Top Tips for leading assemblies
Wayne Dixon has been working with Scripture Union for over 20 years as a schools worker. His work is primarily with the secondary sector though he has experience of the primary context through It’s Your Move! and Christmas and Easter Presentations with churches in Slough and the surrounding area.. Wayne’s top tips when leading assemblies are:
- Be you, yourself and no-one else
- Arrive early (not on time) to allow for holds up and to set up
- Be flexible with timings (you may have been given ‘x’ minutes but in the end time is lost for a variety of reasons)
- Be careful with language (you need to explain? – As a christian I believe – Christians believe)
- Use the bible appropriately (don’t just talk about it – read it / quote it but not large chunks)
- Think carefully about praying ? Tricky one
- Put assemblies in context (they are not the be all – but an opportunity in a short time to create a good impression on a fair size group)
Rob Steward joined Scripture Union early this year after being a primary school teacher for 9 years. From a teacher’ perspective Rob’s top tips would be:
- Be on time and ensure you keep to the time you have been given.
- Keep it simple.
- Keep it multisensory
- The power of a story still remains. Children love stories. Get them involved in acting it out as you tell it.
- One of the main keys to behaviour management is eye contact with the children and effective use of voice ( slow, fast, loud, quiet)
- Be on good terms with the secretaries – they are important people in schools!
- Take another person from the local church with you. I think it is always good for children to see a wide spectrum of Christians.
