Church Walk Primary School

This morning we were at Church Walk School.  We decided not to do an Easter themed assembly as next week they are holding an Easter Experience outside which we are involved in.  So after singing Great Big God I recalled the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5 using the magic trick that I have made.  As the final part of the story came out and Naaman had dipped himself 7 times in the River Jordan the look of surprise on the childrens faces as they saw the transformed Naaman was great.  The whisper of wow and that's magic went across the children.  I said that what I had done was a magic trick but what really happened was something else beginning with M and Sarah explained.  Sarah then talked about other miracles asking the children to tell her about some.  This led onto modern miracles and how they still happen today.  To finish we sang Wonderful Lord and Sarah said a prayer during the instrumental part.

Crosthwaite School

This afternoon we travelled over to Crosthwaite School.  Once again it was a beautiful day.  We started the assembly with singing Shine, then we showed them a short video clip from PIXAR about some birds who didn't like another bird getting into their group.  Following the clip both Sarah and I talked about the actions of the birds and asked the children what type of bird they saw themselves as.  Were they different from the rest, or did they follow the crowd to help them I had captured some screen shots of the movie clip and displayed them as we talked.  Sarah explained that we are all different in one way or another this led us into singing Touch a Finger followed by Wonderful Lord during which I said a short prayer.

St Peters Ireleth

This morning we went over to St Peters for the assembly.  It was a beautiful day as the sun lit the hills and mountains.  We decided to use the same assembly idea that we did at Low Furness School yesterday.  So after singing Shine we played the PIXAR short but the sun was just catching the screen so some of the detail was lost.  We then talked about the clip and about the different types of birds.  then asked the children which bird they thought they were.  We explained about the bible passage in that Jesus wants us to love everyone as he has loved us.  Following the talk we sang Wonderful Lord and during the song said a short prayer.

Low Furness School

This morning Sarah and I were at Low Furness School.  The theme was caring, so we decided to sing Shine - from the inside out to start with as that is what we wanted our end message to be about.  We played the PIXAR short called For the Birds which was used at the front of a PIXAR movie some years ago.  It features a bird on a wire which gets joined by other birds which he dislikes.  Then before he realises there are lots of birds on the wire which all have a go at each other.  In the middle of this a rather large bird sees the fun and wants to join in - the other birds poke fun at him and move away.  But the larger bird flies over and plants itself in the middle of all the birds.  Well they don't like it at all and start talking about him and having a go at him including pushing him off the wire.  So now he is hanging upside down on the wire as his toes start to slip off one by one - the two nearest birds peck at them until he is hanging by just one toe.  One of the other birds realises that if they continue then it will be bad for them but it is just too late as the last toe falls off the wire which was rather stretched catapults all the other birds into the air at such a speed they leave their feathers behind.  Now the big bird still with his feathers becomes the shelter for all the little featherless birds.  You need to watch it to see the whole point.  I had taken a few screen shots of the movie at key points ready to talk about them.  Sarah asked the question which bird the children thought they were and as I displayed different scenes I asked the question again and again until the scene when all the birds needed the big bird for shelter.  Sarah referred to John 13

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another."

(John 13:34-35 NIV84)

Having sung Shine to start she also said that we should shine from the inside out, and if we care and show love to someone then that care and love will be reflected back.  To end we sang Wonderful Lord and during the instrumental break Sarah prayed.

Pennington School

This morning Sarah and I went to take the assembly at Pennington School. After singing So Many Ways I told the story of Naaman from 2 Kings 5. I used a magic trick to tell the story.  I told the children that it was a magic trick but in the real story it was another 'm'. Sarah then talked about miracles asking the children what other miracles they knew about.  We were greatly surprised just how much they knew about them. She asked if miracles still happened today,  the children responded with a yes. She recalled a modern miracle about affootball player who's heart stopped working for over an hour.  We then sang God can do Anything followed by a prayer.

Broughton School

This afternoon Sarah and I went over to do the assembly at Broughton.  To start we sang So Many Ways to Praise the Lord then I told the Naaman story using my magic trick.  At the end someone said that's magic to which I said yes this is magic but what God did was something else beginning with an M which Sarah is going to tell you about.  The M was of course for miracle and Naaman was healed by a miracle from God.  Sarah explained through question and answer what a miracle is.  Then she asked if miracles still happen today the children replied yes they do.  Sarah then talked about the footballer Fabrice Muamba whose heart stopped for over an hour, he recovered and without any side effects - a modern day miracle.  This led to our song God can do Anything, after singing Sarah closed with a prayer.

Leven Valley School

Following our assembly at Our Lady's we went down to Leven Valley to do the same assembly.  After singing So Many Ways to Praise the Lord I once again told the story of Naaman using the magic trick I have.  Sarah then asked the children to name some of the other miracles in the bible - the children knew loads of different ones including some of the less know ones like the women touching Jesus's cloak.  She once again told the story of Fabrice Muamba who basically died during a football match back in 2012 when his heart stopped for over an hour.  She rounded off the talk by saying that God can do anything which was the cue for the song.  Afterwards she finished the assembly with a prayer.