Collective Worship Crew

The Collective Worship Crew

 

Pupils who help to support the delivery of acts of worship are known in our school as ‘The Collective Worship Crew’.  These pupils help to set up the worship hall by creating a calm environment and they choose hymns, select or write prayers. Towards the end of the half term they then plan, write and deliver their own act of worship as a group to the whole school.

Our most recent Collective Worship Crew presented their service with the theme of ‘Perseverance’. They asked to pupils to define the word and they gave different ways of experiencing it in everyday life through an acrostic poem. They told the story of Walt Disney and his journey to success and made links with stories in the Bible. They finished with a video story about perseverance which the pupils had made and the pupils contributing their own examples of when they have had to persevere.

 

Here are the pupils’ comments:

“It made me think that I should always persevere with anything that comes.”

“I liked the video showing them trying to build  a tower and it kept falling down.”

“As I came out I felt excited for the future because I am always going to persevere.”

“The video taught me that however long it takes, don’t give up.”

“Perseverance is an important Christian Value because you should always be doing it and try and try again.”

“It made me want to persevere with riding my bike.”

“I know that people enjoyed it because children were listening and laughing.”

“Lots of people put their hands up to answer the questions.”

It was so exciting to welcome so many parents to our service today, led by Topaz class at St. Lawrence Church. The pupils gave examples of when they had shown courage in a variety of circumstances at home and at school. In fact many had commented on how nervous they were about presenting their service to both parents and pupils. They really did show great courage throughout and acted out the story of  David and Goliath beautifully. The service closed with a prayer created by the children and  a well chosen song,  'We will find a way' by Fischy music.

The first service of the year helped the children to fully understand the Christian Value of 'Perseverance'.  The children were invited to give their interpretation of 'Running the race of life' and the theme was explored further through an acrostic poem. The children discussed which phrase from the poem explained the true meaning of perseverance to them and why. The service closed with a prayer and the song 'We're on this road'.

Our Christingle service took place on the last day of term and was led by Sapphire and Emerald classes and Mrs Holmes was presented with some flowers to mark her departure. The Christmas story was told, and songs illustrating  the narrative were sung by each class. The  symbolism of the Christingle was interwoven throughout. Our whole school family was captivated by the reflective and joyful atmoshere of the service. 

 

Trust has been the theme for this half term’s Christian Value and the Collective Worship Crew presented a service which explored the importance of trust in our everyday lives. They demonstrated how their own siblings trusted them by asking them to put their hands into a bag which contained some hidden items. They then asked the pupils for their feelings  when people have put their trust in them, and when they have trusted others. A video of the Boy who Cried Wolf was shown and the value of telling the truth was praised. The promises God has made to us all were highlighted and the pupils talked about how these promises are very similar to those of our own friends and family.  The service closed with a prayer.

 

Here are some of the children’s comments:

“I liked the questions.”

“There were lots of opportunities to give answers.”

“It was a good choice of story.”

“It made me think to never lie again.”

“God wants to know that we can be trusted.”

“Mary was trusted with God’s message.”

“It made me think I must be a trustful person.”

 

Father Peter welcomed the children back to school by asking how they had spent the half term break. The children were keen to share their experiences and Father Peter made links with these and our new Christian Value , Trust. 

To illustrate the verse from Ecclesiastes 4:9-12, 'Two are better than one,because they have a good return for their labour;  If either of them falls down,one can help the other up', Father Peter used a single strand of string, then multiple strands to lift a heavy box, noticing that the grouped strands were strong enough to do the job. 

The service closed with time for reflection about the importance of trust,and the song with actions, May you find Peace this day. 

 

Harvest in St. Lawrence Church

The focus for the harvest service was sharing what we have got with others. Each class had their own role to play, with Amethyst telling the story of the Little Red Hen and Sapphire talking about the importance of bread. Emerald presented the work of  Food Banks and illustrated this with the  story of Elijah, and Topaz ended the service with their messages of thanks for the foods we harvest and share. Beautiful songs linked the service together and the choir excelled themselves with 'Harvest Moon.' To emphasise the theme of sharing the pupils, their parents, special volunteers and governors worked together to make some soup from donated vegetables as part of the 'Big Soup Share.'  Everyone enjoyed a cup of soup and roll of bread and there was even some left over for people to take away. The Chesterfield Food Bank also collected over 35 kg of food to distribute, from generous donations from parents. Thank you to everyone for your support in making this a successful service with the care of others at the heart of it all.

The theme for this half term has been 'Thankfulness'. The collective worship crew encouraged the pupils to share their experiences of this and explored why it was important. The CWC played a video of the story of The Ten Lepers and followed this with questions and answers, clarifying the importance of Thankfulness to our sense of happiness. The service finished with a prayer and the song "We wish you well'.

 

Here are the pupils' comments: 

 

"I liked the prayer because we have quiet time to think."

"The story was good because one of the men went back to say thank you."

"We learnt about saying thank you in different ways."

"I like to worship God . It makes me happy and I can't do it at home so I am glad to do it at school."

"I say a prayer every night."

"I know that God is always there for us and he will always forgive us."

"Saying thank you is like paying a compliment to people and it makes them feel happy."

"They could have made it better by acting out the story."

 

We would like to say a very big 'Thank you' to the Crackpot Company for joining us to illustrate God's plan to send Jesus to be our Rescuer and Saviour because of His love for everyone of us. The pupils were highly engaged with the puppets, acting and narration. We finished a prayer and an an energising rendition of Whoopah Wahey!

Sapphire opened their worship with the song 'Build up'. A great introduction to the theme of 'Perseverance'. They used St.Paul's verse about life being like a race to illustrate the importance of working hard at something to achieve a desired goal.The pupils researched the struggles of well known high achieving  athletes, emphasising that not everyone has immediate success. Some pupils described their own experiences of persevering and the service closed with this prayer.

Dear God,

Thank you that you promise to always be by our side every day.

Please help me to persevere when I am stuck and feel like giving up.

