Harvest Appeal
This morning we launched our Harvest Appeal for this year by hearing from Bishop Philip about his Pedalathon on 17th October where he will be cycling to visit and pray at a school or church in all 14 deaneries across the Diocese. We will be supporting Bishop Philip's Harvest Appeal for Christians in South Africa by joining in with his pedalathon over the next few weeks, including half term. We are encouraging our school family to cycle on bikes or scooters just like we did for the Big Lent Walk and we would love for you to send your photos in and the distance. Donations can be made on parent pay shortly. Our RotaKids are also supporting Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE) and Darwen Rotary this Harvest by creating Winter Warmer boxes filled with toiletries, packets or tins of food and warm clothing for DARE families, the elderly, isolated, poor and vulnerable people in our community . They are also collecting winter coats for the homeless and poor through Darwen Rotary club. Please send in any donations and thank you in advance for your generosity. We then sang some of our Harvest songs for our Church Harvest Festival this Sunday 12th October at 11.00am- all welcome and our school Harvest Festival on Thursday 23rd October led by our WOW group and Reception, Years 1 and 2. All welcome.
Year 6 French
In French this week, Year 6 learned the names of the different rooms in our homes. They learned a song to help them remember the new vocabulary and then were tasked with labelling a diagram of a house. They also played a guessing game, where one child drew a picture of a room in a house and the rest of the class had to guess which room was being drawn and give their answer in French.
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Year 6 Art
Year 6 are really enjoying their current art unit: "Making Our Voice Heard." This week, the children continued their work on symbolic imagery, using names and symbols from the Maya Tzolkʼin calendar that the children felt were a representation of themselves and their personalities. They created two pieces of artwork using these names and symbols, one with charcoal and one with coloured oil pastels, using masking tape to create the lettering.
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Football Training
Today, the children continued with a game-based football practice, focusing on tactics and in-game coaching. They worked on positioning, decision-making and communication, applying their skills in match scenarios and showing great teamwork throughout
Year 6 - Striking and Fielding
Today, Year 6 completed their final cricket session in our striking and fielding unit, finishing with a series of fun and competitive games. The children demonstrated the skills they have been developing over the past few weeks, including batting, bowling, and fielding and showed great teamwork and sportsmanship throughout.
Year 6 Class Worship
Following on from this week's worship theme, today's class worship looked again at the story of Ananias and Saul. The children heard about how God has agents, to whom he gives the courage to complete important jobs for him. They discussed why God chose Saul to spread the word about Jesus, especially since Saul had been persecuting Christians. We learned about how Saul went on to become Paul and write many important sections of the Bible.
Year 6 Junior Jam - French, Music and Computing
Year 6 have enjoyed another fantastic morning with Junior Jam, today. In French, the children revised vocabulary relating to members of their family, verbally rehearsing and then writing sentences about who they lived with and where. In music, they learned how melodies in a song can portray emotions, writing and composing melodies of their own on the glockenspiels. Computing this week was all about web design, and the children were tasked with creating a new web page for Junior Jam.
Whole School Worship - Agent Ananias
We learned about a very special mission given by God this week in worship. God directed Ananias, a disciple in Damascus, to heal Saul of his blindness and baptise him. Despite Ananias's fear due to Saul's reputation as a persecutor of Christians, he obeyed the Lord's assurance that Saul was a "chosen instrument". Ananias laid hands on Saul, restoring his sight, and then baptised him, marking his dramatic conversion from persecutor to the apostle Paul, a key figure in spreading Christianity. We reflected on what we learned from the story and the children shared their thoughts, including that we should trust God’s choices, and that everyone has the ability to change.
Football Club
This week at Football Club, the children took part in game-based sessions, giving them the opportunity to showcase and refine their skills in realistic match situations. They worked on teamwork, communication, and tactical awareness, all in preparation for the upcoming league fixtures.
Year 6 - Investigating Circuit Outputs
This week in Science, Year 6 experimented with circuit building. The children investigated the effects that adding multiple bulbs has on a simple circuit, observing how the brightness of the bulbs changed as more components were introduced. They worked collaboratively to test their predictions, identify patterns and draw conclusions about how electricity is shared within a circuit.
Year 6 - Striking and Fielding
This week, Year 6 have been putting their cricket skills into practice. They applied the techniques they have developed in bowling, batting, and fielding to real game situations, demonstrating teamwork, strategy and sportsmanship.
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we took a moment to reflect on what has been a busy and wonderful third week of school. Our week began with a focus on God’s Big Story in Whole School Worships, where we came together to deepen our understanding. Year 6 had a fantastic time creating artwork in the Darwen Town Centre, while Years 3, 4, and 6 took part in a Let’s Go Sing Choir workshop, which has inspired even more children to sign up for our school choir. Year 5 enjoyed a Move and Learn session with BwD, and our entire school embraced the excitement of the new clubs that started this week, including Foodie Friends, Football, Fred & Pearl Craft Club, Choir, Netball, and Forest Schools. We also took time to celebrate our individual value award winners, with a huge well done to Zachary and Hollie in KS1, and Eva, Emily, Jack, and Elsie in KS2, for their dedication across the curriculum, their embodiment of our Barney’s 4Bs and Christian Values, and for spreading joy throughout the school. In addition, we were pleased to award India Mill as our Value Award winners for the second consecutive week, and Year 6 as the winners in KS2 with 100% attendance, while Reception and Year 1 in EYFS and KS1 earned recognition with a fantastic 99.3% attendance. Next, we celebrated our out-of-school achievers, including Albie for earning his 5m and 10m swimming certificates, Evie for her bravery in attending Rainbows for the first time, Alice for being awarded Cheerleader of the Week, Peyton for winning Star of the Week at gymnastics, Grace for achieving a highly commended in her recent acro exam, Charlie for being named Student of the Week at Junior Dragons Martial Arts Club, Ava for being awarded Squirrel of the Week, Mason for being runner-up in a recent darts tournament, Lyla for receiving a certificate of excellence for her gymnastics and acro talent, and Annabel for being named Star of the Week at her dance school. Finally, we ended our worship with some heartfelt prayers from Mason, Ella, and Zachary, who prayed for those affected by war and conflict, for those suffering from illnesses, and for those who don’t have enough food—especially as Harvest approaches. We also sang “Our God is a Great Big God.” A quick reminder from Mrs. Ham: Next Friday, September 26th, we’ll be hosting the Macmillan Coffee Morning. All donations will be greatly appreciated.