Croftlands Infants School

Yesterday morning I went to Croftlands Infants School to do our final assembly of 2015, it was lovely to see all the children who were very excited some had a party that afternoon so were getting ready for that others were just excited as it is the end of term and Christmas.  So to start off we sang Be Happy, I then played a video of the Christmas story which was a poem of Bob Hartman which had animated.  There was a repeating line in the poem which said 'turn our sad into glad' and it was reminding us of what Jesus came to do.  I explained that yes Jesus came to turn or sad into glad again but he continues to do that for us.  He wants to turn our sadness into gladness.  I asked the children to spare a thought on Christmas morning when they are opening all their presents and gifts to the real reason why we celebrate Christmas and that Jesus is the greatest gift of all given to us by God.  To finish the assembly we sang Rejoice with us then I closed with a prayer.

St Peters

Yesterday Sarah and I made or last visit of 2015 to St Peters School.  To start off the assembly we sang Be Happy everyone in the school was so happy as it is getting very close to the end of term and yes Christmas!  After singing the song we showed them a short video clip about Christmas, the video was a poem by Bob Hartman which had been animated.  It had a line in it that said 'turn a sad into glad' I reminded the children that is what Jesus did when he came to earth and in fact is still doing that today.  I also reminded the children of the assembly we did two weeks ago and how Jesus is our saviour.  To close the assembly we sang our Christmas song Rejoice with us then Sarah said a prayer and led them in the Lord's Prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning I went to do the last assembly of the year at Low Furness School.  I did our Christmas assembly for them.  So after singing Inright Outright I got children up to hold the boxes and then went through each of the letters of Christmas asking the children to think of words with that letter to do with Christmas.  Then as the box lids came off the children helped to rearrange them into the bible verse from Luke 2:11 Today a saviour has been born to you.  After the children sat down I held onto the word saviour and asked what they thought it means some great answers came back, I explained that it means one who saves and one child had already at this point said it was Jesus.  I linked this back to the song and the line that says Jesus cared for me when he died on Calvary.  It was good to explain that at Christmas we celebrate the fact that Jesus came to us as a baby but that he grew to a man and died for our sins on the cross.  I asked the children to remember on Christmas morning amid the opening of presents and things to think about Jesus because without him there would be no Christmas.  I encouraged them to rejoice as we sang Rejoice with us this Christmas.  I finished the assembly with a prayer.

Croftlands Juniors

This morning I went to do the final assembly of this year at Croftlands Junior School.  It was great to see all the children.  I started the assembly off with Inright Outright then got 9 children to each hold a box with a letter on the font which when put in the right order said Christmas.  I then asked if they could think of things to do with Christmas for each of the letters.  After they opened the boxes and inside the lid of each one was a word.  Putting the words together made a sentence in fact a bible verse from Luke 2:11 which says 'today a saviour has been born'  After the children had sat down I asked them about this word saviour and about what they thought it means, I also asked if the knew who the saviour is.  I explained that Jesus did come to us as a baby at the time we now celebrate Christmas but in fact grew to a man and died for us - our saviour.  The song we sang has a line that says Jesus cared for me when He died on Calvary.  On Christmas morning all of us will be Inright outright upright downright happy through and through when we open up our gifts but spare a thought for why we do it - God's special gift to us in Jesus.  So now it is a time to rejoice at Christmas.  We finished by singing Rejoice with us this Christmas and then I said a prayer.

Leven Valley School

Today I took our Christmas assembly to Leven Valley School.  After singing Inright Outright I asked the children if they knew what the letters on the Christmas boxes spelt.  Loads of hands went up the word was Christmas.  I asked 9 children to come out and hold a box up as I went down the line and asked the children for something about Christmas that started with each letter.  Then the children open the boxes and found some fixed up words.  I told them it was a Bible verse we then moved the children around until we got a verse that made sense - Today a saviour has been born to you. Luke 2:11  I read it with them a couple of times before asking the children to sit down again.  I kept hold of the word saviour and asked what it means and who the saviour was.  The answer is of course Jesus and he is the one who saves.  I linked this to the song we had sung about Jesus caring for us when he died on Calvary.  I also said that on Christmas morning everyone will be Inright Outright Upright downright happy through and through when they open their presents but also spare a thought for why we do it - Jesus God's gift to us born to save us given to us at Christmas.  To close we sang Rejoice with us and I closed with a prayer.

