Netball Club Fun in the Sun
Netball Club started again this week and it was so good to see the children so keen and enthusiastic. As this is our second round of club, we went straight into games concentrating on skill development and key rules. The children rotated positions and worked hard to develop their understanding of new roles.
Year 6 P.E - Gaelic Football
Year 6 have begun a new P.E unit, this week: Gaelic football, an Irish team sport. A form of football, it is played between two teams of 15 players on a rectangular grass pitch. The objective of the sport is to score by kicking or punching the ball into the other team's goal. For this first session, the children mainly focused on the key skills of the game. They had a lot of fun!
Collective Worship: The start of Lent
Today, Mrs Wilkinson discussed what is happening this week. Tomorrow it is Shrove Tuesday and we discussed what happens on Shrove Tuesday. We are looking forward to tasting some pancakes tomorrow during worship! On Wednesday it is the start of Lent. The children watched a video all about Lent and we discussed what it means for Christians. We discussed how it is a time of reflection and many Christians give up something or do something during Lent. Some of the children said they would give up chocolates, sweets and fizzy drinks. Some children said they'd give to charity and be kind every day. Mrs Wilkinson introduced the Big Lent Walk challenge which our school will be doing. We are aiming to raise money for Cafod and will aim to walk 200km collectively. 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. The children seemed very excited to get started and thank you to those families who have donated already. To donate please click here https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-ce-primary-academys-big-lent-walk and don't forget to send photos to either Mrs Wilkinson or Mrs Ham so we can update our page. We finished our worship by singing Jesus strong and kind.
Mad Science After School Club- Living in Space
Today in Mad Science After-school club, the children stepped into astronauts' shoes and uncovered the incredible challenges of living in space. They explored why astronauts train underwater to simulate microgravity and discovered how the absence of gravity affects the human body. From floating in space to maintaining muscle strength, they learned what it takes to survive and thrive beyond Earth.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and reflecting on our very busy week. This week, we launched our new behaviour focuses for this half-term which have been centred around dinner time behaviours. We have been really impressed with how much calmer our school hall is at dinner time- Well done to our whole school and thank you to Mrs Araujo and the WOW group for monitoring! This week we also saw the start of our wonderful Mad Science Club and we are really looking forward to the rest of our after-school clubs starting next week. There are still spaces to sign up to the craft club led by Fred and Pearl and the gymnastics and dodgeball club led by Edstart if anyone is interested. We then congratulated this week’s individual value award winners who have made a fantastic start to the Spring 2 term. Well done to Jess, Declan and Miley in KS2 and Albie, Harry and Thea in EYFS and KS1 for their consistently positive attitude to learning, demonstrating resilience and perseverance in their learning and showing all of our Barny’s 4Bs (being ready, respectful, kind and safe). Furthermore, we congratulated our Year 3/4 Sportshall Athletics winners who competed amazingly well to achieve gold at Our Lady and St John’s on Wednesday evening, River Darwen as our value award winners this week with 396 points and Reception and Year 6 on being our amazing attendance winners this week. A special well done to Reception who achieved 100% attendance. We then moved on to congratulating our out of school sports award winners. Well done to Ava for achieving 5m in her swimming, Thea for fantastic bar work in gymnastics, Lyla for achieving her level 2 in gymnastics, Seb for achieving ‘Trainer of the Week’ at football, Haydn for achieving ‘Player of the Week’ at football, Isabella for being ‘The Little Darreners’ Player of the Week’ at football, Archie for being awarded his green belt at martial arts, Eleanor for being awarded multiple gardening badges at Rainbows, Alessia and Piper-Jo for achieving Stage 2 in their swimming, Marley for her commitment to Brownies, Charlie for achieving 10m in his swimming, James for being a super improved player at football, Isaac for being ‘Player of the Day’ at football, Callie for being fiercely brave at Stagecoach and singing a solo, achieving several awards in her gymnastics such as gaining her level 2 grading and for also receiving Grunty the Dragon in martial arts, Alice for achieving 600m in her swimming, Peyton for achieving a badge at kickboxing, Scarlett for her fabulous commitment to Rivington Netball Club and Mason for achieving Stage 5 in his swimming. To end our worship, Mrs Ham reminded us that it’s World Book Day next Thursday 6th March where we will be dressing in pyjamas and participating in some fun and exciting reading activities and that it is also non-uniform day and a disco for India Mill and Whitehall Park on Friday 7th March for being the overall value award winners last half-term. We then had some beautiful prayers from James and Martha who prayed to keep those who are poorly and those in heaven in our thoughts. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend.
