In Year 3 this week we gathered together to celebrate a beautiful Collective Worship. We thought about how we prepare during Advent and we also thought about Mary and how wonderful it was when she was told by the Angel Gabriel that she was going to have a baby boy and that she would call him Jesus. We understand that she must have felt worried and yet she agreed to do whatever God wanted her to do. She would have been full of hope for her baby just like any other mother and she had no clue about what would happen to Jesus when he was older.

Each of us wrote our own prayers and we placed them around our prayer focus centre point. We listened to ‘Love Shone Down’ at the beginning of our Collective Worship and then again at the end when we held hands with the people either side of us, feeling their warmth and the love that is in each of our hearts this Christmas. Many of the children said that our Collective Worship made them feel peaceful and many others said that they felt emotional as they thought about their families and all of the happy memories that they have made together. It was a wonderful experience and was enjoyed by all!

This week, the children in both Year Two classes have been thinking all about ‘The Annunciation’ and ‘The Visitation’ stories.  As a class, we decided to participate in a collective worship to show what we were thinking and feeling about the stories we had heard.  The children gathered around the prayer focus point and sat quietly for a few minutes to just gather their thoughts.  Then, we read the Annunciation story and responded by discussing what had happened in the story.

We thought about the special news which Mary had been given and how it would have been such a joyful time for Mary.  We took a moment to think about people who might not feel as joyful at Christmas as they may feel lonely or not have anybody to share Christmas with.  As a class, we decided to write prayers to an elderly person in a care home to show them that they are in our thoughts during Christmas!  Next week, we will be delivering them to a care home in our local area.

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In Year Three we have been thinking carefully about the affect our words can have and how we can make others feel special by being kind. We listened to the chosen reading which taught us to always show love and compassion to one another. We then began to discuss how this would look in a modern society. The children shared some extremely thoughtful ideas. We then moved onto discussing the effect our words can have on an individual. As a visual example of the implications of hurtful comments, we looked at an apple. We discussed how an apple might look healthy on the outside but that we cannot see what lies under the surface.

Miss Carabine then demonstrated how mean comments can make someone feel really hurt, by repeatedly dropping the apple to the ground emphasising each time that each drop represents a hurtful or mean comment. Eventually the apple broke apart and we discussed how this resembles a person’s feelings. The apple also turned brown inside whilst still maintaining its normal outer colour and we then discussed how someone may look perfectly normal on the outside but be hurting on the inside. In response to this we each thought about one positive attribute that we admire about our partners and recorded this on a heart. We then shared these and discussed how happy you feel when someone uses their words to make you feel special. We decided that this week we would all make a huge effort to make others feel special and discussed practical ways we could do this.

Today we all visited the Prayer Room for a lovely class Collective Worship. We sang, listened to a special reading from the Holy Bible and wrote our own special prayers which we placed at the foot of the cross. We all felt peaceful and enjoyed this prayerful time together very much. When we evaluated our Collective Worship some of the children said that they felt relaxed and peaceful because it was so quiet.

Reception took part in their first collective worship last term. We reflected on our ‘Welcome’ topic and talked about how our first term in Reception has been. We each said our own prayers of thanks whilst passing around our holding cross. We all sat quietly and respectfully and our teachers were really proud of us.

Over the last few weeks we have been working in our prayer groups to plan and deliver class liturgies. We selected which items we would use for our display, which reading we would focus on, a way of involving the rest of the class and which music we would listen to. We all chose which part we would deliver, ensuring everyone took part. We demonstrated great teamwork and spoke with confidence.

In Year Two, we had noticed that our planet currently has a huge problem with water pollution.  As we have been thinking about God’s wonderful world in our lessons, we discussed how we gathered and shared God’s creation story.  Then, we discussed ways that we could look after God’s world.

Our older children have ‘buddied’ up with our newest members of our school community.  They celebrate with their families during our Buddy Liturgy to welcome our Reception children.  Look what they have done together: