Golden Rules

6. MOVE CAREFULLY AROUND THE SCHOOL

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

This rule, I imagine, has to do with awareness of each other and of our surroundings - I am assuming that it comes out of children's fears of being knocked over in the playground and hurting themselves or each other by moving carelessly or running where it is not appropriate. I have focused therefore on themes to do with being aware -of ourselves, of others of the world around us. We could reflect on the need to notice and be noticed, how it feels to be ignored or overlooked This isn't just about health and safety but about the sense that each of us matters. To be bumped into by someone who hasn't noticed you can make you feel as if you are invisible. It is a challenge to our identity, not just our safety. Therefore collective worship around this rule could explore the idea that each of us is an individual, special in our own way, and deserving of notice. We can look at the skills of noticing - watching and listening and feeling. We can practice those by learning to be conscious of the world around us and of our own bodies. Growing children often forget or are unaware of exactly where the ends of their legs and arms are. Many of the themes of the previous section will be appropriate here as well. When we develop our sense of awareness we are also led to wonder and give thanks for the world around us. We cannot take care of things or people we have not first noticed.

1. God...moves carefully.

The picture of God given in the Bible is of someone who has a personal care for his creation. He notices a single sparrow falling to the ground; every hair on our heads is numbered (Matthew 10: 29). He knows and names every star in the sky. Psalm 147:4. His concern for us begins long before we are even born. (Psalm 139) and is rooted in the fact that he knows us, better even than we know ourselves. While often in the Old Testament God is concerned with whole nations; it is usually the case that he chooses individuals to do his work. Moses, David, Ruth, Hannah (the mother of Samuel) and Esther, along with many others all have important roles in the unfolding of the greater story. They may not realise the ways in which their small actions are of vital importance to God's plan. It is often said that the devil is in the detail, but in the Bible it is usually God who is in the detail. The birth of Christ is typical of God's way of working. He does not send a mighty army of angels to overthrow the forces of evil, but a tiny baby. He becomes flesh - an individual, living breathing person - whose life is made up of all the same small details, eating, sleeping - that any other person is concerned with. The incarnation is a reminder of God's commitment to the reality of human bodily existence. God creates us individually, and recreates and heals us individually too. 'There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety nine sinners who need no repentance." (Luke 15:7) God notices us, our actions and our feelings. Psalm 56:8 talks of God keeping our tears in a bottle and recording our sighs. The comments under rule 4 above about God being a good listener also apply here as well as those which concern his kindness and helpfulness.

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