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Our very last worship together for the year! This was a truly wonderful celebration to reflect on our successes and obstacles we have overcome throughout the year. Children from each year group were rewarded for their oracy progress, and other aspects of their learning, attendance and homework. We also revealed the Planet Point winners!

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Today was our official goodbye to our amazing Year 6's. They had the whole school laughing and crying as they shared their memories, read bible readings, displayed photographs and received awards. Each child also received their very own bible to guide them through their next chapter.

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Today the choir treated the whole school and their families to a showcase of their singing. It was truly fantastic!

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Year 5 blew us all away with their amazing worship assembly, where they shared their learning. Their Greek Gods rap was a particular hit!

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Today in church we continued to think about bible bible heroes. We focussed on another significant person in the bible and Y6 helped Rev Rebecca tell the bible story.

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Every week we sing happy birthday to our friends and staff who have had a birthday that week. We use makaton signs to accompany the words. Do you know how to sign 'happy birthday'?

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Today Mrs Tindall led us in exploring the hymn Bind Us Together. We sang the song multiple times and reflected together on what being 'bound together' looks like in our school and community.

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Bind Us Together, Lord [with lyrics for congregations]

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Today formed part of our 'big bible heroes' focus from our bible study with Rev Rebecca. She chose a significant person from the bible and shared them with us, exploring why they are important.

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During good news in celebration worship today, some Y4 children read a sports report about a football competition they attended. Well done!

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Miss Scholfield shared what little things she was thankful for that day and the big things in her life she is thankful for.

We all nested the things we are thankful for.

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4.7.24 Whole School Worship - Songs of Praise 

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4.7.24 Whole School Worship - Songs of Praise 

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Today Miss Scholfield led us in exploring the songs 10,000 reasons.

We learned a bit about the singer - Matt Redman - and why he wrote the song.

We picked apart the lyrics and looked at bible scriptures which inspired the lyrics of the song.

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We are continuing to think about bible verses which we can read when we are feeling different emotions. Today’s emotion is excitement.

We talked about what we might do when we are excited. Here are some of our ideas:

“Jump around our bedroom.”

“Smile.”

“Cry.”

“Run around.”

“Scream and go on your knees.”

What does the bible tell us we should do when we are excited?

We looked at Philippians 4:4-6, which tells us: "I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God."

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What an exciting celebration worship today!! Three of our Year 3 girls have been working hard on practising a Bollywood dance routine, which one of the girls learned at home recently. This beautiful dance routine was shared after Year Three read about an Indian wedding in their class reading book.

Isn't it amazing?!

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27.6.24 Whole School Worship - Led by Cultural Capital Committee

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27.6.24 Whole School Worship - Led by Cultural Capital Committee

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The Cultural Capital Committee led a fantastic whole school worship all about Individual Liberty - one of our British Values. It was very very interactive and got us all to reflect on what choices we make in our day.

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We looked around the Art Gallery of pictures which Rev Rebecca had put together for us.

The pieces of art are by artists from different places in the world. We also looked at pictures which show some aspects of the culture from the country which the artwork came from.

We shared with each other which our favourite piece of artwork was and why and talked about what surprised us. Then we discussed how Jesus is represented in the pictures and why this might be different in different pieces of art.

“Everyone in the world sees things differently and so they will see Jesus differently too.” - Eska Y3

We looked at the artist He Qi from China and some more examples of his work.

Finally we created our own depiction of Jesus on small pieces of wood to show how we would represent Jesus.

The finished pieces were absolutely incredible and were showcased in church, then moved to our worship display in school.

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Rev Rebecca talked to us about a bible story which we can turn to when we are feeling lonely.

Joshua 1:1-9

We talked about what God was saying to Joshua. Here were our ideas:

“I will be with you”

“You can do it”

We discussed how the bible passage teaches us that God is always with us and we are never alone. One child responded: “We might feel happy because we know we are not alone. God is always next to us.”

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The children are still really enjoying sharing their reading scrapbooks with the rest of the school. It's so wonderful to see such a love of reading for pleasure.