Help me to keep my eyes fixed on you, so that I can follow your example and help and guide anyone who might need my help.

Amen.

Father Peter gave the children a warm welcome back to school after the summer holidays. The Christian value of 'Thankfulness' was explored in relation to many different areas of the children's lives, with the children making interesting contributions. The service closed with a prayer and the song 'Welcome Everybody.'

The whole school said an emotional goodbye to our current Year 6  in St.Lawrence Church. The photos of them from Reception to the current day gave everyone an entertaining picture of how they have grown physically, academically and spiritually. Several pupils achieved the Rotary Award which was presented by Mr Barnes, and our well deserved citizen of the year, was received his trophy.  Three of the Y6 pupils  performed a cup song which they had written themselves. We wish them all every happiness in the future.

Respect

Our Collective Worship Crew prepared their own worship based around the theme of respect.  They asked the pupils for examples of who and what they show respect to and how. They created an acrostic poem with a wide range of definitions of this important Christian value. They used the Bible story of Moses and the Burning Bush to exemplify the theme, where God gave Moses the strength to believe he would be respected and would be able to fulfil his desire to protect his people. The CWC finished by giving the pupils the opportunity to work in teams and model showing respect to each other.

 

Here are the pupils’ comments:

“It was all about the meaning of the word ‘respect’.”

“The story taught us about people in the Bible who were not treated with respect.”

“The story tells us to treat others as you would like to be treated.”

“It helped me to know that we must respect everything, people, animals and equipment too.”

“I liked it when we talked to our partners. It made me happy because I was talking to someone new and I was able to show respect to them and it was good to hear what they had to say to me.”

 

 

Amethyst Class in Church

 

Service was the theme of today's worship  in St. Lawrence Church for our families. The pupils from Amethyst class prepared a service to explain the meaning of this important Christian value in their own lives. They chose to retell the story of Jesus washing the feet of the disciples to illustrate how important it is to put others before ourselves, and to encourage us all to follow His example. The worship closed with a prayer written by the children and the song 'I can make a difference.'

We were delighted to welcome back the Crackpot Company to present Collective Worship to the pupils today. They  acted out the story of Esther, portraying her bravery at a very difficult time, in order to save the Jews. The children thoroughly enjoyed the story telling and the way it was related to their everyday day lives, by a puppet who was worried about its homework.  The music and dancing had everybody on their feet and the pupils left the worship with smiles on their faces and full of life.

Father Peter welcomed the children back from their half term break by greeting them with a high five and the word 'Respect'. The pupils were asked to explain who and what they respected and why, and they came up with a wide range of answers. He explained that an important way that we can support people we respect is by praying for them and he taught the children the 'Hand Prayer', explaining the link between each finger and people in our lives. The service closed with a prayer and the song 'Welcome Everybody.'

This term’s collective worship crew prepared today’s service for the pupils about ‘Compassion’.

They began by asking the children to think of a prayer during the service, that they could say at the end. The meaning of compassion was established through questioning and the pupils provided many answers about the theme. They illustrated ‘Compassion’ through a short video of the story of the Loaves and the fishes from the Bible and the pupils were able to explain the evidence of Compassion within the story. The CWC also created a play for the pupils to take part in, which provided a great example compassion in the everyday lives of the children. The service closed with a prayer from one of our youngest pupils.

Here are the pupils’ comments:

 

“It was a nice way to teach about compassion.”

“I learned more about the meaning of compassion.”

“I now know how to show compassion.”

“I really liked the play because the children could join in.”

“God wants us to show compassion so that we think about others more before ourselves.”

“I liked the video. It showed compassion by sharing food and giving up his own food.”

“I’m going to show more compassion after this.”

“I learnt a lot about compassion from listening to the answers to the questions.”

 “They could have made it better by asking for more answers to the questions.”

 

Emerald class led our service in church today which explored one of our school Christian values, Courage. We heard examples of stories and verses from the Bible where courage is shown. The pupils  shared an entertaining story called the 'Jar of Courage' in which the main character eventually discovered he did have the courage to achieve what he thought was impossible. The service finished with a class written prayer and the song 'We all need encouragement'. The closing prayer was said by Father Peter.

 

The new term started with our service in Church led by Father Peter and his companion ‘Charlie’. Compassion is the Christian Value for this half term and Charlie and his friend Beaky explained how important it is to show compassion to others especially when they are injured or poorly. The children suggested different people who show compassion in their jobs and roles, and the different ways we all might show compassion to others and the impact that this can have on those in need. The service closed with a prayer and the children sang ‘Build Up’.

To end the Spring term the children performed a wonderful Easter Service from ‘Song of the Morning’ led by the Year 6 children. Each class, including the choir, told the story of Easter through songs and narration.

The choir sang beautifully with a Hebrew song that they had also performed at the Winding Wheel.

Father Peter ended the service with a prayer and best wishes for the Easter holidays to all.

The theme of today's collective worship was 'Courage'. The crew began by asking the pupils for their experiences and understanding of courage and chose the story of King Solomon to illustrate this Christian value. An acrostic poem was used to explain different ways that courage is shown.There was a final challenge for any pupil who was brave enough to come to the front which the school thoroughly enjoyed. The service finished with a prayer created using TSP.

Here are the pupils' comments:

"I learnt what courage really is."

"It was a good choice of story."

"I liked it when they asked what courage meant and when the children gave examples which helped the others to understand it better."

"I felt happy, it was fun!"

"It made me think that I must try and show courage even if I don't want to."

"The people were laughing and the jelly proved their courage."

"It's important to have courage in everything you do."

In church at the start of a new half term.

Father Peter began the service by asking the pupils to share their experiences in the holidays, encouraging them to think about times when they had needed to show courage, our Christian value for this half term. The story of Moses and the Burning Bush was used to illustrate the importance of having the courage to take the first small step towards doing something, which may at first seem impossible to do.  An acrostic poem of the essential elements of courage was shared and brought back to school to display.

