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���˿��� Teach > School Radio > Assemblies and Collective Worship
KS1 audio: Something to Think About / KS2 audio: Together

Themes:

The patron saints of the UK and Ireland; Saint Andrew - the patron saint of Scotland; what we can learn from the lives of great people, devotion.

Before the programme

• Who are your friends? What do you do together? How have your friends helped you? Share stories together.
• Talk about the disciples of Jesus. Do the children know the names of any of his disciples or any stories about them?
• Disciples are people who learn from their teacher. What do you learn from your teacher? What do you think the disciples learned from Jesus?
• During their lives, the disciples all suffered for being called a ‘friend of Jesus’ and all (except Judas) remained Jesus’ friends until the day they died. Why do you think they stayed friends even when life got tough?

Programme content:

1. Welcome and introduction Ben returns to the theme of the four patron saints of the UK and Ireland. He also offers some more clues to help listeners decide who today’s saint is.

2. Song ‘Thank you god for all our friends’ (Come and Praise: Beginning, no 20). Encourage the children to join in with as much as they can.

3. Story The life of Saint AndrewAn adaptation by Sue Reid of a story about St Andrew from the Bible. The story is told from the point of view of Joarib, a fisherman on the sea of Galilee. He recalls how long ago, before he owned his own boat, he used to work for two brothers - Andrew and Simon. One morning they have caught no fish when suddenly a crowd appears, following Jesus. The brothers row Jesus off-shore to speak to the crowd and later their nets fill with fish. Jesus asks the two brothers to become his followers…which they do. Joarib returns home to tell his family about the extraordinary events…but they are more concerned about the fish left on the shore.

4. Song ‘Thank you for the love of Jesus’ (Come and Praise: Beginning, no 38). Encourage the children to join in with as much as they can.

5. Reflection On the life of St Andrew…how he gave up everything to follow Jesus. And how - like the other patron saints - he showed great courage to stand up for what he believed. Ensure everyone is listening carefully.

After the programme:

Talk about the story

• What do you think Simon replied to Peter when he suggested going out in the boat again, after they’d been fishing all night and not caught anything?
• How did the people in the boat change when they heard Jesus talking? Why do you think it made such a difference?
• Would you have done what Jesus said and put the nets into the water again?
• Why do you think that Simon and Andrew forgot about the fish in the net?
• What do you think the people on the shore thought about what happened?
• What ‘good things’ happened in this story?
• What do you think Joarib talked about when he got home that night?

Follow-up activities:

• Look at pictures of people celebrating St Andrew’s Day. How are these similar to / different from the photos of celebrating the other saints’ days we’ve looked at so far? People might wear tartan, take part in dances called ceilidh (pronounced kay-lee) where bagpipes usually feature and eat delicious Scottish fare, such as Cullen skink (a fish and potato soup) or roast lamb.
• Read the legend of how St Andrew came to be linked to Scotland - and why there’s a town called St Andrews.
• Act out the story, in drama, of the calling of Andrew the fisherman, to be the first of Jesus’ disciples. Make it as active as possible. Or you could add speech bubbles to the people in a picture of this event.
• During story times for the rest of the week, read the stories from the Bible about more of Jesus’ miracles. What do Christians believe about the miracles of Jesus?