Image of FOSB Mother’s Day Coffee Morning
26 Mar

FOSB Mother’s Day Coffee Morning

A huge thank you for your generous cake donations yesterday and to all of the wonderful ladies in our school family that came to our FOSB Mother’s Day Coffee Morning. We were overwhelmed with the turn out and thank you for your patience. We hope you all enjoyed having a few minutes to relax and have a brew and a cake with your loved ones. Thank you so much for your generous donations and for purchasing raffle tickets. We have raised an amazing £375 to go towards upgrading our trim trail surfaces and purchasing new chrome books. Thank you for bringing to our attention the issue with some of the wrong tickets being sold by our Year 6 helpers in the raffle. We worked out the missing ticket numbers and made tickets with those numbers and added them to our tombola drum to make it fair. The winning tickets drawn out were( also see photos) : *Peach number 30- £40 ocean palace voucher * Pink ticket 982- Dolly’s Tea Room afternoon tea for 2 voucher *Blue ticket 954- £20 Mangiamo Voucher * Blue ticket 669- £20 Freya’s Grill Voucher *Peach ticket 271- Bottle of Asti & Lemon Drizzle Cake * Pink ticket 979- Bottle of Pinot Grigio & Red Velvet Cake * Peach ticket 302 - Red wine & Red velvet * Peach ticket 6- Rose wine, photo frame & blueberry cake If you have won a prize, please bring your ticket to the office to claim your prize by the end of the week. A huge thank you to our FOSB members and staff involved in planning and supporting the event as we couldn’t have done it without you. A special mention to our Year 6 helpers too who did a brilliant job. Thank you so much to Katie and Steph from FOSB who also stayed after the event to clear out the FOSB cupboards. You have done a fantastic job! There are still plenty of cakes left so children can buy one after school today to give to the special lady in their life. They will be priced at 50p a cake or 3 for £1.00. All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/fosb-mother-s-day-coffee-morning Thank you to everyone who made this morning a success and on behalf of our whole school family I wish all of our Mums, Grandmas and Aunties a wonderful and relaxing Mother’s Day and thank you for everything you do. You are all amazing!

Image of Collective Worship - The Garden of Gethsemane
26 Mar

Collective Worship - The Garden of Gethsemane

Our collective worship began with the Year 6 class presenting their learning about Shakespeare. Thank you for sharing, Year 6! Mrs Ham then led our worship about the Garden of Gethsemane and how Jesus spent time praying for strength from God to help Him through the events that were to follow. We spent time reflecting on all of our Lenten events so far: Lent walks, Lenten promises and our 40 acts of kindness. Finally, we took part in this week’s special Year of Prayer by all sharing what was on our minds with Jesus, considering what we are thankful for, by writing these on a leaf. Mrs Ham created a prayer tree in our entrance area with over 200 lovely prayers on leaves from all of our children and staff.

Image of Year 5 - Levers and Pulleys
25 Mar

Year 5 - Levers and Pulleys

Year 5 explored the fascinating world of levers and pulleys in science! From pushing, pulling and dragging to testing forces in action. The children worked together to investigate how these simple machines make lifting easier. A hands-on lesson filled with curiosity and discovery!

Image of Mad Science Club- Lab Works
24 Mar

Mad Science Club- Lab Works

Today in Mad Science Club, we became real scientists. The children got to use real lab equipment to stir, swish, and swirl different mixtures. It was a hands-on introduction to laboratory techniques, and everyone participated in the experiments and had great fun.

Image of Year 5 - Gaelic Football
24 Mar

Year 5 - Gaelic Football

Year 5 embraced the challenge of Gaelic football, developing their teamwork, tactical thinking and coordination! From perfecting their throws and bounces to building confidence in gameplay. The children showed fantastic enthusiasm and determination throughout the session.

Image of Year 5 - Structure of the Earth
21 Mar

Year 5 - Structure of the Earth

Year 5 used boiled eggs to explore the structure of the Earth, using the shell, egg white and yolk to represent the crust, mantle and core. This hands-on activity helped them visualise the Earth’s layers and understand their composition in a fun and engaging way. As they carefully peeled the shell, they discussed how the Earth’s crust is thin and fragile, just like the eggshell. They then examined the egg white, comparing it to the mantle, which is semi-solid and moves slowly over time. Finally, the yolk represented the core, helping the children grasp the concept of the Earth’s hot, dense center. The activity sparked curiosity and led to great discussions about plate tectonics, volcanic activity and the role of the Earth’s layers in shaping our planet.

