Year 5 - RotaKids
Julia and Kathleen from Darwen Rotary Club came to visit today to discuss our next charity project for RotaKids. Having supported local and global charities through our previous efforts, we decided this time to support our school. We discussed various fundraising ideas before deciding on two potential favourites: wearing historical dress or dressing as you would in your future career. Now the RotaKids council have to convince Mrs Ham that we have the organisation and passion to get the whole school onside and raise as much as we can for St Barnabas.
Year 1 PE: Athletics
In our new PE topic, we are focusing on skills that we need in Athletics. We started by focusing on our posture, marching to Grand Old Duke of York whilst balancing a beanbag on our head. Then, we focused on following a leader in partners. In groups, we worked in stations. One station allowed us to practise our posture whilst balancing a beanbag on our head whilst moving between two hoops. The second station allowed us to practise rolling a quoit from one cone to another. The third station allowed us to practise both hopscotch and following a leader.
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Reception: Muddy Monday
What a wonderful "Muddy Monday" for our Reception class! The children had a fantastic time exploring the outdoors at Jacks Key Reservoir, keeping their eyes peeled and ears open for the first signs of Spring. It didn't take long for our mini-explorers to spot vibrant yellow daffodils peeking through the grass and delicate blossoms beginning to bloom on the trees. Looking up, we were treated to a beautiful blue sky filled with fluffy white clouds, while the air was alive with the cheerful sound of birds tweeting. To top off our adventure, we even spotted some butterflies fluttering by, confirming that Spring is truly on its way. We are so blessed to have this right on our doorstep!
Year 1 Maths: Measuring with Objects
Year 1 used objects such as cubes, paper clips, dominoes and counters to measure different classroom objects. The children had to make sure that the objects were aligned and they did not leave any spaces between the objects that they were using to measure. The children measured glue sticks, pencils, rubbers, whiteboards etc.
Year 1 Geography: Exploring Our School Area
In Geography, we recalled what human and physical features are. Human features are things made by humans such as playgrounds. Physical features are natural environments such as wooded areas. We walked around our school ground to find human and physical features. We had lots of human features such as the trim trail, playgrounds, the peace garden, the outdoor gym and the Muga. We had some physical features like the football fields and our growing school orchard.
Mad Science After School Club- Exploring the Forces of Motion
In today’s After School Mad Science Club, our scientists explored the fascinating laws of physics through several "Mad Scientist" challenges. The children investigated gravity and inertia by successfully pulling tablecloths from under dishes, proving that objects at rest prefer to stay at rest. We also held exciting woodpecker races, where the students learned how vibration and friction allow a wooden bird to "peck" its way down a wire. Additionally, the children mastered the art of moving coins across fabric without touching them, using clever vibrations to overcome friction. The children had so much fun throughout the afternoon and are already buzzing with excitement for our next session!
Friday Celebration Worship
We had a fabulous first week back and it was wonderful to see all the children working so hard and settling back into school life so positively. Throughout the week, we spent time reflecting on kindness, thinking carefully about the kind things we have done ourselves and the kindness we have seen in others. This week’s values awards were proudly presented to Luna in Reception, Jasper in Year 1, Noah in Year 2, Archie in Year 3, Bluebell in Year 4, James in Year 5 and Elsie in Year 6. Well done to all of you for consistently demonstrating our school values. In TT Rockstars, Archie and Lyla from Year 4 were awarded certificates for their efforts, fantastic work! Our team values results saw Darwen Tower in fourth place, India Mill in third, Whitehall Park in second and River Darwen taking first place. A huge congratulations to River Darwen, who also won a disco and non-uniform day for achieving the most points last half term, what a brilliant achievement! We were delighted to celebrate a wide range of achievements outside of school this week. Ava was awarded a Level 4 certificate in swimming, while Reggie achieved 50 metres, Mikey 20 metres, Minnie C 10 metres, Isabella achieved Stage 5 and James achieved Stage 1, well done to all our swimmers. Luna earned a yellow belt in kickboxing and Eleanor received a certificate for taking part in a duck hunt. Lydia, Annie, Luna, Thea and Olivia were all awarded badges and certificates in Rainbows for first aid, networking skills, tasty treats and present making. Rosie and Naomi were recognised as seconders in Brownies, taking on an important leadership role. Sophia, Darcy, Daisy and Alexis were all awarded sixer badges in Brownies for their leadership, with Darcy also receiving the Brownies doll for being particularly helpful. Samuel was named Beaver of the Week for his excellent map reading and Isaac was awarded Player of the Week for his fantastic shooting, passing and tackling in football. Congratulations to Reception and Year 3 for achieving the highest attendance this week, keep it up! Finally, we shared some important reminders. Reception families were invited to the upcoming stay and play session and we are looking forward to celebrating Earth Day on Wednesday, with children invited to come dressed in green or blue. Year 3 are excited for their upcoming Rock and River Outdoor Adventure trip and we also look forward to the Whitehall Park afternoon tea taking place on Sunday. We ended our worship with thoughtful prayers led by Sophia and Darcy. Well done to everyone for such a positive and successful week.
Year 5 - English
Our topic in English concerns writing an explanation text about earthquakes. To understand how school children in Los Angeles prepare for a potential earthquake, we studied the practice of Drop Hold Cover. This involves children dropping to the floor holding the back of their heads, crawling beneath a table and holding still until the danger passes. The children were given the task of surviving an artificial earthquake that struck Year 5 today. Thankfully, they all made it through unscathed.
Year 5 - Kindness Kites
2026 is the centenary year for the Blackburn Diocese, which includes the churches and schools in the local area. To celebrate this, everyone at St Barnabas has been thinking about kindness and the different forms that it can take. Previously the children have considered the power of saying something kind, listening and sharing while giving examples from their own lives. This week, we completed our ‘making peace’ kite and over the next two weeks we will start thinking about generosity.
Year 5 - French
To start the new French unit of describing people, the children reviewed the verb ‘to have’ and learned how to describe eye and hair colour. We developed our written and spoken French vocabulary and put particular focus on how to construct sentences with the correct word order.
Year 3- English- Exploring Rules linking it to R.E
Today we started exploring how structure helps us convey a clear message in our writing. To create interest, we watched two contrasting clips: one of a chaotic kitchen on Mother's Day and another of a young girl cooking in a calm, organised space. We are using these clips to help us write poems, thinking about how we can use different structures to show either "order" or "chaos." We also linked this to our R.E. focus on rules and laws, discussing how rules are important because they keep us safe. The children reflected on how, without laws, our streets would be full of confusion, much like the messy kitchen. Ultimately, we learned that a rule is like a promise to look after one another, providing the same structure to our lives.
Year 4 History
Today we started our new History unit on why the Vikings invaded Britain. We started by looking at our previous history units: Roman Britain and Anglo-Saxon Britain. Next we placed key events on a timeline starting with when the Romans invaded back in BC 55, all the way through to the Vikings arriving at Lindisfarne in AD 793. The children focused in on the Viking timeline, creating their own in groups, adding key dates and events up until when Edward the Confessor (Anglo-Saxon) became King of England in AD 1042.