Golden Rules

5. TAKE CARE OF THE SCHOOL AND EVERYTHING IN IT

How to use these suggestions

These are not ready made assemblies - you will need to do some preparatory work, however I hope these suggestions will give you starting points. The suggestions fall into three groups.

Comments

There are many reasons why we should take care of our surroundings. We are dependent on them, and if the things around us are untidy or dirty or broken we all feel worse than if they are in good order. Taking care of our environment is also a way of respecting others, both those whose work and money provided the building and equipment we use, and those who share it with us. The school, like the world, is something we hold in common. It is not ours to own, but to share and pass on. Therefore damaging it is a form of theft, robbing others of the chance to benefit from it. While none of us own the school exclusively, we are all responsible for it.

There may be things within the school -art and craft or other work - which have been made by others. Not to take care of what they have made is hurtful to them.
In exploring this rule, we are laying the foundations for a lifelong respect not only for other people's possessions and for man made objects, but also for the environment. We can reflect therefore on creation, its beauty and vulnerability, and the idea of a Creator, who made and cares about his creation. We can think about what we do when things are damaged - saying sorry and making reparation, mending things when it is possible, and grieving for them if it is not. We can explore the idea of common stewardship. We can consider the impact of our actions on the people of the future, just as people in the past bequeathed both beauty and trouble to us.
This is also a good opportunity to explore what it feels like to be creative and how we feel about the things we have made.

God is...

Christians believe that we are made in the image of God. Therefore our values reflect our ideas of God.They are not arbitrary, nor do they just apply to children. They are an expression of what we believe is at the heart of God.
'We love because he first loved us." (I John 4:19).
Reflecting on the 'God is...' section of the suggestions from time to time takes us beyond mere " oughtism" and dry morality, and counters the danger that this sort of assembly only touches social and moral dimensions of life and ignores the spiritual.

1.God ...takes care of the school ( the world ) and everything in it.

In the Bible God is seen first as creator. The first two chapters of the book of Genesis talk of his affection for and delight in what he has made, and his close involvement with it. He gives us a share in the task of looking after what he has made, but does not abandon it. The Old Testament custom of canceling debts and freeing slaves every 49 years (the year of Jubilee) was an expression of the belief that we cannot, in any irrevocable sense, own anything. It is ours on a long lease, but that is all. 'All things come from you and of your own do we give you.' 1 Chronicles 29: 14.
When the Israelites entered the Promised Land they were constantly reminded that this was God's land. They could not sell it off. Each tribe's land could only be inherited by other members of the tribe, and so it was preserved.
When people make a mess of the world, God never gives up trying to repair and make right. The story of Noah is about God's attempt to start again. He is the God who 'makes all things new. ' (Revelation 21:5). The whole drama of the crucifixion and resurrection is about God restoring and making right the damage humankind has done. St. Paul speaks of creation waiting with eager longing to see the children of God restored and healed, and the world liberated from its bondage to decay. (Romans 8:19). We ourselves are a part of God's creation - Paul calls us his 'work of art' (Ephesians 2:10). He takes infinite care with us and of us. According to Psalm 139 God knew us when we were being "intricately wrought in the depths of the earth. " vs. 15 because it was he who 'knit me together in my mother's womb.' vs. 13.

2. Stories

3. Words for reflection

Many of these are from the book of proverbs and the psalms. You might need to paraphrase a little. I have only used words from the Bible, but you could use other proverbs or poems in the same way. To avoid making assumptions about the children's own beliefs, it would be wise to explain that these were the words of Jewish or Christian people, expressing the way they understood things, e.g. "someone wrote these words in the Bible a long time ago. I wonder whether you agree with them / what you think about them / how they make you feel/ what you think he might have felt or meant by them."

You could,

  • write them on a large sheet of paper
  • unpack their meaning with the children
  • repeat them several times ( make up a tune and sing them) , then invite the children to say the words to themselves in their mind ( St. Benedict called it ruminating -like cows chewing the cud
  • learn them by heart
  • use them as a response during some prayers or reflection
  • draw them, act them ...

You could also

  • Explore the opposite of each rule using stories that illustrate what happens when we are not gentle and kind etc.....
  • Explore the process of keeping a rule. I saw an assembly about taking care of things, in which children who had carefully made a model were asked how it felt when they were making it and how they felt about it now.
  • Explore the reasons why we find it hard to keep rules.
  • Explore what we do when we fail. Saying sorry, being forgiven and making things right again are important skills.

Links to other Golden Rules pages