Image of Year 5 - Year of Prayer
21 Mar

Year 5 - Year of Prayer

Year 5 took part in a special Year of Prayer activity, playing ‘The Floor is Lava’ while reflecting on gratitude and thankfulness. As they moved between safe spaces, they shared what they were thankful for, recognising the joy, happiness and blessings in their lives. A wonderful way to combine faith, fun and reflection!

Image of Friday Celebration Worship
21 Mar

Friday Celebration Worship

Today, we started our celebration worship by signing the trinity and reflecting on another extremely busy yet fantastic week in school. First of all, we thanked everyone for rocking their socks for World Down Syndrome Day and continuing to support ‘THE BIG LENT WALK.’ The kilometres walked across school are ever increasing as is the money that we have raised and we are extremely grateful- thank you! Please continue to let either Mrs Wilkinson or Mrs Ham know if you have walked anywhere and please send photos if you can. This week, we have had a wonderful week learning about Lent in collective worship, Reception, Year 1 and 2 had a special visit from Local Author Janek Puzon, Reception had an exciting firefighter visit, we’ve enjoyed a variety of after-school and lunch-time clubs and Year 6 spent two days exploring London. We then moved onto congratulating this week’s individual value award winners. Well done to Freddie, Cici and Charlie G in EYFS and KS1 and Bobby-Ray, Tristen and Neve in Years 3, 4 and 5. Well done to these children for consistently showing our Barny’s 4Bs and working hard across the curriculum. We also awarded all of Year 6 as the value award winners this week for representing school amazingly well in London and making the most of the experience. Furthermore, we congratulated our Year 1 and Year 4 class for being our attendance winners this week with 96.7% and 99.6% attendance, India Mill as our value award winners this week with 442 points and our Year 4 football team for three fantastic performances in the BRFC league on Tuesday evening- well done! We then moved on to congratulating our out of school sports award winners. Well done to Hollie for being the Star of the Week at gymnastics, Charlie for achieving his blue belt in martial arts and being the Beaver of the Week, Isabella for also being awarded her blue belt at martial arts, Callie for her amazing performance at Stage Coach, Elijah for being Player of the Week at football, Haydn for achieving his white belt at kickboxing, Lyla for achieving gold in a recent Jazz competition and silver for a lyrical dance, Sofia for coming 3rd place in a recent singing competition and Olivia for being Star of the Week at gymnastics. To end our worship, Mrs Ham reminded us that next Tuesday 25th March is ‘Friends of St Barnabas Non-Uniform Day’ in exchange for a cake or sweet treat to sell at the Mother’s Day Coffee Morning on Wednesday 26th March which you are all welcome to. Then, we all had a singalong to ‘Lord of the Dance.’ We wish you all a lovely and restful weekend.

Image of Year 5 - Friction
18 Mar

Year 5 - Friction

Today, Year 5 explored the effects of friction in a hands-on science lesson! Using whiteboards and a variety of materials. The children measured the amount of push needed to make a toy car move over different surfaces. The children made predictions, recorded their findings, and discussed how friction impacts movement in real life. It was a fantastic lesson full of curiosity, investigation, and teamwork!

Image of Year 5 - Gaelic Football
17 Mar

Year 5 - Gaelic Football

Today, Year 5 had an exciting session playing Gaelic football! They developed their passing, catching and teamwork skills while learning the unique rules of the game. The children showed great enthusiasm and determination, adapting quickly to the fast-paced nature of Gaelic football. It was fantastic to see their confidence grow throughout the session. Well done, Year 5!

Image of Year of Prayer and Singing Worship
17 Mar

Year of Prayer and Singing Worship

This morning in our Collective Worship we took part in the year of prayer for this week, which was a prayer about emotions. We discussed with our partner all the different emoji emotions we could see and then named them. We then prayed together for people that we might know in our school or family that might be feeling some of those different emotions at the minute or those who might not be feeling very well. We then had different classes leading the singing and actions for our favourite Easter hymns and songs. What a joyous and uplifting start to the week!

Image of Mad Science After School Club- Slime Time-The Science Behind the Goo!
17 Mar

Mad Science After School Club- Slime Time-The Science Behind the Goo!

Today, our young scientists had an exciting, hands-on adventure in the world of Mad Science Slime! The children explored the science of polymers while creating their own colourful, stretchy, and squishy slime. Each child chose their favourite colour, mixing and experimenting like real chemists to bring their slimy creations to life. The children put their slime to the test in our Mad Science Slime Olympics, stretching, bouncing, and squishing their creations to see whose slime was the stretchiest, stickiest, and most creative.