Year 3 English- Performing Poetry
Year 3 have been learning about shape poems this week. They chose a poem to write out in a specific shape according to what the poem was about. They then rehearsed their poem in pairs, adding expression and actions. Finally they performed their shape poem to the rest of the class. They were all super brave and even those that didn't really want to do it got up and performed. Rev Ben will be so pleased to hear how Year 3 have shown courage this week, after reflecting in Worship on Tuesday how Jesus is always there to support and encourage us during scary times.
Rev Ben’s Worship: Courage and Epiphany
This morning, Rev Ben came in to talk about courage and how the wise men showed courage on their journey to meet Jesus. The children shared their bravest moments and they enjoyed joining in with the Bible story and especially Rev Ben’s impression of a grumpy and mean King Herod. We reflected on how the wise men showed courage, how we can show courage this week and how it helps us to know that Jesus is always with us. This doesn't mean that the fear goes away but Jesus helps us to face our fears and be courageous, just like the wise men.
Epiphany Collective Worship
It was wonderful to have our school family back together again for our first collective worship after the Christmas holidays. Today we focused on Epiphany which is when the three wise men went to see baby Jesus. Our Reception class Kings helped up to learn about the special gifts that they gave to Jesus and what they symbolised. Gold= King Frankincense= God and Myrrh = Sacrifice. We then watched a short film called 'Far from home' which we thought was about modern day refugees but the more we watched it, the more we realised that it was very similar to the Nativity story. We discussed how Mary, Joseph and Jesus had to flee as King Herod wanted to kill Jesus. We reflected on how they must have felt and how it must feel for those children nowadays who are living in places that aren't safe, such as in Palestine, Israel and Ukraine. We then thought about how we can support refugees who arrive in our country seeking safety. We had some brilliant answers such as give them a warm welcome, donate toys, food, clothes and money etc. We then looked back at some of the generous work we have been doing to support Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise such as donating toys, books and chocolate at Christmas time. We finished with a prayer and sang 'We three kings' and noticed what the three gifts symbolised- King, God and sacrifice, in the song.
Christmas Church Service
Thank you to everyone who was able to join us this morning for our Christmas Church Service. I have attached some photos and snippets for those of you who were unable to join us due to work commitments. A huge well done to our Key Stage 2 children for showcasing what they have been learning in RE this half term and a special thank you to Year 6, who led our service. We thanked Rev Ben and Rev Matt for their service to our school family. We also gave a special gift to Glenda, who has decided to retire from her volunteering role in school. Thank you so much Glenda for everything you have done for our school family over the years. It was wonderful to hear about all the great ways that our children have been spreading love and joy to our community through singing carols, delivering Christmas cards to the elderly and donating toys and gifts to the Rotary Club and DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise). Thank you so much for your generous donations.
Year 3- Class Worship- Are decorations an important part of celebrations?
During today's class workshop, Year 3 discussed the significance of decorations in celebrations. Some children express that decorations are important as they bring joy and help spread the purpose of the celebration. However, the majority felt that spending money on decorations is worthwhile only if they can be reused each year. As we reflected on the discussion, we reminded ourselves that Christmas is a special time to celebrate the birth of Jesus, who is considered the most precious gift. We thanked God for the festive season and, most importantly, for the gift of Jesus. The children decided to end class worship by singing the carol 'Away in a Manger.'
Collective Worship- Love at Advent
This morning in collective worship we focused on Love for the fourth week of Advent and Colton and Sophie lit our fourth candle on our advent wreath. We reflected on how we have been showing love to our community by donating toys and chocolates to DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise) and Darwen Rotary Club and through our wonderful carol singing at our Christmas Fayre, Darwen Market and our church yesterday evening for the Carol Service. We then thought about others ways that we can show love to each other and our community this advent. We had some lovely ideas such as to smile at people, give hugs, donate clothes that are too small for us, show kindness to each other and help out your parents. Mrs Ham said that it was particularly important to show kindness and love to each other this week after such a long term and everyone is feeling tired and excited for Christmas. We watched a clip from Mrs Ham's favourite Christmas film, 'A Muppet's Christmas Carol' and watched how the mean and grumpy Scrooge started to smile and enjoy himself when the Christmas spirit sang 'Wherever you find love, it feels like Christmas' song and others showed him love and kindness. We then joined in with a lovely prayer asking God to help us show love and kindness to everyone around us and to be grateful for everything we receive. We finished by practising our Christmas carols ready for our church service on Friday morning.
