Kindness

 

https://manninglive.com/stories/manning-high-school-students-using-text-program-to-send-positive-messages,20818

What do you see in the picture? What do you notice? Can you predict what this story is about?

A High school in South Carolina USA noticed students were using unkind language at school and home. Students were choosing to use negative comments and the effect on the school community was...

What do you think the effect was?

The school felt all the  negative comments were giving their students a "poor outlook on life"

What does mean?

One of the teachers, Leila McCoy, was concerned her students were just being 'complainers', running everything down and taking about everything being bad. Miss McCoy says she talked abut her mother; "I was always told by my mother that life is about perspective, to find the good in everything and eventually everything is doable and everyone is likeable."

What does Leila mean by this?

Do you agree or disagree?

Can you see different points of view about this statement?

Miss McCoy got a plan together. Looking at the picture, can you guess what the plan was? 

Miss McCoy set up a social media group for her students. Students signed up under the agreement and expectation that they will only use it to send positive, motivational messages to each other at the start of the day. The messages came through Miss McCoy's name but the words came from the students.

Why only positive . motivational messages?

What do you think happened?

The group  became a huge success. All the students sent positive messages every morning. The class set a motto: "Be the change you want to see."

What does this mean?

Why do you think everyone signed up and stayed positive?

Why do you think no one ever messaged unkind words?

How do you think this affected the mindset of the class?

How does social media work today? Is social media always like this? 

How do we get social media to be more like this today?

Do you need social media to do this? How could we do this at our school without using social media? Is there any way we could get positive, motivational messages to other pupils in your school? How would it affect our school?

A school in Birmingham worked out a way of getting positive messages to different classes during Covid. They places envelopes under doors with messages of support; even just "Have a nice day, love from Y3" worked A Y6 class realised Y2 were in a class directly below them and they lowered a basket from the outside window to knock on the Y2 window, with a message from Y6 - "hello to y2, have a great day from y6")

What do you think the impact was on the school? 

How can language you choose to use every day affect people around you?

Why is this about No Outsiders?

Which British Value is this about?

Do you want this assembly as a power point? To join the free mailing list and receive these assemblies as power points every week, email me on a.moffat@excelsiormat.org

 

No Outsiders: We belong here by Andrew Moffat  (scheme of work for primary schools) 

Andrew Moffat delivers in-school No Outsiders training- watch a short video here 

Register to be a No Outsiders school  (get access to members page with additional resources)

Watch CPD films showing schools teaching belonging

Wicked

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/wellness/why-wicked-for-good-star-marissa-bode-is-on-a-mission-to-change-hollywood/ar-AA1PVIS7?ocid=BingNewsVerp

https://www.capitalfm.com/news/wicked-nessarose-marissa-bode-disability-wheelchair/

What do you see in the picture, do you recognise anyone, where is it, what is happening?

The picture shows a scene from the film Wicked. We can see Cynthia Erivo who plays the character Elphaba and Marissa Bode who plays the character Nessarose, Elphaba's younger sister..

What do you notice about the character Nessarose?

The character Nessarose uses a wheelchair. In real life, the actor Marissa Bode also uses a wheelchair, yet this is the first time the character Nessarose has been played by a wheelchair user. In the past, the character has always been played by an actor pretending to be a wheelchair user.

Why do you think this is?

Can you see any reason why a wheelchair user might not be able to be an actor?

The film Wicked has been on stage all over the world for over 20 years and every actor who plays Nessarose has always been able to walk and simply acted as a wheelchair user. 

Do you think this matters? Does it matter if an actor pretends to be a wheelchair user, or does it not matter? What are the arguments for and against this choice?

Today, Marissa is overjoyed to be a wheelchair user playing the character of Nessarose; "I am over the moon about them making the decision to cast someone who is authentically in a wheelchair because..."

How do you think Marissa will finish that sentence?

"because it's not something I saw a lot growing up. So be in this huge movie, I just feel so lucky and grateful that I can be that representation and help people feel a lot less alone."

What is representation?

Who is Marissa talking about feeling alone?

Why do you think her being cast as Nessarose might make people feel less alone?

Marissa wants to pave the way for more disabled actors.

What does this mean?