Flookburgh School

This morning Sarah and I went down to Flookburgh School for the assembly.  It was good to see all the children and staff again - there was a great Christmas feel about the place too as the hall was all decorated which made our assembly even better as we were talking about Christmas.  To start we sang Inright Outright then I drew the children's attention to some Christmas parcels with letters of them.  I asked if anyone could tell what the letters spelt - Christmas.  I asked 9 children to come up and hold a box each then going down the line asked the school if they could think of something to do with Christmas for each letter - candles, holly etc down the line.  I then asked them to remove the lid of the box and look inside - on each lid was a word - some big some small but it didn't make sense.  Sarah then got the children arranged into the right order by moving their position each time I read the sentence until finally we got it - it was Luke 2:11 Today a saviour has been born to you.  After the children had sat down Sarah started to talk about this word saviour asking what it means, and talking about why we celebrate Christmas - the birth of our saviour Jesus.  She linked what she was saying back to the song Inright Outright.  She explained that it is because of Jesus the greatest gift of all that we rejoice at Christmas because without him there would be no Christmas at all.  To close we sang Rejoice with us this Christmas.  Sarah then asked a child to read out a prayer then she closed with a second prayer.

Broughton School

This morning I went along to Broughton School to do the assembly.  After telling the children how many shoe boxes we had collected in total we sang Inright Outright.  Then I pointed to some gift wrapped boxes I had with me, each had a letter on it.  Firstly I asked if anyone could tell what the word said - Christmas.  I got 9 children out to the front to hold the boxes up as I went along the line asking what things to do with Christmas the children could come up with for each of the letters, we had, candles and carols, happy and holly, reindeer and Rudolf, ice and ivy, snow and Santa, tree and turkey, mince pies and mistletoe, advent and finally stocking and star - to name just a few.  Next I asked the children to open their box and look at the lid - there was a word on each lid which was from the bible verse in Luke 2:11.  It was in the wrong order so they needed to move around to get the verse right - which was fun as each time someone moved I read the verse out.  In the end when the verse was in the right order we all said it together a couple of times - Today a saviour has been born to you.  I asked the children to sit down and I took the lid with the word saviour in it and asked what a saviour is - some one that helps people, a person who could save you from drowning -  asked who the saviour was - Jesus came the reply.  I explained that saviour simply means 'one that saves'  I made reference to the song we had sung and explained that at Christmas time we do think of Jesus coming as a baby but he grew into a man who saved us, who is our saviour.  I said that in the midst of the excitement of Christmas remember the real reason we celebrate, it is a time to rejoice.  This linked to the next song Rejoice with Us.  After the song I said a prayer. 

St Peters School

This morning I went along to St Peters School to do the assembly.  After telling the children how many shoe boxes we had collected in total we sang Inright Outright.  Then I pointed to some gift wrapped boxes I had with me, each had a letter on it.  Firstly I asked if anyone could tell what the word said - Christmas.  I got 9 children out to the front to hold the boxes up as I went along the line asking what things to do with Christmas the children could come up with for each of the letters, we had, candles and carols, happy and holly, reindeer and Rudolf, ice and ivy, snow and Santa, tree and turkey, mince pies and mistletoe, advent and finally stocking and star - to name just a few.  Next I asked the children to open their box and look at the lid - there was a word on each lid which was from the bible verse in Luke 2:11.  It was in the wrong order so they needed to move around to get the verse right - which was fun as each time someone moved I read the verse out.  In the end when the verse was in the right order we all said it together a couple of times - Today a saviour has been born to you.  I asked the children to sit down and I took the lid with the word saviour in it and asked what a saviour is - some one that helps people, a person who could save you from drowning -  asked who the saviour was - Jesus came the reply.  I explained that saviour simply means 'one that saves'  I made reference to the song we had sung and explained that at Christmas time we do think of Jesus coming as a baby but he grew into a man who saved us, who is our saviour.  I said that in the midst of the excitement of Christmas remember the real reason we celebrate, it is a time to rejoice.  This linked to the next song Rejoice with Us.  After the song I said a prayer.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon I went over to Crosthwaite School for the assembly.  I started it by singing Inright Outright - I did a quick recap of the actions with the children first.  I had before the assembly arrange a number of boxes wrapped in Christmas paper at the front, each box had a letter on the front.  I then asked who could tell what the word said - it was Christmas.  I asked 9 children to come out and help.  Then using each letter of Christmas I asked if they could think of something with that letter to do with Christmas - I got a number of very good answers back from the children.  Then the children opened up the boxes to find a word in the lid, I now asked them to make a sentence with the words - it was a bible verse from Luke 2:11.  It said - Today a saviour has been born to you.  I asked the children to sit down after I had gone over the verse a few times.  I held up the word saviour and asked if anyone could tell me what it meant.  I had a number of great answers - one who saves.  I explained that this was Jesus and that he came to earth to be our saviour - the one who saves.  That was why we sang Inright Outright at the start as it says - Jesus cared for me when he died on Calvary.  That is why we have Christmas, and why we celebrate at Christmastime.  I then finished off the assembly with Rejoice with us this Christmas then closed with a prayer.