School Reports
| AIM |
| To continue to develop children's self-confidence and their understanding of Jesus as a teacher and leader. |
RESOURCES
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| PRESENTATION Begin by informing the pupils that in schools all over the country, teachers are busy writing reports. Share with them your feelings as a child concerning school reports. You may even wish to share with them one of your old school reports. In previous decades, school reports were much shorter, but could be very wounding. Share with pupils extracts from the school reports of celebrities. Can they guess the identity of the celebrities who received these reports? Jesus didn't write reports on his apostles, but before they joined him, each of them had probably had a terrible school report. In Jesus' time, all boys would have gone to school to study the Torah, the Jewish holy scriptures. But at certain ages, the weaker students would have been encouraged to leave school and find full-time work. Only the best students would have been encouraged to continue with their studies and then only the very best, most intelligent and talented students would have eventually become teachers or rabbis. Share with children the mock school reports of some of the apostles. Unlike his apostles, Jesus was obviously an excellent student. In the only story about Jesus' childhood in the Bible, he is shown in the Temple in Jerusalem, amazing the best teachers in the country with his understanding of the Torah. When he grew up, he quickly became famous as a Rabbi who taught people to think differently about God. How must the disciples have felt then when this famous Rabbi asked them to study with him? Other Rabbis had told them they were not clever enough. They had been excluded from school, written off, sent out to work - but now, Jesus was showing that he, for one, believed in them. It's hardly surprising then that, according to the Bible, all of the Apostles left their jobs immediately and took up Jesus' offer to study with him. In the three years that they spent with Jesus, the apostles saw him do many incredible things. But even more incredible, was Jesus' belief that not only could they do what he did but, in time, they would do even better. The apostles struggled to believe in themselves as much as Jesus did. A famous story that illustrates this point is told is the Gospel of Matthew. Share with pupils the story of Jesus walking on the water (Matthew 14: 22-36). When Jesus said to Peter, 'You of little faith, why did you doubt?, whom was he accusing Peter of doubting? Peter didn't doubt Jesus because when he became scared, he cried out to Jesus to help him. Peter doubted himself. He doubted his own ability to do what Jesus told him to do. Jesus believed in Peter, but Peter did not believe in himself. Invite the children to reflect silently on their own levels of self-belief. Do they believe in themselves as much as their teachers and others believe in them? Or are they like Peter? With Jesus' help, Peter finally learned to believe in himself. And, on the day of Pentecost, Peter - the fisherman, the student who had been ejected from school for not thinking before he spoke - delivered one of the greatest speeches ever recorded in the Bible. As a result of Peter's speech, around three thousand people began to believe that Jesus was the Son of God. In one speech, Peter had convinced more people of this truth than Jesus himself had done in three years. So Jesus had been right. The apostles, including Peter, were capable of doing greater things than he had done. Inform pupils that at the end of this term some of them will be getting excellent reports whilst others may be receiving reports that are not so good. Getting a critical report should not cause pupils to lose confidence in themselves. Rather, they should look upon it as a way of helping them to improve. |
| PRAYER Dear God We thank you for loving us as much as you do. Help us to see ourselves as you see us. When people criticise us, help us not to lose belief in ourselves but have confidence that, with your help, we can always do better. Help us to remember the example of Peter, who overcame his own doubts and fears, to become one of the most famous Christians in history. Amen. |
| SONGS 'There is No One Else Like You', No. 325, Kidsource, Kevin Mayhew, ISBN 1-84003-310-X 'O Lord, all the world belongs to You', No. 39, The Complete Come and Praise, BBC Active, ISBN: 0-563-34581-0. |
| FURTHER DEVELOPMENT Following this act of collective worship, pupils could:
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