Assemblies Online Secondary

Play one of the following songs as students and staff enter the hall:

Mr Success by Frank Sinatra (1958). Available on the album Eee-o 11: The Best of the Rat Pack (Capitol, 2001) Born To Run by Bruce Springsteen (1975). Available on the album Born To Run (Columbia, 1975)
Run by Snow Patrol (2004). Also available on the album Final Straw (Polydor, 2004)
Keep On Running by the Spencer Davis Group (1965). Available on the album The Best of the Spencer Davis Group (Universal / Island, 1992)

Alternatively, you could use Opening Activity: Perseverance (see below) as a pre-assembly mood-setter. If you are using it before the assembly, use the Perseverance Loop PowerPoint, which has been set to continuously repeat until you end it by pressing the 'Esc' key on your computer.

[You will need to use the Perseverance PowerPoint with this activity]

Display the PowerPoint of people and things which take a long time to achieve their goal. It is set so that the slides automatically change without you having to press any buttons (although you can click through manually if you prefer a quicker page turnover).

Accompany the PowerPoint with one of the following songs:

Don't Stop Me Now by McFly (2006) or by Queen (1979)
Bring It All Back by S Club 7 (1999)

The PowerPoint slides are as follows:

[PowerPoint Slide 1] Title page.
[PowerPoint Slide 2] Michelangelo took four years to paint the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Typical builder - he had promised to have it finished for the weekend.
[PowerPoint Slide 3] The football World Cup was invented by Frenchman Jules Rimet in 1930. He had to wait until 1998 for his own nation to win the cup… by which time he had been dead for 42 years.
[PowerPoint Slide 4] The poet John Milton began writing 'Paradise Lost' in 1658. The poem was finally published in 1667. Maybe he should have stuck to limericks.
[PowerPoint Slide 5] A pregnant elephant carries her unborn calf for 22 months before giving birth. For the last six months, the calf keeps asking, 'are we nearly there yet?'
[PowerPoint Slide 6] The marathon was inspired by an ancient Greek soldier who ran 26 miles from Marathon to Athens to announce victory over the Persians. He had already run 150 miles in two days, seeking help from the Spartans for the battle. Top that, Paula Radcliffe!
[PowerPoint Slide 7] To win the Tour de France, a cyclist has to ride more than 1864 miles in 23 days. Preferably with a padded saddle.
[PowerPoint Slide 8] Wembley Stadium was demolished in 2000, and due to reopen after rebuilding in 2003. It was finally ready for use in March 2007. That's what you call 'extra time'.
[PowerPoint Slide 9] It would take a typical snail just over 4 days to do a lap of honour around the pitch at Wembley Stadium. Longer if it stopped to wave to fans.

Once the PowerPoint finishes, explain that in today's assembly you are looking at the concept of success, and in particular looking at the kind of success that requires, like the things in the PowerPoint, patience and perseverance. 

Ask for two volunteers to compete in a gruelling head to head challenge, requiring skill, cunning and ruthless competitiveness. Once you have your volunteers, reveal that the game they are to compete in is Rock, Paper, Scissors. Explain the rules: players count to three before simultaneously revealing whether they have selected rock (a clenched fist), paper (an open hand) or scissors (two fingers parted in a V shape). Rock always beats scissors, paper always beats rock, scissors always beats paper. In the event of both players throwing the same choice, nobody scores a point. For a fuller explanation of the rules (plus a strategy guide!) go to http://www.worldrps.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=14&Itemid=31

Depending on how much time you have, play either best of 3 (first to 2 points wins), or best of 5 (first to 3 points wins).

Congratulate the winner on their success (and commiserate with the loser). Explain that in the rest of the assembly, you are going to be thinking about success, and in particular what success is and how it is achieved. 

Arrange in advance for a volunteer, probably a member of staff rather than a student, who doesn't mind carrying out a physical activity during the assembly. Make sure that they are suitably attired, and explain to the students that you have set your volunteer a challenge to run around the edge of the room where you are meeting a set number of times before the end of the assembly. You should decide how many laps must be completed according to the size of your room and the duration of the assembly. Make the challenge achievable, but encourage the volunteer to pace themselves so that they don't finish too quickly. Appoint another volunteer as lap counter, then carry on with the rest of the assembly. If you use this activity, refer to your volunteer at appropriate points during the talk, and make sure they get a good round of applause at the end of the assembly if they are successful. 