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Today Y2 - Y6 joined the Great Big Live Assembly for World Refugee Day, hosted by Dr Krish Kandiah.

Some children afterwards said they found it very interesting and powerful.

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Great Big Live Assembly - World Refugee Day

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Today in church we explored a bible scripture for us to think about when we are feeling thankful.

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We love to see excited reactions when our children's hard work is celebrated!

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13.6.24 Whole School Worship - Songs of Praise

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13.6.24 Whole School Worship - Songs of Praise

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Mrs Bibby and some Y6 guided us in exploring the worship song - Mighty to Save. We talked about the lyrics and what they mean in general and to us personally.

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Well done to all of our wonderful children celebrating achievements and good news this week.

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Reception did an amazing job with their worship assembly. They all spoke so clearly and the rest of school thoroughly enjoyed it!

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We talked about how God created these incredible creatures and looked at Proverbs 16:24.

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Mrs Tindall led our worship in honour of World Bee Day. We watched how bees make honey (did you know honey is basically bee sick?!)

We talked about how amazing bees are, how hard they work and how they work as a team.

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What needs power?

We shared some ideas of objects we know need power to work.

Rev Rebecca shared an artists portrayal of Pentecost. Jesus told his disciples that when he leaves, he would send a helper to help them continue sharing God’s love. The helper was the Holy Spirit.

We made the rushing wind noises and Rev Rebecca told us all about the flames that were over the heads of the disciples. We talked about how amazing it is to have Jesus all around us all the time.

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Scroll through this presentation and click the charity logos to see the videos

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Scroll through this presentation and click the charity logos to see the videos

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For our class worships, the children watched videos sent to us by charities which link to our school in some way.

Have a look at our class padlets to see how the children responded.

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With the help of some children, Rev Rebecca told us a bible story, which Jesus told, about a man in the bible who held a feast.

The man invited lots of rich, important people but they were unable to attend. The man went to the village and asked some poor people to come instead. They had the most amazing time because they had said yes. Jesus said these people are so important and we mustn’t forget them.

How does the church help their community?

Rev Rebecca told us they run food banks, help people learn how to manage their money, run stay and play sessions, run lunch clubs, provide warm spaces during winter.

How could church help in other ways?

The children gave some suggestions:

“Help people”

“Pray”

“Set up more food banks”

“Set up a group where you pray”

“If someone is in a sad place, you could be there for them”

“Donate water across the world”

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Christian Aid Week - Being Kind to Communities

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Christian Aid Week - Being Kind to Communities

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This week, our worship is focussed on how to help communities and links to Christian Aid Week.

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Well done to all of our stars of the week!

Did you know the winners of star of the week, class of the week and planet points are on our website home page?!

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Mrs Tindall led an assembly which reminded us all of our school rules and how these link to our school values and scriptures.

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9.5.24 Whole School Worship - Ascension Day

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9.5.24 Whole School Worship - Ascension Day

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Did you know the liturgical colour for Ascension Day is gold?!

Mrs Tindall showed us a video to explain all about Ascension Day. 40 days after the resurrection, Jesus ascended into heaven and told us the Holy Spirit would be with us always. Ascension Day is always on a Thursday. The symbol for Ascension is a cloud.

How did the disciples feel when Jesus ascended?

“The disciples would have felt surprised to see him ascend."

"Confused because it’s just not what you usually see."

"Sad because he came back and then he had to go and leave them again."

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How lucky are we at St James', to have such confident children in our school! Here is one of our fabulous infants, singing in his home language during our Good News section of worship. What a superstar!

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He is Risen – The Ultimate Act of Kindness

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He is Risen – The Ultimate Act of Kindness

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Rev Rebecca explained what the bible means where it says 'You anoint my head with oil.'

God is telling us: you are so special and precious. The challenges you face, I have got it sorted.

We thought of a challenge which we have coming up and Rev Rebecca prayed for God to be with us.

