Year 6 - Remembrance Service
Today, our Year 6 children proudly took part in the Remembrance Service at Darwen Cemetery, joining members of the local community and other schools to remember and honour those who made the ultimate sacrifice during times of war. The children performed a special remembrance song and sang beautifully, demonstrating confidence, maturity and great respect throughout. As a special tribute, the children laid a handcrafted wreath that they had carefully designed and created themselves with their words of thanks, offering a meaningful symbol of remembrance and gratitude to those who gave their lives for our freedom. It was a particularly poignant and meaningful experience for the children, giving them the opportunity to reflect on the importance of remembrance, understand the sacrifices made by previous generations and show their respect as a school community. The song that they sang today, that some of the children recorded earlier in the week, will be played at the special Remembrance Sunday service this Sunday at 10.30am. Everyone is welcome to go along and pay their respects.
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Year 6 - Whole School Remembrance
During today’s Celebration Worship, Year 6 led the whole school in a special Remembrance song as part of our preparations for their upcoming Remembrance Service at Darwen Cemetery. The children did a fantastic job, demonstrating confidence, respect and understanding as we come together to remember and honour those who have served and sacrificed for others.
Reception Remembrance Day
This week in Reception, we have been learning about Remembrance Day and the importance of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance. Through hands-on activities, the children explored this theme by designing artistic poppies with loose parts, practising their fine motor skills by creating detailed patterns on poppy petals, and by sharing their own thoughtful prayers and kind words of thanks for brave soldiers and service members.
Year 4 Class Worship - Picture News
In this mornings class worship, Year 4 focused on Picture News - Is the journey more important than the destination? It looked at Karl Bushby who has just returned to the UK after spending 28 years travelling to achieve his dreams, experience amazing adventures and face brutal challenges. He hasn’t used any transport and carried everything on a trolley. Karl is so inspiring and it got the children thinking about if life is actually about the journey rather than the destination!
Whole School Worship: Diwali
This week, our school community gathered together for a special whole-school worship focused on Diwali, the Festival of Lights. Celebrated by millions of people across the world—including Hindus, Sikhs, and Jains—this joyful five-day autumn festival marks fresh starts, peace, and the triumph of light over darkness. During our worship, the children explored the story of Rama and Sita alongside key cultural traditions, discovering how little clay diyas are placed in doorways to welcome blessings and remind us that even the smallest flame can chase away the dark. We also admired the colourful rangoli patterns created to welcome Lakshmi, and discussed how families celebrate through spring-cleaning, wearing bright clothes, watching fireworks, and sharing sweet mithai treats with neighbours and those in need. Connecting the festival to our own daily lives, we reflected on the deeper values of light over dark, good over evil, and wisdom over ignorance—focusing on courage, honesty, and kindness. The children were encouraged to consider how they can shine their own light within our school, whether by offering a cheerful greeting to someone new, inviting classmates to join playground games, or lending a helping hand in class. We brought our worship to a close with the song Shine and a quiet reflection, holding onto the thought: "May our words bring encouragement, and our actions spread friendship." We invite you to speak with your child at home about what they learned and how they plan to share their light this week.
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Year 5 - RotaKids
Today we continued planning our first RotaKids charity project by making posters, drafting letters and scripting videos. We are collecting warm clothing such as hats, gloves and scarves for DARE (Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise) and hope to engage as much of the local community as possible. We wrote letters asking local supermarkets to contribute any excess stock and made posters to encourage as many St Barnabas family members as possible to donate old warm clothes. Anything you can give would be greatly appreciated.
Year 5 - Black History Month
To celebrate Black History Month, we explored the life of Claudia Jones. She was a Trinidadian-born journalist who fought for racial equality in both the United States and the United Kingdom. As she is celebrated as the mother of the Notting Hill carnival in London, we decorated our own carnival masks with colours and symbols that reflect our personality and interests.
Year 6 - Black History Month
As part of our Black History Month celebrations, the children explored the inspirational life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. and his powerful dream of a world filled with equality, kindness and fairness. Inspired by his famous ‘I Have a Dream’ speech, the children created stunning pieces of artwork representing their own hopes and dreams for our world. Their work beautifully expressed their aspirations for a brighter future, where everyone is treated with respect, valued for who they are and given the opportunity to thrive. We are incredibly proud of the creativity, thoughtfulness and powerful messages behind their artwork!
Speak up for Black History in Year 4
This week in Year 4 we have been focusing on creating posters that encourage people to stand up for their rights and show kindness. We looked at a video about Rosa Parks and then thought of ways in which we could share her story through different messages.
Year 6 - Football with Stephen Sama
A huge thank you to Stephen Sama for coming into school to deliver a fantastic football session for our Year 6 children! ⚽ It was brilliant to see everyone getting involved, having fun and developing their skills. The children were also inspired by hearing about Stephen’s journey through football, showing them where passion, hard work and determination can lead. Thank you, Stephen, for giving our children such a memorable experience! The Stephen Sama Football Academy launches at DACA for Year 7 in September 2027. Led by former professional footballer Stephen Sama, who developed at Liverpool FC and now coaches Baller League champions PRIME FC alongside KSI. ⚽ Up to 20 boys & 20 girls selected 🏋️ Specialist coaching & S&C 🏆 Competitive football 📚 Full DACA education We are hopeful that some of our football stars will make it into the Stephen Sama Football Academy in September.
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Year 2- Black History Month
Today, we explored the life and achievements of Lewis Latimer as part of our Black History Month learning. We discovered how Lewis Latimer helped to improve the light bulb by developing a more effective and long-lasting carbon filament, making electric lighting more practical and accessible to more people. We then put on our thinking caps and explored other exciting innovations that have improved everyday objects. We discussed how the traditional toothbrush has evolved into an electric toothbrush, how glasses can become sunglasses in bright sunlight, how umbrellas can pop open at the touch of a button and how special goggles allow us to experience television in 3D! We also discussed how we can all be innovators, just like Lewis Latimer by using our creativity and problem-solving skills to come up with ideas that can lead to exciting innovations! To finish our session, we watched some Black History Heroes clips to learn about other inspirational Black figures, including Rosa Parks. We discovered more about her life, achievements and the lasting impact she has had on the world.
Worship: Black History Month
Our Black History Month worship began by inviting the children to imagine a huge book containing the history of the entire world. We discussed how some pages would be familiar to us, while others would tell stories we had never heard before. The children were then challenged to identify significant historical figures, including Samuel Pepys, Neil Armstrong and Adolf Hitler. We then introduced a selection of influential Black individuals. The children recognised Martin Luther King Jr. and Rosa Parks, but were less familiar with the other figures. This provided an opportunity to reflect on whose stories we learn about and why it is important to celebrate and recognise the contributions of Black people throughout history. We watched a Newsround video explaining what Black History Month is, why it is celebrated and the importance of learning about Black history. Following this, we explained that each class would focus on a different significant individual each week, giving the children opportunities to discover new stories, learn about inspiring people and understand the impact they have had on the world. We concluded our worship by singing Make a Difference, encouraging the children to consider how they can make a positive difference in their own lives and communities. The worship provided an opportunity to celebrate Black history, broaden the children’s understanding of significant historical figures and encourage them to think about the importance of representation, equality and making a difference. A huge thank you to Miss Woods, our History subject leader for planning and leading the worship and follow up work.
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