Year 5 and 6 Hop, Skip and Jump for East Lancs Hospice
Last Friday, year 5 and 6 took part in a fundraiser for East Lancs Hospice. It involved them hopping, skipping and jumping around the school yard. They took part with such enthusiasm. Well done year 5 and 6!
Rev Matt’s Worship - The Road To Emmaus
Rev Matt asked us to participate in the story of the disciples walking to Emmaus and talking about the sad events of Jesus’s death. We learned about the stranger who joined them and later revealed himself to be Jesus resurrected. Rev Matt involved all of the children in an activity in which they had to work together to keep an inflatable off the floor. He used this to explain the importance of believing, especially without proof, in God and His Son, and that it is this that keeps faith going.
Year 5 - Hop, Skip and Jump
Year 5 completed the Easter Hop, Skip and Jump around the 1k track to raise money for East Lancs Hospice. The children decorated Easter crowns and hopped, skipped and jumped our schools 1k track.
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.
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.
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'.
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
Year 6 P.E. - Athletics
In P.E. Year 6 have started their athletics unit. This week we looked at developing our running and jumping skills. Character development was massively important in this session as the children needed to be aware that they weren’t in competition with others, but themselves. Over the coming weeks, the children will look to better their results by focusing on their technique.
Year 4 - Maths: Solving Addition Problems
Any lesson undertaken outside of the classroom creates an air of excitement, and in Year 4, the children particularly enjoyed their maths trail in the hall. In pairs, the children chose an addition problem from around the room. Their mission was to solve it on their own then compare answers with their partner, discussing how they reached their answers. Once they felt confident about the answer they had to show Mrs Araujo and then choose their next problem. If they made a mistake, Mrs Araujo sent them back to spot the error. The children worked well in pairs, coaching each other and demonstrating resilience in reaching the correct answer.
Year 4 Go on Residential to The Anderton Centre
Well that’s a wrap! What an amazing adventure we have had at The Anderton Centre. The children have loved tree climbing, archery, fairy den building, night line guide line, bushcraft, marshmallow toasting, team building, XL stand up paddle boarding, midnight feasts, sleepovers (with not much sleep) and AI food. The children have really challenged themselves, attempting things that have really pushed them out of their comfort zones. Team Gardner, Team Araujo andTeam Lyon’s were a pleasure to take and conducted themselves in true St Barnabas style, showing our four Bs along the way at all times. A huge thanks to the parents and carers for allowing us to share such a magical experience with them, labelling every item under the sun and all with the packing skills of a scout leader! We now have very tired children but they have made memories that will last a lifetime! For all of the photos, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/year-4-anderton-centre-residential
Easter Reflection Worship
It was wonderful to welcome our school family back after our Easter break. In our collective Worship we reflected on the events of Holy Week and joined in with a rhyming Bible story about when Jesus appeared to his disciples and we watched 'The Awesome Easter Surprise' video. We reflected on how Jesus must have felt telling his friends that he would be leaving them but we discussed how this was all part of God's plan and how God sent his son Jesus as a rescuer and saviour. We looked at our God's Big Story canvases and identified that the Easter story came in the salvation part. We then thought about how Jesus asked his disciples to love one another and live life in all its fullness. We talked to our partner about how we can live life in all its fullness, which is our school vision, and make Jesus proud of us. We had some really thoughtful answers such as: show love and respect to everyone including your pets, neighbours and parents, look after our world by picking up litter, donate clothes, toys and food to those who don't have as much as we have, challenge yourself, go outdoors and look at God's creations, be happy, play nicely with your friends and be grateful for everything we have. We finished our Worship with a prayer and sang Give me oil in my lamp to sing Hosanna to Jesus.
Rev Matt’s Worship: Good Friday
Rev Matt’s worship this week began with a drawing challenge. A Year 4 child was shown a picture and they had to draw the picture on the back of a Year 5 child. This child then had to draw what they thought the picture was on the back of a Year 6 child, who had to attempt to draw it on flip chart paper. Rev Matt then explained that messages sometimes become distorted when we don’t see the full picture, but it is important to stay hopeful. This mirrors the sadness of Jesus’ death on Good Friday. We must remember that it was all part of God’s plan to save mankind.
