In today’s assembly we learnt about the July 4th UK general election. They happen less often than the Olympics and the World Cup, so it is a BIG deal. We are lucky to live in a democracy where we (well, the adults!) can help choose who is in charge of the country.

First we learnt what all the words we hear during a general election mean.

Then we learnt more about the role of the prime minister.

Finally we learnt about voting.

We agreed to go home and check that our adults have registered to vote, have photo ID and know where their local polling station is!

In our lower school assembly this week, Lawford Mead parents visited us to tell us about the Muslim and Hindu festivals their families celebrate.

In our lower school assembly last week, we revisited a recent assembly theme of worrying. We shared the classic book, ‘The Huge Bag of Worries’ and discussed what we could learn from the story. The most important lesson was get your worries out in the open. You’ll realise that you’re not the only one with worries and there is always a trusted adult nearby to listen and help.

In upper school assembly this week we learnt about D-Day because it was the 80th anniversary on June 6th. We also learnt about the important role women played during World War 2 whilst the soldiers were fighting, including nursing and radio communications.

As the years pass, there are less people in our lives that have memories of the war. But we discussed the connections we might have to older generations who came before us. Some of us share a middle name or even a first name with grandparents and great grandparents who were alive during WW2. Our parents and grandparents can pass stories down to us that we can then pass on ourselves. It makes us feel connected to history as well as family.

We had a visit from our friends at Kids Inspire for our Tuesday assemblies this week. Our visitors got us thinking about positive strategies to help us manage our worries. We ALL worry about something sometimes.

When we do, we can…

• Exercise, listen to music or get creative

• Spend time with friends, families and pets

• Talk to trusted adults about what’s on our mind

What do you find helpful when you are worrying about something?

We were getting excited about the 2024 Paris Olympics in assemblies this week.

Did you know…Olympics officials have unveiled the gold, silver and bronze medals that will be awarded at this summer’s Olympic games in Paris, and each one contains a unique souvenir: a fragment of scrap iron from the Eiffel Tower!

The Paris 2024 mascots have been revealed! They are based on the red caps worn during the French Revolution and represent freedom. These cute characters hope to encourage people to be inspired by the Olympics and get active themselves!

We watched a video about Paralympian athlete, Beth Munro. She met some children to inspire them to try different sports. Beth competed in netball and javelin before winning her silver Taekwondo medal. We discussed which sports we are excited to watch during the Olympics and which ones we love to take part in, or would like to try.

April 22nd was the 70th annual Earth Day so in assemblies this week we thought about what we can do to look after our world…

For example…

• Educate ourselves about environmental issues and discuss with family and friends
• Try our best not to waste water, food, electricity, paper etc.
• Reuse, recycle and pick up litter….

What will you do?

In our upper school assembly today we learnt about the UK’s Covid-19 inquiry, which is trying to help us in the future by learning from the past. But the inquiry won’t just involve talking to politicians and doctors about the decisions made during the pandemic. Many children and young people, from aged 9, will be asked about their experiences back then.

So, in assembly children from Years 4 to 6 shared some of their memories from the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 when the school closed. It was a very difficult time for a lot of people and we talked about the challenges people faced. But we also reflected on some of the positive things that came from that time. We thought back to the things we missed most and realised we’d taken for granted.

What do you remember from that time?

In our lower school assembly today we learnt about the Sikh festival of Vaisakhi which took place at the weekend. We spotted similarities and differences between this religious celebration and the other special days we have learnt about in recent assemblies.

Having learnt about Eid and Holi in recent weeks, we discussed the Christian festival of Easter in our lower school assembly this week.

We shared the Easter story and then watched a video about what one family does to celebrate spring and new life at Easter.

We discussed our favourite things about this time of year. What do you love about spring arriving?