Image of World Book Day- Storytime Across School
6 Mar

World Book Day- Storytime Across School

To celebrate World Book Day, our children voted for the story that they wanted to listen to and moved around school to listen to their chosen one. Miss Flynn read ‘The Monkey With a Bright Blue Bottom,’ Mrs Wilkinson read ‘The Wonky Donky,’ Mrs Govan read ‘Taylor Swift (Little People, Big Dreams), Mr Norris read ‘Sammy Striker and the Football Cup,’ Mrs Hegarty read ‘The Great Dog Bottom Swap,’ Miss Woods read ‘I’ve Broken My Bottom,’ Miss Kachwalla read ‘There’s a Snake in My School,’ Mrs Gardner read ‘Revolting Rhymes,’ Mr Bloomfield read, ‘The Legend of Rock, Paper, Scissors,’ Mr Prescott read ‘The World’s Worst Children’ and Miss Lyons read ‘Absolutely Awful Adults.’ Most of these stories were new to our children and they thoroughly enjoyed listening to and engaging with them. There were lots of giggles!

Image of World Book Day Worship
6 Mar

World Book Day Worship

World Book Day Worship This morning we launched World Book Day 2025 with a lovely Worship led by Miss Flynn and the librarians. We started with a book- Do Not Open This Book by Andy Lee. The children absolutely loved listening to the story and definitely did want to OPEN THE BOOK and turn the pages so that they could read the whole book! The theme for this years World Book Day is Get Ready to Read Your Way which encourages us all to read wherever and whenever we want. Next the librarians, Walter, Elliott, Tristan and Ivy, led a quiz where the children had to guess where you might enjoy a good book from the pictures on the screen. We had some great answers which included: in the car, whilst walking the dog, at the park, in the library, in bed, in a den, outside with our friends, in the bath, in the dentist or at school. The children that guessed correctly won a special WBD prize. In the next part of the quiz, the librarians shared a slide with four pictures of our school staff with their faces covered reading books in their favourite places. There was A - Miss Kachwalla in the bath, B - Mr Bloomfield in the living room, Mrs Singleton in the staff room D , - Mrs Govan in her bedroom, E - Mr Norris on the sofa - Miss Lyon’s reading with her daughter in bed,- G - Mrs Wilkinson - sat on the sofa, H- Miss Flynn reading to her child. To end the special Worship we shared The Story of The Little Mole Who Knew It Was None Of His Business by Werner Holzwarth and Wolf Erlbruch. We can’t wait for the rest of our World Book Day activities which include a live workshop, teachers sharing their favourite books and how we can use our WBD token so that we can get a free book.

Image of KS2 Buzz Education -National Careers Week
5 Mar

KS2 Buzz Education -National Careers Week

Today, KS2 took part in an engaging Buzz Education session, exploring the world of different careers. The children had great fun guessing various jobs from pictures and clues, sparking curiosity and discussion. This led to an in-depth exploration of a wide range of careers, where they learned about the skills and school subjects needed for each role. The session inspired the children to think about their future aspirations and how their learning in school connects to the world of work.

Image of Year 6 English - Goodnight Mister Tom
5 Mar

Year 6 English - Goodnight Mister Tom

In English, Year 6 have been combining their grammar work on prepositional phrases and expanded noun phrases with inferring characters’ thoughts and feelings at key points in the story of Goodnight Mister Tom.

Image of Little Craft Club
4 Mar

Little Craft Club

Today at The Little Craft Club, the children designed and decorated their own pencil cases. They thought of their favourite things so the final products represented each of them! Some of the children delved into our Imagination Station box to find things to creatively decorate the zip pull too! This activity is going to be part of a special Craft Club session at The Carus Centre in Hoddlesden during the Easter holidays. In the session, we will also be painting canvases and making bracelets/phone charms. The session is open to the public and can be booked here: https://fredandpearl.com/collections/easter-holidays

Image of Worship-Shrove Tuesday, Lent and Ramadan
4 Mar

Worship-Shrove Tuesday, Lent and Ramadan

This morning in Collective Worship we built on our knowledge of Lent from yesterday's worship and focused on things we could give during Lent, the time of preparation for Easter. Some children said they would sort their clothes and toys and give them to charity, some said they would raise money through walking for the Big Lent Walk and some said they would help others. Yesterday Leonora said she would show kindness everyday during Lent which then led us to take up a 40 day Lent generosity and kindness challenge. Over the next 40 days in school, we will take part in generous acts in order to spread kindness to others. We said our special Year of Prayer prayer today too which was about compassion and how Jesus showed compassion to others and helped them and we can be like Him and help others too. We then learned about the holy month of Ramadan that Muslims around the world are taking part in at the moment by fasting, praying to God and giving back. We discussed the similarities between Lent and Ramadan and agreed that they are both times to feel closer to God, give things up or fast and give things back. They are also times to prepare for celebrations as Christians will be celebrating Easter and Muslims will be celebrating Eid. Miss Kachwalla and Ms Lohar are both fasting at the moment during the day and we learned that Muslims fast to understand how it feels to be hungry and think about and pray for those less fortunate around the world, as well as feeling closer to God. As part of our Big Lent Walk, we can make a difference to the lives of those who don't have enough food by raising money to help them. At the end of our worship we sang some Easter hymns and shared pancakes together as a whole school family as today is Shrove Tuesday. We then reflected on how we can 'be kind' and show generosity to others this Lent.

Image of Year 6 R.E - Who Was Jesus?
4 Mar

Year 6 R.E - Who Was Jesus?

In R.E, Year 6 have been thinking about how Christians describe Jesus. They used the Bible and watched a video of the story of Zacchaeus as sources. The children also thought about their own opinions on who they think Jesus is.

Image of Cross country
4 Mar

Cross country

This Tuesday, cross country club continued with a 20 minute run around Jack’s Key. Next week we will repeat our run and hope to improve our times. We have a few more sessions to be ready for our competition.

Image of Netball Club Fun in the Sun
3 Mar

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.

Image of Year 6 P.E - Gaelic Football
3 Mar

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!

Image of Collective Worship: The start of Lent
3 Mar

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.

Image of Mad Science After School Club- Living in Space
3 Mar

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.