look forward to attending the grand final in a few weeks- Go Team B!
Rev Matt’s Worship - The Road To Emmaus
Rev Matt asked us to participate in the story of the disciples walking to Emmaus and talking about the sad events of Jesus’s death. We learned about the stranger who joined them and later revealed himself to be Jesus resurrected. Rev Matt involved all of the children in an activity in which they had to work together to keep an inflatable off the floor. He used this to explain the importance of believing, especially without proof, in God and His Son, and that it is this that keeps faith going.
Year 5&6 Cricket Club
Another week of our cricket club got underway this week. The children focused hard on the dynamo rules and putting them into good practise during a game. The children have worked really well on the tactics of the game and mastering their technique of batting, bowling and fielding.
KS2- Science Show- Fantastic Forces
This afternoon, KS2 enjoyed a special Science show led by Adrian, a former primary school teacher. The kids had a blast learning about different types of forces and examples and discovering more about Isaac Newton. Some students were selected to come to the front and test which parachute would land first: one open and the other tied. They made predictions and discussed air resistance. The children were intrigued by the various types of magnets, including bar and ring magnets, and they learned about repelling and attracting forces. Adrian even showed them how static can keep bubbles in the air, which left the children in absolute amazement with many "wow" moments. They asked Adrian why he chose to leave teaching and do science shows instead. He explained that while he loved teaching, focusing solely on science was his passion, which wasn't always possible in primary school. Delivering science shows allows him to do just that, and he thoroughly enjoys it. What an outstanding show it was!
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and talking about how we started our week on Monday by celebrating World Earth Day and having a special worship with Willow the guide dog. Some other highlights from the week have been our wonderful worship about forgiveness with Rev Ben on Tuesday, Leonora and David attending the RE conference and our wonderful Year 5/6 netball team for performing amazingly last night and winning their match against St Edwards 13-0. We then presented Thomas, Evie, Martha, Miley, Brodie, Bella, Jake and Jay as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for consistently demonstrating an amazing attitude to learning, always showing kindness and respect to their teachers and friends and working incredibly hard across the curriculum. We also congratulated Reception and Year 3 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park as the overall value award winners this week with an a wonderful 226 points. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Callie for achieving 3rd place out of 28 people in her recent gymnastics competition on the vault and beam, James for taking part in the St George’s Parade as a Beaver and achieving the chief scout’s special bronze award, Lyla for trying incredibly hard in her dancing, Charlie for achieving the ‘Little Darreners’ Player of the Week award, Renee and Carmen for being brave and challenging themselves on the high rope and the zip wire at Go Ape, Carmen for being very thoughtful at Little Voices after school club, Archie for concentrating and working extremely hard towards achieving his red belt at martial arts, Noah for achieving a trophy for demonstrating incredible skills in his football, Finn for being awarded a certificate for showing skill in his football, Tristen for achieving his orange belt at kickboxing, Luke for being awarded ‘Man of the Match’ in his most recent football match, Jack for achieving his Stage 4 and Stage 5 swimming certificates, Lola for achieving several medals for her dancing including one for completing a recent exam in her acro and another for her commitment to dancing, April for achieving her 200m swimming certificate after working extremely hard to progress to that level, Elsie for attending Brownies for a year, Daisy for her commitment to Brownies by attending for 2 years and achieving lots of badges such as her recent aviation and Scarlett for demonstrating amazing concentration in her jiu jitsu. To end of our celebration worship, we had some lovely prayers from Seb, Lilly, Darcy and Mrs Ham for those caught in war, prayers of thankfulness and prayers about protecting our planet and we sang ‘We Can Make a Difference.’ Finally, we thanked all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Mrs Ham's Weekly Message
Good afternoon parents and carers, we have had another wonderful week of living life in all its fullness. The highlights of the week have been: *Celebrating World Earth Day through crafts at lunchtime and special class worships * A visit from Willow, a guide dog for the blind, as part of National Pet Month * WOW group members David and Leonora represented our school at the Pupils' RE conference * Our netball team won their first match of the league 13-0 against St Edwards * All of our children took part in the hop, skip and jump event today to help raise money for East Lancs Hospice. They all received a chocolate treat too. Donations to this very worthy cause can be made via parent pay. To hear about all the great things we have achieved this week in Celebration Worship, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news/2024-04-26-friday-celebration-worship For all of this week's news, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news A quick reminder that school is CLOSED on Thursday as our school is used as a polling station. Thank you for all of your support and dedication to our school family. Wishing you all a lovely weekend and I hope the sun shines for you all, Mrs Ham
Year 6 History
In year 6, we continued our unit, which focuses on the impact of World War Two on Darwen, by investigating some attendance registers used by St Barnabas school (then Culvert school) during the war. We found out that evacuees came from London and attended the school and this may have happened due to events taking place in London at the time.
Year 6 P.E.
Last Friday, year 6 started their unit on JagTag. All of the children have shown a huge interest in this sport and couldn’t wait to take part in the session.
DPSSA Netball League Night 1
What a great start we have had to the Darwen Primary Schools Netball League at Darwen Vale. A fantastic effort from each and every player saw us come away with a 13-0 win! We look forward to developing even more as a squad over the next few weeks - Go Team B!
Collective Worship-Forgiveness
This morning in Rev Ben’s worship, we started with a challenge. Dougie and Jake had a minute each to catch as many fish as possible using a rod and transfer them to another bowl at the other side of the room. The whole school gave them lots of encouragement which spurred them on enormously. This then led us on to a story of a fisherman called Peter. In the story, Peter realised that Jesus was more than a friend, he was God as he did such amazing things such as save him from drowning and heal his mother. When Jesus told Peter that he would betray him by not knowing him three times before the cockerel crowed, Peter didn’t believe him. Peter told Jesus that he would never betray him as he was his best friend. However, later in the story Peter did in fact betray Jesus when he denied knowing him three times. Then, the cockerel crowed. This is when Peter had the realisation that he had betrayed Jesus after all and he was extremely upset with himself. He wasn’t sure if Jesus would ever forgive him but Jesus did because Jesus loved him very much. Peter became a forgiven man and he spent the rest of his life telling everyone about Jesus and how amazing he was. He spread the word of God. Rev Ben asked us about the story and what we could learn from this. A lot of our Year 6 children shared their views and said that making mistakes can be good as you can learn, grow and improve and that Jesus will always forgive you for the mistakes that you make. We ended our worship with a lovely prayer and a sing along to ‘Jesus Strong and Kind.’
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Whole-School Worship - Guide Dogs
As it is National Pet Month, Mrs Ham invited some special visitors from the guide dogs charity into our collective worship. They came to tell us all about how guide dogs are selected, how they are trained and how they support blind people in their daily lives. Keith asked us to put our hands over our eyes in order to imagine what it must be like to be blind. Haydn said you might not see things on the floor so might trip up and Cici said you wouldn't be able to see where you were going. We were also introduced us to Willow, a working guide dog, and he showed us how to spot a guide dog by their harness. He also showed us how to spot if a blind person is in need of help. The children asked some great questions about blindness and about the charity. They were especially shocked to learn that each guide dog costs around £55,000! Two of our children have already sponsored a guide dog puppy and hopefully more families might choose to do the same. We ended our worship talking about Earth Day and how we can look after God’s creations. We all agreed that everyday should be Earth Day and we finished by singing 'I can make a difference in this world of ours'.
WOW Badge and Class Winners for March 2024
A huge well done to all 120 of our WOW badge winners for March 2024. What a super effort everyone has made. We have all tried really hard to either walk or park and stride once a week in the month of March which was a little taster session as we did it over the 2 weeks! A big congratulations to Year 5 as they have the most badge winners. We look forward to seeing who has earned a badge for April in a couple of weeks.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by talking about why we are all wearing blue today which is for Autism Awareness Day at St Barnabas as part of Autism Awareness Month. Finn very bravely stood up in front of the whole school and told us a little bit about his brother Declan who has Autism. He told us that Declan doesn’t like walking in the rain as he doesn’t like the sensation and he told us that he doesn’t like very loud noises and will therefore sometimes wear his ear defenders. Despite this, Finn said that Declan leads an amazing life and it’s wonderful having a brother with Autism. Harvey, who has autism, also came to the front to show everyone his t-shirt which spread awareness for Autism and he loved blowing the worship candles out. We heard a little about how Harvey loves to sing rhymes and songs just like many of us. We then thought about how we’ve lived life in all its fullness this week with our wonderful worships led by both Mrs Ham and Rev Matt and all of our wonderful after school clubs including Little Voices, Mad Science Club, Forest schools and Cricket and Rounders Club. We then presented Hollie, Lydia, Frankie, Iris, Oliver, Olivia, Talia, Charlie, Betsy and Jake as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for consistently demonstrating an amazing attitude to learning, always showing kindness and respect to their teachers and friends and working incredibly hard across the curriculum. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, Jack and Sofia for receiving their pen licenses, Darwen Tower as the overall value award winners this week with an amazing 611 points, the children that completed the big plastic count for being super eco warriors, all of the children who have achieved their badge as part of the WOW initiative which involves walking to school or from school at least once a week and we said a special well done to Year 5 who have won the schools walk to school challenge by completing the most walks or park and strides so far. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Lenny for achieving his starfish swimming badge, Ella-Grace for achieving a trophy for coming first in her recent 3x3 football tournament, Sonny, Charlie, Leo and Desmond for winning the cup in their recent football tournament, Iris for being a wonderful gymnast and swimming several lengths to raise awareness for diabetes, Sofia for achieving her level 4 in gymnastics, making her promise at Brownies, being part of Brownies for two years and achieving an award at musical theatre, Betsy for being awarded a medal for amazing ballet, Isaac for being awarded a merit in his swimming, Lyla for achieving her Stage 4 certificate at swimming, Eliza for achieving several rosettes in her horse riding, Alexis for making her Brownie promise and achieving 100m in her swimming, Alice and Grace for achieving their Brownie Promise badge, Annabelle for gaining her silver certificate for demonstrating several skills at swimming, Lydia and Ella for achieving their Level 1 at swimming, Leonora for achieving her 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke in her swimming, Harry and Eli for being awarded their 100m certificate at swimming, Archie for getting Man of the Match during his semi-final football match, Eden for attending Brownies for a year and achieving her Brownie Eid badge, Mila for achieving her badge for visiting the Fire Station at Rainbows, Marley for getting Olivia doll at Rainbows for being kind, Thomas for getting his 15m swimming certificate, Callie for achieving Stage 4 in her swimming and Cassidy for making her Brownie Promise and being awarded her badge. Wow, what a busy week of celebrations that we had! Rev Ben then led us in prayer and to end our celebration worship, we thanked all those who attended and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Mrs Ham's Weekly message
Good afternoon parents and carers, it has been another wonderful week at St Barnabas! It was brilliant to hear in Celebration Worship about how each class has lived life in all its fullness and about all the great things that have been achieved this week both in and out of school. Please click here to read all about it: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news/2024-04-19-friday-celebration-worship Thank you to everyone for your support for autism awareness today by dressing in blue. A special thanks to Finn for being courageous by telling us all about his big brother Declan, who has autism and to our Harvey who loved showing us his special blue autism awareness t-shirt and how he loves to blow out our worship candles. This week we found out that 30 new children will be joining our school family in September and we can't wait to welcome them. Next Friday we are looking forward to our Hop, Skip and Jump in support of East Lancs Hospice. Donations can be made via parent pay. For all of this week's news, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Thank you for your wonderful support and in particular with our walk to school initiative, which saw lots of children being awarded with their first WOW badge this morning. I would like to wish you all a fabulous weekend and I hope the weather is kinder to us next week. Take care and God bless, Mrs Ham
Year 6 Science
In Science, Year 6 continued their unit on evolution and inheritance. This week, we looked at fossils and how they can give us information about living things from millions of years ago. It can inform us what a specific animal looked like, its habitat and maybe even the diet of that animal. It also allows us to compare them with animals today and see how modern day creatures have adapted to their surrounding environment.
Year 6 P.E. - Athletics
In P.E. Year 6 have started their athletics unit. This week we looked at developing our running and jumping skills. Character development was massively important in this session as the children needed to be aware that they weren’t in competition with others, but themselves. Over the coming weeks, the children will look to better their results by focusing on their technique.
Rev Matt’s Worship: The Resurrection
Rev Matt came in to lead our worship today and tell us about the biggest surprise in the Bible: the resurrection. Rev Matt began with a mystery box game in which children had to feel an object in a box and guess what it was. He talked about how, even though we may worry about what’s coming, the surprise can often be the best thing. This is how the women felt when they visited Jesus’s tomb after his death. They were worried when they noticed Jesus was missing and the ground began to shake, but were overjoyed when Jesus appeared and spoke to them.
Year 5&6 Cricket Club
Today, Year 5&6 started the new cricket after school club. The children worked hard on bowling and batting skills to ensure they have the appropriate technique. They then applied this into a game scenario working hard on the tactical elements of the game.
Collective Worship- Road to Emmaus
This morning in our Collective Worship, we watched the latest Worship Together video from Blackburn Diocese. Lisa asked us to think about a time that we have run to share some exciting news with our friends or family. Archie said when he received a darts contract, Ella-Grace said when she won in a football 3x3 competition, Seb said when he won a dance competition, Luca said when he got a 171 in darts, Scarlett said when it was her birthday, Lyla Grace said when she got a fish and Alfie said when his team scored a goal. We then heard about the story of Jesus appearing to some of his followers on the road to Emmaus and how they ran back to tell the disciples. We then delved deeper into the story by watching a cartoon of the story to help us visualise what it must have been like for Jesus' disciples when he appeared to them and then disappeared. Bishop Philip explained how the disciples were happy as they knew that Jesus would always be with them and He is with us all the time. Lisa led us in a running prayer today and we all joined in with lots of enthusiasm. To finish our Worship we sang 'Let me walk beside you', said Jesus one day, which helps to explain how Jesus is with us when we are walking, sitting, standing and resting and we had some wonderful volunteers to show the younger children the actions. We then reflected on how we have lived life in all its fullness this week and Annabelle shared that she volunteered to be pushed into the freezing cold water during the Year 4 residential, Charlie said he jumped into the water twice, Jenson said he was brave in the water which felt like -25 and Isaac shared that he took part in some filming which pushed him out of his comfort zone. I wonder how we will live life in all its fullness this week?
Thank you parents and carers!
Thank you to everyone who attended parents’ evening last night. We had 85% of our parents attend which was great, especially with it being the first day back after the Easter holidays. It was lovely to welcome you back into school again and we hope you enjoyed hearing how your child has progressed since the last parents’ evening in December. Thank you for your patience when waiting for appointments and for your ongoing support. If you weren’t able to attend last night, please contact class teachers via class dojo to arrange a 5 minute phone call. There will be NO Celebration Worship tomorrow morning sorry due to the shorter week and Year 4 being on their residential trip to the Anderton Centre. A quick reminder that parents and carers are always welcome to join us for our Family Celebration Worship on Friday mornings, which will start next Friday. Refreshments will be available from 8.55am and worship will start at 9.05am. We look forward to seeing you and thank you for your continued support.
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Easter Reflection Worship
It was wonderful to welcome our school family back after our Easter break. In our collective Worship we reflected on the events of Holy Week and joined in with a rhyming Bible story about when Jesus appeared to his disciples and we watched 'The Awesome Easter Surprise' video. We reflected on how Jesus must have felt telling his friends that he would be leaving them but we discussed how this was all part of God's plan and how God sent his son Jesus as a rescuer and saviour. We looked at our God's Big Story canvases and identified that the Easter story came in the salvation part. We then thought about how Jesus asked his disciples to love one another and live life in all its fullness. We talked to our partner about how we can live life in all its fullness, which is our school vision, and make Jesus proud of us. We had some really thoughtful answers such as: show love and respect to everyone including your pets, neighbours and parents, look after our world by picking up litter, donate clothes, toys and food to those who don't have as much as we have, challenge yourself, go outdoors and look at God's creations, be happy, play nicely with your friends and be grateful for everything we have. We finished our Worship with a prayer and sang Give me oil in my lamp to sing Hosanna to Jesus.
Easter Church Service
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Easter Service this morning. I’ve added some videos and photos to class dojo for parents who weren’t able to join us. Thank you to our Heads and Deputies for leading the service with me and to our KS2 classes for leading the singing. A special thanks to Rev Ben too for leading us in a special Easter prayer. We’ve had a wonderful few weeks in school in the lead up to Easter. Please click here to see all the Easter fun we have had: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/easter-2024 Thank you so much to our children for the amazing walking they have been doing both in and out of school for our Big Lent Walk challenge. As a school family we have walked a fantastic 2383km and raised £215 so far to help fight global poverty! Sponsor money can still be paid in on the following link: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk A quick reminder that we break up early today at 2.00pm and return back for the Summer term on Wednesday 10th April.
Amazing Attendance Winners - Spring Term
A huge congratulations to all of the children who received an Amazing Attendance certificate today for achieving great things by being in school for 96% of the time or over for the Autumn and Spring terms. We are so proud of you all!
Rev Matt’s Worship: Good Friday
Rev Matt’s worship this week began with a drawing challenge. A Year 4 child was shown a picture and they had to draw the picture on the back of a Year 5 child. This child then had to draw what they thought the picture was on the back of a Year 6 child, who had to attempt to draw it on flip chart paper. Rev Matt then explained that messages sometimes become distorted when we don’t see the full picture, but it is important to stay hopeful. This mirrors the sadness of Jesus’ death on Good Friday. We must remember that it was all part of God’s plan to save mankind.
Year 5 and 6 Rose Garden Visit
This morning, year 5 and 6 visited the Rose Garden to see the art work that each year group created to represent different elements of the Easter story. The standard of work was superb across the school. Mr Bloomfield then led a quiz based on the art work that was kindly created by Mrs Araujo.
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Collective Worship- Salvation
This morning in Worship we learnt about Palm Sunday with Mrs Ham and then we watched the Easter Worship Together across the Diocese video with Lisa and Bishop Philip. We looked at our school timeline of God's Big Story and found where salvation was in the New Testament. We then learnt all about Jesus being our salvation, our rescuer and saviour. We looked at our sorry tree and Mrs Ham read out some of the things we are sorry for (sins) and we asked for God’s forgiveness. We finished with an Easter prayer and Years 3 & 4 performed the songs they will be singing in our Easter Service on Thursday morning.
Easter Artwork Trail in the Rose Garden
The St Barnabas Easter trail is now ready for visitors! Our whole school family has worked hard to represent a different part of the Easter story through art and we have selected some for our community to enjoy when they visit the Rose Garden at Whitehall Park. Our pictures have brought a lovely splash of colour to the garden to celebrate this joyous time in the Christian calendar. We hope that they will bring joy to all visitors.
Inter House Dodgeball Event
The Inter House Dodgeball competition was a huge success. Every single child across school took part and represented their house teams. It was fantastic to see the children getting involved, working as a team and having lots of fun. A massive thank you to the Sports leaders who ran the event and congratulations to both of our winning houses which were the yellow and green team - Whitehall Park and Darwen Tower
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by thanking our whole school family for wearing odd socks yesterday for World Down Syndrome Awareness Day and all of our children who have contributed to our Big Lent Walk this week including Year 6 who have walked all over London and Year 1 who walked 3 and a half miles around Darwen on their local history walk. We then presented Fletcher, Maggie, Ella-Grace, Isabelle, Edward, Brooke and as the value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently demonstrating an amazing attitude to learning and demonstrating all of the 4Bs. Then Mr Prescott presented all of Year 6 as value award winners this week for representing the school amazingly well in London. Mr Prescott said that they all got along amazingly well, were incredibly well mannered and showed a genuine interest in all of the places they visited and things that they got to see. Well done Year 6. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 6 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, River Darwen who are our overall value award winners this week and our amazing swimming gala team made up of children from Year 3,4,5 and 6 for coming 3rd place overall and also achieving lots of individual placings. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Holly for achieving both her Stage 3 and 4 swimming certificates, Callie for being awarded the special teddy at stage coach for amazing singing, dancing and acting, Ella-Grace for being being successful in getting into the Man United Girls Football Team, Grace for receiving a letter from the King regarding her letter about the closing down of Waddow Hall, Maggie for showing wonderful commitment to Rainbows by attending for two years, Lola for showing generosity and raising money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital by completing 50k in March, Annabel for completing her promise at Rainbows, Betsy for achieving a gold medal for ‘throwing herself into the deep end’ in her acro dancing, Scarlett for showing wonderful commitment to Rainbows by attending for two years, Marley for showing wonderful commitment to Rainbows by attending for one year, Arabelle for working hard to achieve her Stage 4 at swimming, Vienna for being awarded her water safety certificate, Harriet for achieving her Stage 4 in swimming, Thomas for being awarded his Level 1 First Aid certificate, being a super chef and a brilliant builder, Annabelle for achieving her Blue Peter Badge for reading and taking part in an orienteering competition, Leonora for completing seven swimming events in a 50m pool last weekend. To end of our celebration worship, we heard from Rev Ben who reminded us all about the Palm Sunday Church Service this weekend where our school choir will be singing and an Easter egg hunt that the church have organised on Good Friday. Mrs Wilkinson also reminded us about the Scholastic Book Fair which is running tonight, Monday and Tuesday after school. We also sang along to ‘Gospel Medley.’ We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Mrs Ham’s Weekly Message
Good evening parents and carers, well what a busy week it has been at St Barnabas and we sure have been living life in all its fullness! The highlights have been: *The Year 6 London trip *Odd Socks day for Down Syndrome Awareness Day *Year 5 class releasing the trout they have grown into River Darwen *Reception class visits from a firefighter and two dentists *Year 1 Victorian history walk *Inter-house dodgeball led by our Sports Leaders today Each class has been busy creating wonderful Easter artwork and a selection of it will be displayed in the Rose Garden in Whitehall Park. Each class will have the opportunity to visit it and it will be there over the Easter holidays if you would like to visit it as a family. For all of this week’s news from each class, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news On Sunday everyone is welcome to Rev Ben’s Palm Sunday service at 11.00am and our choir will be singing. Any of our school children can also join in too. Next week we will be celebrating Holy Week in school and everyone is welcome to our Easter Church Service on Thursday morning at 9.15am. We break up early for the Easter holidays on Thursday at 2.00pm. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend with your loved ones and I hope our Year 6 children rest and recharge after a busy couple of days in London, Mrs Ham
Year 6- Imperial War Museum Visit
In History this term, Year 6 have been learning all about the Second World War and the part that Darwen played in it. It has been wonderful to visit the Imperial War Museum to learn more about the Second World War and the part that London played in it and contrast this to Darwen’s involvement. All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/imperial-war-museum
Year 6- Graffiti Tunnel
We have just had a great time creating some graffiti art in Leake Street tunnel and we got to join a free tour with an artistic called Mark who spends lots of time creating artwork in the tunnel. Earlier on this year we looked at graffiti art in our Art unit so it was great to be able to apply the skills we learnt. All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/london-graffiti-tunnel
Year 6- Thames River Cruise
Our Year 6 children enjoyed seeing some of the famous sights of London from the River Thames. They also learnt about the history of the buildings from our tour guide. Can you spot any you know? For all of the photos, click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/thames-river-sightseeing-cruise
Year 6- London Sightseeing
Year 6 saw lots of London's famous sights such as Buckingham Palace, 10 Downing Street, Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament , the Tower of London and we watched the changing of the guard. For all of the photos, click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/london-sightseeing
Year 6 - Jubilee Gardens and St James's Park
Year 6 had a fantastic time playing on the adventure play areas in Jubilee Gardens underneath the London Eye and in St James's Park. It was wonderful to see everyone getting along and playing with their friends. For all of the photos, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/london-jubilee-gardens-and-st-james-s-park
Year 6 London Trip 2024
Our Year 6 children are off on their exciting visit to London!
Year 6- Houses of Parliament Visit
Our Year 6 class enjoyed a wonderful visit to the Houses of Parliament. They went on a special guided tour and got to go into the House of Lords. They finished the visit in Westminster Hall and looked at where the late Queen Elizabeth II was laid in state. All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/houses-of-parliament-visit-1
Year 6- Natural History Museum
Our Year 6 class had a wonderful time exploring the Natural History Museum in London. They saw dinosaur and animal bones and fossils and lots of stuffed animals. They also enjoyed visiting the gift shop. Click here for all of the photos: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/natural-history-museum
Year 6- Matilda in the West End
Year 6 watched Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End. We had seats in the stalls so we had a great view. The children’s faces were priceless as they were so mesmerised by the production and in particular the child actors and actresses. We hope it’s given them some ideas and confidence for their end of year Jungle Book production.
Running Club
Running club continued for the KS2 children. The children have been building their stamina and technique for long distance running. Many children have beaten their original times and are making lots of progress.
Rev Ben’s Worship: Palm Sunday
Today, Rev Ben read the story of Palm Sunday and talked about the joy of the crowd when Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. He contrasted this with the anger of the crowd when they were led to believe that Jesus lied about who he was. Determination and perseverance were two key qualities demonstrated by Jesus during that time and Rev Ben asked everyone to reflect on when they will need to show these qualities this week.
Spring attendance update
Good afternoon parents and carers, please see the images for the latest attendance update for the Spring term. In the Autumn term we achieved an award for being in the top 25% of schools nationally for attendance and we are really close to our school target and government target of 96%. With your help we can ensure that your child achieves the best possible outcomes in life by coming to school every day and on time. We are looking forward to presenting Amazing Attendance certificates to all of the children who are at our 96% target and above at our Easter Service in church on Thursday 28th March at 9.15am. For further information about attendance, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/academy-life/attendance
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Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our celebration worship by thanking our whole school family for dressing in red to support Comic Relief. We then thought about how we’ve lived life in all its fullness this week with the help of our amazing after school clubs, a wonderful worship with Rev Matt about Jesus being kind towards Zacchaeus and by celebrating British Science Week. Mrs Ham also updated us all on our Big Lent Walk progress. Up to now, we have collectively walked 1239km and raised £215. We believe that we can continue to better this and achieve 2000km and raise even more money. We then presented Summer, Eli, Lyla, Ivy, Ruby, Hamza and Charlie as the value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently demonstrating an amazing attitude to learning and our 4Bs. We also congratulated Reception and Year 3 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, the KS2 girls who took part in the Girls Football tournament last Friday with Mr Bloomfield to celebrate International Women’s Day and River Darwen who are our overall value award winners this week. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Olivia for achieving her white belt at kickboxing, Sofia for achieving her 8th birthday badge at Rainbows, Carter for achieving his stage 2 at swimming, Annabel for achieving swimmer of the month, Vienna for being awarded an amazing 50m at swimming, Elsie for her incredible swimming and Renee for achieving her Stage 1 swimming. To end our worship, we had some lovely prayers from Olivia, Olivia, Finn and Mrs Ham who prayed for those who have died , are in the midst of conflict and a prayer to encourage us to be both kind and forgiving during this time of Lent. We also sang along to ‘Sing Hosanna.’ We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Darwen Swimming Gala
Good evening parents and carers, I’m so sorry for the late message but we are just back from the swimming gala. We are so proud to share that our swim team came 3rd overall out of 8 schools. Every child in our team won at least one medal and they were amazing at encouraging each other. Here are the medalists: 100m relay - 2nd Isaac 25m butterfly- 2nd Annabelle 25m butterfly- 2nd Isaac 25m breaststroke -2nd Sophie 25m breaststroke - 1st Isaac Boys medley relay- 3rd Boys freestyle relay - 3rd Girls freestyle relay - 3rd Thanks to Mrs Gardner for running the swimming trials and sorting the admin. Thank you to Mr Bloomfield for supporting the children with me tonight. A huge thanks to the parents and siblings who came along to cheer them along, it was a brilliant atmosphere! We have had another wonderful week at St Barnabas. For all of the news from this week, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Year 6 have an exciting week next week as we go on our visit to London and the book fair will be visiting our school. Wishing you all a fantastic weekend and thank you for your continued support, Mrs Ham
Easter Singing Worship
We had a wonderful morning singing our favourite Easter hymns and songs. To finish we practised the Spring Chicken song in hope that we get a visit from the Spring Chicken at the end of term.
WOW Ambassador Training
In our very first WOW Ambassador meeting today, we met to discuss the children’s role and how they will promote this walk to school initiative throughout school. We also completed training on how to access the travel tracker and monitor each class on a weekly basis. The children can’t wait for the launch of this exciting new walking to school initiative next week!
Year 6 Art
In year 6, we have started to look at our new art unit and have linked it to our R.E. Artwork that will be displayed in the Whitehall Park Rose Garden. We started by analysing a piece of work created by the artist Lubaina Himid, entitled ‘Five’. In her artwork, she displays symbols and addresses issues close to her heart. We have used her work as inspiration for our own creation and have started to develop our own ideas to answer the question ‘Who was Jesus?’ in our own piece of artwork.
Year 6 British Science Week
In year 6, we investigated how the theme of time links to the topic of evolution and inheritance. We discovered that evolution of a new species can take millions of years and that adaptations happen over time. To illustrate this point, we focused on butterflies. The children created their own butterflies and they had to choose an appropriate habitat for them to hide in when the predator was on the hunt. We discussed how the butterflies that survived are more suited to their environment and they are more likely to reproduce and have an offspring that is also suited to its habitat. This is called natural selection.
Rev Matt’s Worship: The Story of Zacchaeus
This morning Rev Matt began our worship talking about soft and hard materials and how some materials can be softened. This led nicely into the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who had a hard heart and did not treat people very well. However, when Jesus called Zacchaeus to Him and requested to go to Zacchaeus’s house, Zacchaeus changed and had a softer heart. The story taught us that those who struggle are the ones who need our kindness most.
Running Club
Another amazing session of running club got underway this week. All the children showed incredible determination and resilience during running club to improve on their times from last week; in preparation for the cross country event.
Values Points House Team Winners - Spring 1 2024
A huge well done to our Values Awards Winners for Spring Term 1 2024 - Team Whitehall Park. Today they celebrated their win with a special non- uniform day, sweet treats and a disco. It was lovely to see each and every one of them dancing and having lots of fun! Well done Team Whitehall Park on another successful half term win!
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by wishing all of the wonderful women in our school family a Happy International Women’s Day. We then thought about how we’ve lived life in all its fullness this week with a lovely Mother’s Day breakfast hosted by FOSB, a special Mother’s Day celebration in Reception class, a fantastic author visit from R.K. Alker, an amazing day celebrating World Book Day, a visit to King George’s Hall Let’s Go Sing concert for our amazing choir and lots of amazing extra curricular clubs. We then presented Vienna, Charlie, Archie, Carter, Declan, Grace, Bobby and Sienna as our value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently showing our Christian Values and working incredibly hard across the curriculum. We then had a phenomenal performance from our incredible choir of ‘Dancing on Air’ which was one of their songs at Let’s Go Sing concert. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, Whitehall Park who are our overall value award winners this week, our Year 5/6 football team who attended the Football Festival on Tuesday evening, our amazing librarians for all of their effort and enthusiasm on World a book Day and Grace, Annabelle and James in Year 4 for designing badges for the launch of the WOW initiative. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Jenson for achieving his 400m at swimming, Daisy for getting Emily the doll at Rainbows for being incredibly kind and thoughtful, Eliza for being awarded player of the match in her football match at the weekend, Skye and Rosie for demonstrating incredible skills in their horse riding lessons, Isaac for achieving a 100m medal in a swimming competition, Cassidy for being awarded gymnast of the session and Scarlett for achieving her ‘World Thinking Day’ badge. To end our worship, we had a lovely prayer from Rev Ben, sang happy birthday to those children who are celebrating birthdays today and this weekend and we had a sing along to ‘We Have a King Who Rides a Donkey.’ Mrs Ham also reminded us that it is dress in red for Comic Relief next Friday 15th March. We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
The Big Plastic Count
THE BIG PLASTIC COUNT We're excited that our school is joining the Big Plastic Count initiative from March 11th to 17th. The issue of plastic waste affects us all, and our young ones must have a say in finding solutions. Click on the link below for more information. https://youtu.be/x0nQHO7Mw-k?si=76vpk8Hf9wXOKqn1 During this initiative, your children will play a vital role in gathering evidence about what happens to our plastic waste. This information will be used to advocate for change at national and global levels, urging UK ministers, supermarkets, and major brands to take action towards phasing out plastic production. In the coming days, your child will receive a ‘Let’s count tally sheet’. Count as you throw from Monday 11th March morning until Sunday 17th March! Simply mark every piece of plastic package as you throw it away on the tally sheet. We encourage you to support them in this activity, and they can then input their findings at home using the unique class link provided on their class page between 18-31 March. Once all the results are in, we'll create our class footprint and share it with the children. We appreciate your continuous support in involving our pupils in these significant initiatives. Thank you, Smart School Council and Miss Kachwalla
Mrs Ham's Weekly Message
Dear parents and carers, wow, what another busy week of 'achieving great things' and 'living life in all its fullness'! The highlights have been: *Choir Let's Go Sing concert at King George's Hall *Reception class firefighter visit and Mother's Day Worship *Years 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 Big Lent Walks *Year 5 and 6 football festival *An author visit- RK Alker *FOSB Mother's Day Breakfast- Thank you FOSB! *Year 3 visited by a baker and made apple crumble * World book day- the word costumes were amazing! *International Women's Day girls football tournament *Whitehall Park house team winners non-uniform day and disco *WOW walk to school launch Next week we have a slightly quieter week but are looking forward to: Monday: Launch of the Big Plastic Count Wednesday: Rhyme and story time for Reception class and younger children Thursday: Cross Country competition for our cross country team Friday: Dress in red for Red Nose Day, Comic Relief Darwen Swimming gala for our swimming squad. Thank you so much for your donations and support towards our Big Lent Walk. We have now walked 1088km. Please keep sending in your walks and sponsorship money can be donated here: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk For all the latest photos in our gallery, please click here: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-gallery-category/our-gallery For all of the latest news from each class, please click here: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news or see our facebook page. I've attached a photo of the upcoming church Easter services and your child should come home with an invitation today. We are looking forward to our choir singing on Palm Sunday 24th March and everyone is welcome to come and support. Happy International Women's day to all of our wonderful Mums, Grandmas, female staff and young ladies in our school family. We hope that all of our Mums and Grandmas have a wonderful relaxing day on Mothering Sunday. Rev Ben is leading a special church service at 11.00am on Sunday and everyone is welcome. Wishing you all a fabulous weekend and thank you for your ongoing support, Mrs Ham
WOW Initiative Assembly Launch
Today we had our WOW assembly in which we learned all about our new walk to school challenge and how we need to try to walk to school (or find an active way) at least once a week. We met Dan who is from Living Streets. He told us how we can earn badges every month by taking part. It’s so important to walk to improve our mental wellbeing, get fit and decrease pollution. We look forward to practising with the Travel Tracker next week with our newly appointed WOW Ambassadors.
Biggest Ever Girls Football Session
Today, our KS2 girls all took part in the biggest ever girls football session in celebration of International Women’s Day. Our girls all played a football tournament to encourage more girls to play and take up football. The girls participated in a tournament style session building on teamwork and spirit within the game and then finished off with a penalty shootout at the end. All the girls had an amazing time and showed lots of talent and potential. Well done girls!
World Book Day- Dress as a word
Happy world book day! The children have loved seeing all of our staff team dressed as different words and have had great fun guessing their lords. We have had some brilliant challenging vocabulary from onomatopoeia to metamorphosis! Can you guess the words?
Year 6 World Book Day
Year 6 have had a fantastic World Book Day! After a fantastic assembly led by Miss Flynn, as a year group, year 6 developed their own dictionary. They found the meaning of their word, wrote a sentence containing that word and provided some symbolic imagery to enhance the meaning. In addition, year 6 also took part in a ‘book tasting’ session and added book titles to their wish lists that they took home. They followed a three stage process when choosing their books: do I like the front cover? Do I like the sound of the story from the blurb? And finally, can I access the language inside the book?
World Book Day- Reading for Pleasure
As part of our World Book Day celebrations, all of our teachers and teaching assistants swapped classes and read to a group of children in a different year group. The children loved being read to by a different adult to usual and our teaching staff thoroughly enjoyed promoting reading for pleasure.
KS2 World Book Day Assembly
Thank you to our wonderful KS2 children for their fantastic engagement with this morning’s World Book Day assembly. Mrs Ham introduced the assembly by telling the children all about the word that she had come dressed as which was ‘onomatopoeia.’ The children then watched a video published by the literacy trust which gave them some top tips for choosing an appropriate book such as deciding if the genre is of interest to them, reading the blurb and ensuring that there are no more than 5 words that they can’t understand on the first page. They then joined in with a three part quiz. During the first round, the children had to identify the title of a book by looking at the front cover. This included book titles such as The Naughtiest Unicorn, Grimwood, Mac B Kid Spy, The Storey Treehouse collection, The Accidental Prime Minister, The Babysitters Club, Loki and Breakfast Club Adventures. The second round consisted of guessing the authors of certain books such as J.K. Rowling, Andy Stanton and Francesca Simon and the third round consisted of playing emoji Pictionary with books such as Goldfish Boy, There’s a Boy in the Girls’ Bathroom, Ninja Kid and Daisy and the Trouble With. All of the books that were on the quiz are books that we have in our library so we are hoping that our children now feel inspired to sample a book that they haven’t yet read. The librarians also awarded Annabelle and Miley with their book token as they were the KS2 winners of our ‘Design a Bookmark with Your Favourite Book Title’ competition. Annabelle‘s bookmark showed her love of the ‘The 13 Storey Treehouse’ collection of books and Miley’s showed her love of the ‘Daisy and the Trouble With’ collection of books.
Year 6 P.E.
In P.E. Year 6 continued to develop their forehand and backhand strokes. The children who were demonstrating consistency in those strokes started to develop rallies with the net being used as an obstacle. It was important that the children continued to apply the basics, but react to the bounce of the ball by moving their feet quickly.
KS2 Author Visit
Yesterday, the children in KS2 were lucky enough to have a visit from Richard Alker. Richard is the author of the book ‘My Grandad vs the Fangazoo’. The children were truly immersed in his session and had many questions to ask Richard about his life and how he became an author. During the session, he discussed various things: what inspired him to write, character development, simple strategies he uses when writing and finally the children had the chance to listen to a book reading. Thank you Richard!
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Year 5&6 Big Lent Walk
Today, Year 5&6 completed their big lent walk. The children walked through Jacks Key and around the local area and completed 4.5km each so that's 265.5km towards the school's 2000km target.
FOSB Mother’s Day Breakfast
A huge thank you to our members of FOSB and staff who supported at our special Mother’s Day breakfast this morning. Thank you to everyone who came and we hope you enjoyed it. Wishing all of our school family Mums and Grandmas a wonderful relaxing Mother’s Day on Sunday. All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/fosb-mother-s-day-breakfast
World Book Day Competition
A few weeks ago, our school librarians set a whole school competition. This was to design a bookmark with their favourite book and explain why. Today, the school librarians and our English link governor have been judging our World Book Day competition ready to announce in our World Book Day assembly tomorrow.
Let’s Go Sing concert 2024
Wow, we are so proud of our school choir for their amazing singing and enthusiastic actions this evening at the Let’s go sing concert at King George’s Hall. I’ve loaded some videos onto class dojo and the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/let-s-go-sing-concert-2024 A huge thank you to Mrs Govan for her wonderful leadership of our choir and to Mrs Wilkinson for her support this afternoon. Thank you to all of our choir parents for their support in helping the children learn their words and for supporting them this evening. We are hoping to have more choir members next year and will be opening choir open to more KS2 children in the next few weeks. If your child is interested in joining, they are welcome to come along on Thursday lunchtimes to give it a try. It was an absolute pleasure to watch our children sing their hearts out. They will be performing their favourite song in worship on Friday. You are very welcome to join us.