Play the following clip from the film Run Fat Boy Run (Entertainment In Video, 2007, certificate 15)

Start time: 1.24.45 (beginning of chapter 14 of the DVD)
End time: 1.27.18
Clip length: Two minutes and 33 seconds

The clip starts with Dennis (Simon Pegg) approaching the finishing line with a large crowd watching him. The first line is someone in the crowd shouting, 'C'mon Dennis!' The clip ends as the commentator says, '…tonight, he goes home a hero!'

If you are unable to show the clip, say the following as an alternative. 'As Dennis approaches the finishing line, he falters. He's completely exhausted, his legs won't hold him up and he slumps in a heap on the ground. No matter how much the crowd tries to encourage him, nothing makes a difference, until he sees Libby and Jake arrive at the finish line, waiting for him. New energy surges through his limbs, and he sprints across the line and into Libby's arms. The commentator sums it up with the words, "This morning Dennis Doyle was a humble shop worker from North London. Tonight he goes home a hero."' 

[Use the Success and Failure Run Fat Boy Run Talk PowerPoint with this presentation]

[PowerPoint Slide 1]
What does success mean for you? [click] Some people think success is having lots of money, [click] or being popular with the opposite sex. [click] Some people think that success means being simply the best, better than all the rest. [click] Some football teams regard it as a success just to avoid relegation, while others aren't satisfied unless they are winning major trophies every season. How do we define success?

[PowerPoint Slide 2]
Let me suggest another definition of success: Finding a task that is worth doing, sticking with it and seeing it through. We're going to watch a film clip of someone who was trying to do just that. The film Run Fat Boy Run tells the story of a man called Dennis, played by Simon Pegg. Five years ago, Dennis ran out on Libby, his pregnant girlfriend, on their wedding day, unable to face the commitment that marriage demanded of him. During the course of the film he decides to win Libby back, by taking part in a marathon to prove his love and commitment to her and their son Jake. The clip we're going to watch comes towards the end of the big race. Early on in the race, Dennis has been injured. Nevertheless, even though all the other runners have long-since finished the race, Dennis is determined to see it through.

[Play the clip from Run Fat Boy Run (Entertainment In Video, 2007, certificate 15):

Start time: 1.24.45 (beginning of chapter 14 of the DVD)
End time: 1.27.18
Clip length: Two minutes and 33 seconds

The clip starts with Dennis approaching the finishing line with a large crowd watching him. The first line is someone in the crowd shouting, 'C'mon Dennis!' The clip ends as the commentator says, '…tonight, he goes home a hero!'

If you are unable to show the clip, say the following as an alternative. 'As Dennis approaches the finishing line, he falters. He's completely exhausted, his legs won't hold him up and he slumps in a heap on the ground. No matter how much the crowd tries to encourage him, nothing makes a difference, until he sees Libby and Jake arrive at the finish line, waiting for him. New energy surges through his limbs, and he sprints across the line and into Libby's arms. The commentator sums it up with the words, "This morning Dennis Doyle was a humble shop worker from North London. Tonight he goes home a hero".']

Finish the race; get the girl; go home a hero. Is that success? Sticking it out to the end, seeing the job through? Saint Paul, who wrote several letters in the New Testament would probably agree with that. Here's what he wrote towards the end of his life:

[PowerPoint Slide 3]
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
2 Timothy 4:6-8
(Today's New International Version)

[PowerPoint Slide 4]
Like Dennis, Paul had a goal in mind, he had a task that he was determined to complete. Whereas Dennis wanted to win back the heart of the woman he loved, Paul wanted to tell people about Jesus, to tell them what God had done in his life and what he could do in theirs. [click] For Paul, the race wasn't a mere 26 miles, it was a lifetime of commitment to God, a lifetime of devoting himself to God's work. [click] Paul compares himself to a 'drink offering'. Many ancient religions, including Judaism, which Paul was brought up in, have the concept of drink offerings. Put simply, it means pouring some or all of a drink out as a sacrifice. Sometimes it would be poured onto the ground, sometimes onto an altar, but it always means not drinking the offering yourself, but sacrificing it to the god being worshipped. When Paul compares himself to a drink offering, he means that he is completely spent, that he has given everything at his disposal, his whole life, for the sake of his task. If you want to know what that looked like, it's probably a lot like Dennis as he collapsed to the ground in the film clip. It's total commitment to the cause.

