Summer Reading Challenge 2024
This morning, Angela came in to invite us all to join in with ‘The Summer Reading Challenge 2024- Marvellous Makers’. This is a national reading activity, which aims to encourage a love of reading in children and develop their literacy skills throughout the summer. To get started, drop in to either Darwen or Blackburn Library. Angela told us that once you’re enrolled, each member needs to read 6 library books (or eBooks/eAudio), with stickers or a prize being awarded for each book that is read and returned. Prizes will include origami paper and pencil crayons. Those who complete the scheme (all 6 books), will receive a medal and a certificate that they can bring into school in September and have presented in Friday celebration worship. Angela asked us why it would be amazing if we all completed the Summer Reading Challenge. Our children said that reading can help us to learn new words, increase our imagination, get us excited so our hearts will beat fast and help us to challenge our brains. We look forward to hopefully presenting lots of ‘Summer Reading Challenge’ certificates and medals in September. Extra Information To enrol, simply go to your nearest Blackburn with Darwen library and complete an application form between 1st July & 30th September. 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.
Year 4 - RE: Symbolism in the Methodist Church
We ended our final RE unit of Year 4 with a class trip to Springvale Methodist Church. The children had the opportunity to explore the church, looking for symbols of Christianity and they listened attentively as Rev Elizabeth explained all about the Methodist faith. The children also had a chance to ask some questions and comment on the features they had noticed. We were impressed by the children’s behaviour and their thought-provoking questions.
Year 4 - PE: Footwork & Pivoting
The Year 4s have been working on their netball skills lately. This week we revisited throwing and catching techniques and then spent time learning, practising and applying our footwork skills. We learned how to pivot on one foot in order to seek out a team mate to pass the ball to.
Rev Matt’s Worship - Seeking Truth
Rev Matt shared with us the fantastic news of his recent ordination. Some of the children even helped with a little re-enactment. He explained that his duty as a Christian is to live a life of truth. We listened to the story of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego; three men of faith who were punished for refusing to turn their backs on God in order to worship an image of the king. Rev Matt spoke about how it isn’t always easy for us to stand by our beliefs and we discussed times when this might be particularly difficult.
Witton Athletics 2024- 3rd place
A huge congratulations to our athletics squad for their super performance at Witton Athletics which gained us 3rd out of 13 Darwen schools. Medalists were: Matthew- 1st place cricket ball throw Ella- 3rd in Year 3/4 400m Sophie- 2nd Year 5/6 600m 1st- Year 5/6 Girls relay 2nd- Year 5/6 Boys relay Summer- 3rd Year 4 sprint Brooke- 3rd Year 5 sprint Freddy- 2nd Year 5 sprint A huge thank you to our parents for their support with transport and encouragement to the squad. Thank you to Mrs Gardner, Mrs Ham, Mr Bloomfield and Mr Norris for their super support.
Year 4 Art - Using reflection and symmetry to create patterns
In this session we looked at how we can create a pattern using reflection and symmetry. First the children measured out a quadrant of four 10cm x 10cm squares. Next they drew a 10cm square onto their tracing paper and using masking tape, they traced an animal of their choice. As each one was traced they then flipped the paper to make an imprint on the other side. The final pieces were of such a high standard, especially when the children went over them with a dark coloured felt pen.
Creating Geometric Patterns in Year 4 Art
In this session, the children used a compass to draw a circle. They then chose the outline of the circle to draw over the top to create a flower style pattern. Using the compass was super tricky, but they soon grasped the hang of it and produced some lovely colourful and unique geometric patterns.
Growth Mindset Assembly
Today, our school had a very special assembly by Liz from Growth Mindset. The children explored the differences between fixed and a growth mindset. The children understood the advantages of growth mindset and how we can channel our growth mindset to overcome challenges and hurdles that we face daily. Liz shared a story about her uncle David who overcame many challenges to compete in the Para Olympic Games which demonstrated the powers of growth mindset. The children were faced with a variety of scenarios and shown how a growth mindset can help achieve and succeed. Just remember: “You don’t have to see the whole staircase, just take the first step” A huge thank you to Liz from Grow Your Mindset!
Fundraising - East Lancs Hospice
A huge well done to the whole of St Barnabas, we have raised a massive £277.30 for the East Lancs Hospice through our Hop, Skip and Jump event and our Barney's Got Talent Show. The money will be used to help care for those in need and will support the wonderful staff that do an amazing job within the health care system.
Friday Celebration Worship- Whole School
Today, in celebration worship, we began by signing the Trinity and discussing the busy week. Mrs Ham thanked the children who sang at Blackburn Cathedral for the celebration of Cidari's 10-year anniversary. These children were recognised for demonstrating our Christian value of courage. All classes were praised for their transition day to new classes. They showed bravery and respect throughout. The class teachers presented value awards to the following students for always doing the right thing and trying their best in everything: Joey from reception, Harry from Year 1, Harry from Year 2, Darcy and Ivy from Year 3, Eden from Year 4 and Brooke from Year 5. Well done!. Year 1 and Year 4 won the attendance award this week. Well done for ensuring you are always in school, ready to learn. We also celebrated children for their extracurricular activities outside of school. Many showcased their trophies, medals and certificates in swimming, football, ballet, brownies, dancer for the year, gymnastics, performing arts, horse riding, Iron Kids Run, and lifeguarding skills. The Wellbeing warriors presented the children with walk to school badges and we sang' School Rules' which the children enjoyed. To conclude our worship, prayers were led by Lilly, Olivia and Mrs Ham.
Rev Ben’s Worship - Living a Life of Truth
This week, in Rev Ben’s worship, we learned the importance of telling the truth and we discussed the consequences of lying. We found out that part of being a Christian is aiming to live a life of truthfulness. We also reflected on ways we could stay truthful in our daily lives.
Year 4 - Maths: Quadrilaterals
We are currently working on shape in maths, and we began the week by defining and classifying quadrilaterals. There were a few tricky examples and non-examples thrown in to test us, but we used our knowledge of the shapes’ properties to work out which were quadrilaterals and which weren’t.