Assemblies
Assemblies at Balksbury Federation
Assemblies are a time for the federation to be together and provide an opportunity to build a strong sense of community; they are a valuable experience for both children and adults regardless of their backgrounds and beliefs, and build on the federated culture, ethos, vision and values.
Assemblies are a time:
- To celebrate shared commonalities
- For reflection
- To nurture our culture and ethos
- To promote spiritual, moral and cultural development as well as our federation values
This year our assemblies will focus on what makes our federated community who we are. We will celebrate our shared commonalities and differences.
Each week, we celebrate our diverse community and choose entry music featuring a language from one of the 30 which are spoken at our federation.
How often are assemblies?
Children from across the federation attend assembly each day. Typically, assemblies follow the below weekly format:
How can I keep up with what is being covered in assemblies?
Celebration Assembly
Celebration Assembly is a chance to get together as a Balksbury family to celebrate the incredible achievements which have taken place in the federation over the week. Each Friday, we celebrate the accomplishments of all children in the federation by talking about the successes from that week. We might congratulate them on showing excellent mutual respect at playtime, for example.
Certificates are awarded for Achievement and Behaviour and Values. Achievement Awards are given when a child has achieved something exceptional in their learning to make themselves, their peers and their teaching team proud. Behaviour and Values Awards are given for demonstrating our learning values of Collaboration, Perseverance and Respect or being a Balksbury Citizen and following the Code of Conduct.
During celebration assembly, children are also kept informed of the most up to date house point and class token totals and are awarded their certificates and badges for bronze, silver, gold and platinum house point awards.
The children and staff love this opportunity to come together to celebrate and it truly is a highlight of the week at Balksbury – especially when Miss Thompson gets all the children singing and dancing their way back to class!
Our Prayer
At the end of each celebration assembly we finish with our federated end of the week prayer. This is a time where children are invited to reflect if they wish.
Dear God
Come be with us today
Fill our hearts with joy
Fill our minds with learning
Fill our classrooms with peace
Fill our lessons with fun
Fill our friendships with kindness
Fill our school with love for the following week
Amen
Visitors
Every half term, our newsletter – Across the Playground – contains ‘Assembly Corner’ which provides information on the theme of each week’s assemblies as well as key questions and stimuli.
Here are our assembly themes for Autumn Term 2025:
|
Community – What is a community? |
| ‘Religions of the world as Communities’ and ‘Belonging’ |
|
Harvest – Feeding the Community |
|
Building a Team to Make a Community |
|
Responsibility of Belonging to a Community |
|
Family as a Community |
|
Fairtrade as a Community |
|
Balksbury Citizens as a Community |
|
Remembrance |
|
Our Playground Community |
|
St Andrew’s Day |
| Christmas in our Community |
|
Christmas in Song |