Whole School Singing Worship - Monday
In singing worship this morning, our whole school came together to welcome in the new week. We had lots of fun singing our favourite Easter songs and teaching them to our Reception class. The whole school joined in as Year 3 began by singing We have a King who rides a donkey, followed by Year 5 with Lord of the dance, Year 2 led us with Give me oil in my lamp, and finally Year 6 led us in a very energetic rendition of He is alive! A great way to fuel our energy and mindfulness for the week ahead!
Year 5 - Rotakids
Darwen Rotary club will be staging an Easter egg hunt during the Easter weekend. Eggs decorated by a number of schools will be hidden around Darwen, including popular walking routes and the town centre. 20 eggs will have a golden heart on the back and you can exchange one for an Easter egg at By Erin Gift shop.
Year 2 - Oracy - Planning a Story in English
Year 2 shared ideas and began planning a story for what the aliens got up to while Bob was busy.
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Reception: Muddy Monday
Our Reception explorers had a truly magical Muddy Monday this week as we headed out to Whitehall Park for a morning of discovery and fresh air. The forest school area was buzzing with excitement as the children’s imaginations ran wild; it was wonderful to see them transform the natural landscape into their own private playground. A major highlight was our "fire-building" workshop, where the children worked together to collect twigs and sticks, learning how to stack them just right to create their very own pretend campfires. The physical challenges didn't stop there! Many of our brave adventurers took to the skies as they climbed trees, testing their balance and building confidence with every branch. Back on the ground, the woods were filled with the sound of galloping as a group of children pretended to ride horses through the trails, turning fallen logs into trusty steeds. It was a fantastic session focused on teamwork, risk-taking, and the pure joy of being outdoors.
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Blackburn with Darwen Schools Y5/6 Cross Country
This evening was Race Night 2 for the Blackburn with Darwen Schools Years 5/6 Cross Country. Team B dug deep and came away with some great placings with some of the children getting great PBs and much higher positions than in Race 1 so we are very proud of their hard work and progress- well done!
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Smart School Council in Year 4
This week we looked at whether technology can be a help or a hindrance when learning. The children used their talk tokens to discuss this issue and did so in a very mature way. It was lovely to hear all of points and great to see turn taking and listening intently even whilst challenging their peers.
What’s Your Question? Year 3 Celebrates British Science Week 2026
Year 3 officially launched British Science Week with an "out-of-this-world" experience! Our budding scientists dived into a 'Horrible Histories; Science Live Lesson, joined by Grace Webb, 'The Rapping Science Teacher' Matt Green, and legendary astronaut Tim Peake. Together, we investigated the mysteries of light energy and our solar system, separating "science fact" from "science fiction. Inspired by this year’s theme, ‘Curiosity: What’s your question?’, the classrooms became hubs of oracy and debate. Pupils took centre stage to practice speaking and listening. The children then had questions of their own. How does the Moon stay in the sky? What does space actually smell like? What would happen if the Earth stopped spinning for just one second? We also turned our curiosity inward, creating Time Capsules in a Jar to capture who we are now and who we hope to become by the end of the year. It’s been a fantastic start to a week of big questions and even bigger ideas! What’s your question?
Friday Celebration Worship
It has been another very busy and exciting week here at St Barnabas. In Worship we have been taking time to reflect on both Lent and Ramadan, thinking about kindness, reflection and helping others. We have also had a fantastic week celebrating World Book Day, sharing our love of reading and enjoying all the brilliant costumes and book characters we saw in school. Our classes were also lucky enough to take part in the Pinocchio dance workshop and performance, which was fantastic to watch. There has been lots happening beyond the classroom too, including the River Darwen team disco and our wide range of clubs, such as Kids with Bricks club. Many of you have also been taking part in the Times Tables Rockstars competition and showing great enthusiasm for practising your times tables. We have now completed our Big Winter Wander and together we have raised £175 for WWF, which is an amazing achievement. Thank you to everyone who took part and supported this. Our RotaKids have also been showing kindness in action by collecting teddies for Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise and Darwen Rotary which will help support children less fortunate than us. We also had the World Book Day Dolly Peg Competition run by the Friends of St Barnabas and the judges were very impressed with the creativity and effort that went into the entries. The award for Best Book Character goes to Phoebe for Greg the Sausage Roll. The award for Most Creative goes to Ida for the Highway Rat. The award for Best Use of Materials goes to Molly for Molly and the Goldfish Fairy. The Judges’ Choice award goes to Alfie. The award for Most Imaginative goes to Alice for Stitch and the Outstanding Effort award goes to Elliot. Well done to everyone who took part and a huge thank you to our FOSB for organising the competition as well as contributing money to the Pinocchio workshops. A massive thank you to our parishioner Glenda for undertaking the difficult task of judging the competition. Our Values Awards where we recognise children who have been showing our school four Be's of being kind, respectful, safe