Can you think of any actors who are not disabled and can you think of any disabled actors?

Why is that interesting, what does that show? Why do you think this is happening?

Marrisa says, "I think creating more visibility in media can make a huge differecne overall."

What is visibility, what is Marissa saying here? 

Do you agree?

In the original Wicked story, the Nessarose character pleased with her sister Elphaba to make her walk and Elphaba magically does this. But in the film version this story line has been changed.

What do you think about this old story line? Howe do you think Marissa might feel about it?

Why do you think the story has been changed in 2025?

Marissa didn't like the storyline where a character asks for her disability to be fixed. She says, "Disability is not fictional. At the end of the day, me, Marissa is the person who is still disabled and in a wheelchair. The more we see disabled people just chilling, just kicking it, the more people will treat us as equals."

Why does Marrisa say she wants to see disabled people just chilling? Wouldn't that be boring to see?

How do we get to a place where disabled people are treated as equals?

Why is this about No Outsiders?

Which British value is this about?

Do you want this assembly as a power point? To join the free mailing list and receive these assemblies as power points every week, email me on a.moffat@excelsiormat.org

 

No Outsiders: We belong here by Andrew Moffat  (scheme of work for primary schools) 

Andrew Moffat delivers in-school No Outsiders training- watch a short video here 

Register to be a No Outsiders school  (get access to members page with additional resources)

Watch CPD films showing schools teaching belonging

Football

 

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2025/nov/08/friendships-forged-football-terraces-fans

What do you see here, where are they, what do you you notice, what do you think this story is about?

The photo shows Caroline and Mickey at the Birmingham City football ground. Mickey is 70 years old and he used to sneak under the turnstiles as a child to get in to matches. He met a friend, Bill, who he would stand next to. But when he first tried to join Birmingham's official supporter's club as a teenager, he was blocked.

Why do you think Mickey was blocked?

This was the 1960s and Mickey explains, "I was blocked. I realise now it was probably because they didn't want any dark faces or whatever."

What is this an example of?

Would this happen today?

What law is in place today about this?

Mickey says, "That really niggled me. I thought: nobody's going to deny me going to see my club."

What do you think Mickey did?

Mickey challenged it and Bill (who was white) supported him. Eventually when he was 18, Mickey was allowed in the club and could go to the home and away matches with his friend, Bill.

Caroline is Bill's daughter and remembers going to matches with her Dad and Mickey as a child in the 1970s. Bill died eight years ago. Caroline says, "My Dad would have been in his 80's now and it's not great to say, but a lot of people of that generation... you know,.."

What do you think Caroline is saying here?

"But my Dad brought us up to treat everyone equally. My Dad would have been that person to say to Mick, "Come with us, we'll get you in." That's who he was and I'm really proud of him for that."

Why do you think that make Caroline feel proud?

Today, Mickey and Caroline sit together in the stands. Caroline says, "He brings back memories of my Dad. Something might happen in a game that's emotional and he'll give me a look and I know he's thinking about my Dad." Mickey says Caroline and her daughter are "part of my family. I love them to bits."

Are they part of his family? What does he mean? What is a family?

In 2016, Mickey and his son Bik aet up the Blues 4 All club with the aim of getting more people who look like them in to the crowd.

What do you think Mickey means by "people who look like them"? 

Why do you think people who look like Mickey were not going to football matches?

Mickey says it's got better and better; "We never used to see Asian girls and women. Now, because of winning the Euros, Asian women are bringing their daughters to our Academy, which is fantastic."

Who won the Euros?

Why do you think more girls are playing football today?

Mickey says they haven't had an Asian player break through in the men's side yet, "But we've got the first Punjabi girl, Riya Mannu, to sign for Birmingham City, and she scored on her debut. Football brings families and everyone together."

Do you agree?

What if you support a different team, can it still bring people together?

What can we learn from Mickey and Caroline?Why is this about No Outsiders?

Which British value is this about?

Do you want this assembly as a power point? To join the free mailing list and receive these assemblies as power points every week, email me on a.moffat@excelsiormat.org

 

No Outsiders: We belong here by Andrew Moffat  (scheme of work for primary schools) 

Andrew Moffat delivers in-school No Outsiders training- watch a short video here 

Register to be a No Outsiders school  (get access to members page with additional resources)

Watch CPD films showing schools teaching belonging

Remembrance day

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/topics/zcxktcw/articles/z2866g8#zy6yvwx

What do you see in the photo? What is happening, when do you think it was taken, what are they doing?

