Year 6 Money Matters
The focus of year 6’s money matters session was gambling. The children gained an understanding of how addictive gambling can become and the impact it can have on someone’s life. This was illustrated really clearly to the children in a game they played in which they could place bets with artificial money.
Year 6 Fire Service Visit
At the end of last half term, year 6 were visited by the fire service. They did a recap with the children on what they covered in year 2, and delivered some new content. Two of the most important takeaways from the session would be to test that your smoke alarms work each month; this could be done on your birthdate to avoid forgetting. Secondly, make sure you have a fire plan in place at home and that everyone living in the property understand this.
The W.O.W. Group - Messy Church: Faith in Action
The W.O.W. Group have done a fantastic job in planning some exciting lunchtime Messy Church sessions. The first one was for KS2 children and the theme was “Faith in Action”. Participants had to think of someone who is their hero and make them into a superhero. They also listened to the story of Samson and his strength, and they were treated to a drink and a biscuit whilst they worked on their superheroes. The W.O.W. Group are looking forward to the second KS2 session next week.
Rev Ben’s Worship- Jesus chooses his disciples
This morning in Collective Worship, Rev Ben started with a fun game where we had to guess the superpowers that our wonderful volunteers, Walter, Lottie, Isabella, Charlie-Rose and Matthew acted out. We guessed the superpowers of speed, strength, sports, invisibility and flight. We then followed on from Jesus' 40 days in the desert and we watched a story from the Bible that showed what happened next. We watched as Jesus chose his followers, called his disciples. They didn't have superpowers and were very ordinary and often made mistakes, just like us. Rev Ben told us that the best followers of Jesus don’t have super-powers and God works today through ordinary people who love Jesus and admit it when they get things wrong. He then told us about Ash Wednesday and how that is a time to ask God for forgiveness for the things we have done wrong. Wilson, our Head Boy, volunteered to have an ash cross put on his head. We then reflected on what we can do when we get things wrong and how God will always forgive us. We finished by singing My Lighthouse and My God's the King of me. Thank you Rev Ben for another wonderful worship.
Whole-School Worship: Understanding Lent
In worship today, Mrs Ham explained that Lent is a time in the Christian calendar in which we observe Jesus’ time in the wilderness and prepare for Easter. We discussed what we could do to observe Lent. Some of the children’s suggestions included giving up sweets, chocolate, crisps, time on devices, or giving back by helping at home or making an extra effort to show kindness to others. We also learned more about THE BIG LENT WALK and how each member of our school family can contribute by walking a few kilometres over the Lenten period and raising money that will go towards ending global hunger. More information is available on Class Dojo.
The Big Lent Walk
During Lent, our school are currently fundraising for CAFOD. We are taking part in the big Lent walk where we are collectively trying to walk 200km. Please help us to raise as much money as possible by sponsoring our whole school family. If you have been on a walk, please either sponsor and leave a message with how many km you have walked or send me a message and I can update our page. We will also be walking during the school day in our classes to achieve our target so any sponsorship will be greatly appreciated. Your sponsorship can change lives. Every £1 raised through the Big Lent Walk will help fight poverty globally in countries like Afghanistan, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and South Sudan. This year, CAFOD’s Lent Appeal is helping fishing communities feed their families in Liberia, and SCIAF’s Wee Box Appeal is focused on women and girls in Rwanda facing gender-based violence. Also in Ethiopia, CAFOD and SCIAF are working together to respond to the devastating food crisis there. Years of drought caused by the climate crisis means families are no longer able to cope, but your support means we are working with people right now, providing them with water, emergency food and healthcare. With your hard work and sponsorship this Lent, we can change families’ lives for good and tell poverty to take a hike. Please access our page here where you can sponsor your child: https://schools.walk.cafod.org.uk/fundraising/st-barnabas-big-lent-walk Thank you for your kindness, Mrs Wilkinson
Year 6 Dress to Express
Mrs Ham discussed in worship that the theme of children’s mental health week is ‘My Voice Matters’. Today, year 6 have really expressed themselves and shown just how unique they are.
Dress to Express 2024
What a fantastic day we’ve had celebrating Dress to Express! It was lovely to get together as a whole school to raise awareness for Children’s Mental Health Awareness Week. Every single member of our school family certainly dressed to express themselves and made themselves heard as we all have a voice. Well done to all of the children that spoke about why they had chosen their outfits and how it allowed them to express themselves.
Celebration Worship- Dress to Express Day
Today, we had a very special worship to celebrate Children's Mental Health Week. We all ‘Dressed to Express’ and danced our way into the hall. We discussed the theme for this year which is ‘Our Voice Matters’ and we watched a video that told us all about the rights and responsibilities that we have such as being free to choose to think what we like and have our own opinions and ideas. Mrs Ham then showed us some pictures of people that have been influential in the past for standing up for their belief. Ross and Wilson named Martin Luther King Jr and Rosa Parkes, Sonny named Ayanna all of whom worked to end black segregation. Darcy named Marcus Rashford who has been influential in helping to stop racism within football and Charlie added that he has also been helping to support children who are entitled to free school meals. We then heard from some children from each year group about how they’ve chosen to express themselves. Hamza expressed his love of football and fashion, Archie his love of darts, Isaac his love of BMX, Charlie-Rose her love of all things sports, Betsy her love of dancing, Mason his love of smart clothes and attending special occasions such as weddings, Archie his love of football, Grace and Lola their love of gymnastics, Sonny represented all those in the world who live with diabetes, Daisy her love of art and bright colours, Renee’s love of PJ Masks, Olivia’s love of the colour pink and Jewellery, Alfie’s love of playing and watching football, Ella-Grace’s love of dancing and sparkles, Isabella’s loves of wearing pyjamas because you can snuggle and be cosy in them, Naomi’s love of all things pink, Charlie’s love of football, Annabel’s love of Ariel, Joey’s love of Spider-Man and Elijah’s love of superheroes. Mrs Ham then asked some of our members of staff how they had chosen to express themselves. Mr Prescott and Mrs Norris chose to bring their golf clubs to express themselves as golfers, Miss Kachwalla and Mrs Lyons expressed themselves by wearing bright and bold colours to express themselves as creative and Mrs Hegarty wore an apron to express herself as a baker. What a wonderful way to end ‘Mental Health Week.’ We wish you all a restful and enjoyable half-term and we look forward to welcoming you all back on Monday 19th February.
Year 6 JagTag
Today, year 6 took part in a JagTag taster session. JagTag is a version of American Football that children can take part in. Year 6 really enjoyed their session and some of the children even expressed an interest to play in the future. The two stars of the session were Colton and Lucy who listened attentively and demonstrated fantastic skill.
Let’s Go Sing Worship
Our choir took part in a workshop with Rachel from Let’s Go Sing. Rachel was amazed at their wonderful singing. Please come and watch our wonderful choir perform at King George’s Hall on 6th March 2024.
Year 5/6 Sportshall Athletics Final
A huge well done to our Sportshall athletics squad for their fantastic performance in the BWD Sportshall athletics final last night. We were one of the smallest schools there and came joint third on points. However, as there was a tie it came down to who had won more events so we were awarded fourth as the other school had won more events. We are so proud of everyone in our squad as they showed brilliant sportsmanship, determination and effort, as well as encouraging each other. A huge thanks to Mrs Gardner, Mr Bloomfield, Mr Norris, Mr Prescott and Mrs Wilkinson for your support, transport, coaching and photography. Many thanks to our parents for the support with transport. Well done Team Barney’s! All of the photos can be found here: https://www.stbarnabasdarwen.co.uk/photo-galleries/year-5-6-sportshall-final