Image of Monday Worship: Mental Health
20 May

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.

Image of Friday Celebration Worship
17 May

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. 

Image of Year 6 History
16 May

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.

Image of Year 6 P.E.
16 May

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.

Image of Year 6 SATS
16 May

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!

Image of DPSSA Netball League at DVHS
16 May

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.

Image of Mrs Ham's Weekly Highlights
10 May

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

Image of Glorious Golden Time
10 May

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!

Image of Friday Celebration Worship
10 May

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!

Image of Year 6 Class Worship
10 May

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.

Image of Year 6 SATs
9 May

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

Image of DPSSA Netball League
9 May

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.