Reach your potential
To encourage the children at the start of the academic year to always try their best to reach their full potential.
by Rebecca Parkinson
Suitable for Whole School (Pri)
Aims
To encourage the children at the start of the academic year to always try their best to reach their full potential.
Preparation and materials
- You will need a seed and a flower/variety of flowers.
- A candle (and something to light it with).
- Pictures of large fires, such as the Fire of London, the recent disaster on the Cutty Sark, forest fires (search for fires on Google Images).
- A sheet of paper with the definition of the word ‘potential’ written on it: ‘Something that has not yet developed but is able to come into existence.’
Assembly
- Ask the children if they know what the word ‘potential’ means. Explain that a dictionary definition is ‘Something that has not yet developed but is able to come into existence.’ Tell the children you are going to show them a variety of items, and you want them to decide, using the definition, what ‘potential’ each thing has.
- Show the seed. Ask what potential the seed has. Show the flower(s) and ask what would happen to the seed if it was never planted or watered. Talk about how the seed can only fulfil its potential if it is in the correct place with the right conditions.
- Show the children the candle. Ask them what potential the candle has. Explain that the candle has the potential to give out light or even give out small amounts of heat but that it won’t do this unless it is provided with a flame.
Light the candle, following school’s safety procedure. Ask the children what potential the flame has. Discuss that the flame has the potential to do good and bad. It may give out warmth or be used to cook food but it may also cause great devastation. Show pictures of large fires e.g. the Fire of London, the recent disaster on the Cutty Sark. Like the seed, a flame needs the right conditions to produce a large fire. - Ask the children to think about themselves. Tell them that they too have great potential. In school they are provided with the right conditions to grow and fulfil their true potential in life. However, it is up to them to work hard, to take hold of any new experience they are offered and make sure that in the future they can be the people they are capable of being.
Time for reflection
Reflection
Close your eyes and think about your life in school.
What things do you enjoy doing most?
What things do you find easy?
What things do you find hard?
Don’t just think about in lessons, think about playtime and dinnertime as well. Are there areas where this year you need to try a bit harder?
It is your choice! Can you make a decision now to try to do your best in all that you do?
Prayer
Dear God,
Thank you for this new year in school.
Thank you for giving me so much that I am good at.
Please help me to try hard in everything I do
so that I can achieve my true potential.
Amen.
Song/music
‘God knows me’ (Come and Praise, 15)