Reception: Easter Artwork
Our Ducklings enjoyed viewing the artwork in the Rose Garden. They looked at the Easter story and tried to describe each picture.
Collective Worship- Salvation
This morning in Worship we learnt about Palm Sunday with Mrs Ham and then we watched the Easter Worship Together across the Diocese video with Lisa and Bishop Philip. We looked at our school timeline of God's Big Story and found where salvation was in the New Testament. We then learnt all about Jesus being our salvation, our rescuer and saviour. We looked at our sorry tree and Mrs Ham read out some of the things we are sorry for (sins) and we asked for God’s forgiveness. We finished with an Easter prayer and Years 3 & 4 performed the songs they will be singing in our Easter Service on Thursday morning.
Easter Artwork Trail in the Rose Garden
The St Barnabas Easter trail is now ready for visitors! Our whole school family has worked hard to represent a different part of the Easter story through art and we have selected some for our community to enjoy when they visit the Rose Garden at Whitehall Park. Our pictures have brought a lovely splash of colour to the garden to celebrate this joyous time in the Christian calendar. We hope that they will bring joy to all visitors.
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by thanking our whole school family for wearing odd socks yesterday for World Down Syndrome Awareness Day and all of our children who have contributed to our Big Lent Walk this week including Year 6 who have walked all over London and Year 1 who walked 3 and a half miles around Darwen on their local history walk. We then presented Fletcher, Maggie, Ella-Grace, Isabelle, Edward, Brooke and as the value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently demonstrating an amazing attitude to learning and demonstrating all of the 4Bs. Then Mr Prescott presented all of Year 6 as value award winners this week for representing the school amazingly well in London. Mr Prescott said that they all got along amazingly well, were incredibly well mannered and showed a genuine interest in all of the places they visited and things that they got to see. Well done Year 6. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 6 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, River Darwen who are our overall value award winners this week and our amazing swimming gala team made up of children from Year 3,4,5 and 6 for coming 3rd place overall and also achieving lots of individual placings. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Holly for achieving both her Stage 3 and 4 swimming certificates, Callie for being awarded the special teddy at stage coach for amazing singing, dancing and acting, Ella-Grace for being being successful in getting into the Man United Girls Football Team, Grace for receiving a letter from the King regarding her letter about the closing down of Waddow Hall, Maggie for showing wonderful commitment to Rainbows by attending for two years, Lola for showing generosity and raising money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital by completing 50k in March, Annabel for completing her promise at Rainbows, Betsy for achieving a gold medal for ‘throwing herself into the deep end’ in her acro dancing, Scarlett for showing wonderful commitment to Rainbows by attending for two years, Marley for showing wonderful commitment to Rainbows by attending for one year, Arabelle for working hard to achieve her Stage 4 at swimming, Vienna for being awarded her water safety certificate, Harriet for achieving her Stage 4 in swimming, Thomas for being awarded his Level 1 First Aid certificate, being a super chef and a brilliant builder, Annabelle for achieving her Blue Peter Badge for reading and taking part in an orienteering competition, Leonora for completing seven swimming events in a 50m pool last weekend. To end of our celebration worship, we heard from Rev Ben who reminded us all about the Palm Sunday Church Service this weekend where our school choir will be singing and an Easter egg hunt that the church have organised on Good Friday. Mrs Wilkinson also reminded us about the Scholastic Book Fair which is running tonight, Monday and Tuesday after school. We also sang along to ‘Gospel Medley.’ We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Year 4: Down Syndrome Awareness Day 2024
In our Class Worship and PSHE sessions today, we focused on Down Syndrome Awareness Day. World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD), 21 March, is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012.Typically, a baby is born with 46 chromosomes. Babies with Down syndrome have an extra copy of one of these chromosomes, chromosome 21. We also looked at how we are all unique and have very special qualities. This is why we are supporting this day by wearing our odd socks.
Rev Ben’s Worship: Palm Sunday
Today, Rev Ben read the story of Palm Sunday and talked about the joy of the crowd when Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. He contrasted this with the anger of the crowd when they were led to believe that Jesus lied about who he was. Determination and perseverance were two key qualities demonstrated by Jesus during that time and Rev Ben asked everyone to reflect on when they will need to show these qualities this week.