Year 6 Science
This week, we started our new unit in Science, which is all about evolution and inheritance. We looked at the term ‘Natural Selection’ and discovered that if an animal is unable to adapt to its surroundings, it is more likely to become extinct. We then carried out an investigation involving some matchsticks on the MUGA. This demonstrated the benefits of being camouflaged and how animals are more likely to survive if they blend into their surroundings. The green matchsticks were picked up the least; however, numerous multicoloured matchsticks were not so lucky as they were gathered by our predators.
KS2- Author Visit-R.K. Alker
To celebrate World Book Day and foster a love for reading, we welcomed children's book author RK Alker today. He shared insights into his journey before becoming an author, recounting experiences such as growing chillies and collaborating with celebrities like Gordon Ramsay. Before pursuing writing, RK worked as an ambulance man until a leg injury led him to reconsider his career path. Inspired by his daughters, he fulfilled his lifelong dream of writing a book. During his talk, RK emphasised the importance of creative writing prompts and utilising the five senses to enhance writing. He introduced the children to his character Stretch the Dragon by reading chapter 7 from his current best-selling book 'My Grandad Vs the Fanga Zoo,' leaving it on a cliffhanger. RK hopes to get a word he made up, 'oopositollogy' (which means the opposite of opposite), into a dictionary one day. To end the visit, RK told funny jokes that had the children laughing their socks off.
Year 5&6 Football Festival
A huge well done to our year 5&6 B team who took part in a football festival. The team represented the school amazingly well; demonstrating lots of team spirit and dedication to the game. The team ended the festival unbeaten. Congratulations to all the team, we are hugely proud of you all.
Big Lent Walk: both targets achieved!
Wow! We have achieved both of our targets already for the Big Lent Walk. A huge thank you to our wonderful children and families for taking part to help us to travel 385.4km (so far!!) Thank you to everyone who has sponsored us so far- our families, friends and the community. Your generosity means so much. We still have just under 4 weeks of Lent left so I am sure we can continue to add more km to our distance travelled and raise more money for this wonderful cause. You are not too late to get involved so please send your pictures and total km walked to either myself or Mrs Ham. Donations can still be made here: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk?utm_medium=email&utm_source=PostOffice&utm_campaign=DS_EVENTS-LFC_Trans_NthDonation Thank you for your kindness and generosity,
Rev Ben’s Worship- Jesus welcomes the children
This morning in Collective Worship Rev Ben started with a fun game where we all had to touch our nose, then stand on one leg, then whilst hopping, then whilst turning around and finally whilst shouting 'Good morning Mrs Ham'. We discussed how the busier you get, the harder it can be to do things. He then read us a story from the Bible about how everyone wanted to see Jesus and how his disciples thought he was too busy and important to see the children. However, they were wrong as Jesus welcomed the children and said that adults could learn from the example of children and that he is never too busy. We reflected on how we are sometimes so busy but it helps us to know that Jesus is never too busy to listen to us. We finished by singing Jesus strong and kind and My God's the King of Giants. Thank you Rev Ben for another brilliant Worship!
Mad Science After- School Club- Optical illusion
Today, the children in the science club observed changing images firsthand through a camera obscura while delving into the fascinating realms of optics, reflection, and sight.
Year 6 School Nurse Visit
Year 6 had a visit from the school nurse as a follow-up session to the health questionnaires they recently filled out. The children acted extremely maturely and gave some fantastic responses. However, they were clearly shocked by some of the facts (especially around sugar content) regarding their favourite foods and drinks. Did you know that one milkshake contains nearly a week’s worth of a child’s sugar intake?
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Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship discussing the ‘Big Lent Walk’ challenge that we are currently participating in as a school to fundraise for CAFOD to help to fight poverty globally and boost our mental health and well-being. At present, we have exceeded our 200km target and we are confident that we can double and maybe even triple it so please get involved and send your pictures through to Mrs Ham or Mrs Wilkinson. We also thought about how we’ve lived life in all its fullness this week with the help of our amazing science, running, well-being and messy church clubs and all the wonderful learning in our classes. We then presented Olivia, Renee, Roman, Penelope, Isaac, April, Luca, Ella, Joshua and Oliver as our value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently following the 4Bs and demonstrating a wonderful attitude to learning. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, River Darwen who are our overall value award winners this week and Tristen, Daisy and Desmond for achieving their pen licenses. We also said a huge well done to Carter, Ivy, Rio, Molly, Luca, Daisy, Charlie and Matthew for participating in our SIG5 times tables competition and pushing themselves out of their comfort zone. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Eliza and Carmen for showing commitment and achievement in their keyboard lessons, Eliza for demonstrating fantastic skill in her football, Tristen for a achieving his yellow belt in kickboxing, Mila for getting Olivia at Rainbows for showing lots of kindness and being both helpful and creative, Marley and Maggie for achieving their ‘World Thinking Day’ and some other badges for their commitment to Rainbows, Elsie, Eden and Grace for completing their promise at Brownies and achieving lots of badges for attending Brownie camp and completing several challenges and also to Elsie for working exceptionally hard at her English tuition lessons. We then ended our worship by saying the grace altogether and listening to a song called ‘You’ve Got to Sing’ by the choir that they will be performing at KGH next week. Just a reminder that it is the Mother’s Day Breakfast run by FOSB next Wednesday 6th March at 8.15am-8.45am. The cut off for purchasing tickets will be Monday. It is also World Book Day next Thursday 7th March and we have asked the children to dress up as a word for example courageous, athletic, mythical and disciplined. We can’t wait to see what you come up with. We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
CAFOD: Lent Big Walk Update
Wow, we have already met our target of 200km!!Well done to everybody who has contributed so far! Who thinks we can double our distance by the end of Lent? If you are up for the challenge, please continue to send your photos in to either myself or Mrs Ham . So far we have raised £94. Please ask your family and friends to see if they will sponsor us so that we can reach our target of £200 for a worthwhile cause. Donations can be sent here: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk Thank you so much, Mrs Wilkinson
The W.O.W. Group - Messy Church: Faith in Action part 2
The WOW Group Messy Church activities continued this week with the final KS2 Faith in Action session. Participants watched the story of David and Goliath and talked about how David believed in God and himself. They then chose an affirmation bookmark to decorate and take home. Next week the WOW Group will be moving on to the KS1 sessions, with a focus on creation.
Rev Matt’s Worship: Perseverance
Rev Matt’s worship began with a balloon challenge this morning. The aim was for the children to persevere and keep the balloon up in the air for as long as possible. All three contenders did extremely well. He then shared the story of the man through the roof, in which the sick man’s friends had persevered in seeking help for him. After bringing their friend to Jesus they discovered the house was overcrowded, but they refused to give up. Instead they made a hole in the roof and lowered him in so that Jesus might heal him. We spent time reflecting on how we could help our friends, and those in need.
Cross Country Club
Year 3,4,5 & 6 cross country club got underway after school, despite the awful weather. For our first session, the children ran up to Jacks Key Lodge and completed long distance shuttle runs to maximise their stamina and pace in preparation for the cross country races.
Easter Singing Worship
What a joyous start to the week! This morning we practised some of our Easter songs ready for our Easter church service in a few weeks. Each class took a turn to show our Reception and Year 1 classes the actions. We sang 'When I think about the cross', 'Give me oil in my lamp', 'This is the story of the cross' 'We have a King who rides a donkey' and our favourite Easter song 'Lord of the Dance'. Well done everyone for your amazing actions, beautiful singing voices and wonderful enthusiasm!
Year 5 - The Mustard Seed
Today, Year 5 explored the parable of the mustard seed. The children delved into the deeper meaning of the parable that even the smallest of things can make a huge difference. We contrasted those with our Christian values and created our own mustard tree with the values we value the most. Both Year 5 and Year 6 class joined in the mustard tree song and enjoyed singing along.
SIG5 Times Tables Competition
We are so proud of our amazing mathematicians for showing great courage when taking part in the School Improvement Group (SIG) timestables competition at St Peter's. Our SIG is made up of 12 other local schools and this was the first timestables competition. Two children were chosen to represent our school from each KS2 class and they had to take part in a TT Rockstars battle with the other schools. We were amazed at the speed of the some of the competitors at some of the other schools and it has made us more determined to keep practising our tables and aim to get faster and faster. Thank you to Mr Prescott, our Maths Leader, for organising our school maths team and to St Peter's for hosting it.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by signing the trinity and discussing our week in school. We reflected on our wonderful Lent worship with Rev Ben and the launch of our Big Lent Walk to fundraise for CAFOD to help to fight poverty globally and boost our mental health and well-being. At present, we have walked 129.7km and raised £91. We are confident that we can exceed our 200km target and raise even more money so please get involved and send your pictures through to Mrs Ham or Mrs Wilkinson. We then presented Olly, Charlie, James, Iris, Charlie, Lola, Neve, Rosie and Molly as our value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently demonstrating our 4Bs, working hard and participating whole-heartedly in class discussions. We also congratulated Reception and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park who are our overall value award winners this week with 619 points. The Year 6 Heads and Deputies announced that over the past two weeks, we have collected 2067 values points as a school-how amazing! We also said a huge well done to Luca in Year 4 who achieved his pen license this week, our Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics who achieved 4th place in BwD just before the half-term, our KS2 gifted and talented gymnastics team who attended a competition at St Bedes before the half-term and demonstrating wonderful skill and sportsmanship and our Year 3/4 Sportshall athletics team who came 4th place last night at St Bedes. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Charlie and Isabella for being awarded their green belt in martial arts, Grace for achieving several medals in her song and dance and improv dancing, Jacob for achieving his water skills stage 3, Lyla for achieving a medal for her incredible ballet, Finn for achieving 2k Winter Warmer running challenge, Isaac for achieving a medal for great leadership in his performing arts and taking part in some wonderful fundraising, Archie for being awarded a trophy to be proud of for exceptional darts, James for achieving his stage 1 in his swimming, Annabel for her successes in achieving stage 2 in skating and being star of the week at dancing, Naomi for being awarded her Stage 3 at swimming, Mila for achieving her ‘World Thinking Day’ badge at Rainbows, Cassidy for achieving her ‘World Thinking Day’ badge at Brownies, Annabelle for showing commitment and achievement in her keyboard lessons, Eden for achieving her ‘World Thinking Day’ badge at Brownies and Heidi for being awarded her First Aid Badge at Rainbows. We then ended our worship with a lovely prayer about being generous, especially during Lent and sang ‘Build Up.’ We thank our children for another wonderful week and we look forward to next week. Just a reminder that ‘The World Book Day competition’ entries need to handed in by next Friday 1st March so please get your entries in by then and also the Mother’s Day Breakfast that FOSB are running on Wednesday 6th March. You can find further details on Class Dojo. We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Year 6 Fire Service Visit
At the end of last half term, year 6 were visited by the fire service. They did a recap with the children on what they covered in year 2, and delivered some new content. Two of the most important takeaways from the session would be to test that your smoke alarms work each month; this could be done on your birthdate to avoid forgetting. Secondly, make sure you have a fire plan in place at home and that everyone living in the property understand this.
Year 6 Money Matters
The focus of year 6’s money matters session was gambling. The children gained an understanding of how addictive gambling can become and the impact it can have on someone’s life. This was illustrated really clearly to the children in a game they played in which they could place bets with artificial money.
Year 6 Music
Year 6 started their new music unit which is focused around songwriting with glockenspiels. This week, they looked at target markets and how, similar to a product in DT, their song must appeal to a certain audience.
Year 6 Computing
This week, year 6 started to create their own storyboards using the programme Scratch in computing.
FOSB Disco
A huge thank you to everyone who attended our FOSB Disco. It was lovely to see all of the children dancing and having lots of fun. A huge thank you to our FOSB members for giving up their time to prepare and stay for the disco- you are all superstars! A massive thank you to DJ Dunn, one of our parent governors for providing the music and games! For all the photographs from the EYFS and KS1 disco, please look here: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/fosb-eyfs-and-ks1-school-disco For photographs from the KS2 disco, please look here: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/fosb-key-stage-2-disco
The W.O.W. Group - Messy Church: Faith in Action
The W.O.W. Group have done a fantastic job in planning some exciting lunchtime Messy Church sessions. The first one was for KS2 children and the theme was “Faith in Action”. Participants had to think of someone who is their hero and make them into a superhero. They also listened to the story of Samson and his strength, and they were treated to a drink and a biscuit whilst they worked on their superheroes. The W.O.W. Group are looking forward to the second KS2 session next week.
Rev Ben’s Worship- Jesus chooses his disciples
This morning in Collective Worship, Rev Ben started with a fun game where we had to guess the superpowers that our wonderful volunteers, Walter, Lottie, Isabella, Charlie-Rose and Matthew acted out. We guessed the superpowers of speed, strength, sports, invisibility and flight. We then followed on from Jesus' 40 days in the desert and we watched a story from the Bible that showed what happened next. We watched as Jesus chose his followers, called his disciples. They didn't have superpowers and were very ordinary and often made mistakes, just like us. Rev Ben told us that the best followers of Jesus don’t have super-powers and God works today through ordinary people who love Jesus and admit it when they get things wrong. He then told us about Ash Wednesday and how that is a time to ask God for forgiveness for the things we have done wrong. Wilson, our Head Boy, volunteered to have an ash cross put on his head. We then reflected on what we can do when we get things wrong and how God will always forgive us. We finished by singing My Lighthouse and My God's the King of me. Thank you Rev Ben for another wonderful worship.
Whole-School Worship: Understanding Lent
In worship today, Mrs Ham explained that Lent is a time in the Christian calendar in which we observe Jesus’ time in the wilderness and prepare for Easter. We discussed what we could do to observe Lent. Some of the children’s suggestions included giving up sweets, chocolate, crisps, time on devices, or giving back by helping at home or making an extra effort to show kindness to others. We also learned more about THE BIG LENT WALK and how each member of our school family can contribute by walking a few kilometres over the Lenten period and raising money that will go towards ending global hunger. More information is available on Class Dojo.
The Big Lent Walk
During Lent, our school are currently fundraising for CAFOD. We are taking part in the big Lent walk where we are collectively trying to walk 200km. Please help us to raise as much money as possible by sponsoring our whole school family. If you have been on a walk, please either sponsor and leave a message with how many km you have walked or send me a message and I can update our page. We will also be walking during the school day in our classes to achieve our target so any sponsorship will be greatly appreciated. Your sponsorship can change lives. Every £1 raised through the Big Lent Walk will help fight poverty globally in countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. This year, CAFOD’s Lent Appeal is helping fishing communities feed their families in Liberia, and SCIAF’s Wee Box Appeal is focused on women and girls in Rwanda facing gender-based violence. Also in Ethiopia, CAFOD and SCIAF are working together to respond to the devastating food crisis there. Years of drought caused by the climate crisis means families are no longer able to cope, but your support means we are working with people right now, providing them with water, emergency food and healthcare. With your hard work and sponsorship this Lent, we can change families’ lives for good and tell poverty to take a hike. Please access our page here where you can sponsor your child: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk Thank you for your kindness, Mrs Wilkinson
Celebration Worship- Dress to Express Day
Today, we had a very special worship to celebrate Children's Mental Health Week. We all ‘Dressed to Express’ and danced our way into the hall. We discussed the theme for this year which is ‘Our Voice Matters’ and we watched a video that told us all about the rights and responsibilities that we have such as being free to choose to think what we like and have our own opinions and ideas. Mrs Ham then showed us some pictures of people that have been influential in the past for standing up for their belief. Ross and Wilson named Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parkes, Sonny named Ayanna all of whom worked to end black segregation. Darcy named Marcus Rashford who has been influential in helping to stop racism within football and Charlie added that he has also been helping to support children who are entitled to free school meals. We then heard from some children from each year group about how they’ve chosen to express themselves. Hamza expressed his love of football and fashion, Archie his love of darts, Isaac his love of BMX, Charlie-Rose her love of all things sports, Betsy her love of dancing, Mason his love of smart clothes and attending special occasions such as weddings, Archie his love of football, Grace and Lola their love of gymnastics, Sonny represented all those in the world who live with diabetes, Daisy her love of art and bright colours, Renee’s love of PJ Masks, Olivia’s love of the colour pink and Jewellery, Alfie’s love of playing and watching football, Ella-Grace’s love of dancing and sparkles, Isabella’s loves of wearing pyjamas because you can snuggle and be cosy in them, Naomi’s love of all things pink, Charlie’s love of football, Annabel’s love of Ariel, Joey’s love of Spider-Man and Elijah’s love of superheroes. Mrs Ham then asked some of our members of staff how they had chosen to express themselves. Mr Prescott and Mrs Norris chose to bring their golf clubs to express themselves as golfers, Miss Kachwalla and Mrs Lyons expressed themselves by wearing bright and bold colours to express themselves as creative and Mrs Hegarty wore an apron to express herself as a baker. What a wonderful way to end ‘Mental Health Week.’ We wish you all a restful and enjoyable half-term and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 19th February.
Dress to Express 2024
What a fantastic day we’ve had celebrating Dress to Express! It was lovely to get together as a whole school to raise awareness for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Every single member of our school family certainly dressed to express themselves and made themselves heard as we all have a voice. Well done to all of the children that spoke about why they had chosen their outfits and how it allowed them to express themselves.
Year 6 Dress to Express
Mrs Ham discussed in worship that the theme of children’s mental health week is ‘My Voice Matters’. Today, year 6 have really expressed themselves and shown just how unique they are.
Year 6 JagTag
Today, year 6 took part in a JagTag taster session. JagTag is a version of American Football that children can take part in. Year 6 really enjoyed their session and some of the children even expressed an interest to play in the future. The two stars of the session were Colton and Lucy who listened attentively and demonstrated fantastic skill.
St Barnabas Big Lent Walk
Good morning, Next Wednesday 14th February, is the start of Lent. During Lent, our school will be fundraising for CAFOD. We will be taking part in the big Lent walk where we will collectively try and walk 200km. Please help us to raise as much money as possible by sponsoring our whole school family. If you have been on a walk, please either sponsor and leave a message with how many km you have walked or send me a message and I can update our page. We will also be walking during the school day in our classes to achieve our target so any sponsorship will be greatly appreciated. Your sponsorship can change lives. Every £1 raised through the Big Lent Walk will help fight poverty globally in countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. This year, CAFOD’s Lent Appeal is helping fishing communities feed their families in Liberia, and SCIAF’s Wee Box Appeal is focused on women and girls in Rwanda facing gender-based violence. Also in Ethiopia, CAFOD and SCIAF are working together to respond to the devastating food crisis there. Years of drought caused by the climate crisis means families are no longer able to cope, but your support means we are working with people right now, providing them with water, emergency food and healthcare. With your hard work and sponsorship this Lent, we can change families’ lives for good and tell poverty to take a hike. Please access our page here where you can sponsor your child: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk Thank you for your kindness, Mrs Wilkinson
Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics Final
A huge well done to our Sportshall athletics squad for their fantastic performance in the BWD Sportshall athletics final last night. We were one of the smallest schools there and came joint third on points. However, as there was a tie it came down to who had won more events so we were awarded fourth as the other school had won more events. We are so proud of everyone in our squad as they showed brilliant sportsmanship, determination and effort, as well as encouraging each other. A huge thanks to Mrs Gardner, Mr Bloomfield, Mr Norris, Mr Prescott and Mrs Wilkinson for your support, transport, coaching and photography. Many thanks to our parents for the support with transport. Well done Team Barney’s! All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/year-5-6-sportshall-final
Let’s Go Sing Worship
Our choir took part in a workshop with Rachel from Let’s Go Sing. Rachel was amazed at their wonderful singing. Please come and watch our wonderful choir perform at King George’s Hall on 6th March 2024.
Safer Internet Day
This morning our whole school enjoyed a special worship, focusing on how to stay safe on the internet to celebrate Safer Internet Day. We discussed why it is important to raise awareness. We looked at what technology looked like compared to now. We then looked at what can happen online and how important it is that we know what to do if we come across something that makes us feel uncomfortable. The children discussed how we can speak to Mrs Ham, Mrs Wilkinson, our teachers, our sports coaches and our families if we feel we have seen something we shouldn’t have. We also discussed why our parents might check our devices and how our grown ups, including our teachers always want to keep us safe. We then joined lots of other schools from all around the country on a special assembly to discuss safe and unsafe things which may happen online. The importance of passwords, checking the settings so they aren’t sharing information with people they don’t know and also what to do if people they don’t know try to contact them online. Every Wednesday, we post guidance on how to keep safe online. Please have a look and discuss the National Online Safety posters with your children. The online world can be wonderful as long as we know how to use it safely.
Rev Matt’s Worship - Temptation
Today in whole-school worship, Rev Matt talked about temptation and how the devil tried to tempt Jesus in the desert. We thought about what tempts us and what we might do if we wanted to celebrate Lent.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by signing the trinity and discussing our week in school. We reflected on our very joyous singing worship that we had on Monday with Mrs Ham and our wonderful worship with Rev Ben about ‘Turning To God’ on Tuesday. We then presented Edward, Ella, Joshua, Luke, Eden, Bella, Ivy, Archie and Isaac as our value award winners this week. Well done to those children for demonstrating kindness, compassion and an excellent attitude and commitment to learning. We also congratulated Year 4 and Year 1 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park who are our value award winners this week. We then moved on to our out of school achievers. Well done to Holly for achieving her Stage 3 at swimming, Sofia for working hard to achieve lots of new badges at Rainbows including her performance badge, Archie for giving 100% during his football training, Dougie for achieving his white belt at jiu jitsu, Isaac for celebrating his successes in drama and performance with achieving a part in Waterloo Road, Tristen for working hard to achieve his yellow belt in kickboxing, Grace for demonstrating incredible talent in both her acro and lyrical dancing, Jack for achieving Stage 4 in his swimming, Scarlett for getting Rainbow Bear at her netball sessions for demonstrating incredible footwork, Matthew for being awarded with a huge celebratory gold cup for his commitment to a recent tournament whilst representing Manchester United U10s football club, Finn for being elected as the sixer at cubs, Ivy and Betsy for their commitment to both lyrical and acro dancing and also performing an incredible duet together. We then ended our worship with a lovely prayer from Rev Ben and a sing along to ‘Build Up.’ We thank our children for another wonderful week of achieving great things and we look forward to next week. Just a reminder that it is our ‘Dress to Express Day’ next Friday 9th February. We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Aladdin Pantomime
This afternoon our whole school family enjoyed a wonderful production of Aladdin by M&M productions. Oh no they didn't! Oh yes they did! It was fabulous to see all of the children joining in through cheering, booing, singing and dancing along to the songs. They particularly enjoyed Mr Prescott and Mr Norris' dancing! The cast said they had never had a school who joined in so well and who all stood up and danced at the end! Thank you so much to our FOSB for their donation and to all of your parent contributions, as without your support, we wouldn't be able to provide such exciting enrichment activities.We hope this has inspired some of our children to audition for our upcoming Barney's Got Talent show next half term. What a fabulous way to end a brilliant week of 'achieving great things' at St Barnabas!
Year 6 PSHE
In PSHE, year 6 focused on the qualities of good friends. We started by discovering that it is okay for friends to have different views and interests. We did this by presenting a series of statements and noticed that there were so many differences within our year 6 class: some agreed and some disagreed with the statements. We ended the lesson with the children explaining what they felt were the most important qualities of friendship. Not only did they have to list the quality, but justify why it is important.
Year 6 Music
Year 6 really enjoyed their music lesson this week. They have been developing their skills using the boomwhackers by playing various tunes.
Rev Ben's Worship: Turning to God
This week, Rev Ben told us the story of John the Baptist and how he preached about the importance of turning our lives to God. We spent some time thinking about what it means to turn to God.
Songs of Praise Worship
We had a joyous start to the week with our songs of praise singing worship. We practiced a selection of our favourite songs including My Lighthouse, Build Up, Jesus Strong and Kind, the School Rule song, May you find peace and Sing a new song to the Lord. Each class got the chance to choose a song and perform the actions at the front for our Reception class to copy as some of the songs are new to them.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by signing the trinity and discussing our week in school. We reflected on our ‘Mad Science’ assembly which was amazing and also discussed our learning about Jesus being special in collective worship. We then presented Samuel, Piper-Jo, Emily, Peyton, James, Grace, Austin and Wilson as our value award winners this week. Well done to those children for working exceptionally hard , consistently demonstrating the 4Bs and demonstrating our Christian Values. We also congratulated our Year 5\6 football team who represented Darwen in the County Football Finals last Friday and made it to the semi-final, our Year 5\6 Sportshall Athletics squad who represented our school amazingly well at St. Bedes on Wednesday evening and celebrated a win ready to compete in the final, Summer, Grace and Charlie-Rose for achieving their pen licenses, Reception and Year 3 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and India Mill who are our overall value award winners this week with 322 points. We then moved on to our out of school achievers. Well done to Charlie for achieving 10m in his swimming, Leonora for achieving her honours swimming challenge for swimming 40 lengths in under 20 minutes, Desmond for being awarded with his 25m in swimming, Jacob for being Player of the Week at Judo, Seb for being awarded with a trophy for Darreners Player of the Week at football, Olivia B, Olivia R and Darcy for getting through to the final of their football competition, Cassidy for achieving two new additions to her Rainbow badge collection and moving up to Brownies, Vienna for sponsoring a dog called Sage to become a guide dog, Harriet for being awarded with Morris Dancer of the Week for incredible marching and Lola, Summer and Quinn for wonderful gymnastics. Lola has been working extremely hard to perfect her backwards roll, Quinn has been persevering to achieve a cart wheel and Summer has been using her fantastic gymnastic skills to guide others. We then ended our worship with a lovely prayer from Rev Ben and sang along to ‘My Lighthouse.’ We thank our children for another wonderful week and we look forward to the next two weeks of this half-term. We have some exciting things planned such as a pantomime of Aladdin next Friday 2nd February and ‘A Dress to Express Day’ on Friday 9th February. We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
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Mrs Ham's Highlights
Good afternoon parent and carers, what another busy week at St Barnabas! The highlights have been: * the super Science show yesterday, * Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics team winning their heat and getting through to the finals, *Creating terrific tie-dye t-shirts in Year 3, *Playing on the outdoor gym, *A money matters session in Year 5 and some of their trout eggs have hatched! Next week we have our Aladdin Pantomime to look forward to on Friday afternoon. We kindly ask for a small donation of £3.00 which can be made on parent pay. Thank you to our FOSB for their contribution in order to keep the cost down. For all of this week's news from each class and this morning's celebration worship, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news For all of the upcoming events, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/events I would like to wish you all a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support. Take care and God bless, Mrs Ham
Mad Science Show
This morning our whole school family had a super Mad Science Show led by Scientist Sarah. The focus was on energy and she showed us all some really exciting experiments that create different forms of energy. A huge well done to our chosen volunteers James, Annabelle and Archie!
Year 6 Class Meeting
This week, in our smart school council meeting, we discussed how reading can be made more enjoyable in school. The most popular vote was more trips to the library and the children explained that this would give them access to a wider variety of genres. The children also expressed their own ideas on how reading could be made more enjoyable that will be shared at the next school council meeting.
Year 6 Gym Session
This week, year 6 finally got their chance to explore the gym and had a great time during their break time. They are looking forward to using it on a more regular basis.
Year 6 P.E.
This week, in P.E., year 6 spent time preparing for the sports hall athletics competition. It looks like all of the hard work and preparation paid off as they managed to make it through their heat and into the finals.
Yr5/6 Sportshall Athletics Heat Winners
We are so proud of our super squad for their brilliant determination and excellent effort at the Sportshall Athletics heat this evening. They encouraged each other fantastically well and really made Mrs Ham, Mrs Gardner, Mr Prescott, Mr Bloomfield and Mr Norris proud. A huge thank you to Mrs Gardner for all of her wonderful coaching in her Sportshall Athletics club and to Mr Bloomfield and Mr Prescott for their focus on sportshall athletics in their recent PE lessons, particularly the baton changes. Thank you to all staff and parents who supported with transporting the children. We can’t wait for the finals in a few weeks time!
Bee Yourself: A brilliant online platform designed to promote mental health and wellbeing for young people living in Blackburn with Darwen
Bee Yourself: We've just been made aware of a brilliant online platform designed to promote mental health and wellbeing for young people living in Blackburn with Darwen. It offers a range of resources and activities to help young people feel good and have fun while providing information and support for parents, carers, and practitioners working with young people. The platform is divided into several sections, including the ‘5 Ways to Wellbeing’ section, which provides information on local activities and opportunities linked to the 5 Ways to Wellbeing. The 5 Ways to Wellbeing are a set of evidence-based actions that promote wellbeing and include connecting with others, being active, taking notice of your surroundings, learning new things, and giving back to the community. The Parent/Carer Area – Honeycomb – offers health and wellbeing information for parents, carers, and families by topic. It includes links to support and resources for further information on topics such as managing stress, dealing with anxiety, and building resilience. Bee Yourself offers The Big Ask section for young people with questions or concerns. This area provides answers to questions generated by young people through various focus groups, supported by health and wellbeing partners. The section aims to help young people understand and manage their mental health and wellbeing. The Worries Away area is another section that provides health and wellbeing information by topic. It aims to help young people understand and manage common concerns such as anxiety, stress, and depression. The section includes information on how to recognise the signs of mental health issues and what steps to take to get help. Bee Yourself is a valuable online platform that offers a range of resources and activities to promote mental health and wellbeing for young people in Blackburn with Darwen. With sections for children, parents and carers, practitioners, and young people themselves, Bee Yourself has something to offer everyone. It’s an excellent resource for those who want to learn more about mental health and wellbeing and take steps to promote it in their own lives and in the lives of those around them. www.bee-yourself.org
Collective Worship- The boy in the temple
We started our Monday morning worship by singing Jesus strong and king and then by signing the trinity and the lighting of the candles. We then watched a video from the Worship Together Collective Worship led by Lisa from Blackburn Diocese. We heard the story ‘the boy in the temple’, which taught us about a twelve year old Jesus who went missing and was found in the temple. He said to Joseph when he was found “ you should have known I was here, it is my father's house after all.” Bishop Philip told us how in this story Jesus tells us who he is and what he has come to do. We then watched an animation of the story and discussed how Mary and Joseph must have felt when Jesus was missing for three days and how Jesus was a little child, just like us. We then finished our worship by singing and signing to two of our favourite songs about Jesus, Waymaker and My Lighthouse.
Solo Parents United- Football Team
Good morning parents and carers, I hope you've had a lovely weekend. Please find attached some information from one of our former parents, Stephen Walker about his Solo Parents United group and new football teams he is setting up for children of single parents.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by signing the trinity and discussing our week in school. We reflected on our learning about courage and Martin Luther King in collective worship and how much fun we had in the snow on Tuesday. We then presented Ida, Fletcher, Bindi, Harriet, Annabelle, Alice, Alfie and Sophie as our value award winners this week. Well done for being extremely conscientious and hardworking. We also congratulated Maliki, Alfie, Zac and Rio for representing our school amazingly well at a Bowling Competition this week on Monday morning, Ruby, Daniel, Jessica for being rewarded with their pen licenses, Year 1 and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park who are our overall value award winners this week with 287 points. We then moved on to our out of school achievers. Well done to Isaac for achieving Player of the Match for showing an immense amount of courage by taking the role of goalkeeper in a recent football match for the first time, Arabelle for being extremely generous and sponsoring a dog called Crumble by donating money that she has raised through her swimming to support Crumble in becoming a guide dog, Cassidy for achieving a trophy for showing wonderful perseverance in her bar work at gymnastics, Eliza for achieving a trophy for showing lots of courage and hard work during her football training and matches and Annabelle for working extremely hard towards her bronze award in swimming. We then presented all of our teachers with their first aid qualifications. Finally, we heard some lovely prayers from Jacob, Olivia and Ivy who prayed for peace in our world. We thank all those who attended celebration worship- it is always lovely to see so many of our families attend and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Year 5&6 County Football
As a result of winning the Darwen Schools Football League, our year 5 and 6 football team went on to represent our town in the county football finals held in Thornton, Cleveleys near Blackpool. Our team topped the group stages not losing a game and went into the quarter finals. Our team won the quarter finals on penalties but unfortunately lost in the semi finals. A huge achievement for our football team competing at such a high standard with a total of 14 teams who also finished top of their league within their own towns. A huge congratulations. You have done yourself and our school really proud!
Year 6 Geography
The focus of our geography lesson today was the UK’s physical features, paying close attention to mountains. We discovered that Slieve Donard (Northern Ireland), Scafell Pike (England), Ben Nevis (Scotland) and Snowdon (Wales) were the highest peaks in their respective countries. The largest of the four, Ben Nevis, can be found in Scotland in the Grampian mountains.
Year 6 Class Worship
Today, in our class worship, year 6 listened to the story of Philip and Nathanael. They discovered that these two individuals, although friends, had very different personalities, but that this can often lead to stronger friendships. Following this, we noted down what year 6 value in friendship and discussed how we all have the right to choose our own friends.
Year 6 English
In English, year 6 are building up to writing their very own opening to ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’. Today, we focused on dialogue and how it can allow the reader to develop a better understanding of individual characters.
Where has Darwen Tower gone?
We can’t see Darwen Tower this morning as there is so much snow in the sky. Thank you so much to all of our parents and carers who took extra time and care this morning on the school drop off. Everyone got into the warmth of school safely and sensibly. Please take extra time and care during pick up at hometime.
Let's Go Sing tickets now on sale!
Our choir will be taking part in a brilliant concert at King George's on Wednesday 6th March. They have been busy rehearsing for months and we can't wait to see them perform! Audience tickets are available online at https://bwdvenues.com/whats-on/ or by ringing the King George’s Hall box office on 01254 582579. Tickets are £8 per adult, U18 £3.50. There is also a small booking fee per ticket charged by KGH.
KS2’s Super Snowmen
Mrs Ham set our KS2 children a challenge to build the biggest and best snowmen at lunchtime. We are so lucky to have such large school grounds as we ended up with a whole family of snowmen! Well done Years 3, 4, 5 and 6!
Friday Celebration Worship- Spring 1 Week 1
This morning, we started our worship by signing the trinity and discussing our first week in school of 2024. We reflected on our learning about The Epiphany in collective worship, how much fun we’ve had exploring the new outdoor gym and all of our learning during the Life Education sessions with Harold the giraffe. We then presented Skye, Seb, Alfie, Jack, Walter, Tilly, Daisy, Lucy and Amelia as our value award winners this week. Well done to these children for being incredible role models. We also congratulated Oscar and Ivy on achieving their pen licenses and Year 2 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park who are our overall value award winners this week with 436 points. We then moved on to our out of school achievers. Well done to Ella for achieving the Christmas Cup for being an exceptional team player at football, Charlie for achieving Stage 3 and 25 meters in his swimming, Eliza for achieving several badges at Pony Club including learning how to groom horses and provide them with first aid, Marley for achieving 10 meters in her swimming and a badge at Rainbows, Scarlett for getting Olivia at Rainbows for being a team player and doing wonderful tidying up, Sophie for achieving a trophy for Athlete of the match and several medals for representing Blackburn Harriers as part of Lancashire, Annabel for achieving Skate Excel’s grade 1 in her ice skating and Daisy for being a wonderful gymnast. We then heard from Rev Ben who finished our worship with a lovely prayer. We thank you all again for your continued support this week and we wish you all a lovely restful weekend.
Year 6 PSHE- Life Education Session
Today, year 6 were visited by Karen from Coram Life Education. The theme of the session was decisions and how decisions can have a huge affect on our lives. They discussed drugs and how they fall into different categories: legal, illegal and medical. To finish the session, they watched a video about how friends can sometimes try to influence our decisions and not always in the right way. It demonstrated really clearly why it is so important that we choose our friends wisely and surround ourselves with like-minded individuals.
Year 6 Geography- Population
Today, year 6 investigated where people live in the UK. They looked in more detail at where they live and identified that the most populated region in England was the South East. We discovered that this was more than likely because of it being so close to London and the access to well-paid jobs and famous landmarks.
Rev Ben’s Worship: Courage and Epiphany
This morning, Rev Ben came in to talk about courage and how the wise men showed courage on their journey to meet Jesus. The children shared their bravest moments and they enjoyed joining in with the Bible story and especially Rev Ben’s impression of a grumpy and mean King Herod. We reflected on how the wise men showed courage, how we can show courage this week and how it helps us to know that Jesus is always with us. This doesn't mean that the fear goes away but Jesus helps us to face our fears and be courageous, just like the wise men.
Merry Christmas Everyone!
Good afternoon parents and carers, what a fantastic last week we have had at St Barnabas celebrating Christmas. Each class has visited the Rose Garden in Whitehall Park to see the lovely Christmas art work and enjoyed singing Christmas carols. Our Christmas parties were great fun and the infants got a special visit and gift from Santa & the children in KS2 were left special presents from him too. This morning we had our Christmas church service and this afternoon we presented our amazing attendance winners with their certificates and had a singalong to our Christmas video. To see all of our latest news from each class, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news I’m delighted to let you know that Sean Dunn is our new parent governor and you should be able to spot him in our Christmas video along with some of our other governors, our staff and children. It wouldn’t be Christmas at St Barnabas without our special Christmas video to wish you all a merry Christmas from our whole school family. Here it is: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EaMCS8bGFvc On behalf of our whole staff team, we would like to wish you all a wonderful Christmas and we hope that it is filled with moments of peace, love and joy. Thank you so much for your kind words, cards and gifts. We look forward to seeing you all next year when the Spring term starts on Monday 8th January. Merry Christmas and best wishes to you all, Mrs Ham and the St Barnabas staff team
Whitehall Park Values Winner Disco
Well done to all of the children in Whitehall Park as they collectively received the most values points this half term. As a treat, they were rewarded with a disco! They had a super time and all enjoyed a chocolate lolly too.
Key Stage 2 Christmas Party Fun
What a fab afternoon Key Stage 2 have had at their Christmas party. Games galore, dancing and singing. Everyone had a huge smile on their faces and enjoyed every second! Huge thanks to the elves who brought every child a gift which is so kind. Hopefully the children will have exhausted themselves and sleep well tonight ahead of our final day of school tomorrow.
Santa’s Workshop for Key Stage 2
Last week, our heads and deputies created a list for Santa of toys that our key stage 2 children would like. After Santa visited key stage 1, he left toys for our key stage 2 children to choose from. They all enjoyed choosing from a selection of gifts. What a treat!