Friendship has been the Christian Value for this half term. Our Collective Worship Crew began their service by establishing the meaning of friendship, how the pupils have shown friendship and the importance of this value. The crew created a modern day story based on a Bible story to illustrate the theme and finished with a prayer.

 

 

Here are the pupils’ comments:

 

“The story was a made up one like the story of the poorly man from the Bible. They walked a long way and really looked after him.”

 

“I liked the way they changed the story.”

 

“It is important to be friendly.”

 

“They talked about how we show friendship and why we need to be friendly.”

 

“Everyone liked it.”

 

“We need to be friends with each other or we will be lonely.”

 

“It is important to be kind and caring.”

 

“If we are not friendly, we will have no-one to talk to and everyone will be fighting.”

 

“Being kind and helpful is important.”

 

 

 

 

Father Peter began the year with a service which engaged the pupils with the festival of Epiphany. Four pupils, a star and 3 Magi, were chosen to visit 12 stations which told the story of their journey of the Magi and the meaning of some of the symbolism within the narrative. The service closed with a prayer which encouraged the children to persist in their search for comfort and faith through Jesus Christ. 

A short time ago, some of our Y6 pupils informed the school about International Toilet Day and a charity called Toilet Twinning, whose aim is to provide a basic toilet, access to clean water and to teach  hygiene in countries where there is a lack of safe facilities. 

We are delighted to announce that the children have raised enough money to fund 2 toilets through Children in Need and our Enterprise afternoon. We have received our certificates, complete with colour photos of the  toilets, and the GPS coordinates, so we can look up our twin’s location on Google Maps.

What a fantastic achievement to be able to help so many people in this way.

On the last day of a very busy term, the children celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ with our Christingle service at St Lawrence's church. Mrs Hodgkinson and the choir opened the service with an upbeat song reflecting what Christmas is all about. The story of Christmas was told by two narrators who acted as news reporters and each class sang their hearts out to a variety of wonderful songs. The lighting of the candles was the highlight of the service. With lit candles in their hands, the children sang 'He Came In Love', finishing the service in a truly spiritual way. Our thoughts for other people were reflected in kind donations to the Children's Society, raising £97.

The theme for today's collective worship was 'Forgiveness'. The team prepared a powerpoint to illustrate the theme. They acted out a short role play about two boys, one of whom was unkind to the other, but the second boy showed forgiveness and it had a happy ending. They also told the story of Noah's Ark. The pupils were invited to answer questions and make contributions to a discussion on this important Christian value. 

 

Here are the pupils' comments: 
"They told the story of Noah's Ark because God sent a flood and Noah forgave God because God doesn't usually do anything evil."

"Noah did all God asked in the story showing forgiveness to Him."

"They told the story to get people to forgive their friends."

"They told the story about Noah to show that we need to make the world a better place."

"It made me think about  being kind to others."

"You need to know what forgiveness is to do it, because when you fall out you won't know how to forgive and you'll have no friends."

"Forgiveness means there will be no wars."

"I felt peaceful."

"I learnt you must always forgive others."

"Forgiving is nice and if you didn't forgive the world would be nasty."

"I think they needed to act out the story more."

"I think they should have asked more questions and got more people involved."

Our Y6 pupils prepared a collective worship about World Toilet Day on November 19^th 2018, to coincide with fund raising for Children in Need Day. They informed the children that 1 in 3 people across the world don’t have somewhere safe to go to the toilet and encouraged them to think about what life would be like without our own private toilet. They created a quiz with lots of questions which taught the pupils about the dangers of poor sanitation. The aim is to raise awareness and enough money to ‘twin’ a toilet in our school with a toilet in a country which lacks safe facilities. The service closed with time for reflection and a prayer.

One of the pupils said “I am going to bring some money for that. It really isn’t fair that some people have to live like that.”

Father Peter welcomed the pupils into church and listened to the children's explanations of what they had done in the holidays. He opened the service by inviting one of our youngest pupils to draw scribbles on a blackboard and then gave him 20 seconds to clean it all off. The theme of forgiveness was introduced by explaining the act of confession which takes place in church and enables God to forgive us for what we have done, and the importance of forgiving other people as God has forgiven us. There was a period of reflection and a prayer asking for help to always be willing to forgive others. 

The Harvest worship today was led by the children in Year 5 and 6 and focussed on the Colours of the Rainbow. The younger children in Amethyst shared their colours of red pictures and sang for us followed by Topaz who talked about the colour orange. The children of Emerald class performed the parable of the Sower for the colour green and Sapphire concluded the celebration with a talk about how we can protect our sea for the colour blue. The songs and prayers demonstrated  our grateful thanks to God for the wonderful diversity in nature.

Thank you very much to everyone for your generous Harvest food donations to the Chesterfield Foodbank. The weight of the food was 81.5kg, with enough food items for 116 meals.

Our Collective Worship Crew began the service today by asking the pupils about their understanding of the meaning of generosity. They explored how they and others show it.  They created a photo story and asked the children which Bible story it reminded them of, and asked for suggestions of any other stories in the Bible that show generosity. A verse from Corinthians 2 was shared and the pupils were asked to explain what it meant and how it relates to them. The pupils were also encouraged to explain why generosity is an important Christian Value and how we show it at Harvest Festival.

Here are the pupils’ comments:

“I liked the story of the poor people.”

“I liked the questions; that they asked us lots of them.”

“It made me think about being generous when others are kind to me.”

“It is important to be kind and make our world a better place.”

“They could have done better pictures for the story.”

 

 

The Bible performance Group, Crackpots, acted out the story of Samuel choosing a new king, to illustrate the love of God for everybody. The children enjoyed the acting, dancing with actions and participating in ordering the phrase from the Bible.

International Day of Peace

 

Pupils from Sapphire class prepared a presentation about the International Day of Peace. They explained when and why it was started and gave some details about the organisation who set it up in the first place. The pupils were taught about how it is celebrated and encouraged them to think about how they could be peaceful and why it is important in the wider world. They finished with a prayer which encouraged reflection about those who live in places where life is very difficult.

Children from our school helped to illustrate the importance of education during this service.