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We listened to a reading from the bible which can help us if we are feeling worried or sad - Psalm 23

What do we think Psalm is telling us? The children shared their ideas:

-Cheer up

-Don’t give up

-You don’t need to be worried

-You don’t need to be afraid because even though we can’t see them, God and Jesus are always around us because they are the light of the world

-He is always there whenever you need him

-Don’t be worried about our enemies and stay calm

-Think happy feelings

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Rev Rebecca shared a really good way of enabling us to grow as Christians - reading the bible. There are lots of ways to hear or read the bible - online, in the Bible book, audio versions etc.

We can hear from the bible even if we don’t have one or struggle to read.

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Then, we were asked to find the person who we had written down and give them their note. It was so much easier when we were helping each other and soon the whole hall had their happy note!

The worship warriors explained that this shows how our own happiness as well as that of others, is easier to find when we help each other, rather than just focus on our own.

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2.5.24 Whole School Worship - Led by Worship Warriors

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2.5.24 Whole School Worship - Led by Worship Warriors

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Today our Worship Warriors led our whole school worship all about kindness.

We discussed in talk partners why being kind is important, then the worship warriors told us about an example of kindness in the bible: the Pharaoh's daughter who saved Moses from the river as raised him as her son.

Before worship, every child had been given a positive note with somebody else's name on the back. We did an activity where 5 children had to find their name in the hall without anyone helping. They couldn't do it!

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Today Rev Rebecca asked us: What could we do to be kind to someone today?

"If someone falls we can help them up"

"Help someone with their work"

"Smile"

We shouldn’t ...

"Push people"

"Join in if people are being unkind"

"Tease people"

Rev Rebecca told us the story Jesus told about the Good Samaritan. She talked about how this sets an example for us.

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Use the links below to have a look at the class worship padlets, which showcase our worship within class. Otherwise, scroll along to the right to see our whole school worship. 

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Use the links below to have a look at the class worship padlets, which showcase our worship within class. Otherwise, scroll along to the right to see our whole school worship. 

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We have so much incredible talent at St James'! This week Ralph told us about his jujitsu competition where he won gold! He explained what he had to do to achieve this and the different types of combat within the competition. Well done Ralph!

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Our midweek worship was all in class this week. Have a look at our class worship padlets to see what we got up to!

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Our midweek worship was all in class this week. Have a look at our class worship padlets to see what we got up to!

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We watched a video about the story of creation.

How does the video make us feel inside?

“Happy.”

“Excited.”

“Thankful.”

When we are given a gift what do we do with it?

“Open it.”

“Use it.”

“Say thank you.”

“Pass it on to someone else.”

Rev Rebecca talked about how we would look after a precious gift that we are given. She told us that the world is a gift from God and we should care for it.

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Today is Earth Day. Rev Rebecca asked us to think about how God made our world.

“He got rocks and a hammer.”

“He made the flowers.”

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Well done to all of our stars of the week this week and to everybody who has celebrated an achievement or good news!

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We reflected on what we are hopeful for and prayed to God about this.

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The volunteers shared how the hope of something inside the bag helped when they weren't given dojos like everybody else.

Two bags had an Easter Egg and dojos and one had nothing. Even though the children didn't know what the outcome would be when they opened the bag, the hope was still there.

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We watched a video and Miss Scholfield shared that Easter brings hope. This is so important to Christians and is the very thing that gets us through tough situations.

We are so loved by God that he will always he our hope and be in our corner. Because of Easter, there is hope for everyone that we can be with God forever and we will always have someone there by our side.

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Today Miss Scholfield led our whole school worship all about what Easter brings to Christians.

3 volunteers came to the front. Everybody was given 5 dojos apart from the three volunteers. They were given a bag instead, which they could open at the end of worship.

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Jesus did such an amazing kind thing for us.

What small things can we do for Jesus?

The children shared their ideas:

Celebrate him

Make sculptures of him

Spread his word

Remember why we eat Easter eggs

Pray to God

Thank him

Make a day about him and celebrate him

Rev Rebecca suggested that we could forgive others like we are forgiven.

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We welcomed the Summer term in church with Rev Rebecca.

Rev Rebecca reminded us that the church are still celebrating Easter.

We watched a video all about the events of Easter to remind ourselves of what happened.