Friday 15th December- Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by lighting our advent candles and reflecting on this week’s theme for advent which is joy. Mrs Ham said that our choir brought lots of joy to Darwen Market Hall yesterday and how this week we have also taken part in the Christmas Fayre and Christmas lunch which have also brought lots of joy to us all. We then presented Elsie, Marley, Arabelle, Sonny, Talia, Charlie-Rose and Molly as our value award winners this week. Well done to these children who have been displaying an incredible amount of kindness, respect and trying incredibly hard with their learning. We also congratulated Tyler, Bobby, Ella, Jenson and Talia who have achieved their pen licenses and Reception and Year 4 on being our amazing attendance winners this week. Whitehall Park are our overall value award winners this week and are also this half-terms overall winners. We then said a huge well done to four of our Year 2 children who attended a Curling competition. Unfortunately, they just missed out on achieving medals but they represented school amazingly - well done to Isaac, James, Emily and Olivia! We then said well done to our out of school achievers. Well done to Olivia for being an incredible mascot at the weekend during the Ladies’ Blackburn Rovers Football game, Isaac for achieving a medal at performing arts, Ruby for attending Brownie Camp and achieving a gold award in Brownies which is the highest award that a Brownie can achieve and also lots of medals and a trophy for her survival skills in swimming, Alexis for achieving 50m in her swimming, Isaac for achieving 50m in his swimming and his younger brother Teddy for achieving Ducklings stage 3 in his swimming, Alfie for swimming 5m backstroke, Grace for attending Brownie Camp and trying lots of new activities such as caving, zip wiring and climbing, Betsy for achieving a medal in her ballet, Callie for swimming 5m, Carmen for achieving her stage 4 in swimming, Thomas for achieving stage 2 in his swimming and Eden for achieving the bronze award at Brownies and attending the Brownie Camp at the weekend. We then said a huge thank you to our Friends of St Barnabas who continue to run lots of events in school, such as our Christmas Fayre on Wednesday, to fundraise money for school to purchase lots of new and exciting things for our children. We can’t wait for our new outdoor gym. We then heard some lovely prayers from Sofia, Elijah and Mrs Ham and listened to our amazing choir who sang to us all. We thank you all again for your continued support this week and we wish you all a lovely festive weekend.
Rev Ben Worship: Isaiah the Rescuer
Rev Ben led our worship today. We began our worship with a listening game. Rio, Jay, Lucy and Isaac hummed a Christmas song and the children had to use their listening skills to guess the song. Our story from the Bible is all about listening well. Isaiah was a prophet and he came to tell people that God’s people’s hearts needed rescuing. People did not listen. God wanted to rescue people as he was compassionate and loving. God sent Jesus to rescue God’s people but we need to listen really carefully to the Christmas story. Christians believe that if we listen carefully, Jesus can still change us today. Christians believe the rescuer came at Christmas in a manger. We ended our worship by singing ‘Rescuer’.
Joy at Advent Collective Worship
This morning in our Collective Worship we lit our third advent candle for Joy. We learnt that J is for Jesus, O is for others and Y is for yourself. We reflected on the joy that Jesus brought to the world and how he came so that we could live life in all its fullness. Mrs Ham reminded us of some of the ways that we are bringing joy to others by donating books and toys to DARE (Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise), making cards for the elderly in care homes and our choir are singing in Darwen Market and in our church. We then discussed with a partner how we can bring joy to others and ourselves this advent. We had some fabulous answers such as give toys and clothes to others in need, spend time having fun with our friends and family and show kindness to others. We also realised that we all find joy in different ways as we had so many different answers for what brings us joy such as playing with friends, chocolate, being with our family, school, reading, etc. We then watched the new John Lewis advert and discussed how everyone finds joy in different ways and has different Christmas traditions. Some children commented that the advert made them think that 'it's not what's on the outside that counts, but what is on the inside'. We finished our worship with a prayer and then practised our Nativity songs ready for our church service next week.