Our pupils were asked about their experiences of school and the children had prepared questions to ask members of the congregation. The answers were both illuminating and amusing!

The congregation were then invited to help to build a tall strong tower, and on each brick they affixed a value that they thought children should be taught in school. These were read out by the children as the tower went up. The children used the story of the 'House on the Rock' to illustrate the importance of firm foundations, making links with the values that children are taught in school. They closed with a prayer, a verse of which has been written by each class.

Father Peter welcomed all our families to our final service of the year. We enjoyed some beautiful singing from the School Choir, and one of the songs was written by the pupils about school life at Barlow, which made us all smile. There were presentations for the completion of the D.A.R.E. project, The Rotary Junior Community Award, which  was presented to 5 of our pupils, and the Citizen of the Year. The video of the memories of the school years for the Leavers was thoroughly enjoyed and watched by many with a tear in their eye! We closed with a song from the Class 4 production and a prayer for the continuing success of the pupils at their next school.

The theme of truthfulness was explored today in a service by the Collective Worship Crew. The pupils were asked to talk about the meaning of truthfulness and they gave  examples of the importance of truthfulness to us all. The CWC played a game of 'Would I lie to you?' with various truths and untruths about the teachers and the pupils had to disagree or agree. There were links to Bible stories and they were asked to explain why truthfulness was a Christian Value. They finished with the song, 'You are a star' and the school prayer.

 

Here are the pupils' comments:

"The important message was to be honest."

"It was telling us to always be truthful."

"You shouldn't lie, you should always tell the truth or no-one will believe you."

"They talked about different Bible stories."

"God never lies and Jesus told us stories to tell us you shouldn't lie, because God is the truth."

"I know people liked it because they were laughing and joining in."

"I am nosey so I liked hearing about the teachers."

"I shouldn't lie or I won't be nice."

"It is good to be true, if not you are lying to yourself all the time."

"I liked it because we joined in."

"It could have been better if they spoke more enthusiastically."

"I wish they had been more organised."

"They could have been better organised."

Pupils from Reception year up to Year 6 took part in the service today to raise awareness of Sea Sunday. The pupils acted out the story of the 'Good Samaritan' encouraging us all to consider the need to think of everyone as their neighbour. They then described the work of the Seafarers' Mission across the world and included Father Peter's experiences too. Our two youngest pupils finished with the prayer that the group had written.The congregation congratulated the pupils for an enjoyable service.

The theme for today’s worship led by the Collective Worship Crew was ‘Service’. As the pupils entered the hall, they asked if someone would like to make up a prayer to say at the end and a Y2 child was chosen.  The CWC chose the story ‘Jesus washes the Disciples feet’, telling it using a children’s video. They then asked some questions to clarify the understanding, and to discuss the main point of the story. This was clearly articulated by the pupils and they then asked for further examples from Bible, which were readily suggested. They  finished  with a prayer, which focussed on giving thanks for all we have and closed with the song ENJOY.

Here are the pupils’ comments:

 

“The story was about Jesus washing the feet of other people.”

“ The important message was to be of service to other.”

“The message was that Jesus loves everyone.”

“The message was that we must be helpful and kind.”

“You must do something for others instead of the other way round.”

“I liked the video best.”

“People were smiling.”

“He cares about us and teaches people how to behave.”

“If Jesus didn’t wash their feet, then he wouldn’t belong to them.”

“He loves even the ones who are a bit mean. We should be nice to everyone.”

“I have learnt that I must be good and not hurt others’ feelings.”

Father Peter opened our worship with the verse from Galatians,  "You, my brothers and sisters, were called to be free. But do not use your freedom to indulge; rather, serve one another humbly in love."

Our theme this half term is service and the children were encouraged to think of examples of ways they can use their talents of singing, organisation, sport, listening and making others laugh to help others. The pupils found some of these more tricky than others to answer, but were not short of suggestions for sport and making other laugh. Father Peter reminded the pupils that they all have a variety of talents which they can use to serve  family and friends. 

 

 

The Collective Worship Crew presented their service on Justice to the whole school this morning.

They began by asking the pupils to describe in their own words what ‘Justice’ means and ways that they have shown justice. The pupils gave some thoughtful answers. They then gave a clear definition of justice and demonstrated a typical scenario that happens in the playground everyday. The CWC encouraged the pupils to identify the problem and how it could be resolved by showing justice to all. They finished with a prayer:

We thank you for the fairness,

That you brought into the world.

We thank you for the equality,

That you share with us.

We thank you for the love you give,

On this lovely day.

Amen

 

 

The Crackpot Company entertained us today with their presentation of the Easter Story. The children enjoyed the puppet and the acting out of Jesus’ life. They joined in with the new song and actions for ‘Oh Happy Day’ by Jesus Culture. The children sorted out the power phrase ‘ Jesus died for our sins, was buried and came alive on the third day’

Father Peter helped the children to think about the concept of Justice by sharing a variety of different sized candles out between three children.  The children were able to answer questions about why the distribution was unfair and how it could be solved. The exercise demonstrated how complicated it can be to be fair and equal because the candles were of different sizes and colours. Father Peter used each letter of the word 'Justice' to illustrate the different ways we can show justice to others.

Today’s Collective Worship Crew explored the theme of Perseverance today. As the day of their worship was Shrove Tuesday, they began with the story, ‘Jesus is tempted’ and asked the pupils questions, encouraging them to recognise Jesus’ ability to be strong, determined and to persevere when faced with temptation. They explored the meaning of perseverance with the pupils and made links with the need to persevere through Lent with something they have given up. Some children willingly accepted the ‘Flipping the Pancake’ challenge. They reminded us all that God is beside us and will help us to persevere in what whatever we do.

 

Here are the pupils’ comments:

“It made me think that you have to try and try again.”

“I liked the Bible story it made me think to never give up.”

“You need to try more times.”

“It made me think that you should not do what other people tell you. You should follow what God tells you.”

“Jesus persevered in the story.”

