Reception: Muddy Monday
The children in Reception walked 3.5km each this week to contribute further to our Big Lent Walk in aid of CAFOD. They walked to Whitehall Park and continued with their outdoor learning. This week the children found pine cones, climbed trees and found minibeasts. They also enjoyed creating dens and roleplaying around a camp fire!
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and reflecting on another amazing week in school. This week, we have had fabulous week celebrating British Science Week. Thank you to Miss Kachwalla and our science ambassadors for all of the effort they have put into organising all of the exciting investigations they have planned and delivered. We also said a huge thank you to everyone for supporting ‘THE BIG LENT WALK.’ So far, we have now hit an amazing 325km and raised £89. Thank you for helping us to make a difference to the lives of those who aren’t as fortunate as us. Please continue to let either Mrs Wilkinson or Mrs Ham know if you have walked anywhere and send photos if you can. This week, we have also started some amazing work in our classes and enjoyed a collective worship about Easter, enjoyed a great variety of after school clubs such as Craft Club led by Fred and Pearl, Cross Country, Mad Science, Choir, Performing Arts and Gymnastics clubs led by Edstart and our amazing choir sang at the ‘Let’s Go Sing’ concert in Blackpool. A huge thank you to Mrs Govan for leading the choir, Mrs Wilkinson for supporting the event and our fabulous choir for singing their hearts out and representing our school wonderfully well. We then congratulated this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Cassius, Thomas and Seb in EYFS and KS1 and Finley, Ivy, Summer and Ruby in KS2 for working extremely hard across the curriculum and demonstrating a positive attitude to learning and always showing our Barny’s 4Bs (being ready, respectful, kind and safe). Furthermore, we congratulated our Reception and Year 3 class for being our attendance winners this week with 99.6% and 98.3% attendance and River Darwen as our value award winners this week with 314 points. We then moved on to congratulating our out of school sports award winners. Well done to Minnie for getting the squirrel for amazing behaviour, Eleanor and Olivia for achieving plentiful badges and certificates at Rainbows, Maggie for attending Rainbows for two years and again achieving lots of badges and certificates, Charlie for achieving 10m butterfly, Ava for being awarded a gold medal in her dance and gaining her Squirrels badge, Olivia for achieving the Captain’s Band and Player of the Match during her recent football match for both scoring and assisting goals, Peyton for coming an amazing 3rd place in her recent sparring competition at kickboxing, Rosie for making her promise at Brownies, Thea for being a super gymnast, Annabel for achieving Star of the Week in dance, Finn for coming 2nd place in his recent sparring competition at kickboxing and Evie, Alayna and Arabelle for working hard at Rothwell Arts. Evie showed perseverance in achieving a cartwheel, Alayna showed perseverance in achieving a handstand and Arabelle for demonstrating a bridge. To end our worship, Mrs Ham reminded us that next Friday 21st is ‘Rock Your Socks’ for World Down Syndrome Day. Then, we had a performance from our fantastic choir singing ‘Roar.’ We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend.
Worship with Rev. Matt
Today’s worship with Rev. Matt began with a test of strength. Mr. Bloomfield was challenged to rip three different objects: a piece of paper, a piece of cardboard and a curtain. While the paper and cardboard tore easily, the curtain was more challenging, highlighting its strength and resilience. This demonstration led seamlessly into the powerful moment in the Bible when the great curtain in the temple—the barrier that symbolised separation from God—was torn in two at the moment of Jesus’ crucifixion. Rev. Matt then read the Bible passage describing Jesus’ sacrifice, explaining that when the curtain was torn, it was a sign of God’s deep sorrow but also a powerful symbol that, through Jesus, we are no longer separated from Him. The children reflected on the significance of this moment and how Jesus’ sacrifice allows us to live in a close relationship with God. Following this, the children considered how they could respond by living life in all its fullness. They shared ideas on how to show kindness, forgiveness and love in their daily lives, just as Jesus taught. They discussed ways to help others, make positive choices and appreciate the blessings around them. The worship ended with a moment of reflection, encouraging the children to think about how they can bring goodness into the world, strengthening their connection with God and those around them.
Reception Maths - Comparing & Ordering
Reception have been looking further at numbers 1-10 and comparing them through the use of sequencing. We have found that each number is one more than the last and gets bigger each time we add one. We are really starting to understand the value of numbers and how these look in our number system.
Reception- Year of Prayer- Rubbish Prayers
In class we were looking at rubbish prayers as part of the year of prayer. The children wrote or drew something they would like to say sorry for on a strip of paper. We then quietly said sorry to god and asked him for forgiveness. We then screwed or ripped the piece of paper up and threw it in the waste bin to represent God forgiving us and getting rid of our sins.
Reception: First Aider Visit
We had the pleasure of welcoming Marion into our class today. Marion has trained all of our staff to be first aiders and the children were also taught some basic first aid. They were taught why first aiders wear gloves, when to apply a plaster, how to put a bandage on and how to put somebody into the recovery position. Thank you so much for teaching us Marion, we learnt lots.
