Year 3- Bringing the Stone Age to Life with PrimeVR
The children had an absolutely incredible time during our PrimeVR experience day, with the highlight being their deep dive into the Stone Age. Through the power of virtual reality, they didn’t just learn about history; they lived it, transported thousands of years back in time to explore ancient landscapes and see firsthand how early humans survived. The children came face-to-face with woolly mammoths, examined prehistoric cave art up close, and discovered how Stone Age people communicated. It was an unforgettable, immersive adventure that truly brought our history topic to life!
Refugee Week: Year 3 Bubble Collection
As part of Refugee Week, Year 3 asked everyone to collect bubbles to support DARE. The bubble donations were picked up yesterday by the Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise (DARE). Year 3 is so proud of the fantastic response, and these items will now go directly to bringing joy and smiles to the children and families supported by DARE.
English-Year 3 Celebrate Refugee Week at the Global Tea Party!
As part of their learning this week, Year 3 have been exploring what it means to be a refugee or an asylum seeker. The children learned about some of the real challenges these individuals face, including the fact that asylum seekers are often given just under £37.00 to live on for an entire week. Discovering this really brought home the importance of our community efforts, helping the children see firsthand how much of a difference the bubble donations will make for families budgeting on so little. The children were also invited to a wonderful global tea party, where they experienced diverse cultures by tasting food from Greece, Palestine, Africa, Kurdistan, Sri Lanka and Italy. Year 3 were absolute superstars at the event, they represented the school exceptionally and truly sang their hearts out! As a special treat, the event organisers handed each child a small bag of sweets. Year 3, now fully appreciate how far our community's generosity will go in bringing joy to the children and families supported by the Darwen Asylum Refugee Enterprise (DARE). We are incredibly proud of their maturity and enthusiasm today!
Year 4 - Visit to St Matthew’s
This week was the Year 4 class’s long anticipated trip to meet their link class. After a short minibus ride into Blackburn, we arrived at St Matthew’s CE Primary School to the most wonderful welcome from Doves class. We had a short getting-to-know-you session and then split up into our mixed groups. We had great fun creating handshakes, decorating friendship poems and having a picnic lunch together. We can’t wait to welcome St Matthew’s to our school next week.
Year 4 - Mosque Visit
Whilst we were visiting St Matthew’s, we had the opportunity to enhance our RE unit on places of worship by visiting the mosque next door. We had a tour of the main hall and the washroom and learned about some religious artefacts and practices that are customary to Islam. It was great for the children to see these features in real life so that they could make comparisons with the other places of worship we’ve studied this term. The imam arranged a special surprise as well, allowing all the children to choose a drink, some crisps and a chocolate bar, followed by treating them all to an ice cream from the ice cream van. All in all, I think they had a fantastic day.
Year 3 Trip to the Darwen Children’s Literature Festival
Today, Year 3 walked to Darwen Library to celebrate the Children's Literature Festival with author and poet Dommy B! The children were completely wowed by his high-energy poetry performance of The Dinosaurs Are Back. He had the entire class up on their feet, joining in and dancing along with him. We were also given a copy of his book to keep in our classroom. It was a brilliant day.
Year 5 Music
In Music, Year 5 continued learning how to play the djembe. After recapping the 3 main ways of hitting the drums (tone, slap and bass), the class began to learn words from a range of African languages and use them as a rhythmic guide for their playing. Counting and clapping exercises were used to rehearse increasingly complex drum rhythms, which were shared with the class.
Year 6 - Hop, Skip and Jump - East Lancs Hospice
Today, our Year 6 children completed their hop, skip and jump challenge in support of East Lancs Hospice. They took part wearing their own beautifully decorated Easter crowns, adding a splash of colour and creativity to the event. We are so proud of their enthusiasm, effort and the way they came together for such a wonderful cause! Well done, Year 6!
Team Gardner - Problem Solving and Fashion Design
This afternoon Year 4 arrived at The Anderton Centre for our residential. The weather unfortunately isn’t on our side today so we had to change our activities to ensure we are kept safe. In our groups we have completed problem solving activities and a fashion design activity where the children had to create outfits from spare pieces of fabric. The children have had lots of fun and created masterpieces that they showed off on the catwalk.
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Year 4 - Webinar with Author James Fox
On Monday, the Year 4 class took part in a live webinar and Q & A session with up-and-coming author James Fox. He talked about his books, including Boy Vs. Reality, and shared ways in which he has drawn inspiration from real life. The children loved the session, especially because they got a few shout outs when their questions were read out and answered during the webinar. It was a truly inspiring session.
Year 4 - Linking Schools: Zoom Call
This week, the Year 4 class had the opportunity to meet their link class from St Matthew’s in Blackburn via a Zoom call. The call began with a brief introduction and a chance to share some Makaton/Sign Supported English they had learned. Together, the children from both classes laughed and played games. They also asked and answered curiosity questions, such as, ‘What after school clubs does your school offer?’ Or, ‘What’s your favourite book, and why?’ It was great to meet our link class and to see who we sent our identity maps to.
Year 3-West End Choreography Workshop-Pinocchio
Today, the entire school was buzzing with creativity as we took part in a fantastic West End Workshop based on the story of Pinocchio. Our guest choreographer, James, was absolutely brilliant, bringing the magic of the theatre directly to our pupils. The children focused on rehearsing and perfecting the second half of the story, working hard to synchronise their movements and add expressive actions to their performances. It was truly amazing to see everything come together during our final whole-school assembly, where the narrative was told through a seamless collaborative performance. Year 3 were truly in their element, showing incredible enthusiasm and confidence throughout the day. Well done to everyone!