We really missed our Singing Assemblies while they were restricted by COVID-19, but now they are back and it’s glorious. Some schools like to go down the traditional route of songs that I have been sung for decades in British schools. Personally, I prefer to pick modern songs that the have a positive message and might be more familiar to our children. The children respond by absolutely singing their hearts out.
Many of the songs included on the list come from recommendations from other teachers on Twitter. As we’re not a church school I’ve not included any of the many songs suggested to me with religious meaning. I hope the songs included can be used by schools whether they are faith schools or not. It’s just a list of songs that children love to sing.
It wasn’t all doom and gloom during lockdown, we kept going with Virtual Singing Assemblies for people to join in with whether they were at home or in school. You can find them here in all their random glory.
I use this PowerPoint as part of our Cultural Assemblies every week. It’s a great way of sharing high quality recording artists from all over the world with the children. The music is from different time periods and genres and is played while the children are arriving, I then give them a little history about the artists.
Before the game I was lucky to meet Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires, two of Arsenal’s legendary ‘Invincibles’.
The Line-Up`
Smith Rowe had been out with Covid last week and was back on the bench, so Martinelli kept his place on the left. Tomiyasu still isn’t fit so Cedric Soares started at right back.
Ramsdale
Soares White Gabriel Tierney
Ødegaard Thomas Xhaka
Saka LacazetteMartinelli
First Half
Arsenal started very brightly, Martinelli looking lively down the left wing and Cedric Soares putting crosses in the box from the right hand side of the pitch. Arsenal had some penalty shouts turned down by the referee and some great chances to score a goal. After Arsenal won a corner from a deflected Tierney cross, Thomas Partey scored a bullet header from a brilliant Martinelli corner. Partey had another chance to score but the ball hit the post.
Leicester built pressure over the rest of the first half but Arsenal stayed on top helped by Ben White, Gabriel Magalhaes and Thomas Partey all playing a part. Aaron Ramsdale also made incredible saves in the Arsenal goal.
Second Half
In the second half, Arsenal continued to be the better team having a few more chances to score a goal. Arsenal then had a brilliant chance to score from a swung in Ødegaard freekick with Ben White heading the ball onto the grass and Partey then using his head to direct the ball onto the goal line. During the freekick, the ball hit Söyüncü’s hand in the penalty area. After a five minute VAR check, referee Anthony Taylor was called to the monitor to check if it was a penalty. Eventually, he gave it and Alexandre Lacazette scored. Lacazette scores the penalty to make it 2 – 0. Arsenal controlled the rest of the match well and Arteta used all of the three substitutes bringing on Smith Rowe, Nketiah and Pepe.
Arsenal are now in fourth place in the Premier League table on fifty-one points with three games in hand over fifth placed Manchester United, on fifty points. Hopefully, Arsenal get to play in the Champions League next season!
Player Ratings
My Man of the Match was Thomas Partey because he was all over the pitch and scored a great goal. Odegaard, Saka and Martinelli were all really good as well.
Ramsdale – 7
Soares – 7 White – 7 Gabriel – 7 Tierney – 7
Ødegaard – 8Thomas – 9 Xhaka – 8
Saka – 8 Lacazette – 7 Martinelli – 8
Right at the end I got to meet Alan Smith. He is a Sky Sports commentator and used to play for Arsenal.
Jenny Pearson books are properly funny but also manage to tackle some serious issues in a child-friendly and relatable way. Issues like bereavement, depression and Alzheimer’s (amongst others) all crop up and are handled with compassion and just the right balance of good humour. It’s almost like Jenny Pearson is a primary school teacher or something. Her books are a great way to introduce discussions around these serious subjects with children, or you can completely ignore them and just have a good laugh at the brilliant stories.
The Super Miraculous Journey of Freddie Yates – Jenny Pearson
This book has more twists and turns than a Super G event. It came highly recommended and it did not disappoint one bit. Jenny Pearson’s writing is very funny, that much is clear, but I also loved the fact that serious issues were covered in a very relatable and empathetic way. Although the main character in the book (Freddie) is dealing with loss and trying to understand it, it’s never dark or particularly sad, it’s more comically poignant.