Whole School Worship - The Widow’s Offering
Today in our Collective Worship we acted out the Bible story of the Widow’s Offering. Mr Norris kindly acted in the role of Jesus, and we had 4 children from across Years 4 and 5 acting as the money givers. Each person acted out sharing a small portion of their wealth to charity, and then a poor widow came along and donated two coins. Jesus explained that the widow gave the most because she gave all she had. We all spent time reflecting on how we could give to others during Lent. Some ideas were we could take part in the Big Lent Walk and help to raise money for those who don't have as much food as us and we could show kindness to each other through our 40 acts of generosity such as donating our clothes and toys to charity. We said a special prayer for all of the things we are thankful for and each time Mrs Ham dropped a coin, we said Amen. We are thankful for our family, friends, pets, teachers, food, warm beds and God's creations. We finished our Worship by singing Rich in Kindness and Year 6 modelled the actions at the front.
Singing Worship and Year of Prayer
This morning in Worship we started by introducing the Year of Prayer to our classes this week which is about using rubbish to create sorry prayers and then throwing them away. We then learnt a special action prayer to help our love to grow as part of the Year of the Prayer. After that we had a joyous time singing some of our favourite Easter songs and hymns in preparation for Easter. We sang Lord of the Dance, We have a King who rides a donkey, Rich in Kindness and Give me oil in my lamp. We also started to learn a new upbeat song called 'He's Alive!'. What a joyous way to start a Monday morning together as a school family!
A Disco For the Value Award Winners
Today, Whitehall Park and India Mill celebrated their success of achieving the most value points last half-term with a non-uniform day and a disco. A huge thank you to Miss Flynn, Mrs Irshad and Miss Woods for the leading the disco and games! The children had a fantastic time!
Biggest Ever Girls Football Event
Today, we proudly took part in the FA’s Biggest Ever Girls’ Football Event, celebrating the joy of football and encouraging more girls to get involved in the sport. Reception, Year 1, and Year 2 participated in a fun, game-based session where they had to dribble the ball and score in any of the four goals while defenders tried to stop them with tackles. The session helped develop their dribbling, spatial awareness and teamwork skills in an exciting and engaging way. Years 3, 4, 5, and 6 took part in a series of competitive matches, showcasing their skills and teamwork. They then tested their nerves in thrilling penalty shootouts, demonstrating confidence and precision under pressure. It was fantastic to see so much enthusiasm, determination and teamwork throughout the morning. The event truly highlighted the growing passion for girls’ football in our school!
Friday Celebration Worship
Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and reflecting on our very busy yet enjoyable week in school. This week, we launched our challenge called ‘THE BIG LENT WALK’ which involves our whole school community working together to raise money to make a difference to the lives of those who don't have enough food. Please continue to let either Mrs Wilkinson or Mrs Ham know if you have walked anywhere and send photos if you can. We have also been thinking about how Lent is a good time to give things back so we have launched our 40 Day Kindness Challenge. This week, we have also celebrated Shrove Tuesday, World Book Day and enjoyed a great variety of after school clubs such as Craft Club led by Fred and Pearl, Cross Country, Mad Science, Choir , Dodgeball and Gymnastics clubs led by Edstart. We then congratulated this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Evie, Alessia and Heidi in EYFS and KS1 and Lottie, Penelope, Nevaeh, Seb and Laila in KS2 for their fantastic work ethic, their commitment to demonstrating the Barney’s 4Bs (being ready, respectful, kind and safe) and showing full participation and engagement in lessons. Furthermore, we congratulated our Year 2 and Year 3 classes for being our attendance winners this week with 99.2% and 99.3% attendance, River Darwen as our value award winners this week with 509 points and our Year 4 Football team who kicked off their journey in the BRFC league with three exciting matches on Tuesday evening and represented school amazingly well. We also congratulated Year 3 and Year 6 as being the WOW (Walk to School) winners for the month of February. Well done to these classes for earning the most badges. We then moved on to congratulating our out of school sports award winners. This week, it was a week full of congratulating super swimmers. Well done to Zac for being a super swimmer and achieving his Puffin award, Phoebe for achieving her Stage 1 swimming certificate, Annabel for achieving her 15m swimming certificate, Ava for achieving her Stage 2 swimming certificate, Desmond for achieving his silver and gold swimming certificates, Iris for achieving her Stage 6 swimming certificate and Bluebelle for swimming an amazing 50m. We also said a huge well done to Carter for being a fantastic footballer and Lana for being the Star of the Week at Performing Arts. To end our worship, we read a beautiful Lent prayer together as a school and sang ‘We Have a King Who Rides a Donkey’. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend.
British Science Week- Reception- What can we 'Flush Away'?
We have kicked off Science Week with a blast! Miss Kachwalla, our Science Lead initiated a discussion about what can and cannot be flushed down the toilet, encouraging the children to think critically about the impact of their choices. This activity helped develop observational skills and apply knowledge to real-life situations. The class explored key questions, such as: Have you ever flushed any of these items? What happened to them? Which materials broke down when flushed, and which did not? Why is it important to only flush items that break up easily? To investigate further, the Reception class conducted a practical experiment by shaking a bottle containing tissue, paper towel, and toilet paper for 15 seconds. They then observed how each material responded to water, noting which broke down and which remained intact. This helped them understand why only toilet paper, wee and poo should be flushed, while other materials can cause blockages. Science Ambassadors Cassidy and Naomi were on hand to support the lesson, helping to guide discussions and assist with the experiment. As an extra challenge, the children planted mung seeds in a sealed bag with moist cotton wool and used talk tactics to predict what might happen next. Will they disappear? Change colour? Explode? After just 24 hours, the seeds should start to pop open and sprout. Within 3 days to a week, they’ll be fully sprouted, and after a few more days, tiny leaves will start to emerge. This hands-on activity will allow them to observe germination in action and track the changes over time.