A time for prayer in class 6S

This week we will be sharing class 6S's prayer in assembly, it is rather special!

Dear God,

We are thankful for all of the wonderful and varied things that we have in our lives, from: pets to Jesus to music to Mrs S.

We hope that the people of the World, from Leicester to Lisbon and everywhere in between, will keep working together to find ways of stopping poverty; ways to keep endangered animals protected so that they can thrive as a species and to make every child feel safe no matter who they are or where they come from.

We hope that as we grow, we will become what we want to be: a farmer/psychiatrist or actor* and everything in between.

Help us to believe in you, in hard times, help us to understand that things might go wrong and help us to pay more attention to how lucky we are.

Amen

*Subject to change

The Magic Bed and class 1/2S

Fantastic creative writing happening in class 1/2S  this morning, as they explored the retelling of The Magic Bed. To start with they explored the story, then sequenced it and looked at key ideas in the text. This was followed by imaginative role play, that involved beds (constructed of chairs) apprearing all over the classroom. From these the children visited various aspects of the story, all of which consolidated the sequence of imaginative places that the Magic Bed took its occupants to. A superb introduction to enable the children to write their own settings. The buzz and sense of excitment was so great, it attracted me back to see the final outcome!

Writing across KS1 today

I really enjoyed visiting the KS1 class rooms today to see what they were up to.

Their Arctic theme has been fully embraced and the children have been enjoying exploring a wonderful book called The Snow Globe Family. This was being used as a basis for their own writing in some classes, in which the children were exploring what they would like to do and see if they lived in a snow globe. As ever they were very enthusiastic to tell me their ideas and I really enjoyed listening to their creativity.

Of course they finally asked me what I would do in a snow globe, my response was to say that I would enjoy making as many snow angels as possible and find a tree that I could turn into a Christmas tree all year round!

In other classes the challenges were slightly different, not so much about snow but instead the challenge to master their knowledge of alphabetical order and the definition of words. Lots of paper, scissors and glue in action, but they were all willing to take on the challenge.

Friday assembly

On Friday we took the time to explore together a little more about what Jesus meant when he said to his potential disciples 'come and follow me.'

We began by asking class 6M to share what they had learnt about Jesus this week, building on from what we had learnt about John the Baptist last week. A small group of children confidently shared what they had learnt through a visual story map. it was a great start to our assembly and got us thinking about what it would really mean to leave everything to follow Jesus.

Following is a strange thing, and we considered how people do this in many different ways and how in the animal kingdom there are some fantastic examples of this.

I shared with the children the amazing sight that happens each evening in the fields near my house at the moment. Its always starts small, but by the end there are a few thousand involved. The event is caused as starlings gather to perform a murmuration, before they settle for the night in the reed beds. It is as if they have  practised the movements for many weeks, as the few thousand birds move and turn in the sky, all in perfect timing and co-ordination. It would certainly get four tens from the Strictly judges! The event is regularly punctuated by the arrival of a Sparrow Hawk or Merlin, who are clearly seeking an evening meal. The impact on the birds is quite incredible, they bunch into a dark mass, moving as one to provide a natural defence against the predators. Then, finally they bring the show to an end, as if in a preplanned move, all at once they will dive from the sky, following each other into the reed beds, where they remain overnight. It is a truly amazing spectacle.

It struck us in assembly that a decision to follow someone has an impact, just like the birds in the sky. For the early disciples the impact was the decision to leave everything to follow Jesus, it changed their lives and in our moments of reflection we thought about the impact that God has on our lives. Can people see the difference that our decision to follow God makes?

Our final prayer asked God to help us to live in the way that He calls us to, so that others may see and know that we have chosen to follow Him.

More Polar Bears

It would seem that they are everywhere!

Let your light shine

 A new entrance hall display is in place that reflects our assembly theme this term. As ever its interactive nature attracts the children and provides a stopping off point on the way to the main office.

Polar Bears

Great display of Polar Bears appeared outside 1/2 L this last week.

Snowy day

Briefly we experienced a change of landscape on Friday and as ever FS2 children made the most of it. Great fun!

A moment to be still and reflect

Over the past few days and into this week children in each class have been, and will be, working with their class teachers to draft a prayer that they will use at the start of every school day.

Our school days are very busy and we wanted to make sure that we started each day with a moment of reflection and prayer.

I was struck again over the holidays how essential prayer was to Jesus, and how despite an overwhelming workload this was his main priority. 

Jesus Prays in a Solitary Place

35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. 36 Simon and his companions went to look for him, 37 and when they found him, they exclaimed: “Everyone is looking for you!”

As we start 2017 together, we wanted to ensure that we too, took the time to prioritise and make our time together with God the first thing on our daily list.

I will be sharing some of the prayers over the coming week, and once all are complete, with the school community as a whole. But here is one to get us started.

A time to celebrate

Every Friday in whole school assembly we take the time to celebrate acheivement in any form, it is one of the highlights of our week!

Lots to celebrate this week from amazing achievements in golf, dance, swimming, ballet along with the presentation of head teacher awards. Lots of smiles all round!