Year 3- Class Worship- The Courage to Love: Noel Chavasse's Example
Today in Collective Worship, we heard the incredible story of Noel Chavasse, a man who showed immense valour and faith while serving as a doctor in the army during World War I. We learned how Noel exemplified "Loving Others Before Yourself" by following Jesus' example and demonstrating extraordinary, selfless love and courage towards others, even in the face of danger.
Year 3- Class Meeting delivered by Year 5 Smart School Councillors, Darcy and Alice
Year 5 Smart School Councillors Darcy and Alice did a fabulous job leading a trial class meeting today in preparation for delivering the session to Year 2 on Friday. It was great to see them take leadership for the activity. They began by discussing the results of the previous action, a Big Debate Club on whether it's more important to understand the history or the present of the black community, which resulted in a tie. For today's new discussion, inspired by the TV show The Traitors, small groups discussed the question: "If you had to choose between being completely honest or keeping a secret to win a big prize, which would you do?" Following the discussion, the Year 3 class majority voted in favour of being completely honest.
Year 3- Geography- Identifying lines of Latitude and Climate Zones
This afternoon, our amazing geographers have been exploring the concept of lines of latitude, the imaginary lines that run horizontally around the Earth. Using these key lines, the children identified different climate zones across the globe, from the tropical heat near the Equator to the icy cold near the poles. We focused on the extreme environments defined by these lines, learning about the Arctic Circle and Antarctica, and explored the fascinating animals that live there, too.
Whole School Worship - Remembrance
Ahead of Remembrance Sunday, our collective worships this week are all about taking time to reflect on those that have sacrificed themselves to keep us all safe. We have been learning about what Remembrance Day means to our nation and also to us personally. Mrs Ham explained the significance of the poppy and she shared some stories of extreme bravery and self-sacrifice demonstrated by those in the services during the World Wars. We considered which Christian values these people showed and Mrs Ham invited some children to share how they will be remembering our service men and women, past and present, this Remembrance Day.
Year 3 - English-Classical Poetry: The Spider and Fly
This week, Year 3 writers have started their classical poetry unit, and they are thoroughly enjoying the famous cautionary poem, ‘The Spider and the Fly’. They’ve been actively exploring new vocabulary central to the poem’s setting and theme, including words like parlour (a formal sitting room), pantry (a food storage cupboard), and especially flattering (insincere, sweet-talking praise). Most importantly, they are learning about the poem’s moral lesson: the danger of believing flattering words from someone who has a deceitful or harmful motive.
Whole School-Harvest Festival at the Church – Living Life in All Its Fullness
This morning, our school community came together at our church to celebrate our Harvest Festival, a joyful morning filled with song, prayer, and thanksgiving. The service began as Naomi and Martha signed The Trinity, followed by everyone joining in a rendition of our Harvest Samba song. We also heard about Bishop Philip’s inspiring challenge, pedalling to raise money for those in need, reminding us that even small acts of kindness can have a big impact. As part of the Bishop of Blackburn’s Harvest Appeal, we have been encouraging everyone to ‘Pedal Along’ and raise money for Christians in South Africa. Olivia shared a thoughtful talk, and Darcy reminded us to keep in our prayers families and countries around the world who are suffering. We also gave thanks for the work of DARE and reflected on people using their time and energy to support good causes. The reception and Year 2 class delighted everyone with their Harvest songs. Year 1 shared Thank You for Our Favourite Food, helping us reflect on gratitude. Lilly and Sofia led us in a thoughtful final prayer. We also said goodbye and good luck to Miss Norton, April, and Eve, and shared our thanks to Mrs Araujo, Mrs Ham, and our dedicated WOW Group for helping make this service so meaningful. Our Harvest celebration at the church was a wonderful reminder of our school vision, living life in all its fullness, through thankfulness, compassion, and community. Wishing all our families a restful and joy-filled half-term break!
FOSB Spooky Discos
A huge thank you to our Friends of St Barnabas (FOSB) volunteers and Mrs Wilkinson for planning and running our spooky discos tonight. What a great way to end a busy half term! The children had a great time dancing and playing games! The photos can be found here : https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/fosb-spooky-disco-1
Year 3- Class Worship- Who am I?
Today in our class worship, we discussed the Christian Value of Wisdom by exploring what really makes us who we are. The main focus was on the news about the UK government's plans to introduce digital identity cards and whether everyone should have one. This led to a discussion about "Who am I?" and whether our identity is defined by what people see on the outside or what is in our hearts. Notably, all the children voted against the idea of digital identity cards and felt it was invading their privacy. The Bible tells us that God looks beyond our physical appearance to our inner character, things like being kind, honest, and forgiving (1 Samuel 16:7). We concluded that getting to know someone's true character is what matters most. We finished with a prayer led by Elijah for the wisdom to discover ourselves and celebrate the good in everyone we meet.
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Whole School Worship & Farewell to Mrs Norton
It is with great sadness that we are saying goodbye to our school cook of 19 years, Mrs Norton, this week. In our whole school worship we celebrated all Mrs Norton has done for us by inviting some of our children to share memories and messages of thanks. Each class made Mrs Norton a special card and Mrs Ham presented her with some gifts from our school family. We wish her well as she embarks on a new chapter. Mrs Ham also shared an update about our Harvest collections for Dare and we practised our songs for the Harvest service.
Year 3- P.E-Target Striking & Ball Balance
Year 3 had a great P.E lesson today, working on our Target Strike skills. We focused on proper striking technique: first, balancing the ball on the bat or hand for a controlled feed, then standing side-on to the target area, keeping our eyes focused on the ball throughout the swing, and ensuring a strong follow-through towards the target. It was a great challenge to see if we could successfully hit both the front and back targets.
Year 3- Science- Shadow Puppet Show
Today, the children became both scientists and artists as they explored the fascinating world of shadows. They created bar charts to accurately record and show exactly how the sun's position causes shadows to move and change size throughout the day. Following this scientific exploration, they took that understanding and applied it to performance, designing and staging an amazing shadow puppet show, putting the knowledge they've gained this half term in science, all about light sources, light rays, and how light travels, directly into practice.
Year 2 Geography- Continents and Oceans
To conclude our geography unit this half-term, Year 2 pupils created a quiz for the Year 3 children to see how much they could recall from studying the same topic last year. Year 2 wrote three multiple-choice questions each to test their peers’ knowledge. The questions covered topics such as the largest and smallest continents and oceans, as well as the warmest and coolest continents and oceans. They also explored geographical positioning, asking Year 3 to identify locations in relation to the compass points—for example, which ocean lies north, south, east, or west of a particular continent.