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������̳ Teach > School Radio > Assemblies and Collective Worship
KS1 audio: Something to Think About / KS2 audio: Together

Join Ben Faulks for a programme all about Rogation Day. Family relationships - parents.

Before the programme

• Look together at the focus image – how do children think the people on the train might be feeling?
• Share stories of being in confined spaces like in the picture.
• What is a ‘tradition’? What traditions did we find out about in the previous programme?
• Locate together where your local parish church is. Has anyone in the class ever visited it, and what for?

Programme content:

1. Vox pops: some children tell us about times they have been in a busy place and how it made them feel.
2. Welcome and introduction: Ben introduces today’s theme of boundaries and personal space.
3. Song: ‘Build up’ (All About our School, no. 12). Encourage the children to join in with as much as they can.
4. Story: Jacobs Well. An adaptation by Rachel Boxer of the bible story of Jesus and the Samaritan woman at the well from John 4. Read by Ashely Cook. Jacob has retreated to the well at the edge of the village of Sychar to think. A few days earlier, Jacob’s aunt met Jesus at the well, and the village has been in uproar ever since…
5. Reflection: on the balance between the need for personal space and being with others.
6. Opportunity for prayer: children can turn their thoughts into their own prayer of thanks, or use the optional prayer from these notes.

After the programme:

Talk about the story

• Jacob goes to ‘his’ well for peace and quiet. Where do you go for some peace and quiet and when have you needed to go there?
• Jacob’s aunt collected her water from the well when no-one else was around. Why do you think she did this?
• Do you know if your name means something, or whether your name was chosen for a specific reason – like Jacob was named after his ancestor? Share stories together.
• Why do you think the people in the village wanted to meet Jesus? How did he treat people that showed he was different from others?

Follow-up activities:

• Talk about the different boundaries / barriers that exist in our lives e.g. around the school – classroom doors etc. Are there other things at school that can make us feel ‘separate’ from others? e.g. being made to feel different in some way, being new in a school etc. How can we overcome these, like Jesus did with the woman in the story?
• In drama, explore different situations where people are in confined spaces and talk about how it feels, and ways to cope with it. What do we mean by ‘personal space’? Are there good ‘invasions’ of personal space? e.g. hugs. When is it inappropriate to invade someone’s personal space and how can we tell? How would it feel to be in our own personal space all the time, and how do we create a balance?
• Make a list of different boundaries that exist in other parts of our lives e.g. safety barriers round roadworks, walls etc. and why they are there. Are boundaries always a bad thing?
• Find your local parish church and where the parish boundary goes. Find out whether anything happens in your parish on Rogation Sunday.
• Look at other ‘invisible’ geographical boundaries that exist e.g. county / country.