'Changes and Moving On' at Red Row First School, NorthumberlandChris Hudson |
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Red Row is
an ex-mining town close to the sea, now left with high unemployment, low
expectations and a lot of social and emotional needs. The First School is a
little oasis of hope, with well-motivated staff, a sparky Head and a real sense
of commitment to the children. They wanted a bespoke Barnabas Day on 'changes and moving on', to prepare the children
for changing classes and, in the case of year 4, moving on to middle School. I had created
a bespoke package to suit both this school and The Sele First School in Hexham, focussing on three stories: the Lost Sheep (scary changes when we get ourselves
in trouble), David and Goliath (exciting changes when we are brave and trusting
in God) and Jesus and Zacchaeus (changes when are sorry and turn away from
mistakes). Again, it finished with an assembly on Jesus calming the storm
(changes brought on by moments of awe and wonder). It all held
together, staff were duly impressed (and said so on feedback sheets), and the
nuttiest class (year 4) were the ones with the most interesting responses. Both
a Reception child and a year 4 child thought that Zacchaeus would knock down
the wall surrounding his house to let others in to share his garden, and a year
4 child thought that Zacchaeus would be invited into other people's houses
afterwards. 'I don’t think they'd want the money back,' someone else muttered.
In the final assembly, I told the story and then we all 'were' the story in a
second retelling, with children providing actions (Mexican waves), sound
effects (wind, waves, rain, thunder, using body sounds and instruments) and a
Jesus who woke up and told everyone to be quiet with a loud ‘STOP IT!’ Awe and
wonder... |
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