Father Peter Godden
Tuesday Collective Worship
I lead an act of worship during morning assembly every week, most often on a Tuesday. The assembly seeks to teach the pupils about an aspect of the Christian faith in a way that directly relates to their day-to-day lives.
Our time of worship begins with the words ‘In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,’ which is a way of setting aside that time as holy, and directed towards God. I then say ‘the lord be with you,’ to which the pupils reply ‘and also with you.’ This is a way of wishing one another the knowledge of God’s goodness and love. A candle is then lit, to remind us of God’s presence with us, and that Jesus is the light of the world.
We then often sing a hymn or a worship song.
Following on from our song, I then give a talk, which is always interactive and aims to be engaging for all the pupils. It may involve props, or a PowerPoint presentation, and always includes plenty of opportunity for contribution from the pupils. The teaching will conclude with some thoughts on how what we have discussed can be taken out into the rest of our day and beyond.
We then move into a short time of prayer, which reflects the theme of the assembly, and asks for God to help us in the day and week ahead. We then say together the Lord’s Prayer.
Recent assembly series have included:
Parables: modern retellings of Jesus’ parables, together with reflections on how they can guide us in our lives.
Preparing for Christmas: assemblies in December which explored the meaning of Advent, the hidden details of the Christmas story, and the significance of Epiphany.
The Lord’s Prayer: a line-by-line exploration of the Lord’s Prayer - what each line means, and why it matters.
In the academic year 2018/19, the worship is primarily focussing on the school values, which Emerald Class have chosen as part of their RE.
Religious Education Classes
I often assist in teaching of R.E. lessons which have a Christian theme, to support the teacher and enhance the pupils’ learning. I have done this with various different classes, but have particularly focussed on delivering teaching to Emerald Class.
One series of lessons I have delivered in conjunction with Emerald’s class teacher focussed on Jesus’ miracles. I would introduce each lesson with a telling of a miracle, sometimes using props, or otherwise involving the pupils as characters from the story. I would then be on hand to support the teacher’s explanations of what Christians understand miracles to be and signify, encourage the pupils in their written work, and answer any questions that the pupils had.
I have also worked with Emerald Class in determining the school’s values for the current academic year. This involved discussing what ‘values’ are, then taking a list of values and discussing their meaning and importance, before whittling the list down to six values which the young people felt best articulated not only the current life of the school, but what we should aspire towards.
Special Services
For special acts of worship throughout the year (such as Harvest or Remembrance), pupils are involved in the preparation and offering of worship. This particularly includes writing prayers in advance of the service, which the pupils write themselves on a particular theme. I will discuss their prayers with them and help them settle on the final wording.
Pupils also take a role in our Bible readings; the passage may be read by a pupil, or retold by a group of them as a drama.
I help all those who read in church by giving them time to practice and advice on how to speak in public.
