Whole School Worship
We started the week by singing the 80s classic hit ‘Nine to Five’ to celebrate the life of Dolly Parton, who dedicated her life to helping children read. We can't wait for our 'Give like Dolly Day' on Thursday where we will be wearing our brightest clothes whilst raising money. Your money will help to provide books to children in need, opening up their world and unlocking the curriculum. We can't wait for our mystery readers across the week either. Afterwards, Mrs Ham spoke to us about our most important Barney's Four Be's- Be safe and how her most important job was to keep us safe. We discussed and acted out what the children should do in case of an emergency at school and how we would safely evacuate or invacuate the premises. Reasons to evacuate may include a fire, so the children were introduced to the fire alarm and shown how they should calmly stop, line up and gather on the playground for a headcount. Should an air ambulance land on the playing fields or a dog come onto the school premises, any children outside would calmly move indoors to ensure their safety and we listened to our new lockdown message over the tannoy. We will be rehearsing drills over the next few weeks so that everyone knows how to be safe, especially our Reception class who have only just joined us. A huge thank you to our Year 6 volunteers for their amazing acting skills.
PSHE in Year 4
Our theme for PSHE this half term is ‘ Me and My Relationships’. This week we discussed how different emotions impact on us in different ways. The children worked in pairs to ‘ grade’ their emotions 1- 5 with examples ranging from bothered, scared, worried, terrified and petrified. It was great to discuss the meanings of words and relate these to the scenarios given by Harold the Giraffe.
Shadow Sculpture Part 1 in Year 4
As part of our new unit in art, we have been looking at various types of sculptures. This week, we have focused on shadow sculptures and we have focused on creating letters that spell out our four Barney’s B’s. Be kind, Be ready, Be respectful and Be Safe. The children all chose a letter each, drew it onto card and then painted it in black ready for the next lesson which will involve us placing the letters onto ribbon and using the light to create shadows.
Macmillan Coffee Morning
A massive THANK YOU to all the parents and carers who attended our Macmillan Coffee Morning today! We were absolutely overwhelmed by the fantastic turnout. 💚☕ Your generosity in donating cakes was incredible! Thanks to you, every single child was able to enjoy a sweet treat today. 🧁 We still have a few spare cakes left over, which will be on sale after school, so be sure to grab one while you can! A huge shoutout to our brilliant Heads and Deputies for doing such an amazing job hosting their very first event. 👏 We also want to send a massive thank you to our hardworking support staff—we couldn’t have done it without your ongoing support and dedication. Thank you so much to everyone who has already donated to this truly worthy cause. If you would still like to contribute, donations can now be made on Arbor (apologies for the earlier technical hiccups, it’s all set up and working now!) or you can drop off cash donations after school. 💷 Check out all the wonderful photos from this morning here (and huge apologies that I didn't manage to photograph absolutely everyone—it was mad busy in the best way possible!) 📸 https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/macmillan-coffee-morning-2026
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Year 2 Maths- Times Table Rockstars
This morning, Year 2 enjoyed playing on Times Tables Rockstars. They practised their times tables through multiplication and division in both the jamming and garage setting. Well done, Year 2! 🎸🌟
Year 1 PE: Gymnastics
Year 1 had an amazing PE session this morning. We had lots of apparatus out to help us to practise our skills. The children had to practise frog jumps and bunny hops along a bench, caterpillar crawling around cones, practising bear crawl and crab crawl and a new roll called ‘Rock and Roll’. Their favourite station was climbing up high and jumping off onto a mat in a star position. It was great to see the children being brave to jump off from a high platform.
Year 1 Creative Area: Animal Prints
Year 1 have loved practising drawing different animal prints this week in the Creative Area. This links to our Science topic about animal groups and our Art unit looking at different line types.
Year 2 Maths
This week in maths, Year 2 have compared and ordered numbers to 100 using the greater, less than and equal to symbols. We have also looked at the patterns involved in counting in 2s, 5s and 10s and used this knowledge to complete number sequences. We have been working exceptionally hard. Well done Year 2.
Year 2 Geography- Continents and Oceans
In Geography, we are learning to name and locate the seven continents and five oceans of the world. Today, we wrote our own riddles with clues to help Miss Flynn and Miss Lyons guess the continent or ocean we were writing about. Our clues included using positional language (near, above, below, next to, beside etc..), the size, the temperature and the compass direction to help us to explain which continent or ocean we were describing.
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Rev Ben’s Worship - Moses & the Burning Bush
On Thursday, Rev Ben led a worship all about following instructions. The children thoroughly enjoyed an active game of Captain’s Orders to begin with. They then listened to the story of Moses and the Burning Bush. Rev Ben posed questions about why Moses was afraid to follow God’s instructions at first and how people show trust in God.
Year 3 - PE: Throwing and Catching
This week in PE, the Year 3 class were set some skill challenges to demonstrate their level of hand-eye coordination. Our first game was called Sevens. In this game the children completed seven throwing and catching challenges, such as clapping, spinning, or touching body parts between catches. We also played Fists, a game in which children had to pass a ball around the circle catching it between their fists.
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Online Safety: Discord
Discord gives young people a space to chat, play games and join communities based around shared interests. While it can be a positive way to connect with friends, there are also important risks for parents and educators to understand. Our latest #WakeUpWednesday guide highlights: • Contact with strangers • Harassment and harmful behaviour • Exposure to inappropriate content • Gaming and socialising becoming a distraction • Spending and subscription risks It also shares practical advice on using Discord’s Family Centre, reviewing privacy and spending settings, talking openly about suspicious behaviour and agreeing clear expectations around screen time. Read the guide here: https://vist.ly/5jh5f #Safeguarding #OnlineSafety #DigitalWellbeing #Education
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