5 Questions for Rebecca Parkinson

1. What makes children’s books great to base assemblies on?

Many children love reading and, if an assembly can inspire them to read a good book, then that is great!

SPCK recently began to publish a children’s list. Many of the books being produced lend themselves towards the values expressed on the Assemblies Site, so this seems like a good opportunity to work with the authors.

2. What should an author know when writing an assembly?

Some authors are confident to write assemblies, others are not sure where to begin. When we ask an author to write an assembly, we firstly consider the general theme of the book and then work together to fit it into a suitable assembly framework. Some authors use extracts from their book as a basis for the assembly, others follow the theme of their book. For example, an assembly about to be published in the October list is based on Sylvia Green’s book ‘We’re Hungry Too’. The assembly looks at the importance of thinking about animals and people who might be in need of food. It considers that some plants that we consider to be weeds in the garden are actually vital homes for certain creatures. It also sensitively considers the need for and the use of food banks.
An assembly needs to be accessible to the children. It needs to grab their attention and help them learn something from it.

3. How do you select assembly submissions that writers send?

The best assemblies are imaginative, easy to use and require little preparation! Teachers like the fact that an assembly can be taken from the site and easily adapted to their own style and needs. Some assemblies are commissioned to tie in with particular themes or events. Assemblies selected from the submissions received tend to fit closely with the values taught in schools: for example trust, kindness, honesty etc. All the assemblies on the site aim to recognise Christian values whilst being accessible to people of different faiths. There is a wide variety of people who use the Assemblies site ranging from clergy to people with no Christian experience. The assemblies are therefore varied in content and some of them are specified as more appropriate for church schools.

4. How do you keep assemblies relevant?

Some assemblies are commissioned at the start of each year, taking account of special events planned such as the World Cup, World Book Day, Olympics etc. Many of our writers are teachers who are up-to-date with the latest changes in education and write accordingly.

‘Rapid Response Assemblies’ are extremely popular - these aim to address issues and events as soon as they happen so that schools are provided with an immediate reaction to a major event. Examples of these from 2018 are assemblies produced in response to the World Cup and the marriage of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle!