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Collective Worship Blog
Year 6 Lent Collective Worship
On Friday 26th February Year 6 led a class Lent collective worship.Thank you to all family members who were able to attend.
The theme, based around the first line of the hymn 'God be in my head', focused on being able to resist temptation - just like Jesus did when he was in the wilderness for 40 days and 40 nights.
The learners did an amazing job, starting with the greeting and bible reading
Greeting: We have come together to offer our praise and thanksgiving, to pray for the needs of the world, and to seek the forgiveness of our wrongs, that we may give ourselves to the service of God. Ephesians 4:11-13
Bible Reading: Matthew 4:1-11 “Then the Spirit led Jesus into the desert..."
They then sang the hymn beautifully before presenting an engaging role play about setting yourself goals and sticking to them. This culminated in them wondering about the following questions:
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I wonder what your goals are for today?
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I wonder what might get in the way of you achieving them?
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I wonder if Jesus felt like giving up?
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I wonder if Jesus thought it would be easier to use his position to become powerful and popular rather than go the way of love?
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I wonder what hard choices I might have to face today?
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I wonder if God can give me the strength to stick to what I have decided is my goal?
Year 6 finished with the following prayer:
Almighty God,
by the prayer and discipline of Lent
may we enter into the mystery of Christ's sufferings,
and by following in his Way
come to share in his glory;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Well done and thank you for all their hard work!
For those of you unable to attend please find attached the PowerPoint presentation which accompanied the collective worship.
Photos to follow!
Year R Collective Worship
Well done to Reception class for a brilliant class assembly which made the audience laugh and cry whilst finding out about all the learning that goes on there. The highlights were definitely the beautiful singing and two of the learners pretending to be Miss Masters and Miss Madden.
Christmas Carol Service
On Wednesday 16th December the whole of St. Luke's school and our friends and families visited St. Luke's church to celebrate Christmas.
/docs/St_Luke_s_Sings_Christmas.pptx
We enjoyed a wonderful service in which Years 3,4,5 & 6 sang carols. One of the highlights came from Lily in Year 5 who treated us to a beautiful solo during 'Once in Royal David's City'. We also heard bible readings from Year 6 children and performances by the school choir and instrumentalists playing ukuleles, bass bars and glockenspiels.
Father Donald gave an inspiring address about the meaning of Christmas, whilst Miss Bryan-Whyte finished the service with a Christmas Prayer.
Pupil Faith Group
The first St. Luke's Pupil Faith Group has been held by the R.E. subject leader, Miss Macdonald, and two members of each KS2 class:
Year 3: Joshua & Condaleeza
Year 4: Prashan & Wilma
Year 5: Seyiram & Samuel
Year 6: Hilary & Markel
The first item on the agenda was to agree the 'Terms of Reference' for the group. After a discussion these were agreed:
/docs/Pupil_Faith_Group_Terms_of_Reference.docx
Next we discussed what makes our school special (what gives us our Christian distinctiveness), and how we can keep it this way.
The members felt that 'Learning and kindness'; 'praying and visiting church'; 'we try to make things better'; 'Kindness, friendship, respect and love'; 'the teachers'and our links to Christchurch school all make us special.
The members had lots of good suggestions for how the Pupil Faith Group can help continue the good work we are doing as a school. Suggestions included: holding an assembly to tell the school about the Pupil Faith Group's role; setting up a suggestion box and display in the entrance to the school; letting KS1 children join the Pupil Faith Group in the summer term; helping out during school services at St. Luke's church; KS2 doing an Easter performance; changing the school logo so that it reflects that we are a church school more clearly; raising money for a charity such as Save the Children and running a bible club.
Our next meeting will be in January 2016 where we discuss these suggestions in more detail and starting planning what action we will take.
In the meantime if you have any suggestions please discuss these with a Pupil Faith Group member so that they can bring your ideas to our next meeting.
Year 4 Visit to Southwark Cathedral
On Wednesday 9th December Year 4 visited Southwark Cathedral for a workshop on Christian Signs and Symbols. They were set the task of making clay tiles with no more than 5 of the symbols that they had been learning about in class. These symbols included but were not limited to : a candle, a cross, a fish, a staff, grapes, a bible and a loaf of bread.