Friday 15th December- Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by lighting our advent candles and reflecting on this week’s theme for advent which is joy. Mrs Ham said that our choir brought lots of joy to Darwen Market Hall yesterday and how this week we have also taken part in the Christmas Fayre and Christmas lunch which have also brought lots of joy to us all. We then presented Elsie, Marley, Arabelle, Sonny, Talia, Charlie-Rose and Molly as our value award winners this week. Well done to these children who have been displaying an incredible amount of kindness, respect and trying incredibly hard with their learning. We also congratulated Tyler, Bobby, Ella, Jenson and Talia who have achieved their pen licenses and Reception and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week. Whitehall Park are our overall value award winners this week and are also this half-terms overall winners. We then said a huge well done to four of our Year 2 children who attended a Curling competition. Unfortunately, they just missed out on achieving medals but they represented school amazingly - well done to Isaac, James, Emily and Olivia! We then said well done to our out of school achievers. Well done to Olivia for being an incredible mascot at the weekend during the Ladies’ Blackburn Rovers Football game, Isaac for achieving a medal at performing arts, Ruby for attending Brownie Camp and achieving a gold award in Brownies which is the highest award that a Brownie can achieve and also lots of medals and a trophy for her survival skills in swimming, Alexis for achieving 50m in her swimming, Isaac for achieving 50m in his swimming and his younger brother Teddy for achieving Ducklings stage 3 in his swimming, Alfie for swimming 5m backstroke, Grace for attending Brownie Camp and trying lots of new activities such as caving, zip wiring and climbing, Betsy for achieving a medal in her ballet, Callie for swimming 5m, Carmen for achieving her stage 4 in swimming, Thomas for achieving stage 2 in his swimming and Eden for achieving the bronze award at Brownies and attending the Brownie Camp at the weekend. We then said a huge thank you to our Friends of St Barnabas who continue to run lots of events in school, such as our Christmas Fayre on Wednesday, to fundraise money for school to purchase lots of new and exciting things for our children. We can’t wait for our new outdoor gym. We then heard some lovely prayers from Sofia, Elijah and Mrs Ham and listened to our amazing choir who sang to us all. We thank you all again for your continued support this week and we wish you all a lovely festive weekend.
RotaKids and Smart School Council - Toy collection
The RotaKids, Smart School Council of Years 5 and 6 and the rest of the school family at St Barnabas would like to say a massive thank you for your generosity. In just over two weeks, we have been overwhelmed with donations of toys for families in need. The donations will now be distributed amongst families and refugees of Darwen. This will definitely make this time extra special for so many families and that is because of you.
Year 6 PSHE- Respecting differences
This half term, year 6 have been focusing on valuing difference. We have discovered that although we may be different, there are many positives that can arise from those differences. On the other hand, we have considered the negative impacts differences can have. Today, we focused on the phrase ‘Put yourself in someone else’s shoes’. By doing this, it allows us to think about how different people view things. Sometimes, we need to take a minute to think about what we say as we can unintentionally upset someone. We concluded the lesson by looking at some comments and whether they were respectful or disrespectful.
Whole School -Design Technology- Christmas Fayre
This term in Design and Technology (D.T.), children from every class have been busy creating special things with a purpose. They showed off their creations at our school's Christmas fayre. Reception made cute Christmas decorations, Year 1 made Christmas-themed characters that move from a book, Year 2 put together yummy fruit kebabs, Year 3 crafted pouches, Year 4 made stockings, Year 5 created comfy cushions, and Year 6 invented their own steady hand game. Everyone should be proud of what they made because when parents and visitors saw the products, they were amazed! Each class did a fantastic job turning their creativity into awesome projects.
Choir Christmas Carols at Darwen Market
A huge well done to our amazing choir and Year 6 singers for a wonderful performance today! Thank you to Darwen Market for inviting us. Thanks to everyone who came to watch. We hope we spread some festive cheer and joy to you all!
Christmas Lunch 2023
We had a fantastic Christmas lunch together as a school family! A huge thank you to Mrs Norton, Mrs Beech and Miss Norton for the meal. Thank you so much to our staff team for all of your help. It was wonderful to see all of our children eating and having festive fun together. We loved your singing too!
Friday 8th December- Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by lighting our advent candles and reflecting on this week’s theme for advent which is peace. Mrs Ham asked us to reflect on how we can create peace both at home and in school. We had suggestions such as helping around the house, helping out with younger siblings, making our own bed, tidying up after ourselves and showing kindness to everyone. We then presented Leila, Alice, Chay, Elliott, Quinn, Mason, Harry and Oscar as our value award winners this week. Well done to these children who have been working incredibly hard and showing impeccable manners. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park who are our overall value award winners this week. We then said a huge well done to four of our Year 4 boys who attended a Boccia competition. Unfortunately, they just missed out on getting to the final but they represented school amazingly - well done boys! We then said well done to Ella for achieving her puffin award at swimming which includes swimming 5m, James for becoming the captain of his football team, Tristen for being awarded the best newcomer at kickboxing, Leonora for swimming her first ever 100m and achieving several PBs in her swimming, Desmond for attending his first ever session with Darwen Centurions, Grace for achieving several badges at Brownies, Maggie for a badge at ar Rainbows for attending the ‘Magical Christmas Experience’ and achieving Stage 2 in her swimming, Annabel and Scarlett for also attending the ‘Magical Christmas Experience’ at Rainbows, Sofia for achieving a medal for her incredible dancing, Jacob for attending a magical Christmas experience at the North Pole, Matthew for achieving Student of the Year at Organised Chaos Kickboxing club, Jessica and Amelia for achieving lots of rosettes and certificates for demonstrating amazing talent in their horse riding and Ivy for demonstrating fantastic talent in her gymnastics talent. We ended our worship by saying the Grace and singing ‘We Three Kings’ and ‘Ding Dong.’
Year 6 DT- Christmas Loop Games
In DT, year 6 finally got round to completing their electronic loop game. They have produced some fantastic products with a Christmas theme and should be extremely proud of their work.
Year 6 DT
In DT, year 6 finally got round to completing their electronic loop game. They have produced some fantastic products with a Christmas theme and should be extremely proud of their work.
Year 6 DT
In DT, year 6 finally got round to completing their electronic loop game. They have produced some fantastic products with a Christmas theme and should be extremely proud of their work.
Year 6 DT
In DT, year 6 finally got round to completing their electronic loop game. They have produced some fantastic products with a Christmas theme and should be extremely proud of their work.
Year 6 Debt Awareness
This week, year 6 had a visit from the debt awareness team and carried on with their learning from last year. This time, they discussed jobs and working life. They looked at reasons why people choose their occupation; the average income of various jobs and potential careers that they may like to pursue.
Performing Arts Club
We took to the stage to practise in performing arts this week. Being on stage really helped the children to get into character, adding movement and facial expressions, rather than just reading lines. The performance is starting to take shape already!
Whole School Peace Chain
During our second week of Advent, we are focussing on praying for peace. Throughout the last week, all classes have created a whole school peace chain. Continuing from yesterday’s worship, we discussed different ways that we can find peace. Ruby said that she had listened to her mum this morning to create a peaceful home environment. Darcy said she had shown peace to her younger sibling. Isaac said he had helped his parents and Percy said he had gone to bed earlier. We will continue to focus on peace throughout this week and the whole of Advent. Our peace chain is displayed in our school entrance for you all to see.
Celebration Worship- 1st December 2023
This morning in celebration worship, we started our worship by lighting a candle of hope to represent the first week in advent. We then presented our value award winners with their certificates for showing an exceptional work ethic and demonstrating the Christian Values. Well done to Teddy, Heidi, Isaac, Daisy, Alice, Lily-May, Jake and Rio. We then said a huge well done to River Darwen who were our overall value award winners this week and Reception and Year 5 for being the amazing attendance winners this week. We then moved on to our wonderful out of school achievers. We said a huge well done to Tristen who achieved his red and yellow belt at kick-boxing, Lydia who has got Olivia from rainbows for super tidying up, Seb for achieving his 5m without armbands in his swimming, Elliott for achieving a trophy for incredible football, Evie for being awarded a medal for demonstrating incredible skills in her gymnastics, Grace for achieving a medal in her lyrical dancing, Alby for achieving 50m in his swimming, Ed for achieving 20m in his swimming, Betsy for working extremely hard in her ballet lessons and working hard towards achieving her point shoes and Summer for achieving 20m in her backstroke. To end our worship, we had some beautiful prayers from Lilly, Wilson, Isaac and Sofia and a prayer from Mrs Ham about remembering the true meaning of Christmas. We also sang ‘Come and Join the Celebration’ and ‘Little Donkey.’ Thank you for all of your support this week and we wish you all a lovely weekend.
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
All of our children helped to decorate our real Christmas tree today at lunch time. It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Year 6 DT - Christmas loop game design
Year 6 continued their unit by designing their electrical loop games. They began by developing a design criteria: - The product should be for young children and have a Christmas theme to be sold at the Christmas fair. - The wire design needs to be made up of one continuous line. - The circuit needs to be concealed in the base. - All of the components used should contribute to a fully-functioning circuit. By developing this criteria, it allowed the children to produce a detailed 3D design of their game with annotations.
Rev Ben’s Worship- Jeremiah : Down in the well
This morning Rev Ben led our Worship about God's Compassion. We started with a fun listening game where Rev Ben blind folded some children and the rest of us had to make the animal noise of the animal on the screen. The children who were blindfolded were able to realise what it was like to not be able to see, just like the person in this week's Bible story, Jeremiah. We listened and joined in with the Old Testament Bible story all about Jeremiah being stuck in a deep, dark well. We loved joining in with the repeated refrain and we learned that God helped Jeremiah get out of the well. We reflected on how God can help us when we are feeling stuck or in a dark place. We then thought about how God sent His saviour, Jesus to rescue us all and how at this time of Advent, we are thinking about the special birth of Jesus. We finished our Worship singing 'Jesus, strong and kind'.
First week in Advent- Hope Collective Worship
This morning in our collective Worship we focused on Hope as it is the first week in Advent. Lucy and Charlie lit the first candle on our advent wreath and we said special prayers of hope. We watched a lovely video showing how God promised to send his special son Jesus and people had to wait in hope a very long time for Him but 'Good things come to those who wait'. We then discussed with our friends what we were hopeful for in the future and we had some wonderful answers such as 'For there to be peace across the whole world and for everyone to show kindness to each other.' Over the next four weeks we will be focusing on the hope, peace, joy and love that Jesus brought to the world and how we can show that to others too. We finished our Worship by singing a number of Christmas songs to remind us of the importance of Christmas, when baby Jesus was born. Thank you to our wonderful singers who volunteered to model the actions to the younger children.
Year 6 DT
Year 6 started their DT unit by analysing existing games and toys. They discovered that toys serve more functions than just providing entertainment. They realised that they can develop gross and fine motor skills, help concentration, improve hand-eye coordination and aid imagination and creativity. These things were taken into account when analysing 3 real-life products and helped the children to decide whether they were fit for purpose.
Celebration Worship - 24/11/23
This morning in celebration worship, we started our worship by presenting our value award winners with their certificates. Well done to Joey, Archie, Olivia, Ivy, Ella, Esme, Wilson and Ross for consistently demonstrating an exceptional attitude to learning and always showing respect, kindness and friendship. Mrs Ham also awarded a special bravery award for Sonny in Year 3. Today marks one year since he was diagnosed with diabetes. This past year, he has taken all of the hospital trips and disruptions to his usual routines in his stride and shown an immense amount of courage. We are so proud of you Sonny! Our head and deputies then awarded Darwen Tower as the overall value award winners this week and Mrs Ham announced Reception class and Year 6 as the amazing attendance winners this week. We then celebrated lots of children who have been achieving great things out of school. Well done to Mila for achieving her drawing badge at rainbows, Eliza for being a superstar horse rider, Annabelle for achieving her drawing badge at rainbows and the rainbows theme award for expressing herself, Desmond for being a super swimmer, Marley for showing kindness, Archie for achieving 20m front crawl swimming, Callie for achieving her stage 3 award at swimming, Penelope for achieving a rosette in her horse riding, Poppy for achieving a trophy for being a fantastic footballer and Skye for displaying lots of new skills in her horse riding lessons. We then applauded Alice in Year 3, Poppy in Year 5, Wilson, Charlie, Lucy and Jacob in Year 6 for their successful entries into the ‘Happy News competition’ which was launched in school a few weeks ago. Mrs Govan then launched our current competition. Mrs Govan explained that Home Bargains are accepting entries into a Christmas card competition that we would love our children to enter into. The winner of the competition will get their Christmas card printed and sold in Home Bargains and the money raised will go to Alder Hey Hospital. What a fantastic cause to support. Finally to end our worship, Rev Ben then said a beautiful prayer and Mrs Ham reminded us about non-uniform day next Friday in exchange for chocolate or a toy for our FOSB School Christmas Fair on Wednesday 13th December. We thank you all for your continued support and we wish you all an enjoyable weekend.
Christmas Card Competition
This morning in our Celebration Worship I shared the details of our Christmas Art Competition in Aid of Alder Hey Children’s hospital. The competition is for the children to design their own Christmas Card on a square piece of paper (please see the image above for more details and last year’s winners!) All entries will be submitted to the competition, and if selected, the winning entries will be sold as Christmas cards in Home Bargains stores across the UK, with all proceeds going to Alder Hey. School can also win a craft hamper and £100 voucher for resources too! We will also be selecting a handful of amazing entries to copy and display in the Rose Garden at Whitehall Park for our Christmas ADVENTure trail, so any Nativity related entries would be lovely to see. Please can we ask that all entries be handed to class teachers by no later than Wednesday 13th December. We are able to provide squared paper for entries if needed, please just ask your class teachers. If you have any further questions then please ask. We look forward to seeing some wonderful designs! Thank you, Mrs Govan
Year 6 R.E.- Pilgrimage
In R.E. Year 6 started to look at the pilgrimages of other religions. They focused on Hajj (an Islamic pilgrimage) and Kumbh Mela (a Hinduism pilgrimage). Once they had made some notes on these pilgrimages and how they are undertaken, the children then discussed how they are similar and different to the Christian and Jewish pilgrimages covered in earlier lessons.
Year 6 Class Worship- Kindness
Today, in class worship, year 6 focused on kindness. We discussed that, even though we may be one person, we can still make a big difference. We watched a video all about acts of kindness and that if we show it to someone, the chances are that those people will then show kindness to others.
Year 6 History- Evacuees
Today, we concluded our unit on propaganda and how it has been used throughout the ages. Our focus today was how it was used during WW2. Year 6 discovered that it was used to persuade parents to send their children to the countryside so that they were safe. Therefore, many pictures of evacuees shows them smiling. However, year 6 are now aware that this may not have reflected their true emotions as they will have left loved ones and special possessions behind.
Rev Ben’s Worship: Samuel and David
This week in Rev Ben’s Worship, we learned the story of Samuel, Jessie and David. We talked about the qualities God looks for in a king and the importance of having a kind heart.
WOW Group Worship: Respect and Tolerance
Well done to our fantastic WOW Group, who led their first whole-school worship this year today. In recognition of Inter Faith week, they talked about respecting each other’s differences and they taught us about tolerance and how we can show it to one another.
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SPAR Lancashire School Games Launch
Our Sports Leaders and PE lead Mrs Gardner have been lucky enough to represent Blackburn with Darwen at the launch of the Lancashire School Games today at SPAR Headquarters. We also met the Olympic Athlete Holly Bradshaw who won Bronze for pole vault at the last Olympic Games. Our Sports Leaders did both the borough and Team B proud!
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by ‘Making a Noise’ as that has been our focus this week during anti-bullying week. We did this whilst dressing in spots and all things Pudsey in support of Children in Need. We then said a huge well done to our superstar value award winners this week who were Iniya, Eli, Lyla in EYFS and KS1 and Sofia, Summer, Lola, Tyler and Archie in KS2. We were also exceptionally pleased to present Millie, Annabelle, Matthew and Bella for getting their pen licenses and Charlie for being a Times Table Rockstars Champ. We then said a huge congratulations to our Year 5/6 football team who achieved the title of Darwen Schools league football champions last night, Whitehall Park for winning the Inter-house dodgeball competition last Friday, our KS1 sports team who attended the multi sports skills festival at QEGS last Friday, India Mill who were overall value award winners this week with 283 points and Year 1 and Year 4 for being our amazing attendance winners this week. Our Well-Being Warriors then presented Edward, Molly, Lottie, Elliott, Grace, Betsy and Isaac for having the best odd socks and shoes on Monday to launch anti-bullying week and we celebrated the achievements of our out of school sports award achievers. Well done to Cali for her ice skating, Albie for achieving his 10m swimming award, Arabelle for being awarded her 50m in swimming, Lyla for achieving a medal for incredible ballet dancing, Sofia for super concentration and accuracy in her dancing, Peyton for achieving her white belt in kickboxing, Quinn for his commitment to tennis, Molly for achieving her fourth belt in martial arts, Betsy for achieving medals for incredible ballet and commercial street dancing, Grace for achieving a medal for her lyrical dancing and Lola for showing improved steps in her acro dancing. Finally, Mrs Ham reminded us about the Scholastic Book Fair being open after school next Monday and Tuesday after school. We then heard from Rev Ben who ended our celebration worship with a beautiful prayer about compassion and kindness. We wish you all an enjoyable weekend.
Scholastic book fair
Our Scholastic Book fair will be back in school on 20th and 21st November after school. Children will be visiting the fair over the next few days and will bring home a wish list of potential books they’d like to buy at the fair. You can purchase books at the fair from 3.30-4.30pm next Monday and Tuesday (20th and 21st). It is the perfect time to purchase books ready for Christmas! Card payments will only be accepted, we unfortunately cannot accept cash.
Year 6 Class Worship- Anti-bullying Week
In year 6, we carried out a class worship on anti bullying. We listened to the song ‘Brave’ by Sara Bareilles and discussed how we have to be brave when we are exposed to bullying, whether we are being bullied or are witnessing it. We discussed how it is linked to our British values: how everyone is individual and how we should tolerate differences rather than target people for liking different things. We ended our worship by relating back to this year’s theme, ‘Make a noise about bullying’, and discussed who we could speak to if we ever come across any forms of it.
Year 6 R.E.- Judaism Workshop
This week in R.E. year 6 were visited by Samantha Hambling who led a Judaism workshop all about pilgrimage. Year 6 asked some impressive and mature questions and realised how religions are very similar, but also have some notable differences.
Year 5&6 - Blackburn Rovers Gifted and Talented
Today, our Year 5&6 football team took part in a gifted and talented 3v3 tournament hosted by Blackburn Rovers. The boys played exceptionally well and made it all the way through to the final but narrowly missed out at the end. A superb performance from all the players.
Year 5&6 - DPSSA Football Winners
Today, our Year 5&6 were crowned the league winners for the Darwen schools football league. They did not lose a game and won their game on the final night. A huge congratulations to the whole team, we are so proud of you.
FOSB Christmas Fayre Stalls and Raffle Prize Donations
St Barnabas CE Primary Academy will be hosting an Annual Christmas Fayre on Wednesday 13th December 3.30-5.30pm. We are looking for stall holders and local businesses to donate raffle prizes so please email if you are available to help in any way: [email protected] If you would like a stall, they are priced at £10 plus a donation to our raffle. If you would like to help by donating a raffle prize then that would be very much appreciated! It will be a wonderful event for our community, any support would be really appreciated. Thank you.
Whole-School Worship: Odd socks day to launch Anti-Bullying Week
Today, to mark the start of Anti-Bullying Week, we were all invited to come to school in odd socks and shoes to express our individuality. We learned how to spot the signs of bullying and what to do if we think someone is being bullied. We saw some brilliant acting skills from some of the children who acted our some bullying scenarios. We talked about the Christian and British values we should be showing to each other at all times. At St Barnabas, bullying is not welcome so we made a noise by shouting that out in different year groups and we loved joining in with Andy and the Odd Socks 'Make some noise' song.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning we started our worship by thinking about remembrance. We put all of the people who serve us each and everyday with great strength and courage in our thoughts. Our heads and deputies said some some lovely prayers for all of those who have sacrificed and continue to sacrifice their lives to fight in the wars and all of those who are caught in conflict at the moment. We then observed a two minute silence. Following this, we presented our value award winners for this week. Well done to Lucy, Freddy, Elsie and Alfie in the Juniors and Lennox, Evie and Harvey in EYFS and KS1. We also said a huge well done to River Darwen for being our overall value award winners this week and Year 1, 2 and Year 4 for being our amazing attendance winners. We then moved onto celebrating our Year 5/6 football team who are through to the finals of the Darwen schools league next week after playing exceptional football through the league and we also celebrate our out of school achievers. Well done to Issac for being a super scout and swimmer, Sofia for being a wonderfully creative brownie and designing and making her own t-shirt, Annabel for working extremely hard in her ballet lessons and being a wonderful ballerina, Grace for being a fantastic gymnast, Poppy for achieving athlete of the week and ‘man of the match’ in her most recent football game, Ivy for pushing herself out of her comfort zone in her dancing and achieving a medal and Amelia and Jess for showing super courage and talent in their horse riding lessons. Finally, we ended our celebration worship by singing happy birthday to Alice, Elsie and Sophie and singing ‘A Song of Peace.’ Please remember that we are wearing odd socks and shoes on Monday to celebrate the launch of Anti-Bullying week. Our Well-Being Warriors announced that there will be a winner per class for the funkiest choice of odd shoes. We wish you all a wonderful weekend.
Year 6- Remembrance Service
Some of our Year 6 children took part in a special service of Remembrance this morning at Whitehall Cemetery. We are so proud of the way they joined in the service showing their respects and thanks to those who lost their lives during the world wars. After the service they had to find our adopted war graves plus two others and laid special poppy crosses on them. We took a few moments to pray for all of those who gave up their lives for us and also remembered loved ones that might have passed away who are laid to rest in the cemetery.
Year 6 Golden time in the golden sunshine
It’s been a very busy morning for our Year 6 children with our Head boy and Head girl supporting the younger children at the KS1 multi-skills festival, the Sports Leaders leading the inter house bench ball competition and the rest of the class attending the Remembrance Service. After the service the children enjoyed having some golden time at Whitehall Park in the golden sunshine!
Choir Workshop
Choir took part in their second Let’s Go Sing Workshop with Gaynor and were excited to learn four new songs for the concert. Gaynor commented on how beautiful the children’s voices were and their fantastic effort, so a big well done to Choir for representing our school so brilliantly.
Year 5&6 War Memorial Visit
Today in their class Worship Year 5 and Year 6 took a special trip to the war memorial to pay their respects to those people who gave their lives up for our freedom. The children held a two minute silence to consider all those people and all those who have been affected by the wars. The children all wrote prayers on poppies and decorated them. They placed their poppies next to the memorial for all visitors to read. Year 5&6 also placed their amazing prayers outside of our school to show their respect to make others think about all those who have been affected.
Year 6 Parliament Week
In year 6, we spent some time thinking about parliament and how the country is actually run as part of parliament week. We looked at how the Houses of Parliament are split into two houses: the House of Commons and the House of Lords and discussed some current issues that are close to the children’s hearts and what they would like to see the government do to address them. I’m sure we will find out even more when we go to the Houses of Parliament on our trip to London in March.
Year 6 Science
This week, year 6 concluded their work on electricity by making their own set of traffic lights. We had to apply our knowledge from throughout the unit to create a circuit that operated only one of 3 LED’s at a time. This involved making a three-way switch made of conductive material, that would connect to the spare terminal of an LED, in order for it to illuminate.
Multi-Skills Sports Club
Today saw the start of our first multi-skills sports club session. The children took part in various activities such as speed bounce, obstacle relays and then finished with bench ball. Every child worked really hard to develop their skills and applied various tactics when working with different age groups.
Odd Socks Day
On Monday 13th November we will be launching Anti-Bullying Week with our usual ‘ODD SOCKS DAY’. After our weekly meeting our Wellbeing Warriors would also like to make it ‘ODD SOCKS AND ODD SHOE DAY’. They will be on the look out for the strangest, most unique socks and shoe combo and there will be a prize for a child in each year group. This will be announced in Celebration Worship on Friday 17th November when the team will be giving an overview of the day and how we have promoted Anti- Bullying Week in school.
Y5/6 Sportshall Athletics Club
We had a fantastic turn out for our first Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics Club this week. We covered speed bounce, sprint relay and throwing events with some amazing results. The children pushed themselves out of their comfort zones and we had a lot of very red faces by the end with fun had by all!
Rev Matt’s Worship: God’s Compassion for Gideon
Rev Matt’s Worship this week was about victory against the odds and staying faithful to God. He told us the story of Gideon and how he defeated the Midianites, even though his army was small. He trusted in God and God showed Gideon compassion. We also discussed how we can show compassion to people who need our help.
Save the Date for our Christmas Fayre
Our wonderful FOSB will be hosting our Annual Christmas Fayre on Wednesday 13th December 3.30-5.30pm. Please save the date and come and enjoy lots of stalls, food and games. Our children’s Design and Technology products will also be available to purchase. FOSB are looking for stall holders and local businesses to donate raffle prizes so please email if you are available to help in any way: [email protected]
Whole-School Worship: Remembrance
With Remembrance Day fast approaching, Mrs Ham began the week with a worship about why and how we remember those who have died due to war and those who serve our country and protect us. She explained the significance of the poppy and we discussed which Christian and British values are shown by people in the armed forces. We ended our worship time with a prayer of thanks to those in the armed forces and prayed for peace around the world as we sang ‘A song of peace’.
Poppy Appeal 2023
From Monday our Heads and Deputies will be selling Poppy Appeal merchandise at break times. The suggested donation for zip ties and reflectors is 50p, standard wristbands £1.00 and slap bands £1.50. Poppies will also be available to purchase for a small donation. Next week we will be focusing on Remembrance Day in our Worships and our Year 6 Heads and Deputies plus some of our WOW group members will be taking part in a special Remembrance Service in Darwen Cemetery. We will remember them.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today we started our worship by lighting our very special candle for those in Israel and Gaza who have very much been in our thoughts this week. Mrs Ham reminded us that we will be focusing on remembrance next week. We will be thinking about all of the soldiers that have fought in the war past and present and all of those that have and are being affected by the war. The heads and deputies told us some of the things that they will be selling next week to support the Poppy Appeal. We then presented our value award winners with their certificates. Our winners this week were Callie, Mila, Alby, Carmen, Matthew, Seb, Layla and Sophie and we also said well done to Matthew, Layla and Will who gained their pen licenses. We then said a huge well done to our out of school achievers. Congratulations to Albie for achieving his 5m certificate in his swimming with no armbands, Annabel for getting Olivia at Rainbows this week for super tidying up and achieving super star status in her ballet and acro, Darcy for achieving stage 3 in her swimming, Daisy for achieving 2nd place in her gymnastics competition, Callie for achieving 10m in her swimming with no armbands, Cassidy for achieving 3 gold medals in her gymnastics vault, floor and all around routines and an additional overall gold medal, Iris for achieving 10m in her swimming and stage 1 in her gymnastics, Desmond for stage 4 and 10m in his swimming, Eliza for achieving girl of the game as goalkeeper in her football, Annabelle for entering in the 18+ category in orienteering and coming in first place, Alfie for scoring a hat trick in a recent football game, Bobby-Ray for achieving the brown and white belt in Karate, Finn for being a cricket superstar, Charlie for achieving the batter of the year in his cricket, Archie for achieving batter of the batter and fielder of the year in his cricket, Grace for achieving several medals and a trophy for her acro expertise and Elsie for achieving a certificate in her tutoring lessons. We said a well done to Whitehall Park who are our overall value award winners this week with 407 points and Year 2 and Year 5 for being the amazing attendance award winners this week. Finally, we ended our worship with some lovely prayers for those in Ukraine, Israel and Gaza and a song about peace. Thank you to those who could attend our celebration worship this week and we wish you all an enjoyable weekend.
Year 6 P.E.
This week, year 6 have been working hard on developing sequences in their P.E. lessons. They have looked at applying counter and counter tension balances, rolls, jumps and travels into their sequence and conclude it with a mirror image.
Year 5 and 6 football
Another great night for our Year 5&6 school football team who maintained their unbeaten record in the Darwen schools league. They played another three matches against: St Joseph’s, Avondale and St James Lower Darwen. They won each match comfortably and showcased their amazing football talents. Huge congratulations to the team.
Jake Berry Visit- Parliament Week
Year 5 and 6 welcomed our local MP, Jake Berry, into school on Monday and he led an engaging workshop and Q&A session. During the session, he spoke about how laws are created and the various traditions that are upheld in parliament. Year 5 and 6 represented the school superbly and asked some very mature questions, that were kindly answered open and honestly by Mr Berry. What a great way to launch Parliament week next week!
Year 6 School Council Meeting
Year 6 held their latest school council meeting today and discussed whether we should hold a ‘No Pens Day’. Again, they spoke with fantastic maturity and acknowledged the importance of using pens, but expressed that having no pens would give the opportunity to talk about subjects more and learn from each other.
Whole School Worship with Rev Ben
Rev Ben taught us all about the value of thankfulness this week. He told us the story of the Jews being freed from slavery and how they lost sight of the good things God had given them, so they were left to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. The children loved interacting with the story and shared their ideas on how we can focus on the good.
Whole-School Worship: Allhallowtide & Praying for Peace
This morning Mrs Ham reminded us of the Christian season of Allhallowtide starting with All Hallows’ Eve tomorrow - Hallow means Holy and it is a time to be mindful of the good we can do in the world, All Saints’ Day on Wednesday - when Christians remember the good the saints have done, and All Souls‘ Day on Thursday - when we think of those who have died and are in heaven. We discussed Remembrance day which is coming up shortly, where we remember soldiers who have died in the wars. We also thought about the conflict in Israel and Gaza and prayed for those who are suffering in this war. We watched some newsround videos to learn about how children in Gaza and Israel are being affected and we thought of some ways that we can be like saints and help. Peyton said we can pray to God for them and Darcy, Jack and Naomi said we can donate money, clothes and toys to the children who have lost their homes and belongings. To finish we sang a 'Song of Peace' where we wished for a world where hate and war would cease and the everyone in the world could live in peace.
Year 5 - Publishers
Last year, the children who are now in year 6 sent their poems to 'Poetry Towers' to get them published. Today, they were absolutely thrilled to finally hold a book containing their own published poems.
Harvest Church Service 2023
A huge well done to our WOW (Worship our Way) group and our choir for leading our Harvest Church service and to Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 for their wonderful contributions. Thank you so much for your generosity shown towards Darwen Food Larder and DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/harvest-church-service-2023 and the videos are posted on classdojo.
Whole-School Worship: Moses Saves God’s People
This week, Rev Ben led our worship, teaching us all about the story of Moses parting the Red Sea, and how that was all a part of God’s great rescue plan. The children loved acting out the story. We also spent some time reflecting on God’s generosity towards the Israelites.
Whole School Celebration Worship
To start our celebration worship this morning, we reflected on another busy week. We talked about a couple of highlights such as our ‘Hello Yellow Day’ to celebrate World Mental Health Day, A Let’s Sing Together workshop and library visits for years 3 and 5. We then presented our value award winners for this week. Well done to Harry, Eva, Scarlett, Arabelle, Darcy, Reuben, Will and Isaac for demonstrating the 4Bs. We then said congratulations to India Mill for achieving the most value points this week and an even bigger congratulations to River Darwen who are our overall value award winners for this half term who will celebrate with something of their choice next Thursday. Our well-being warriors then announced the six winners for our ‘Hello Yellow’ self affirmations poster competition who were Molly, Mila, Summer, Lucy, Lilly and Alice. Also, we said a huge congratulations to our Y5/6 football team for their superb talent and sportsmanship last night as they won both matches, Reception and Year 5 for being the super attendance award winners this week and Jake in Year 5 for getting his pen license. We then celebrated our out of school achievements. Well done to Marley for her drawing certificate that she achieved at Rainbows, Harriet for achieving 75m in her swimming, Grace for achieving a special honours award in her Jazz, Poppy for getting player of the match in her football, Layla for her football award that she achieved by attending Blackburn Rovers, Alby for reading 6 different books as part of the summer Reading challenge and Vienna for achieving 20m in her swimming without armbands. We ended our worship with a lovely prayer from Rev Ben and a reminder about our Harvest Celebration at St Barnabas Church next Thursday 19th October at 9.30am. Everyone is welcome and we would really appreciate some donations for the local food bank. Thank you for your continued support and we wish you all an enjoyable weekend.
Year 5 & 6 District Football
A huge congratulations to Matthew, Freddy and Oscar who represented their Distrct in a football tournament held at Blackburn Rovers’ Senior Training Ground. They played extremely well and demonstrated their amazing talents.
Year 6 Art
In Art, year 6 discovered that the ancient Maya are born with a spirit companion. These are accompanied with a symbol so year 6 produced a symbolic tile full of images that best represent them as a person.
Year 6 P.E.
In P.E. Year 6 have started to develop their passing and receiving skills in netball. They started by focusing on chest and bounce passes and later applied these in a 4v1 game situation.
Wellbeing Worship
This morning, year 6 took part in a virtual wellbeing worship. The focus of the session was that any time spent online should make you feel good and not bad. One of the presenters compared online time to eating doughnuts and explained that although doughnuts are very tasty, too many of them would not be good for you. This applies for screen time too.
Performing arts workshop
Year 6 were very lucky to take part in a performing arts workshop with Lucy from Rothwell Arts Dance Academy. She very kindly linked the session to the children’s end of year performance, ‘The Jungle Book’, and choreographed a dance routine for them. Year 6 showed fantastic enthusiasm and really let themselves go. Well done year 6!
Year 6 PSHE
During ‘Hello Yellow Day’, year 6 were looking at triggers. We focused on what makes them feel angry, stressed and upset. We discussed how it is really important to be aware of these triggers and to have some positive coping skills when they are activated. Year 6 suggested some of the following strategies: count down from 10 to 0; go and do something you enjoy; draw a circle on the palm of your hand and surround yourself with positive people.
Year 6 Art
This week, in art, year 6 looked at the technique ‘Chiaroscuro’. The word comes from the Italian meaning light and dark and is used to make something look more three-dimensional. The inspiration behind year 6’s art work was the word for their Mayan spirit companion. For example, the word ‘Imix’ translates to crocodile and means you are productIve, creative and hard-working.
Whole-School Worship: Jacob and Esau and God’s Forgiveness
Rev Matt joined us for worship today. He talked about good and bad, and then read the story of Isaac’s sons, Esau and Jacob. We then reflected on how God taught Jacob to be truthful and how He showed forgiveness.
Whole-School Worship: Hello Yellow Day
Today we are celebrating Hello Yellow Day for World Mental Health Day by dressing in yellow. In worship, our Heads and Deputies dressed as Mrs Ham's Minions and they explained all about Hello Yellow Day. We learnt that we all have mental health and there are things we can do when we don't have good mental health. We made each other smile and feel happy by dancing and singing together with the minions to 'Happy'. We then joined a special live assembly with lots of other primary schools in Blackburn and Darwen, which was led by the Mental Health support team. We talked about our worries and how we can shrink them using mindfulness techniques. Thank you to everyone for dressing in yellow to raise awareness of mental health and remember that it is good to talk to our friends, parents, teachers and other trusted adults if we are worried about anything.
Football Practice
This week during our football session we have been looking at spacial awareness within the game. We have been exploring the ways we can transfer play into open areas to create more goal scoring opportunities.
Celebration Worship
This morning, Rotakids welcomed us into celebration worship as we came in dressed in the colours of the Moroccan flag. They thanked us all for supporting our non-uniform day to raise money for Morocco who have recently faced an earthquake. They explained that our money would go towards medical supplies and other essentials such as blankets, food and shelter for those who were affected in the earthquake on September, 8th. We then said goodbye to Mr Tierney for his 7 years of service as our fantastic site supervisor. It was clear from the children’s memories that they shared and the video that Mrs Ham had made that Mr Tierney has had a hugely wonderful impact on our whole school family and that he will be greatly missed, especially for the joy and humour that he spreads on a daily basis. The children absolutely loved your goodbye song dressed as Santa Claus… what a way to end your time here at St Barnabas! We also said thank you very much to our amazing choir who sang at The harvest Festival on Sunday. We then said well done to Cici, Phoebe, Renee, Scarlett, James, Grace, Matthew and Charlie who were our value award winners this week and Isaac, James, Mila, James, Naomi, Lydia and Layla for being our out of school sports achievers. Well done to Isaac for showing good sportsmanship at football, James for being beaver of the week, Mila for attending rainbows for one year, James for achieving his stage 4 in swimming, Naomi for being extremely kind at rainbows and getting Olivia, Lydia for joining in and being a superstar at rainbows and Layla for being a wonderful footballer. We then congratulated River Darwen who are our value award point winners this week, Reception and Year 5 who are our amazing attendance award winners this week, our Year 5/6 football team for wonderful sportsmanship last night and winning all 3 games, our play leaders for completing their training and Eden and Esme for achieving their pen licenses. Finally, we ended with some lovely prayers wishing Mr Tierney all the best at his new job at Blackburn college and for those who are facing hardship in Morocco due to the devastating impact of the recent earthquake. Just a reminder that next Tuesday 10th October is Hello Yellow Day so all children are asked to wear something yellow to celebrate World Mental Health Day. We wish you an enjoyable weekend and thank you for all of your support this week.
Let's Go Sing Choir Workshop
Our Choir had their first workshop today in preparation for their 'Let's Go Sing' Concert next year. The vocal coach Rachel was so impressed with their efforts and said they were one of the best Choirs she has taught so far this year - so a big well done to our small but mighty Choir!
Year 5 & 6 Football
A huge well done to our year 5&6 football team. In the opening games of the DPSSA league they played outstanding. They played three games against St Paul’s, Holy Trinity and St Peter’s. They won with scores of 5-0, 6-0 and 1-0.
Year 3-Year 6 WOW Group Members Lead Collective Worship
Today was an exciting day for the class as Lucy, David, and Archie from the WOW group took the lead in our class worship. They guided us through a PowerPoint presentation about Guinness World Records. The children had the opportunity to share what they believe should be included in the book, as well as their dreams and goals. Lucy, David, and Archie also discussed the process involved in getting into the Guinness World Records book. It was an inspiring and thought-provoking session! Great work!
Year 6 Library Visit
Yesterday, year 6 visited Darwen library to take part in a session with the author of the ‘Loki’ books, Louie Stowell. During the session, the children were made aware of the author’s inspiration and had the chance to create some illustrations from the book. Year 6 were an absolute credit to the school and asked some amazing questions. A special mention to Jay who won some original illustrations from the author.
Football Practice
This week’s session the children worked on various techniques associated with keeping possession of the ball. The children then took this technique and practised that within their various games that they played; each featuring a different way of scoring such as, multiple goals, dribbling through gates and achieving more than ten passes.
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Play Leader Training
We have now had our first practical session in play leading. The children took part in various activities throughout the afternoon to enable them to establish what makes a great Play Leader. They cooperated well and demonstrated great leadership skills but also showing empathy and understanding. We can’t wait to trial our new skills now in next week's final session!
29th September- Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our celebration worship by congratulating our value award winners this week for always demonstrating the the 4Bs, wonderful manners, an incredible attitude to learning and working extremely hard across the curriculum. Well done to Eddie, James, Finley, Jack, Jenson, Evie and Beau. We then said well done to River Darwen for being our value points winners this week putting them in 1st place and Year 1 and 3 for being the amazing attendance award winners this week. Our well-being warriors then told us all about World Mental Health Day 2023 on the 10th October to raise awareness for mental health. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. These were Annabel for being very sensible at rainbows and her character work as Rapunzel, Noah being this week’s player of the match at football, Mila and Cassidy for being extremely creative and drawing wonderful pictures at Rainbows and Layla for getting player of the match at football. We then followed by congratulating our play leaders on completing their play leader training yesterday. They learnt how to set up and manage lots of practical activities that they can lead on the infant yard with the infants. We ended today’s worship by singing happy birthday to Marley, Bobby-Ray, Noah and Beau and with some lovely prayers from Seb, Darcy and Noah. Darcy and Seb prayed for the people facing hardship in Ukraine and Morocco and Seb said a prayer of gratefulness to say thank you for everything that we have. Thank you for all of your support this week, and your very kind donations to our MacMillan coffee morning. Thank you to those that could also attend. We wish you an enjoyable weekend.
Year 6 Smart School Council
In year 6, we discussed what we are looking forward to the most this academic year in our smart school council meeting. Most of the children said they are looking forward to learning new things because this will help their own work to improve. I was so impressed with the maturity of year 6’s responses and the high expectations they have for themselves this year.