Year 3- PSHE- What is a community?
Today in PSHE, Year 3 discussed the concept of "community." We explored what this term means to each of us. To visually represent this, Sophie and Elliot sketched a 'Community Web' diagram in the PSHE scrapbook and extended lines outward, representing the different communities the children belong to. These included their family, school, sports teams, brownies, cubs, swimming, neighbourhoods, and more. We explored the idea that individuals can belong to multiple communities, each with its unique characteristics and lifestyles. We also emphasised the importance of understanding and recognising this diversity within communities and showing respect.
The W.O.W. Group: Messy Church
Last week, W.O.W. Group delivered a very exciting infant Messy Church on the theme of creation. They read a short story about creation and then they took the participants outside to appreciate God’s creations and create their own nature bracelets. The children were very proud of the bracelets and marvelled at all the gorgeous colours in the plant life around us.
The W.O.W. Group: Messy Church
This week was our final week of Messy Church and the W.O.W. Group have thoroughly enjoyed planning and delivering these interactive sessions. Our final week was based on creation again. The children watched a video about God creating the world and then chose, from a range of activities, to create something with a partner. All sorts of materials were available so that they could let their imaginations run wild.
Rev Matt’s Worship: The Story of Zacchaeus
This morning Rev Matt began our worship talking about soft and hard materials and how some materials can be softened. This led nicely into the story of Zacchaeus, the tax collector who had a hard heart and did not treat people very well. However, when Jesus called Zacchaeus to Him and requested to go to Zacchaeus’s house, Zacchaeus changed and had a softer heart. The story taught us that those who struggle are the ones who need our kindness most.
Values Points House Team Winners - Spring 1 2024
A huge well done to our Values Awards Winners for Spring Term 1 2024 - Team Whitehall Park. Today they celebrated their win with a special non- uniform day, sweet treats and a disco. It was lovely to see each and every one of them dancing and having lots of fun! Well done Team Whitehall Park on another successful half term win!
The Big Lent Walk in Year 4
This afternoon, Year 4 went on their Big Lent Walk around our local area. We walked past both Mrs Gardner’s and Mrs Singleton's houses on our journey. The children loved being out in the fresh air and working together to add more km to our whole school total. We are so proud of them as we were also in our World Book Day outfits which included onesies, dresses and dressing gowns. Collectively we walked 92.8k - WELL DONE Year 4
Big Lent Walk: both targets achieved!
Wow! We have achieved both of our targets already for the Big Lent Walk. A huge thank you to our wonderful children and families for taking part to help us to travel 385.4km (so far!!) Thank you to everyone who has sponsored us so far- our families, friends and the community. Your generosity means so much. We still have just under 4 weeks of Lent left so I am sure we can continue to add more km to our distance travelled and raise more money for this wonderful cause. You are not too late to get involved so please send your pictures and total km walked to either myself or Mrs Ham. Donations can still be made here: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk?utm_medium=email&utm_source=PostOffice&utm_campaign=DS_EVENTS-LFC_Trans_NthDonation Thank you for your kindness and generosity,
Year 3- Class Worship-R.E- How does Jesus change lives?
In today's class worship and Religious Education lesson, Year 3 explored the story of Zacchaeus. He was a tax collector, which meant he collected taxes for the government. However, many disliked him because he was known to cheat people out of their money. When he met Jesus, everything changed. He felt sorry for tricking and lying to people in the past. After hearing the story, the children generated questions asking Zacchaeus about how he felt during different parts of the story. Then they got into the role of Zacchaeus and answered those questions, imagining his feelings. The story of Zacchaeus teaches us that people can change for the better. Even if someone has done wrong things in the past, they can choose to make things right. When Zacchaeus met Jesus, he decided to be honest and kind instead of cheating people. It shows us that it's important to say sorry when we make mistakes and try to be better people. We learnt that everyone deserves a second chance, and it's never too late to do the right thing.
Year 4 - 1K for the Big Lent Walk
Year 4 class are doing their bit towards the Big Lent Walk with a 1K run on the Key Stage 2 playground. This week and last, each child completed their 1K, racking up a total of 54km between them. They will continue to do this each week.
