Year 5: Peer Mediation
On Wednesday Year 5 participated in their first Peer Mediation session in association with DACA and Ben from Quakers in Britain. Peer mediation empowers children to resolve conflicts peacefully and build important communication and problem-solving skills. The children are looking forward to their next two sessions and will then have the opportunity to apply to become a St Barnabas peer mediator. Our staff also had training on peer mediation yesterday too and are looking forward to seeing conflicts being resolved between the children and peer mediators.
Worship with Rev. Ben
Today, during Rev. Ben’s worship, the children explored the theme of living life in all its fullness through movement and storytelling. They engaged in a series of dynamic actions that brought a Bible story to life, immersing themselves in an active and reflective experience. The story they focused on was the Road to Emmaus from the Gospel of Luke. It tells of two disciples walking to Emmaus, filled with sadness and confusion following Jesus’ crucifixion. Along the way, they met a stranger who walked with them and explained the Scriptures, helping them understand God’s greater plan. As evening approached, they invited the stranger to stay and share a meal. It was only when he broke the bread that their eyes were opened—they realised the stranger was the resurrected Jesus! In that moment, Jesus disappeared, leaving them filled with renewed faith and joy. This interactive worship session helped the children connect with the story in a meaningful way, encouraging them to embrace faith, discovery and the joy of living life to the fullest.
Reception: French
Reception class had a wonderful lesson with Junior Jam this week. They were taught how to say hello, goodbye and thank you. They also learnt how to count to 5 in French. Bien joué!!
Reception: Computing
Reception class enjoyed their computing session yesterday taught by Junior Jam. They learnt how a camera works and had the opportunity to take some photographs too.
Year 6 Art
Year 6 have created their own artwork based on the work of Lubaina Himid’s ‘Five’. Lubaina Himid grew up around bold colours and fabrics due to her mum being a textile designer, and is renowned for her artwork telling stories about black people in western society. In the artwork ‘Five’, various items on the table carry symbolic meaning: the plates clearly displaying the stars and stripes of America and the continent of Africa; the sugar bowl representing a sweeter relationship between the two continents and other items on the table symbolising the transatlantic route taken by slaves in the past. We used this as our inspiration for our Easter artwork and provided images that carry symbolic meaning in answer to the question ‘Who was Jesus?’
Year 2 - Life cycle of a plant
Today, Year 2 continued their learning all about plants. Today we explored the different stages of a plants life cycle. We used technical vocabulary to describe the plant and what was happening at each stage. The stages we identified are: germination, seedling, adult plant, pollination, fertilisation and reproduction. The children were superb at remembering the stages of the cycle.
Year 1 PE- Dance
Today in your PE lesson, Year 1 enjoyed another dance session. First of all, they watched a clip from Toy Story 2 that showed several of the Toy Story characters crossing the road to Al’s Barn. Partner A then replicated the movement of one these characters and travelled from one side of the hall to the other in either a high or low position. Meanwhile, partner B had to make an interesting shape to replicate the obstacle that our character would face as they crossed the crossed road such as a speed bump, a tin can or a cone etc.. and partner A had to take different pathways such as going over, under or around the obstacle whilst making their way to the other side. Great work Year 1!
Year 4 - Mother’s Day Cards
We’ve had to save this news from last week as we didn’t want to spoil the surprise, but Year 4 made some lovely Mother’s Day cards for the special people in their lives. They folded origami tulips for the front of their cards and wrote love-filled messages inside. We hope all the mums, grandmas, aunties and special people who received them loved them and enjoyed Mothering Sunday.
The W.O.W. Group - Lego Serious Play in Action
Our wonderful W.O.W. group led their first Lego Serious Play session this week with two children from each year group. They asked their groups to build models that would demonstrate prior learning in RE - for example, “Make a model to show how Christians celebrate Jesus’ birthday”. W.O.W. group introduced the task then gave the children ten minutes to build. During the process, they asked questions and asked children to explain their choices. They made a note of the responses and then presented the models to the group.
Year 3-Year of Prayer-Hot Cross Buns and Prayer
As part of our Year of Prayer this week, the children enjoyed hot cross buns. The cross on the bun symbolized Jesus' death on the cross. We reflected on how Jesus' sacrifice takes away our wrongdoings, and we expressed gratitude for the new beginnings his death makes possible.
Rocksteady Spring Concert
Today we were treated to a very special Rock Concert by the brilliant members of our Rocksteady Music groups. This was a wonderful celebration of all their efforts and the hard work they have put in over the last term. ‘The Black Panthers’ performed a fantastic rendition of Sk8er Boi - A big well done to Harry H, Elsie, Rosie, Darcy, Euan, Sonny, Lennox, Daisy and Miles! Our youngest band, ‘The Little Rock Gorillas’ then performed a brilliant mash-up of Shotgun/I’m still standing - A super well done to Cassius, Zac, Harry J, Annabel, Eve and Harry T for showing such confidence! The 'Fast Velociraptors' performed a rocktastic version of Bye Bye Bye - A huge well done to James, Jack, Jacob and Fletcher.! Last but not least, Rickle Roll Rockstars performed a super cool version of Never Gonna Give You Up by Rick Astley- A big well done to Oscar, Matthew, Quinn and Beau! We are so proud of the courage and dedication these children have shown to their Music. They have worked really hard to master lots of challenging musical skills, such as reading music, playing chords and keeping to the beat/rhythm. We would also like to say a big thank you to Jess, our Rocksteady band leader - this would not have been possible without the knowledge, encouragement and support she provides to our children every week. Keep Rocking St Barnabas!
Year 4 - Science: Conductors and Insulators
In Year 4 this week, we were working scientifically by designing practical enquiries in order to test our predictions. We decided on a question to investigate, decided how we would investigate and made predictions. Once we were ready we built a series circuit with a bulb and, in place of a switch, we connected a range of different materials to see if the bulb would still light. We found out that most of the metal objects conducted electricity so the bulb lit. We also discovered that the majority of the items in our pencil cases were insulators so the bulb didn’t light whilst these items were connected.