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Singing Worship
Wow, what a start to the week in our Whole School Singing Worship this morning! We welcomed everyone back into school with an energetic sing. Lots of children led us and helped us with the actions to New song, Stronger, Build up, Rich in kindness and The Hero. Well done everyone, an awesome start to the week!
Year 3- Class Worship-Celebrating St. George’s Day
For today's class worship, we learned about the significance of St. George’s Day. We discussed the patron saint's history and the values of bravery and kindness he represents. The children engaged in a thoughtful discussion about fairness and unfairness, exploring what it means to act with integrity. We linked these ideas to the Bible’s teachings on how we should treat others with kindness, respect, and equality. Elijah, read the prayer for the whole class.
Whole School Worship with Rev Ben
Our Whole School Worship was led by Rev Ben this morning and we started by highlighting the fact that today is St George’s Day. Today many people across England will celebrate the country's patron saint, St George. Patron saints are chosen as special protectors or guardians over all areas of life. Next, six children were selected to play Rev Ben’s fishing game. It focused on Peter the fisherman who also reminds us of St George. The six children had to work in two teams to fetch and carry the most fish to win the game. Peter was an ordinary fisherman on the Sea of Galilee who became one of Jesus' closest friends and leaders (apostles). Jesus changed his life by telling him he would become a "fisher of men," meaning he would help people learn about God instead of catching fish. Peter was known for being brave, impulsive, and for walking on water with Jesus. The children watched a clip about Peter and then answered the following questions: What happened in today’s Bible story? Why do you think you might be a better friend if you know you sometimes need to be forgiven yourself? The children answered that Peter had let Jesus down, but Jesus still forgave him. Being courageous is knowing that we don’t always get things right.
Whole School Worship- Earth Day 2026: Our Power, Our Planet
Today, Mrs Ham led an inspiring whole-school worship focused on Earth Day 2026, which is tomorrow, and our theme, 'Our Power, Our Planet. We explored essential ways to care for our environment, from the importance of recycling and saving water to the impact of planting trees. During the session, the children demonstrated fantastic oral speaking and oracy skills as they discussed their personal pledges with their peers, articulating how they plan to help the environment, not just on Earth Day, but every day! We heard some wonderful stories: Luna spoke about her time picking up litter on holiday in Greece, while Alfie shared that it is an act of kindness to pick up rubbish even if it isn't your own. Jonas also reminded our budding Planet Protectors to wear green for the land and blue for the sea tomorrow to celebrate Earth Day. From planting trees at home to helping grandparents with local litter picks, the children’s ideas were truly inspiring. We also reflected on our efforts as a school family in protecting our planet over the last few months such as planting a microforest at Jacks Key, planting two orchards on our school grounds, our WOW group's pick up dog poo campaign, our Rotakids recycling teddies and winter coats for those in need and focusing on switching off lights and devices. We concluded by singing, 'We Can Make a Difference', and offering a prayer of thanks for our wonderful world, reflecting on how we can all work together to protect our precious planet.
