Antisectarian

Anti-sectarian Assembly Plans - Raising the issue of sectarianism

Raising the issue of sectarianism
[an idea from Fiona MacDonald, Headteacher, Carmyle Primary School, Glasgow]

Required:
Flipchart paper or giant A1 size card, pens
Building block bricks (a pile)
Tape recorder with music from Fischy Music album Build Up.
To view Fischy Music, go to www.fischy.com

The school used two songs from this album 'Sticks and Stones' and 'Build Up'.

Also the song 'Sometimes I Wonder' from Out of the Ark Music. This song can be found in the book Songs for Every Assembly 5-11 years published by Out of the Ark Music (1998) tel: 01932 232 250. There is a book and tape pack or a book and CD pack.

To view the above material and to listen to the song 'Build Up' from Fischy Music, please contact the Centre for Education for Racial Equality in Scotland (CERES) on 0131 651 6371 or e-mail ceres@ed.ac.uk

Time:
Part One: 15 minutes.
Part Two: 15 minutes.

Suitable for:
P 3-7.

Part one:

  1. Make up some statements that fall into these two categories:

    (a) Things said (for example in the playground) that make me go 'Hmmmm' (e.g. 'I like your shoes', 'You were great last night at football')

    (b) Things said (for example in the playground) which make me go 'Ouch' (e.g. 'You smell', 'You are stupid')
  2. Scrunch up these statements and place them on the stage or floor near the front.
  3. Ask for a pupil volunteer and allow the pupil to wear a janitor's jacket.
  4. Ask the pupil to pick up some of these scrunched papers and read them out.
  5. Ask where these comments might come from and who might say them?
  6. After this, ask the pupils to add comments they have heard and select a senior pupil to write the comments on the big card or flipchart paper.
  7. In the meantime, point to the pile of bricks that you have placed on the stage or at the front and ask some pupils to come forward and build a tower or towers from those bricks.
  8. Play the song 'Sticks and Stones' and let pupils join in. Pupils may not know this song, so you will need time to allow children to become familiar with the words and actions.
  9. Learning Point: Words we say have an effect and can hurt or make us happy.
  10. Casually knock down the bricks and ask pupils to build them up again. Knock them down again. Build them up again.
  11. Play the tune 'Build Up' by Fischy Music. The point here is that even though we are down, we can pick ourselves up again.

Part two:
Now move on to talk about sectarianism. Within this section of the assembly, pupils are provided an opportunity to consider:

  • what sectarianism and religious intolerance is
  • why they think it happens
  • what the effects of sectarianism and bigotry are
  • who does it

[Go to the U-18 or Youth Worker section on this site to assist you with the above section.]

  1. Pupils are also asked to consider the assumptions we often make about each other.

    For example: If a child moves into an area and supports Celtic, is there an assumption about their faith or which school they might go to?

    What other assumptions do we make because of people's faith, skin colour, accent, where they come from and so on?
  2. Within Carmyle, it is then stressed that while Carmyle is not a Catholic school, it is not a Protestant school (some children are quite taken aback by this). This part may need to adapted to suit different schools and their context.
  3. The assembly concludes with reminding pupils they have a choice. They can choose to act against sectarianism and religious bigotry and they can continue with adult attitudes and prejudices.
  4. The assembly concludes with the song 'Sometimes I Wonder' ('The Suffering Song').

There have been very positive reactions from parents on the work Carmyle Primary has done within their anti-sectarian work.