“I liked it when they were flipping pancakes and they kept on trying.”

“They could have made it better by having more questions and different questions for different classes.”

 

 

Our Christingle Service in St. Lawrence's Church  was a wonderful way to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. With beautiful songs from the school choir, led by Mrs Hodgkinson, and the children, readings and a tableau created by Class 4, the  wonder of the season was truly felt by all. Father Peter engaged the children in explaining the symbolism of the Christingle and the service closed with candlelit carol. Our thoughts for other people were reflected in kind donations to the Children's Society and the Chesterfield Foodbank.

Trust was the theme explored by our Collective Worship Crew this week. They established the meaning of 'Trust' by asking the pupils questions, encouraging them to explore the importance in our everyday lives. The story of Ernest Shackleton was shared and Bible stories with a strong theme of trust were discussed. The CWC demonstrated their trust in their friends by performing a 'trust fall' in front of everybody. The service closed with a prayer about trust created by one of the pupils.

Here are the pupils' comments:

"I liked the story and I learnt something new." 

"They trusted the explorer to come back. If they hadn't trusted him the days of waiting would have been really difficult."

"I liked it when they showed they trusted each other by falling. It made me laugh."

"The important message was to always trust God."

"Noah and Daniel trusted that God would look after them."

"You have got to trust other people. If you are in a tricky situation you  need to trust others otherwise you will be sad." 

"To push yourself, you have to trust others to help support you."

"God wants us to give good trust to everyone."

"For someone to trust us, then we must trust them."

 

Father Peter introduced the theme of trust this half term by asking for volunteers to take part in an activity which required absolute trust in each other.

We celebrated Harvest Festival this afternoon in St.Lawrence's Church and were delighted to see so many of our families joining us today. The oldest children's readings reminded us to show gratitude for all of God's gifts, and Class Three's retelling of The Enormous Turnip brought to mind the importance of sharing what we have with others. These themes were then illustrated in the songs performed by the other classes and the school choir.  Many thanks for the donations which will go towards the Kolkata Appeal.

Our Collective Worship Crew created a picture story of the Bible story of the Ten Lepers to illustrate the theme of Thankfulness. They engaged the pupils by asking questions and encouraging them to think about when and how they say thank you, and why it is important. The CWC emphasised the need to remember to show gratitude to God for the everyday things, like health and clothing, and even for the bad things which might happen in our lives. The service was concluded with a prayer written by one of our Y6 pupils. The song E.N.J.O.Y was chosen to remind us of all the good things God gives to us.

Here are the pupils’ comments:

“It made me think of all the things God has made for us.”

“I liked the picture story.”

“It made me think that I should think more about my mum and dad and all they do to care for me.”

“I am thankful for my family.”

“I didn’t like it when the mean people forgot to say thank you in the story.”

“I am thankful for people, for food and drink.”

 

 

 

We are very grateful to the 'Crackpots' team for their collective worship on the theme of the miracles of Jesus. The children were thoroughly engaged in their presentation which used actions, songs and stories. The children particularly liked the song where they could join in with the actions and think about the good works of Jesus.

We said goodbye to our Year 6 leavers in St. Lawrence's church this afternoon. Father Peter welcomed our families to the service and then the children performed their memories of school life and each other, in verse. The choir performed a beautiful song about growing up, led by our choir teacher Mrs Hodgkinson, and the whole school joined in with the song 'I can do good'.  The children were presented with their own personal recollections books, which they filled with signatures and good wishes of life at Barlow Church of England Primary School. We are all very sad to see them go but feel sure that they will continue to flourish at secondary school.

The Collective Worship Crew encouraged the pupils to begin thinking about the theme for this half term, 'Respect'  as they entered the hall. They had changed the seating arrangements and at the end of the service asked their opinions on the reasons for the change, which the pupils were able to describe as a way of showing respect to others. The pupils were asked to define 'Respect' in its many different forms and to talk about who they show respect to and why, and who shows them respect and why. The Bible story, Feeding the 5000, was used to illustrate the theme and the pupils justified the choice of the story and suggested others that could have been used. A Y.6 pupil offered to write a prayer which was thought provoking and poignant.

Here are the pupils' comments; 

" Today's Collective Worship was about Respect."

"The story was chosen to show the meaning of Respect."

"Everyone wanted food and Jesus split it up and everyone had food. Jesus made sure everyone had something."

"It was to show people to share and show respect."

"The important message is to show respect, do teamwork, be kind and help."

"The important message is to treat others as you like to be treated."

"It helped me to understand that we respect everyone for who they are, not to change them but to improve them. We are all unique."

During the service in church this week, the children explored the themes of  Pentecost and the Christian Value, Respect with Father Peter.

Here are the children's comments:

"It was about what friends do and the Holy Spirit."

"I thought about how I could be better as a friend."

"I will remember what makes a friend a true friend."

"I liked talking about being friends."

 

Our Collective Worship Crew began the service today by asking the pupils about their understanding of the meaning of compassion. They explored how they and others show it and how important it is for our happiness and well being.  They illustrated the significance of compassion through some video scenarios, one of which required some pupils to act out a suitable ending. The pupils were encouraged to make links with Bible stories about compassion.

 

Here are the pupils’ comments:

 

“I liked that they did their own video.”

“They spoke with expression in their voices.”

“The message today was that you should always show compassion because if you don’t, not being kind is not nice and others will be left out.”

“You show responsibility for others if you show compassion.”

“God wants us to be compassionate.”

We have enjoyed a presentation of the Easter Story in six songs, with short readings by Class 3 telling the story of Jesus' last journey into Jerusalem. The songs brought the readings to life, portraying the Last Supper, Jesus' trial and crucifixion and we finished with a beautiful song in two parts called 'Roll Back the Stone.' We are very grateful to Mrs Hodgkinson for her help and support with rehearsing the songs.

