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Online Safety: Advertisements
From influencer promotions to in-game adverts, children are exposed to advertising across their digital lives. But with developing critical thinking skills and increasingly sophisticated marketing techniques, recognising when content is trying to sell them something isn't always easy. Our latest #WakeUpWednesday guide examines: • The growing influence of influencer marketing on children's purchasing decisions • How online advertising can create pressure on parents to buy products • The impact of unrealistic expectations around products, appearance and lifestyle • Exposure to harmful or age-inappropriate advertising • The risks of unintended purchases through games, apps and online platforms • How a lack of advertising transparency can make promotional content difficult to recognise Access the guide: https://vist.ly/5ratc #Education #OnlineSafety #DigitalLiteracy #MediaLiteracy
Poppy Appeal
🌺 SUPPORT OUR POPPY APPEAL! 🌺 Our wonderful Head and Deputy Heads are proud to be supporting the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal this year! ❤️✨ They will be selling a fantastic range of poppy-themed items to help raise vital funds. Here’s what’s available to buy: ✏️ Pencils – 50p 🩹 Slap Bands – £1.50 💫 Bracelets – £1.00 🔑 Poppy Keyrings – 50p 📅 When: Sold daily at break times ⏰ 💰 How to buy: If your child would like to purchase any items, please send their money in a named envelope clearly marked with their name, class, and what they would like to buy. Slap bands are limited to one per child. Thank you so much for your generosity and support in helping our children make a difference! 🙏🔴 #PoppyAppeal #RoyalBritishLegion #LestWeForget #SchoolCommunity #SupportingGoodCauses #YoungLeaders
Year 4 Class Worship - Picture News
In this mornings class worship, Year 4 focused on Picture News - Is the journey more important than the destination? It looked at Karl Bushby who has just returned to the UK after spending 28 years travelling to achieve his dreams, experience amazing adventures and face brutal challenges. He hasn’t used any transport and carried everything on a trolley. Karl is so inspiring and it got the children thinking about if life is actually about the journey rather than the destination!
Science - The Digestive System in Year 4
This half term we are looking at Animals, including humans. Our first lesson involved looking at organs in the digestive system. The children looked at the main parts including the mouth, oesophagus, stomach, small and large intestines. They labelled these and then added descriptions about each example.
Year 1 History: Our Favourite Toys
Year 1 have started their new topic Toys From The Past. They each brought in their favourite toy from home and we looked carefully to find what materials the toys were made from. We noticed that most of our toys are made from plastic, but some are metal and fabric too. Then, we looked at pictures of toys from the past and noticed they were mostly made from wood and metal.
Year 1 DT: Making Mechanisms
Today, Year 1 had their first DT session. Our end product is to create moving Christmas picture books to sell at our Christmas Fair. We started by looking at an example of a Christmas picture book that has moving parts and spotted that some parts move up and down, side to side and around the page. The children then had a go at making their own up and down slider, a side to side slider and a pivot mechanism. They tried really hard to listen and follow all of the instructions. Some parts were tricky, such as poking holes into the paper, however they showed lots of perseverance and managed to complete them all.
Whole School Worship: Diwali
This week, our school community gathered together for a special whole-school worship focused on Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Celebrated by millions of people across the world—including Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains—this joyful five-day autumn festival marks fresh starts, peace, and the triumph of light over darkness. During our worship, the children explored the story of Rama and Sita alongside key cultural traditions, discovering how little clay diyas are placed in doorways to welcome blessings and remind us that even the smallest flame can chase away the dark. We also admired the colourful rangoli patterns created to welcome Lakshmi, and discussed how families celebrate through spring-cleaning, wearing bright clothes, watching fireworks, and sharing sweet mithai treats with neighbours and those in need. Connecting the festival to our own daily lives, we reflected on the deeper values of light over dark, good over evil, and wisdom over ignorance—focusing on courage, honesty, and kindness. The children were encouraged to consider how they can shine their own light within our school, whether by offering a cheerful greeting to someone new, inviting classmates to join playground games, or lending a helping hand in class. We brought our worship to a close with the song Shine and a quiet reflection, holding onto the thought: "May our words bring encouragement, and our actions spread friendship." We invite you to speak with your child at home about what they learned and how they plan to share their light this week.
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Year 5 - RotaKids
Today we continued planning our first RotaKids charity project by making posters, drafting letters and scripting videos. We are collecting warm clothing such as hats, gloves and scarves for DARE (Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise) and hope to engage as much of the local community as possible. We wrote letters asking local supermarkets to contribute any excess stock and made posters to encourage as many St Barnabas family members as possible to donate old warm clothes. Anything you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Year 6 - Gymnastics
Year 6 started their gymnastics unit today, focusing on counterbalancing. The children explored how they could work individually and with a partner to create a range of balanced shapes, using different points of contact, body positions and levels of tension. They experimented with pushing and pulling against one another to maintain control, stability and balance. The children also began developing their creativity by linking movements together to create interesting paired balances.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Reception had a wonderful time during our Muddy Monday session out on the school field today! The children loved exploring their surroundings, spotting local landmarks like Darwen Tower, and observing the trees as we chatted about the changing seasons. To build our listening and attention skills, we played several fun instruction-following games together. We finished our outdoor adventure with plenty of big physical movements—racing and rolling down the grassy hill, which was not only great fun but fantastic gross motor practice for our balance and coordination.
KS2 Times Table Rockstar Battle
A huge well done to our KS2 champions! A massive congratulations to Lottie, James, Thomas and Charlie, our October Times Table Rock Stars Battle champions! Your hard work, dedication and fantastic times table skills have shone through. Keep up the brilliant work and continue to rock those times tables!
Whole School Harvest Celebration
This morning, we celebrated Harvest with a very special worship service at St Barnabas Church, led by our wonderful WOW group and Mrs Araujo. It was a joyful celebration filled with singing, gratitude and reflection. A huge well done to Reception, Year 1 and Year 3, who did a tremendous job of sharing what they have been learning in their RE lessons. Reception bravely opened our worship by singing ‘Thank You for the Harvest’, followed by Year 1, who expressed their gratitude to our farmers for all their hard work with a lovely rendition of ‘Thank You to the Farmers’. We also heard from Year 3, who shared beautiful prayers expressing their gratitude for all that we have, as well as leading us in a shared prayer using Makaton. We are incredibly proud of all the children for their thoughtful contributions. This year, we are supporting DARE, RotaKids and The Bishop’s Appeal. A heartfelt thank you to our school community for your generosity in donating non-perishable food items and pre-loved winter coats. Your kindness and support make a real difference to others. Looking ahead, please remember that we will be taking part in the Big Barney’s Assault Course Challenge on Friday 6th November to raise money for the Jehovah Rapha Healthcare Centre in Liwolo. The funds raised will help ensure that people can access essential healthcare. We would be very grateful if you could ask family and friends to sponsor your child and support us in this important mission. Finally, thank you for your continued support throughout this half-term. We wish all our families a wonderful and restful half-term holiday!
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