Picture News Festive Fun in Year 4
Today, we took part in The Picture News Festive Fun 2023. We successfully completed the reindeer challenge and designed our very own stockings for Peter Bear. The children especially loved taking part in the interactive quiz and joke telling in the group chat. What a super idea! @picturenews
Mrs Ham's Weekly Message
Good afternoon parents and carers, we've had a wonderfully busy week at St Barnabas with the highlight being our Reception class Nativity. The children were superstars and we are so proud of them all. A huge thank you to our staff team for their hard work in ensuring the show was a success and to our wonderful parents for their support with costumes and learning lines and songs. Thank you so much to everyone who came to parents evening this week. We hope you're pleased with how well your child has settled into their new class and the progress they are making. If you weren't able to make it, please contact class teachers to arrange a phone call. I have attached a few reminder posters of the events coming up in the next week and they are here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/events Saturday 9th Dec: 1.00-2.00pm- Carol Service in Darwen Town Centre Tuesday 12th- Year 1 visiting Nightingales Farm Wednesday 13th AM- Christmas clothes, Christmas Jumper and Christmas Fair- 3.30-5.30pm. The children have been working hard in Design and Technology over the last few weeks to design and create products for the Christmas Fair. These can be purchased for £2.00 each on parent pay or cash on the night. Closing date for the Christmas Card competition. Entries will be displayed in Whitehall Park over the Christmas holidays and each class will visit in the last week of term. Thursday 13th AM- Year 3 visiting Nightingales Farm 1.30pm- Choir singing at Darwen Market- All welcome Sunday 17th Dec- 4.00-5.00pm- Church Carol Service. Choir singing (Dress in Christmas clothes) All welcome To see what your child has been learning this week, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Wishing you all a fabulously festive weekend and thank you for your generous donations of bottles, chocolate, toys and decorations. We are so blessed to have such generous and supportive parents, Yours Sincerely, Mrs Ham
Friday 8th December- Celebration Worship
This morning, we started our worship by lighting our advent candles and reflecting on this week’s theme for advent which is peace. Mrs Ham asked us to reflect on how we can create peace both at home and in school. We had suggestions such as helping around the house, helping out with younger siblings, making our own bed, tidying up after ourselves and showing kindness to everyone. We then presented Leila, Alice, Chay, Elliott, Quinn, Mason, Harry and Oscar as our value award winners this week. Well done to these children who have been working incredibly hard and showing impeccable manners. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 5 on being our amazing attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park who are our overall value award winners this week. We then said a huge well done to four of our Year 4 boys who attended a Boccia competition. Unfortunately, they just missed out on getting to the final but they represented school amazingly - well done boys! We then said well done to Ella for achieving her puffin award at swimming which includes swimming 5m, James for becoming the captain of his football team, Tristen for being awarded the best newcomer at kickboxing, Leonora for swimming her first ever 100m and achieving several PBs in her swimming, Desmond for attending his first ever session with Darwen Centurions, Grace for achieving several badges at Brownies, Maggie for a badge at ar Rainbows for attending the ‘Magical Christmas Experience’ and achieving Stage 2 in her swimming, Annabel and Scarlett for also attending the ‘Magical Christmas Experience’ at Rainbows, Sofia for achieving a medal for her incredible dancing, Jacob for attending a magical Christmas experience at the North Pole, Matthew for achieving Student of the Year at Organised Chaos Kickboxing club, Jessica and Amelia for achieving lots of rosettes and certificates for demonstrating amazing talent in their horse riding and Ivy for demonstrating fantastic talent in her gymnastics talent. We ended our worship by saying the Grace and singing ‘We Three Kings’ and ‘Ding Dong.’