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Friday Celebration Worship
This morning, we kicked off our worship by looking back at our incredibly busy yet fantastic week, focusing on how we can all flourish together. The stories of the Unforgiving Servant and the Earth Shake were central, allowing us to explore the Christian Value of forgiveness and the importance of seeking evidence. This week was also a fantastic opportunity for us to showcase our amazing school during the SIAMS inspection on Tuesday. Mrs. Araujo took some of the children from our WOW group to the prayer tent in the old St. Paul’s Church grounds in Hoddlesden, many of our children enjoyed another fabulous cre8ability, Forest School, Multi-Sports and Choir session and our Year 1 and Year 4 gained valuable insights from an environmental workshop about waste and recycling. Then came the well-deserved recognition for our students! We proudly congratulated our individual value award winners: Reggie, Olly, and Eva in EYFS and KS1, and Naomi, April, Sonny, Mason, Summer, and Freddie in KS2. These children were celebrated for working exceptionally hard across the curriculum and always striving to be their best, both academically and personally. Our attendance winners were also highlighted, with huge congratulations to Year 1 and Year 2 for achieving an outstanding 100% attendance, and Year 4 for an impressive 99.8% attendance. Further congratulations went to India Mill, who were our overall value award winners with a fantastic 669 points, and the children in Year 5 and 6, who clinched the DPSSA Netball league final for the second year running. The celebrations didn't stop there, as we also acknowledged the amazing achievements of our children outside of school. A huge well done to Callie for being ‘Student of the Year’ at Martial Arts, Max for being ‘Player of the Week’ at Little Darreners, and Eva and Alice for representing their dance school in a recent show. Archie was recognised as the ‘Most Improved Player’ for Mill Hill Juniors Football Club, while Marley was ‘Star of the Day’ at the Ed Start Multi-Sports Club. Lydia was awarded Olivia at Rainbows for doing her promise, and Eleanor and Olivia earned a badge for their courage on rides during a trip to Gulliver's World with Rainbows. Alfie competed in a recent tournament, receiving a trophy for being part of the team that won the Europa League and also being ‘Player of the Match.’ In swimming, Jack achieved his Bronze award, Elsie and Vienna received their 200m certificate, and Naomi reached Level 5. Lyla was ‘Star of the Day’ in her lyrical, and Scarlett was named the Under 8s Coaches’ Player for 2024/2025 at Rivington Netball Club. Olivia earned a medal for her football team's unbeaten season, Desmond received the Parents’ Player trophy at football, and James was recognised for being a great team player. Daisy achieved a gold award in a recent gymnastics competition, Peyton earned her yellow belt at kickboxing, and Eliza successfully completed a recent triathlon. To conclude our worship, we were treated to some beautiful prayers from Olivia and Callie, who prayed for peace around the world and offered thanks for our beautiful world and all the wonderful people in our lives, including our school family. Mrs. Ham wished us all a lovely, restful weekend, and the worship ended on a high note with a singalong to ‘My Lighthouse’.
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Collective Worship- Seeking Truth and Evidence
Today's worship began with the children singing the song "Jesus Strong and Kind." Following the song, James, Jack, and Lily from Year 4 signed the Trinity, adding a visual element to the worship. Next, the whole school participated in a "Spot the Difference" challenge. Rev. Matt then shared a message emphasizing the importance of delving deeper to find the truth, stating that the Bible provides accounts based on evidence, not made-up stories. He read the Bible story "The Earth Shakes," with children actively participating by acting out the movements described. To encourage reflection and the concept of "living life in all its fullness," the children paired up for a "Question Time," pondering how they could find out more about Jesus. The idea was put forward that we can learn about Jesus by doing what he did and by exploring historical accounts, reflecting how deeply faith is woven into our experiences. The worship concluded with a prayer asking for help to seek evidence.
PSHE - Growing and Changing in Year 4
As part of our PSHE session we have been looking at how our body changes during puberty, what parts of the body are the same for girls and boys and what parts are different. We also read Hair in funny places by Babette Cole and Where Willy Went. The children have really matured over the course of the last few sessions and it’s great to see them ask such fantastic questions surrounding this sensitive topic area.