The W.O.W. Group - Messy Church: Faith in Action part 2
The WOW Group Messy Church activities continued this week with the final KS2 Faith in Action session. Participants watched the story of David and Goliath and talked about how David believed in God and himself. They then chose an affirmation bookmark to decorate and take home. Next week the WOW Group will be moving on to the KS1 sessions, with a focus on creation.
Rev Matt’s Worship: Perseverance
Rev Matt’s worship began with a balloon challenge this morning. The aim was for the children to persevere and keep the balloon up in the air for as long as possible. All three contenders did extremely well. He then shared the story of the man through the roof, in which the sick man’s friends had persevered in seeking help for him. After bringing their friend to Jesus they discovered the house was overcrowded, but they refused to give up. Instead they made a hole in the roof and lowered him in so that Jesus might heal him. We spent time reflecting on how we could help our friends, and those in need.
Year 3- Collective Worship- Should we learn sign language at school?
Today in Year 3's class worship, we explored different ways of communicating, including prayer to connect with God and the importance of British Sign Language. The children feel learning sign language at school is vital to support the deaf community, break down barriers, and promote understanding between different communities. They also discussed the importance of respect and celebrate difference. We ended our worship by thanking God for creating each of us uniquely different.
The W.O.W. Group - Messy Church: Faith in Action
The W.O.W. Group have done a fantastic job in planning some exciting lunchtime Messy Church sessions. The first one was for KS2 children and the theme was “Faith in Action”. Participants had to think of someone who is their hero and make them into a superhero. They also listened to the story of Samson and his strength, and they were treated to a drink and a biscuit whilst they worked on their superheroes. The W.O.W. Group are looking forward to the second KS2 session next week.
Rev Ben’s Worship- Jesus chooses his disciples
This morning in Collective Worship, Rev Ben started with a fun game where we had to guess the superpowers that our wonderful volunteers, Walter, Lottie, Isabella, Charlie-Rose and Matthew acted out. We guessed the superpowers of speed, strength, sports, invisibility and flight. We then followed on from Jesus' 40 days in the desert and we watched a story from the Bible that showed what happened next. We watched as Jesus chose his followers, called his disciples. They didn't have superpowers and were very ordinary and often made mistakes, just like us. Rev Ben told us that the best followers of Jesus don’t have super-powers and God works today through ordinary people who love Jesus and admit it when they get things wrong. He then told us about Ash Wednesday and how that is a time to ask God for forgiveness for the things we have done wrong. Wilson, our Head Boy, volunteered to have an ash cross put on his head. We then reflected on what we can do when we get things wrong and how God will always forgive us. We finished by singing My Lighthouse and My God's the King of me. Thank you Rev Ben for another wonderful worship.
Reception: Muddy Monday
Our Reception class really enjoyed our Muddy Monday session at Whitehall park. We looked at some habitats for different minibeasts that we found and also enjoyed creating dens and continued to take risks climbing trees. They walked 3.84km and enjoyed contributing to the Big Lent Walk!
Whole-School Worship: Understanding Lent
In worship today, Mrs Ham explained that Lent is a time in the Christian calendar in which we observe Jesus’ time in the wilderness and prepare for Easter. We discussed what we could do to observe Lent. Some of the children’s suggestions included giving up sweets, chocolate, crisps, time on devices, or giving back by helping at home or making an extra effort to show kindness to others. We also learned more about THE BIG LENT WALK and how each member of our school family can contribute by walking a few kilometres over the Lenten period and raising money that will go towards ending global hunger. More information is available on Class Dojo.
The Big Lent Walk
During Lent, our school are currently fundraising for CAFOD. We are taking part in the big Lent walk where we are collectively trying to walk 200km. Please help us to raise as much money as possible by sponsoring our whole school family. If you have been on a walk, please either sponsor and leave a message with how many km you have walked or send me a message and I can update our page. We will also be walking during the school day in our classes to achieve our target so any sponsorship will be greatly appreciated. Your sponsorship can change lives. Every £1 raised through the Big Lent Walk will help fight poverty globally in countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. This year, CAFOD’s Lent Appeal is helping fishing communities feed their families in Liberia, and SCIAF’s Wee Box Appeal is focused on women and girls in Rwanda facing gender-based violence. Also in Ethiopia, CAFOD and SCIAF are working together to respond to the devastating food crisis there. Years of drought caused by the climate crisis means families are no longer able to cope, but your support means we are working with people right now, providing them with water, emergency food and healthcare. With your hard work and sponsorship this Lent, we can change families’ lives for good and tell poverty to take a hike. Please access our page here where you can sponsor your child: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk Thank you for your kindness, Mrs Wilkinson
Dress to Express 2024
What a fantastic day we’ve had celebrating Dress to Express! It was lovely to get together as a whole school to raise awareness for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Every single member of our school family certainly dressed to express themselves and made themselves heard as we all have a voice. Well done to all of the children that spoke about why they had chosen their outfits and how it allowed them to express themselves.