Our Collective Worship Crew led the worship today with a focus on Courage. They began by asking a pupil to show courage through the use of a feely bag and then asked the pupils for their definitions of Courage. They used pictures to illustrate the different ways of showing courage in a variety of situations and a video of a Bible story about Courage helped the pupils to explore the theme further. Statements representing different actions were sorted into ‘courageous’ or ‘foolish’ and the CWC discussed with the pupils the fact that the foolish actions are often the easiest to take. They summarised this by using a quote from the Bible which meant that it takes courage to do the right thing and you must stand up for what is right, even if you stand alone.

Here are the children’s comments:

“It was all about having courage,”

“I have learnt that if you are scared, it is best to encourage yourself to do it.”

“The story of David and Goliath was about God telling David to be strong and just because we are small we can do big things.”

“The song went with the story.”

“I liked it when someone made up a prayer.”

Friendship has been our Christian Value this half term and the Collective Worship Crew held a service to explore the pupils’ understanding as Christians.

They started with the meaning of friendship and how it is shown in our everyday lives and chose the Good Samaritan story to illustrate the importance of being a friend to everyone. They asked some pupils to role play friendship and showed a photo story demonstrating good friends.

Here are the pupils’ comments:

“It made me think about how you should help your friends.”

“I learnt that by helping someone you can build a good friendship.”

“It was about helping everybody.”

“It puzzled me in the story when some people didn’t help the injured man. I learnt that whoever you are and whatever you do you should help everyone.”

“God wants us all to be kind and helpful.”

 

Friendship is our Christian Value this half term and Father Peter introduced the theme using a story about two children who ruined each other's toys. The pupils were able to suggest ways in which the problem could be resolved through acts of friendship. Our song, 'Build up' reinforced the importance of this Christian Value. 

 

Christingle 2016

The children sung beautifully as they recreated the Nativity scene.  Listen to two extracts on our new MSP platform. We closed with a beautiful rendition of Sing the Love as everyone held their lighted Christingle.

 

 

The Collective Worship Crew began the service today by asking the pupils  to define forgiveness and  when they had shown it. There was an opportunity for the congregation to highlight Bible Stories where forgiveness is shown and the pupils’ named Jonah and the Whale.  The CWC  made a photo story of themselves with dialogue to illustrate the theme. They then introduced the Lord’s Prayer, asking the pupils to find the phrase which talks about forgiveness and clarified the meaning of some of the words. With the suggestions of the  congregation they put the phrase into everyday language which everyone can understand. “Forgive us the bad things we have done and we will forgive other people.”

Here are the pupil's comments:

" I have learnt you must always forgive others."

"I liked it when they asked questions and other children could talk about when they had forgiven others."

"The photo story was good."

"It was interactive and the sentence for the Lord's prayer was a good one."

 

Half term started with collective worship in Church and we introduced the theme for this half term which is ‘forgiveness’. The children were very confident discussing how they would define forgiveness and we used the analogy of ‘wiping the slate clean’ and ‘restoring friendship’ to help us explain what true forgiveness meant. We will be exploring the concept of forgiveness more fully over the course of this half term.

Our Harvest service celebrated the variety of food we are lucky enough to have available to us. Class 3 told us about healthy eating and Class 2 explored the food miles covered in the making of a Pizza. Class 4 used the Lord’s Prayer to encourage us to thank God for our food and the way seeds provide us with a guaranteed source. The Collective Worship Crew created a delightful prayer in which our gratitude for all our food was acknowledged. We have chosen to support the Kolkata appeal, helping to raise funds to build new schools in India.

Our collective Worship Crew led the service today with a focus on ‘Generosity’.

They explored the concept of generosity through questioning, encouraging many pupils to give their own ideas and thoughts on the theme. They referred to the story of The Good Samaritan through song and a rap, engaging the pupils completely and spoke about the work of Mother Theresa. The service finished with the song ‘You are an inspiration’, making the link between God encouraging generosity, to make our world a better place.

Here are the pupils’ thoughts:

“I enjoyed it because there was lots of joining in.”

“They encouraged people with their answers.”

“I liked the song and the rap.”

“The friendship of the Collective Worship Crew came across.”

“You must be generous to others with time and words.”

“Put other people before yourself, like the Good Samaritan.”

“I learned to be always generous to others because people will respect you.”

“I learned that I am not always the most important person.”

“It could have been better with pictures on the powerpoint.”

 

 

 

 

Father David started our new term with a very engaging service based on our Christian Value for the half term,  'Generosity'. The pupils had to consider the merits of sharing and being generous with others when faced with one person having more sweets than someone else! Here are the children's comments:

"I will remember to be generous."

"It was playing and fun."

"The thought that will stay with me is to think about sharing."

"Generosity means sharing so he (Father David), talked about Maltesers and if you were kind enough to share them."

"I enjoyed it because instead of X eating them all, he decided to share them with the school."

"I would change it by letting more people be involved."

"We could sing more songs."

"Put in even more Maltesers."

We celebrated the primary school journey of  our Year 6 children today in St. Lawrence's Church. Two musicians amongst them demonstrated their skill on the flute and clarinet and each one spoke of their memories of their days at school. The school choir performed two memorable and lively songs, which were enjoyed by all. Sincere thanks for all the hard work of Mrs Hobson were given, as she leaves us to enjoy her retirement. Father David ended our service with a few words of farewell in Icelandic and God's blessing for the future of our leavers.

Today’s Collective Worship explored the theme of Wisdom today. The Collective Worship Crew involved the pupils by asking them questions about the meaning of ‘Wisdom’ and for examples of wise people and wise choices they have made.

Stories from the Bible with examples of ‘Wisdom’ were discussed and they used the quote from the Bible : “Everyone who hears my words and obeys them is like a wise man who built his house on rock.” Matthew 7:24 NCV, to illustrate the Wisdom of God.

 The Crew then went onto present and explain a variety of proverbs and the pupils were encouraged to suggest a proverb for the video story they had watched.  

 

Here are the children’s comments:

“Today we were learning about Wisdom.”

“The story taught us to make good choices.”

“The important message was to be wise and think before you do things.”

“It helped me understand that God is wise and we should always listen to him.”