Reception Visit to Christ Church school and church
On Friday 4th December Year R visited our Federated School Christ Church, Streatham.
They explored the church and looked at the nativity scene. Then they lit candles and sang a hymn about rejoicing baby Jesus.
Everyone enjoyed meeting the Year R children from Christ Church and sharing lunch with them before returning back to school.
EYFS & KS1 Nativity
Congratulations to Years R, 1 & 2 for a brilliant production of 'Little Angel Gets Her Wings'. What beautiful singing and wonderful acting by everyone involved.
Well done to the Year 6 children who were in charge of the lighting and sound, you did an amazing job.
A massive thank you to Year 5 for inviting the residents of Elderberry Grove to the performance and looking after them before and afterwards. They really enjoyed their tea and biscuits and the performance.
Year 1 Collective Worship
Year 1's shared with us a wonderful class assembly on friendship and respect. They should be very proud of all of the hard work and effort that they put in. To find out more and to watch a recording, please visit the Year 1 blog.
Christmas Performance: The BRIT School
On Wednesday 9th December Years 3, 5 & 6 were invited to a Christmas performance by Year 12 students from the BRIT School's Community Arts Practice strand. The show entitled 'Lost and Found', was all about the Christmas Postman losing the letters children had written to Santa. We had great fun joining in with him and his friends on their adventures as they searched for the missing postbag. We even had the opportunity to learn the sign language version of 'We Wish You a Merry Christmas'.
Every one really enjoyed the show, here are some of their comments:
"It was the best! There was so much happening: singing, dancing, teaching sign language and acrobatics. You have to go!" Kiara
"The show was really interesting and I could tell that they all put 100% into it." Rashan
"I liked the show and I would like to see it again." Jakub
"They have lots of talent: they are kind, very good singers and they gave the children a good time. They made Christmas come true." Carolina
"The show was really good, they made the children laugh all the time. They gave us chocolate at the end as we were leaving." Adam
"I liked it because the boy in the reindeer costume did break-dancing and it had Christmas songs." James
"I really liked their performance. I would recommend it to everyone. I would give them 10 out of 10!" Sienna
"It was adventurous and joyful. The best part was at the end when they invited us up to dance and jump around." Stephanie
"I loved it!!! Acrobatics, dancing, singing and emotions. [The characters] Sidekick and the Finder were funny." Nikola
Year 5 Collective Worship: Peace
Well done Year 5 for a fantastic collective worship on the theme of Peace.
First they shared with us what they had learned at the Black Cultural Archives, in Brixton, about famous black Edwardians such as Oloudah Equiano and Tom Molineaux.
Then they told the story Sadako Sasaki, a Japanese girl who was two years old when the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945, near her home next to the Misasa Bridge in Hiroshima, Japan. After being diagnosed with leukemia from the radiation, on February 1955, Sadako spent her time in a nursing home folding origami paper cranes in hope of making a thousand of them. She was inspired to do so by the Japanese legend that one who created a thousand origami cranes would be granted a wish. Her wish was simply to live. However, she managed to fold only 644 cranes before she became too weak to fold any more, and died on the morning of 25 October 1955. Her friends and family helped finish her dream by folding the rest of the cranes, which were buried with Sadako.
Sadako is to this day a symbol of innocent victims of war.
They also shared with us instructions for how to make an origami crane. Miss Bryan subsequently set the whole school the challenge of trying to make one!
Year 5 finished with a beautiful version of the John Lennon song 'Imagine' before inviting us to join them in a prayer.
Each St. Luke's learner has been given an Advent Candle as a gift.
Advent is the period beginning four Sundays before Christmas and ending on Christmas Eve, in which Christians look forward to the coming of Christ at Christmas.
Four candles are used within the church environment during advent, but lots of Christians burn an Advent candle at home too. These candles come with markings down them, and can be burnt down each day to the next marker, so the candle will be fully burnt away come Christmas Day.
*Please make sure you burn your candle safely and only if you have an adult with you to supervise.*
The following five prayers are suitable to say each Sunday leading up to Christmas day:
First Sunday of Advent
Jesus, you are light even in the darkest places.
Help us to trust in you when we are lost or lonely.
Shine hope into our hearts we pray.
Amen.
Second Sunday of Advent
Jesus, you are peace even when there is hatred.
Help us to forgive like you when we are hurt or wounded.
Bring peace into our hearts we pray.
Amen.
Third Sunday of Advent
Jesus, you are joy even in the saddest times.
Help us to praise you when we are upset or grieving.
Shine joy into our hearts we pray.
Amen.
Forth Sunday of Advent
Jesus, you are love even if we are afraid.
Help us to pray to you when we are scared or fearful.
Bring love into our hearts we pray.
Amen.
Christmas Day
Jesus, you came to be light in our darkness.
Jesus, you came to be peace in our conflicts.
Jesus, you came to be joy in our sadness,
And to bring your love in our fears.
Today we celebrate your birth.
Thank you for your saving grace.
Amen.
Year 3 Collective Worship
Well done Year 3 for a truly inspiring collective worship in which we learned about Ancient Egypt; the story of Moses and how to face a challenge without giving up.
Thank you for all your hard work.
Compassionate God and Father of all,
We are horrified at violence in so many parts of the world.
Hold back the hands that kill and maim;
Turn around the hearts that hate.
Grant instead your strong Spirit of Peace -
Peace that passes our understanding but changes lives,
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen
Year 4 Collective Worship: Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
Well done to Year 4 on their very impressive collective worship based on the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant.
What wonderful loud, clear voices; excellent acting and beautiful singing.
They also included a very thoughtful prayer at the end.
R.E. Displays
Please come and look at the beautiful and informative R.E. displays we have created around school.
In the hall there is a whole school display which reflects all the learning which took place during RE & Art Week:
Whilst in each classroom there is a Reflection Area showing the current R.E. theme each year group is learning about; as well as questions and activities to promote thinking about the'Big Questions' in life.
In addition there are interactive displays around school which reflect the Christian value we focus on each month. Children are encouraged to share their thoughts and prayers on the displays.
In the Reception outside area they have shared with us the RE related topics they have been learning about:
Spinnaker Collective Worship: British Values
Each week in collective worship we are joined by Heather from Spinnaker. This term the focus has been on British Values.
Today (16th November) we learned about the Street Pastors organisation, which was founded in Brixton in 2003 by Rev. Les Isaac. Street Past0rs patrol the streets of towns and cities at night, helping and caring for people in practical ways. If you would like to find out more about the organisation please visit the website www.streetpastors.org.
Heather also told us the story of Naomi and Ruth (Ruth 1):
In a place called Moab there lived a nice family. Elimelech, his wife Naomi and their two sons moved there because there was more food there than where they used to live. After a while Elimelech died but Naomi wasn't alone she still had two sons.
Her sons got married but after about ten years they died too. At least Naomi still had her sons wives to keep her company, their names were Orpah and Ruth.
Naomi called her sons wives and told them, "I am going to go back to where I used to live and I would like you also to go back to your family where you used to live. May God show you kindness as you have showed me." All the women cried and hugged each other because they were such good friends.
Orpah didn't want to leave Naomi but Naomi told her not to worry, she would be fine. So Orpah left to go back to her family. But no matter what Naomi said to Ruth, Ruth would not leave. "Don't ask me to leave. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your friends will be my friends and your God will be my God."
So Ruth and Naomi returned to Bethlehem together. It was a good thing Ruth went with Naomi because Bethlehem was very far away and Naomi couldn't have traveled all that way by herself. Notice that Ruth never complains but is a good friend to Naomi. She wasn't expecting anything in return, she just wanted to help.
When they got there Ruth decided that she should do some kind of work. It was harvest time, so she worked in the fields following behind the harvesters and picked up any barley that they had dropped.
The owner of the field came by to greet the harvesters and noticed Ruth in the field. He asked one of the harvesters who she was. "She came back from Moab with Naomi, that's all I know." Lucky for Ruth the owner of the field was Boaz, he was a kind man who believed in God. He had also been related to Elimelech (Naomi's husband that died).
Boaz went to go talk to Ruth, he said to her, "Don't go work in any other field but stay here with the other servant girls. I will make sure you are safe and whenever you are thirsty go and get a drink from the water jars." When Ruth heard this she bowed down to Boaz and asked, "Why are you being so nice to me, I'm not even from here."
