Primary Current Assemblies



NO MAN IS AN ISLAND!

By Helen Redfern

Suitable for Whole School

Aim

To encourage children to think about wider relationships than immediate family and how much we need other people (SEAL theme 6, ‘Relationships’).



Preparation and materials

• You will need a gossip magazine, a heart shape (cushion?), a microphone, a small towel/pillow case in brown/green/yellow to represent an island, a book, a TV remote control and some chocolate.

Assembly

1. This assembly is all about relationships. When I say ‘relationships’, I wonder how many of you think of the kind of relationships we see in magazines like this one: who is in love with who, who is going out with who, who is getting married to who, who is having whose baby, who is not in love any more. It’s easy to think that relationships are all about LOVE (show the heart shape).
   
2. So how many of you are ‘in love’? ‘Everybody in love put your hands up’ (sing a burst of this JLS song with the microphone – the children will probably join in and wave their arms in the air!). Do you have a boyfriend or a girlfriend?
   
3. Well, to the relief of most of you here, this assembly is not about those kinds of relationships (throw away magazine). It is not about romantic love (throw away heart). And I am not going to sing any more! (throw away microphone).
   
4. At the start of the word ‘relationship’ is the word ‘relate’. There are many people that we relate to every day – people we talk to, smile at, and people we could not live without.
   
   But maybe you know someone who does not want to relate to other people, who says that they do not need anyone else:
   
   ‘Look, this is my space (stand on the towel/pillow case holding the items) and I want you all to keep away! I don’t need anyone and I certainly don’t need you. I’ve got a good book, the TV remote and some chocolate – what more could I need? I can look after myself. I can keep myself to myself. Relationships are nothing but trouble.’
   
5. Over 400 years ago, a poet named John Donne wrote these words: ‘No man is an island entire of itself’. Think about how true these words are. No man is an island. No woman is an island. No boy is an island. No girl is an island. No one can survive without other people. (Put down the items and step off the towel. Fold it up and put it away.) We all need other people. We are all in relationship with other people. 
   
6. Can you think of people you relate to on a daily basis? Who do you talk to? Who do you need? Take suggestions: family, friends, pets, teachers, the bus driver, the shopkeeper … In reality, we each have so many relationships. .

Time for reflection

Relationships are precious. We need to take care of them.

Think about the relationships that you have. Take a moment to be thankful for them and to think about how you treat the people that you are in relationship with.

Listen to the words of this prayer and make them your own if you would like to:

Prayer

Father God,

We thank you for all the relationships we have:

our friends and family; our teachers and helpers;

our pets; our neighbours; our coaches and instructors.

Help us to remember that relationships are precious.

Help us to take care of them. 

Amen.

Song

‘I belong to a family’ (Come and Praise, 69)

‘Everybody In Love’ by JLS

‘We’re All In This Together’ from High School Musical