Year 4 - RE: What is God Like?
In RE, we’ve been looking at psalms this week in Year 4. We looked for the symbolism used to describe God and talked about what it reveals about Christian belief.
Rev Matt’s Worship - Temptation
Today in whole-school worship, Rev Matt talked about temptation and how the devil tried to tempt Jesus in the desert. We thought about what tempts us and what we might do if we wanted to celebrate Lent.
Year 3- R.E- How did/does Jesus change lives?
This afternoon in R.E. Year 3 listened to "The Calling of Levi". After the story, we made two lists: one about what mattered to Levi (Matthew) before Jesus called him, and another about what became important after Jesus called him. We talked about why his priorities changed after meeting Jesus. Meeting Jesus made Levi think differently about what's important in life, like his beliefs and values. Jesus' teachings and being around him made Levi rethink what matters most and make good changes in his life. Levi became a better person after meeting Jesus because he used to do a job collecting taxes, which was important for money. But when he met Jesus, he decided to follow Him and be a friend. So, what became important to Levi was being friends with Jesus and learning from Him, instead of just collecting money. It shows how meeting someone special can change what's important to us.
Year 6 PSHE
In PSHE, year 6 focused on the qualities of good friends. We started by discovering that it is okay for friends to have different views and interests. We did this by presenting a series of statements and noticed that there were so many differences within our year 6 class: some agreed and some disagreed with the statements. We ended the lesson with the children explaining what they felt were the most important qualities of friendship. Not only did they have to list the quality, but justify why it is important.
WOW Group - Messy Church Planning
The WOW Group have been busy planning their lunchtime messy church sessions. This week, they were making posters to advertise the sessions and, next week, they will be explaining what they are all about in worship.
Rev Ben's Worship: Turning to God
This week, Rev Ben told us the story of John the Baptist and how he preached about the importance of turning our lives to God. We spent some time thinking about what it means to turn to God.
Collective Worship- The boy in the temple
We started our Monday morning worship by singing Jesus strong and king and then by signing the trinity and the lighting of the candles. We then watched a video from the Worship Together Collective Worship led by Lisa from Blackburn Diocese. We heard the story ‘the boy in the temple’, which taught us about a twelve year old Jesus who went missing and was found in the temple. He said to Joseph when he was found “ you should have known I was here, it is my father's house after all.” Bishop Philip told us how in this story Jesus tells us who he is and what he has come to do. We then watched an animation of the story and discussed how Mary and Joseph must have felt when Jesus was missing for three days and how Jesus was a little child, just like us. We then finished our worship by singing and signing to two of our favourite songs about Jesus, Waymaker and My Lighthouse.
Year 6 Class Worship
Today, in our class worship, year 6 listened to the story of Philip and Nathanael. They discovered that these two individuals, although friends, had very different personalities, but that this can often lead to stronger friendships. Following this, we noted down what year 6 value in friendship and discussed how we all have the right to choose our own friends.
Year 4 - RE: Looking in Hearts
If there’s one thing our Year 4s are good at, it’s demonstrating our Christian values. In RE, this week, we discussed how God chose people to do important jobs and that it was all about what was in their hearts. The children wrote about the values in their hearts and what actions they take that show the good in their hearts.
Whitehall Park Values Winner Disco
Well done to all of the children in Whitehall Park as they collectively received the most values points this half term. As a treat, they were rewarded with a disco! They had a super time and all enjoyed a chocolate lolly too.
