Love is

 Our theme for this term is that of HOPE and it has been wonderful to read the thoughts of the children as they have responded to this idea. I was particularly impressed with what the year 6 children brought to the whole school assembly on Friday, rooting the idea of peace in their own experiences and those of their families.  It has also been great to see different approaches to reflecting on this in and around the school, with some thought provoking ideas in the classrooms. I am very grateful for all that the staff contribute to the collective worship of the school.

This week’s  theme of love has focused on actions as opposed to feelings, although the latter is a very essential part of the experience of love.

I shared with the key stage two classes on Tuesday one of my favourite verse from the bible – For God so loved the world that He gave His only son. This to me is a clear demonstration of love in action, for the sending of Jesus is rooted in God’s love for his creation and particularly us. It is this love that leads to action and it is this action that clearly demonstrates his love for us.  So we considered in assembly how we might take action this week to show love to others.  In doing so I asked the children to respond to the challenge of Mahatma Gandhi –‘ Be the change you want to be in the world’. A phrase that was more recently used by Barack Obama when he said ‘ We are the change we seek’ .

 

I finished the assembly with a reflection based on the life of Martin Luther King Jnr, a man who certainly sought to share love by his actions and to be the change that he wanted to see.

May we continue to focus on what it is we hope for over the coming weeks. 

Our hopes for peace

 

This week our assembly theme has focused on our hopes for peace. We have taken the time to consider what peace means and also what it does not mean, in a number of different scenarios.

On Monday we thought about how God can help bring peace into our lives, taking the story of Jesus’ calming of the storm as an illustration of how God can intervene in a situation. We had great fun acting this out and adding sound effects to the story, particularly the part were the disciples begin to panic and try to wake Jesus up. 500 children shouting ‘ wake up’ at the top of their voices certainly wasn’t an illustration of peace!

In today’s assembly some of the year 6 children will be leading our reflections and prayers as we take time to think of the places and people that do not experience peace in our world at this time. They have been very enthusiastic in their research and in the things that they wanted to say. What they have prepared is a very powerful insight into the needs of our world, but also it provides a very clear focus for us in our prayers and in our reflections on how to be ‘ channels of God’s peace’. I will be sharing their PowerPoint on the website as part of the information available to parents with regards this terms assembly theme. 

We have also created a ‘wall of peace’ in the main hall to which each class has contributed. This captures of hopes for peace in so many different ways and locations. 

Year 4 cake sale in aid of Shelter

There is a lot of excitement and joy in the year 4 classrooms at break today as the year 4 children sell their cakes, all made at home over the weekend, to raise money for Shelter.

This has come about as an action from their work on the David Walliams' book Mr Stink. The main character is homeless and the children wanted to respond to this by doing something positive.

The outcome is a cake sale that is currently taking place not too far away from me at this moment.

A great way to make a difference together!

A vist from our local MP

As part of the year 4 focus on the book Mr Stink by David Williams , both our year 4 classes enjoyed the opportunity to quiz our local MP Jon Ashworth.

The session involved lots of different questions and opportunities for the children to find out more about Jon's role as an MP, what he has achieved and the types of things he has enjoyed doing.

We were really grateful to Jon for giving up his time to come and provide this opportunity for the children.

Clearly he has a strong majority for the future for when asked who they would vote for, a significant number of the children declared that it would be him!

Hope

  

As we start 2018 we will be looking at the theme of hope from a biblical perspective and the hope that affects our lives and the communities we live in, including the wider world.

What is it that we hope for? At this time of year many people think about New Year’s resolutions, things they want to change, people they hope to be. But from a Christian view point and that of other faiths how does hope fit into our everyday life?

Hope is central to the Christian faith, for it is what could be, that is the focus for how we live our lives in this modern world. Jesus talked a lot about God’s Kingdom, not just as a future thing, but also in terms of the here and now. The impact of hope is to be seen in our lives today, it’s not just about the future and as such we will be considering some of the things that we might hope for over the coming week.

The themes we will pick up on will be:

Peace, love, forgiveness, thankfulness, justice, endurance, wisdom, trust and friendship.

All of these will be drawn to a conclusion in the greatest hope of all that can be found in the grace that runs throughout the Easter story.

My prayer and hope for us this term is that as we consider this incredible theme of hope, that we will see more of the love and grace of God in our lives and that through this we will be enabled to be the lights that God calls us to be in our own lives and in the community in which we live. 

Each class has taken the time to consider what they hope for this week and we reflected on these and used them to inform our prayers during our Friday whole school assembly. Early next week we will be using these to build a 'wall' of hope, to remind us of what it is we are hoping for. 

 

Christingle January 2018

Yesterday we joined together in two assemblies to remember and reflect on the meaning of Christingles. These always fascinated me as a child, the temptation to eat the sweets before the service had finished, the awe when all the candles were lit and my Grandma intently watching my sister and I too make sure we didn't set anything on fire, to the thought that one orange could illustrate God's love for me in such a simple way.

Our assemblies were led by Kate and Sharon our children's workers associated with our church St John the Baptist. As ever we had fun, reflected together, prayed together and sang together. It was also great to have a number of parents and carers join us as well.

As we start a new year and academic term, it was good to remind ourselves of the importance of light in all our lives.

The Christingle signifies Christ as the light of the world, the one who came to be the bringer of good news. Our prayer for this term is that as we seek to follow that light, we will continue to make a difference together and that together we will shine in the darkness.