Year 6 Art
In year 6, we have started our art unit which is all based on making our voice heard. We started by evaluating pieces of art created by the Ancient Maya and created a research page which we filled with patterns that captured our imagination. Those of us who had finished our research pages then tried our hand at some experimental mark making with unconventional tools. This made the children appreciate the Mayan art even more.
Year 6 History
In year 6, we have been focusing on the theme of propaganda and how it has been used across the ages. This week, we focused on Elizabeth I and how her portraits made her appear younger towards the end of her reign. This was because she wanted to be flattered, but she also wanted to be seen as a strong monarch, especially after the Spanish Armada. At this point, she took control of the portraits that were painted of her.
Football Practice
During this session of football the players looked at technical drills with opposed and unopposed challenges during their games. They worked really hard on the technical aspects of the game and built their work into some games at the end of the session.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started saying thank you to our teachers for starting their after school clubs this week. We have had choir, football, foodie friends, performing arts, netball and an infant sports club and the children have thoroughly enjoyed them. We still have a few places left in choir so please sign up if your child is interested. We then said well done to our value award winners this week for always demonstrating the Christian values particularly friendship, respect and courage and working exceptionally hard across the curriculum. These children were Lottie, Leo, Eden, Daisy and Alfie. We then congratulated River Darwen for gaining 250 value points this week putting them in 1st place, Year 1 and 5 for being the amazing attendance award winners this week and David, Archie, Carlton, Skye, Daisy, Ruby, Leonora, Annabelle, Luca and Grace for being our new WOW group members for this academic year. We look forward to you all taking a lead in various worships and helping to organise events in the Christian calendar. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Annabelle for her blue Peter badge for her music, Jenson for achieving his 100m in swimming, Scarlett for lots of amazing rainbow badges and a swimming badge, Archie for achieving 20m in his swimming and ‘smashing it’ at Go Ape, Isaac for his perseverance over the last 5 years at Scouts, Oliver for demonstrating lots of new skills and achieving a new belt at kickboxing and Annabel for gaining a certificate for always working hard on many new skills at acro. We ended our worship with a lovely prayer centred around thankfulness from Rev Ben and a singalong to ‘If I was a butterfly.’ Please remember that we will be having our MacMillan coffee morning next Friday 29th September after celebration worship and you would be all very welcome. Cake donations would be very much appreciated and a donation to Macmillan can be made on parent pay. Thank you for all of your support again this week and we wish you an enjoyable weekend.
Year 6 English
Year 6 have been working extremely hard on their chapter endings this week. They have been writing a chapter, inspired by chapter 2 of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, ‘The Vanishing Glass’, and are looking to apply various features in their writing. They are aiming to build a very clear picture of Uncle Vernon and Harry through the use of speech and figurative language and are looking to move the narrative on by using a range of cohesive devices in their work. Well done Year 6!
Year 6 Internet Safety
In today’s class worship time, year 6 focused on being internet legends. This week, they looked in more detail at how things aren’t always real online and how people may want you to believe something or possibly influence you to do something. They were made aware of different rules that can help to keep us safe online, such as: - if something seems too good to be true, it probably is. - Don’t share personal information. - Don’t visit sites that don’t have a padlock in the address bar. - Be alert when playing online games.
Collective Worship with Rev Ben - Noah’s Ark
Today, we started with a fun game of floating and sinking in our collective Worship with Rev Ben. He then told us the story of Noah and his Ark and his mission to rescue God’s creation. We considered how we could help to take care of God’s world.
Football Club
This week, football practice started for all KS2 children. The sessions were divided and the children played a variety of football matches with many restrictions placed upon their game in order to target a particular skill set. The children took part in: a two touch passing zone game to target skill within an opposed setting, 1v1 mini games to target and look at attacking and being positive with the ball and finally a game whereby the children had to complete a certain number of passes before being able to score. This worked on space awareness, moving forward with the ball and inclusivity within the game. All the children had an amazing time and showed an amazing attitude towards the game.
Collective Worship- In the beginning
This morning in Collective Worship, we continued learning about God's Big Story with Worship across the Diocese. Today we started right at the beginning of the Bible and focused on God's creation. This built on our Worships with Rev Ben and Rev Matt as we have been focusing on God's generosity in creation. After watching and joining in with the Worship across the Diocese video, we also watched a cartoon about God's creation. We then reflected on our favourite creations and Mrs Ham threw the inflatable earth and asked us to share our favourite creations with the whole school if we caught it. We shared so many of our favourite wonderful creations such as trees, flowers, people, food, fish, mountains, the sea, the sun and the sky. We then sang one of our favourite songs about creation, 'If I were a butterfly' where we thanked God for all of his wonderful creations.
Social Media Safety
Good morning parents and carers, the children will tell you that my main job is to keep all of the children safe. That is in school and whilst online. We are having an increasing number of children, particularly in the upper KS2 classes who aren't being safe online at home as they are being exposed to social media apps, namely tik tok and snapchat. Over the past couple of weeks we have had several issues being brought into school from inappropriate content posted on these apps. We have spoken to the children about the dangers of these apps but would also like to remind parents too as tik tok and snapchat are particularly difficult to monitor due to the disappearing messages. These apps have an age rating of 13 and aren't meant for primary aged children. Please see the attached safety guides and the following websites detailing the risks of the apps and information on how to keep your child safe online. https://cpdonline.co.uk/knowledge-base/safeguarding/snapchat-guide-for-parents/ https://www.nspcc.org.uk/keeping-children-safe/online-safety/online-safety-blog/is-snapchat-safe-for-my-child/
After school clubs- Autumn 1
Good morning parents and carers, here is a reminder about the after school clubs for this half term. Some of the clubs are nearly full but there are still places at several clubs. If your child will be attending a sports based club, they will need to bring sports clothes to wear and suitable trainers or football boots for football club. If the club is on their PE day, they can stay in their PE kit. A reminder that the children in Years 1 and 2 need to be collected from the circular infant yard at 3.20pm and children in Years 3-6 need to be collected from the circular infant yard at 3.30pm. If you give them permission to walk home, please message the club leader. A quick note that the performing arts club is for Year 6 at the moment to give them priority for the end of year production and to cast the main parts. However, if we have low numbers then it will be opened to older year groups.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our celebration worship by saying a huge well done to our value award winners this week for showing the Barney’s 4B’s, hitting the ground running in their new classes and always having a positive attitude to their learning. Well done Albie, Naomi, Walter, Daisy, Walter, Annabelle, Leonora and Seb. We then said a special well done to Whitehall Park this week who were our award winners this week, Reception and Year 5 for being the amazing attendance winners this week and Hamza, Harry and Daisy in Year 5 for gaining their pen licenses. We then moved on to say a huge congratulations to our out of school superstars. Well done to Alice for achieving 20m in her swimming, Alexis for achieving lots of badges at Rainbows, completing the Summer Reading Challenge and achieving 25m in her swimming, Carmen for completing the Summer Reading challenge and even reading an extra 9 books than she needed to, Renee for completing the Summer Reading Challenge, Frankie for completing the Summer Reading challenge and achieving stage 2 in his swimming, Annabelle for being awarded a special badge for her keyboard playing, a Blue Peter Badge for her musical talent and and a ‘Swim England’ award and medal, Summer for being awarded 50m in her swimming, Elijah for achieving 100m in his swimming without armbands, Eliza for achieving 4 rosettes in her horse riding, Jack for achieving 5m, 10m and stage 3 in his swimming, Ruby for participating in a 2 week swim and lifeguard camp and achieving her level 1 and 2 in snorkelling and her bronze and silver awards at Brownies and Charlie for achieving his 5m at swimming. We ended our worship with a lovely prayer from Rev Ben and a singalong to ‘Our God is Great Big God.’ Thank you for all of your support this week and we wish you an enjoyable weekend.
Year 6 R.E.
In R.E. Year 6 have been looking at how following Jesus’ teachings has an impact on lives today. They looked at Jesus’ life journey and thought about how individual events might influence the way in which Christians live their lives.
Year 6 - Internet Legends
Today, year 6 took part in the ‘Internet Legends’ workshop. They took part with such enthusiasm, but never lost sight of the message it was tying to get across. They were taught to: - Be sharp and think before you share. - Be secure by using and not sharing strong passwords. - Be kind and respect each other even when you are online. - Be brave by telling a trusted adult when you are in doubt about anything.
Smart School Councillors
We are proud to introduce our ‘Smart School Councillors’ for the year. From Year 5 we have Laila, Daisy, Harry, Oscar and Leonara. Representing Year 6, we have Isaac, Amelia, Lucy, Sophie and Colton. These dedicated pupils will meet fortnightly to discuss school matters. Smart School Council is an important and useful way for our school to provide leadership and development opportunities for all of our pupils. It is an excellent way in which to increase participation, teaching our pupils about democracy, local and global citizenship and accountability. Their mission is to ensure that everyone’s voice is heard and ideas considered.
Tuesday Collective Worship with Rev Matt
Rev Matt came to lead our worship and told us the story of Adam and Eve, and how God showed his generosity, staying with them even after they disobeyed his orders. We also discussed how we can show generosity this week.
Monday Collective Worship- God’s Big Plan
We started our worship by paying respect to all of the victims who lost their lives 22 years ago in the devastating 9/11 terrorist attack in New York. We lit a candle and said a prayer. Mrs Ham then reintroduced God’s Big Story to us and we looked at each concept and discussed what they mean: Creation (the beginning of the world), Fall (when people started to sin) , People of God (People in the Old Testament of the Bible), Incarnation (Jesus was sent to create peace on Earth), Gospel (spreading the good news of Jesus), Salvation (Jesus is crucified and appears as a spirit) and The Kingdom of God. We then watched a video which started with creation. We talked about our favourite things that God created. Rio said’ The sun and the moon to create light and dark,’ Sienna and Elliott said ‘The people’, Maliki said ‘The animals’ and Sonny said ‘The food.’ Followed by the Fall when people started to destroy the world. Then God gave us the People of God such as Moses and Abraham who were sent to teach us how to be good people. However, people didn’t listen so God sent Jesus to us in the flesh and this is what incarnation means. Bishop Philip explained that incarnation means that Jesus came as one of us, to share our life and so that we could share in his life and learn from his actions, stories and explanations. Bishop Philip then explained the definition of Salvation as Jesus coming to save us from a place of danger (the fall) by dying on the cross. As Jesus died on the cross and came back to life, he was our rescuer. He died for all of us brought us to a place of safety. We all look forward to learning more about God’s Big Plan in our collective worships and our RE lessons this academic year. Finally, we ended our worship by singing, ‘Our God is a Great Big God.’
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our first celebration of the year by reminding ourselves of our 4 B’s (Be ready, be kind, be respectful and be safe). We then talked about some highlights of the week including the production of the Jungle Book. We talked about our favourite parts. Daisy said, ‘When the lion fought the tiger and defeated him,’ and James said, ‘When Mowgli burnt the tiger's bottom off.’ We then celebrated the wonderful out of school achievements that our St Barnabas children have achieved over the summer holidays. We said well done to James for swimming 5m, Tristen for his red belt in kickboxing, Carter for being a fantastic fox at football and achieving stage 1 in his swimming, Eliza for being amazing at football and winning a football competition during the holidays and for wonderful horse riding, Poppy for running for Blackburn Harriers, Annabelle for being an amazing archaeologist, completing the summer reading challenge and achieving her stage 7 at swimming, Leonora for her super swimming, Grace for coming 3rd in her song and dance and completing the summer reading challenge, Jenson for achieving his 50m at swimming, Isaac for coming 4th in the British Championships in Derby for his BMX racing, Betsy for achieving the most points at Sports cool summer club for helping out with the younger children and always showing kindness, Finn for his trophy at football and achieving his 100m at swimming, Molly and Annabel for completing the summer reading challenge, Annabel for finding her brave and skydiving in the summer holidays with her brother and Renee for completing the summer reading challenge and achieving her stage 4 at swimming. We then congratulated Reception and Year 4 for being the amazing attendance winners this week and introduced Neve, Eden, Annabelle and Ella as our well-being warriors for this academic year. Finally we ended our worship with a beautiful prayer from Rev Ben and a sing along to ‘Shining From the Inside Out’ as a whole school. Thank you to those parents who could join us for celebration worship this week and we wish you all a lovely weekend when it arrives.
The Jungle Book
Years 1-6 have had an amazing morning watching The Jungle Book production. They joined in so well and were transfixed throughout. Our Year 6 children got to take part in a special workshop afterwards where they learnt about the different roles that are needed in a theatre production as they will be performing The Jungle Book at the end of the year. A huge thank you to our FOSB for their generous donation towards the cost of the production and a massive thank you to you all for supporting our FOSB events. Without your generosity we wouldn’t be able to provide these sort of memorable opportunities for our children, as our school budget is very tight. For all of the photos, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-gallery-category/our-gallery
Year 6 Music
Year 6 have been working hard in their first music session of the year and have been introduced to ukuleles. They showed plenty of enthusiasm and I am sure they will be playing with increased confidence in the coming weeks.
Jungle Book Performance
The whole school enjoyed a performance of the Jungle Book today by the talented individuals from M&M Theatrical Productions. The children had such a good time and year 6 were lucky enough to take part in a workshop with the cast. The children were taught about what goes into making a successful performance and even had the opportunity to carry out some acting for themselves.
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Celebration Worship Begins
Dear Parents and Carers, You're very welcome to join us for our first Celebration Worship of the year tomorrow morning at 9.05am. Our class teachers will be letting our children know how impressed they are with how well they have started the year. We have had a fantastic start so far and we are proud of all of the children. We have seen wonderful walking, legendary lining up and the children have been following our Barney's Brilliant Behaviour Be's (4B's)- Be ready, Be Kind, Be Safe and Be Respectful. As ever, if your child has an award from out of school, they are very welcome to bring it into school so we can present it to them on the golden podium. From next week our Heads and Deputies will be counting up the Values points from each class and the Values Winners will be awarded in Celebration Worship on Fridays. Parents will be informed on Wednesdays if their child is the values winner. However, you are all welcome to attend our Celebration Worship every week or whenever you are free.
Year 6 P.E.
This week in P.E. Year 6 have been working hard on their passing and receiving skills in hockey. They started by passing from a close range through a gate and as they progressed, they moved further away. As the lesson progressed, you could see the confidence improve and the accuracy of passes.
Collective Worship with Rev Ben and Rev Matt
In worship today, Rev Ben got us all thinking about being creative and our greatest and most generous creator - God. We enjoyed watching two teams of children compete to create the best animal from just sticky tape and newspaper. We also reflected on how we can be generous with our creations in school this week.
Monday Collective Worship-Welcome Back to School
This morning, we all met for our first collective worship of the academic year and it was lovely to all be back together again after the summer holidays. First, we reminded ourselves of our vision, our Christian values and our British values. Then, Mrs Ham then introduced our four golden rules. These are: To be ready, to be kind, to be safe and to be respectful. We then discussed what these key phrases meant. Be Ready: Jack said having a smart uniform, Miles said looking at the speaker, Ella-Grace said being at school on time, Alice said being prepared with the correct equipment and Sonny said being ready and following instructions if the fire alarm goes off. Be Kind- Freddie said helping each other, Daisy said supporting others such as charities and refugees, Alice said encourage others to join in your games, Wilson and David said look after the environment such as not littering and making bug houses, Renee said sharing your toys and equipment. Be Safe- Chay said always staying where an adult is, Molly said keeping safe with our equipment such as walking with scissors upside down, Charlie Rose said walking to places within school and Jack said following the instructions of the teacher. Be respectful- Bella said let adults through the door first, Dougie said show respect towards the environment including animals, Darcy said do not talk over the teacher. Mrs Ham reminded us that we need to line up smartly so she wanted to see 'legendary lining up' and 'wonderful walking' around school by walking sensibly, smartly, safely, silently and smiling at the same time. Mrs Ham then explained our new behaviour system. All children will start every lesson on green (ready to learn) with the aim of moving up to yellow (time to shine) throughout the day for showing good behaviour , demonstrating our Christian values and a showing positive attitude to learning. However, there will also be pink which means time to think. If a child is not demonstrating a positive attitude to learning or making the right choices then they will be given two warnings. If the behaviour still persists after these warnings then the child will move to pink and will be asked to reflect on their behaviour by filling in a pink reflection sheet during their break time. We hope that this time to reflect will allow a child to move forward positively and make better choices. We are all looking forward to another super year at St Barnabas and are aiming to achieve great things through learning and growing together in a love-filled Christian family!
Back with our friends
We have had great fun in the sun with our friends. It’s been great to catch up and reconnect after the Summer holidays.
Legendary lining up
Today we showed Mrs Ham our legendary lining up after discussing our school rules this morning in Worship. We know that we need to line up sensibly and smartly to keep ourselves and others safe and to be ready to learn. We have also been showing our wonderful walking around school. Well done everyone!
First day back
We have had a fantastic first day back in school. Our teachers are so impressed with how well we have settled into our new classes and we have all been showing brilliant behaviour.
Year 6 Leavers Service
Congratulations to our amazing Year 6 class for being such superstars over the last seven years. It has been a privilege to have you as part of our school family and we are so immensely proud of you all. We wish you all the luck in the world as you all go off on your new adventure to high school and we know that you will achieve great things and shine from the inside out. I really hope today has made you realise how precious you are and that you from here with confidence. We also said thank you to our wonderful volunteers who support our school family so brilliantly. Thank you Carol, Fran and Glenda. We also said a huge thank you to Rev Ben. This time last year our WOW group interviewed Rev Ben and we have loved having him as part of our school family over the last few months. We sadly said thank you, good luck and goodbye to Miss Horsfall and Miss Wilkins, who have both been covering maternity leaves this year. They have been amazing and have fit right into our school family. We also said thank you and goodbye to Mrs Kay who is leaving her welfare role at the same time as her son leaves Year 6. Thanks for being a star Mrs Kay! We then said thank you to Miss Bentham who was with us short term and has secured a permanent role in another school closer to her home. Thanks Miss Bentham! Lastly but certainly not least, we said thank you, goodbye and good luck to Miss Ashworth, who has recently moved to Yorkshire. She has been an absolute star and we wish her all the luck in the world in her new school. We are sure she won’t miss the long commute to St Barnabas but we know that St Barnabas will always have a special place in her heart. Thank you so much to our parents and carers, you have been wonderful and we couldn’t do what we do without your support. On behalf of all of the staff I would like to thank you for your support, kind words and gifts. Finally, I would like to thank your truly amazing children for their huge smiles, enthusiasm and positivity. They have worked their socks off all year and it has been another brilliant year. I consider myself so lucky to lead such a wonderful school with the best staff team in the world, the most amazingly supportive parents and the most charismatic, delightful children who brighten up our days. Wishing you all a fabulous Summer holiday and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 4th September. Take care and God bless, Mrs Ham
D.T Club- Lion King Props
The Year 4, 5, and 6 students have worked really hard to create props for our end-of-year performance, inspired by The Lion King. They used cardboard to make masks, giving them special designs and paying attention to the little details. They also used paper mache to make African fruits and Pumba's prop. African fruits have been tied to a stick, which they found in our forest school grounds. It adds a realistic touch to the show. They have made caps for Zazu using real feathers from birds. They also used garlands to create a grassy environment using green ribbons. Together, we have created an environment that encourages creativity, teamwork, and doing our best. The children's fulfilment in creating props with a real purpose is evident, and their hard work is truly commendable.
D.T Club- Lion King props
The Year 4, 5, and 6 students have worked really hard to create props for our end-of-year performance, inspired by The Lion King. They used cardboard to make masks, giving them special designs and paying attention to the little details. They also used paper mache to make African fruits and Pumba's prop. African fruits have been tied to a stick, which they found in our forest school grounds. It adds a realistic touch to the show. They have made caps for Zazu using real feathers from birds. They also used garlands to create a grassy environment using green ribbons. Together, we have created an environment that encourages creativity, teamwork, and doing our best. The children's fulfilment in creating props with a real purpose is evident, and their hard work is truly commendable.
End of Year Awards Ceremony
This morning we had a very special awards Worship to celebrate all the great achievements of our children and our school this year. Quinn received an award for being our planet protector by looking after our world and God’s planet in so many different ways, thank you for your contribution Quinn! We were so proud (and some of us a bit emotional!) to present Ezmae with the Sharon Kay award for always showing kindness and generosity to her peers, what a credit to the school! For our Progress awards, we said a huge congratulations to Lola, Bobby, Tilly, Charlie, Jacob, and Eddie, who have wowed us with their progress this year. We also had our Star of the year awards where Sophie, Ruby, Sofia, Arabelle and Frankie shone like the super stars they are. Our Children’s champion awards were chosen by each class to reiterate the importance of Democracy. Well done to Lyla, Scarlett, Ivy, Lily-May, Joshua and Mason, who have clearly impressed their peers! Finally, we had our Amazing attendance awards. We can never expect children to have 100% attendance as we all get poorly sometimes or have big events in our lives, so our school target for attendance is over 96%. So many of our children achieved this target, well done! Well done to all the award winners and all our other children in school who have shone in their own way this year. We hope they are all as proud of themselves as we are!
Year 6 DT
Year 6 have started work on their wooden bridge structures. They have made straight cuts to form the majority of their structure and have researched both softwood and hardwood to see which one would be more suitable to form a bridge.
The WOW Group’s Messy Parables
This week, the W.O.W. Group finished off their Messy Parables workshops with our final two choices, The Wise and Foolish Builders and The Widow’s Offering. The children understood the stories well and had great fun making stained-glass style windows or a coin purse. Well done to all WOW members for leading exciting, engaging and thoughtful workshops.
Year 6 DT
In DT, year 6 have been constructing a truss bridges out of spaghetti. We found that it is a very strong bridge due to the use of triangles and the weight being spread evenly, but also suggested some improvements in the following areas: strength, accuracy, quality of the joints and how it could be made more aesthetically pleasing.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning in celebration worship, Mrs Ham started by praising all of our children for their courage and positivity during our whole school transition day yesterday. All of the teachers were super impressed with the creativity, attitude to learning, behaviour and manners that all of the children showed in their new year groups. We then said well done to our Reception and KS1 value award winners who were Connie, Bobby-Ray, Jack and Eliza and our KS2 value award winners who were Edward, Alice, Oscar and Freya. We said a huge well done to our High 5 netball team who represented BwD at the Lancashire School Games at Stanley Park on Tuesday and got through to the quarter final. We also celebrated lots of out of schools sports award winners. Well done to Ruby and Archie for entering and competing the Iron Kids Competition, Daisy for being a fantastic gymnast, Lyla and Sofia for their ‘Going Places’ dancing trophy and Sofia for being outstanding at Musical Theatre, Eliza for demonstrating wonderful football skills, Isaac for his ‘potential and success in the arts’ trophy, Peyton and Cassidy for being superstars at rainbows, Summer for achieving stage 6 at swimming and level 2 at gymnastics and Grace for wonderful improvement in her ballet, a gold award in jazz and being the overall classical dancer of the year. We congratulated Reception and Year 6 for being the attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park for being the Value Award House Point Winners this week. Lastly, we heard some beautiful prayers from Hamza, Sofia and Jack and sang Sing a New Song to the Lord. Thank you to the those who could join us for celebration worship this week and we wish you all an enjoyable weekend.
Whole School Collective Worship- Archdeacon David
This morning in worship, we welcomed Archdeacon David who visited our school to lead collective worship. Archdeacon David asked us what we think it means when we say that Jesus is the light of the world. We had responses such as it means that Jesus leads us and guides us in the right way, that Jesus lights up the world and makes it a nicer place for us all to live and Jesus is the light of the world by encouraging us to be peaceful, respectful and kind. Archdeacon David told us that we also have the special power of being the light of the world too. He reminded us that Jesus said, ‘When I go back to heaven, I will leave you a special thing called the holy spirit. I want you to shine as a light in the world to make the world a better place.’ Archdeacon David left us to reflect on how we can achieve this. He said that next time he visits, he will give us the opportunity to tell him how we have been shining as a light in the world just as Jesus does and asks us to do. We finished our worship by singing 'Shine from the Inside out'.
Year 5-6 Transition day
Year 5, soon to be Year 6, were an absolute delight to welcome into the year 6 classroom and they produced absolutely outstanding portraits displaying the red jumpers and hoodies that they will gain as a Year 6.
Transition day
Year 5 thought about what they want to achieve in the next year as they move into Year 6. It was so good to see some really mature responses and it was clear that the children want to be a success.
Year 6 geography
In year 6, we have been looking in more detail at the north west region and if it appeals to our needs. The children started out by thinking of 6 things that they believe are needed to live a happy and healthy life. They then researched if these needs were being met in the north west and then we looked more specifically at Darwen and whether, as a town, it meets the needs of its people.
Bikeability Cycle Training- Year 5 and 6
Today, our Years 5 and 6 participated in the Bikeability cycle training program. This program focuses on teaching practical skills and knowledge for cycling on today's roads. The aim was to give our children the confidence to ride their bikes and enjoy the many advantages that cycling offers. They had the opportunity to learn about safety and other important aspects of cycling from four experienced coaches.
St Barnabas represent the district in The Lancashire School Games 2023
What an honour it has been for our children to go through and represent the district at The Lancashire Schools Games at Stanley Park , Blackpool. After winning the BwD Finals they got the chance to attend the games in Bee Stinger Netball against all of the other districts across Lancashire. We drew one game and won three making it to the quarter finals, which unfortunately didn’t go our way. The children represented both school and district perfectly showing true sportsmanship, determination and encouragement. For such a small school you have achieved great things and all done so with a huge smile on your faces! Go Team B and Go Team BwD!
Monday Worship: St Barnabas and St Paul and Welcome to Rev Matt
Today, Rev Ben led our worship and we welcomed Rev Matt who will be working at St Barnabas Church too. We began our worship by thinking about a time where something happened to us and where we couldn’t wait to tell others about it. Amelia couldn’t wait to tell others when her Mum had a baby. Mason couldn’t wait to tell others that he had been on the television! We thought about how St Barnabas and St Paul were generous about the message about Jesus and how they told Jesus’ story to people for the first time. Rev Ben shared a video with the children about their story. On Saturday, Matt became Rev Matt and was ordained at Blackburn Cathedral. Rev Matt wanted to become a vicar because he wanted to spread the word of Jesus and to find out more about Jesus. Rev Matt spent three years at vicar school. He said he was most excited to learn more and for the children to learn with him. We gave Rev Matt a huge St Barnabas welcome. We ended our worship by singing ‘story of the cross’.
Friday Celebration Worship
Wow! We have had another week with lots to celebrate both in and out of school. The Rotary Club came in to praise and thank our year 5 children for their contribution to the community, their school and the wider world. They were presented with a certificate for all of their fundraising for our school and supporting a number of charities this year including Cancer Research, The Teddy Trust and DARE (Darwen Asylum Seeker and Refugee Enterprise). They also raised money for Turkey, Nigeria and Ukraine. Well done Year 5! Also a huge well done to our value award winners this week who have been working hard across the curriculum and demonstrating a wonderful attitude to learning. These were Mila, Piper-Jo, Lennox and Carter in the infants and KS1 and Ruby, Daniel, Freddy, Isaac, Harlow and Louie in the Juniors. We also celebrated lots of in school sporting success. Our Year 5/6 boys and girls gymnasts for attending a competition as two separate teams at St Bedes High School on Tuesday. They were amazing! Our Year 5/6 cricket team who came 3rd overall at a recent cricket competition, our Year 6 tennis team who came 1st overall, the Year 4 football team who took part in a festival and won every game and the Year 3/4 and Y5/6 DPSSA cross country team for their determination and courage and coming 2nd place overall. We also congratulated our out of school sports award winners. Well done to Ella-Grace for trying her absolute best and getting Star of the Week during her football training and competition, Isabella and Charlie for getting their orange belts at martial arts, Carter for getting the Fantastic Fox of the day at football, Lyla for gaining level 1 in her tap dancing, Jenson for completing his stage 6 at swimming, Marley for her kindness at rainbows, Olivia for getting the managers player of the year trophy at football, Isaac for his trophy for demonstrating fantastic football skills, Charlie Rose for being a superstar gymnast and Ivy for being a superstar cheerleader, Georgie for taking part in her first competition for dancing, Harriet for completing her 10m in butterfly and 10m in breaststroke, Eliza for getting to the finals of her football competition at the weekend and Eva, Katie, Sadie and Charlotte for coming 1st place in their recent football tournament. We said a final well done to Reception and Year 3 for winning the amazing attendance this week and India Mill for achieving the Value Award Points Winners this week. Thank you to our parents and grandparents that could attend and we wish you all a wonderful weekend.
Darwen Primary Cross Country Finals Night
What a fantastic turnout for the final race night for DPSSA Cross Country! Team B pushed themselves so hard and showed true determination even with a few falls along the way. We worked brilliantly as a team and managed to secure second place overall. We also had success with Sophie coming second place overall in the girls Y5/6 races and also a second place overall for our Y5/6 Girls squad: Sophie, Charlotte, Aisha and Lucy. Well done to everyone involved!
Year 6 PSHE
In year 6, we discussed water safety during ‘Drowning Prevention Week’ and talked about the importance of the water safety code and looked at the effect drowning has had on families.
Year 6 Science
Year 6 have been looking at living organisms and the 6 kingdoms of life. They have investigated how living organisms are classified into different groups based on their similarities and differences. For example, the fact that some living things are multicellular and some are unicellular.
Year 6 English
Year 6 have been building up to writing a recount in the style of the main character from ‘The London Eye Mystery’. In order to do this, they have been using drama to develop idiom-rich conversations that they can use in their writing.
Year 6 P.E.
Today, year 6 have been developing their fielding skills in rounders. They focused on techniques to help make their throws more accurate and backing up bases.
W.O.W. Group - Messy Parables - The Unforgiving Servant
This week in the Messy Parables workshop, the children looked at the importance of forgiveness through the parable ‘The Unforgiving Servant’. They then had fun making bookmarks with a message of forgiveness. Well done to the W.O.W. Group; they are doing a fabulous job organising and delivering these workshops.
Summer Reading Challenge
This morning, Angela from Blackburn and Darwen library service, came to talk to us all about an exciting Summer reading challenge and the wonderful prizes that can be won for reading 6 books over the holidays. Dear Parent / Carer, Your child has been invited to join Ready, Set, Read! the Summer Reading Challenge 2023. This is a national library reading game, which will introduce your child to the joy of reading for pleasure and help to develop his/her literacy skills throughout the summer holidays. Once enrolled each member reads 6 library books (or eBooks / eAudio), with stickers or a prize awarded for each book that is read and returned. Those who complete the scheme will receive a medal and a certificate. To enrol, simply come to your nearest Blackburn with Darwen library and complete an application form between 1st July & 30th September. Your nearest library is: Darwen Library, Knott St, Darwen, BB3 3BU. Website & map: www.blackburn.gov.uk/libraries/libraries-blackburn-darwen/blackburn-central-library Enrolment in the scheme is free of charge, and involves children borrowing books on a library card. If your child does not yet have a library card, we would encourage you to take this opportunity to enrol them as a library member. This is a quick process, and you will simply be asked to complete and sign another form. However, those children without library cards may still join the Summer Reading Challenge, and temporary arrangements will be put in place to allow them to borrow books. We look forward to welcoming you and your family to our libraries during the summer. Yours faithfully, Adele Karwat, Service Manager: Libraries & Archives
Year 5/6 Gymnastics Competition
A huge congratulations to our Year 5/6 gymnastics team for their amazing performances today at the BWD Gymnastics competition. Our girls team came third out of several other schools with 109 points, which was only four points behind the winners with 113 points. Our boys team were the only team who entered as a boys team as most of the teams were mixed so they came first but with an impressive 125 points which was the highest of all the teams. As one of the boys said ‘This just proves that gymnastics is definitely not just for girls!’ We are so proud of you all for your fantastic performances, winning smiles and encouragement to each other.
W.O.W. Group - Messy Parables - The Mustard Seed
Last week was the W.O.W. group’s first Messy Parables session. We read the Parable of the Mustard Seed, talked about how one little thought or belief can grow into something great, and made our own self-belief badges. All in all, a brilliant first session, with a few biscuits thrown in for good measure. This week, the parable is The Unforgiving Servant.
KS2 Sports Day
A huge well done to all of our KS2 classes for their determination and encouragement at our annual Sports Day. It was a brilliant morning and everyone tried their best. Thank you so much to all of the parents and carers who came along to support. A massive thank you to our Sports Leaders for setting up and running the races and to all of our staff team for their support. We all thoroughly enjoyed the Mums and Grandmas, Dads and Grandads and Toddler Races too. Well done to everyone who took part, you were great sports!
Science Club Aqua Sand Experiments
Today our Year 5/6 Science Club children carried out some different experiments using different coloured aqua sand. They were amazed at how this sand is actually waterproof and loved adding different ingredients to the sand to see what happened.
DPSSA Cricket
Today, our cricket team competed in the DPSSA Cricket competition. They represented the school superbly well and throughout the day they played 6 games, in which they won 4 and lost 2. This ensured a third place finish and the only two teams to beat St Barnabas went on to claim 1st and 2nd place. What a superb effort!
Whole School Multiplex Movie Night-
We would like to take this opportunity to thank parents, carers and staff for your incredible support and enthusiasm during our recent movie night. We are thrilled to inform you that our dedicated Rotakids, along with our smart school councillors, have fulfilled their promise and successfully completed their final project. Through their combined efforts and hard work, organising a successful multiplex movie night, together we have managed to raise an impressive sum of £580.60 after the cost of food! This significant amount will contribute towards the school minibus, which will greatly benefit our students by facilitating transportation to sports events, competitions, and other important activities. This achievement is a testament to the incredible community we have at our school. Your dedication and willingness to contribute have made a significant impact on our fundraising efforts. Together, we have not only created a memorable and enjoyable event but also managed to raise much-needed funds.
Year 6 Mini Tennis Competition Winners!
A huge well done to our Year 6 children who came first in a mini tennis competition! They competed against 9 schools and played really well throughout. Well done Team Barnies!
Monday Collective Worship with Rev Ben
This morning, Rev Ben led our Monday Collective Worship. Our theme for this worship was St Barnabas and his generosity. We started off by playing a game called, ‘Guess the Value.’ We had two teams at the front who had to guess the price of various items such as a tin of beans, a playstation 5, a loaf of bread, a car and Harry Kane. The audience then had to say whether they thought that the cost was higher or lower. This gave us all an insight into the value of various items, big and small. We learnt that all the first Christians were generous but St Barnabas was especially generous. He owned a field and sold this to give to the church and therefore to other people. He did this because he wanted to do as Jesus had done and give to others. Rev Ben asked us how we could be generous just as St Barnabas was. We said that we can give something that we don’t want or use anymore to charity such as clothes and toys, do a sponsored walk, run or a bake sale to raise money for charity or buy an extra item when we go shopping to give to someone less fortunate. Generosity is one of the fruits of the spirit so this is the song that we sang to end our worship.
Friday Celebration Worship
Wow! What a busy first week back into our final half term of this academic year. Our theme this week has been encouragement and Mrs Ham asked us to reflect on how we have encouraged each other this week, and how we will continue to focus on this as we enjoy the last few weeks of the school year and support each other as we transition into our new year groups and up to high school for our Year 6 class. We had lots of out of school stars to celebrate this week. Well done to Ella-Grace, Ivy, Leo, Olivia, Sonny, Charlie and Jack and Desmond for their wonderful football skills, Jake, Will, Bobby and Austin for coming runners up in a football tournament in St Anne’s, Manni and Bobby for their attendance and skill at a recent football tournament, Matthew for his recent success in the Premier League writing competition, Harry for his swimming and cricket success, Lyla for her musical theatre singing performance, Isaac for his piano playing, Iris and Leonora for being fabulous gymnasts, Finn and Ruby for running the race for life and Ruby for also completing the couch to 5k, Grace for performing on the main stage at Darwen Music Live, Mila for showing kindness at Rainbows and Mason for his sensational kickboxing. We also celebrated lots of success in school. As always, we heard from our teachers who presented their Value Award Winners. Well done to Eve, Isabella, Miley, Euan, Ruby, Charlie, Katie and Elsa. We also said a huge well done to our group of our Year 4 children who attended a Quad Kids competition and came second place out of 17, our Year 5/6 cricket team for excellent participation and sportsmanship on Wednesday, our Year 5/6 Netball team who came 2nd place out of all the schools in BwD, Reception class and Year 6 for the best attendance this week, India Mill for being the award winners this week and to Lola, Jake, Esme, Harry, Mathew, Daisy, Freddie and Bobby for gaining their pen licenses. We ended our worship with some lovely singing and dancing to ‘Build Up.’ What wonderful way to end the week!
Latest Newsletter
Good afternoon parents and carers, we have had a super busy week back at St Barnabas. Please see our newsletter for a round up of last half term and photos of our teaching teams for September here. A huge thank you to our FOSB for the wonderful Father’s Day Breakfast on Tuesday and to all of the Dads and Grandads who came along. Thanks also to the Dads and Grandads who came along to the special Reception class Father’s Day Celebration this afternoon. It was lovely to see you all and the children loved telling you why they love you and enjoyed playing with you in their outdoor area. We wish all of our Dads and Grandads in our school family a lovely Father’s Day on Sunday! We have had a very busy week of sports with our Year 3/4 quad kids team coming 2nd out of 17 schools, our year 5/6 cricket team just missing out on the final and our netball team came 2nd in the Darwen netball league. Well done to you all and a huge thank you to Mrs Gardner and Mr Bloomfield for supporting the children and thanks to parents who supported. Next week we are looking forward to our Sports Day on Friday morning. You are very welcome to come along to show your support and encourage your child. Reception class and Year 2 had great fun at Blackpool Zoo on Tuesday. For all of the photos, please click here. For all the class news from this week, please click here. For all the upcoming events, click here. Thank you so much for your generous bottle donations for our FOSB Summer Fayre. We really appreciate your support. Wishing you all a fabulous weekend and thank you for your continued support, Mrs Ham
Wednesday Well-being Club
We had so much fun at our first Wednesday Well-being Club! We had a short walk in the sun gathering flowers and leaves to decorate the woven twigs that we made. We talked about using nature and the outdoor world for our health and well-being and felt very relaxed when we arrived back at school.
Year 6 Science
In year 6, we have looked at what we can learn from fossils. We found out that we can learn about the shape of the animal; what the animal may have looked like; which habitat it was most likely to live in due to its adaptations and potentially the diet of that animal. We also looked at how these extinct animals are similar and different to animals that we see today.
Year 5/6 Cricket Team
Huge congratulations to our year 5/6 cricket team who played in the Darwen schools cricket competition. They won 2/3 games in their heat and narrowly missed out on the finals. Well done to all the players who have represented the school well and played some outstanding cricket.
Year 6 English
Year 6 started work on their detective narrative this week. They have started to analyse conventions of a detective narrative and discussed the use of red herrings, which are intended to be misleading and create more excitement for the reader.
Year 6 P.E.
This week, year 6 started their rugby unit and looked at developing their passing skills. They explored receiving the ball and how your arms should swing from one side of your body to the other until your hands are pointing at the intended target. They took to this superbly and focused on technique even when they were challenged with a time trial. Well done year 6!