Year 3- Whitehall Park- Singing Christmas songs and admiring the Artwork
This morning, Year 3 have been out admiring the wonderful artwork created by some of the children from our school. During the visit, they sang Christmas songs, spreading festive cheer to the members of the gardening club. They were amazed by how well they sang their hearts out. They also had the opportunity to have a play in the park before heading back to school.
Year 5 - Christmas Cards
Today RotaKids in year 5 took part in an initiative to bring joy to the residents in local nursing homes by sending them Christmas cards. The children all created Christmas cards with lovely messages to those who are feeling lonely this Christmas. They included lots of positive affirmations to remind them we all care.
Year 4 - RE: How did Jesus bring light?
Some super acting was displayed in RE in Year 4 this week. We learned about who Jesus helped most and why, role playing the well-known religious figures Zacchaeus, Matthew and the rich young man. The children were tasked with spotting the parts in each story where Jesus brought light.
Year 3- Class worship- Peace
During our class worship, the Year 3 class created a peace chain. They are hoping their peace chain travels the world and their messages of peace makes a difference.
Year 6 Class Worship- Kindness
Today, in class worship, year 6 focused on kindness. We discussed that, even though we may be one person, we can still make a big difference. We watched a video all about acts of kindness and that if we show it to someone, the chances are that those people will then show kindness to others.
Rev Ben’s Worship: Samuel and David
This week in Rev Ben’s Worship, we learned the story of Samuel, Jessie and David. We talked about the qualities God looks for in a king and the importance of having a kind heart.
WOW Group Worship: Respect and Tolerance
Well done to our fantastic WOW Group, who led their first whole-school worship this year today. In recognition of Inter Faith week, they talked about respecting each other’s differences and they taught us about tolerance and how we can show it to one another.
Year 2 - PSHE
During anti-bullying week, we have been looking at the impact our words and actions can have on others. We have been reflecting on times where we have shown kindness to others and how that made us feel. Some children said they get a funny feeling in their tummy when they are kind to their friends. We continued to look at bullying and if someone is unkind towards us, what should we do next? We discussed various people the children would tell if they're upset or worried. These included family members, friends, school staff and other trusted adults. We wrote these people onto our helping hands to help us remember all the people that can help us.
Odd Socks and Shoes Day at St Barnabas
Wow! A huge THANK YOU to you all for taking part in Odd Socks and Shoes Day to launch Anti-Bullying Week. There were so many wacky and unique combinations. The Wellbeing Warriors found it so very hard to choose one winner from each class, but after much deliberation, they will be announcing the winners in Celebration Worship tomorrow.
Year 6 Class Worship- Anti-bullying Week
In year 6, we carried out a class worship on anti bullying. We listened to the song ‘Brave’ by Sara Bareilles and discussed how we have to be brave when we are exposed to bullying, whether we are being bullied or are witnessing it. We discussed how it is linked to our British values: how everyone is individual and how we should tolerate differences rather than target people for liking different things. We ended our worship by relating back to this year’s theme, ‘Make a noise about bullying’, and discussed who we could speak to if we ever come across any forms of it.
Year 4 - Odd Socks and Shoes for Anti-Bullying Week
In Year 4, we were proud to show our individuality through our odd socks and shoes on Monday. Just look at those funky feet! After our worship on anti-bullying, some of the children shared how they would help someone who was being bullied. What a kind and supportive bunch we have in Year 4.
Year 4 - Judaism Workshop
We had a special visitor in school on Tuesday. Samantha came to teach Year 4 a bit about the Jewish day of rest: Shabbat. The children were fantastic! They listened with interest and asked some insightful questions. They enjoyed trying on the traditional garments and looking at artefacts, and they particularly loved tasting some challah bread.
Whole-School Worship: Odd socks day to launch Anti-Bullying Week
Today, to mark the start of Anti-Bullying Week, we were all invited to come to school in odd socks and shoes to express our individuality. We learned how to spot the signs of bullying and what to do if we think someone is being bullied. We saw some brilliant acting skills from some of the children who acted our some bullying scenarios. We talked about the Christian and British values we should be showing to each other at all times. At St Barnabas, bullying is not welcome so we made a noise by shouting that out in different year groups and we loved joining in with Andy and the Odd Socks 'Make some noise' song.