“I liked the way lots of people had a turn and took the things from the bag.”

“I have learnt that I need to make wise choices and not to listen to some people.”

Reverend David led the service with theme of Wisdom in church on Monday. The children fully enjoyed participating. We brought the tree of wisdom back to school for the children to create leaves with words of wisdom on our display.

Here are the children's comments:

"We found out what 'wise' means."

"I felt wise because I answered some of the questions."

"I can remember the proverb, 'The early bird catches the worm.' "

I learnt the proverb 'Don't count your chickens before they hatch.'"

"Everyone enjoyed it because Father David always brings happiness with him. Everyone was laughing."

"I learnt that God loves us all the same and you don't have to be wise."

 

In our Collective Worship Service today, which was led by the Collective Worship Crew, the theme was responsibility. The pupils’ aim was to help the congregation to realise that we all have responsibilities whether we are children or adults. They used different sized boxes, each box representing a different amount of responsibility and asked the children to give examples of light and heavy responsibilities. 

 

The Crew chose the story of Noah’s Ark to illustrate the great responsibility given to Noah by God and how he completed the task with serious dedication to detail. The pupils were asked to consider who had not taken responsibility and how God gives us responsibilities either large or small when he feels we are ready.

 

The moment of reflection focussed on the responsibilities we have in the different aspects of our lives and how sometimes it can be hard, but God will be there to support us.

Here are the children’s comments:

 

“I liked the video.”

“I liked it when they opened the boxes.”

“I liked the prayer. I loved the words.”

“God chose Noah because he was the sensible one and he would do a responsible job.”

“I learnt that we must be responsible and do what God asks us to do.”

“I liked how they spoke slowly so that everyone could hear and answer.”

We started the summer term with our regular service in church, led by Mrs Watkin. The theme this half term is 'Responsibility' and the pupils were encouraged to think about taking responsibility for what they do and say. It was wonderful to meet and be introduced to Reverend David Mouncer who currently is taking on Father Peter's role.

Here are the children' comments:

"It was about once you have said something, you can't take it back."

"It made me think that God loves me."

"I have learnt that God will forgive us for what we say and do."

"One good thing was meeting Father David."

"Change to the prayer to a different one to remind me of God."

Easter Service in St. Lawrence's Church. 

The pupils enjoyed representing the Easter story this afternoon to our families and members of the church community. Each class took a part of the Easter story and illustrated the different scenes through songs and actions. The songs were both uplifting and thoughtful and the final song raised the mood with a celebration of Jesus' life. The school choir entertained us all with 2 beautiful songs which reminded us all of the power of working together in harmony.

The Collective Worship Crew began their service about ‘Respect’ by interrupting a pupil playing her instrument. They used this as a way into exploring the pupils’ understanding of theme for this half term.

They highlighted the different forms of respect that we all use in everyday life for ourselves, our families, people in authority and the environment, and encouraged the pupils to express their ways of showing respect for others.

 “Try to earn the respect of others” (Romans 12:17) was discussed and they chose a Bible story to illustrate ‘Respect’, asking pupils to observe who was showing respect and how.

The CWC finished the service with a prayer and an opportunity for proper respect to be shown to the musician with a repeat performance.  

 

Here are the pupils’ comments:

 

“They set the scene really well by using the musician at the start and stopping her from playing.”

“I liked the Bible story because it linked with the theme.”

“I liked all the questions for the audience.”

“The message was to show respect to others and they will show it back.”

“I learnt that God helps others and I should put others before myself.”

“I learnt that God is always there and he respects the world by keeping people happy.”

“Next time talk louder.”

“Make it better by asking different people for the answers.”

 

 

We held Collective Worship in church on Tuesday, which was led by Mrs Watkin. The theme was respect.

Here are the children's comments:

"I liked it because everybody was there and we sang."

"The story helped the people understand about respect."

"It was about being in a team. You need to work as a team."

"I learnt that you should always show respect for God and take the advice that he gives you."

"I love the songs and I loved it at church. I like 'Put your hands together'."

"It would be better to change the song and the prayers to make them sound nicer."

 

The Collective Worship Crew presented a lively service on the Christian Value ‘Humility’. They began by clarifying the meaning of the value by asking the pupils for examples from their own personal experience.  

The Collective Worship Crew asked for examples of Bible stories where humility is shown and the pupils gave many suggestions.

The CWC decided to engage the audience with a song about Jonah and the Whale and explored how Jonah demonstrated his humility before God.

The pupils explored a Bible verse about humility from James 4:6  “God opposes the proud, but gives Grace to the humble.” This was a tricky verse to understand and the crew summarised the meaning by saying that God loves those who show humility.

Here are the pupils’ comments:

“I enjoyed the prayers because they had actions.”

“The message from today’s service was that we must show humility.”

“I liked the way they involved everyone and encouraged people answering by saying ‘Good try’.”

“I learnt that God helps people and cares.”

“As we went out I felt that God knows we love him as a school.”

“Next time just have one prayer, not two.”

Service

 

The Collective Worship Crew chose to illustrate the Christian Value of ‘Service’ through the story of The Good Samaritan.  They chose pupils to act out the story and put it in a modern day setting.  There was audience participation and the crew asked lots of questions to highlight the importance of helping others.

They summarised that Service is an important Christian value for us to all stay happy, and introduced us to the quote from the Bible;

 Jesus said that he “came not to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

We were reminded that if we help someone else, we are helping God too.

They shared lots of examples from the display of how pupils in the school had been of service to others, which was also reflected in the closing song, ‘We can do good’.

Here are the children’s comments:

“The act of worship made me think about God, friendship and service.”

“It made me think about helping people.”

“It made me think about caring for them.”

“I liked it when the people helped the boy.”

“One thing they could change is to get more people to join in.”

“They could have walked past the injured person.”

 “They told me lots of information.”

“I liked the acting when they picked people out to take part.”

“I liked the song.”

The service in church on Monday was led by Father Peter, who told the story of the courageous Hannah Senesh, a young woman executed by the Nazis in 1944 for her role in an Allied mission to rescue Allied pilots and Jews.

