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.
Whole School Worship - The Value of Kindness
Today, our whole school worship was focussed on the value of kindness and our Kindness Kite of God rewards kindness. We talk about kindness frequently at St Barnabas, especially as it is one of our 4 Be’s. As we came into worship, a video was playing that showed how kind acts affect the recipient, prompting them to pay the kindness forward so that it spreads. The children spotted some acts of kindness in the video and linked these to the charitable activities we have taken part in as a school family recently. Mrs Ham read some motivational quotes and we all acted out sprinkling a glitter trail of kindness and throwing around kindness like confetti. She then showed us the story of The Good Samaritan and explained that showing kindness isn’t something we reserve just for our friends and family; it’s for everyone. Quotes from the Bible about kindness were read brilliantly by Matthew, Darcy and Charlie from this week's Kindness Kite. We then spent some time reflecting on how we will show kindness this week and beyond, and we finished by singing one of our favourite songs, Rich in Kindness.
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Year4 - English: Gathering Information
On Tuesday, Year 4 had a great time reminiscing about their trip to the Anderton Centre. They moved around in groups, writing memories on flip chart paper using the photos of them completing the activities. They will later be using this information to write a persuasive leaflet for the Anderton Centre.
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Year 4 - PE: Athletics
Our first athletics session in Year 4 was all about demonstrating our throwing and sprinting skills. The children learned about positioning, leg work and arm movement to improve how fast they could sprint and how far they could throw overarm to a target. They then applied these skills through a series of fun team games.
Mad Science After School Club- Exploring the Chemistry of Curiosity: pH Levels
We had a fantastic start to our Science club today, delivered by the Mad Scientist, Jo. Our future scientists focused on the power of pH levels, learning how to identify acids and bases using professional liquid indicators and pH paper. The children put on their safety glasses and learned the vital importance of protecting themselves while conducting experiments. From observing the chemical reactions used to clean oxidised coins to testing the acidity of common household liquids. It was inspiring to see the children’s curiosity come to life as they realised that science isn’t just found in a textbook, it is happening in their kitchen cupboards and the world around them.
Year 4 - Hop, Skip and Jump Event
This morning Year 4 took part in The East Lancashire Hospice Hop, Skip and Jump Event. Every Hop, Skip & Jump brings the hospice closer to providing vital care for families facing life-limiting illnesses. This charity is very close to our hearts and what a gorgeous day to take part. The children loved getting out in the fresh air and sunshine.
*Spring Amazing Attendance Awards *
*Spring Amazing Attendance Awards * A huge congratulations to all of the children who achieved an amazing attendance certificate today for having over 96% attendance throughout the Autumn and Spring terms! We are so proud of you!
Whole School Worship - God’s Green Earth
As we approach the end of Lent, Mrs Ham led a special worship to celebrate all the efforts our school community has made to give back by looking after our local area and beyond. We couldn’t believe just how much we’ve all achieved in 2026 so far. Some key actions include: Reception class earning the Ruby Robin Award through building bug hotels, spotting birds and taking part in a wildlife quiz; our collective Big Winter Wander to raise money for the World Fund For Nature; our whole-school tree planting day on Jack’s Key; the WOW group planting two community orchards on school grounds; Mr Fairbanks building bird boxes and placing them around school; the Rota Kids collecting pre-loved teddies and coats for charity; the WOW group creating posters about the community poo bag dispenser located outside school, and putting them up all around the local area; and some of our children and parents choosing to go litter picking to help keep our streets clean. We have much more planned for the future, so keep a lookout for our next initiative. We ended our worship with prayers of thanks for God’s creations and singing one of our favourite Fischy Music songs: Make A Difference. Key Stage 2 stayed behind to hear the winners of the March TT Rockstars battle. A huge well done to the winning classes, Years 3 and 6, and to our class champions: Charlie, Charlie, Isabella and Isabelle.
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Heroes of Troy
We are so proud of our drama club for their fantastic production of ‘Heroes of Troy’. We loved seeing you all shine on stage and it was amazing to see how much your confidence has grown over the last ten weeks. A huge thank you to Miss Woods and Mr Mealor for their support and direction. Also a massive thank you to all of the parents and carers who came to support. All of the photos are available here and the recording will be shared soon. https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/heroes-of-troy-drama-club-production
Year 4 - Visit to the Rose Garden
At the start of Holy Week, the Year 4 class walked to the Rose Garden to create our Easter art gallery and then explore each class’s work. This year, each class took part in the A-Cross the World project. They chose a cross from a different part of the world and used it for inspiration to decorate their own crosses. After spending some time exploring the crosses in pairs, the Year 4 children took part in a quiz to locate specific crosses based on information from the background story or the technique used to create them. They had a great time exploring and choosing their favourite crosses.
Year 4 - PE: Orienteering
In our final orienteering session, the Year 4s were ready to explore further afield. Until this point, the children had been perfecting their map reading skills, understanding the importance of finding magnetic north and locating the start point. This session was an opportunity for the children to fine tune their teamwork skills - taking time to read the map and make group decisions about which direction to go in. The groups were given a medium route map which took them on to the furthest reaches of the top field. It was certainly an energetic session. The teams raced to each point in order to be the first team to finish, but the most successful teams were those who fulfilled their roles and talked about the locations before setting off running.
Year 4 - Science: Conductors and Insulators
In this week’s science session, the children had to set up an investigation to test different materials within their electrical circuits. Their task was to predict then test which materials would conduct electricity. We discussed first what would happen in our circuits if the material was a conductor and then the children began working to make their bulbs light. Of the materials tested, the children found that aluminium and stainless steel were conductors, whereas rubber, card, wood and plastic were insulators.