Rev Matt’s Worship: God’s Compassion for Gideon
Rev Matt’s Worship this week was about victory against the odds and staying faithful to God. He told us the story of Gideon and how he defeated the Midianites, even though his army was small. He trusted in God and God showed Gideon compassion. We also discussed how we can show compassion to people who need our help.
Whole-School Worship: Remembrance
With Remembrance Day fast approaching, Mrs Ham began the week with a worship about why and how we remember those who have died due to war and those who serve our country and protect us. She explained the significance of the poppy and we discussed which Christian and British values are shown by people in the armed forces. We ended our worship time with a prayer of thanks to those in the armed forces and prayed for peace around the world as we sang ‘A song of peace’.
Poppy Appeal 2023
From Monday our Heads and Deputies will be selling Poppy Appeal merchandise at break times. The suggested donation for zip ties and reflectors is 50p, standard wristbands £1.00 and slap bands £1.50. Poppies will also be available to purchase for a small donation. Next week we will be focusing on Remembrance Day in our Worships and our Year 6 Heads and Deputies plus some of our WOW group members will be taking part in a special Remembrance Service in Darwen Cemetery. We will remember them.
Whole School Worship with Rev Ben
Rev Ben taught us all about the value of thankfulness this week. He told us the story of the Jews being freed from slavery and how they lost sight of the good things God had given them, so they were left to wander in the wilderness for 40 years. The children loved interacting with the story and shared their ideas on how we can focus on the good.
Whole-School Worship: Allhallowtide & Praying for Peace
This morning Mrs Ham reminded us of the Christian season of Allhallowtide starting with All Hallows’ Eve tomorrow - Hallow means Holy and it is a time to be mindful of the good we can do in the world, All Saints’ Day on Wednesday - when Christians remember the good the saints have done, and All Souls‘ Day on Thursday - when we think of those who have died and are in heaven. We discussed Remembrance day which is coming up shortly, where we remember soldiers who have died in the wars. We also thought about the conflict in Israel and Gaza and prayed for those who are suffering in this war. We watched some newsround videos to learn about how children in Gaza and Israel are being affected and we thought of some ways that we can be like saints and help. Peyton said we can pray to God for them and Darcy, Jack and Naomi said we can donate money, clothes and toys to the children who have lost their homes and belongings. To finish we sang a 'Song of Peace' where we wished for a world where hate and war would cease and the everyone in the world could live in peace.
House Team Winners - Autumn Term 1- River Darwen
This morning, River Darwen celebrated winning this terms Values Points Challenge. Over the past seven weeks the children have managed to collect the highest amount of points awarded for showing our Christian values and following the 4 B’s. The children had a disco dance off and sweet treats to celebrate. Well done River Darwen!
Down Syndrome Awareness in Year 4
In our class worship today we watched a video about a young boy named Oscar. Oscar has Down syndrome and today we focused on Down Syndrome Awareness Day. Down syndrome is a condition in which a person has an extra chromosome. Chromosomes are small “packages” of genes in the body. We wrote prayers giving Oscar and Lenny a special mention and discussed how we are all unique. As Dr Seuss quotes “Why fit in when you were born to stand out?”
Hello Yellow Day Poster Competition Winners
This morning in Celebration Worship, our Wellbeing Warriors announced the winners of the Hello Yellow Day Poster Competition. Huge congratulations to our Key Stage 1 Winners : Mila and Molly and Key Stage 2 Winners : Summer, Lily, Lucy and Alice. Thank you so much to everyone that took the time to create a poster. They were of such a high standard and lovely, bright and colourful with wonderfully positive affirmations on them.
Be Internet Legends - Wellbeing Worship in Year 4
In the Be Internet Legends Wellbeing special Worship this morning, we looked at how we can look after our digital wellbeing. We discussed lots of ideas and focused on the importance of finding a balance with our on screen use. Year 4 absolutely loved taking part in the group chats and were amazed when we got two personal shout outs! We are going to look at the top 5 tips again in our PSHE session tomorrow and design posters that share these messages.
Year 4 - RE: People Challenging Authority
In RE this week we were learning about people who have famously spoken out against their authority figures in order to affect change in the world. The children worked in groups to research Rosa Parks, William Wilberforce, Oscar Romero or Greta Thunberg. They considered why these important people felt they had to speak up and how their acts of courage brought about important changes.