Whole School Worship: Encouragement
This morning in worship, we started with an encouragement song with the lyrics 'we all need encouragement, like the air that we breath'. Mrs Ham explained that yesterday was St Barnabas day and he was known as a great encourager. She then reminded us of how we have a special connection with St Paul's in Hoddlesden as we share our vicar, Rev Ben with and how St Barnabas and St Paul had a special connection in the Bible too. We then learnt about how St Paul became a follower of Jesus with the encouragement of his friend, St Barnabas. We then discussed how we can all show courage like St Paul and encourage each other like St Barnabas in the many upcoming events such as sports day, transition days, end of year assessments and productions. We are looking forward to learning more about St Barnabas and St Paul from Rev Ben in his worships over the next few weeks.
Year 6 geography
In geography, year 6 investigated the north west region by operating online mapping tools. They set up buffers at a 10, 20, 30 and 50 mile radius from St Barnabas to see what sort of landmarks or cities they would come across as they venture out of Darwen.
Year 6 PSHE- Kooth & transition
Year 6 had a visit from Heather from Kooth, an organisation who provide free, anonymous mental health support to young people. She focused on the children’s transition to high school and shared with them how Kooth actually works. The children seemed to really take in everything that was addressed and it was brilliant to see how open and honest the children were about their move to secondary school.
Year 6 music
In music, year 6 looked at call and response and how it is commonly used within many songs. This was carried through into the class song and allowed the children to practise playing the song as an ensemble.
Celebration Worship
This week during celebration worship we discussed and reflected over the week of Pentecost. The children enjoyed listening to what each class has been doing over the week and celebrated their achievements and successes during the week. We also had a visit from one of our Cidari Trustees, Jo Venn and it was lovely to show her the great things we have been achieving. A huge well done to all of our values award winners, you are a credit to yourselves and our St Barnabas family.
Sports Stars
A huge congratulations to all of our sports stars this week. Many children participate in a variety of sports and events outside of school. A massive well done to our school's netball team who won the high 5’s netball final this week and our cross country team who worked extremely hard and showed huge amounts of determination to complete the course. Other sporting achievements included, gymnastics, dancing, performing arts, skiing and many more.
Whole School Worship: Pentecost
Today in our worship we learned about the events of Pentecost and how the church began. We had some fab actors acting out when the Holy Spirit descended and flames appeared on the disciples’ heads. We sang a special song to welcome the Holy Spirit into our Worship and reflected on how excited the disciples must have felt when they received the Holy Spirit. We thought about how we could show Jesus' love through our words and actions this week.
Year 6 P.E.
Year 6 have been developing their striking, bowling and fielding techniques during a cricket-type game. During the game, they were given time to reflect in order to apply simple tactics that may have benefited their team’s performance.
Year 6 Geography
In Geography, year 6 have started to focus on their local area of Darwen and how it fits into the wider world. They discovered that there were more local and regional links and less national and international links. We then thought about how our diagrams would compare to a big city and concluded that they would have many other national and international links. For example, they may have an airport that provides international travel.
Celebration Worship
In Celebration Worship this morning, Mrs. Ham highlighted some of the wonderful key points from our GOOD Ofsted report and thanked everyone for their part in making our school a great place. We also celebrated our values winners across KS1 and KS2. India Mill came first place for the overall points of 562. Lucy and Mason received a pen licence for demonstrating an excellent standard of writing across all subjects. Mrs. Ham gave out awards to the children for taking part in extracurricular activities, this week, the children have taken part in swimming, rugby, darts, karate, brownies, gymnastic, netball, football, horse riding, and Olivia from Rainbow. Year 2 and Year 4 received the 'Amazing Attendance' alert this week. We finished our worship with prayers led by Mrs. Ham and we sang 'Shine from the Inside Out'.
KS2 Dinner time fun
This week we fancied mixing it up a bit on the yard, so we set our sports leaders a challenge to set up some different activities. The children have enjoyed playing dodgeball, having a mini sports day and playing with the equipment on the yard.
Junior Librarians
Today, Annabel brought her favourite story to share with our librarians. The children really enjoyed listening to the story. You can find the 13 story treehouse in our library- why don’t you read it as I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as our librarians!
Mental Health Parent Webinars
The week commencing 15th May is ‘Mental Health Awareness Week’. After much success of hosting some parent webinars back in February for ‘Children’s Mental Health Week’, the Mental Health Support Teams are rolling out some more. The topics for the week will be: My anxious child Helping with exam stress Psychoeducation around worry They’ll take place at 10am and 6pm, Monday 15th to Thursday 18th May and it’s for parents, teachers, carers, children and young people, in fact anyone can join.
Year 6 TriKidz
Year 6 had great fun competing in their very own triathlon. There were a lot of bright red faces when they returned to the classroom. Fantastic effort year 6!
Celebration Worship: King Charles III
This morning during celebration worship, we learnt all about the coronation of King Charles III, which will be happening this weekend. We spoke about some of the important things to look out for during the coronation and what it will be like when King Charles is coronated. We also spoke about some of the celebrations that are happening in Darwen this weekend, such as a street party on Monday in the town centre and a party in Whitehall Park on Sunday! We also celebrated all of our successes and achievements in school this week, such as TriKidz and our coronation picnic lunch! We finished our Worship by singing the National Anthem to the new King whilst waving our special coronation flags that our school have bought us. Our Trust have also bought us some special gifts of a commemorative coronation coin, a bookmark and sticker. Thank you Cidari Multi Academy Trust!
Year 6 Red, white and blue day
Year 6 really enjoyed the red, white and blue day that we held in preparation for the king’s coronation. At lunchtime, all of the children ate their dinner on the field during our Coronation picnic.
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Celebration Worship- Whole School
Another amazing week from everyone. We celebrated amazing attendance awards, awards for extra curricular activities such as; rugby, swimming, beavers and to Oscar for his dedication and outstanding commitment to piano lessons. Isaac was celebrated for receiving a distinction in playing the cornet from Trinity College London. The class teachers gave out value awards to the children that have worked their socks off in and out the classroom and have demonstrated our Christian Values. Whitehall Park received the most value points which put them in first place.Well done! The Year 4 class received the 'National Outdoor Learning Award' for being brave and showing great teamwork at Anderton Centre. The attendance award this week went to the Reception class and Year 4. We ended worship by singing the butterfly song and prayers led by James, Darcy, Luca and Mrs Ham. What a fabulous week. Well done everyone!
Year 6 DT
In DT, year 6 have been investigating beam and arch bridges. They have been looking at how these types of bridges can be reinforced in order to make it stronger. They found out that adding an arch to their design made the structure considerably stronger.
Year 6 DT
In their second DT session on structures, year 6 focused on truss bridges. They found out that the simple triangle can make such a difference to the strength of a bridge as it shares the weight out evenly. They had lots of fun making their own truss bridges out of spaghetti, but will start to look at the importance of using the right material for the job and why spaghetti probably isn’t the best choice.
Year 6 English
In English, year 6 have been working hard on identifying features of writing a formal review. They have been analysing the structure of the text, the use of cohesive devices and the use of persuasive language. All of these skills will prove beneficial when they come to writing their own formal review of ‘The Lion King’ that they watched during their trip to London.
Latest Newsletter
Good morning from a very sunny St Barnabas, please find attached the latest newsletter with upcoming dates and events. The sporting news and visits and visitors can be found here as the files are too large to load onto class dojo sorry. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/parents/newsletters A quick reminder of the dates that school is closed in the coming weeks. They are all on our website and class dojo events. Monday 1st May- May Bank Holiday Thursday 4th May- School used as a Polling Station Monday 8th May- King's Coronation Bank Holiday Red, white and blue day is next Wednesday 3rd May to celebrate the King's Coronation. The children will be having a special Coronation Afternoon Tea Picnic. Further details of the menu will be sent shortly. Wishing you all a lovely day, Mrs Ham
Charlotte from Elektec- D.T- Year 6, Year 5, Year 4 and Year 3
Charlotte from Eeltkec delivered a great talk about the importance of encouraging women to become electricians and the various types of jobs that electricians can do. She also highlighted the importance of safety when working on construction sites, as well as the value of education in becoming a successful engineer, plasterer, architect, or electrician. It was also great to hear about efforts to promote gender diversity in traditionally male-dominated fields. The children were actively engaged in the assembly and asked lots of great questions. Charlotte shared that meeting the King is definitely a noteworthy achievement. It's great that Charlotte was able to share her success story with the children and motivate them to strive for their own achievements and goals.
Amazing Attendance Winners : Spring Term
Well done to all of our children who have attained 96% attendance in Spring Term. We are really proud of you all!
Whole School Worship with Rev Ben
Today in Worship, Rev Ben spoke about the awe and wonder in the events of Easter Sunday. He asked us about how the resurrection changed Mary Magdalene’s life and how the Easter story may make a difference in our lives.
Easter Artwork in Whitehall Park
The children have all been learning about Easter in RE. As part of their learning, they have created some Easter artwork which is displayed in Whitehall park. It will be displayed over the holidays so it is a great opportunity for you to visit with your family.
Celebration Worship Sports Stars
A huge well done to all of our sports stars who were presented with awards in Celebration Worship this morning. This week Mrs Ham presented awards for the following out of school sports or activities and the children got to stand on the golden podium with pride: Swimming, gymnastics, orienteering, dancing, writing, rainbow badges and the beaver and rainbow of the week. We congratulated our cross country team for their courage and determination at last night's Darwen Cross Country Competition. We thanked our Year 6 Sports Leaders for their successful KS2 inter-house sports competition yesterday as they planned and led it all.
Celebration Worship
Celebrating all of our amazing children in their year groups who received the most value points this week. A special well done to: Reception - Whole class Year 1 - Chay Year 2 - Whole Class Year 3 - Luca Year 4 - Grace Year 5 - Alfie Year 6 - Kaylen Well done to the Reception class who had 100% attendance this week so were the amazing attendance winners along with Year 6! Whitehall Park were out values points winners this week. Thank you to all of the parents and grandparents who joined us.
Year 6 Class Worship
In class worship this week, year 6 looked in more detail at the impact of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. We focused on how communities come together in times of hardship and looked in more depth at the tent schools that have been set up in the affected countries. We looked at how this story links to British Values. We discussed that British Values are like a chain and help us to become better citizens and that if everyone stuck by them, the world would be a better place; however, when the chain is broken, issues can arise.
Year 6 PSHE- Autism Awareness
This week has been ‘Autism Awareness Week’ and we have learnt that autism is a condition that affects how a person’s brain works. It may make it harder for people to communicate, make friends and understand social situations. We looked at how we are all unique so the children produced their own hoodie designs to express how they are different to everyone else.
Whole School Assembly - Dogs Trust
Today’s assembly was led by Andrew from the dogs trust charity and his mascot ‘Duggie’. Andrew started the assembly by asking the children if they knew what the charity does, the children were keen to answer and said “it’s a charity for dogs who aren’t looked after properly.” Andrew explained that the trust takes in dogs who’s owners can no longer look after them, he said they then re-home the dogs to the most suitable owners to give the dogs the best life. Andrew told us that dogs trust re-home around 14,000 dogs a year. Andrew explained to the children that this assembly is all about learning how to be safe and act sensibly around dogs. Ella,Andrew and ‘Duggie’ demonstrated how to safely act around dogs and showed that you must always ask the owners permission before you stroke a dog.
Year 6 History trip to Darwen Heritage Centre
This week, year 6 visited Darwen Heritage Centre to find out a little bit more about the impact WW2 had on the town of Darwen.
Inter-House Dodgeball Competition
The sport leaders had a great time leading the Inter-House Dodgeball Competition for the rest of the juniors. A lot of fun was had by all of the children! In year 6, the winning team was Darwen Tower!
Year 6- London Science Museum
Year 6 also visited the London Science Museum and took part in an interactive gallery called Wonderlab:The Equinor Gallery. The interactive experience ignited their curiosity, fuelled their imagination, and inspired them to see the world around them in new and exciting ways. They enjoyed lots of hands on experiments, live science demonstrations and revealed the beauty of the science and maths that shape our everyday lives. They particularly enjoyed the friction experiment using slides with different surfaces that they could zoom down and see which one had the most friction! Kaylen said he felt like he was in heaven as he loves science!
Year 6- The Lion King in the West End
Our Year 6 class and other members of our performing arts club, will be performing their own version of the Lion King at the end of the year. What better way to get some inspiration and tips than to watch The Lion King in the West End at the Lyceum Theatre. All of the children and staff thoroughly enjoyed the performance and were fascinated by the imaginative set changes, amazing costumes and fabulous acting, dancing and singing. We are full of ideas and inspiration for our Lion along production now and can’t wait to perform it.
Year 6- The Houses of Parliament
Our Year 6 class were so fortunate to be able to visit the Houses of Parliament to learn all about our British Values and in particular, democracy and the rule of law. We had a tour and watched a live debate in the House of Commons. Some of our group saw our current Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, previous PM’s Liz Truss, Boris Johnson and Teresa May, as well as Matt Hancock, who the children recognised from ‘I’m a celebrity, get me out of here’! The Foreign Secretary of State, James Cleverly, also stopped to speak to us and asked us where we were from and if we were enjoying our visit. We visited Westminster Hall, which we recognised from seeing on the news when the Queen was lying in State after her sad death. We then took part in a workshop about how laws are created and we learnt all about Parliament and the houses of Commons and Lords through a fun quiz. We also got to explore democracy through voting and debating. Finally we were visited by our local Member of Parliament, Jake Berry, and had a great question and answer session. We are so proud of the thoughtful questions the children asked him and how they stood up to ask their questions, just like they do in the House of Commons. We are sure that we have a few future MPs amongst our Year 6 class!
Whole School Celebration Worship
In our Celebration Worship this morning we commemorated Year 6's trip to London, as well as the wonderful achievements of our pupils across all year groups. The class teachers gave out awards to pupils who have demonstrated our Christian values such as kindness, respect, and courage. We recognised the hard work and dedication of pupils who have excelled in various extracurricular activities, including our recent swimming gala and the Year 4 children for being brave and showing courage at Junction 4 skatepark. We also awarded the amazing attendance award to our Year 1 and Year 3 pupils, who have shown a commitment to their education and a passion for learning. Congratulations to the yellow team (Darwen Tower) for gaining a total of 317 points. This is a great achievement and a testament to the hard work and dedication of everyone involved. Well done and keep up the good work! We are incredibly proud of all our pupils and their accomplishments, and we know that they will continue to achieve great things. We want to thank Rev Ben for leading us in prayer and for reminding us of the importance of faith and community in our daily lives. To celebrate our students' achievements, we sang "Shine from the inside out," a fitting tribute to the incredible talents and hard work of our pupils.
Year 6- Food, glorious food!
Our Year 6 children have enjoyed sampling a variety of food whilst in London and have focused on their table manners and etiquette. They have had a buffet meal at Pizza Hut, a breakfast buffet at our Premier Inn Hotel, a meal at McDonalds and two picnics. We are so proud of the way they respected the members of the public, who were also dining alongside them. They also showed great independence skills by helping themselves to some of their buffet meals and clearing away their rubbish. Well done Year 6!
Year 6- London Sightseeing
Whilst in London, our Year 6 class have seen many famous sights. These included Big Ben, the Houses of Parliament, Downing Street, Buckingham Palace, Trafalgar Square, Covent Garden and the River Thames. Most of our children had never been to London before so we hope this has given them a taster of London and hope they choose to visit again with their family.
London 2023
We are off! Our Year 6 children, Mrs Ham, Mrs Price, Mr Prescott and Mr Tierney are so excited for their trip to London. We can’t wait to visit the Natural History Museum, Houses of Parliament tour and workshop, Lion King Musical, Science Museum, Imperial War Museum and a tour of London sights.
Natural History Museum
Our Year 6 class had a brilliant time exploring the Natural History Museum in London. They saw dinosaur and animal bones and fossils and lots of stuffed animals. They learnt about evolution, earthquakes and volcanoes and extinction.
Year 6- Going underground!
Our Year 6 children have loved travelling around London on the underground tube and escalators. We were so impressed with the way they sensibly and safely walked through the hoards of people commuting to work or sightseeing. They loved it when the tubes set off and stopped and they made sure they held on tight or else they would have gone flying through the carriage! They showed lots of respect to members of the public and used wonderful manners to the guards who let us through the gates.
Year 6- Imperial War Museum
In History this term, Year 6 have been learning all about the Second World War and the part that Darwen played in it. It has been wonderful to visit the Imperial War Museum to learn more about the Second World War and the part that London played in it and contrast this to Darwen’s involvement. We also visited some other galleries including one about the war in Ukraine to highlight that war is still happening. We will shortly be having some Ukrainian refugees visit our school to talk to us about their experience of war and to thank us for the fundraising we have done for DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). We also visited a gallery about online gaming that showed that children have always been fascinated by war, good stories always have conflict and children have always played war games.
North West Ski Federation Schools Race 2023
A huge well done to Isaac P for representing St Barnabas in the North West Ski Federation Schools Race 2023 this weekend. He came first in the boys junior individual category. Well done Isaac, we are super proud of you!
Year 6 maths
Year 6 have spent this week in maths applying their knowledge of ratio and proportion to problems. We have looked at the importance of efficient maths so that we have less opportunities to make mistakes.
Year 6 computing
This week, year 6 have been creating cinemagraphs on the Motionleap app. Their aim has been to make still pictures move.
Year 6 English
In year 6, we have been looking at the features of a non chronological report so that we can include them in our own writing and ensure we are writing for a purpose. This included the visible features and the choice of language used to set an appropriate tone.
FOSB Mother’s Day Cream Tea
Thank you to all of our wonderful special ladies for attending our Mother’s Day cream tea. A huge thank you to our wonderful FOSB. They are all volunteers and juggle work to make the events a huge success. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes and it is really appreciated by us all. We are very lucky to have you. If anybody would like to help volunteer for any events then we would be really grateful. We hope you all have a wonderful Mother’s Day on Sunday.
Science Club- Colour mixing experiment with Year 1
A huge THANK YOU to the children in science club yesterday lunchtime for leading such a fun experiment! They led a colour mixing experiment using skittles. It was so much fun!
North West Air Ambulance Visit
We had the pleasure of welcoming Laura from North West Air Ambulance Charity today. Laura explained that the air ambulance colours are yellow and blue. North West Air Ambulance service is a charity and Laura’s job is to help raise money to keep the ambulances in the sky. The charity looks after over 8 million people and provides free emergency pre-hospital care. In addition to helicopters, the charity also has emergency vehicles. They are used when it is foggy, at night or when it is deemed not safe to fly. Darcy held the emergency bag that the crew carry. It is heavy and has everything they need to treat an injured person. The ambulance also carries blood on board. Wilson showed everybody the jacket that the crew wear and Harry showed the helmet that the crew required to wear. We watched a video which showed an air ambulance in action. Laura explained to us what happens in an emergency. We played Simon says to role play what we should do. If we notice somebody has hurt themselves, we would look around to check if it was safe and then go and find a trusted adult to call to 999. If there wasn’t a trusted adult around, it would be up to us to call. The crew would then be dispatched. Once the helicopter lands, there is a Lucas machine that can perform CPR if necessary so that the paramedic and doctors hands are free to help the patient further. Laura said it is brilliant that we have our invacuation procedure to help air ambulances land safely. Thank you to Mrs Price for teaching the children what to do in an emergency. Air ambulances can land on a beach, a field, a stadium, a car park and a helipad. Laura thanked everybody and said that St Barnabas are now part of the crew! Donations can still be made on parent pay to support this charity and during Lent it is the perfect time to give something back. The charity needs to raise 12 million pounds each year in order to provide the amazing service and it relies solely on donations. Thank you to everybody who has donated so far.
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Parents' Evening
Dear Parents and carers, we are holding a face to face parents' evening on Wednesday 5th April in our school hall. Our teachers would also like to share your child's books with you too so that you can see how hard they have been working and you can see what they have been learning this term. Five minute appointments will be available from 2.00pm and 6.00pm. If you are flexible and can attend during school hours and after school, please select in school hours then we can give priority for the after school appointments to parents who are working through the day. Appointments can be booked through the same booking system that we used last year. Please click on the following link stbarnabasdarwen.schoolcloud.co.uk to book an appointment. Please note that the information in the software has been taken from our school management system so please use the information such as title, name, email etc that we have on your child's records. Hopefully you will be able to log in with the same details as last year as those of you who attended last time will already have an account. We politely ask that separated parents try to attend the same appointment so that our teachers don't have to repeat the same information and this also ensures that we have enough appointments for each child in school. However, if there are exceptional circumstances that require you to have separate appointments, please let our class teachers know. Our class teachers and I are really looking forward to welcoming you back into school to share how well your child has progressed this term. Please do not hesitate to message me if you have any issues booking an appointment. Yours Sincerely, Mrs Ham
Let’s Go Sing Performance 2023
A huge well done to our school choir for their fabulous performance at the let’s go sing concert tonight. It was a delight to watch you all sing your little hearts out. Thank you so much to Miss Ashworth and Miss Bentham for their commitment to our choir. Thanks to all of the parents, family and friends who came to show their support. I’m sure the children made you so proud as I know they certainly made me the proudest Headteacher ever. Well done you little superstars!
School closed due to the snow
Good morning parents and carers, Mr Tierney and I are in school now and have assessed the snow situation. The roads around school are awful as there is ice underneath the snow and the road near school hasn’t been gritted. It is still snowing now and not due to stop for several hours. We have taken the difficult decision to close, which those of you who have had children at St Barnabas for a while know, we haven’t taken lightly, as we always try to stay open. However as the children know, my number one job is to keep everyone safe and that includes the children, staff and parents. Several of our staff live far away and are unable to get into school safely and it isn’t safe for our children or parents to be travelling to school. The snow is drifting in places as we seem to have our micro-climate up at St Barnabas! Our teachers will be in touch with remote learning and you are all welcome to join virtual celebration worship at 9.05am. Further details to follow. Please keep safe and I hope the children are able to enjoy the snow once it is safe to do so. Thank you in advance for your understanding. ❄️ ⛄️
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Virtual Celebration Worship
Please join us for our virtual Celebration Worship on Zoom at 9.05am. Mrs Ham is inviting you to a scheduled Zoom meeting. Topic: Virtual Celebration Worship Time: Mar 10, 2023 09:05 AM London Join Zoom Meeting https://us04web.zoom.us/j/74490000410?pwd=59agL0Z2XxE89HVTBtMpzNy4EnaaJZ.1 Meeting ID: 744 9000 0410 Passcode: 8CX4At We look forward to seeing you there.
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Support for Turkey and Syria- non-uniform day
Smart School Councillors Subject: Fundraising for Turkey and Syria Earthquake Relief. Following our last class meeting, the children voted to hold a fundraising event on Friday 17th of March, where they will wear the flag colours of Turkey and Syria to show their support for those affected by the earthquakes. We are asking for a minimum donation of £1.00 for each child who participates in this cause, via parent pay. The colours are red, black, green and white. Do not go out to buy anything new, please wear what you have at home. All funds raised will be donated to a reputable charity actively working to provide relief to the earthquake victims. Please do not hesitate to contact us with any questions or concerns. Thank you for your continued support. Smart School Councillors and Miss Kachwalla
World Book Day Competition
During World Book Day, we held a whole school competition to create a book cover. All of the entries were excellent! Well done to: Cassidy in Year 1 Nevaeh in Year 2 Matthew in Year 4 Sienna in Year 5 Charlotte in Year 6 The children will all receive a £5 voucher to spend at our Scholastic book fair which will be at school between 15th-21st March. A huge well done to our winners and for everyone who took part. Just a reminder that our author Raysa Farah’s book is still available on parent pay to purchase. The last date to purchase the book will be next Friday.
Year 6 history
In history, year 6 have been looking at the impact WW2 had on the people and the town of Darwen. This week they looked at a significant individual named Jack Banks. Jack was only 16 when he lost his life in the conflict and actually lied about his age in order to join the armed forces. Year 6 started the lesson by asking historical questions and then used a variety of sources: commonwealth war graves website, Darwen Heritage Centre research and newspaper articles to gain a better understanding of who Jack Banks was.
Year 6 P.E.- Orienteering
Year 6 have been working hard to orientate their map whilst moving around the school’s orienteering course.
Year 6 science
Year 6 investigated what happens to their heart rate as the intensity of an activity increases. They then used their results and presented them in a bar chart so that the data can be interpreted easily.
Verse speaking competition
This afternoon some of our super talented children took part in a verse speaking competition at QEGS, with other local schools in our school improvement group. They each had to perform a poem in front of a large audition and a judge called Paul Jenkins, who is a poet. We are so proud of them as they showed lots of courage and performed with confidence. A huge well done to Freya for winning her category. We really enjoyed listening to Paul perform his poems and it was wonderful to watch the other children perform too.
Forest School- Lunchtime Club
What a brilliant first week of Forest School we’ve had! We’ve had an introduction to forest school and some time to get to know each other and our likes and dislikes. The children have been so enthusiastic and excited to give ideas on how they want our new forest school area to look and what they would like to focus on. We have some children who are fountains of knowledge when it comes to mini beasts and wildlife, these children are really excited to create bug houses, bird feeders and bird boxes. We have some children who are keen gardeners who would like to plant some new flowers and vegetables. We are looking forward to seeing what next week has in store for us.
Scrooge by Charles Dickens
This morning all of the children enjoyed watching a theatrical production of Scrooge, which is a stage adaptation of the classic story 'A Christmas Carol', which was written by Charles Dickens. We were so proud of how well they joined in and the performers said they were a fantastic audience and couldn’t praise our school enough for the warm welcome they received. The children said 'It was even better than the film', 'It was amazing', 'I loved the songs' 'Everyone needs to show kindness' and our Year 6 children said this had made them even more excited to go and see the Lion King in London with school in a couple of weeks! The classic story highlighted our school focus on kindness as mean Scrooge learnt to be kind after being visited by three spirits who showed him the error of his ways. A huge well done to Daisy for showing lots of courage when she was chosen to join the actors on stage. Thank you so much FOSB for paying for the performance. It was a delight to see the childrens' faces as they were a picture and made several of our staff team, including myself, rather emotional watching them. What a great end to world book day week!
World Book Day- Staff Swap
As part of our World Book Day celebrations, our teaching assistants swapped classes and read a bedtime story to the children. It was lovely to see different staff members in each class and the children enjoyed seeing a new face too. Our FOSB donated chocolates for every child to enjoy whilst they listened to the story. Thank you.
World Book Day 2023
Today we celebrated world book day to show how amazing books are and the theme of this year’s celebration is bedtime stories and stories that fill our happy tank. During worship, Mrs Wilkinson, our reading leader, shared a variety of books through ‘the masked book’ quiz. Our school librarians shared clues from their favourite bedtime stories and asked the school to guess their book. Mrs Ham showed us one of her favourite stories, Oliver Twist, and read a 'Little people, big dreams' book about the author Charles Dickens. We learnt how he developed his love of books and became a successful author, writing stories with powerful messages. We are looking forward to a production of one of Charles Dickens famous stories tomorrow, A Christmas Carol, but in a special adaptation called Scrooge. Charles Dickens wanted everyone to know that everyday can feel like Christmas, if we show kindness and fill up each other's happy tanks. Children enjoyed stories from other teachers across the school who shared their favourite bedtime stories or stories that fill their happy tank. A special author came into school to read her latest book. The lion who lost its mane. She shared her amazing story and the message behind the story and her inspiration for making her book. Throughout the day children completed many activities to celebrate this year's themes for world book day, favourite bedtime stories or stories that fill your happy tank. This included: competitions for creating the best book cover, creating art work and reading their favourite stories to each other. Thank you to Mrs Speak, our English link Governor for joining us in our special World Book Day Worship. Happy World Book Day 2023!
Years 5 & 6: Author visit
Years 5 and 6 enjoyed an author visit this afternoon. Raysa Farah came into school to read her story, ‘A cub without a mane’. She explained how her son has leukaemia and lost his hair. Whilst in hospital, she decided to write her book. Raysa explained that no matter how you look, you are still special and a wonderful person. Our children had the opportunity to ask questions. Jake asked if her little boy’s hair was growing back. Raysa said that it was. It is very short but it is growing back. It’s not as curly but it is wavy. Lucy asked Raysa if her children liked her book. Raysa said that her eldest, Adam absolutely loves it- he is in reception. Kaylen asked ‘what inspired you to be a florist?’ Raysa explained that she wanted to be a florist since she was 4. Her Mum and Dad loved gardening and she remembered being in the garden from childhood. Raysa went to university first to study psychology but still wanted to be a florist. When she met her husband, she told him her dream and within a month, he created the business and from social media, it became a huge success. We loved your visit and the children left feeling inspired- thank you so much. Raysa’s book will be available to buy on parent pay for a discounted price. Further information to follow.
World Book Day: The Cub Without a Mane
Today, we welcomed Raysa Farah into our school to read and talk about her new book as part of our World Book Day celebration. Raysa is a successful florist who has now written a story after her little boy was diagnosed with leukaemia. 'My little boy S'aad was diagnosed with ALL in Spring 2022 at the age of two. From this experience I have found strength in writing an empowerment book for children and their carers. I want to help empower young children to feel like they’ve got a voice. The book follows a lion cub who loses his big, wild mane after developing leukaemia, but shows bravery to continue being himself and not let his illness get him down'. If you would like to order a copy of the book Raysa has offered a special price of £6.50, payment can be made through ParentPay. Thank you, Mrs Wilkinson
World Book Day Year 6
Year 6 have celebrated World Book Day by having a story read to them by Mrs Hegarty; taking part in a book cover competition; producing an outstanding piece of writing based on our English unit and topped it off by showing amazing respect and asking thoughtful questions during our author visit. A huge well done year 6!
World Book Day- Staff Swap
As part of our World Book Day celebrations, our teaching assistants swapped classes and read a bedtime story to the children. It was lovely to see different staff members in each class and the children enjoyed seeing a new face too. Our FOSB donated chocolates for every child to enjoy whilst they listened to the story. Thank you.
Year 6 History
This week, in history, year 6 used eye witness accounts to help them describe the impact that air raids had on the town and people of Darwen during World War Two. They found out that businesses and homes were destroyed, 7 people lost their lives and that generally people were in a state of shock. Despite this terrible event, it also brought out the good in people and everyone did their bit to help. One example of this was an injured man being transported to the infirmary on the back of a milk truck.
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Year 6 London Trip Information Meeting
Dear Year 6 parents and carers, thank you so much to everyone who attended the London meeting this evening. I hope you found it informative and it's great to see how excited the children are. If you weren't able to attend, please see the powerpoint and letter on class dojo for further information. I will also send home a printed copy with your child tomorrow. If your child has medical needs and/or needs medication whilst in London,please complete the following google form. https://forms.gle/NYfrcLW56bhGrWvH6 If you haven’t done so already, please complete the google consent form ASAP so that we have emergency contact numbers, information on allergies etc https://forms.gle/3X7NzNskihd1dX4y8 If you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me. This trip is a great way to develop their independence and resilience before they go off to high school, as well as having lots of fun with their friends. We are sure that all of the children will have a wonderful time and will make memories that will last a lifetime.
Year 5&6 Police Football Tournament
Our Year 5&6 football team entered a police ran football tournament at the soccer dome. The team played extremely well to get through to the group stages and into the final, where they came up against Shadsworth. After a very close final, unfortunately our team lost and placed second place. A huge well to the football team who showed: team spirit, resilience, determination and amazing talent. Well done St Barnabas Football Team!
Live Production of Scrooge
Dear Parents and Carers, on Friday morning we have M&M theatrical productions in school performing Charles Dickens, Scrooge to all of the children. We are really looking forward to the performance and it is a great way to end World Book Day Week. A huge thank you to our FOSB for paying for the production so that all of our children can enjoy a live theatre performance. There will be no celebration worship this Friday so Values points will be rolled over to next week. If your child has an out of school award, please bring it in next week. On Friday Darwen Tower house team (yellow) have voted to have a non-uniform day and disco for achieving the most values points last half term. They can come to school in their non-uniform and they will have a disco and sweets at break time.
Celebration Worship
Well done to all of our children this week on another busy week in school, working so hard and showing all our Christian values and gaining so many value points. A huge congratulations to Reception and Year 3 for being the amazing attendance winners again this week! Well done Darwen Tower team for winning the overall value points prize which you get to choose, will it be a disco, non uniform, or maybe an extra MUGA session with coach Baxendale? A massive well done to all our class Value Award winners, your hard work and determination really does show both in the classroom and around school, we hope you are super proud of yourselves.
Year 5/6 Netball Club
Today we returned to our after school netball club. We worked hard on drills such as pass and follow, with a focus on accuracy of passing the ball. The children worked hard on their footwork and pivoting too.
Year 6 Science
Year 6 have been looking at the role of the three types of blood vessel and also how a blood clot can affect blood flow. We created a model to represent the blood vessels and noticed that even when the diameter is only a millimetre different, it can have a dramatic affect on how quick the blood flows.
Year 6 P.E.
Year 6 completed their first orienteering session this week. They were working on keeping their maps set whilst moving.
Year 6 Music
In music, year 6 have been learning about the history of the drum kit and learning to play in time to a metronome using drum machines.
Year 6 History
In history, year 6 have been focusing on how Darwen helped Britain stand firm against the German threat during WW2. We found out that the people of Darwen raised funds for a spitfire plane through public subscription and that they also raised money for a warship and three tea wagons through national savings. The people of Darwen thought of many creative ways of raising money: collecting tins, selling paper dollies and jumble sales.
World Book Day Information
Next Thursday, 2nd March we will be celebrating World Book Day. This year the theme is bedtime stories and stories that can fill your happy tank. We would love for all children to come dressed all cosy and warm in their pyjamas. Children will take part in a variety of exciting book related activities and competitions and will listen to stories throughout the day. There will also be a book cover competition which the children will complete in school where the children will have the chance to win a £5 book voucher. During World Book Day, a local author, Raysa Farah will visit each class. Once Raysa has been into school, the children will have the opportunity to purchase her book 'The cub that lost its mane' for a discounted price. Further information will be sent out after World Book Day. The children will all receive a £1 token. This can be used at our book fair which will be held between 15-21st March. Between the 15-17th March, the children will all have the opportunity to look at the books in school and they will create a 'wish list' which will be sent home. You can then purchase these books either using the web address on the wish list or by coming into school to purchase books on Monday 21st March and Tuesday 22nd March from 3.30pm. Payment will only be able to be taken by card or contactless payment. We can't wait to celebrate next week and further promote our love of reading.
Online Safety: Spotify
Is Spotify hitting the right #OnlineSafety notes?
Rev Ben’s Ash Wednesday Worship
This morning Rev Ben led our Worship. First he lit our special candle and we had a moment's silence to pray for the families in Turkey and Syria who have been affected by the devastating earthquakes. Rev Ben asked us who was the greatest out of four celebrities, Marcus Rashford, Taylor Swift, Princess Kate and Rishi Sunak. The children had a discussion with a partner about who was the greatest and why. We had some super answers and several reasons why each one was the greatest. We then watched a video about the parable of the tax collector and the Pharisee which was a story that Jesus told to some people who thought they were great and looked down on others. The Pharisee thought he was the greatest and looked down on others but the tax collector was actually great in God's eyes as he asked for help and forgiveness. Rev Ben explained that Ash Wednesday is when Christian's ask for help and for their sins to be forgiven by God. Rev Ben then talked to us about Christian greatness and we had some time to reflect and discuss what Christians think being great is all about and how we can put that greatness into practice. Again we had some brilliant answers such as showing kindness, friendship, generosity and service to others. We finished our worship with a special prayer led by Rev Ben and sang and danced to My Lighthouse, to symbolise that God is always there to hear our prayers of help and forgiveness.
Shrove Tuesday
As today is Shrove Tuesday, Mrs Ham bought our whole school family pancake bites to eat to symbolise the start of Lent tomorrow. They went down a treat and many of the children were excited to have pancakes at home this evening too. We are looking forward to seeing lots of different ways that we can all give this Lent through demonstrating our Christian values of service, friendship and generosity.
Whole School Worship: Shrove Tuesday and Lent
To begin our worship, we lit a special candle and prayed for everyone in Turkey and Syria. As we entered worship, we watched a video all about when Jesus spent 40 days in the desert. Tomorrow it is Shrove Tuesday. On Wednesday, our altar will change to the colour of purple as we enter Lent and prepare for Easter. Mrs Ham asked the children ‘what makes you you?’ Neve said her freckles, Oscar said playing the piano and cello, Jake said his fingerprints and Grace said her flexibility. Our personality, emotions, behaviour, clothes, family and belongings all make us unique. Mrs Ham then asked ‘what made Jesus Jesus?’ Eliza said he was the son of God, Grace said his abilities to perform miracles, Ella said that he came down from heaven, Finn said his kindness and Leonora said when he rose from the dead. On Wednesday, Lent beings where we remember how Jesus spent 40 days and 40 nights in the desert. We watched a video all about this time. Jesus was tempted by the devil during his time but he trusted in God and didn’t give in to temptation. Jesus knew there was a plan for him. He knew that he was going to die on the cross so that all of our sins can be forgiven. During our reflection, we had a think about what we could do or give up to help us to feel closer to God. Eva said she is going to give up chocolate, Elsa said sweets, Carter said fizzy drinks, Isaac said he will give some of his toys to charity and Declan said his clothes to the charity shop. We also thought about how we could show kindness and which Christian values we could show during Lent. We finished our worship by singing ‘our God is a great big God’.
Forest school sessions for KS2
Dear parents and carers of children in Years 3,4,5 and 6, we are always looking at ways to keep our children physically fit and also to support their mental health and wellbeing. Therefore, starting from next week, 10 children from each class will take part in Forest School sessions at lunch time with Mrs Thompson, our accredited Forest School leader. Year 6 will be on Mondays, Year 5 on Tuesdays, Year 4 on Thursdays and Year 3 on Fridays. Children will still have their MUGA sports sessions with Miss Baxendale too each week. Please see the timetable on class dojo to see which weeks your child will have their two forest school sessions this half term. I will inform you nearer the time of sessions for the rest of the year. The infant children will also be given the opportunity to attend forest school sessions too later in the year. On the day of your child's session, they need to bring in a named carrier bag containing wellies or old trainers plus an old coat, top and jogging bottoms to wear for the session, as they will get muddy. Their first project will be transforming our garden at the front of school. If anybody has or knows of anyone with any spare gardening tools, gardening gloves, seeds, log seats, plant pots etc, please send them into school as we would be very appreciative of any donations. We are sure that the children will love the forest school sessions as they are also a great way to develop children's social skills, teamwork and cooperation whilst having fun.
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Whole School- Celebration Worship
Wow! We had lots to celebrate today. During our Celebration Worship this morning, the class teachers celebrated by presenting a value award to the children who have been demonstrating our Christian Values. This week, our overall house values point winner was Darwen tower with 258 points. We also celebrated Years 3 and 4 for their winning at sportshall athletics. Well done to the reception class and Year 3 for this week's best attendance. We also celebrated the children that have taken part in extracurricular activities, well done to everyone! We finished our worship with Rev Ben leading a prayer.
Year 6 Money Matters
Year 6 had a visit from the money matters team this week. They discussed issues such as gambling and borrowing. The children took a keen interest in the issues raised as it is something that could directly affect them in the future.
Year 6 Computing
In computing, year 6 have created a theme song to put into their keynote to showcase their very own superhero.
Year 6 French
In French, year 6 have been looking at household and classroom items. They needed to use their knowledge of language and apply it by labelling a classroom.