Year 4 PE - Quad Kids Athletics
In our PE session we focused on Quad Kids which is an athletics event. It includes 4 elements- a 400m run, a 60m sprint, mini vortex throw and a standing long jump. The children worked hard to develop their speed, agility and quickness, listening carefully on how to improve their performances.
Year 4 - Linking Schools: End of Year Celebration
What a brilliant way to finish our Linking Schools journey! We all had great fun in Year 4 on the Schools Linking Celebration Zoom. We reminisced about all the enriching activities we took part in this year and shared some of our favourite moments, such as playing the whiteboard game, meeting St Matthew’s and making new friends. We have learned so much about ourselves and who we are, as well as learning about our link class. Tolerance, respect and friendship were definitely key themes as we realised that, although we were different to our new friends in many ways, we also had so much in common. There is just one more step for us to complete, which is our social action project. After collating ideas about improving God’s world, we voted for the most popular idea and decided we would act on it - writing to residents of a care home. Look out for more news about our happy post soon.
Year 4 - French: Vacances
Today’s French lesson in Year 4 was all about ‘les activités de vacances’. The children learned some new vocabulary about things we might do while on holiday and then they shared their opinions about these activities in French, using the familiar vocabulary: j’adore, j’aime, je n’aime pas, je déteste.
Whole School Worship - The Unforgiving Servant
The theme in this worship was “forgiveness”. Mrs Ham continued to reveal the meaning behind the Lord’s Prayer, today, focussing on the line “and forgive us our sins, as we forgive those who sin against us”. To explain what Jesus taught us about forgiving others, Mrs Ham chose to share the story of The Unforgiving Servant with the help of some willing participants. Rev Ben and a couple of the children gave a fabulous performance, showing us that we should replicate to others the mercy shown to us, and that forgiveness should be given as many times as necessary. The children reflected on the story’s moral and shared their opinions about this.
Whole School Worship - How Can We Flourish Together?
Today, in our collective worship, we shared ideas of what it means to flourish. The children had some fantastic thoughts, including being the best you can be, persevering, sharing with others and appreciating what God has given us. We looked at each one of our Christian values and decided how they could help us to learn and grow together. Mrs Ham reminded us of some of the “wows” and the “ows” in the world and we discussed how they make us feel. We reflected on the part we can all play by taking action to prevent the suffering in the world. We ended our worship with a reminder and a celebration of the ways we at St Barnabas have affected change in our communities and in the wider world. These included supporting our local refugees, collecting preloved coats for the homeless, raising money for East Lancs Hospice and collecting tinned food and toiletries for our harvest appeal. The children articulated that we all flourish when we aim to make the world a better place.
Another Week of Achieving Great Things & Living Life in All Its Fullness!
Dear Parents and Carers, What another truly fantastic week we've had, packed with children living life in all its fullness and achieving great things! The enthusiasm and effort from our children continue to make us incredibly proud. *This Week's Highlights* It's hard to pick just a few, but here are some of the wonderful things that have happened: *Our Year 5 Peer Mediators have been outstanding! On Monday morning, they led a Worship all about justice and forgiveness, and then bravely started their new role at break and lunch times, helping to resolve conflicts among children. They're doing an amazing job and have put all their training to good use! *On Monday we also had great fun singing our favourite Worship songs at a live Fischy Music Concert. *Year 3 has been deeply engaged in learning about refugees through the book 'I am Refugee'. As part of Refugee Week, some of them were invited to a special Refugee Week Tea Party by Darwen Asylum and Refugee Enterprise (DARE), and the whole class confidently presented their learning to the Year 2 class. *A massive congratulations to our Year 5 and 6 netball squad who won the Darwen Netball League for the second year in a row! They were undefeated in all their games over the last five weeks – what an incredible achievement!They also won the Bee Stinger Netball a few weeks ago so will be representing BWD on the 8th July. *Reception class enjoyed a spiritual walk as part of their Muddy Monday and appreciated all of God's creation and gave thanks to Him all the way along. *We've seen the exciting start of some of our new out-of-school enrichment clubs, including Forest Schools, Cre8ability, Racquet Skills, Jag Tag, Craft