Summer Reading Challenge
This morning, Angela from Blackburn and Darwen library service, came to talk to us all about an exciting Summer reading challenge and the wonderful prizes that can be won for reading 6 books over the holidays. Dear Parent / Carer, Your child has been invited to join Ready, Set, Read! the Summer Reading Challenge 2023. This is a national library reading game, which will introduce your child to the joy of reading for pleasure and help to develop his/her literacy skills throughout the summer holidays. Once enrolled each member reads 6 library books (or eBooks / eAudio), with stickers or a prize awarded for each book that is read and returned. Those who complete the scheme will receive a medal and a certificate. To enrol, simply come to your nearest Blackburn with Darwen library and complete an application form between 1st July & 30th September. Your nearest library is: Darwen Library, Knott St, Darwen, BB3 3BU. Website & map: www.blackburn.gov.uk/libraries/libraries-blackburn-darwen/blackburn-central-library Enrolment in the scheme is free of charge, and involves children borrowing books on a library card. If your child does not yet have a library card, we would encourage you to take this opportunity to enrol them as a library member. This is a quick process, and you will simply be asked to complete and sign another form. However, those children without library cards may still join the Summer Reading Challenge, and temporary arrangements will be put in place to allow them to borrow books. We look forward to welcoming you and your family to our libraries during the summer. Yours faithfully, Adele Karwat, Service Manager: Libraries & Archives
W.O.W. Group - Messy Parables - The Mustard Seed
Last week was the W.O.W. group’s first Messy Parables session. We read the Parable of the Mustard Seed, talked about how one little thought or belief can grow into something great, and made our own self-belief badges. All in all, a brilliant first session, with a few biscuits thrown in for good measure. This week, the parable is The Unforgiving Servant.
EYFS and KS1 Sports Day 2023
This morning, EYFS and KS1 classes competed in our annual sports day competition. The races included egg and spoon, sprint, sack race and an obstacle race. The children were fantastic at showing resilience and they were great supporters for their friends, cheering each other on and clapping! Each race winner received a medal and all children cooled off with an ice pop at the end as a treat. Thank you to all the parents and carers who attended and supported, it was a brilliant morning!
Year 1 Handwriting
Year 1 are working very hard to improve their cursive handwriting. We are very proud of you Year 1. Keep up the amazing work and concentration.
Whole School Multiplex Movie Night-
We would like to take this opportunity to thank parents, carers and staff for your incredible support and enthusiasm during our recent movie night. We are thrilled to inform you that our dedicated Rotakids, along with our smart school councillors, have fulfilled their promise and successfully completed their final project. Through their combined efforts and hard work, organising a successful multiplex movie night, together we have managed to raise an impressive sum of £580.60 after the cost of food! This significant amount will contribute towards the school minibus, which will greatly benefit our students by facilitating transportation to sports events, competitions, and other important activities. This achievement is a testament to the incredible community we have at our school. Your dedication and willingness to contribute have made a significant impact on our fundraising efforts. Together, we have not only created a memorable and enjoyable event but also managed to raise much-needed funds.
KS1 Forest schools- Week 2
What fun we have all had in Forest school this week! We walked up to Jacks Key, gathering sticks, leaves and grass as we went. Once we found a nice sheltered area the children started to create their nature pictures and faces. Once our art was finished we explored, climbed trees, jumped into lovely mud and washed our wellies in puddles.
Year 1 Class Worship- World Refugee Day
On World Refugee Day, we watched an assembly held by World Vision who allowed us to learn about the lives of refugees and how we can support them. We listened to some refugees from a camp in Jordan who had to flee from Syria. Despite having to leave their homes, they remain very positive and grateful for having a safe place to grow up within the refugee camp. We heard from Seedra, a Syrian refugee, who told us about a typical day for her at the refugee camp. Similar to us, she goes to school, learns to speak English, plays with her friends and then returns home to do her homework and watch some TV. Charities such as World Vision have allowed her to be able to do this and they are very thankful for charities such as this. We were very inspired by Seedra as she continues to hold on to her hope and dream for the future of being a doctor and study hard to achieve this even though she has had a lot of upset in her life. We ended our worship with some beautiful prayers. We prayed to end war in places such as Syria and Ukraine, to keep refugees safe in refugee camps and to thank people for giving things such as clothes, food and toys to help give refugees a better life.
Year 1 English- Collecting Adjectives and Writing Noun Phrases
Year 1 watched the Literacy Shed clip ‘Something Fishy,’ and collected adjectives to describe some of the sea creatures. They described the fish as bright, luminous, stripy, sock-like, boomerang-like, small and fast, the shark as evil, scary, frightening, humongous, large, hungry, ravenous, starving, creepy, angry, nasty, unkind, terrifying, powerful, strong and dark blue and they they described the octopus as springy, bouncy, t-shirt like, bunny-like, kangaroo-like, light blue, stripy, spotty and long legged. Then they chose their two favourite adjectives to write a noun phrase. Well done Year 1.
