Assemblies
The SUMT team offer assemblies for all Primary age children. These are engaging and thought provoking messages for KS1 & KS2. They cover a range of themes and will often relate to the 6 R’s.
Open the Book
Open the Book (OTB) is an assembly series delivered by volunteer teams made up from a wide range of churches, who receive training from SUMT. The scheme from the Bible Society, written by former school inspectors and teachers, offers engaging and lively presentations of Bible accounts through dramatised retellings. Enjoyable for all, almost every primary school on the Island invites an OTB team in to help take assemblies.
Stars
Stars is a curriculum enrichment day allowing children to be able to ‘wonder’ about four major areas of life: special days, special beliefs, special people and special choices. The elements of the day are all based around the principles developed by Philosophy for Children (P4C) and was developed at the request of the Religious Education Advisory Committee (REAC). The days are held in community buildings for schools to attend.
Lifepath
Lifepath covers the whole of the Christian element of the Year 5 RE curriculum on a single day with guides taking groups of children on a highly interactive and memorable journey to explore Christianity at Rushen Abbey in the past through to Christianity today. Children leave with an activity bag crammed full of things they have made, and the cross-curricular links are numerous. It takes place in partnership with Rushen Abbey and almost 100 trained volunteers from around a quarter of the Island’s churches. Also developed in partnership with REAC this event has been a highlight for many schools since it began in 2011, with some staff calling it the highlight of their year.
Walk Through the Bible
SUMT currently has the only trained “Walk through the Bible” story tellers on the Island. This consists of two sets of five sessions (one for the Old Testament and one for the New Testament) that help KS2 students to gain a fuller understanding of how all the stories of the Bible fit together. Over the five sessions, students learn 40 hand-signs, one per story, that enable students to easily recall key events in the big-story of the Biblical narrative.
It’s Your Move
Designed to enhance other transition material, the ‘It’s Your Move’ lesson concentrates on the emotional and pastoral implications of moving from Primary to Secondary education. Accompanied by an excellent A-Z book filled with questions children might be asking and some suggested ways of responding from a Christian worldview, this lesson gives opportunities to ask questions, voice worries, and talk through the move with or without reference to faith.
Godly Play
Godly Play is a curriculum of spiritual practice exploring the mystery of God. Stories of faith are told to a group who then have an opportunity to wonder together about what they have heard, and then explore independently with no expectation of results or answers. SUMT helps to co-ordinate the Godly Play trained volunteers from across the Island and it can be a great enhancement to lessons in Primary Schools. Godly play was created by theologian, author and educator, Rev. Dr. Jerome Berryman.
