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.

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.