Holiday Club Day 1

This morning we welcomed almost 70 children to our holiday club 'In the Beginning'  We had a great time.  As the children arrived they started to work on a table which they will transform into a world by the end of the week.  We sang songs, had jokes, sang more songs, gave team points out, saw Captin Ketchup as well as Gary, watched a dramatized story and that was all in the first half an hour.  The children split into two groups and one went outside to play games while the other went and did crafts then after half an hour they came in for a drink and biscuits swapped over and we did games and crafts again.  Following that the team leaders had a reflective time with their groups before all coming back together for the final session of the morning with more singing, more jokes, Gary and the post box was emptied - not many letters today.  We did the memory verse for the day explained the week long competition sang Wonderful Lord and a prayer said good bye.  And tomorrow we do it all again.

Leven Valley School

This morning I went along to Leven Valley School for the final assembly of the year.  I decided to sing Great Great Brill Brill with the children as we haven't sung that one for a while.  Then after the song I read the story of Paul's ship wreck on his way to Rome.  I used the Lion Storyteller Bible to tell the story then I filled in some of the blanks that the bible account has, like the number of days the storm raged for and the number of prisoners on board.  I explained that in life we sometimes face changes like Paul had done in his life and we also face challenges as Paul was in our story.  I linked this to the changes the children would be facing as they move up the school and the year 6 children as they leave the school and go off to secondary school.  As we move year to new year we also face new challenges like the year 2 children going into Key Stage 2, the year 6 children to Key Stage 3 and the challenge of a new much bigger school.  I told the children that as they move that God will be with them and I displayed the verse from Joshua 1:9 Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid for the Lord you God is with you wherever you go.  After this and as a treat we sang the Chicken Dance.  Then I closed with a prayer.

Broughton School Transition Lesson

This morning Vic, Andre and myself went over to Broughton school to do the Transition Lesson we have been doing all this week, to the 9 year 6 pupils.  Instead of having 4 groups we just had 2 and we did two of the stations then swapped over.  Vic did the homework and bullying ones while Andre did the moving on and I did the lost stations.  It was great to be involved with the children and to see them open up about some of the issue they are facing as the move into a much bigger school.  We promised to pray for them as they move and gave them the Moving On booklet to help them as they do.

St Peters

This morning Sarah and I went for our last visit of the school year to St Peters.  As always we got a wonderful welcome from the children which was great.  To start off the assembly we sang Great Great Brill Brill then Sarah told the story 'Bags of Money' from the Lion Storyteller Bible.  It is basically the story from Matthew 25:14ff and is the parable of the talents.  After the story I explained a bit about the meaning of it for us today.  I reminded the children that a parable is an earthly story that has a heavenly meaning.  The story we read is the earthly one but what Jesus was saying is that we should use wisely the talents, gifts and blessings that we have been given by God.  Some of those gifts might be sport related, some performing arts, others being a good friend etc.  I encouraged the children to think about the parable and to use whatever they have so that others may get a benefit from it.  To close and as a special treat for the year 6 leavers we sang the Chicken Dance.  Then I closed in prayer and finished with The Lord's Prayer.

Crosthwaite School

Our final assembly of the day was over at Crosthwaite School.  Sarah and I again did the ship wrecked story of Paul, but before that we sang Great Great Brill Brill.  After the story I again explained a few things about it and pointed out once again that God is with us as we go through changes and challenges too.  I displayed the verse from Joshua 1:8 Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid for God will be with you wherever you go.  At the end of the assembly we sang the Chicken Dance song as a final treat for the year 6 children.  Then afterwards we got the children settled down for a final prayer.

Low Furness School

After the assembly at SJB Sarah and I went to Low Furness School for the last assembly of the school year and the last assembly with year 6 and Grace.  It was a little sad I have to say knowing that it was Grace's last assembly with Mum and Dad.  To start off the assembly we sang Inright Outright then Sarah told the story of Paul's shipwreck from the Lion Storyteller Bible.  The was a response for the children to say- every time they heard 'was Paul worried' the children needed to say 'no not at all'  after a quick practise they got the idea.  Following the story I fill in some other details about it like how many people there were on the ship 276 the fact that the storm lasted 14 days.  I did ask who had been on a ship on the sea and also asked if they had ever been in a storm at sea.  I recalled a time when we got caught in a storm when Grace was a baby.  I reinforced the point we made during the transition assembly a few weeks ago about God being with us wherever we go, using the passage from Joshua 1:8  Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid for God will be with you wherever you go.  At the end of the assembly we sang the Chicken Dance song as a final treat for the year 6 children.  Then afterwards we got the children settled down for a final prayer.

Sir John Barrow School Transition Assembly

This morning Sarah, Vic, Andre and myself went to do the transition assembly about Paul to the year 6 classes at Sir John Barrow School.  After a brief introduction by Sarah we performed the drama about Paul and about how he changed after he had met with Jesus on the road into Damascus.  I played the Mr Change part a person that thinks change is good while Vic played Mrs Same who thinks things should remain the same.  We were the travel agents called Move It and Saul later called Paul came to us as he wanted to travel, Andre played this part.  During the drama Paul acted out the dramatic events on the road and we all stood around as sound effects played (Sarah).  So we all took part.  The point was that we all face changes at some point in our lives and those changes could be really big like the complete change Paul went through to little changes like getting some new school shoes.  Some changes can also be challenges as well a bit like the change the year 6 children will face in September.  We wanted to encourage the children that no matter what we face God would be with them like he was with Paul.  We used a verse from Joshua which says Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid for God will be with you wherever you go. Josh 1:8.  At the end of the drama we all shared a good and bad memory from school.  Alan Bing the vicar and the new curate Matt were in the assembly and they too shared good and bad memories.  Then Alan closed in prayer.  We then gave ever child a Move It booklet to help them as they move to secondary school.