Year 1 Art- Printing Shapes
This afternoon, Year 1 were asked to look back at the sketches (of a building) that they created last lesson to look for shapes and patterns within it. Then they practised printing with these shapes. They used building blocks and duplo to print with. They chose their shapes carefully e.g. choosing semi-circle shapes if their building had arched windows, doors or domes and rectangular and square shapes for standard windows and doors and the outline of their building. They also carefully applied the paint to their duplo and blocks in order to print with them. They are now ready to create a print of their chosen building (India Mill, Darwen Library, Darwen Post Office, Darwen Leisure Centre or Darwen Market Hall). Well done Year 1!
Year 1 Art- Printing
As part of their art unit, Year 1 have been inspired by Lowry. They first explored his artwork and some of the buildings in Darwen such as Darwen Library, India Mill, Darwen Market Hall, Darwen Post Office and Darwen Leisure Centre. After weeks of studying the landmarks, observing the shapes and lines that they are made up of and practising drawing and printing the shapes and lines that these buildings are made up of, Year 1 have created their final print. I’m sure you’ll agree that they have done a fabulous job.
Year 1 Maths- Estimating and Measuring the Mass of Objects
Today in their maths lesson, Year 1 were estimating and measuring the mass of objects using a balancing scale and cubes. They learnt that they should stop adding/counting cubes when the scale has balanced as this means that they have calculated the mass. They did really well with this and their estimates got better as the activity progressed as they could reason better e.g. I think this 3 glue sticks will weigh 60 cubes because they feel a lot heavier than the scissors which weighed 11 cubes.
Year 1 English- Retrieving Information From Non-Fiction Texts
This week in their English lessons, Year 1 are preparing to write a non-fiction booklet to share information about their trip to the Crocky Trail. Today, they explored some non-fiction books. They used the contents page and/or the headings on each page to support them in retrieving answers to questions that they had been given. Great work, Year 1!
Year 1 RE- Belonging
This afternoon, Year 1 have been thinking about belonging in RE. After exploring baptism and Rev Ben explaining to us that baptism is like a badge that people wear to show that they belong to the church, we thought about other groups that we belong to, how these groups make us feel and created our own badge to represent this. We had badges to symbolise our families, after-school clubs such as Butterflies and Kidsland, our school, our church, Rainbows, Beavers, Stagecoach, swimming, dance, gymnastics, football and kickboxing. The children described these groups as making them feel special, proud, happy, excited, overjoyed and thankful and they said that if a new person was to join their family, school family, church family or club, they would make them feel welcome by learning their name, giving them a smile, giving them a high-five, handshake or hug, helping them out and showing them where things go.
Year 1- Year of Prayer- The World
This week as part of the Diocesan Year of Prayer, Year 1 prayed for the world. First of all, we started by singing the seven continents song (which we absolutely love) to remind us of how vast our world is. Year 1 then highlighted places on the world map that they have visited such as London, Turkey, Italy and Belfast and thought about places in the world that they would like to visit such as Brazil to visit the rainforest, the North Pole to see the reindeers and meet Father Christmas, Africa to see the desert animals, Florida to meet the Disney characters, Greece to enjoy the sunshine, beaches, churches and swimming pools and China for the experience. We then finished with some beautiful prayers from Harry, Olly and Olivia who prayed to God to thank Him for the amazing animals that He created for us to love, care for and experience as well as the varied foods that we get to experience from around the world such as Indian foods, Italian foods and beautiful, exotic fruits. We also had a prayer to remind us to care for the world that God created for us all.