 

Here are the children's comments:

 

"It was about Hannah."

 

"We learnt that God wants us to show compassion and be kind to others."

 

"We learnt that God wants us to look after our friends."

 

We learnt about the legacy left by someone very brave in the 2nd World War."

 

"I liked the story."

 

"I liked the song."

 

"It would have been better if we had had another song."

Compassion was the Christian Value theme for today’s presentation by the Collective Worship Crew. They began by asking the pupils to clarify their understanding of the word ‘Compassion’ and read some examples from the contributions by the children to the display.

They used PowerPoint to share a true story with the pupils about a man who never forgot the kindness of a stranger when he was a young, poor boy. The CWC asked the pupils for their experiences of compassion in their everyday life and the wider world.

The pupils recalled stories from the Bible which teach ‘Compassion’ and summarised the meaning, “When we show compassion for someone else we put others first and care about what they need.”  

Psalm 103 was read, “The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and full of abounding love.” reminding us of the teachings of the Lord for all of us to follow.

The Collective Worship Crew chose to close with an action prayer focussing on the importance of showing care and kindness to others.

Here are the pupils’ comments:

“I liked the song it had some good actions and it was about God.”

“The story shows you to be kind and nice to others.”

“God has some good stories which tell you things you should do in life.”

“They were confident and asked us questions.”

“Next time try not to rush.”

“I learnt that God will always love you and care for you.”

 

 

For their Collective Worship about perseverance, the Collective Worship Crew began by asking the pupils whether they had heard the phrase, ‘No gain without pain’ and for its meaning. They then asked if the pupils knew other phrases which encourage perseverance. The leaders illustrated famous inventors and how hard they had had to work to achieve success. Pupils gave examples of when they had persevered and answered questions about what helped them to achieve their goal. They illustrated the importance of perseverance with a story about a missing horse and how the painstaking investigations led to the recovery of the horse. The Collective Worship Crew asked the pupils for Bible stories about perseverance and explained the struggle by Noah to achieve God’s wishes. The support of God in all our struggles was explained by a verse from the Old Testament.

Here are some of the pupils’ comments:

“Everything is possible if you try.”

“It made me think about times I have persevered, like with bike riding.”

“If you are doing the right thing, do not listen to others and persevere.”

“I am more aware of how I will persevere and it will take time but I will do it.”

Courage

 

The Collective Worship Crew created an interesting presentation on the Christian Value ‘Courage’. They chose to begin with a selection of well known films and stories which each demonstrated a different form of courage. The pupils then helped the audience to consider what helps them to be courageous and summarised the pupils’ answers, emphasising their knowledge that God supports us, along with our families and friends. The Collective Worship Crew chose to represent the story of Daniel and the Lions using a photo story in the setting of the school to help illustrate how many of us show  courage everyday.

Here are the pupils’ comments:

“The worship made me realise how people rely on courage to get them through.”

“I enjoyed the worship because the pupils cooperated well and they used films and stories which showed different forms of courage.”

“It helped me to understand that God is always there.”

“The worship helped me to believe I can stand up for myself.”

“After this worship, I will try to be brave more often.”

“I liked this worship because it was my friends teaching me something.”

“The worship helped me the understand how God helps us to behave bravely.”

The Collective Worship Crew began by asking the pupils what ‘Peace’ meant to them. They emphasised the fact that peace is not only a place of quiet and calm, but that there is peace that comes when you feel safe, and peace that comes after war and the peacemakers have done their job. The Crew chose to celebrate the words of ‘The Peace Prayer’  to illustrate the importance of peace for a better world. It written by Satish Kumar and people of different faiths across the world stop to focus upon the prayer at noon each day. The pupils engaged fully with the words and actions as they reflected on the meaning of the words. The worship closed with ‘Peace is flowing like a river’.

Here are some of the pupils’ comments:

"It was fun and still on the theme."

"It helped me understand more about peace."

"I enjoyed it because the Collective Worship Crew made it appropriate and linked with theme and there were actions in the prayer."

"It made me think about God and the different ways peace makes you feel."

"The prayer with the actions made me think about what peace means to me."

"I liked it because there was lots of talking and people can do answers."

"I liked thinking about the opposites."

“I liked the song."

“I liked the prayer about peace and I also learnt a new word, ‘falsehood’.”

 

 

Trust

The collective worship crew asked the pupils several questions about trust. They answered questions about who they trust and who trusts them, showing the importance of knowing we can trust our family and friends. The crew demonstrated how much we trust our friends by choosing some pupils to demonstrate this by falling backwards into their friends’ arms without hesitation.

The crew decided to tell the story of Zaccheus because they felt that this story clearly shows God’s trust in everyone to do the right thing, no matter what upset they have caused.

The pupils finished with the song ‘He’ll be there’, emphasising the message that God is always with us.

Collective Worship in St. Lawrence's Church 

The theme of ‘Perseverance’ was illustrated in the church by Father Peter who told the story of Jeremiah and the well.

Here are the children’s comments:

“I liked it because we could talk about things we have achieved.”

“I have learnt to not give up.”

“I have learnt not to get frustrated.”

“I must keep trying to ride my bike.”

“The service made me feel confident to have a go at things.”

 

This half term our Christian Values theme is Courage. Father Peter led an interesting service about the courage of early explorers establishing a new life on the island of Bermuda.

We have ended our term with a thoughtful celebration for Easter. Class 4 children led the service with readings and songs. The choir sang 'When I think about the cross', and their beautiful voices provided a reflective moment to think about the love of Jesus which surrounds us.  Our families enjoyed the service and commented, "It was marvellous and the children did so well."

Crackpot Company Collective Worship

 

We were delighted to welcome the Crackpot Company back into school to share the teachings of Jesus through a dynamic performance. The children thoroughly enjoyed the story of Adam and Eve and understood the importance of listening to and trusting God's words and advice. The song 'Whoopah Wahey' provided  an energetic and joyful ending to the service.