Kooth - Online mental health and wellbeing support for 10-18 year olds
Good afternoon Year 6 parents and carers, I have spoken to your child today about an online mental health and wellbeing support for young people called Kooth. We have watched a video about the services they offer and there is further information included in the attached letter. Heather from Kooth will be leading a session with our Year 6 children in the summer term and will focus on transition to high school and the Kooth support service. I have given the children a leaflet so they are able to access the service if they wish. For further information on how to help your child with their mental health and wellbeing, please see the following page on our website under the tab of advice and support. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/key-information/safeguarding
Safer Internet Day
During our worship today we celebrated safer internet day. Safer internet day is celebrated all over the world and it helps children to understand ways of being safe online as the internet is growing as well as social media. Children discussed all the amazing things that they use the internet for and understand that it is an amazing platform to use with lots of positives. Although the internet is a great tool, we have to be careful that we: remain safe, understand age limits, only play games with those who you know, avoid online bullying and be able to recognise ‘fake news’. Children discussed many ways in which we can avoid these negatives and to enjoy using the internet for all its all amazing uses it can have such as: - Do not believe everything you see online - Do not post anything that isn’t kind - If I see something that makes me feel uncomfortable tell a trusted adult, report it and block it - Play with people we know - Most importantly keep having fun! - Understand age limits and respect those limits - Keep microphones and cameras off when online gaming with people who you do not know. One of the aims of the session was to keep talking and to be very open with a trusted adult about your online activity. Whether you have seen something that makes you uncomfortable or whether you have done something you believe is wrong. A trusted adult will always be able to help you and help you to remain safe online. Most importantly we recognised that the internet is an amazing tool that can be used to help us gain knowledge, communicate with people and have fun. As the internet grows and gets more advanced we understand that it is not going away. But remaining safe is the key.
Whole School Worship: Children’s Mental Health Week Launch
What is mental health? Elsie said it is about your mind, Darcy said it is your feelings. Everybody has mental health. Sometimes our mental health might feel poorly like our bodies can feel poorly. One way to help our mental health is through our happy tank. Today we learnt all about happy tapping. We practised together as a school and then repeated after John whilst tapping. Mrs Ham explained how it is ok to feel different emotions. The children showed different emotions such as sad, scared, lonely, upset, ashamed, worried and guilty. Mrs Ham asked the children how you can exercise your brain. Isaac said by learning, Kaylen said by pushing passed your limit and Sophia said by eating healthily. This year, children’s mental health week is all about connecting. Connecting with others is vital for our wellbeing and can support our mental health. This links to our Christian value of friendship. Mrs Ham asked how have we all connected to others this morning. Darcy said she has hugged her Mummy, Harlow said she tickled her brother, Edward said he made his Dad a bacon sandwich, Harry said he spoke to his friend and Iris played with her brother. We listened to a poem called ‘together’. We discussed together why being together is so important. Lyla said if you don’t feel together and feel lonely, you could ask a friend to join in playing. You do not need to be a grown up to change the world. We can make a difference. During our reflection, we are going to have a think about how we can connect more to others. On Friday, we will all come together and will dress to express to show how we are unique and special.
Choir Workshop- Let’s Go Sing
This afternoon the choir have taken part in a Let’s Go Sing workshop with one of their fantastic singing instructors! We practiced and perfected our songs, in preparation for our concert at King George’s Hall on Monday 13th March! It has been lovely to see the progress that the children have made with their singing and performing this half term and we cannot wait to dazzle the audience at the concert in March!
Year 6 History
In year 6, we have looked at some of the war-time admissions at St Barnabas (then Culvert School), and noticed that some evacuees actually attended after being evacuated from their homes that were more at risk of being attacked.We used this and the key events of the war to infer why they might have moved to Darwen and why some evacuees may have stayed longer than others.
Online Safety: Digital lives
#SaferInternetDay is coming!
Whole School Worship: Rev Ben
The children in year 6 played a game at the start of our worship. The game wasn’t as easy as it looked! Our children showed the Christian value of encouragement to help the children complete the task. Today, we learned about a man called Daniel. Daniel was taken far from his home and asked to work in a place where nobody believed in God. Rev Ben asked the children to think about how they would feel if that happened to him. Daniel found ways to keep trusting and God looked after him. Daniel showed the king that God was important. In the Bible, when people face a hard time, they praise God and they sing. Rev Ben asked the children why they feel it is important. Jack said that it will fill up your happy tank, Leonora said it will make you feel calm and relaxed, Carter said it can change your mood and Jenson said it can help you to express how you feel. When we find things tough, lifting our eyes up to God can really help us. Rev Ben asked the children to think of a time that it is hard to feel thankful. Iris said that when your Mummy and Daddy say that you can’t have chocolate it is hard to feel thankful. Rev Ben said in those difficult times, to remember that God is always with us. We finished our worship by singing my lighthouse.
Year 6 Art- Still-life sketching
In Art, year 6 have been creating their own still-life sketches of WW2 items. We decided on this as our focus because of our local history topic in which we will look in more detaIl at the role Darwen played in WW2.
Monday Worship: God’s Promise
Last week for our happy tank, we thought about affirmations. Mrs Ham shared Harlow’s affirmation, “You are worth it and are loved”. This week, we learnt about gratitude. We took a few minutes to think about what we are grateful for. Leonora said she was grateful for her life, Eliza said she is grateful for the staff, Ella said she was grateful for her family and Aisha said she is grateful for her hair. Mrs Ham explained how in the bible, God made up to 7000 promises. In Noah’s Ark, God made a promise to not flood the earth again. God’s promise to show this was a rainbow. God promised Mary that she was going to have a baby. God made lots of promises to us all. He said he will love us forever, he will comfort us, he will never leave, he will keep us safe and he will keep his promises. We watched a video that retold the story of Noah’s Ark. God wanted to see kindness. During our reflection, Mrs Ham asked for us all to think about a time when we made a promise and broke it. We had a think about how we felt and what we could do next time. Mrs Ham also asked for us all to think about a time that a promise has been broken and how we felt. We finished our worship by singing Waymaker.
Celebration Worship Sports Stars
A big WELL DONE to all of our Sports Stars this week. What a wonderful range of activities that you have all been taking part in! We would also like to congratulate our school football team on coming runners up in the EFL Utilita Kids Cup this week. We are super proud of you all, showing great team spirit, determination and encouraging each other at every step.
Gifted & talented Gymnastics Club
Another awesome G & T Gymnastics club session led by coach Jill. Tonight, the children have been perfecting their routines with a focus on cartwheels and arabesque. The children have been working hard on both the body management and floor exercises.
Year 6 History
In history, year 6 investigated whether it was necessary for evacuees to be evacuated during WWII. They also looked into whether the number of evacuees stayed the same during the war or whether it was dependent on circumstances.
Year 6 PSHE
This week in PSHE, year 6 discussed their online activity and strategies we can all use in order to stay safe online.
Year 6 P.E.
Year 6 have been exploring dribbling skills from a range of invasion games. They will continue to develop their skills in order to apply them to their own creative game in the future.
Online Safety: Roblox
We have received reports of a viral post circulating on social media about an alleged self-harm ‘game’ being shared on popular gaming platform Roblox. Known as ‘The Game’, the post claims that the game appears through private chats in an attached Word document that contains the rules and instructions. While it is unclear who made the original post and who took the screenshot of the document, it has been noted by several media outlets and concerned parents and carers, which has increased the sharing of the screenshot. There are multiple risks that come with this, including potential physical harm to children and young people, as well as inadvertent exposure to harmful online content. Currently, online safety experts have not been able to substantiate reports on the validity of this so-called ‘game’ or the claim that children and young people are sharing it. Due to the potentially dangerous and worrying nature of this game, we understand the concerns that parents, carers, and safeguarding professionals may have. That is why we have provided you with practical advice to help you care for the children and young people in your life.
Football EFL Cup Final
St Barnabas football team took part in the EFL Cup final hosted at the Blackburn Rovers senior training ground. We faced St Paul’s and unfortunately lost the game on narrow margins. The team played exceptionally well and represented their school very well. They met some first team players and had an academy tour. A great pleasure and an unbelievable experience for our football team.
D.T Club- Papier Mache Mask Making
This week, Years 4, 5, and 6 have been busy making a start on their props for the Year 6 end-of-year performance in our DT after school club.
Monday Worship: Forgiveness and Friendship
This week, we began our worship with our happy tank. We learnt all about affirmations. An affirmation is when we say a positive thing about ourselves. Our heads and deputies helped Mrs Ham to show what an affirmation was. Our job this week is to think of affirmations to say to make us feel good. Mrs Ham’s affirmation to share was “I am amazing!” The children all joined in with this affirmation. The heads and deputies read lots of affirmations which the children copied to help fill up their happy tanks. Charlotte read an affirmation that said ‘it is ok to make mistakes’. Bobby read out “It is ok to ask for help” and Elsa read the affirmation “I matter in this world”. Today we focussed on our Christian values of friendship and forgiveness. Mrs Ham asked the children if they had ever broken anything. Lots of things can be broken but most of the time they can be fixed. If a book has a rip, Ella suggested that we could use cellotape instead of throwing it away. If a handle falls off a mug, Alfie said that we could use superglue. If we hurt ourselves, Jack suggested that we could use a plaster. Mrs Ham asked the children to think about what we could do to fix a broken friendship. Jesus said if somebody does something mean, you should always forgive them. Jesus told a parable called the unforgiving servant. Our heads and deputies helped Mrs Ham to retell the story. If we do not forgive others, then God will not forgive us. Jesus said that we should forgive people 70 x 7= 490 times! We shouldn’t keep track, we should forgive every time. God always forgives us for big and little things so we need to do the same to each other. For our reflection this week, we are going to have a think about how we can mend a broken friendship and how we can show forgiveness. We finished our worship by singing ‘As one’.
Friday Celebration Worship
We had so much to celebrate this week in our special celebration worship, it was lovely to see so many grown ups attending too. Mr Prescott stepped in this week and announced our attendance winners, well done to Reception and Year 5 classes. After our trials for Sports Hall Athletics we took all 31 children to compete this week. We received amazing feedback that our students were so respectful and represented the school superbly, so well done to you all. Their resilience and determination brought them into second place so we are so proud of you all. Thank you for bringing in your out of school achievements, it is lovely to share your success out of school and see such a wide variety of activities being enjoyed. A huge well done to all of our values winners this week who have demonstrated our Christian and British Values. You are all superstars!
National Online Safety: Twitter
New year, new Twitter?
Whole School Worship: Thankfulness
It was wonderful to have our worship led by Rev Ben today. Today, we are going to be thinking about thankfulness. To begin our worship, we played a game of guess the animal. Well done to David, Carter, Ivy, Neve and Aisha for taking part. We are so thankful for God’s wonderful creations which include a frog, monkey, a fish, a panda and a lion. As we guess those wonderful animals, they are all very different. Some are big, some are small, some are colourful, some are loud and some are quiet. However, we are not always good at looking after God’s creation. When we don’t look after God’s creation like we should, he will always forgive us. Rev Ben gave us time to think about what we want to thank God for and we also had a think about how we can show our thankfulness for the amazing world we live in. Archie said he is thankful for us, Alice said she is thankful for all of the trees, Sadie is thankful for food and Carter is thankful for nature. Harlee said we shouldn’t litter, Daniel said we need to switch the lights off and Iris said that we need to care for the animals. Rev Ben led us in prayer and we joined in with a new song called ‘God of Science’. We loved the song! A huge thank you to Rev Ben.
Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics Stars
A huge well done to our athletics squad who came 2nd in the Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics competition tonight at Darwen Vale. We had the largest squad there which meant that so many children got to represent our school in at least one event. We had a brilliant evening and were so proud of the way the children encouraged each other. We were certainly the loudest school! A huge thank you to Mrs Gardner and Mr Bloomfield for their time and dedication to coaching the children and to our parents for helping with transporting the children.
Whole School Worship: Martin Luther King Jr Day
We started our worship with our happy tank and we practised our kindness today. We then thought about what Jesus meant when he said you should love your neighbour as yourself. Elsie said your neighbour means everybody. Mrs Ham read a book ‘Little People, Big Dreams’ all about Martin Luther King Jr. It is important to stand up for what is right and love your neighbour, just like Martin Luther King Jr did. If people like Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parks hadn’t stood up for what was right then the world wouldn’t be a nice place to live in. Martin Luther King Jr had a dream that people would judge people on their character rather than their skin colour. We had a think about our character today and how others may describe our character. If we show all of our Christian values then we will have a great character. This week we will focus on treating each other fairly. We will also have a think about how we can help other people to make their lives better and we will focus on showing love and kindness towards each other. Freddie said we could be brave and stand up for what is right, Alfie said we could be respectful, Grace said we could donate items to other people, Jack said we could show friendship and Lyla said we could show courage. We then thought about what our dream for the world would be and we had some wonderful ideas such as no violence, no wars, living in peace. everyone being treated fairly and with kindness etc. We finished our worship by singing ‘Make a difference’.
Whole School Celebration Worship
During our whole school Worship this morning, a few of our children shared their special gifts from God; being good at skating, swimming, football, gymnastics, basketball and rugby and some children said having loving and caring parents was their special gift from God. It was also lovely to hear that the children have been reflecting on their daily choices which was our Happy Tank focus for this week. The class teachers presented a value certificate to the child/children that has been demonstrating our Christian and British values and making the right choices. Prizes were given out to our 'Road Safety' winners, the entries were from last year and the children were thrilled with their winnings. Mrs Ham celebrated our sports stars for their dedication and commitments for taking part in extracurricular activities. Our amazing attendance classes this week were reception and Year 3 and the winning team for getting the most value points was Whitehall Park, putting them in first place. Rev Ben ended our Worship with a lovely prayer and blessing. What another brilliant week at St Barnabas and the children really have been achieving great things!
Year 6 Life Education session
In year 6, we had a visit from Megan from ‘Life Education’ who delivered a session around making decisions. Year 6’s responses were really mature and I was so impressed with how much they engaged in the session. I think one of the main points the children will definitely take away is that it is okay to challenge your friends if you think they are making the wrong decision. It is okay to say no!
Year 6 Geography
This week, in geography, year 6 have been focusing on the most important industries to the UK. The manufacturing of cars and aeroplanes, and tourism were just some of the most important industries to the UK. We also delved a little bit deeper into tourism and located the UK’s 15 national parks and thought about the jobs that people may have if they lived within one of them.
Year 6 PSHE
In PSHE this week, we have focused on mixed messages in the media. We discovered that we need to make sure any information we come across has come from a reliable source and that not everything we see is reality. It is important that we have our own mind and if we are unsure of anything we ask a trusted adult.
Year 6 English
Year 6, have been working hard on their independent writes in English. They have begun their emotion-driven narrative based on the novel ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ and have made a superb start. Keep it up year 6!
Online Safety: Warcraft
#WakeUpWednesday meets World of Warcraft ⚔
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Parent/Carer Support Group from the Mental Health Support Team
Here are the details for the next parent support group from the Mental Health Support Team (MHST).
Monday Worship: Epiphany
Last week we focussed on breathing with the happy tank. This week, we learnt how to reflect. We spent three minutes thinking about something that has happened to us today. Reflection time for ourselves is important and helps us to relax and fill up our happy tanks. On Friday we started our learning about the Epiphany. It took 12 days for the kings to meet baby Jesus and so the Epiphany is celebrated on the 6th January. Epiphany comes from the Greek word which means ‘making known’. The kings followed a big star which helped to make people know that Jesus had been born. One important thing that the festival of Epiphany reveals is that God doesn’t have favourites but welcomes people from any background and any nationality. Mrs Ham read a story from her rhyming Bible all about the kings journey and everyone joined in with actions for the repeated refrain. Thank you to our amazing actors in Year 6. Sadie, Manni, Isaac, Elsie and Carter did a brilliant job. The kings brought gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. Gold is a gift fit for a king, Frankincense was given as it is a holy fragrance and Myrrh was given to indicate that Jesus’ death would be important. During our reflection, we thought about our special gifts. This week, we will really focus on how we can share them with others and how we can show respect for other people’s gifts. We finished our worship singing ‘We three kings’.
Mental Health Support Team January Newsletter
Please find attached the latest newsletter from the mental health support team, who we work closely with in school. This month there are some great tips and signposts for ways that parents can support their own mental health and wellbeing, as well as their children's mental health and wellbeing. For all of the newsletters from the Mental Health Team, please click here https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/parents/newsletters
Coram Life Education & SCARF workshops
Coram Life Education & SCARF is the UK's leading charity provider of PSHE and wellbeing education in primary schools. Over the next couple of days all of our children in school will have a fun and interactive PSHE workshop delivered by Megan and her friend Harold the Giraffe, from Coram Life Education. Reception: All About Me Year 1: Feelings Year 2: My Wonderful Body Year 3: Meet the Brain Year 4: It's great to be me Year 5: Friends Year 6: Decisions The children really enjoyed the workshops last year and they learnt a great deal. These sessions are part funded by the local authority and the school have contributed the rest. Our staff will also be having training on Coram resources that can be used in PSHE lessons. If you would like to speak to Megan and learn more about the workshops or how you can support your child with their personal, social and health education, you are very welcome to call into school from 8.45-9.00am this Wednesday morning. There is also a website with information for parents about how you can support your child's wellbeing, help them develop a growth mindset and how to talk to them about sensitive issues etc. https://www.coramlifeeducation.org.uk/family-scarf
Whole School Celebration Worship
This morning during whole school celebration worship, we learnt about Epiphany and celebrated our achievements in school this week. It was lovely to hear that some of the children had used the breathing techniques that we learnt on Monday from John, the Kindness Coach's, happy tank programme over the week. Class teachers spoke about our first week back in school and how the children have settled back into our school routine brilliantly. Mrs Ham announced our amazing attendance classes of the week in KS1 and KS2. Well done Reception and Year 4! We then celebrated some fantastic sports stars, both in and outside of school!
Year 6 Science
Today, year 6 have been investigating which blood type hospitals would benefit from having in larger quantities.They did this by completing a model and found out that ‘Blood Type O’ would be more beneficial as it can be donated to all of the other blood types.
Whole School Worship: Happy new year!
It was lovely to have everyone together for our first worship of 2023. Happy new year to everyone! We took a few moments as we lit our advent wreath to think about Jesus and how he came to bring hope, peace, joy and love to the world and how he wanted us live life in all its fullness. A few of our children shared their new year resolutions. Alice said she wants to eat more healthily, Tristen’s is to always have a smile on his face, Sadie is to not talk back to her parents and Kaylen’s is to go outside more. Mrs Ham shared hers which is to be happy. Mrs Ham reminded us all of the kindness coach, John Magee. She introduced us all to the happy tank. We watched a video from John who explained what the happy tank was. One of the elements is to take some time to rest. During this time, we need to focus on our breathing which can help us to find peace. We all focussed together on our breathing for 2 minutes. Beau said that it made her feel calm and Jacob said it made him feel happy. Mrs Ham shared with everybody a happy calendar that we will follow throughout January. We watched a clip from ‘The boy, the mole, the fox and the horse’. At the beginning the fox was very angry but by the end he was happy. He filled up his happy tank by the boy, the mole and the horse showing him kindness. This year we need to really focus on how we can be kind to others and to ourselves. Through that, we also need to think about how we can find happiness and spread it to others. We all said a new year prayer together and ended our worship with the song ‘Shine from the inside out’.
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Latest newsletter
Happy new year to you all! I hope you've had a lovely Christmas holiday with your loved ones. It has been wonderful to have all of the children back in school although I think it was a bit of a shock to the system being back in school today and I know it certainly felt like that for myself and our staff team. Our class teachers will shortly be sharing information with you about what your child will be learning this half term. As ever, if you have any questions or queries, please do not hesitate to contact me via class dojo, on the school yard or via the school office. Thanks for your continued support and we are looking forward to another brilliant year at St Barnabas, Mrs Ham
Christmas Service at St Barnabas Church, Lead by KS2
This morning, the whole school came together for our Christmas Service at St Barnabas Church, lead by KS2. Over this term, KS2 classes have been preparing short presentations for the service, about an element of Christmas that they have been focusing on in R.E. In Year 3, the class presented pieces of artwork, focusing on the shepherd's visiting Jesus in the stable and being in the presence of God. Year 4 looked at Christingle's and created a fantastic rap, about the meaning of the Christingle and Jesus being the light of the World. Year 5 spoke about how different countries celebrate Christmas around the World. Finally, Year 6 spoke about Advent and what it means to them. Some children also shared their hopes and dreams for the future. The WOW Group also helped to lead parts of the service and we sang a selection of Christmas Carols as a whole school. Overall, we really enjoyed learning about different elements of Christmas and KS2 presented their learning brilliantly!
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Amazing Attendance Award Winners
A huge well done to our amazing attendance award winners! We are so proud of them as they have achieved over 96% this Autumn term. Well done everyone!
Santa’s been to St Barnabas!
This afternoon our KS2 children got to choose a special Christmas present from Santa for being so good in school all year!
Online Safety: Staying safe over Christmas
‘Tis the season to … stay safe online!
Christmas Fair
TODAY IS OUR CHRISTMAS FAIR!! Join us today, Wednesday the 14th December 2022 between 3.30-5.30pm.
Year 6 DT
Year 6 have completed their festive sausage rolls and they looked absolutely amazing. They made sure that they contained popular festive ingredients that complemented each other, and I’m sure they will taste as good as they look!
Year 6 DT
Year 6 proud of their finished products. What wonderful and unique festive savoury snacks!
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Design and Technology- Christmas Fair
In D.T this term, the whole school have worked their absolute socks off. The children have made wooden reindeer ornaments, festive fruit kebabs with choc drizzle and marshmallows, fire engines, photo frames, festive sausage rolls, seasonal stockings and Christmas themed cushions. The children then had the opportunity to purchase their products at our school Christmas fair.
Celebration Worship
In Celebration Worship this morning we looked at how our children continue to work so very hard in promoting our Christian and British values. We are all so very busy preparing for the Christmas Fair, school performances and Christmas Worship. We had our House Team Winners announced for this half term - Whitehall Park for the second consecutive time- well done. It is so lovely to see all of the children celebrating each others success as we had lots of awards for out of school sports today.
Year 6 English
Today, year 6 have been summarising the key events from the first chapter of ‘Goodnight Mister Tom’ in order to plan the beginning of their own emotion-driven narrative.
Year 6 music
Year 6 have worked hard to improve their keyboard skills this week in their music lesson.
Year 6 DT
Year 6 have been analysing different ingredients that they may use in their festive sausage rolls. The children noticed, that when the ingredients are isolated, they may not taste entirely satisfying. However, after watching a video of a chef in action (Jamie Oliver), they noticed that some of these ingredients may complement each other nicely.
Year 6 DT
The final step before year 6 make their DT project was to visualise how they think it will look. They designed their product by using a blown up diagram in which it reveals the individual ingredients that the sausage roll will contain.
Parents' Evening Reminder
Dear parents and carers, Just a quick reminder that it is parents' evening tomorrow from 2.00pm-6.00pm. We have 90% of our parents booked so far so thank you if you have already booked. If you haven't booked yet, please either click on the following link or send me a class dojo message by 5.00pm today with your available times and I will book you an appointment. https://stbarnabasdarwen.schoolcloud.co.uk/ * Please enter and leave school via the main entrance and all appointments will take place in the hall again. *Please do not park on the carpark as that is for staff only and there will be parents walking across it. *Please be aware that appointments are only 5 minutes long so if there is something that you would like to discuss for longer than that, please arrange a phone call at another date in order to not hold up other appointments. We ask for your patience with appointments as they may not run exactly on time. * A selection of your child's books will be available in the centre of the hall along with class RE and PSHE scrap books. Our class teachers and I are really looking forward to welcoming you into school to share how well your child has settled into their new class and the progress they have made. Yours Sincerely, Mrs Ham
Whole school worship: Peace during Advent
Last week we lit our hope advent candle. Today, Manni lit our peace advent candle. Katie, Eva and Jenson read out our peace prayer. Jesus was sent to bring peace to the world and he is known as the prince of peace. Today, we watched the new John Lewis Christmas advert. Lucy said that the man tried to learn how to skate to make the foster child feel welcome as the child may have felt a little frightened or worried. At the end, the child smiled as they had something in common and she would have felt at peace. For our reflection this week, we need to think about how we can find peace but also how we can bring peace to others.
Year 6 DT
Today, in DT, year 6 have been researching savoury snacks to explore which ingredients are quite popular and which ingredients complement each other.
Christmas Fair 2022
FOSB POST
Christmas Fair 2022: Raffle
FOSB POST
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Girls football team news
We are super proud of our girls football team for their excellent performances over the last few weeks in the girls football league. Some of the girls have never played football before but gave their absolute best. They only lost one game and only conceded 5 goals out of nine games. They came 6th place overall but were only 3 points off 2nd place. Well done girls, we are so proud of you!
Online Safety: Social media and mental health
You know about social media influencers ✌
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
Every child in school helped to decorate our real Christmas tree this afternoon. It really is beginning to look a lot like Christmas! Our youngest child in school will place the star on the tree tomorrow in Celebration Worship.
Year 6 Design Technology
Year 6 have been busy researching popular Christmas time ingredients today. Next week they will be tasting different Christmas time ingredients and will then plan which ingredients they want to use for their festive sausage roll. They are looking forward to then creating their own unique festive sausage roll with the ingredients they have planned to use and they will be able to purchase them at the Christmas fair.
Help us keep children safe from button batteries this Christmas
This Christmas, homes will be filled with light-up decorations, festive tea lights, singing Santas and flashing Christmas wands. But these – and many other toys – are powered by button batteries that can badly hurt or kill a child if swallowed. Please see the attached images for further information about how you can keep your child safe from button batteries.
Monday Worship: Advent
Our new vicar Rev Ben joined us for Worship today. We welcomed him into our school family by showing him our huge welcoming smiles. Good things come to those who wait. We are waiting for Christmas and now Advent has started. Advent is a time to prepare. Christians needed to have hope when they waited for Jesus to arrive. During lockdown, we saw lots of rainbows. God kept sending rainbows which gave us hope that there would be better times. During Advent, we need to see children showing kindness, friendship, respect, generosity and all of our Christian and British values. Mrs Ham asked the children what their hope is for the future. Elsa’s hope is to travel to every continent in the world, Sadie’s is to be successful in her job, Ruby’s is for peace and harmony, Grace’s is to get good results, Darcy’s is for peace around the world and Seb’s is to be an engineer. We watched a video about the special hope that was sent to the world: Jesus. We lit our first candle on our Advent wreath and prayed for hope. During our reflection, we thought about how we could turn somebody feeling sad into somebody feeling glad. We had a think about how we can show love and kindness to bring hope to others. We finished our worship by singing ‘may you find peace’.
Celebration Worship
This week we have been learning all about peace and harmony. A huge thank you to Miss Kachwalla for delivering our inter faith workshops all about the religion of Islam. Last night, Mrs Ham went to church to welcome our new vicar, Rev Ben. We will be sharing our vicar with St Paul’s, Hoddlesden and can’t wait to see him at school soon. Today, Sophie and Lola announced our anti-bullying competition winners. There were over 200 entries across the borough and 2 prizes were awarded to our school. 3rd place went to Harlow and Eliza and 2nd place went to Wilson. A huge well done! We have had yet another busy week in school. Well done to our values points award winners: Renee, Archie, Miley, Eden, Hamza, Archie and Darci. Our overall house winner for this week is River Darwen, well done! Our amazing attendance winners for this week are Year 2 and Year 4! We celebrated our super dodgeball team and girls football team who played on Wednesday and Thursday night. We also celebrated individual achievements for swimming, football, Rainbows, dancing and kickboxing. Well done to Leonora, Isaac, Eliza, Sofia, Carmen, Noah, Annabel, Cassidy, Ted and Mason. We finished our worship by singing the song of peace.
Year 6 -Dodgeball Superstars
A huge well done to our Year 6 dodgeball team who represented our school so brilliantly well this evening at the dodgeball festival. They showed lots of determination and encouraged each other.
Years 5 and 6- World Cup Writing Lesson
To celebrate the start of the football 2022 World Cup, Years 5 and 6 took part in a live World Cup writing lesson in association with Pobble and Vocabulary Ninja this morning. The sport-themed writing lesson added all the pace, enthusiasm and passion of football into their writing! ⚽️ What a great way to kick off the World Cup and we are looking forward to cheering England on this afternoon in their first game against Iran. Come on England! ⚽️
Parents Evening Information
Dear Parents and carers, we are holding a face to face parents' evening on Wednesday 7th December in our school hall. Our teachers would also like to share your child's books with you too so that you can see how hard they have been working and you can see what they have been learning this term. Five minute appointments will be available from 2.00pm and 6.00pm. If you are flexible and can attend during school hours and after school, please select in school hours then we can give priority for the after school appointments to parents who are working through the day. Appointments can be booked through the same booking system that we used last year. A guide has been added to class dojo. Please click on the following link stbarnabasdarwen.schoolcloud.co.uk to book an appointment. Please note that the information in the software has been taken from our school management system so please use the information such as title, name, email etc that we have on your child's records. Hopefully you will be able to log in with the same details as last year as those of you who attended last time will already have an account. We politely ask that separated parents try to attend the same appointment so that our teachers don't have to repeat the same information and this also ensures that we have enough appointments for each child in school. However, if there are exceptional circumstances that require you to have separate appointments, please let our class teachers know. Our class teachers and I are really looking forward to welcoming you back into school to share how well your child has progressed this term. Please do not hesitate to message me if you have any issues booking an appointment. Yours Sincerely, Mrs Ham
Monday Worship: Anti-Bullying Week
Today is the start of anti-bullying week. We have all worn our odd socks to show that we are all special and unique. Yesterday was world kindness day. The children said that every day should be world kindness day! We listened to Andy Day about odd socks day. The theme for anti-bullying week is reach out which means talk to somebody about bullying to say it is not ok. During anti-bullying week, we will focus on the Christian values of friendship, respect, courage and forgiveness. We will also focus on the British Values of mutual respect, individual liberty and tolerance. Bullying is when somebody does something mean and they keep doing it again and again. James said the victim would feel “really sad and emotional”. Mrs Ham explained the acronym STOP. If someone does something Several Times On Purpose then it is bullying and we should Speak To Other People. We played a game where the children had to put their thumbs up if they thought the action was bullying and thumbs down if they thought if wasn’t. Mrs Ham asked what would happen if they saw bullying taking place. James said he would tell them to stop, Eli said tell the teacher. It takes courage to do something about bullying. During our reflection we thought about how we are all different and how we need to treat each other with respect. We finished our worship by listening to Andy and the odd socks song.
Year 5&6 EFL Winners
A huge congratulations to St Barnabas football team who won the first heat in the EFL Kids Cup. All the players showed tremendous attitude, grit and determination to succeed and win. They represented the school and themselves well and they all should be really proud of themselves. They battled hard, saw off some amazing teams and they got their reward.
Remembrance Service in Whitehall Cemetery
Our Year 6 Heads and Deputies along with some of our WOW (Worship Our Way) group attended the special service of Remembrance on Armistice Day at Whitehall Cemetery. They laid a special wreath and poppy from St Barnabas and also placed poppies and crosses on our special adopted war graves. We will remember them.
Poppy Appeal
Good morning, thank you so much for your kind donations to our Poppy Appeal by the Royal British Legion. Our heads and deputies have been busy selling poppy merchandise every break time this week. Our stocks were running low but we have managed to purchase another box of poppy appeal merchandise including more slap bands. Therefore, if you would like to purchase further items such as another slap band or poppy zip tie, please send money into school tomorrow. They will be for sale during celebration worship for parents and carers and at break time for children. Many thanks for your generosity to such a worthy cause.
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Second in the Darwen football league
A huge well done to our football team for coming a close second in the Darwen Football League!
Librarian Club
Our librarians have been very busy today. They have tidied the library and read stories to key stage one at lunchtime. It has been wonderful to see how enthusiastic they all are.
St Barnabas Choir: Let's Go Sing Workshop
This afternoon, the school choir took part in a singing workshop with 'Let's Go Sing'. During the workshop, the children took part in some fun warm up activities and practiced a selection of songs, that we they will be singing and performing at King George's Hall, on Monday 14th March. It was great to see the choir so enthusiastic and the children particularly enjoyed dancing and performing the song 'It's Carnival Time' around the hall!
Online Safety: Online Bullying
Outwit the internet bullies with our #WakeUpWednesday guide
Year 6- Brilliant Boccia
Following on from a Boccia competition, we had 3 excited children that wanted to deliver a lunchtime session. Boccia is a brilliant sport that is inclusive, as everyone can play it.A big well done to year 6 for listening and taking part in their brilliant session today!
Monday Worship: Remembrance & Lilian Bader- One of the first black women in the Armed Forces
This week we are going to be thinking about Remembrance Day. Mrs Ham asked “why do we wear poppies?” James said that it is about the world war; Harriet said we raise money; Harlow said soldiers gave up their lives to fight for our country; Leonora said that when the war was over, poppies grew in a field; Kaylen said it is to remember those who passed away and Finn said the red of the poppy reminds us of blood. Mrs Ham lit a remembrance candle. Mrs Ham explained to the children what Remembrance Day is for which is this Friday. On Friday, we will be having a 2 minute silence to think about all of those people that died for us. Mrs Ham shared photographs of war memorials in Whitehall park and Bold Venture park. We watched a video together all about Remembrance Day. Mrs Ham then shared the story of Lilian Bader who died a few years ago, aged 97. Nobody would give her a job because of the colour of her skin. When the Second World War broke out, she was 21. Ladies were not allowed to fight in the war and only white men were allowed to fight. Lilian got a job making food for soldiers but after 7 weeks, she was told she had to leave her job as her Dad was not from Britain. Eventually, Lilian managed to get a job in the RAF and helped to fix the planes. Mrs Ham shared a video so that the children could learn more about her and the difference she made. During our reflection, we said a big thank you to everybody who sacrificed their lives in wars and conflict. We thought about our Christian values of service and peace. We finished our worship by singing a song of peace.
Mental Health and Wellbeing Support in School
Good morning parents and carers, please find attached the latest newsletter from the Mental Health Support Team. Mental health and wellbeing is given the highest priority in our school and is a big focus on our school improvement plan each year. We know that if children, staff or parents aren't emotionally well and happy then this can be a barrier to effective teaching and learning. In school both myself and Mrs Wilkinson are trained mental health first aiders who provide support and signpost support to children, parents and staff. We also have an Educational Mental Health Practitioner called Hazel Broadfield who works with us to provide families with support with mental health issues. We also have two trained ELSA's in school, Mrs Hegarty and Mrs Lyons, who provide emotional literacy support to specific children throughout school. Mrs Gardner, our PSHE lead also has a group of Wellbeing Warriors that help to raise awareness of mental health and wellbeing and organise events. They are organising an Odd Socks day next Monday and have led a poster competition to launch Anti-bullying week. If you or your child are experiencing any issues linked to mental health and wellbeing, Mrs Wilkinson and I are always available to speak to on either informally on the yard or through arranging a meeting. Alternatively, there are also sections on our website where different services and groups linked to mental health and wellbeing are signposted. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/key-information/safeguarding https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/parents/community-groups There are also services and groups signposted on the MHST newsletters. MHST run a Parent Support Group. It is an online group which is currently topic based. It is a space where information is shared with discussion between parents. Last group's topic was Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, where we explored what OCD is and how to support your child. There is no pressure to contribute or have your camera or microphone on, there is a chat function to contribute to the session. The next topic is Social Anxiety Wednesday 23rd November 2022 @ 6-7pm online via microsoft teams Please email [email protected] for a link to the meeting.
Year 6’s visit to our adopted war graves.
Year 6 today visited our school’s adopted war graves to give them a tidy up in preparation for a special service at Darwen Cemetery on Remembrance Day this Friday.
Invitation to Celebration Worships
Good morning, a quick reminder that parents, carers and grandparents are always very welcome to attend our Celebration Worships on Fridays at 9.15am. Potential parents of children who are due to start school in September are very welcome too. Refreshments will be served from 8.55am too. Parents of children who have received the most values points each week will be invited to attend via class dojo but other parents, carers and grandparents are very welcome to attend to hear about the great things we have been learning, attendance winners and sports stars etc. If your child has an award from an out of school club, please send it into school so they can receive their award on the golden podium and our whole school family can show them how proud we are. We look forward to welcoming you into school. Yours Sincerely, Mrs Ham
DPSSA Football
Another fantastic couple of results tonight. Two 5-0 wins which means it’s going down to the last game of the season to decide who will be the league winners!
Year 6 Class Worship- NSPCC
Today, year 6 joined in with a NSPCC virtual worship. The theme was all about speaking out if we ever have any worries and the amazing resource available to the children in ‘childline’.
Smart School Councils- Year 5 and 6
Our Communication Team is made up of Year 5 and Year 6 pupils. We aim to give everyone a voice, enable everyone to lead change and keep everyone up-to-date and involved.
Online Safety: Amigo parent guide
Is Amigo a friend or foe?
Year 6 Science- Electricity
Before the half term holiday, year 6 built their own set of traffic lights. They needed to make sure that only one light lit up at a time. This meant creating a three-way switch out of a pin and a paper clip to light each LED individually.
Year 6 Art
Last half term, year 6 carried out an art unit all about making their voice heard. The unit concluded with the children completing a piece of abstract art inspired by Picasso’s ‘Guernica’. The children used WW2 as their focus for the artwork as they will be looking more closely at Darwen’s role in the war later in the year. Next Friday is Remembrance Day, and year 6 will be explaining the symbolism involved in their piece.
Year 6 Science
Year 6 have been delving deeper into their knowledge of insulators and conductors. In order to do this, they created their own loop game. If the loop touched the wire, they heard a buzz because they had a closed circuit. The handle of the loop was made of an insulating material. This was to ensure that anyone playing the game was safe.
Monday Worship: All Hallow’s Eve, All Saints' Day and All Souls’ Day
Today is All Hallows Eve. We noticed that the word 'hallow' was in the Lord's Prayer that we sang on the way into Worship. It means Holy. Tomorrow, it is All Saints day which is a Christian celebration. A Saint is somebody who is really special and has done something really wonderful. Leonora said a Saint is somebody who follows God and Jesus’ example. On Wednesday it is All Soul’s Day and we remember everybody who has passed away. We watched a video about the origin of Halloween and All Hallow’s Eve. It was celebrated thousands of years ago by the Celts. Christians then celebrated it and honoured all of the Saints. Mrs Ham asked the children about the names of different Saints. Ella said Saint Barnabas, Matthew said Saint Paul, Miles said Saint James, Jack said Saint George, Charlie-Rose said Saint Joseph and Sofia said Saint Edward. The children noticed that Saints have halos around their heads. Mrs Ham shared some images of different Saints and which country they were the patron saint of. During our reflection, we thought about what we could do to follow Jesus, live our lives well and be Saints ourselves. We thought about what kind of person we really want to be. We ended our worship by singing ‘Oh when the Saints, go marching in’.
Whole school Harvest service in Church
This morning our WOW group, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children led our Harvest service in church. Our wonderful choir led the singing during the service. We gave thanks to the farmers and our WOW group reminded everybody about the charities that we are supporting, The Mother’s Union in Burundi and DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). The children made us all very proud. A huge thank you to all of the parents, carers and family members that attended too, it was lovely to see you all.
Whitehall Park Values Point Winner’s Disco
Whitehall Park team had a brilliant time at their disco for winning the most values points this half term through showing our Christian and British values. They showcased their best dance moves, played musical bumps, played the corners game and had some yummy sweets. I wonder which house team will win the most values points next half term?
Meet our Key Stage 2 Librarians
Here are our wonderful key stage two librarians. They all had to write Mrs Wilkinson a letter stating why they think they would be a good librarian. The children really impressed Mrs Wilkinson and are excited about starting their new role next half term.