[PowerPoint Slide 5]
But Dennis found the extra energy to keep going when he saw Libby and Jake waiting for him; so did Paul. For Paul, the prospect of his reward in heaven kept him going. [click] Paul talks about being given a 'crown of righteousness' as his reward, but he isn't claiming that this prize is uniquely his - it belongs to everybody who follows Jesus faithfully to the end. [click] Paul's sense of what it meant to be a success wasn't based on beating other people, or being better than everyone around him. Paul was only concerned with one thing: being faithful with the work that God had given him to do; seeing it through to the end of his life; finishing the race. That's success.

[PowerPoint Slide 6]
Do you have a goal in life? Is there something that you are aiming for, something worth committing yourself to, something worth sticking with no matter what it costs you? Success can be measured in lots of different ways, but you've got to know what you are aiming for. [click] Someone once said, 'if you aim at nothing, you will be sure to hit it.' That's slightly naff, but there's a lot of truth in it. [click] Success only comes if we know what we are aiming for, and if we are committed to seeing the job through to the end. What's your idea of success? 

[Use the Success and Failure Run Fat Boy Run Talk PowerPoint with this presentation]

[PowerPoint Slide 1]
What does success mean for you?

• [click] Having lots of money?
• [click] Popular with the opposite sex?
• [click] Being the best?
• [click] Football teams - some need to win trophies, others happy to avoid relegation How do we define success?

[PowerPoint Slide 2]
Another definition of success: find something worth doing, then seeing it through.

Introduce clip from Run Fat Boy Run (Entertainment In Video, 2007, certificate 15)

• Five years ago Dennis (Simon Pegg) ran out on his wedding day
• Decides to win back his jilted ex-fiancée
• Tries to prove his love by running a marathon
• Dennis injured early in the race, but keeps going
• Here, he approaches the finishing line

Play clip

Seeing the job through. Is that success?
Here's what Saint Paul wrote in the New Testament:

[PowerPoint Slide 3]
For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time for my departure is near. I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day-and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
2 Timothy 4:6-8
(Today's New International Version)

[PowerPoint Slide 4]
Paul, like Dennis, had a goal

• Paul wanted to tell people about Jesus
• [click] Paul's race wasn't 26 miles, it was a lifetime
• [click] 'Drink offering' - a sacrifice to God
• Paul offered his whole life to God's service - total commitment

[PowerPoint Slide 5]
Dennis motivated by seeing Libby and Jake at finishing line
[click] Paul motivated by the prospect of his reward for finishing

• [click] Crown of righteouness
• [click] Paul's success can be shared - it's not competitive

[PowerPoint Slide 6]
Do you have a goal in life?
Got to know what you are aiming for
[click] 'If you aim at nothing, you will be sure to hit it.'
Success:

• [click] know what you want to do
• Keep going until you do it

What's your idea of success? 

Dear God, thank you for the example of Paul, who remained faithful throughout his life, and who finished the task that you gave him to do. Help us to work out what the goal of our lives should be, and to see those ambitions through to the end. Amen. 

Have you ever seen a difficult task through to the end, rather than just giving up? How did it feel to finally complete what you had set out to do? Are you someone who tends to stick with things, or someone who tends to give up? How do you feel about that - would you like to be different in that regard. If so, what could you do to change things?
 

If you want to include singing as part of your assembly, you might like to consider one or more of the following songs:

Be Thou My Vision (42, Songs of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003)
Fight The Good Fight (107, Songs of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003)
O Jesus I Have Promised (418, Songs of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003)
I Will Offer Up My Life (851, Songs of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003)
Will You Come And Follow Me (1120, Songs of Fellowship combined edition, Kingsway 2003) 

Ask the students to think about their goals in life - what do they want to achieve? What is their idea of a successful life? Encourage them to spend some time working out what they want to achieve, and what they can be doing now to work towards that success.