Friday Celebration Worship
We had a fabulous first week back and it was wonderful to see all the children working so hard and settling back into school life so positively. Throughout the week, we spent time reflecting on kindness, thinking carefully about the kind things we have done ourselves and the kindness we have seen in others. This week’s values awards were proudly presented to Luna in Reception, Jasper in Year 1, Noah in Year 2, Archie in Year 3, Bluebell in Year 4, James in Year 5 and Elsie in Year 6. Well done to all of you for consistently demonstrating our school values. In TT Rockstars, Archie and Lyla from Year 4 were awarded certificates for their efforts, fantastic work! Our team values results saw Darwen Tower in fourth place, India Mill in third, Whitehall Park in second and River Darwen taking first place. A huge congratulations to River Darwen, who also won a disco and non-uniform day for achieving the most points last half term, what a brilliant achievement! We were delighted to celebrate a wide range of achievements outside of school this week. Ava was awarded a Level 4 certificate in swimming, while Reggie achieved 50 metres, Mikey 20 metres, Minnie C 10 metres, Isabella achieved Stage 5 and James achieved Stage 1, well done to all our swimmers. Luna earned a yellow belt in kickboxing and Eleanor received a certificate for taking part in a duck hunt. Lydia, Annie, Luna, Thea and Olivia were all awarded badges and certificates in Rainbows for first aid, networking skills, tasty treats and present making. Rosie and Naomi were recognised as seconders in Brownies, taking on an important leadership role. Sophia, Darcy, Daisy and Alexis were all awarded sixer badges in Brownies for their leadership, with Darcy also receiving the Brownies doll for being particularly helpful. Samuel was named Beaver of the Week for his excellent map reading and Isaac was awarded Player of the Week for his fantastic shooting, passing and tackling in football. Congratulations to Reception and Year 3 for achieving the highest attendance this week, keep it up! Finally, we shared some important reminders. Reception families were invited to the upcoming stay and play session and we are looking forward to celebrating Earth Day on Wednesday, with children invited to come dressed in green or blue. Year 3 are excited for their upcoming Rock and River Outdoor Adventure trip and we also look forward to the Whitehall Park afternoon tea taking place on Sunday. We ended our worship with thoughtful prayers led by Sophia and Darcy. Well done to everyone for such a positive and successful week.
Year 5 - Kindness Kites
2026 is the centenary year for the Blackburn Diocese, which includes the churches and schools in the local area. To celebrate this, everyone at St Barnabas has been thinking about kindness and the different forms that it can take. Previously the children have considered the power of saying something kind, listening and sharing while giving examples from their own lives. This week, we completed our ‘making peace’ kite and over the next two weeks we will start thinking about generosity.
Whole School Worship with Rev Ben
We had a lovely Whole School Worship this morning which was led by Rev Ben. We started with a true or false game and Rev Ben asked us some questions - Does an octopus have 5 hearts.? Do ostriches bury their heads in the sand when they are scared? Do butterflies taste things with their feet? The purpose of the story is to make us think if things are true or not? The story of Easter is true but some can’t quite believe it but it is an event in history and there is evidence to back it up. Easter shows Jesus is alive and able to forgive. If you know you are forgiven, you must forgive others. We focused on the Bible story of The Resurrection. The story told us that after Jesus died on the cross, he was buried in a tomb secured by a large stone. On Sunday, the third day, women found the stone rolled away and the tomb empty; an angel announced Jesus had risen. Jesus appeared to his disciples, proving he was alive before ascending to heaven.
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Year 3- Class Worship- Building a Community of Kindness
In our class worship, we learned about the development of Barking Riverside, a brand-new town in East London designed to provide up to 20,000 new homes. We discussed how this new community will include schools, parks, and shared spaces where neighbours can show mutual respect and tolerance so that everyone feels they belong. This led to a thoughtful conversation about new children starting in our own class; we talked about how every child has the right to a safe place to live and grow, and how we can be "good neighbours" by making others feel welcomed. Evie read the school prayer, thanking God for safe homes and asking for help to treat our neighbours with kindness so that our hearts can be filled with peace. We ended worship with singing 'When I Needed a Neighbour'.
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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Singing Worship
In our Whole School Singing Worship this morning, we welcomed everyone back into school with a joyful and uplifting sing. We began by singing My Lighthouse and then we sang Our God is a Great Big God, Sing a New Song to the Lord, Life is Always Better and ended our worship with a beautiful rendition of Waymaker. A wonderful way to start the new term!
Easter Church Service
A Joyful Easter Celebration! What a wonderful morning we had at our Easter Church Service! The atmosphere was filled with energy, reflection, and community spirit. Highlights from the Service: The Easter Story: Our talented teachers took to the stage to act out the Easter story. Global Perspectives: We were so impressed by Key Stage 2, who shared their beautiful and diverse "A Cross the World" project. Joyful Voices: We sang our hearts out to all the favourites, from the rhythmic Lord of the Dance and Give Me Oil in My Lamp to the moving When I Think About the Cross. The Grand Finale: We finished on a high note with a high-energy rendition of He is Alive! A Huge Thank You To all the parents and carers who joined us today: thank you for your support. We wish all of our families a peaceful and happy Easter break!
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.