Collective Worship-Forgiveness
This morning in Rev Ben’s worship, we started with a challenge. Dougie and Jake had a minute each to catch as many fish as possible using a rod and transfer them to another bowl at the other side of the room. The whole school gave them lots of encouragement which spurred them on enormously. This then led us on to a story of a fisherman called Peter. In the story, Peter realised that Jesus was more than a friend, he was God as he did such amazing things such as save him from drowning and heal his mother. When Jesus told Peter that he would betray him by not knowing him three times before the cockerel crowed, Peter didn’t believe him. Peter told Jesus that he would never betray him as he was his best friend. However, later in the story Peter did in fact betray Jesus when he denied knowing him three times. Then, the cockerel crowed. This is when Peter had the realisation that he had betrayed Jesus after all and he was extremely upset with himself. He wasn’t sure if Jesus would ever forgive him but Jesus did because Jesus loved him very much. Peter became a forgiven man and he spent the rest of his life telling everyone about Jesus and how amazing he was. He spread the word of God. Rev Ben asked us about the story and what we could learn from this. A lot of our Year 6 children shared their views and said that making mistakes can be good as you can learn, grow and improve and that Jesus will always forgive you for the mistakes that you make. We ended our worship with a lovely prayer and a sing along to ‘Jesus Strong and Kind.’
Year 5 - Science
Year 5 have been investigating the relationship between air resistance and gravity within science. The children used the model of a parachute and skydiver to imagine the forces pushing together that enables a person to slowly making their way to the ground. The children then created a seed spinner that used air resistance to keep it in the air while a pin, acting as a weight, forces it to the ground.
Walk to School Summer Worship
As part of our new Walk to School initiative, we took part in a virtual worship this morning. It was to highlight events that will be taking place over the summer term. We also looked at how children travel to school in different countries and found that some children have to go to school in a boat and some children in China have to climb 2500 ft up a mountain side using a rope ladder! The schools that took part, shared why walking to school helped us and we said that it helps us to clear our mind, be with nature, how it helps to keeps us fit and de- stress. The events that are due to take place are Walk to School Week 20-24th May and the WOW Top Ten Challenge when schools try to increase their walks and gain a top ten place on the leader board which is 3-28th June. Our WOW ambassadors are looking forward to promoting these exciting events and will be planning something very exciting!
Year 4 PE Dance - Sparks Might Fly
In our PE session this afternoon the children looked at developing movement expression, using their whole body, exploring new ways of moving and challenging themselves. They worked hard to link 4 count dances so they became more fluid. The final Circuit Dance involved each person taking on a lead role to represent the parts in a circuit such as power, positive, negative, switch, output and wires. We look forward to building the pieces over the next few weeks and then performing each one.
Year 3- P.E- Invasion Games- Rugby
In P.E. this term, Year 3 are learning the skills of rugby. This afternoon, the focus has been to master the swing pass technique for ball handling. The children formed groups of 4 to 5 in a semi-circle and engaged in a game of Pepper Pot, aiming to maximise the number of successful passes they could make within 30 seconds. They were reminded to show honesty as a group and report back the actual number of passes made and it is about beating their own group's personal best score rather than other groups. They worked brilliantly and encouraged other groups along the way.
Mad Science After-School Club-Watts- Up!
At the Mad Science after-school club today, the budding scientist had a blast! They dove into the world of static electricity, discovering its role in nature. They created indoor lightning and tried out some hair-raising experiments with an electrostatic generator.
The Pupils’ RE Conference 2024
Mrs Araujo and two of our W.O.W. group members enjoyed a fun-packed day at the RE conference. They met the author of the story The Dove Stone and explored the prayer themes revealed in the book. They even had the opportunity to create their own prayer stones from clay. All in all, it was a fantastic day, and our children were fantastic ambassadors for St Barnabas.
Year 3 - Art- Prehistoric Palette- Create paints using all natural ingredients as prehistoric artists did.
In ancient times, people had to get creative with their art supplies since they didn't have paints like we do today. They used things from nature, like crushed berries, burnt wood, and plant extracts mixed with animal fats, to make colours. That's why they collected leaves and other natural materials—they were their art-making tools. Today, Year 3 artists explored this ancient technique. They went on a nature walk to gather leaves, mud, twigs, and flower petals for their artwork. Back in the classroom, they mixed flour and water to make their paint base. Adding spices like turmeric or paprika gave them colours such as yellow, red, brown, and purple. Back in class, they used their homemade paints in their sketchbooks. They made marks, noting down the process for each colour they created. Through simple shapes, intricate patterns, and symbols.
Reception: Outdoor Games
Some of our Ducklings today decided to play a game of Scarecrow tig. They wanted Mrs Wilkinson and Mrs Thompson to catch the children and the children had to work together to avoid being caught. They had to negotiate obstacles, look for good hiding places, accurately run around the playground and help their friends. We had a super time and can’t wait to play more outdoor games together!
Whole-School Worship - Guide Dogs
As it is National Pet Month, Mrs Ham invited some special visitors from the guide dogs charity into our collective worship. They came to tell us all about how guide dogs are selected, how they are trained and how they support blind people in their daily lives. Keith asked us to put our hands over our eyes in order to imagine what it must be like to be blind. Haydn said you might not see things on the floor so might trip up and Cici said you wouldn't be able to see where you were going. We were also introduced us to Willow, a working guide dog, and he showed us how to spot a guide dog by their harness. He also showed us how to spot if a blind person is in need of help. The children asked some great questions about blindness and about the charity. They were especially shocked to learn that each guide dog costs around £55,000! Two of our children have already sponsored a guide dog puppy and hopefully more families might choose to do the same. We ended our worship talking about Earth Day and how we can look after God’s creations. We all agreed that everyday should be Earth Day and we finished by singing 'I can make a difference in this world of ours'.
Earth Day- EYFS and Key Stage 1 Lunchtime
The children enjoyed celebrating Earth day this lunchtime as a reminder to look after our planet by making their own Earth creation using collage materials.
Mrs Ham's Weekly message
Good afternoon parents and carers, it has been another wonderful week at St Barnabas! It was brilliant to hear in Celebration Worship about how each class has lived life in all its fullness and about all the great things that have been achieved this week both in and out of school. Please click here to read all about it: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news/2024-04-19-friday-celebration-worship Thank you to everyone for your support for autism awareness today by dressing in blue. A special thanks to Finn for being courageous by telling us all about his big brother Declan, who has autism and to our Harvey who loved showing us his special blue autism awareness t-shirt and how he loves to blow out our worship candles. This week we found out that 30 new children will be joining our school family in September and we can't wait to welcome them. Next Friday we are looking forward to our Hop, Skip and Jump in support of East Lancs Hospice. Donations can be made via parent pay. For all of this week's news, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Thank you for your wonderful support and in particular with our walk to school initiative, which saw lots of children being awarded with their first WOW badge this morning. I would like to wish you all a fabulous weekend and I hope the weather is kinder to us next week. Take care and God bless, Mrs Ham