Whitehall Park- Values Winner's Disco and Non-uniform Day
A huge congratulations to WHITEHALL PARK (Green) house team for the most value points this half term for demonstrating our Christian and British Values. The children have voted for their prize and they would like a non-uniform day this Thursday 20th October with a disco at break time. All other house teams still come to school in their uniform on Thursday please and PE kits if it's a PE day.
Brilliant Boccia
It was an absolute pleasure to take four superstars to the Boccia Festival this morning at QEGS. They won three out of their five games and represented our school so brilliantly, especially as they also assisted the referee when it wasn’t their turn to play and kept score. They are super keen to lead a Boccia club next term and Boccia sessions on the MUGA with Miss Baxendale at lunchtimes.
Monday Worship: Blackburn Diocese Harvest Appeal 2022
During the start of our worship, we discussed what literacy and numeracy meant. We then discussed if any jobs do not require us to read and write. It was really interesting which jobs the children thought didn’t require you to read and write but Mrs Ham proved the children wrong! All jobs require you to read and write. Reading is like a key. If you can’t read, you can’t unlock all of those possibilities. You wouldn’t be able to be a teacher, cook, builder etc. We discussed the British Value of individual liberty. We all have rights. We have the right to education and it is free. This year, the Bishop of Blackburn’s Harvest appeal is supporting the Mother’s Union. The Mother’s union is a Christian charity but it shows the British value of tolerance of all faiths and helps everybody. Mrs Ham showed the children 4 tools and the children explained what each tool does. Mrs Ham explained that in some countries, they do not have the tools to do things that we take for granted: our reading and writing. The Mother’s Union helps people in Burundi which is one of the poorest places in the entire world. In Burundi, families live on £1.50 per day. Our Wow group have set us a challenge to raise £1.50 each to help to support families in Burundi. Wow group explained that we can do chores to help raise the money. Monies can then be paid on parent pay. We can also collect tins and cans for Dare. Mrs Ham has also asked if we can write prayers for families in Burundi. This week, we need to think about how we can help other people and help to make a difference. Our choir group led our song at the end ‘The Harvest of Love’.
Football training in the sun
It’s wonderful to see so many boys and girls from Years 5 and 6 taking part in weekly football training sessions with Mr Bloomfield and Mr Prescott. What a lovely sunny evening with the best views in Darwen from the pitch!
Celebration Worship - Value Awards
In Celebration Worship this morning we saw lots of children who had demonstrated our Christian values and British values and have worked hard to achieve great things. We can’t believe how quickly six weeks has gone by and all of our children are growing in confidence and maturity by the day! It’s lovely to see how they all support and respect each other both in and out of the classroom. Well done to all of our Value winners this week.
Year 6 Science
Year 6 have been investigating if adding more components to a circuit, affects the output of that circuit.
DPSSA Football
The lads were outstanding this evening and produced two fantastic results. A 1-1 draw, which could have very easily been a win, followed by an amazing 7-1 victory!
Year 6 -Lunch time Hello yellow Hunt.
I’ve never seen Year 6 so excited to do a hunt around school. What a fun session we had today, we went on a hunt to look for 10 yellow objects that had been hidden around our school. A huge thank you to our minions for helping out again!
Online Safety: Fortnite
It has been brought to our attention, that a number of our children are playing Fortnite. Please find attached some information about the game and the age recommendation is 13+. You can also find further information on our online safety page: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/parents/useful-links/online-safety
Year 6 Computing
Year 6 spent their lesson evaluating their remixes by listening to each other’s work and providing feedback.
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The Bishop of Blackburn's Harvest Appeal- Burundi Harvest Challenge
This morning in worship, the WOW group launched our Harvest appeal challenge. We are asking for donations of £1.50 from parents in exchange for the children completing 3 helpful challenges at home. Each challenge is worth 50p. The challenges can be any of those mentioned in the poster, or any that you and your child decide at home. Donations will go to the Bishop of Blackburn's Harvest Appeal and this year they are supporting the Christian charity, Mothers' Union, to support the delivery of literacy and numeracy programs to women in Burundi so that they can help earn money to support their families. Donations will be collected by next Thursday 20th October on Parent pay. We are also collecting tins and packets for our local Darwen Refugee and Asylum Enterprise (DARE) to support refugees who have had to flee their homes due to conflict. Please send any donations into school next week. Parents and carers are welcome to join us at our Harvest Festival next Thursday 20th October at 9.30am at St Barnabas church. Our WOW group, Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 classes will be leading the service and the rest of the school will be joining in with songs and prayers.
Year 6- Local police officer visit
Year 6 had a visit from our local police officer who explained that they are now at an age were they are criminally responsible. I feel they have taken away lessons that will stick with them for the rest of their lives. For example, they have learnt how making the wrong decisions at this time in their life can have a detrimental effect on the opportunities they are presented with in the future.
Year 6 Hello Yellow Day 2022
Year 6 thoroughly enjoyed ‘Hello Yellow Day’. In their PSHE lesson, they specifically looked at the emotional needs we have as humans and how they can ensure they are being met.
Monday Worship: Hello Yellow Day
Wow, what an uplifting worship we had. We began our worship with our trinity. Mrs Ham then called upon her minions to help her with today’s special worship. We began by dancing along to ‘Happy’. The roof blew off with all of the fabulous singing and dancing. The minions started by asking the children to show different feelings, for example, tired, happy, sad and loved. The minions explained how you are not alone with your mental health and it is important to talk to somebody. The minions explained that Young Minds is a great campaign about opening up about your mental health. The children watched a video about mental health. It explained how we all have feelings that come and go every day. If feelings become too big then it is important to talk to somebody about them. The minions shared some morning affirmations that we can use. If you say an affirmation, it can make you feel happy, brave, confident, strong and determined. The children said affirmations together such as ‘today is going to be a great day’, ‘I am kind’ and ‘I matter in this world’. The minions explained that you can donate to Young Minds which helps provide a service to help young people with their mental health. The minions have created a competition to design your own emoji. The winning emoji will receive a special hamper prize! This week, we will also have a hello yellow hunt on the MUGA every lunchtime. We finished our worship by singing ‘build up’. A huge thank you to our minions- our head boy, head girl, deputy head boy and deputy head girl.
FOSB Remembrance Day Art Competition
FOSB Remembrance Day Art Competition £1 entry on ParentPay 3 Hamper prizes to be won! Deadline: Friday 4th November Art work will be on Display in the School Hall on Friday 11th November during Celebration Worship and some pieces at Whitehall Park
Celebration Worship
Wow what a jam-packed celebration worship we had this morning - our children have certainly be living life in all its fullness this week! We started by sharing smiles with each other in aid of World Smile Day - Mother Theresa taught us that ‘peace starts with a smile’, so let’s smile at one another and continue spread joy and kindness around our school. There have been so many achievements across school this week! We say a big well done to this weeks value point winners Albie, Bluebelle, Alice, Lola, Bobby, Lucy And Eliza who continue to demonstrate our Christian values throughout school. River Darwen are our Value point champions this week. Keep it up! And what fantastic Sports stars we have in our school - well done to Charlie, Miles, Annabel, Penelope, Leonora, Isabella & Charlie, Eliza, James and Lyla. Congratulations to our DPSSA football team for their 10-2 victory against St James, what a result! Well done Rosie for your super reading too. Year 2 and Year 5 are our attendance winners this week - let’s keep up that fantastic attendance to school. We also shared our Remembrance Day art competition with the school and look forward to seeing some fantastic entries for the chance to win a prize hamper. It was lovely to have Lillian back in school with us to finish with a blessing and a prayer. Thank you. What another tremendous week!
DPSSA Football
The boys represented school superbly tonight with fantastic attitudes and effort. To top it off they produced two well-deserved wins, 2-1 against Holy Trinity and 10-2 against St James, Lower Darwen.
Year 6 Hockey
Year 6 have started to apply the passing, dribbling and shooting skills they have worked on over the last few weeks to a game situation.
Year 6 Class Worship
In class worship this week, year 6 have been discussing whether they think competition is a good thing and whether it helps us to achieve more. We spoke about how this links to one of our British values (Rule of Law) because of rules that take place in competitions to make it a level playing field.
Year 6 R.E.
This week in R.E. Year 6 met a Christian named Keziah. They compared how her life may be different to a non-believer and looked at how Jesus’ teachings have an impact on her daily life.
Monday Worship- Black History Month
Last week we focussed on being kind to our neighbour. When we came into worship, we listened to ‘Respect’ by Aretha Franklin. We discussed what this meant and looked at how it was one of our Christian values and our British Value, mutual respect. Mrs Ham told us about how many years ago, Africans were captured and taken to America to be slaves. The children all agreed that this was unfair. Mrs Ham then role played with Declan and Elsie to show the children how slaves were treated. They weren’t treated nicely which was very unfair. In 1865, slavery was completely banned. In 1926, Carter Woodson created black history week and now we celebrate black history month every October. We watched a video which showed how Ayanna Najuma who was just 7 years old changed the world! Ayanna did a peaceful protest and went into a white only restaurant and waited until they were served. Ayanna asked for a hamburger and a coke but the waitress said no. They went back on day 2 and 3. By day 3, they were served food and the restaurant became integrated. Ayanna said “my voice was little but it was just as important as everybody else’s voice”. Martin Luther King Junior also stood up for what was right and he fought for a long time for everybody to be treated equally. Finally we watched a song video about Rosa Parks and how she fought for change. This week, Mrs Ham asked the children to reflect on anything that we have experienced that seemed unfair. Did we have the courage to speak up? Can we do this going forward? We finished our worship by singing ‘Make a difference’.
DPSSA Football
The boys represented school superbly last night. They managed 1 victory and a narrow defeat!
Year 6 PSHE
Year 6 have been creating their own well-being hotel leaflets to encourage customers to exercise and get a good night’s sleep.
Year 6 Hockey
This week, year 6 have progressed from passing and dribbling to shooting skills in hockey.
Year 6 Class Worship
Year 6 have looked at how the Individual liberty of the people Pakistan has been affected because of the recent floods. They have also thought about how they can help people even when they are a long way away.
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Celebration Worship and Celebrating Values
During our Celebration Worship, Mrs Ham reminded everyone about spreading kindness at school and at home. The children shared some of the kindness that they have been sharing at home, such as, cleaning their bedroom, helping their parents carry in the shopping, opening the doors for teachers and pupils and looking after the environment. We also celebrated the value certificate for each classroom presented to, Year 6 - Eva, Year 5 - Rio, Year 4 - Laila, Year 3 - Grace, Year 2 - Sofiya, Year 1 - Harry and Emily, Reception - Sienna and the winning team this week, Whitehall Park. They have all demonstrated our Christian and British Values throughout the school. A huge well done to everyone. The worship came to an end with a prayer led by Mrs Ham and three children.
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Sports Awards- Celebration Worship
During our celebration worship this morning, the children were presented with their sports awards. Last night, a group from Years 5 and 6 represented DPSSA football. They played superbly and gained 1 victory and a narrow defeat. A massive well done to all of our children who also celebrated awards that they brought in from taking part in activities outside of school. We had awards for gymnastics, running, swimming, dancing, reading and martial arts.
Message from Mrs Ham
Good afternoon parents and carers, I hope you're all well. We have had another brilliant week at St Barnabas this week. To see what has been happening, please see our news page on our website. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news We had our Macmillan Coffee morning on Thursday which wasn't as well attended as in previous years, however we appreciate that many of our parents are busy working and less parents are now working from home. If you would like to donate to such a wonderful cause, you can do via parent pay. A huge well done to Years 2 and 5 for the best attendance across school this week. They will receive an extra fun session on the MUGA with Miss Baxendale. All parents have a legal obligation to ensure their child attends school regularly and on time. Unfortunately we still have children and parents arriving onto the school grounds at 8.55am or after, despite several reminders. We want all of our children to have the best start to their day and to be ready to start their morning learning tasks at 8.55am, which is our official start time. All children are expected to be in their classroom with their coat and bag away for 8.55am, not walking through the school gates at this time. Any child who isn't ready in their classroom at 8.55am will be marked as late in our register. Every second counts so when children are late or off school they are missing valuable learning time. We have several events coming up in the lead up to half term including Hello Yellow day for World Mental Health Day and our Harvest Festival. Please see our events page for further information. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/events Thank you for your continued support and if you have any questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to speak to me on the yard or send me a dojo message. I hope you all have a lovely weekend and I hope this rain eases off and the sun comes out, Mrs Ham
DACA visitors
Mrs Bailey, the Principal and Mrs Lewis, the Vice Principal of DACA came to visit our year 6 class this afternoon. They invited them all to the DACA open evening on Thursday 6th October. They also answered lots of questions that the children asked about DACA and high school in general. They were super impressed with the thoughtful questions the children asked and the respect that was shown to them. Well done Year 6!
Online Safety: Green with tech
Make a positive impact that lasts for years, by getting involved in #GreatBigGreenWeek!
Monday Worship- Jesus taught us to be kind to everyone
It was lovely to see Reception join us for their first Monday Worship. This morning we looked at two stories that Jesus told. Elsa told us that these stories are called parables. The first parable we listened to was ‘The Good Samaritan’. We discussed how the Samaritan was the loving, kind neighbour. Harry said that your neighbour is everybody. We should be kind to everyone, no matter if they like different things, follow a different religion or look different to us. Next we listened to the parable, ‘The Lost Sheep’. We learnt that we need to care about each other. God loves everybody no matter what. Reception class told Mrs Ham that we are all unique and we should celebrate this. During our reflection, Mrs Ham asked us to think about how we can show kindness all of the time. We finished our worship singing ‘when I needed a neighbour’.
Year 6 Music
Fantastic singing from year 6 during their junior jam session.
Year 6 Hockey
Year 6 progressing on from passing and receiving to dribbling skills.
Year 6 computing
Year 6 have been learning about the second form of remixing by doing genre changing. They have been remixing a vocal stem and changing the genre.
Online safety: Managing grief
How do you deal with grief?
Anti-Smoking and Vaping- Whole School Assembly
This morning, we had a visitor from public health Blackburn and Darwen. The children were asked a series of questions related to keeping ourselves healthy. All the children got involved and asked lots of questions and listened attentively. We all learnt that a recent study which was carried out in Blackburn and Darwen that shops were selling illegal vaping and illegal cigarettes. These drugs can be very harmful, they can cause heart disease, lung disease, cancer, hearing loss, dental problems and it can kill us. The children ended the assembly by singing "We can all make a difference in this world of ours". So, no to smoking and vaping!
Sports Leaders 2022-2023
Our new Sports Leaders for this academic year 2022-2023. We look forward to seeing this fantastic group lead many different sports in schools through inter school games, attending events and promoting our school sport.
Week 2 -Celebration worship
We had a wonderful celebration worship this morning, recognising those children who achieved the most individual value points along with the team winners, Whitehall Park! It was lovely to see mums, dads, grandparents and carers, joining us. If you are able, please do come along it would be lovely to see you. A brew and a biscuit will also be available.
Amazing Awards in Celebration Worship
We celebrated our sports and reading stars this week in ourn Celebration Worship. We had awards for a number of out of school sports such as rugby, highland games, swimming, dancing and horse riding. It was lovely to see so many children pushing themselves out of their comfort zone to achieve great things and encourage others. What little superstars! We also had our amazing attendance winners for the week and they were Year 1 and Year 4!
Year 6 1K
Year 6 completing their first 1K of the year.
Year 6 Junior Jam
Beatboxing with Junior Jam!
Year 6- Is life a journey?
In R.E, Year 6 discussed what a journey is and whether they consider life to be a journey.
Primary and secondary school admissions
The primary and secondary school applications for September 2023 are now open. Please see the following websites for information of how to apply. https://www.blackburn.gov.uk/admissions https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/key-information/admissions
Collective Worship- Launching Our 30 Day Kindness Matters Challenge
This morning, Mrs Ham started our worship by lighting a special candle to remember Her Majesty who sadly died on Thursday after serving our country for 70 years and to think about and pray for our new King Prince Charles III. We also started off our worship by singing the song ‘Kindness’ by Fischy Music to start off our theme of Kindness. Mrs Ham told us that to kickstart our new academic year, we will be taking part in the Kindness 30 day challenge just as we did last year. We discussed why being kind is so important because it can make people feel loved. It is also contagious and can create a ripple effect. We listened to John the Kindness Coach who introduced the 30 day challenge to us and day one of the challenge which is, ‘Don’t say mean words or perform mean gestures to others.’ We then watched a video and talked about the acts of kindness that we could see. Ella-Grace said she saw the man sharing his money so that the little girl could go to school, Harry said he helped the plants to grow by watering them, Carter said he fed the hungry dog and Seb said that he helped the lady with her very heavy cart. Mrs Ham asked us what the effect of this man’s kindness was and we said that people felt loved, valued and special and this is exactly why we should all be kind. We then listened to a story called ‘Kindness Grows’ which shared a special message about friendship and looked at our new display in the library which supports the message that we are all one huge family and need to love and support one another through kindness. Finally, Mrs Ham asked us to reflect on what we can do this week and every week moving forward to create that ripple effect of kindness to make our school an amazing place to be and we sang ‘Rich in Kindness.’ It was also lovely to have Lillian back in worship with us to give us all a blessing.
Our school family tree
Our whole school family created their own unique circle for our family tree. It represents our vision of everyone 'Achieving great things through learning and growing together in a love-filled Christian family'. We love that all of the circles are special and unique, just like our children that God created.
Celebration Worship- Celebrating the life of Queen Elizabeth II
This morning in worship, we celebrated the life of our longest service monarch, Queen Elizabeth II. We held a special two minutes silence and looked at some photographs of Queen Elizabeth II throughout her reign as Queen. We watched a special edition of Newsround that told us all about the Queen's life. We also looked at a lovely picture of several rainbows that were sent by God yesterday on the day of her death. We recognised this as a sign of her now being at peace with her late husband Phillip in heaven. We thought about the Christian value of service and how our Queen has served our country and the commonwealth for over seven decades which included her carrying out her state and national duties well into her 90s. We discussed how we can take inspiration from Queen Elizabeth II as she lived life in all its fullness just as our school vision encourages all of us at St Barnabas to do so. We then sang the national anthem. The first verse we honoured Queen Elizabeth II in heaven by singing ‘Queen’ and for the second verse, we sang it with ‘King’ to commemorate the new King, King Charles III. We ended our worship with some beautiful prayers from Sofia, Mason, Harlow and Seb who prayed for Queen Elizabeth II in heaven, King Charles III and the people of Ukraine. We also joined the choir in singing the song ‘Sing’ which was created by Gary Barlow to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom.
First week message from Mrs Ham
Good afternoon parents and carers, we have had a fantastic first week back at St Barnabas. We have loved seeing the children looking so smart in their school uniforms and they have been learning lots in their new classrooms. We started the week with a special celebration of our school being 50 years old and sadly ended the week celebrating the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. We had a lovely worship this morning where we sang the National Anthem together for the last time for the Queen and for the first time for the new King Charles III. Thank you to everyone who joined us this morning. In the coming days we will be creating a community prayer space, similar to the Pray for Ukraine prayer area where our school family can leave their thoughts and prayers for Her Majesty the Queen and her family. There is likely to be a bank holiday on the day of the funeral so school will be closed on that day. I will let you know as soon as I find out the date. For further information about what your child has been learning this week and about our special worship this morning, please see our news section on our website. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news or our individual class pages. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/classes-curriculum/class-pages On Monday we will be sending you further information about the curriculum that your child will be taught this half term and meet the teacher videos. For all upcoming events, please see the following page. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/events We wish you all a wonderful weekend with your loved ones. Take care and God bless the Queen, Mrs Ham
Celebration Worship- Fridays at 9.15am
Dear Parents and Carers, you are very welcome to join us for our Celebration Worship each Friday at 9.15am. Refreshments will be served in the hall from 8.45am. This week class teachers will be sharing how well the children have settled into their new classes. From next Friday we will be presenting awards to the child who receives the most Values Points in each class and there will also be class attendance awards. Parents will be contacted on the Wednesday evening and invited to Celebration Worship on Friday. Please send in any awards from home such as sporting clubs, library challenges etc and we will present them to the children and they can stand on the golden podium whilst our school family shows them how proud we are of them. Please note that the Reception class will not be joining us this Friday or next Friday as they are being settled into big school.
Year 6 Class Worship
Year 6 class worship on celebrating differences and how toys can be an amazing tool in order to achieve this.
Year 6 local history walk
A short walk to see where the old St Barnabas schools used to be located. This week we have celebrated the 50th year anniversary of our current St Barnabas school building.
Year 6- Passing and receiving in hockey
Year 6 getting to grips with passing and receiving in hockey.
Collective Worship- Our Values
This morning in worship, we started our worship by reading our school vision, ‘Achieving things through learning and growing together in a love-filled Christian family’ and ‘That they shall have life, life in all its fullness’ (John 10:10). We discussed what this meant and Eva and Harlow said that it means enjoying your life and making the most of it, Mason said it means trying hard and striving to do your best and Jake said it means being the best person that you can be and looking out for others. Mrs Ham then reminded us that in order to achieve our school vision and to make St Barnabas a special environment to grow and learn, we must follow our School Christian Values of courage, friendship, service, forgiveness, generosity, respect and encouragement and the British Values of Democracy, Rule of Law, Tolerance of those of different faiths and beliefs, Mutual Respect and Individual Liberty. We learnt how each finger on our hand refers to each individual British Value. Mrs Ham then explained that all members of our St Barnabas staff will be looking out for our children demonstrating these Christian Values and British Values and rewarding this behaviour. Please click to read more.....
Our First Whole School Worship- Celebrating 50 Years of St Barnabas
This morning, Years 1-6 gathered together for our first whole school worship of the new academic year and it was wonderful to have all of our children back together again looking smart in their school uniforms. Mrs Ham told us all that our current school building was 50 years old yesterday and this week we will be taking part in some activities to celebrate this. Please click to read more.....
First day fun!
What a super first day back in school! It’s been lovely to see the children’s huge smiles when meeting back up with their classmates! They have all settled brilliantly into their new classes and we are so proud of them.
Welcome back to school
Good morning parents and carers, we hope you and your child/ren have had a wonderful Summer holiday and have made some lovely memories together. Please click to read the rest.
Summer reading challenge
Don’t forget to sign your child up to the 2022 #SummerReadingChallenge at one of our local Darwen or Blackburn libraries. The challenge is FREE. If you send in your certificate in September, we will present it to your child in Celebration Worship. #welovetoread #summerfun
Year 6 Leavers Service
Thank you so much to the Year 6 parents and carers who joined us in church this morning for our Year 6 leavers service. Here is the memories video that I put together. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uoYNb7KAtck What an emotional day! Here are a few videos of our Year 6 celebrations. For all of the photos of the Leavers Services please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/year-6-leavers-service
Year 6 Oliver Production
On the hottest day on record, our Year 6 children put on a fabulous production of Oliver. They blew us away with their amazing acting, singing and dancing. We are so proud of how well each child learned their lines, encouraged each other and gave it their all. Wow, I am so incredibly proud of each and every single one of our amazing Year 6 children! What a way to end their time at St Barnabas! Thank you so much to their parents for the support with learning lines, songs and costumes. A huge thank you to Mr Prescott for his dedication and for working really hard with the children on their lines, acting and songs. Thanks to Miss Craig, Lily and Jack for their amazing props. Thank you to Mrs Wilkinson for filming and to our FOSB for serving much needed refreshments. I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching the children the songs although I don’t think I will get them out of my head for months. I’m sure you will be the same too. It’s been great to see them all let themselves go and enjoy themselves. Here is the link to the photos: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/oliver-production-year-6-2022 Here is the link to the video: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FJRaZf-_Ivg Our whole school family watched the dress rehearsal this morning and they loved it. Well done to all of Year 6 for a fantastic performance on the hottest day of the year!
Celebration Worship and End of Year Awards
Wow, what a celebration worship! We started off by saying a huge well done to The RotaKids for their fundraising efforts this year. Together with Miss Kachwalla and Mrs Lyons, they have raised an amazing £939.00. With this money, they have bought playground equipment for KS1 and KS2, board games for wet playtimes and donated money to Macmillan Cancer support, Christian Aid and East Lancs Hospice. We then had heard from our Reception to Year 5 teachers who presented their end of year awards for progress, star of the year and pupils’ pupil. A huge well done to all of these children, you have certainly worked extremely hard this year and deserve all the success that you have achieved. A special well done to Sophie in Year 4 for being awarded the Sharon Kay cup for Kindness. What an achievement! We then celebrated and said well done to our children who have achieved success out of school this week. We congratulated Freddie for winning a football tournament, Lyla-Grace who will be starting reception next year for her super tap dancing, Isaac for success at beavers, Lola who received a letter from the queen to say thank you for her jubilee celebration card, Lola, Scarlett, Penelope and Carmen for their swimming success, Eliza for her football and cricket success, Grace for her dance success, Archie for players’ player for football and his darts success and Amelia for her gymnastics success. We also said a huge well done to children who have achieved awards in school. We congratulated our Year 3, 4, 5 and 6 children who attended Witton athletics on Monday evening for wonderful sportsmanship, encouragement and coming 1st place, our Year 3 swimmers for their efforts this year during their swimming lessons and the Year 6 children said a very special thank you to Mrs Gardner for all of her time, continued effort and sports coaching during their time at St Barnabas. They brought her close to tears. Finally, we ended our worship with some beautiful prayers and a blessing from Lillian.
Monday worship: Hope
Today in our sunny outdoor Monday worship, we looked at the word ‘hope’. Mrs Ham read out a bible passage about hope. During these next few weeks, we will be thinking about our Year 6 and we hope they will continue to shine when they move to high school. We discussed our hopes. Lyla said that she hopes she can go in her paddling pool, Harry hopes that everyone has a roof over their heads, Dominic said he hopes that COVID stops and Aidan hopes to be a doctor. Mrs Ham shared a piece of artwork by Banksy that says ‘there is always hope’. Some children agreed with this but some children didn’t. Ella said “things don’t always go your way”. Instead of just saying ‘I hope’, we could do something to make things happen. We could also ask God for help if we ever think there is no hope. We ended our worship by singing ‘we need hope’.
Witton Athletics Winners
Go team Barnabas! We are so proud to have won the Witton Athletics competition tonight. We have never won this before and it’s always such a tough competition as we were up against several schools that are much larger than our school. It was great to be back with a bang after missing the last two years due to the pandemic. I am so immensely proud of each and every child that represented our school tonight as they behaved impeccably, ran brilliantly and encouraged each other in true St Barnabas spirit.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning in celebration worship, we heard from our Infant and Junior teachers about how all of our wonderful children have been living life in all its fullness and preparing to move up to their new year groups in September. We also heard about the amazing time that our Reception and Year 2 children had on their trip to Blackpool Tower and Blackpool Zoo and our Year 6 children on their recent trip to London. Well done to these year groups for making the most of the experiences and representing St Barnabas amazingly well. We heard from some of the children in Year 6 who shared their London highlights. Dominic enjoyed the absolutely incredible acting during the Matilda performance, Noah enjoyed the boat cruise and learning about all of the famous landmarks and Sienna enjoyed singing the national anthem outside Buckingham Palace. We then congratulated many of our children for their sporting achievements. In the infants, we celebrated James, Lottie and Grace with certificates for their swimming success, Martha for being the star of the week at gymnastics, Alice for super listening and concentration at Rainbows and Eliza for taking part in the Bolton Iron Kids 1K run last weekend and gaining 9th place. In the Juniors, we celebrated Ted on for his sports success at Turton young farmers and our Year 6 Bee Stinger Netball Team who represented Blackburn with Darwen at Lancashire School Games on Tuesday. Mrs Gardner commented that the team embraced the experience and had a blast. Finally, we ended with some beautiful prayers from Mason, Seb and Lily and a blessing from Lillian. Also, just a reminder that it is our St Barnabas Summer Fair. FOSB have been working incredibly hard to make this a success and they look forward to welcoming you all tomorrow for a fun filled day on the school field.
Monday Worship: The Lord’s Prayer
Today we discussed where the Lord’s Prayer came from. It is a special prayer that Jesus taught his disciples. We discussed how we will hear this throughout our lives. To start our worship, we said the Lord’s Prayer altogether. We then discussed what this prayer meant in more detail. We discussed what having the best Daddy in the world would be like. David said “funny”, Mathew said “helpful”, Dominic said “cool”, Jacob said “playful”, Kaylen said “someone who listens” and Elsie said “brave”. Mrs Ham continued and said someone who is strong, patient, gentle and dependable. Everyone in the whole world has a special Dad in heaven. God is there to support you, help you and will always listen to you. Today we watched a video called ‘The Prodigal son’. We learnt that one son spent the money on nice clothes, a holiday, parties and nice food. After he has spent all of his money, he had to go back to his dad. He felt miserable, full of regret and embarrassed. Instead of his Dad punishing him, he welcomed him back with open arms. His Dad forgave him for his actions. Mrs Ham explained that in the Lord’s Prayer, we ask for forgiveness when we do things wrong. God will always forgive us as long as we ask for forgiveness and learn from our mistakes. We reflected today on how sometimes we use God’s name inappropriately. We need to think carefully about how we use those words as they are very special and very holy. We then watched a video of the parable of the mustard seed. We discussed what we think about heaven. Grace said “dreamy”, Lily said “calm”, David said “fluffy clouds”, Ella said “peaceful” and Seb said “comfortable”. The mustard seed grew into a big bush and all of the birds were welcome to come to it. This is just like heaven where everybody is welcome. Small things can make a huge difference. This links with our kindness tree, small acts of kindness can make a huge difference and our school can reflect heaven on earth. This week we will focus on how we can live life in all its fullness just like God would want us to. We ended our worship by singing ‘The Mustard Seed’.
Celebration Worship
This morning in celebration worship, we heard from our EYFS, KS1 and KS2 teachers about how we have been living life in all its fullness. All of our teachers mentioned how all of the children showed wonderful resilience and encouragement at our sports day last week. We then celebrated some sports achievements that have been happening in school. On Tuesday, we had three of our Year 5 children take part in a gymnastics competition at St Bedes and on Thursday, we had some boys attend the Year 4 Football Festival at Green Lane. Both teams represented school amazing well and showed true St Barnabas spirit. Then we celebrated some out of school sports awards. In the infants, we awarded Lyla in with a certificate for swimming 15m without armbands, Elliott for player of the week at football, Alexis for super listening at Rainbows, Eliza for achieving brilliance in her horse grooming, Annabelle for improving her speed in cycling and Eden for attending the Jubilee Sports Day in the Lake District. In the the Juniors, we celebrated Archie, Ross and Charlie for their footballing abilities . They played at a tournament in Blackburn and got to the finals for Mill Hill Juniors. They didn’t come first but they got the fair play award which is absolutely amazing- Well done boys! We also congratulated Manni for achieving a yellow belt in jiu jitsu. Finally, Lillian ended our worship. She asked us what we were thankful for and we said thank you for our teachers and school staff, our houses, our amazing world, our school, our trees, everyone that is alive, churches, our families, our food and drink, our toys and teddies. We also said a beautiful blessing, ‘May God bless you and keep you.’
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Darwen Library- Summer Reading Challenge 2022
This morning, Angela who works at Darwen library visited school to invite us all to participate in ‘The Summer Reading Challenge 2022.’ The challenge is free of charge and involves children reading 6 library books between 1st July and 30th September, including picture books and audio books. There are various prizes awarded for each book that is read and returned, and those who complete the challenge will receive a certificate and a medal. If your child completes the challenge, we would love for them to be bring these into school so that we can present them during whole school celebration worship. Anglea told us that there is something for everyone at the library. However, if there is a specific book that the children are looking for but they don’t have it, it’s her promise that they will get it for them on request. If your child does not yet have a library card, the library can quickly and easily enrol them as a library member for free and no ID is required. Children without library cards may still join the Summer Reading Challenge, please enquire at Darwen Library about this. We hope that as many of our children as possible will take on the challenge. Happy reading!
Sports Day KS2
What a fantastic morning we have had taking part in Sports Day 2022. We have all been looking forward to getting our parents and carers back to support…..and take part in the adult races……..very enthusiastically! Well done to each and everyone of you that took part, the gold medal winners, the winning house team -River Darwen Blues and a special thanks to Mrs Ham for being an amazing compère, crowd pleaser and super fun host! So very proud of Team B _ you all totally smashed it and had huge smiles on your faces whilst doing so!
Year 6 London Thames River Cruise
Our Year 6 children enjoyed seeing some of the famous sights of London from the River Thames. They also learnt about the history of the buildings from our tour guide. Can you spot any you know?
Buckingham Palace & St Jame’s Park
We’ve just had a singalong of the National Anthem in front of Buckingham Palace! We’ve learnt so much from our guide Liz.
Natural History Museum
We had a quick whistle stop tour of the natural history museum and some children spent some of their money in the gift shop. We managed to see Dippy the dinosaur too.
London Sightseeing Tour
We have seen lots of sights around London and have been learning all about the History of London from our tour guide Liz.
Food, glorious food!
Year 6 have shared some lovely meal times together in London in parks, restaurants and the hotel. It’s been wonderful to see them developing their independence and conversational skills before moving on to high school. And of course we’ve had several renditions of ‘Food, glorious food’ from our upcoming Oliver production!
Matilda West End Workshop
Year 6 had a great time working on their drama skills at the Matilda West end workshop in London! They then got to meet a member of the Matilda cast and ask her questions. They are really looking forward to watching Matilda this evening at the Cambridge Theatre.
Year 6 watch Matilda in the West End
Year 6 enjoyed a lovely meal together in Covent Garden and watched some of the street entertainers. They then watched Matilda the Musical at the Cambridge Theatre in the West End. We had the first four front rows so were so close to the stage. The children’s faces were priceless as they were so mesmerised by the production and in particular the child actors and actresses. We hope it’s given them some ideas and confidence for their Oliver production.
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 6 French
Today Year 6 have worked hard in French, focusing on foods which people like and dislike. They also applied previous learning on link words within sentences.
Year 6 Art
This week during art, year 6 looked at what needs to be considered before starting a piece of art. We compared 2 artists styles and thought about their view point. Our drawings started with a focus on the ‘natural forms’ included and created our image of London also considering the scale and content.
Year 6 Science
During science we conducted and experiment, our goal was to see how animals adapt and camouflage to aid in their development to ensure survival. We collected coloured sticks to highlight that the camouflaged sticks were harder to find and so were more likely to survive as their less likely to be eaten and can then breed. We then took this information and displayed it on our bar charts.
Auditions for Oliver
Year 6 production auditions have taken place this morning. Children have been given time during Junior Jam to work on their parts and we have been busy working on the songs from the show in the hall. We're so excited to move onto building the scenes once the parts are cast.
Friday Celebration Worship
This week in celebration worship, we heard from our class teachers about how we have been living life in all its fullness. We also congratulated our Year 1 children on completing their phonics screening check and our Year 4 children on completing their times table check with nothing other than courage and determination. We then celebrated all things sports. We celebrated a huge variety of out of school individual award successes. Well to done to Lennox, Albert, Lola, Sofia and Charlie for their swimming successes, Jack for trying new foods at Butterflies after school club, Eliza for her duathlon and football, Elliott for his football, Isaac for his biking, Harry for his goal keeping and Mathew for playing football against various academies. We also celebrated the success that we’ve been having with our sports achievements in school and there has been a lot! Well done to our High 5s netball team who will be representing BwD borough in the Lancashire School Games in July, Our DPSSA netball silver medalists after their success last night at DVHS, our DPSSA cross country team who have recently completed three very gruelling courses over the past few months and were presented with both individual and group medals as well as coming 2nd overall as a team, our Year 3/4 Quad kids team who came 3rd place out of 14 schools, our Year 6 orienteering team who came 5th out of 14 schools and our gifted and talented netball players who took part in a session at BRFC on Monday. Wow, Team B are unstoppable! Finally, we needed our worship with some lovely prayers and a sing along.
DPSSA Netball Finals Night
Hugely proud of our netball team this evening! They were silver medalists in the DPSSA Netball finals at DVHS. True Barnies spirit, resilience and team work paid off. Well done Team B!
Junior Jam
This morning year 6 used a variety of instruments to follow beats in music, the level of difficulty increased as they worked their way through. Although the classroom was a little noisy, much fun was had and they were given the opportunity to perform their piece at the end of the lesson.
Year 6 RE
Today during RE, year 6 have been thinking about the impact of how the Bible teachings can deepen our understanding of God. We then moved on to consider different perspectives, focusing on the story of ‘The tower of Babel’, how people of that time would react to the story compared to us today.
Orienteering Competition @ Witton
Well done to our Year 6 Orienteering Squad who took part in the BwD competition at Witton Park today. The teams worked together, showed perseverance and sportsmanship to achieve great things. We had some super times and look forward to hearing the results!
Gifted and talented netball at BRFC
What a great start to the summer term. Three of our Year 6 girls took part in a gifted and talented netball session down at BRFC. The girls had a great time practising their netball skills and played a number of games. A representative from West Pennine netball also spoke to them all about joining West Pennine Netball Club, who train at Darwen Vale on Saturday mornings. If you would like your child to join, please email [email protected] or contact their facebook page. They have sessions for girls from reception class upwards.
Smoothie Roadshow
Today Year 5 and 6 have taken part in a ‘smoothie roadshow’. Here they learnt some facts about certain fruits, rode the bike to power the blender and tried the smoothie they made.
Kooth Workshop- Year 6
Today Year 6 have had a session with Kooth, here we spoke about changes, in particular moving to high school. Kooth spoke about the resources on their websites showing how they can benefit the children while changes are happening or if they are experiencing worries. We spoke about self care and how we can look after our mental health in a positive way. The children asked some brilliant questions today and were very respectful of each others comments throughout. For further information please see the following website: https://www.kooth.com/
Year 6 Art
Today Year 6 have been looking at the works of Wayne Thiebaud. They have recreated Artwork in his ‘birds eye view’ style and developed their pencil sketches using charcoal.
BwD Netball ( High 5s) Finals
So very proud of our Bee Stinger netball Squad. After 5 full on games this evening, they only went on to WIN! Word can’t express how excited we are to see them go on to represent the borough at The Lancashire School Games in July ! Teamwork makes the dream work! #GoTeamB
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!
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.
Year 6 Science
Today year 6 are creating an animal which they have designed using plasticine. They needed to consider what the animal might need depending on their environment and Think about how the animal has adapted to live there.
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.
DPSSA Netball League
A beautiful evening and some wonderful netball played. We played our final group stage fixtures tonight and won both games with scores of 24-0 and 9-1. The team were on fire and now we have topped our group table, we will go onto the grand final in a few weeks. So proud of your spirit, encouragement and determination! Go Team B
Year 6 Prevent Workshop
Today Year 6 have taken part in a ‘Prevent Workshop’. The focus was ‘radicalisation’. There were lots of big words used throughout the discussions, for example, manipulation, grooming and extremism. As a class they were very mature, asking some great questions and engaged well with the topic. Well done Year 6!
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.
Year 6 RE
Today Year 6 have taken part in a class discussion, thinking of words they would choose to describe God. They have then chosen which Art supplies they would like to create a card depicting their chosen word.
The Lily Jo Project - KS2 Workshop
We had the pleasure of taking part in The Lily Jo project Workshop this morning. It taught us all about being a hero of our own mental health. Physical Health Spiritual Health Mental Health HERO actually stands for: H- Help others E- Exercise R- Relaxing O- Opening up We had such an awesome time dancing and singing along . We want to remember the very important phrase- You being you, makes me feel YEY! Be yourself and shine your light #mental health #mindmatters #mentalhealthawareness #thelilyjoproject
FOSB Summer Fayre
Calling all local business, youth clubs, charities, entertainers (ALL STALLS WELCOME!!!)