The photo shows a recruitment drive in Trafalgar Square, London, 1914.

What are they recruiting people to do?

They are recruiting men to enlist in the army to fight in World War One. In August 1914 the government realised Britain needed more soldiers. 

Why did they need so many soldiers, how was the war fought in 1914?

How do you think soldiers were recruited?

54 million posters were put up, 8 million letters were sent, 12,000 meetings were held, 20,000 speeches were given by military personnel.

In the first weekend of the war, a huge number of men signed up. Can you guess how many?

In the first weekend, 100 men an hour, 3000 a day signed up to join the armed forces. By the end of the year, 1,186,337 men had joined up.

Why do you think so many joined to fight the war?

The legal age to enlist was aged 18-41. Some jobs were "reserved occupations" which meant that men had to stay at home: these were men who worked on farms, coal mines, ship yards, munitions factories.

Why were these reserved?

Many younger teenagers tried to join before they were 18. They lied about their age to get in the army; some aged as young as 13 or 14 joined the war.

Why do you think boys did that?

Some joined the army because they wanted to fight for their country, some wanted to be treated like men and some were excited to join a war.

What do you think they thought war would be like? 

Do you think they were right?

Did all men enlist? 

Some men refused to fight on religious or moral grounds. They were conscientious objectors. 

Can you understand why someone might refuse to join the army?

What are the arguments for and against being a conscientious objector?

Some conscientious objectors were allowed to carry stretchers on the battlefields, some went o work on farms. Some were sent to prison.

Often white feathers were given to men in the street if they were not in uniform to try and shame them and make them join the army. A group called the order of the white feather did this.

What do you think about this?

By the end of the war, almost a quarter of all the men in the UK had been in the armed forces and millions had died or were injured. The government needed to replace these soldiers so recruitment carried on thought the war.

Today we remember all those who gave their lives. Every year on 11th November at 11:00 we hold a 2 minute silence to remember those soldiers. This is because  World War One ended at 11:00 on that date in 1918.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/health/medical/remembrance-day-visually-impaired-veterans-lost-for-words-as-they-prepare-to-join-parade-at-cenotaph/ar-AA1Q2rqk?ocid=BingNewsSerp

This year is very special for two veterans who are joining 10,000 soldiers in the remembrance day march at the cenotaph in London. James Alfred Sibbet and Ian Baker are visually impaired and have not been able to march with the veterans before. They say the opportunity to join the march fulfils a life long dream.

Both men are supported by Sight Scotland Veterans to join the march. James Sibbet is 95 years old and says, "To me remembrance is about honouring a group of people who dedicated themselves to the safety and wellbeing of their country and everyone in it. These are individuals who made the choice to serve. Those of us who did share a deep sense of connection and understanding."

What does he mean? 

"I never thought I would be able to do this, especially after losing my sight."

Ian Baker says, "I've lost many good friends and family in different conflicts and this is my chance to pay tribute to them. I never imagined I's get to be past of something like this, especially after losing my sight. It means more to be than I can put in to words."

Why do you think this means so much to James and Ian?

Both men say losing their sight made them think they would never ne able to join; what do you think about this?

Ian says, "As the old saying goes, for our tomorrows they gave their todays. I can't thank these people enough for the sacrifices they made and the freedoms we have today."

What does "For our tomorrows they gave their todays" mean?

What can we learn from Ian and James?

Why is this about No Outsiders?

Which British value is this about?

Do you want this assembly as a power point? To join the free mailing list and receive these assemblies as power points every week, email me on a.moffat@excelsiormat.org (please note, I will not be able to send this out to people in time for Remembrance day after mid day Monday 10th)

No Outsiders: We belong here by Andrew Moffat  (scheme of work for primary schools) 

Andrew Moffat delivers in-school No Outsiders training- watch a short video here 

Register to be a No Outsiders school  (get access to members page with additional resources)

Watch CPD films showing schools teaching belonging