In Monday’s Act of Worship, we looked at this week’s word: Inclusion. Not many of the children had heard of the word, so Mrs Beer invited them to think of a word which sounds similar – they said “include”. And that’s what inclusion means: including everyone, no matter our differences.
Just like Jesus included everyone – even unpopular members of society such as lepers and tax collectors – we, as followers of Christ must ensure we are not leaving anyone out. After all, whether we are boys or girls, are from England, Poland or Romania, have black skin or pale skin, are tall or short, we are all children of God.
We heard this reading:
A Reading from the letter of St James
My friends, as believers in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory, you must never treat people in different ways according to their outward appearance. Suppose a rich man wearing a gold ring and fine clothes comes to your meeting, and a poor man in ragged clothes also comes. If you show more respect to the well-dressed man and say to him, “Have this best seat here,” but say to the poor man, “Stand over there, or sit here on the floor by my feet,” then you are guilty of creating distinctions among yourselves and of making judgments based on evil motives.
James 2:1-4
Our mission this week is, therefore, to reach out to someone who often gets left out. This could be someone one their own in the playground, someone who struggles with maths, someone who finds it hard to be a good friend or someone who cannot speak English well, for example.
We finished with the Prayer of St Francis:
Remember to let us know in the comments below how you have achieved this week’s mission.
5 comments
In Year 6 this week we have lived out the mission by making sure all of our classmates have had someone to play with, talk to or sit with during the school day. Especially at lunch time we have made an effort to include everyone in our games and have invited people to play when they seem lonely. In the classroom we have made sure everyone has a chance to share ideas when we work together so that everyone’s opinion is respected and valued. We have also included our siblings at home and our friends that go to different schools.
This week, year 5 discussed what we could do to make sure everyone is included. At break and lunch times, we have made an effort to ensure everyone has someone to play with and asking anyone if they want to join in. In the classroom, we discussed that everyone has an opnion and we should respect and hear out what people have got to say.
This week in Year 1, we have put the theme (inclusion) into action by making sure we include everyone in our classroom when playing, sharing ideas, and participating in different activities. Throughout the year, we will make sure we are fair in all that we do.
In Year 3 the children have been making sure that they have included others in their games, in their conversations and through sharing their toys and art materials at school and at home. They thought about how Jesus included others and gave the example of how he invited the disciples to the Last Supper so that he could share a meal with them.
In Year 4 we have worked hard to live out the mission by including those on their own in our play. We have also talked to other children at playtime who have looked like they are on their own. At home we have shared our toys and time with brothers and sisters. We discussed how Jesus included everyone and didn’t leave anyone out just like God is there for all of us and will love us no matter what we do.