Image of Inter House Dodgeball Event
23 Mar

Inter House Dodgeball Event

The Inter House Dodgeball competition was a huge success. Every single child across school took part and represented their house teams. It was fantastic to see the children getting involved, working as a team and having lots of fun. A massive thank you to the Sports leaders who ran the event and congratulations to both of our winning houses which were the yellow and green team - Whitehall Park and Darwen Tower

Image of Year 4 Inter House Dodgeball Competition
23 Mar

Year 4 Inter House Dodgeball Competition

Year 4 absolutely loved taking part in the inter house dodgeball competition. The children worked really well in their teams, cheering and supporting each other. The sports leaders also did a great job organising it- well done to the greens and yellows for winning overall.

Image of Mrs Ham’s Weekly Message
22 Mar

Mrs Ham’s Weekly Message

Good evening parents and carers, well what a busy week it has been at St Barnabas and we sure have been living life in all its fullness! The highlights have been: *The Year 6 London trip *Odd Socks day for Down Syndrome Awareness Day *Year 5 class releasing the trout they have grown into River Darwen *Reception class visits from a firefighter and two dentists *Year 1 Victorian history walk *Inter-house dodgeball led by our Sports Leaders today Each class has been busy creating wonderful Easter artwork and a selection of it will be displayed in the Rose Garden in Whitehall Park. Each class will have the opportunity to visit it and it will be there over the Easter holidays if you would like to visit it as a family. For all of this week’s news from each class, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news On Sunday everyone is welcome to Rev Ben’s Palm Sunday service at 11.00am and our choir will be singing. Any of our school children can also join in too. Next week we will be celebrating Holy Week in school and everyone is welcome to our Easter Church Service on Thursday morning at 9.15am. We break up early for the Easter holidays on Thursday at 2.00pm. Wishing you all a wonderful weekend with your loved ones and I hope our Year 6 children rest and recharge after a busy couple of days in London, Mrs Ham

Image of Friday Celebration Worship
22 Mar

Friday Celebration Worship

Today, we started our celebration worship by thanking our whole school family for wearing odd socks yesterday for World Down Syndrome Awareness Day and all of our children who have contributed to our Big Lent Walk this week including Year 6 who have walked all over London and Year 1 who walked 3 and a half miles around Darwen on their local history walk. We then presented Fletcher, Maggie, Ella-Grace, Isabelle, Edward, Brooke and as the value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently demonstrating an amazing attitude to learning and demonstrating all of the 4Bs. Then Mr Prescott presented all of Year 6 as value award winners this week for representing the school amazingly well in London. Mr Prescott said that they all got along amazingly well, were incredibly well mannered and showed a genuine interest in all of the places they visited and things that they got to see. Well done Year 6. We also congratulated Year 1 and Year 6 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, River Darwen who are our overall value award winners this week and our amazing swimming gala team made up of children from Year 3,4,5 and 6 for coming 3rd place overall and also achieving lots of individual placings. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Holly for achieving both her Stage 3 and 4 swimming certificates, Callie for being awarded the special teddy at stage coach for amazing singing, dancing and acting, Ella-Grace for being being successful in getting into the Man United Girls Football Team, Grace for receiving a letter from the King regarding her letter about the closing down of Waddow Hall, Maggie for showing wonderful commitment to Rainbows by attending for two years, Lola for showing generosity and raising money for Alder Hey Children’s Hospital by completing 50k in March, Annabel for completing her promise at Rainbows, Betsy for achieving a gold medal for ‘throwing herself into the deep end’ in her acro dancing, Scarlett for showing wonderful commitment to Rainbows by attending for two years, Marley for showing wonderful commitment to Rainbows by attending for one year, Arabelle for working hard to achieve her Stage 4 at swimming, Vienna for being awarded her water safety certificate, Harriet for achieving her Stage 4 in swimming, Thomas for being awarded his Level 1 First Aid certificate, being a super chef and a brilliant builder, Annabelle for achieving her Blue Peter Badge for reading and taking part in an orienteering competition, Leonora for completing seven swimming events in a 50m pool last weekend. To end of our celebration worship, we heard from Rev Ben who reminded us all about the Palm Sunday Church Service this weekend where our school choir will be singing and an Easter egg hunt that the church have organised on Good Friday. Mrs Wilkinson also reminded us about the Scholastic Book Fair which is running tonight, Monday and Tuesday after school. We also sang along to ‘Gospel Medley.’ We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.

Image of Year 4 History - King Alfred the Great
21 Mar

Year 4 History - King Alfred the Great

In our History lesson today we looked at various interpretations of Alfred the Great . We started in 793AD when the Vikings sailed down from Scandinavian lands to the North East coast to Lindisfarne. Here they savagely attacked the monks and robbed them of their treasures. 50 years on over 3000 Vikings arrived but King Alfred had something to say about that! He gathered his army and they fought a gruesome battle and this is when Alfred gained his King Alfred the Great title. One that no other king has ever received.