Whole-School Worship: Jacob and Esau and God’s Forgiveness
Rev Matt joined us for worship today. He talked about good and bad, and then read the story of Isaac’s sons, Esau and Jacob. We then reflected on how God taught Jacob to be truthful and how He showed forgiveness.
Whole-School Worship: Hello Yellow Day
Today we are celebrating Hello Yellow Day for World Mental Health Day by dressing in yellow. In worship, our Heads and Deputies dressed as Mrs Ham's Minions and they explained all about Hello Yellow Day. We learnt that we all have mental health and there are things we can do when we don't have good mental health. We made each other smile and feel happy by dancing and singing together with the minions to 'Happy'. We then joined a special live assembly with lots of other primary schools in Blackburn and Darwen, which was led by the Mental Health support team. We talked about our worries and how we can shrink them using mindfulness techniques. Thank you to everyone for dressing in yellow to raise awareness of mental health and remember that it is good to talk to our friends, parents, teachers and other trusted adults if we are worried about anything.
WOW group led Class Worship
In our Class Worship session this morning, our WOW group members Luca, Annabelle and Grace used Picture News to lead the session. We focused on ‘Record Breakers’ and is it correct that anyone can break a world record? We learnt that over 30,000 applicants submit their achievements each year but only 2,638 were selected to be published in the Guinness World Records 2024 . We prayed for the ability to show perseverance and determination along with all of the special people involved in trying to break records.
Monday Worship: Black History Month
This month it is black history month. Mrs Ham told us how some African children were sold as slaves and would have to work and could not go to school. They would not earn any money but were forced to be slaves. The Underground Railroad and Harriet Tubman wanted to make a difference and stop slavery. In 1863, Abraham Lincoln, the president of the USA stopped slavery and freed them all. Black history month reminds us of all the black people who made and continue to make a difference to change the world such as Martin Luther King Junior, Rosa Parks and Nelson Mandela. We watched a video to find out more information about a group of black children who made a difference in their town by having peaceful sit ins in restaurants that were just for white people. They had to show our Christian value of courage when standing up for what was right. We ended our worship by reflecting on how we can stand up to things that are unfair and we sang 'I can make a difference'.
Well Being Warriors Poster Competition
Good morning In our Worship this morning our Well Being Warriors launched their poster competition for Hello Yellow Day on Tuesday 10th October. They would like the children to design a brightly coloured poster that includes positive affirmations and promotes Hello Yellow Day 2023. The competition will be for KS1 and KS2 with a prize for each. All entries will need to be handed to Year 4 Well Being Warriors by Friday 6th October with name and year group on the back. We can’t wait to see your entries - good luck everyone! From Mrs Gardner and The Well Being Warriors
European Day of Languages
On Tuesday, we celebrated European Day of Languages in our worship with a reading of the Very Hungry Caterpillar in French. We learned some Of the French words for fruits in the story and ended with a reflection about things for which we are thankful.
Collective Worship with Rev Ben - Noah’s Ark
Today, we started with a fun game of floating and sinking in our collective Worship with Rev Ben. He then told us the story of Noah and his Ark and his mission to rescue God’s creation. We considered how we could help to take care of God’s world.
Year 3- Be Internet Legends Back to School Assembly
Today, the Year 3 class joined the live assembly delivered by 'Be Internet Legends'. During the assembly, the children learned about online safety, how to protect themselves and using strong passwords. Five key points that were highlighted throughout the session were; Sharp, Alert, Secure, Kind and Brave — these are designed to equip children with the key skills needed to stay safe online including critical thinking and empathy.
Year 6 - Internet Legends
Today, year 6 took part in the ‘Internet Legends’ workshop. They took part with such enthusiasm, but never lost sight of the message it was tying to get across. They were taught to: - Be sharp and think before you share. - Be secure by using and not sharing strong passwords. - Be kind and respect each other even when you are online. - Be brave by telling a trusted adult when you are in doubt about anything.
Tuesday Collective Worship with Rev Matt
Rev Matt came to lead our worship and told us the story of Adam and Eve, and how God showed his generosity, staying with them even after they disobeyed his orders. We also discussed how we can show generosity this week.