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VE Commemoration- Red, white and blue day
Today, our pupils and staff dressed in red, white and blue to commemorate the 80th anniversary of VE Day. We came together to remember and honour those who served, and to reflect on the importance of peace and unity. As part of our celebrations, we’re supporting the Royal British Legion. If you’d like to make a donation, you can do so easily via ParentPay. Every contribution helps support veterans and their families. Thank you for helping us make this day meaningful for our school family! #VEDay80 #StBarnabasRemembers #RoyalBritishLegion #RedWhiteBlueDay
Friday Celebration Worship
This morning in a special worship, we came together to remember and celebrate Victory in Europe (VE) Day, marking the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II in Europe. Thank you to our whole school family for dressing in red, white, and blue today to help us to show our support for this important moment in history and raise money for the Royal British Legion. We also reflected on many of our other highlights this week which have included further exploration of the Lord’s Prayer and learning about VE Day in our collective worships, focusing on reflective prayers as part of our Diocesan Year of Prayer, Reception having a visit from the Animal Garden pet shop, who brought along a fascinating collection of minibeasts for the children to explore, Year 1 visiting St Barnabas Church for a mock baptism , Year 1&2 visiting the Crocky Trail and showing extreme courage, Year 5 have enjoying another Peer Mediation session, our Year 4 tennis team who represented our school with pride and positivity at the Blackburn Northern Tennis Club on Wednesday afternoon and our Year 5/6 Netball Squad who represented St Barnabas brilliantly in the DPSSA Netball league in the first round of games. We then moved onto congratulating this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Willow in EYFS and Oliver, Alexis, Beau and Austin in KS2. Well done to these children for showing our Barny’s 4Bs (being kind, safe, respectful and ready) and consistently pushing themselves to achieve great things. We also congratulated the whole of the Year 1 & 2 classes for being amazing on their trip to the Crocky Trail. They were extremely brave, encouraged each other every step of the way and demonstrated impeccable manners. Furthermore, we congratulated our Year 1 and Year 5 class for being our attendance winners this week and Whitehall Park as our value award winners this week with 161 points. We then moved onto congratulating all of our out of school achievers. Well done to Piper-Jo for achieving her white belt in kickboxing, Marnie-May for being awarded her 20m swimming certificate, Mikey and Marley for achieving their 5m swimming certificates, Eleanor for being awarded Olivia at Rainbows for super behaviour and achieving her 5m and 10m swimming certificates, Charlie for being a super football star and competing amazingly well in a recent football tournament, Olivia, Olivia and Ivy for their recent success in winning the under 8s Cup Final 2025, Eliza for achieving ‘Girl of the Game’ in her most recent football match and Grace for achieving a distinction and a merit in her recent tap and jazz exams. To end our worship, we wished our fabulous Year 6 children good luck in their SATs next week, Olivia, Lana and Percy shared some beautiful prayers and we sang happy birthday to those who have an upcoming birthday or have celebrated their birthday recently. We then invited our Year 6 children to lead us in singing the National Anthem. Thank you to all of our school family who could attend celebration worship and we thank you for your ongoing support. We send an extended thank you to the rest of our school family. We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend in the sunshine.
Year 1&2 Trip- The Crocky Trail
Today, our Year 1 and 2 children had an fantastic adventure on their trip to the Crocky Trail! The day was all about pushing boundaries and building confidence, and every child rose to the challenge with extreme courage. It was equally wonderful to see them encouraging each other every step of the way—cheering on their friends, offering a helping hand, and celebrating each other’s achievements with joy. Not only did they have a fantastic time, but they also represented the school beautifully. Their behaviour throughout the day was impeccable—polite, respectful, and full of team spirit. It was a brilliant day full of laughter, bravery, and unforgettable memories. Well done, Year 1 and 2—you were amazing! For all of the photos that were taken, please visit: https://stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/year-1-2-visit-crocky-trail
Reception, Year 1 and Year 2- Story and Craft Club
At lunch time, the Reception, Year 1 and Year 2 children were invited to Story and Craft Club led by Miss Flynn and the Librarians. We read ‘Nibbles the Book Monster’ who caused lots of havoc in some very well known fairy tales such as Goldilocks, Little Red Riding Hood and Jack and the Beanstalk and then created our very own book monsters. What an enjoyable lunch time!
Year 1 RE- Mock Baptism in Church with Rev Ben
Yesterday afternoon, Year 1 wore their celebration clothes and went to St Barnabas Church. They learnt all about baptism and welcoming babies, teenagers and adults into Christianity. Year 1 named their baby Annabelle and Rev. Ben showed them what it would be like if Annabelle was baptised. They learnt that baptism is like a badge that people wear to show they belong to the church. A sign of the cross (using oil) is drawn on the head of the person being baptised to symbolise this. They also learnt that Baptism is like a bath. They learnt about the significance of the water and how it is to symbolise cleansing and new life. They witnessed Rev. Ben pour water over baby Annabelle’s head which came from the font. To end the Baptism, Annabelle received a baptism candle and a Bible. We then came back to school for a baptism party. The children enjoyed a dance, some juice and a biscuit. Thank you Rev.Ben for creating a memorable experience for our children.
Year 1 Science and PSHE- Plants
In Science, Year 1 are learning about plants. They have planted cress, sunflowers, runner beans and mung beans and are excitedly watching them grow. This has also tied in with their learning in PSHE as they have had to think about taking responsibility for these seeds and ensuring that they are provided with the things that they need for survival and growth.