Penny Bridge Academy

This morning I went to Penny Bridge Academy for the assembly.  It was great to see all the children again.  To start off we sang Be Happy then I introduced the theme for the assembly which was Lent.  I had looked up the word Lent and in old English it simply means Spring.  But for Christians it is the 40 days before Easter which starts after pancake day.  I reminded the children of this to start off, I also reminded them that at Christmas we think about the birth of Jesus and at Easter we think about the death of Jesus and during the time of Lent we think about the start of his work here on earth.  That work started after he was baptised and went off into the desert where Satan tempted him after his 40 days and nights.  I displayed pictures of each one of the temptations as I recalled the story.  I then talked about when we are tempted - like eating too many sweet things like cakes and chocolate.  But we can also be tempted by what we hear and be tempted to say the wrong things.  But if we do as Jesus did and say NO pushing the temptation away then we can Shine from the inside out.  Which was our final song.  After the song I said a short prayer to finish off the assembly.

Burlington School

This morning Sarah and I drove over to Burlington School for the assembly.  We started off by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then we talked about Pancakes and what people did yesterday with their pancakes.  Then Sarah asked if they knew the other name for the day - Shrove Tuesday.  She also asked if they knew what it means - I displayed a slide giving the meaning which is about forgiveness.  I then went on to talk about what this time of year is in the Christian calendar Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent. I explained what Lent is and that people give things up, it is the time of year when we remember Jesus in the desert for 40 days and nights before he is tempted by the devil.  Sarah then repeated something I had said about giving things up and encouraged the children not to give something up but to do the opposite and start something - like helping out at home, tidying their bedrooms etc.  To finish we sang I Love You before Sarah closed with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

St Peters School

This morning Sarah and I did the assembly at St Peters School.  We started off by singing God's Love is Bigger than a Burger then we talked about Pancakes and what people did yesterday with their pancakes.  Then Sarah asked if they knew the other name for the day - Shrove Tuesday.  She also asked if they knew what it means - I displayed a slide giving the meaning which is about forgiveness.  I then went on to talk about what this time of year is in the Christian calendar Ash Wednesday marks the start of Lent. I explained what Lent is and that people give things up, it is the time of year when we remember Jesus in the desert for 40 days and nights before he is tempted by the devil.  Sarah then repeated something I had said about giving things up and encouraged the children not to give something up but to do the opposite and start something - like helping out at home, tidying their bedrooms etc.  To finish we sang I Love You before Sarah closed with a prayer followed by the Lord's Prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I went to Low Furness School to do the assembly.  After singing Creator God Sarah asked what day it is today - pancake day came a warm shout from the children.  We then did a pancake flipping contest with a child from each year group.  We gave them a frying pan and a pancake and counted how many flips they could do in 15 seconds.  We then explained the idea behind pancake day or Shrove Tuesday - it is about forgiveness and tomorrow is Ash Wednesday which is the start of Lent.  Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter and it a time when Christians think about Jesus in the desert before he is tempted by the devil.  I displayed pictures to reflect this part of the talk.  It is also a time when people give up things, hence the pancake came about because people would remove certain food stuffs from the house ready for Lent - the pancake was born.  after the talk we sang the Chicken Dance song then Sarah closed the assembly with a prayer.

BX OT5 Burlington School

Today was the final lesson of Bible Explorer at Burlington School.  We completed the Old Testament with the stories of the exile and Daniel finishing with Esther.  The children got involved today more that previous weeks as there was lots of different characters to get dress up as from kings to lions.  At the end of the lesson we went through all the hand signs from beginning to end.  I then told the children that there are lots of ways that they can read the Bible for themselves and there are even apps they can download too.

Lindal and Marton School

This morning Sarah and I went to Lindal and Marton School, this is a new school for us.  To start with the headteacher introduced us to the school then we demonstrated the actions to God Can Do Anything.  After the song I read the story of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew, I used the Big Ministries Book 2 for the main story idea but added bits into it as we went along.  The children needed to make a response on certain key words when I said them.  After the story Sarah explained to the children that we are all special to God and that God can use us like he used Peter and Andrew to do things for him.  After this we demonstrated the actions to Touch a Finger.  Sarah ended the assembly with a short prayer.

Church Walk Primary School

This morning I went along to Church Walk Primary School for the assembly.  It was our first visit of this year.  It was great to see all the children and staff again it seems such a long time since we had seen them.  I started the assembly with God Can Do Anything and then told the story of Jesus calling Peter and Andrew.  I used the Big Ministries Book 2 to help with the story using some of their suggested responses for the children, although I did ad lib the story and add in some responses of my own.  At the end of it I pointed out that Peter and Andrew were fishermen and that Jesus picked them to be his followers - but fishermen would have been dirty, smelly, grubby and not well educated yet Jesus selected them to be disciples - followers of him.  Jesus is still picking people today and it doesn't matter what we look like or how old or young we are or if we have no money or loads of money - we can still be used by God to do his work - in fact we are all special to God no matter what shape or size we are cue for song Touch a Finger.  The song is about being special to God.  after the song we said a prayer and I reminded the children that although they are only young God can still use them because God Can Do Anything.