Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we began our worship by reflecting on what has been a busy but thoroughly enjoyable week. Mrs Ham started by thanking everyone for their wonderful efforts in raising awareness for mental health during last Friday’s Hello Yellow Day. She also expressed her appreciation to all the children who attended the Harvest Church Service at St Barnabas Church on Sunday, accompanied by Mrs Araujo, Mrs Wilkinson, and Mrs Govan. The children sang beautifully and truly gave it their all. We also recognised the many children supporting Rotakids by donating winter coats and shoeboxes filled with essentials for DARE (Darwen Asylum Refuge). Mrs Ham reminded us that we can continue to support important causes by taking part in Bishop Phillip’s Pedalathon, raising funds for Christians in South Africa by getting out on our bikes and putting in some miles. We are also still collecting Harvest donations for the local food bank and DARE. We took time to congratulate our individual Value Award winners this week: Poppy, Olivia and Skye in EYFS and KS1, and Renee, Lyla, Walter and Ruby in KS2, for consistently following Barny’s 4Bs, working incredibly hard across the curriculum, and showing great growth and maturity during their first half-term in their new classes. Our congratulations also went to our Year 2 and Year 3 classes for being this week’s attendance winners. A big well done to India Mill, who were our weekly Value Award winners with an impressive 236 points, and also our overall Value Award winners for the half-term. As a reward, they will enjoy a non-uniform day and disco — with the date to be announced shortly. We were delighted to recognise a number of pupils for their achievements outside of school this week. Well done to Jonas for settling in so well after recently joining Squirrels, and to Phoebe for earning a badge at Rainbows and always bringing positivity and laughter. Callie has been an excellent role model at martial arts, while Elijah was awarded Beaver of the Week for his enthusiasm and willingness to get involved. James impressed with his fantastic fielding in cricket, Lyla performed beautifully in her lyrical dancing, and Sofia was named Star of the Week at acro while also earning several badges at Brownies. Charlie achieved 25 metres in all swimming strokes, Olivia received her Silver Award at Rainbows, Willow showed amazing gymnastics skills, Lydia earned her Gold Award at Rainbows, and Eleanor achieved her Amazing Helper badge. We also congratulated our Year 4 pupils for representing the school so well at the Cidari Earth Conference at Blackburn Cathedral yesterday, and praised our girls' football team for their continued efforts in the DPSSA league. Finally, a reminder that next week is a four-day week due to an INSET day on Friday. We also have our Halloween Spooky Disco on Wednesday evening, organised by FOSB, and our Harvest Church Service taking place on Thursday morning. Please check Class Dojo for more details. Wishing you all a fantastic weekend!
Year 3- Inter House Dodgeball-
Year 3 had a great time taking part in Inter -House Dodgeball . Renee was our star player selected by the Sports leaders. A massive well done to the whole class for giving it their all and to the Sports Leaders for leading it.
Cross Country Trials
Today we held cross country trials for years 3-6. We had a super turn out and every single child that took part tried really hard and pushed themselves out of their comfort zones. The ground was wet which made it even harder but this didn’t deter our super stars. Well done to everyone and a big thanks to our Year 6 Marshalls and sports leaders.
Reception- PE- Jumping
In our PE session we started with a warm up game of ‘traffic lights’ to help focus the children and develop their listening skills. We then went on developing the fundamental skill of jumping by bending both our knees, swinging our arms and keeping our feet together to take off and land steadily in a position with both feet together.
Inter-House Dodgeball
Today we were all lucky enough to take part in our Inter-house sports event which was dodgeball, led by our wonderful sports leaders. Every class from Year 1 right up to Year 6 took part and it was fantastic to watch. We are so lucky to take part in our inter-school events and it was the sports leaders first go at leading every class in a warm up right through to house games. We can’t wait until the next one now when our Reception class can join us too.
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Cidari Earth Conference
Seven Year 4 children represented our school family brilliantly at the Cidari Earth conference at Blackburn Cathedral. They participated in activities addressing environmental challenges like plastic pollution, war and conflict, and global warming. The children made new friends by working in groups with students from other schools in the Trust. Rev Ben led an opening worship about God's creation and our responsibility to care for it. After activities, they admired the "Gaia" Earth installation and listened to Bible stories like David & Goliath and Jesus calms the storm, which emphasised faith and courage in tackling these "insurmountable giants." Each group also created prayer stations, which will be displayed in The Temple Gallery at the Cathedral over half term. Families are encouraged to visit and see the Earth installation, photographs, and prayer stations. Some of the children said “It’s been the best day ever!” A huge thank you to Mrs Araujo for planning and leading one of the activities
Year 6 - Road Safety
Today, Year 6 took part in an informative Fire Safety talk that focused on the importance of road safety. The session helped the children understand how to keep themselves and others safe when walking, cycling or travelling near roads. They discussed the importance of wearing bright clothing, using crossings correctly and staying alert around traffic. The children also learned how the emergency services respond to road incidents and why it’s important to make sensible choices to prevent accidents. Everyone came away with valuable knowledge about how to stay safe both at school and in the wider community.
Wellbeing Wednesday
On Wednesday some of our staff team went for a Wellbeing Wednesday meal and then went to see a production of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory at the Albert Hall in Bolton. We were so proud as Isaac, one of our former pupils, played the lead role of Charlie Bucket! It is brilliant to see that he has kept his acting up since leaving St Barnabas and he gave a fabulous performance. There are still tickets left and Isaac will be performing on the Friday and Saturday evenings.
Reception- Making a Fairy Garden
The children have had lots of fun creating a fairy garden this week. They worked together beautifully and really thought about what they might need to create a home the fairies might like. The children decided to collect sand and bark for the base of their fairy garden. They then added toad stools, fairy houses and secret doors, not forgetting to add a sprinkle of fairy dust.
Year 3- Online Safety- Investigating conspiracy theories
Today, our Year 3 class explored the important online safety poster about conspiracy theories. We discussed the importance of being critical thinkers online, questioning what they see, hear, and read, and verifying information from trusted sources. We also talked about how some information online might not be true and how to recognise and avoid misinformation. This is a crucial step in helping them navigate the digital world safely and responsibly.
Year 6 French
In French with Junior Jam this week, Year 6 learned lots of new vocabulary linked to the furniture we have in our houses. The lesson included singing songs and lots of verbal rehearsal with a partner to help consolidate what they had learned. As an extension task, the children were also tasked with using adjectives to describe the items of furniture.
Year 2 RE- Judaism
This week in RE, Year 2 have been exploring the Jewish holy book, the Torah. They examined pictures of Torah scrolls and watched a video to deepen their understanding. The children learned that the Torah is written in Hebrew, stored in a special cabinet called an ark, and can take up to two years to be written by a scribe. They also discovered that it is read from left to right using a special pointer called a yad, and that it contains the laws God gave to Moses, guiding how Jewish people should live their lives. To bring their learning to life, the class read Sammy Spider’s First Simchat Torah and enjoyed discovering how Jewish people celebrate the completion of reading the Torah each year. The children then made their own Torah scrolls and yads, and ended the lesson by joyfully reenacting the celebration of Simchat Torah.