Darwen St James CE Primary Academy

If you are looking to get back into employment, brush up on your digital skills, or need extra support staying in work due to a health condition or disability, Blackburn with Darwen Council and the Lancashire Skills Hub are offering free, fully funded help. You can simply drop into one of their weekly Job Clubs in Darwen (Tuesdays), Bank Top (Wednesdays), or Audley (Thursdays) for friendly guidance on CVs, interviews, and training—no booking required. Dedicated employment specialists are also available to provide one-to-one support and help arrange workplace adjustments to ensure you thrive. For more details, please see the attached image.png, image_2.png, and image_3.png, or email the team directly at [email protected].

Year 3 have been busy working like real scientists this week! The children are currently planning an exciting investigation to find out if there is a link between our hand span and our grip strength.

They have been discussing how to make it a fair test, predicting what might happen, and deciding how to measure their results accurately.

We cannot wait to get hands-on with the testing phase next week and see if our predictions match the data. Stay tuned for the results!

Year 3 have been turning into maths detectives this week! The children have been exploring geometry by searching high and low for right angles right here in our classroom.

Equipped with their trusty right-angle testers, they have been checking everything from the corners of their books to the edges of the whiteboard. It has been a fantastic way to bring our shape and space topic to life and see how maths connects to the world around us.

As year 6 come to the end of their journey at primary school, they are completing a team challenge which uses all of their English, Maths and team work skills! The challenge is to design, advertise and budget for a working theme park.

In preparation for the leavers service, year 6 attended a "chip party" where they learnt songs, that they will be performing, and of course had chips too!

Year 4 have been looking at the different names and properties of polygons in our Maths lessons this week. We have used mirrors to find out how many lines of symmetry each polygon has and enjoyed finding lines of symmetry on different items around the classroom!

Year 2 have started a new topic in Science about plant-based materials. We have deepened our knowledge of sustainability by considering the 3R's: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. Miss Mulligan was extremely impressed with the creativity shown during the "trash to treasure" activity, where the children chose a piece of rubbish to redesign into a new useful product. Plastic bottles became bird feeders, cardboard boxes became bug hotels, old tights became teddies!

Our Year 2 class brought the story of Pentecost to life today! After learning about the arrival of the Holy Spirit, the children used their creativity to build incredible Lego models representing the wind, the flames, and the disciples sharing their message with the world.
Such a fun, hands-on way to explore our RE theme. Fantastic teamwork and imagination, Year 2! Blackburn Diocesan Board of Education

In R.E this week we have listened to the story of baby Moses. To help us gain a stronger understanding of the story, we created our very own paper plate craft activity were the children can see Baby Moses floating down the river in a little basket.
The children then were able to use their craft as a prop and their thinking skills to retell the story of baby Moses to their friends.

Over the last few weeks, the children have been developing their understanding of what makes a place truly special. To bring this learning to life in our recent R.E. lesson, we got out the Lego! The classroom was buzzing with creativity as the children designed and built the places we had been discussing. As they proudly showcased their creations, each child explained in detail exactly why their chosen place held meaning to them. It was incredibly moving to hear them articulate their thoughts, proving just how much their empathy and reflective skills have grown throughout this unit.