We
hope that you all had an enjoyable Christmas break and New Year. The
children certainly came back to school full of enthusiasm and talking about the
many things they had been up to. They seemed to have visited many places,
enjoyed a wide variety of experiences and all seemed very keen to still be on
holiday if they had the choice!
In
our assemblies before Christmas we were considering the importance of Advent
and looking forward to the arrival of a very special baby. In the weeks leading
up to Christmas we considered how the news of the arrival of the Christ child,
impacted on people, how it changed their lives and how His birth was only the
start of a very important story.
In
assembly yesterday, we took the time to look back and reflect on all that we
had learnt. I shared with the children that as ever, my family's good intentions
of burning our advent candle every day failed again. Yet again we arrived at
Christmas Eve with 16 sections still to burn. Time in these situations seems to
pass by so quickly, it only seems a short while ago that the fireworks I watched on
television were welcoming in the year 2000, never mind 2017!
So
as ever it's good to pause and reflect on what has past.
In
looking back we remembered the characters we had learnt about, Abraham, Joseph,
Moses and others, all of who were waiting for a promise to be fulfilled. We
finished up back in the stable with a new born child being held in the hands of
a loving mother and we asked the question, what next?
On
Christmas morning the 'child' in me was treated to something very special, a
new scalextric set! I think my children thought I needed some light
entertainment or a new challenge. In fact, initially it was the latter as, doing
the usual thing of not reading the instructions, I tried to put the track
together. Clearly the design had changed since my last set some forty years ago
and it didn't go to plan! Reluctantly I turned to the instructions
and from then on it all made sense.
On
Wednesday in assembly we looked at how to answer a similar question - what does
the birth of this child mean. How can we know what to do next or where to find
out more? In answering that, we turned to another form of instructions or guide,
the Gospel of Mark. This is what we will be doing this term through our
assemblies and collective worship, learning more about who this Christ Child
grew up to be, what he did and who he claimed to be, using the Gospel of Mark
as our guide.
Meanwhile
I will be practicing keeping my mini on the track, so as not to be continually
beaten by my youngest daughter!
If
you are interested in learning more about what we will be doing and looking at,
this terms assembly resource will be posted on the school web site next week.
This has been down since before Christmas, but is just about to burst back into
life again in a new format. New year, New web site!
We
look forward to working with you as we start the first academic term of 2017.