Boaz replied, "I know what you've done for Naomi, you left your family and moved to a place you've never been. May the Lord reward you for your kindness."
Ruth thanked Boaz and continued with her work in the hot sun. Boaz even ordered his workers to drop extra barley so Ruth could have more for herself.
Ruth took all the barley home and shared what she had with Naomi. And eventually Ruth married Boaz and everyone was very happy!
From this we learned that being a good friend takes a long time to learn. A good friend is loyal, which means you keep your promises and sometimes when you don't feel like being a friend you are anyway. Sometimes our friends aren't perfect and they make mistakes but we make mistakes too, and we don't want our friends to leave us when that happens.
Christians believe that God gives us friends when we need them, and we should treat them like a gift from God. Just like in the story, Naomi could've insisted the women come with her, but she was unselfish and wanted them to be free to go home to be with their families. And Ruth had such a good attitude and wanted to help, she moved away from everyone she knew and went to work to help Naomi. She didn't tell everyone what a good friend she was, she knew that she should be a friend like God wanted her to be.
Year 2 Collective Worship
Well done to Year 2 on a fantastic collective worship based on everything they have been learning about the Parable of the Talents.
What a talented class they are! They shared with us the 5 R's of learning, as well as treating us to some beautiful singing and lovely, loud, clear speaking voices.
Year 6 Remembrance Day Collective Worship
Thank you to Year 6 for leading a very moving Remembrance Day Collective Worship on Wednesday 11th November. Through drama, poetry, narrative and song they showed us what they have been learning in their R.E. and History lessons about why we commemorate those who have been killed or injured in conflicts since the First World War.
Thank you Year 6.
R.E. /Art Week 2-6 November
We have been doing the most amazing, creative, stimulating, thought provoking learning this week!
Each class has been studying a different parable and then creating a unique piece of artwork based on their chosen parable:
- Year R The Parable of the Lost Sheep
- Year 1 The Parable of the Good Samaritan
- Year 2 The Parable of the Talents
- Year 3 The Parable of the Wise and Foolish Builders
- Year 4 The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant
- Year 5 The Parable of Sower
- Year 6 The Parable of the Prodigal Son
We have been learning a wide range of art skills such as sculpting, printing, mixing colour, stained glass window making, papier-mache, large scale collage and creating organic art using found objects and natural materials.
This work will then be turned into our own very special St. Luke's Book of Parables. Whilst the art will also be displayed in the school hall.
During the week there have been lots of special events including:
Reflective storytelling sessions
Our learners have had a chance to explore the deeper meaning of the parables and to ask/answer some of life's big questions
Magic Lantern Workshops
On Friday 6th Years 1,2, 4 & 6 took part in special art sessions looking at how the parables have been represented by different artists. They thought carefully about how the different characters had been represented by the artist and why the artist chose to symbolise them that way.
Phones for Food and Food Bank Collections
In the reception area of school during the Harvest Festival period you will find two collection boxes.
- As part of ITV’s Tackle Hunger Together initiative, Good Morning Britain has launched a Phones For Food campaign to help raise money to give free, nutritious breakfasts to hungry school children across the UK through school breakfast clubs working with the charity Magic Breakfast. If you would like to find out more please visit the website below:
http://www.itv.com/goodmorningbritain/phones-for-food/phones-for-food-download-school-packs
- We are continuiing our ongoing suppoort of the West Norwood foodbank. For a list of items that the foodbank requires please visit the website below:
http://norwoodbrixton.foodbank.org.uk/
We thank you for your support.
Harvest Festival
On Thursday 8th October we celebrated Harvest Festival during a special collective worship organised by Mr. Bramfit, our Music teacher and led by one of our Year 5 learners.
We started with the whole school singing 'This little light of Mine' accompanied by Year 4 playing percussion instruments.
Next, Years R, 1 and 2 sang 'In the Autumn'.
Year 5 and 3 then shared their harvest themed poems.
After that the choir performed a wonderful song that they have been learning during their after school singing club.
The final item was Year 6 sharing a 'A Farmer's Story' and a prayer.
Before the whole school sang 'Harvest Samba' accompanied by Instrumental Club.
Parent and Pupil Feedback:
Parents and pupils really enjoyed the collective worship and agreed that their favourite part was that everyone joined in with the singing.
