Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by talking about why we are all wearing blue today which is for Autism Awareness Day at St Barnabas as part of Autism Awareness Month. Finn very bravely stood up in front of the whole school and told us a little bit about his brother Declan who has Autism. He told us that Declan doesn’t like walking in the rain as he doesn’t like the sensation and he told us that he doesn’t like very loud noises and will therefore sometimes wear his ear defenders. Despite this, Finn said that Declan leads an amazing life and it’s wonderful having a brother with Autism. Harvey, who has autism, also came to the front to show everyone his t-shirt which spread awareness for Autism and he loved blowing the worship candles out. We heard a little about how Harvey loves to sing rhymes and songs just like many of us. We then thought about how we’ve lived life in all its fullness this week with our wonderful worships led by both Mrs Ham and Rev Matt and all of our wonderful after school clubs including Little Voices, Mad Science Club, Forest schools and Cricket and Rounders Club. We then presented Hollie, Lydia, Frankie, Iris, Oliver, Olivia, Talia, Charlie, Betsy and Jake as our individual value award winners. Well done to these children for consistently demonstrating an amazing attitude to learning, always showing kindness and respect to their teachers and friends and working incredibly hard across the curriculum. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, Jack and Sofia for receiving their pen licenses, Darwen Tower as the overall value award winners this week with an amazing 611 points, the children that completed the big plastic count for being super eco warriors, all of the children who have achieved their badge as part of the WOW initiative which involves walking to school or from school at least once a week and we said a special well done to Year 5 who have won the schools walk to school challenge by completing the most walks or park and strides so far. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Lenny for achieving his starfish swimming badge, Ella-Grace for achieving a trophy for coming first in her recent 3x3 football tournament, Sonny, Charlie, Leo and Desmond for winning the cup in their recent football tournament, Iris for being a wonderful gymnast and swimming several lengths to raise awareness for diabetes, Sofia for achieving her level 4 in gymnastics, making her promise at Brownies, being part of Brownies for two years and achieving an award at musical theatre, Betsy for being awarded a medal for amazing ballet, Isaac for being awarded a merit in his swimming, Lyla for achieving her Stage 4 certificate at swimming, Eliza for achieving several rosettes in her horse riding, Alexis for making her Brownie promise and achieving 100m in her swimming, Alice and Grace for achieving their Brownie Promise badge, Annabelle for gaining her silver certificate for demonstrating several skills at swimming, Lydia and Ella for achieving their Level 1 at swimming, Leonora for achieving her 100m freestyle and 100m backstroke in her swimming, Harry and Eli for being awarded their 100m certificate at swimming, Archie for getting Man of the Match during his semi-final football match, Eden for attending Brownies for a year and achieving her Brownie Eid badge, Mila for achieving her badge for visiting the Fire Station at Rainbows, Marley for getting Olivia doll at Rainbows for being kind, Thomas for getting his 15m swimming certificate, Callie for achieving Stage 4 in her swimming and Cassidy for making her Brownie Promise and being awarded her badge. Wow, what a busy week of celebrations that we had! Rev Ben then led us in prayer and to end our celebration worship, we thanked all those who attended and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.
Year 4- The Big Debate - should we put restrictions on fast food intake?
In our Class Worship this morning we took part in The Bg Debate which asked; Should the amount of fast food people are allowed to eat be restricted? We learned lots of new facts including- 37% of all American adults have a least one fast food meal per day and that in the UK, 26% of all adults are classes as obese. We also questioned who judges what fast food actually is? Not all fast food is viewed as unhealthy and it also helps poorer families as some fast food is cheaper. As a class we voted that WE SHOULD restrict the fast food and the children debated both sides of the argument very well!
Reception Picture News
This week for our class worship/picture news, we looked at Banksy’s new Art work that is displayed in London. We talked about how his Art has changed the look of the tree into something special that everyone wants to see and take photos of. We talked about how we can be Artists, but making sure we showcase our Art in the right way - we can’t draw or paint on walls without permission!
