Teach the class some of the stories from the Bible which contain morals and lessons to inform their own lives. You can also use a weekly assembly to develop the skills in presenting information to the class about the topic that is being discussed. The children can practise their spoken language skills in responding to different issues that are being raised in an assembly. Help them ask and suggest answers to questions linked to specific topics and ideas.

Assembly Timing
Choose a weekly time to hold the class assembly so that it becomes part of the regular classroom routine. You can either choose a time in the morning before the daily lessons begin or you can select a time towards the end of the day to help the children reflect on the issues being raised. Make sure you allocate enough time for the assembly that you don’t have to rush through the ideas and need to cut the assembly short because of an approaching playtime or end of the school day. Spend about twenty or thirty minutes on an assembly so that the children have time to discuss a topic in depth.

Assembly Mood
You need to set the mood in the classroom so that the children are clear that the assembly has begun to make it distinct from other lessons. You can light a candle at the front of the classroom to indicate the start of an assembly. You can also play some reflective music at the start of the assembly so that the children have time to compose their thoughts before discussing and thinking about the assembly topic.

Celebrations and Festivals
You can select different celebrations and festivals as the topic for a class assembly. Choose special days in the year that will be important in the children’s own lives so that they can participate fully in the assembly. For example, during the autumn you can hold an assembly about how farmers harvest foods to support their community which can link to the idea about how children can support others in their community.

Bible Story
One of the best ways of selecting a topic for an assembly is by choosing a story from the Bible that can teach the children a moral or lesson to use in their lives. Allow some children to prepare a Bible story to read to the class or perform using drama. Some of the best stories to use are parables told by Jesus in the New Testament. Discuss with the class the meaning of the story and the lesson it can teach the reader.

Across the Curriculum
You can also select some topics for a class assembly to match topics and themes that the children might have covered in other curriculum subjects. Using other curriculum subjects will enable the class to fully participate in any discussions during the assembly. For example, to match with a geography topic on pollution and recycling you can hold a class assembly to help the children discuss how to protect their local environment and the how the changes might benefit others in the local community.

Pupil Involvement
It is important to make sure that the children are fully involved in each class assembly. You can choose some groups of children to act as assembly monitors each week in charge of preparing any props. The children can act as the readers of any texts used in the assembly. They can also write some prayers to share with the class to match with the selected assembly topics.