Monday Collective Worship with Rev Ben
This morning, Rev Ben led our Monday Collective Worship. Our theme for this worship was St Barnabas and his generosity. We started off by playing a game called, ‘Guess the Value.’ We had two teams at the front who had to guess the price of various items such as a tin of beans, a playstation 5, a loaf of bread, a car and Harry Kane. The audience then had to say whether they thought that the cost was higher or lower. This gave us all an insight into the value of various items, big and small. We learnt that all the first Christians were generous but St Barnabas was especially generous. He owned a field and sold this to give to the church and therefore to other people. He did this because he wanted to do as Jesus had done and give to others. Rev Ben asked us how we could be generous just as St Barnabas was. We said that we can give something that we don’t want or use anymore to charity such as clothes and toys, do a sponsored walk, run or a bake sale to raise money for charity or buy an extra item when we go shopping to give to someone less fortunate. Generosity is one of the fruits of the spirit so this is the song that we sang to end our worship.
Latest Newsletter
Good afternoon parents and carers, we have had a super busy week back at St Barnabas. Please see our newsletter for a round up of last half term and photos of our teaching teams for September here. A huge thank you to our FOSB for the wonderful Father’s Day Breakfast on Tuesday and to all of the Dads and Grandads who came along. Thanks also to the Dads and Grandads who came along to the special Reception class Father’s Day Celebration this afternoon. It was lovely to see you all and the children loved telling you why they love you and enjoyed playing with you in their outdoor area. We wish all of our Dads and Grandads in our school family a lovely Father’s Day on Sunday! We have had a very busy week of sports with our Year 3/4 quad kids team coming 2nd out of 17 schools, our year 5/6 cricket team just missing out on the final and our netball team came 2nd in the Darwen netball league. Well done to you all and a huge thank you to Mrs Gardner and Mr Bloomfield for supporting the children and thanks to parents who supported. Next week we are looking forward to our Sports Day on Friday morning. You are very welcome to come along to show your support and encourage your child. Reception class and Year 2 had great fun at Blackpool Zoo on Tuesday. For all of the photos, please click here. For all the class news from this week, please click here. For all the upcoming events, click here. Thank you so much for your generous bottle donations for our FOSB Summer Fayre. We really appreciate your support. Wishing you all a fabulous weekend and thank you for your continued support, Mrs Ham
Friday Celebration Worship
Wow! What a busy first week back into our final half term of this academic year. Our theme this week has been encouragement and Mrs Ham asked us to reflect on how we have encouraged each other this week, and how we will continue to focus on this as we enjoy the last few weeks of the school year and support each other as we transition into our new year groups and up to high school for our Year 6 class. We had lots of out of school stars to celebrate this week. Well done to Ella-Grace, Ivy, Leo, Olivia, Sonny, Charlie and Jack and Desmond for their wonderful football skills, Jake, Will, Bobby and Austin for coming runners up in a football tournament in St Anne’s, Manni and Bobby for their attendance and skill at a recent football tournament, Matthew for his recent success in the Premier League writing competition, Harry for his swimming and cricket success, Lyla for her musical theatre singing performance, Isaac for his piano playing, Iris and Leonora for being fabulous gymnasts, Finn and Ruby for running the race for life and Ruby for also completing the couch to 5k, Grace for performing on the main stage at Darwen Music Live, Mila for showing kindness at Rainbows and Mason for his sensational kickboxing. We also celebrated lots of success in school. As always, we heard from our teachers who presented their Value Award Winners. Well done to Eve, Isabella, Miley, Euan, Ruby, Charlie, Katie and Elsa. We also said a huge well done to our group of our Year 4 children who attended a Quad Kids competition and came second place out of 17, our Year 5/6 cricket team for excellent participation and sportsmanship on Wednesday, our Year 5/6 Netball team who came 2nd place out of all the schools in BwD, Reception class and Year 6 for the best attendance this week, India Mill for being the award winners this week and to Lola, Jake, Esme, Harry, Mathew, Daisy, Freddie and Bobby for gaining their pen licenses. We ended our worship with some lovely singing and dancing to ‘Build Up.’ What wonderful way to end the week!
Year 1 Phonics Revision
This week, Year 1 have been working really hard to revise their sounds during phonics lessons through a selection of activities including alien and real word games. We have looked at different graphemes that make the same sound and how to read and write these words too. They have completed their Year 1 phonics quizzes and we are very proud of them and how well they have done.