The story centres around the journey Freddie and his two best friends make at the start of their Summer holiday. It takes them along the south coast of Wales. As they meet an interesting range of diverse Welsh characters, it gives those of use who enjoy ‘doing the voices’ while reading aloud, the perfect opportunity to experiment with a glorious range of hearty Welsh accents.
The Miraculous Journey that the boys go on is absolutely brilliant. It gets better and better with many a jaw-dropping laugh along the way. I can’t recommend this book enough and it will doubtlessly a birthday or Christmas present for years to come.
An added bonus is that the illustrator is, lockdown hero, Rob Biddulph. If you’ve not yet spent time with your children, at home or in school, following a #DrawWithRob video, then you really must.
If you and your children enjoy the books of Jo Simmons, then this one should be next on your list.
Tom, age 7, says: “I really like it because it’s really funny and you can learn facts from it as well. My favourite fact was that pigs can’t look up, so they’ve probably never seen the stars.”
The Incredible Record Smashers – Jenny Pearson
Having enjoyed Jenny Pearson’s first book (Freddie Yates – see below) so much, we’ve had The Incredible Record Smashers on pre-order for months. In both books Pearson manages to take the central character on epic adventures with hilarious consequences while also addressing some very sensitive issues in a child appropriate way. In Record Smashers, the main character (Lucy) has a mother who suffers with depression and the child’s perspective of this is handled brilliantly.
The central premise is that Lucy desperately wants to make her mum happy again and she believes that she can do this by reconnecting her with an old friend. Along the way she attempts a range of world records, with varying degrees of success, gets embroiled with a criminal family, befriends a watermelon and learns an awful lot about herself.
Record Smashers is a heart-warming story of friendship and family and would make an excellent class read across KS2. It’s capable of making you laugh and cry and may even inspire you to break a world record of your own.
Tom, age 8, says: “It was really funny, especially when Lucy made Sandesh wear the gold costume. I really enjoyed the bit where Sandesh played the piano with all of his body parts, it was really fun. My favourite character was Lucy because she kept persevering when she was trying to make her mum happy.”
Grandpa Frank’s Great Big Bucket List – Jenny Pearson
Frank Davenport’s son, Frank, finds out that he has a Grandpa (Frank) that he knew nothing about, as well as a sizable inheritance that he is meant to use to look after him. Grandpa Frank isn’t keen on his Grandson’s ideas about looking after him to begin with, but they end up having a wonderful time filled with remarkable experiences.
Frank Junior’s parents aren’t so keen on the adventures, though, and don’t think he should be the one who is entrusted with the money at all. They rather need the money for themselves to help solve their own problems.
The lovely thing about enjoying Jenny Pearson books with my son is that we both chuckle along throughout. There are many laugh out loud moments and some ridiculous situations they find themselves in. Ridiculous, but not beyond the realms of possibility – and it’s this plausibility that helps to keep the story relatable.
As with her other stories, Grandpa Frank’s Great Big Bucket List touches upon some serious themes amongst all the hilarity. Pearson sensitively opens the door for conversations with children who maybe experiencing these things in their own lives. Grandpa Frank’s memory is declining and he has a tricky relationship with his son. Children experiencing these things at home will relate to the story but it’s also great for developing empathy in others.
Davenport men might not cry, but I’m not ashamed to admit there was a tear in my eye as we read the last couple of pages. It was poignant and written with real care. I do so love Jenny Pearson books and heartily recommend them to you.
Tom, age 8, says: “It’s really fun to hear about all of the adventures that they go on to spend all of the money. It was really funny when they went swimming with ‘dolphins’. If I had loads of money I’d like to take my Grandad to see Arsenal play because we both love them. My favourite character is Frank (the boy) because he really wants his Grandad to have a good time and he always tries to do the right thing, even when his parents try to stop him.”
