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.
Year 1 RE- The Nativity Story
Year 1 loved watched the Reception class perform the nativity last week so this week they have really enjoyed using the figures to act out the story themselves. Well done Year 1.
Reception: Rev Ben Visit
Our Ducklings had a visit from Rev Ben today. Rev Ben brought in some figures to tell us about the Christmas story. Christians believe that Jesus is the star of the story. We need to really think about Jesus and if we listen really carefully to the story, it can change us from the inside out if we let it. Rev Ben finished his visit with a special thank you prayer. Thank you Rev Ben for visiting our class, we always enjoy your visits.
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.
Year 4 - RE: How did Jesus bring light?
Some super acting was displayed in RE in Year 4 this week. We learned about who Jesus helped most and why, role playing the well-known religious figures Zacchaeus, Matthew and the rich young man. The children were tasked with spotting the parts in each story where Jesus brought light.
Reception Nativity
We are so proud of our Ducklings who performed the Nativity today. Their singing was beautiful and they told the story using their loud, clear voices. Their confidence shone and it was enjoyed by all!
Year 2 - RE
This week, we started our Christmas learning in RE we are going to be looking how good news about the birth of Jesus spread and how it made the world feel. We began by looking at what is the news and how do we find out about it. We read our happy newspapers from our library and watched Newsround. We made a note of the various ways we can consume the news and the impact it has on our lives.
Whole School Worship: God the Rescuer
Rev Matt led our worship today. We began our worship by watching a selection of videos to discuss if people were in trouble. Rev Matt told a story from the bible about Abraham. The story discussed how Abraham wanted a child but he couldn’t because he was old. Abraham trusted God and one night God told Abraham that he would have lots of children one day. God’s promise came true and they called their son, Isaac. Rev Matt explained that when Abraham was in trouble, he needed a rescuer who was God. God made the impossible, possible. God is compassionate and will always look after us. Christmas is a time to remember this. We ended our worship by singing ‘Rescuer’.
Whole School Peace Chain
During our second week of Advent, we are focussing on praying for peace. Throughout the last week, all classes have created a whole school peace chain. Continuing from yesterday’s worship, we discussed different ways that we can find peace. Ruby said that she had listened to her mum this morning to create a peaceful home environment. Darcy said she had shown peace to her younger sibling. Isaac said he had helped his parents and Percy said he had gone to bed earlier. We will continue to focus on peace throughout this week and the whole of Advent. Our peace chain is displayed in our school entrance for you all to see.
Year 2 - RE
This week, we completed our RE topic looking at Holy books from different faiths. We have been learning about the Bible and understood that different faiths have their own book which they follow. We looked in more detail at the Jewish Torah and the Islamic Qu’ran. We spotted similarities between how religions see their holy book as special and one that should be looked after. We also found that each book contains rules and stories which are used to help people be good citizens.