Club, and Multi-skills. It's wonderful to see the children engaging in such a variety of activities. *In our Year of Prayer focus, we explored fruit tea smells in class, taking time to thank God for the amazing variety of fruits and vegetables He created. *During Worship with Rev Matt, we continued our focus on different ways to pray, reminding ourselves that we can pray anytime, anyway, and anywhere. We also dedicated worship time to Refugee Week, with some classes joining the Big Live Assembly for Refugee Week. The absolute biggest highlight of the week was our Sports Day this morning! We were completely overwhelmed by the fabulous turnout of parents, carers, and family members who came along to support and encourage in true St Barnabas style. A huge thank you to everyone who came – your presence truly made it special for the children. We are so incredibly proud of each and every child for their determination, courage, and effort, as well as for the fantastic encouragement they showed each other. For all of the news in detail from each class, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Next week promises to be another busy and exciting one: Monday: Our Year 6 children will be showcasing their writing to the writing moderators from the local authority. We are super proud of all their hard work! Tuesday: Our SIAMS Church School Inspection will be taking place. We are so excited to show the Inspector our amazing school family and how we live out our vision of 'Achieving great things through learning and growing together in a love-filled Christian family' and how we all live life in all its fullness. Thank you to the parents who have volunteered to speak to the Inspector and to everyone who has filled in the survey. If you haven't done so already, there is still time to fill this in. https://forms.gle/KUNHYgF69mgkLtM49 Also on Tuesday, Years 1 and 4 will have workshops from the Environment Agency about how they can reduce, reuse, and recycle waste, a great way to protect our planet. Thursday: Darwen Rotary will be visiting our RotaKids to thank them for their fantastic fundraising and projects this year and to start planning for next year. Please note, we've had to postpone our Barney's Got Talent Auditions by a week as our Sports Day ran over today. Thank you for your continued support – it means the world to us and we couldn’t do what we do without your support. Wishing you all wonderful weekend and I hope the sun continues to shine, Mrs Ham
KS2 Sports Day Winners
We are so proud of every child who took part with enthusiasm, determination and team spirit. Whether running, jumping, cheering or supporting one another, you each showed what it means to “Achieve great things through learning and growing in a love-filled Christian family.” Sports Day is more than just winning races—it’s about celebrating effort, encouraging one another and showing resilience. It was fantastic to see so many parents and carers joining us and a huge thank you to everyone who entered the Toddlers, Mums and Dads races and thankfully nearly everyone came away injury free! Well done to all of our competitors and thank you to the staff, families and supporters who made the day so special. You truly helped create an atmosphere of joy, encouragement and community! All of the photos will be uploaded shortly to here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/sports-day-2025
The Great Live Assembly- World Refugee Day 2025
This morning in Year 4, we took part in The Great Live Assembly for World Refugee Week. 43 million young people and children have had to leave their country for various reasons including persecution and war. We met two children from Kenya - Ajok wanted to be a teacher and had to flee due to civil war. He had to walk over 500 miles to reach his final destination. We then watched an interview with the author Michael Rosen who has recently written On the Move, which uses poetry to highlight the struggles of a refugee. This teaches us that ‘Home is where the Heart is’ and we should really appreciate and support the sacrifices that the refugees across the world have to endure.
Whole School Worship with Rev. Matt
During our worship with Rev. Matt, we began with a fun but thought-provoking challenge of Chinese Whispers. This simple game highlighted how messages can become distorted as they are passed along. Rev. Matt then thoughtfully linked this to prayer, reminding us that unlike in the game, when we pray, our words are not misheard or changed—God hears us clearly and completely. He then read the story of King Hezekiah from the Bible, who turned to God in prayer during a time of great trouble. Through Hezekiah’s example, we reflected on the power of prayer, the importance of trusting in God, and how spiritual strength can guide us in difficult times. The worship encouraged us to think about how we can communicate with God openly and honestly, knowing that our prayers are heard and valued. It was a meaningful reminder of how spirituality can give us comfort, courage and clarity when we need it most.