Operation Nativity – Jenny Pearson
We are already Jenny Pearson fans as this is the 4th book of hers that we’ve read. We’ve enjoyed them all because they all centre around children going on ridiculously exciting adventures. Operation Nativity is no different.
Oscar and Molly are visiting their family in Hampshire this Christmas, which means they must be part of the famous family nativity play that Grandma puts on at the church every year. It’s a big deal, especially for Grandma, but one night, the children discover a rather lost Angel Gabriel outside the house who they agree to help to save Christmas.
Gabriel has accidently transported Mary, Joseph, a Wise-Man, a shepherd and Donald THE Donkey from Bethlehem 2000 years ago to the modern day village of Chipping Bottom, Hampshire, England. The mission is to round them all up, keep them hidden from the rest of the family and then help to get them back to where they are meant to be all in time for the 25th of December.
Much hilarity ensues as the children and their growing team of helpers set about their task while trying to keep the whole thing a secret from the rest of the family. All of this happens while rehearsing a play which includes a heavily pregnant aunty playing Mary. What could possibly go wrong?
Pearson has a wonderful knack of intertwining very funny stories with poignancy, covering delicate issues in a really sensitive, child-friendly way. I got a little misty-eyed towards the end when the family return to Chipping Bottom a year after their fateful Christmas, just in time to say goodbye to a loved one. This chapter led to a lovely conversation with my daughter about remembering all the things that we love about people when they are gone.
One quirk of the book that we particularly enjoyed was the fact that each chapter title takes the lyrics from a famous Christmas carol or song and adapts them comically to loosely describe what is about to happen. We found ourselves really looking forward to discovering what the next chapter would be and singing the title out. It was great fun.
At the end of the book Jenny Pearson has added a great range of additional resources – a quiz, some crafts, some jokes, some nativity facts and interesting information from Christmas around the world. It’s like she’s planned the last day of term before the Christmas holiday for a KS2 teacher.
This book would make an excellent Christmas movie and it’s perfect for children aged 8-12.
Bella, age 7, says: “I like the book because it’s funny and it’s a clever twist on the nativity story. My favourite characters are Grandma the Turkey, Steve the shepherd and Molly because they are all funny. Molly is funny because she tells people what’s really going on but no one believes her because she’s just a little girl. She also always dresses in fancy dress and sometimes it’s different parts of different costumes. My favourite part of the story is when Grandma Turkey goes running around the house and attacks Hugo and Fenella.”
As part of our commitment to increase the cultural capital we offer to the children at our school we hold weekly cultural assemblies. These assemblies follow the same format where I share interesting and inspiring people from all walks of life and we also look at significant events from history that happened in that week.
As the children come in they listen to music by the Musician of the Week. Different songs from the artist are played at the beginning and end of assemblies during the week.
We also look at art work from a great range of Artist from all over the world. The work is from a mixture of modern and classic artists. It’s great for starting discussions about art and the slides we use come from c_liddiard on tes. We’ve made a couple of tweaks, but it’s basically these slides.
With the weekly Sports Legend we look at sporting personalities from a range of different sports. Some are extremely well known, others are less familiar but interesting nonetheless and all are greats in their chosen sports.
We also share stories of Awesome Children using some brilliant slides that I saw on Twitter. Unfortunately I can’t find the source at the moment, but I’ll add a link when I do. The common thread with all of these children is that, although they are young they were able to make a difference in their communities and the wider world. This is a great message for our children to hear every week.
Finally, we share key events from history that happened during any given week. I use two websites to find out the information. This one and this one.
The assemblies themselves are a whistle stop tour of all of the above, but different classes do a more in-depth look at the different areas over the week so the children get a better understanding of the inspiring people and historical events.
In addition to our Cultural Assemblies, we also develop our children’s cultural capital through The Sidlesham 101. It’s a list of 101 things a child should experience before they leave primary school put together by children, parents and staff from our school.