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Our worship colour is white as we are still celebrating Easter.

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Our worship colour is white as we are still celebrating Easter.

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Have a look on our website using the link below to see pictures of our 50th Birthday Celebrations!

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Have a look on our website using the link below to see pictures of our 50th Birthday Celebrations!

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Happy 50th Birthday!

Friday 22nd March marked 50 years since the school reopened in it's current building.

We had various celebrations throughout the day, involving past pupils and staff, old documents, photographs and records and our current pupils' families.

The hall was set out with lots of old photographs. Some pupils could spot their parents on them! There were also lots of documents and records, some of which dated to the early 1900s! The children loved seeing the 'Punishment Book'. They couldn't believe some of the punishments the past pupils received and were also shocked and thrilled to hear of a fire which started in what is now the current junior corridor! Each class came to the hall throughout the afternoon to look through the old records and see all the photographs. The hall was also open to visitors and we had some past pupils come. Any past pupils were also given a tour of the school to see what had changed since their time here. This was a big hit and exclamations of how the building had changed could be heard throughout the afternoon.

At dinnertime, the children all had a picnic lunch outside and families were invited to join us. There was excitement in the air (as well as some wind but thankfully no rain!) and everybody had big smiles on their faces.

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St James' Lower Darwen Church of England Primary School

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Today marks 50 years since St James' reopened in this building. Mrs Jacques shared some old documents and diary entries with us during worship which was so interesting!

Have a look at our History page on the website to see some more photographs!

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From lost teeth to dance certificates and from sleepovers to new babies, we just love celebrating our children's good news during Friday Worship at St James'!

"God directs the steps of the Godly. He delights in every detail of their lives." - Psalm 37: 23

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Kacper shared his chosen charity with Y4 and some of Y1 and Swanika shared her chosen charity with Y5 and some of Y1.

All the Y6s did a superb job.

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Year 2 and Year 6 were treated to Isobelle telling them all about Christian Aid.

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21.3.24 Whole School Worship - Christian Charities

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21.3.24 Whole School Worship - Christian Charities

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For today's whole school worship the classes were paired up and sat in different classrooms to hear about different Christian charities. The sessions were solely led by a Y6 child who had prepared a powerpoint of information about a chosen charity.

Here is Kyla telling Reception and Year 3 all about WWF - The Worldwide Wildlife Fund.

The Y6 children did an amazing job and really thought about how to engage their audience, including videos, photos and quizzes.

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20.3.24 Whole School Worship - Picture News - led by Oracy Pupil Voice Group

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20.3.24 Whole School Worship - Picture News - led by Oracy Pupil Voice Group

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The Oracy Pupil Voice Group led our whole school worship today which explored our Picture News topic for the week - Should BSL be taught in schools?

The Oracy PVG encouraged lots of discussion and the children came up with some fantastic ideas.

One of our junior children contributed by very bravely standing at the front of school to share how BSL is used in her family and taught the school some basic BSL signs. This was a very special moment and we were very proud.

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19.3.24 - Whole School Worship - Democracy - Led by Cultural Capital Committee

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19.3.24 - Whole School Worship - Democracy - Led by Cultural Capital Committee

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The Cultural Capital Committee led our whole school worship. Throughout this year, this group of children have been leading worships focussing on the British Values and today was the turn of Democracy. The Cultural Capital Committee did an incredible job and really helped us understand how our voices can be heard and counted.

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This week we have been incredibly lucky to have various groups of children leading whole school worship across the whole week. Our children at St James' are really upping their confidence levels and oracy skills and we are thrilled!

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This week we have been incredibly lucky to have various groups of children leading whole school worship across the whole week. Our children at St James' are really upping their confidence levels and oracy skills and we are thrilled!

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We explored a part of Holy Week in which Jesus might have felt a similar way.

Some children helped Rev Rebeca explain how Jesus was betrayed in the Garden of Gethsemane by acting out the story.

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Today in church , we looked at some pictures of some children and discussed how they might be feeling. The children suggested lonely, sad, heartbroken, bored and depressed.

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We celebrated all of our achievements from the week, including sharing some reading scrapbooks. The children get so excited to share their work from the scrapbooks.