Rev Matt’s Worship: The Resurrection
Rev Matt came in to lead our worship today and tell us about the biggest surprise in the Bible: the resurrection. Rev Matt began with a mystery box game in which children had to feel an object in a box and guess what it was. He talked about how, even though we may worry about what’s coming, the surprise can often be the best thing. This is how the women felt when they visited Jesus’s tomb after his death. They were worried when they noticed Jesus was missing and the ground began to shake, but were overjoyed when Jesus appeared and spoke to them.
Collective Worship- Road to Emmaus
This morning in our Collective Worship, we watched the latest Worship Together video from Blackburn Diocese. Lisa asked us to think about a time that we have run to share some exciting news with our friends or family. Archie said when he received a darts contract, Ella-Grace said when she won in a football 3x3 competition, Seb said when he won a dance competition, Luca said when he got a 171 in darts, Scarlett said when it was her birthday, Lyla Grace said when she got a fish and Alfie said when his team scored a goal. We then heard about the story of Jesus appearing to some of his followers on the road to Emmaus and how they ran back to tell the disciples. We then delved deeper into the story by watching a cartoon of the story to help us visualise what it must have been like for Jesus' disciples when he appeared to them and then disappeared. Bishop Philip explained how the disciples were happy as they knew that Jesus would always be with them and He is with us all the time. Lisa led us in a running prayer today and we all joined in with lots of enthusiasm. To finish our Worship we sang 'Let me walk beside you', said Jesus one day, which helps to explain how Jesus is with us when we are walking, sitting, standing and resting and we had some wonderful volunteers to show the younger children the actions. We then reflected on how we have lived life in all its fullness this week and Annabelle shared that she volunteered to be pushed into the freezing cold water during the Year 4 residential, Charlie said he jumped into the water twice, Jenson said he was brave in the water which felt like -25 and Isaac shared that he took part in some filming which pushed him out of his comfort zone. I wonder how we will live life in all its fullness this week?
Year 3- Class Worship-Dealing with disappointment
During our class worship, we talked about coping with disappointment. Before watching this week's story, I had prepared a large parcel box containing a pencil. The children were very excited and curious about its contents. However, to their dismay and disbelief, they discovered only a pencil inside. They had hoped for glue sticks, new books, or even slime. Afterwards, we watched a story about families travelling to Glasgow for an event inspired by "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." The event promised chocolate fountains, Oompa Loompas performances, and tickets priced at £35.00 per person. Unfortunately, upon arrival, families were met with empty rows and walls covered in black fabric. The organisers eventually cancelled the two-day event, leaving many disappointed. The children shared times when they felt disappointed and how they overcame it. We also discussed the story of Jeremiah from the Old Testament, who spent decades delivering God's message, even when he faced opposition from his own family and people. Jeremiah's unwavering hope and trust in God inspired us to persevere in spreading goodness. Together, we thanked God for giving us the strength to handle disappointment and for guiding us to learn and grow from these experiences
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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.
Easter Church Service
Thank you to everyone who joined us for our Easter Service this morning. I’ve added some videos and photos to class dojo for parents who weren’t able to join us. Thank you to our Heads and Deputies for leading the service with me and to our KS2 classes for leading the singing. A special thanks to Rev Ben too for leading us in a special Easter prayer. We’ve had a wonderful few weeks in school in the lead up to Easter. Please click here to see all the Easter fun we have had: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/easter-2024 Thank you so much to our children for the amazing walking they have been doing both in and out of school for our Big Lent Walk challenge. As a school family we have walked a fantastic 2383km and raised £215 so far to help fight global poverty! Sponsor money can still be paid in on the following link: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk A quick reminder that we break up early today at 2.00pm and return back for the Summer term on Wednesday 10th April.
Year 4 - Big Lent Walk & Easter Trail
We had a great time clocking up a few miles between us on our walk to the Rose Garden this morning. Once we arrived we completed an Easter quiz and explored the lovely artwork created by our school friends. The children knew so much about the events of the Easter story and really understood the symbolism too. We finished our visit with a walking gallery, deciding on our favourite pieces of art.
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.
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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.
Year 3- Easter Artwork
This afternoon, Year 3 went for a little Easter walk to the rose garden at Whitehall Park. The children enjoyed guessing which part of the Easter story each class, from Reception to Year 6, represented through their artwork. Once there we all sang Easter songs together too. Our walk covered 2.5 miles, contributing to our Lent journey as well.