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.
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.
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.
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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!
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.
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!
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.
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!
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.
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.
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.