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The children gave Rev Alice lots of cards and the choir sang for her, which was very special.

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Today we started our celebration worship in a very bittersweet way as we said goodbye to Reverend Alice, who is starting an exciting new chapter at a new church.

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Today Mrs Jacques led us in a whole school worship all about safeguarding and who helps keep us safe in school.

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Rev Alice told us a story from the bible about two sisters and a brother called Mary, Martha and Lazarus.

The story was sad, as Lazarus died, and it seemed as though there was no hope in the story at all. But when we reflected carefully, we saw there was hope there, through Jesus. Jesus said “I am the resurrection and the life.” He went to Lazarus and Lazarus came out of his tomb alive.

Rev Alice reminded us that Easter is about hope.

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Rev Alice chose three children to try and knock the different towers over. They could choose to use bean bags, sponges or different balls.

Rev Alice told us about during Holy Week, when Jesus went to the temple and people were using it for selling things instead of worshipping and praying. He flipped the tables over in anger. They made a big bang like the metal tins in the tower did.

We suggested things we would like to pray for.

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We love our celebration worships so much! Having the chance to celebrate the amazing achievements and talents of our children makes us is wonderful and makes us so proud. We love to share the children's exciting news too.

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Today our Oracy Pupil Voice Group led us in a World Book Day themed worship where we celebrated how books help us flourish and develop our love of reading. They were fantastic and very confident.

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6.3.24 Whole School Worship - What is Courageous Advocacy?

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6.3.24 Whole School Worship - What is Courageous Advocacy?

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Today the Courageous Advocate Pupil Voice Group did an AMAZING job leading our whole school worship all by themselves. They helped everybody explore and discover what skills are needed to become a courageous advocate in life. They spoke so clearly and enthusiastically.

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Palm Sunday

This week in church we focused on Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week.

We talked about how a famous person might arrive at church if they came to visit. We looked at photographs of the procession for King Charles at his coronation.

Then Rev Alice told us all about how Jesus arrived in Jerusalem. Some Reception children helped act out the arrival of Jesus on Palm Sunday.

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Well done to all our wonderful winners from this week's celebration worship!

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Today John Robinson came in to speak to the children in Year 4 and Year 5 about Blackburn Cathedral Choir. The children enjoyed finding out about the opportunity available to them.

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We colour code our padlet posts to represent the time of year in the church calendar.

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Today, everybody wore something green to celebrate Green Day and represent nature! The Eco Pupil Voice Group created the day to raise money for a compost bin and to raise awareness about how we can be more eco-friendly.

The Eco Pupil Voice Group did an incredible job at leading the assembly all by themselves! They were very passionate!

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Miss Scholfield led our celebration worship today. Well done to all who have celebrated an achievement this week!

Here are our SKATs winners. SKATs stands for Skills and Attitudes and were created by St James' to celebrate important attributes alongside the National Curriculum, which are important for our holistic development and future success.

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During the worship Mrs Tindall showed us a book called the Brilliant for Boys Handbook! The children were not impressed! Ellie-May in particular said she felt discriminated against because she was a girl, which is a protected characteristic.

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Today Mrs Tindall led a special KS2 worship all about protected characteristics, what they are and why they are important.

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Today, Rev Rebecca talked about celebrations and how we prepare.

She reminded us what Lent is and why Christians believe it is so important. Many Christians give something up for Lent, just like Jesus had to resist the temptation of the devil in the desert.

Have you given anything up for Lent?!

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We are back to Preparation Purple for the liturgical colour! We are in Lent. 

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We are back to Preparation Purple for the liturgical colour! We are in Lent. 

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Well done to everybody who achieved something and made themselves proud this week!

A huge thank you to our choir and to Miss Whaley for closing our worship with a beautiful rendition of Fix You.

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Our final celebration worship of the half term was opened by Esther, our Y6 Worship Warrior.

Esther chose to use improvised prayer with whatever sprung to mind, in front of the whole school! She is very brave and creative - some of the reasons why she was voted by her peers to become a Worship Warrior!