Open the Door

Make the most of every opportunity!

by Rebecca Parkinson

Suitable for Key Stage 3

Aims

To consider the importance of taking opportunities when they arise.

Preparation and materials

• You will need the PowerPoint slides that accompany this assembly (Open the Door) and the means to display them.

Assembly

1. Explain that in a moment, you are going to show some pictures of famous doors and you would like the students to see whether they can name them or describe why they are famous.
   
   
2. Show Slide 1.
   
   This is the door to 10 Downing Street, the prime minister’s official residence.
   
   
3. Show Slide 2.
   
   This is the door to Bilbo Baggins’ home in the film, The Hobbit.
   
   
4. Show Slide 3.
   
   This is the door to the garden in the story, The Secret Garden.
   
   
5. Show Slide 4.
   
   This is the wardrobe door that leads to the magical land of Narnia in the story, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
   
   
6. Show Slide 5.
   
   This is the door to the Chamber of Secrets in the second Harry Potter film.
   
   
7. Explain that these doors are familiar to us, as are the doors that we pass through each day. We know what to expect when we go through our classroom door, our front door or our bedroom door. Likewise, if we are familiar with the stories that have been mentioned, we have a sense of what the characters will find when they go through the doors in the last four pictures.
   
   However, there is another type of door that we will all encounter throughout our lives: a door of opportunity.
   
   
8. Doors of opportunity might include:
   
   – starting a new school year
   – getting the chance to try a new sport, skill or activity
   – meeting new people and making new friends
   
   
9. Explain that each new opportunity is like a door. We can choose to keep the door shut and not walk forward through it; we can choose not to take the opportunity given to us.
   
   Alternatively, we can say yes to the opportunity. Saying yes is like opening a door and passing through to experience whatever the new opportunity has to offer.
   
   Sometimes, what we find on the other side may be difficult and we may decide that we don’t like it. However, at least we have had a new experience to take with us into the rest of our lives.
   
   
10. Point out that this coming year will be full of new opportunities. Encourage the students to take the opportunities that come their way and try lots of new things.

Time for reflection

Ask the students, ‘Can you remember a time when you did something new? How did you feel?’

Point out that the students probably felt a bit worried. Trying new things takes courage; we have to be brave enough to step forward and have a go even though we aren’t certain what will happen.

Encourage the students to take each opportunity that comes to them in the year ahead.

Song/music

‘A whole new world’ from the film Aladdin, available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eitDnP0_83k (3.09 minutes long)