Worship with Rev. Matt
Today’s worship with Rev. Matt began with The Story of the Great Parade. Rev. Matt invited children to take on different roles, bringing the story to life with waving leaves and flags as Year 6 paraded around the hall. The atmosphere was filled with excitement, just as it would have been on that first Palm Sunday, when crowds welcomed Jesus into Jerusalem. After the reenactment, Rev. Matt explained the significance of Palm Sunday, reminding the children that Christians around the world still celebrate it today. He encouraged them to think about the emotions of the crowd —joy, hope and anticipation—as they welcomed Jesus as their king. He then explored a key Bible verse: “He always had the nature of God, but took on the nature of a servant.” The children reflected on what this means and discussed how they could show humility and kindness in their own lives. Ideas included helping others without expecting rewards, showing respect to friends and family, and using their voices to support those in need. To close the worship, Rev. Matt led a moment of quiet reflection, asking the children to think about one small way they could follow Jesus’ example this week. It was a meaningful way to prepare for Easter and to consider the values of humility and service in everyday life.
Year 6 Class Meeting - How Safe Do You Feel Online?
Year 6 had a fantastic pupil-led class meeting, this week. The focus was online safety and centred around the key question - how safe do you feel online? The children watched a Newsround interview discussing online safety and had group discussions and debates around the key question.
Year 6 English - “Goodnight Mister Tom”
Year 6 have begun their new English topic this week, based on “Goodnight Mister Tom”. The children watched the beginning of the film adaptation as a “hook” into their learning, which they really enjoyed. They then looked at vocabulary linked to the book and the topic, which they then placed onto a Zone of Relevance. This was all then linked to their grammar work on expanded noun phrases and how they make writing more effective for the reader. The children are also going to be linking their English work with their History unit on WWII. In a few weeks they will be visiting the Imperial War Museum in London too to learn more.
Year 6 - R.E with Rev. Ben
Year 6 had their R.E lesson with Rev. Ben, this week. The children discussed how Christianity is rooted in Judaism and what the main similarities and differences were between the two religions. We had some very interesting class discussions and were very thankful to Rev. Ben for coming in to help us with our learning.
Year 6 - Debt Awareness
Year 6 had a visit from Debt Aware, this week. The focus of this session was gambling and borrowing. The children looked at how the government and families spend money; explored the ways in which people can borrow money and why; talked about the potential dangers of short-term (pay day) loans and thought about what to look for when deciding whether to borrow money. In addition to this, we thought about what gambling is, the different types of gambling and why people might gamble. We played a few games and watched the Grand National, placing bets with pretend money.
Spring 2- Week 1 Collective Worship- Life in all its fullness & Year of Prayer
This morning in Collective Worship our WOW (Worship our Way) group showed us the special way of praying this week as part of the Year of Prayer across Blackburn Diocese. This week we will be writing our fears and worries on a piece of paper and then fold it into a paper aeroplane. We can then have fun throwing it whilst saying a prayer to God to take our fears and worries away. Some children shared their fears such as heights, clowns, being alone and snakes. We then looked at the Year of Prayer for the whole school which was 'Where are you today?' . We looked at 10 doodled people around a tree:some looked happy, some sad, worried or confused . We then had to decide which one we were at the moment or we would like to be today. We reflected on how we can feel lots of different emotions in a day and then we said a special prayer to ask for God's understanding and support when we feel different emotions. Next we reflected on our school vision and how Jesus came to give us life in all its fullness and He also said He was the good shepherd and the gate. We discussed that when we are feel sad, we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus knows us, just like a shepherd knows his sheep and He is always with us. We thought about how developing our spirituality can also support us when we are feeling sad and we looked at the five ways of wellbeing such as taking notice of God's creations and different ways of connecting with Him, our family and friends. We finished by singing two of our favourite uplifting songs 'If I were a butterfly' and 'Sing a new song to the Lord'. We agreed that they helped us all to feel happy and also showed our gratitude to God for the wonderful world that he created.
Mad Science After School Club- Glow Show
Today in Mad Science After-School Club, our future scientists explored how we see light and how it interacts with different objects. They were amazed as they observed phosphorescence in action under UV light. They also discovered the fascinating secrets behind how real money is made and the special features used to prevent counterfeiting. The children were fully engaged and are now super keen to find out what exciting topic they will be exploring next week.