and ready to learn. In Reception the award goes to Erina. In Year 1 it goes to Cassius. In Year 2 the award goes to Thomas. In Year 3 it goes to Albie. In Year 4 the awards go to Cassidy and Alfie. In Year 5 the award goes to Olivia and in Year 6 the award goes to Isabelle. Well done to all of you for showing our 4 Be's and Christian values so clearly in school. We also had some pen licences to award this week in Year 3. These go to Harry, Molly and Eddie. Well done for showing such neat and consistent handwriting across the curriculum, not just in English. We celebrated our team values totals for the week. In fourth place was Darwen Tower. In third place was Whitehall Park. In second place was River Darwen. And in first place this week was India Mill. Well done everyone! We also have lots of wonderful sports and out-of-school achievements to celebrate. Olivia, Eleanor and Annie have been awarded a certificate for celebrating 100 years of World Thinking Day at Rainbows. Alessia has been awarded her Level 1 for back bends in dance. Poppy has been awarded a teddy for really good dancing. Carmen and Renee have both been awarded their yellow belts in kickboxing. Albie has been awarded player of the week for good tackling. Martha has achieved her 20 metre swimming certificate. Haydn has been awarded a trophy for scoring seven goals in football. Olivia has also received a certificate for a fantastic backwards roll in gymnastics. Callie has been awarded a certificate for completing two years of JuJitsu. Maggie has received a Brownie doll and her promise badge. Annabel has been awarded star of the week in dance and swimmer of the month. Jack has been awarded a certificate for completing a silver swimming challenge and Piper-Jo has achieved her 50 metre swimming certificate. Well done to all of you for your hard work and dedication outside of school. A special well done also goes to our Cross Country team who showed fantastic determination when competing in rainy weather and muddy conditions. They ran over a mile, which is a brilliant achievement. We also held our inter-house competition for football and bench ball and the winning house was India Mill. Well done to everyone who took part. Our WOW group had some exciting news to share as well. Our school is now number one across all Blackburn and Darwen schools for walking to school last month. That is an incredible achievement. Year 4 are the overall winners for walking to school and badges will be given to all children who walked to school. Our attendance awards this week go to Year 2 and Year 3. Well done for coming to school every day and being ready to learn. Finally, just a reminder that Reception will soon be performing their Mother’s Day Service next Wednesday at 9.00am and there will also be the Mothering Sunday Service at St Barnabas Church where children are invited to come along and sing to their mums. To finish our worship we had lovely prayers from Olivia and Darcy and we sang the Butterfly song.
Year 1 World Book Day Workshop
Year 1 were fortunate enough to take part in an online workshop for World Book Day. The author of The Flower Thief, Alice Hemming, read her book to us. This book linked to our focus on Signs of Spring. Then, the illustrator, Nicola Slater, showed us step-by-step drawing on the squirrel and the bird from the story. The drawings made by Year 1 were fantastic! It was a lovely way to start our World Book Day celebrations.
World Book Week Showcase
Year 4 have had a wonderful World Book Week and to celebrate we have decided to showcase our best parts in a display outside Year 4. We have included pic collages that highlight our webinar with the author James Fox, The Pinocchio Workshop, learning a piece of text by heart and our fantastic World Book Day Celebrations. We have also included our bag packs which we could take with us into the Amazon in order to survive. This was linked to our favourite class novel - The Explorer by Katherine Rundell. We were so shocked to see Katherine also appear on our World Book Day interactive worship yesterday and it was a lovely surprise! What a week we have had!
Year 5 - World Book Day quiz and creative writing
As it is World Book Day, we changed the timetable this Thursday. We took part in a nationwide book and football quiz led by the Premier League with Year 6. Naturally we answered every question correctly. Then each child wrote an independent creative piece of writing about a story they have always wanted to tell or a book that they have always loved.
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Year 6 - World Book Day
As part of World Book Day, Year 6 took part in a variety of engaging and creative activities to celebrate reading and the enjoyment of books. The children participated in a World Book Day Premier League online workshop, where they had the opportunity to watch footballers discuss their favourite books and explain why reading is important to them. The children then took part in an interactive quiz linked to the session, which encouraged them to think about different authors, stories and the importance of reading for pleasure. In English, the children completed a poetry activity linked to Macbeth, focusing on the witches’ famous spell. They explored the language used in the scene and discussed how rhyme, rhythm and descriptive vocabulary help create a mysterious and magical atmosphere. The children then used their creative writing skills to compose their own spell-inspired poems, experimenting with rhyming patterns and imaginative word choices. As part of the day, the children also designed and created their own unique bookmarks. They used colours, illustrations and quotes from their favourite books to produce personalised designs which they can continue to use during reading time. Throughout the day, the activities aimed to promote a love of reading, creativity and imagination, while also giving the children opportunities to discuss their favourite books and share recommendations with their classmates.