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Assemblies Site – Covid-19 response March 2021

With schools starting to re-open we are busy adapting our assembly resources to be easily used in the classroom. Following feedback from teachers we are continuing to focus on providing reflections supporting resilience - featuring topics such as hope, change and the history of vaccinations!


Assemblies Site – Covid-19 initial response

With schools closed and social distancing in place, we quickly realised that traditional school assemblies, with whole schools gathered together, were unlikely to take place for some time. However, we were also acutely aware that in times of uncertainty, school assembly/collective worship is often the place where teachers would seek to reassure, inform and support children. Identifying that, in the coming months, parents would be juggling working from home with home-schooling we decided to develop ‘Pause for Thought’ assemblies.

The aim of the ‘Pause for Thought’ assemblies is to provide a daily 5 minute slot where children can stop and reflect on everyday issues which will hopefully help them in the current situation. Some of the assemblies directly address issues faced during lockdown such as loneliness and fear; whilst others are more general or cover main news items. Most assemblies include a short recording, time for reflection and a prayer. We have also included extension activities for each assembly, which not only reinforce the aims of the assembly but give fresh ideas and resources for parents to use.

We are delighted that so many schools are already using this resource and are eagerly encouraging parents to ‘Pause for Thought’ with their children in the midst of their busy schedules.

We are delighted to share with you some of the responses we have received in recent weeks:

Thank you so much for these resources you have provided. They are so helpful in these strange times. Head teacher, Kent.
Thank you for keeping the Assemblies site fresh and current and adapted to meet our needs as a school. It is greatly appreciated. Teacher, Surrey.
Thank you so much for this excellent website. I have been using the material to share with our pupils and we are very grateful. Teacher, Derbyshire.
Thank you for making this material available freely to us. It is a great help and so easy to use. Thank you. Teacher, Cumbria.


Assemblies.org.uk: collective worship made easy

Schools in England and Wales are required, by law, to provide daily collective worship for all of their pupils. They are supposed to “provide the opportunity for pupils to worship God, to consider spiritual and moral issues and to explore their own beliefs” (Religious Education and Collective Worship, 1994).

These are aims we can thoroughly get behind! In a school day which is packed full of activity, learning and pressure to achieve, it is so important that children get the time to pause. To think about how they relate to others. To reflect on their own character and personal development. To consider issues in the wider world.

However, few teachers are given the training, the resources or the confidence required to achieve such ambitious aims.


This is where assemblies.org.uk steps in

Assemblies.org.uk is a collection of free, easy-to-follow assembly scripts written by experienced assembly givers.

Every month we commission up to 16 new assemblies, 8 for primary schools and 8 for secondary schools, on topical themes. We also publish ‘rapid response’ assemblies such as our coronavirus lockdown series tackling sadness, hope, kindness and loneliness, all topics that our children were hearing about in the news. And, of course, we maintain our extensive archive of assemblies, which date back to 1998.

There really is an assembly for every occasion on assemblies.org.uk


Assemblies for everyone

Teachers and children both love the assembly scripts that we provide on this website. These are just some of the fantastic comments that we receive from those who use our assemblies and those who listen to them:

“When I discovered this site, it was like Christmas! Now I don’t know what I would do without it!” Primary School Teacher

“You have saved my bacon on so many occasions! What a great resource and inspiration” Clergy

 “In assembly you stop and think about things... After assembly once a boy came and said sorry to me because he had been nasty the day before. I think he had thought about it in assembly and I like that he did that” Child

Assemblies.org.uk benefits a huge number of teachers, clergy and youth workers! On average, we receive 6 million page requests each year, and our most popular assemblies are downloaded 10,000 times.

It is such a joy to provide these free resources that help teachers who are pressed for time and unsure of how to deliver an assembly that really gets their pupils thinking. There are children all over the UK benefitting from the scripts that we provide.


Could you help?

Perhaps you are a teacher, or youth worker, whose mornings are made easier by our scripts. Perhaps you are a parent who loves hearing about what your child learnt in assembly this morning. Or perhaps you believe that collective worship is a vital part of school life which teachers should be resourced to provide. If you benefit from assemblies.org.uk in any way, please considering making a donation to ensure teachers of the future can experience it too!

It costs approximately £24,000 per year to maintain assemblies.org.uk. This includes the costs of commissioning and editing new assemblies, paying our writers for their excellent work and maintaining the website.

We are very grateful for the support we receive from St Christopher’s Educational Trust, the All Saints’ Educational Trust and the Farmington Institute, but there is still a considerable shortfall if we are to continue producing new material.

Whatever your connection to assemblies, please be part of making a difference to the lives of teachers and pupils across the UK by supporting the provision of online assembly resources.