Image of Year 4: Down Syndrome Awareness Day 2024
21 Mar

Year 4: Down Syndrome Awareness Day 2024

In our Class Worship and PSHE sessions today, we focused on Down Syndrome Awareness Day. World Down Syndrome Day (WDSD), 21 March, is a global awareness day which has been officially observed by the United Nations since 2012.Typically, a baby is born with 46 chromosomes. Babies with Down syndrome have an extra copy of one of these chromosomes, chromosome 21. We also looked at how we are all unique and have very special qualities. This is why we are supporting this day by wearing our odd socks.

Image of Year 4 - RE: Easter Art
20 Mar

Year 4 - RE: Easter Art

We have been busy in Year 4 creating artwork inspired by the betrayals found in the Easter Story. The children chose one of the betrayals we studied, designed three symbols to represent the key events and then used Brusho paints and water to create a mottled effect on the symbols. They then created a checked background on which to mount their symbols.

Image of Year 4 - Science: Conductors and Insulators
20 Mar

Year 4 - Science: Conductors and Insulators

Our Year 4 scientists had a great time learning about conductors and insulators this week. They spent time investigating a range of materials for their ability to let electricity pass through them. They connected each material to their circuits in turn and observed the bulb to see if it lit up.

Image of Rev Ben’s Worship: Palm Sunday
19 Mar

Rev Ben’s Worship: Palm Sunday

Today, Rev Ben read the story of Palm Sunday and talked about the joy of the crowd when Jesus’ arrival in Jerusalem. He contrasted this with the anger of the crowd when they were led to believe that Jesus lied about who he was. Determination and perseverance were two key qualities demonstrated by Jesus during that time and Rev Ben asked everyone to reflect on when they will need to show these qualities this week.

Image of Running Club
19 Mar

Running Club

Running club continued for the KS2 children. The children have been building their stamina and technique for long distance running. Many children have beaten their original times and are making lots of progress.

Image of Darwen Swimming Gala
15 Mar

Darwen Swimming Gala

Good evening parents and carers, I’m so sorry for the late message but we are just back from the swimming gala. We are so proud to share that our swim team came 3rd overall out of 8 schools. Every child in our team won at least one medal and they were amazing at encouraging each other. Here are the medalists: 100m relay - 2nd Isaac 25m butterfly- 2nd Annabelle 25m butterfly- 2nd Isaac 25m breaststroke -2nd Sophie 25m breaststroke - 1st Isaac Boys medley relay- 3rd Boys freestyle relay - 3rd Girls freestyle relay - 3rd Thanks to Mrs Gardner for running the swimming trials and sorting the admin. Thank you to Mr Bloomfield for supporting the children with me tonight. A huge thanks to the parents and siblings who came along to cheer them along, it was a brilliant atmosphere! We have had another wonderful week at St Barnabas. For all of the news from this week, please click here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/news Year 6 have an exciting week next week as we go on our visit to London and the book fair will be visiting our school. Wishing you all a fantastic weekend and thank you for your continued support, Mrs Ham

Image of Friday Celebration Worship
15 Mar

Friday Celebration Worship

This morning, we started our celebration worship by thanking our whole school family for dressing in red to support Comic Relief. We then thought about how we’ve lived life in all its fullness this week with the help of our amazing after school clubs, a wonderful worship with Rev Matt about Jesus being kind towards Zacchaeus and by celebrating British Science Week. Mrs Ham also updated us all on our Big Lent Walk progress. Up to now, we have collectively walked 1239km and raised £215. We believe that we can continue to better this and achieve 2000km and raise even more money. We then presented Summer, Eli, Lyla, Ivy, Ruby, Hamza and Charlie as the value award winners this week. Well done to those children for consistently demonstrating an amazing attitude to learning and our 4Bs. We also congratulated Reception and Year 3 on being our amazing attendance winners this week, the KS2 girls who took part in the Girls Football tournament last Friday with Mr Bloomfield to celebrate International Women’s Day and River Darwen who are our overall value award winners this week. We then congratulated our out of school achievers. Well done to Olivia for achieving her white belt at kickboxing, Sofia for achieving her 8th birthday badge at Rainbows, Carter for achieving his stage 2 at swimming, Annabel for achieving swimmer of the month, Vienna for being awarded an amazing 50m at swimming, Elsie for her incredible swimming and Renee for achieving her Stage 1 swimming. To end our worship, we had some lovely prayers from Olivia, Olivia, Finn and Mrs Ham who prayed for those who have died , are in the midst of conflict and a prayer to encourage us to be both kind and forgiving during this time of Lent. We also sang along to ‘Sing Hosanna.’ We thank all those who attended celebration worship and we wish the the rest of our school family a lovely restful weekend and thank you for your ongoing support too.