DPSSA Netball
A huge CONGRATULATIONS to our netball team who have had another super evening taking part in the DPSSA Netball League @ DVHS. Some fantastic play and great teamwork saw them come away with two awesome victories of 9-0 and 8-0.
KS2 SATS
The children have all enjoyed their pre SATS continental breakfast this morning. We have been blown away by their calm demeanours and positive attitudes towards this week, you are all absolute superstars!
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!
Our first School Council Team Meeting
This week, we held our first school council meeting with our Communication Team made up of Year 5 and Year 6 pupils. We discussed the expectations of our Communication Team and analysed the results from our whole school Class Meeting Question. We found that the school believes that the best way to help our planet is to stop littering and we talked about what we could do as a school to support that. We set out the key roles within our Team and set the next question ready for the school to discuss in the coming weeks. We are excited to see what positive changes we can drive forward by giving everyone a voice in school.
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.
Year 6 PE Tennis Skills
Today Year 6 have been working on their tennis skills, focusing on control and working up to rallies over a net.
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.
Year 6 Science
Today Year 6 have been converting data collected from a tally chart into a bar chart.
Year 6 English
Year 6 have been working hard on Editing their setting descriptions, their have had to ensure all learning practice is appropriately included in their writing.
Interactive Transitioning Session
Today Year 6 took part in an interactive transitioning session with St Wilfrids and Darwen Vale. They were able to ask Year 7’s from each school any questions they had and spoke openly about any worries or concerns they might have regarding starting high school. The staff and children from St Wilfrids And Darwen Vale were brilliant and even those children not attending these schools learnt a lot about what is to come.
DPSSA Cross Country
Another wonderful afternoon at The DPSSA Cross Country race. Fantastic performance by Team B across all age groups. Everyone showed true St Barnabas spirit, determination and perseverance on a very tricky course. Superb results and so proud of each squad member.
St George’s Day Worship
As we entered worship today, we listened to ‘Jerusalem’. On Saturday it was St George’s day. We discussed what we think of when we think about England. Carlton said “football”, Ted said “the sea”, Jake said “Formula 1” and Oscar said “our home” to name a few! We looked at a few favourites from England which included apple crumble, roast beef dinner, cups of tea, Charles Dickens, the white cliffs of Dover and Stonehenge. We looked at how things have changed in England. In the past, ladies did jobs at home whereas now ladies can have careers. We used to have lots of factories for workers but now many people work in jobs to provide services. We learnt about St George. St George died from what he believed in. He believed in God and St George stood up for what was right. We looked at our British values and how we follow them in school. We discussed how we are tolerant, how we respect each other, how our opinions are important, how we can make our own choices and how we need to follow the rules in school. During our reflection we thought about when we have had to show courage. This week we re going to focus on showing courage and standing up for what is right.
Money Matters Visit
Today Year 6 welcomed a visitor into their classroom, Mr Souter, who led a session around budgeting. Here year 6 took part in class discussions around, wants and needs, understanding the importance of having a ‘surplus’ income and what can happen if we overspend. Year 6 were very mature throughout, asking relevant questions and will hopefully use this information wisely when it comes to their own spending/ saving.
Celebration Worship
Today, we welcomed our parents back to Celebration Worship after two years. It was wonderful to have you all back. We then introduced our whole school worship by talking about Earth Day. We discussed how it's important to show respect to the earth as God created it for us. We were especially proud of Year 2 who did some litter picking around Darwen yesterday during their local area walk in Geography, and our other classes are looking forward to some further reflection on the importance of looking after the earth in their classes later today. We then celebrated some in and out of school achievements. We heard from our class teachers about how our children are living life in all its fullness. We said thank you to some boys across school who came into school in the holidays to take part in a darts competition and we also said a huge thank you to WOW group for their success in leading their first messy church on Tuesday this week. Well done WOW group! We then celebrated some individual sports superstars. Well done to Archie in Year 4 for his darts and football achievements, Jason, Lennox, Cassidy and Isaac for their swimming success, Cassidy for her gymnastics success, Olivia for very good listening and being sensible at rainbows and Mason for his dance talent . We had some notices from Mrs Govan and our Head and Deputy Head girl. Mrs Govan told us about the competition that is currently running linked to the Queen's Jubilee. Please see Class Dojo for further details. Our Head and Deputy Head girl told us about the new playtime equipment that they have ordered with some of the money that we raised as a school from the movie nights before half term. Finally, we ended our worship with some lovely prayers from Lily and Mason.
Parents’ evening -thank you!
Thank you to everyone who attended parents’ evening last night. We had 89% of our parents attend which was great. It was lovely to welcome you back into school again and we hope you enjoyed hearing how your child has progressed since the last parents’ evening in December. Thank you for your patience when waiting for appointments and for your ongoing support. If you weren’t able to attend last night, please contact class teachers via class dojo to arrange a phone call or meeting. A quick reminder that parents and carers are now welcome to join us for our Family Celebration Worship on Friday mornings. Refreshments will be available from 8.55am and worship will start at 9.15am. We look forward to seeing you.
Year 6 Science
Today Year 6 have been discussing what ‘inheritance’ means and where we biologically get our traits from. If they are simply inherited from our families, influenced by our environment, or a mixture of both.
Year 6 RE
Year 6 spoke about what the word ‘Messiah’ might mean to different people and why. Thinking about their own beliefs and the views of others.
Tuesday Collective Worship
Today, we recapped what happened at the last supper. Jesus gave a commandment on Maundy Thursday. He told everybody to “love one another as I have loved you”. Jesus also told everybody to live life in all its fullness. We should give our kindness to everybody, do good things and have fun! We watched ‘the super cool story of Jesus’. The video reminded us that Jesus gave his life and love so we can really live. Jesus came onto earth to show us how God loves. We discussed how we can live life to the full. Archie said “we can live in peace”, Emily said “we can live in harmony”, David said “we need to take care of ourselves”, Mason said “we can show love” and Ruby has cut her hair and given it to charity to spread kindness. Ruby also slept out to raise money for the homeless. She has shown how we can live life in all its fullness- we are very proud of how she has put other people first. We ended our worship by listening to a biblical story called ‘no more crying’. This week, we need to think about how we can love one another and how we can forgive others who may upset us. We also need to think about how we can live life in all its fullness.
Darwen Rotary Club - Create a gift for the Queen Competition
Good Morning, As you can see from the poster, we have a fantastic competition being run by Darwen Rotary Club, and we would love for the children in our school to take part. We are inviting the children to create a gift for the Queen to celebrate her Platinum Jubilee, this is to be completed at home. The gift can be of any style they wish. We are looking for originality and inspiration from the children. Possible ideas are a poem, a song, a model, a piece of artwork - the list goes on! Please can all gifts be completed and brought into school ready for judging by Wednesday 11th May. We will judge the best 10 pieces for KS1 and the best 10 for KS2 and then arrange for a Rotarian to call into school and choose the final 3 winners for each category. There will be prizes for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places from each Key Stage. All the winning entries from each school will then go on display in Darwen Market Hall on the Jubilee Bank Holiday Weekend, and on Saturday 4th June, 2 overall winners (1 for KS1 and 1 for KS2) will be selected from all the 1st place entries and the winners will win a tiled mural for their school! This is a very exciting opportunity and we would love for our children to get involved, if you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to ask. We look forward to seeing some fantastic gifts for the Queen! Mrs Govan- Art and Design Leader
Summer 1 After school clubs
Here are the clubs available next half term. They can be booked on parent pay and are on a first come first serve basis. For further information and photos for last term's clubs, please click on the following link. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/academy-life/clubs
FOSB Easter egg decorating competition
A huge well done to the winners of the FOSB Easter egg decorating competition. We were overwhelmed with the time and effort that had been put in. Mrs Ham, Mrs Price and Mrs Wilkinson found it very difficult to judge. Thank you so much to Mrs Isherwood for presenting the prizes and to all of the FOSB volunteers for organising the competition and buying every child a chocolate bunny.
Happy Easter to our whole school family!
It wouldn't be Easter at St Barnabas without a visit from the Spring Chicken! Who do you think it was this year? Please click on the links to see the fun we had during our Easter singalong this afternoon. What a brilliant way to end such a wonderful term! Spring Chicken: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neQs54K6Xec Give me oil in my lamp: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iSHy7KNuEes We have a King who rides a donkey: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRaTXCw5Dko On behalf of all of our staff team I would like to wish you all a wonderful Easter half term holiday. See you all on Tuesday 19th April. Take care and God bless, Mrs Ham
Year 6 Rose garden walk
Today Year 6 had a walk up to the Rose Garden. Our school have displayed Easter Art work for the community to enjoy. Year 6 really enjoyed spotting the Art work they had created.
FOSB Easter egg decorating competition!
Thank you to all of the children who have entered our FOSB Easter egg decorating competition. Winners will be announced tomorrow! ⭐️
Movie Night - Year 5 - RotaKids
The Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6 classes had such a good night. The children enjoyed their pre-ordered meal whilst watching the magical and enchanted Disney film ‘Encanto’.
RE
Today Year 6 have had a respectful discussion regarding appropriate words they can use to describe Jesus, reflecting his actions. They then built on these words by giving an explanation to justify their opinion.
Whole School Celebration Worship
Today for our Celebration worship we celebrated lots of achievements across school. We have come to the end of our Kindness Challenges, but talked about how important it is to continue to show the kindness we have been showing the last few weeks, even without our daily reminders. Our cross country team shared their achievements from the DPSSA cross country competition yesterday, with some of the boys and girls winning 1st and 2nd place - Well done! We also had many children sharing their own personal sporting awards in horse riding, Olympic sport clubs, martial arts and a pentathlon. All of our class teachers shared how the children have been living life in all its fullness through our curriculum this week, with talks of perseverance, diversity, success and ensuring we show respect to everyone in school. What another brilliant week!
Year 6 Geography
Today Year 6 have been looking at ‘population pyramids’. Identifying patterns and thinking about reasons why populations are affected. Considering genders, resources and ages.
Year 6 Writing
Year 6 have been building their writing skills by incorporating figurative language. They were encouraged to edit their own work, making improvements where needed.
DPSSA Cross Country Race
The DPSSA Cross Country event took place this evening at Darwen Vale High School and Team B were quality. We came 1st place in both the Year 3/4 Girls and Y5/6 races and a 2nd in the boys Year 3/4 race. As a team, we got lots of top ten place finishers who showed true grit and determination when tackling the course. All the hard work in training sessions has paid off and it was an absolute pleasure to watch.
Year 6 PE
Yesterday year 6 worked on their ball control using tennis balls and bats. They worked both independently and also in pairs to practice controlled force and hand eye coordination.
Palm Sunday Worship
Today we learnt about Palm Sunday. When Jesus entered Jerusalem, he didn’t arrive in a fancy carriage but on a little donkey. People waved palm branches and were so pleased to see him. Many people gave him a warm welcome but some people were not impressed and were filled with feelings of jealousy. Mason said they could be feeling cross and Leonora said they could be angry. We helped Mrs Ham retell the story of Palm Sunday. Mrs Ham showed everybody a palm shaped as a cross. The crowd shouted Hosanna to welcome Jesus. Later in the week, leaders who were angry turned people against Jesus and he was crucified. This was all in God’s plan and on Easter Sunday, Jesus rose from the dead. In times of sadness, we can all be kind to cheer everybody up. Our Wow group led our singing and we sang ‘ We have a king who rides a donkey’.
Judas betraying Jesus
Year 6 have used their Art printing skills in RE today. Using a painting which depicts Judas giving Jesus a kiss on the cheek, revealing his identity, which lead to his arrest.
Online safety warning- Huggy Wuggy
Dear parents and carers, we wanted to make you aware of a character named ‘Huggy Wuggy’ that some of the children are talking about. Please see the photo and links for further information. https://www.parents.com/news/what-parents-need-to-know-about-huggy-wuggy-and-the-poppy-playtime-game-taking-over-elementary-schools/ https://oursaferschools.co.uk/2021/12/03/poppy-playtime-online-safety-review/
Celebration Worship- Living life in all its fullness
It was wonderful to hear from all of our class teachers this morning how their class has been 'achieving great things' and 'living life in all its fullness' this week. We have had several visitors in school this week including an author, two dentists, a radiographer and the Dog's Trust and we were so proud to hear how the children welcomed them into school and showed them kindness. We also reflected on how we can show the special ladies in our lives how much we love them and say a big thank you for everything they do for us. Wishing all of our mummies and grandmas a lovely Mother's Day on Sunday. What another fantastic week at St Barnabas! To see the powerpoint from today's worship, please click on the following link. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/about-us/church-and-worship#tab-4370
Junior Jam
Year 6 took part in singing, music and computing, during their Junior Jam session.
Commonwealth Baton Relay Handover to St Pauls
Following the collection of the baton from St Peter’s yesterday, our Year 6 Heads and Deputies took charge with the handover to St. Paul’s today. Year 5, Year 4, Year 2 and Reception made flags and banners to cheer them on their journey. We can’t wait for the games to start now and have loved the experience! Thanks @LancSchoolGames #Lancsbatonrelay22
A visit from The Dogs Trust in Key Stage 2
We had a lovely gentleman called Andrew visit us today in KS2. Andrew works for The Dogs Trust who care for 14,000 dogs in 22 rehoming centres across the country. We looked at when it is best to leave dogs alone and give them space and safe, positive behaviours around dogs. A huge thank you from us to Andrew and Dougie the mascot dog.
Dog Trust
Today years 3, 4, 5 & 6 had a visitor, Andrew from the Dog Trust. Andrew spoke all about safety around dogs. How all dogs have their own personalities, fears and worries and what their reactions might be. Also how to safely approach dogs and that we need to give dogs choices to keep ourselves and the dogs safe.
Commonwealth baton relay
This afternoon we welcomed the commonwealth baton relay to St Barnabas. St Peter's handed the baton over to us and tomorrow morning we will deliver the baton to St Paul's. The baton is being passed around schools all around the country to celebrate the upcoming commonwealth games being hosted in Birmingham. Our sports leaders accepted the baton from St Peters and they were greeted by Years 1, 3 and 6 waving commonwealth nation flags.
Receiving The Commonwealth Games Baton
Today we had the privilege in taking part in the Commonwealth Games Baton Relay as part of the lead up to the Commonwealth Games which will take place in Birmingham this year. We received the baton from St Peters this afternoon, with our Year 6 Sports Leaders in charge of the safe hand over. Year 6, Year 3 and Year 1 classes were there to provide a warm welcome and wave their flags. Tomorrow, Year 5, Year 4, Year 2 and Reception class will be there to wave the baton onto its next journey to St Pauls Hoddlesden. What an experience! Thanks @LancSchoolGames #Lancsbatonrelay22
Year 6 Science- heart rate
Year 6 have been learning about their heart rate in Science.
Collective Worship led by WOW group
Today our worship was led by our WOW group who previously took suggestions from our whole school about what they enjoy about worship such as acting out and singing and incorporated these into their Easter worship. The WOW group retold the following parts of the Eater story: Good Friday, The Last Supper, The Garden of Gethsemane, The Road to Calvary, The Crucifixion and The Resurrection. Following on from this, they quizzed the whole school on questions linked to The Easter Story. For answer A, the children had to put their hands on their heads and for answer B, they had to put their hands on their shoulders. The whole school really enjoyed being quizzed on the story. We ended the worship with the whole school singing ‘Lord of the Dance.’ Thank you for a wonderful worship WOW group.
FOSB Mother’s Day Gift Shop
The children have all really enjoyed visiting the Friends of St Barnabas Mother’s Day gift shop today. Every child will be bringing something home for a special lady in their life. A huge thank you to our FOSB members for making it a huge success.
Year 6 RE
Year 6 have been learning more about the Jewish Festival of Passover this week in Religious Education.
Y6 French
Year 6 French with Madame Woodcock! This week they have been learning how to say what they have had for their breakfast in French.
DPSSA Swimming Champions
Huge congratulations to our swimming team who were crowned DPSSA Swimming Champions at Darwen Swimming Gala on Friday evening. What a huge achievement! The children once again showed true sportsmanship, courage and determination. St Barnabas have never lifted this trophy before and it was amazing to see our children loving every second of the celebrations. Lots of gold medals, including girls backstroke, girls freestyle, girls medley relay and freestyle relay plus a silver in the boys backstroke. Proud is an understatement. Go Team B you absolute superstars!
Art Club- Years 5 and 6
Artwork inspired by Wassily Kandinsky.
Whole School Worship- Supporting Ukraine Day
Today in collective worship, we were joined by the Worshipful, the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Councillor Derek Hardman as we gathered together for our ‘Support for Ukraine’ day. Our whole school were either dressed in yellow and blue to reflect the colours of the Ukraine flag or red to support The Red Cross who we are supporting today through raising money for Ukraine. Our heads and deputy heads led our whole school worship today. They made us all think about what essentials we need to survive such as food, water, homes, safety, warmth, love and kindness. This led them on to a discussion about how people all over the world are stepping up to help Ukraine at the moment as they are having to escape their country and leave behind their homes, schools, family members, toys and other possessions. They made the whole school reflect on how they must be feeling and we came up with feelings such as devastated, terrified, heartbroken and worried. We watched a video and looked at how Poland are helping Ukraine at the moment by providing the refugees with a warm welcome, houses, toiletries, schools and friendship. We then talked about how the smallest act of kindness can save a life and how we are very proud of the children in our whole school. We said a huge thank you to Neve, William and Lily for showing our Christian values of generosity, service and friendship during this Ukraine crisis. Neve came up with an idea to make and sell cakes and William will be selling lots of bath bombs to our whole school family. They will be donating the money that they make in school today to The Red Cross. Lily asked for shower gels, shampoo and shower gel which her family friend will be taking over to Ukraine as they are short of these essentials at the moment. We also said a huge well done to our whole school for making such an effort with their clothing, giving donations of toiletries and donating money on Parent Pay. The heads and deputy heads shared how our whole school donations will help to fund hot food, hot drinks, chlorine tablets, toiletries including nappies , medical supplies and lots of other essentials for Ukraine. They also shared a message of hope for the refugees. They made us aware of some well known refugees who had to flee their home but have gone on to achieve amazing things such as Jesus, Mo Farah, Rita Ora, Judith Kerr and Magid Magid. We also heard from two of our very own incredible St Barnabas children, Aisha and Hamza, who told us their experiences of being refugees. They told us about how their family were brought to England by The Red Cross who decided it was much too dangerous to stay in their hometown in Somalia. We felt very proud of the courage they showed in sharing their story with the rest of the school and we feel incredibly proud of them. Finally, we ended our worship by celebrating some out of school awards from Luca, Summer and Finn for darts, gymnastics and donating hair to The Prince’s Trust. We also heard from the Mr Mayor. He told us about how schools are his favourite places to visit and how he was very proud of the efforts from the children, parents and staff of St Barnabas for their efforts in supporting Ukraine.
Arithmetic Paper
Year 6 have been working hard practicing their arithmetic, by completing a Sats Paper Under formal conditions.
Year 6- Junior Jam
Year 6 had a great morning with their Junior Jam teachers.
Design Technology
Year 6 have been using paper to test strength in design and technology.
Support for Ukraine Day
Good morning parents and carers, we are trying to do as much as possible at St Barnabas to make a difference to the lives of those affected by the conflict in Ukraine. The children suggested that we can pray for peace in Ukraine and can ask God to look over all of the boys and girls in Ukraine. Therefore we have created a community prayer space at the front of our school and each child in school has added a blue or yellow ribbon and said or written a prayer. There are extra ribbons in a basket on the pavement side for parents, carers and members of our community to add a ribbon and say a prayer too so please feel free to add a ribbon. On Friday we will be having our special 'Support for Ukraine Day'. The Worshipful, the Mayor of Blackburn with Darwen Borough Council, Councillor Derek Hardman will be joining us for a special Worship and will be adding a ribbon to our community 'Pray for Ukraine' prayer space. Children may come to school dressed in blue and yellow or red as we will be supporting the British Red Cross. Donations to the British Red Cross can be made via parent pay. For every £1.00 we raise, the Government will match this. It has been wonderful to see several of our children coming forwards with their own ideas to raise money for the British Red Cross. Neve in Year 2 will be selling cakes as her friends and family have kindly donated cakes and our infants will also be making cakes. These can be purchased on parent pay at 50p. Any left over cakes will be sold after school on the infant yard. William in Year 6 will be selling the type of bombs we like to hear about- bath bombs. There will be a bath bomb lucky dip for £1.00 which is also available on parent pay. Any leftover bath bombs will also be sold after school. Lily in Year 6 has asked for donations of shampoo, shower gel or hair brushes. These will be taken to Ukraine next week. Please help us to support Ukraine by donating what you can. Together we can really make a difference. Many thanks for your support, Mrs Ham
Year 6 PE
Year 6 PE building balancing techniques and incorporating apparatus into their routines.
Pray for Ukraine- Juniors
Our juniors added their prayers of peace for Ukraine this afternoon to our community prayer space at the front of our school. We have left a box of ribbons for our parents, grandparents, carers and members of our community to add a ribbon and say their own prayer of peace for Ukraine.
Friday 11th March Celebration Worship
Today, we started off by reflecting on Monday’s worship when we read the story of ‘Jesus Feeding the 5000,’ and thought about how nothing is too small to share. The children shared some examples of things that can be shared such as food, clothes and kindness. Kindness is always important at our school but particularly at the moment as we are currently completing ‘The 30 Days of Kindness Challenge,’ as a school. We reflected on the kindness challenges for this week which were helping an elderly member of our community, asking people how their day has been, asking someone if you can help when they’re upset, helping the teacher to hand out and collect in books. Today’s challenge is making a thank you card for someone. The children said they would make one for their teachers including their after school club teachers, their older siblings, their parents and Mr Tierney (our site supervisor). We then celebrated some in school achievements. We heard from our class teachers, the librarians announced our World Book Day competition winners for the books bunting and Mrs Ham presented the winners of the Blackburn Rovers Gifted and Talented completion to four of our Year 3 boys who showed a wonderful attitude and brilliant sportsmanship. We followed on from this with out of school achievements such as swimming, football, rainbows, young farmers rifle shooting and sailing. Finally, the heads and deputies shared a reminder about showing respect for the playground equipment and Lily in Year 6 shared a way of us helping Ukraine by bringing shampoo, body wash and hairbrushes next Friday. She will collect these in and pass them on to someone she knows who is travelling to Ukraine.
Year 6 Science
Year 6 investigating how the heart moves blood around the body.
Year 6 Geography
Investigating how changes can influence birth and death rates.
Year 6 R.E.
How does the Seder meal help Jews to remember the festival of Passover?
Year 6 P.E.- balancing
Developing sequences and using counter tension and counter balances.
World Book Day
Developing setting descriptions using ‘Journey’ by Aaron Becker as a stimulus. Using printing skills to produce a collaborative piece of art work to illustrate our chosen setting.
Year 6- Gymnastics
Year 6 have been working on their balancing skills in PE.
Year 6- Junior Jam
Year 6 had a great Wellbeing Wednesday learning how to play the ukulele in music and had fun on the tablets in computing.
Year 6 RE- Passover
Year 6 have been continuing their work on Passover, here looking at the Seder meal and linking it to the Exodus.
Year 6 RE
In RE Year 6 have been discussing the events of Passover and considering their own significant events and why they are to be remembered.
French colours in Year 6
Year 6 have been recapping colours in French this week.
Y6 Geography- Focusing on population
Year 6 have been learning about population, density and it’s effects in Geography this week.
World Book Day- Different teacher story time & fair trade hot chocolate
This afternoon each class enjoyed a story read by a different teacher whilst snuggled up in their pyjamas drinking fair trade hot chocolate and marshmallows. We love reading at St Barnabas!
Year 6- World Book Day
Year 6 had a brilliant day celebrating World Book Day, they started a creative writing piece, did some image printing, read stories and were even treated to a hot chocolate!
Friday Whole School Worship
Today in worship, we reflected on our the kindness challenges that we have completed this week such as washing our hands, wiping our feet and helping to tidy up our classrooms and houses. We talked about why we should be kind and looked at our new kindness tree in the hall where we can add examples of kindness that we have seen and shown. This led us onto a discussion about Russia invading Ukraine and how Putin isn’t showing kindness. We talked about how places such as America and the UK are coming together to support Ukraine through sanctioning Russia to encourage them to stop the fighting and resume peace once again as we want to keep the people of Ukraine safe. We also talked about how we ourselves can support Ukraine through asking God to watch over the people of Ukraine and keeping them all in our prayers. We had a look at how we can use our fingers to pray for different things such as people who are closest to us, people who are poorly and people who are in charge of our country. We also had ideas such as donating clothes to refugees and giving refugees a warm welcome. Finally, we ended with some sports award celebrations. Well done to our Years 3 and 4 and Years 5 and 6 sports hall competitors and our individual sports winners. The sports leaders also announced the winners for the inter-house dodgeball competition which was India Mill (red team).
Cross Country Club
What a great way to start our new term with our new cross country club! Mud, mud everywhere. The children were amazing and really pushed themselves to achieve their best.
Amazing Art
Reception, Year 1, Year 5 and Year 6’s amazing art work is up in our Art Gallery in the hall. They have been focusing on different artists and different art elements and skills over the half term and this is their end outcome. The work looks amazing and so individual and unique.
Friday Celebration Worship
This week in celebration worship, we have been thinking about how we have been shining our light just as Jesus does and we also sang ‘Shine From the Inside Out’. Reception class also sang the whole school a song in celebration of Chinese New Year. We heard from our teachers about how we have lived life in all its fullness and we had lots of awards to celebrate from outside of school too.
Year 6- Junior Jam
Year 6 had lots of fun in Junior Jam, trying out accents in drama, singing and making badges on a device, to represent their interests.
Year 6 - Olympic shot put
Year 6 have taken part in a taster session with Sportscool, where they had the opportunity to try shot put. They worked brilliantly in teams, practicing throwing and using appropriate force to get the shot put into the area worth the most points.
Sportshall Athletics Final
We are so proud of our Sportshall Athletics squad for their amazing effort and determination this evening. Some crucial members of our squad unfortunately weren’t able to attend the event due to isolating with Covid. However, the children who stepped in for them at the last minute were fantastic and made us so proud. We got the same number of points as the third place team but lost out on a medal due to winning fewer events as the other team with the same points. Our squad showed great sportsmanship once again by cheering each other on and they were gracious in defeat. Well done team Barnies! Click here for all of the photos. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/sportshall-athletics-final-2022
Parent Governor Vacancy
Dear Parents and Carers, just a quick reminder that we have an upcoming parent governor vacancy. The governors play a vital role in supporting and shaping our school and it is a great way to become more involved in the life of our school. Parent governors hold the unique position of having a parental viewpoint of the school. Through their children, they have a first hand experience of the delivery of the curriculum and how the school is perceived from the 'consumers' point of view. If you are interested in joining our local governing committee then please see the attached letter from our Chair of Governors, Jen Frankish. For further information please see our school website: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/key-information/governance For an application form please contact our school office at [email protected] or 01254 702996. The deadline for applications is this Friday 28th January 2022. We look forward to welcoming a new parent to our friendly and supportive local governing committee, to help make St Barnabas the best school it can be. Yours Sincerely, Mrs Ham
Safer Internet Day-Poster Competition
We will be taking part in 'Safer Internet Day' on Tuesday 8th February 2022 and would like to ask the children to take part in an Online Safety poster competition which is being promoted by Blackburn with Darwen. The children are asked to design a poster about online safety for children and young people. More details are provided on the link below and the closing date is Thursday 10th February. Please take a look at our online safety webpage that has an abundance of resources and key information regarding internet safety and keeping up to date with guidance. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/parents/useful-links/online-safety
Year 6- Life Education Workshop
Today Year 6 have taken part in a Life Education Workshop focusing on ‘decisions’. They discussed feelings, friendships and pressures including drugs and alcohol. Year 6 asked some great questions and showed maturity and respect throughout the session. Well done!
Year 6 English
Year 6 have been looking for clues to identify the owner of a lost bag, using tentative language to describe their findings.
Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics winners
Congratulations to our Year 5/6 sportshall athletics team for winning their heat tonight and earning a place in the final next week. Thank you @DVHSPhysEd for hosting and @BwDSGO for organising such a great event.
Year 6 Football
Some of our year 6 children represented the school in the BRFC Kids cup. They were absolutely outstanding and came second. Well done!
Years 5 and 6: Money matters
The children in years 5 and 6 welcomed Mr Souter in today from money matters. They learnt lots and really enjoyed the session. Thank you!
Year 6: Den Building
Some of the children in Year 6 went to Whitehall park. The children enjoyed working as a team and used their problem solving skills to create their own dens. They found resources themselves. Mrs Wilkinson was very impressed with their efforts.
Year 6’s Advent Adventure
Year 6 had a great time at the Rose Garden appreciating the advent artwork and singing Christmas songs.
Festive sausage rolls- Y6 DT
Yesterday Year 6 made their very own festive sausage rolls, we were blown away with their enthusiasm and eagerness to try new food combinations and preparation techniques. We certainly have some keen young chefs in our class. Well done Year 6!
FOSB Christmas Gift Shop
The children have really enjoyed buying items from our Christmas gift shop. A huge thank you to our FOSB group for making it such a huge success!
Junior Christmas lunch
Our juniors loved their Christmas lunch today. It was wonderful to see them cracking crackers with their friends and wearing their party hats. We had a singalong to some of our favourite Christmas songs too. Thank you Mellors for the lovely Christmas lunch!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
Every child in school helped to decorate the Christmas tree yesterday. This morning in Worship, Iris, our youngest child in school got to put the star on top of the Christmas tree. It certainly is starting to look, feel and sound like Christmas at St Barnabas.
Year 6 fire safety visit
On Friday Year 6 had a visit from Lancashire Fire and Rescue service. Here they spoke about keeping safe within our homes and also when out in the community. Year 6 asked some excellent questions and maintained a mature attitude throughout the session.
FOSB Christmas Gift Shop
Our PTFA will be running a Christmas gift shop where the children can buy their Christmas presents for somebody in their family. There will be a selection of presents for adults and children. It will be £5 and with this they will be able to purchase 2 gifts. The presents will be wrapped with a gift tag so it will be a surprise for whoever they have chosen to buy a present for. Money can only be paid on parent pay and you have until Friday 10th December to purchase a ticket to enter the gift shop. The gift shop will be held on Thursday 16th December.
Wellbeing Wednesday in Year 6
Today in Junior Jam, Year 6 performed street dance moves, identified instruments from around the world and started creating their own video games, based on space invaders.
Netball in Year 6
During Netball Year 6 built on their skills from last week, thinking about their teams positions, marking the opposing team and creating spaces.
Advent Art Competition
After the success of last year's Advent Art competition, we have decided to run another one for this Christmas. This is a chance for the children to get creative at home and get into the festive spirit! We are asking the children to create a piece of Art work to show a part of the Christmas story, e.g. The 3 wise men, the star of Bethlehem, baby Jesus - There are lots of ideas online for inspiration. The Art work can be created using a variety of media such as painting, drawing, photographs, collage, etc but we ask that it is no larger than A3 in size and flat enough so that we can laminate them. 24 entries will be selected to go on display at Whitehall Park for an Advent Adventure trail and there are prizes to be won! The deadline for all entries is Monday 6th December, judging will take place shortly after this to select the final 24. Please give any entries to Class Teachers when they are complete.
Wellbeing Wednesday in Year 6
Today during Junior Jam Year 6 have been listening to different 80’s and 90’s music. In computing they explored variables in games and they also built on their dance routine from last week.
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Year 6 netball
Year 6 have built on their skills today, they have worked on defending and attacking positions within the game of Netball. Thank you Miss Dovey from DACA.
Year 6 Interfaith Workshop
Year 6 have had an interfaith class on Sikhism this morning, looking at Sikh traditions and dances. Year 6 were very respectful and participated with great maturity.
Year 6 Netball
Today Year 6 have taken part in Netball, working in groups and focusing on footwork skills with Miss Dovey from DACA.
St Barnabas Remembers
Our Year 6 heads and deputies plus Year 5 and 6 WOW group members paid their respects on Friday in a special remembrance service at Darwen Cemetery. They laid a wreath made of poppy prayers, remembrance poems and art work. Please remember to come along to the Rose Garden in Whitehall Park to see a selection of remembrance artwork from each class.
Inter-House Dodgeball Event
What a great day we have all had taking part in the inter house dodgeball competition that was organised by The Sports Leaders. Every single class gave their all and it was great to see the smiles in everyone’s faces. We can’t wait to hear who the winners are next week in Celebration Worship. Massive thanks to The Sports Leaders for taking the time to organise and run the event.
Junior Jam in Year 6
Year 6 have had a great fun in their Junior Jam sessions today, including computing, dance and music.
BRFC G&T 3v3 Tournament
An afternoon well spent at BRFC Gifted & Talented 3v3 Tournament. These 4 were awesome and scored 23 goals in 4 mar he’s to get through to the semis. A late disallowed goal meant we lost out in the last minute 3-2 but what a wonderful experience! Roll on the next tournament. St Barnabas are ready!
Hooray for Harvest!
Years 3, 4, 5 and 6 were amazing in our Harvest Festival today. Thank you to all those who attended or donated generous gifts of food or toiletries for local refugees. We were fortunate to be joined by John, Patsy and Shameem from DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise) who have taken all of your donations, the children’s welcome posters, local maps, prayers and poems. They will be sorted into parcels for refugees who have joined our community in order to give them a warm welcome and will also be shared with others in need in our community. We heard a harrowing account from Shameem, who fled from Afghanistan seven years ago due to being persecuted as a female teacher there. She has only just managed to get two of her children here seven years later and they are now attending our local high school and are being supported by one of our past pupils, who remembers Shameem visiting St Barnabas several years ago. We are so thankful for the work that John and Patsy are doing to support people in our community who are in need and so grateful for your donations. We are so proud of our children for showing our Christian Values of generosity, friendship and respect through the warm welcome they have shown refugees through their prayers, poems, welcome posters, maps and songs.
A huge Harvest thank you!
Thank you so much for your generosity this Harvest! We were overwhelmed with your kind donations of food, clothes and toiletries for DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). They were presented to John, Patsy and Shameem from DARE. Thank you for helping to make a difference!
Gambling Workshop : Year 5
Today in Year 5 and 6, we have had a visit from ‘BIGDEAL’. BigDeal is a place for young people to get information, and guidance about gambling. We had a chance to look at aspects of gambling and how we can make informed choices in the future.
Football team at it again!
Tonight our school football team took part in their DPSSA football league matches against St Peters and St James Lower Darwen. The team was in outstanding form from the very first whistle with precise interplay and extremely high pressing from the off. This ultimately led to us taking victory 3-1. In the second game, we played St James Lower Darwen. The children put in an astonishing performance running out resounding winners by twelve goals to one. A special mention has to go to the team’s sportsmanship. It would be easy for us to act overconfident in this situation but we didn’t. We showed fantastic sportsmanship and encouragement, even St Barnabas himself would be proud of. Well done to each and every one of them on another set of fantastic performances.
Identifying faults in circuits
In year 6, we have learnt how to check connections of circuits. We have discussed about the flow of electricity and how it’s important to ensure that the flow of electricity can go from component to component.
First MUGA session in PE
Today, we have used the MUGA for the first time during PE. We were able to complete tactically difficult decisions and apply these to in game situations during netball.
Year 6 Pilgrimage
In year 6, we have been learning about the pilgrimage of Hajj in Islam. The children have learnt about how and why Muslims go on Hajj and been extremely respectful when broaching this subject.
Hello Yellow Day 2021
We have had a brilliant day in school today with all of our children and staff dressing in yellow for Hello Yellow Day. It was topped off with leaving school dancing to the minions ‘happy’ song and being bopped with inflatable bananas by Mrs Ham! Banana #HelloYellow @YoungMindsUK
Why is London the way it is?
In geography, we have been looking at the reasons why London is the way it is today. We have been looking at the physical and human features of geography within London and what we can expect London to be like in the future.
Symbols of electricity
The children have been learning the symbols involved in circuits. They have understood the need for symbols so that everyone can understand the circuit.
Guided reading
During guided reading, we have been using LBQ for retrieval of information. In our independent groups, we have been loving our class novel “Nightfall on the Somme” Whilst sequencing event and answering open ended questions about the text. In the two guided groups, we have been working on deduction and inference using information texts.
Using inverse and multi-step problems
In Year 6, we have been working on multi-step problems to addition and subtraction word problems. Once we completed them, we have been using inverse operations to check them. The children have done amazingly well in grasping what is the important information in the word problems.
Dropping y and adding i to change root words
In year 6, our special spelling focus this week has been dropping y and adding i before adding suffixes to root words. The children have done brilliantly with their team teaching and are really applying their spellings to their independent writes.
Brilliant Barnies beat opposition
Last night, our Year 5 and 6 football team took part in their 2nd set of fixtures in the DPSSA football league. The children were absolutely tremendous and showed all of our school values while representing school. Our first game was against St Pauls Hoddlesdon , we controlled the ball and ended up eventually winning 3-0 after some mind-blowing build up play and gears transitional movement. In the 2nd game of the evening, we took on Turton and Edgeworth. The hard training sessions on a Monday evening paid dividends as our high pressing game forced our opponents in costly mistakes at the back. We were clinical in front of goal and ended up 4-0 winners. Our final fixture of the evening was against a resolute St Edwards side. At the half time interval the scores were tied at 0-0. The pressure was on and the nerves were starting to show but a virtuoso 2nd half performance from Eve lead the way to a comprehensive 5-0 win. From start to finish, the children were a huge credit to our school family and it is extremely pleasing to watch this side develop into a real force. Well done all.
Addition and subtraction using different strategies
Today in Year 6, we have been using a variety of different methods to solve addition and subtraction problems. The children have applied bar models, place value grids and column methods to check their answers.
Visit from Bolton Music Service
Today in Year 5 and 6, we have had a visit from Bolton Music Service to introduce our Upper Key Stage 2 children to the 5 brass instruments they will have the opportunity to learn this year. The children were mesmerised by the music and instruments shown and really represented our school brilliantly.
Superb netball passing development
Today, we have been focusing on our passing skills this week. The children have been absolutely superb and showing our Christian value of respect in helping each other develop these skills.
Year 5 workshop with PC Ros
This morning, year 5 have taken part in a lesson delivered by PC Ros. We talked about reaching the age of criminal responsibility (10 years old). We all had an opportunity to ask lots of questions and listen to real life crimes. We discussed the consequences of such crimes for both the offender and the victim.
Year 6 Resilience workshop
On Friday, Year 6 had the amazing pleasure of some grow your mindset training. As a class, we worked on resilience and understanding what resilience is and how we can be more resilient going forward.
Year 6 showing off their netball skills
This week in PE, Year 6 have been trying to make tactical choices about which of the three passes to choose in game situations. The children were superb and were able to explain in detail about their choice of pass as opposed to another.
Raft building fun at PGL
Our Year 6 children are having an amazing time at PGL. This morning was splashingly good fun!
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And they are off!
Our Year 6 children have just set off for their long awaited PGL residential trip to Winmarleigh Hall. They were so excited and were looking forward to some amazing activities such as raft building, zip wire, climbing walls and high ropes. They were also looking forward to the fantastic food!
Fun on the first day in Years 5 and 6!
Our Year 5 and 6 children loved being back together again and being able to play with each other at break and lunch times.