Blank Page...

Another cheat blog...
This time is this morning's welcome service for the new Year 7's at National Academy, which was conducted at St Mary's in the town.

The theme was "Blank Page", encouraging young people to use the fresh start and the blank page that is in front of them...

Slide one -    
intro me…
Youth Worker at the Methodist church across the road; Part of the chaplaincy team in the school; A year ago, I’d never been in this church… My first job in the team was to stand here this time last year…

Slide two -
Question:
If I were to give you a blank piece of paper, with no limits to what you could do with it, no guidelines to say what you have to do, what might you come up with?
(Select one person from each house to come and sit at a table with a blank piece of         paper, and a host of supplies, and let them come up with something)

Slide three -
Hands up if your first thought was to write something?
Hands up if your first thought was to draw something?
Hands up if your first thought was to cut it into a shape?
Hands up if you first thought was to fold it to create something?
Hands up if you wouldn’t know where to start?
I’m not much of an artist in the realms of drawing or painting… I can make a penguin by using origami techniques… If I tried to cut it into a real shape I’d be as likely to end up cutting myself…
I’m a words sort of person. I would want to write, but I usually need to know where         to start… Ideas don’t always come easily to me!

Slide four -
David Ayer… “The most terrifying thing in my life is a blank sheet of paper”
Writer of the Suicide Squad movie and the first “The Fast and the Furious” too.
Writers struggle with a blank page… It’s daunting…
Blank pages are scary. New days, new opportunities, and what comes next is also pretty terrifying!
I’d hope you’re beginning to find your way round, and know what to expect by now, but that doesn’t change the fact that each day brings with it new opportunities, new challenges and chances. And it’s up to you what you want to do with it, and how you respond to what’s coming.
Some of you may still be struggling with the new opportunities that are coming your way. Secondary school is a different beast to Primary school. You knew who you were, you knew what was expected of you, you knew what it was all about.
Today I want to encourage you to grasp the blank sheet of paper that you have been given with a new start… What do you want to happen?

Slide five -
Intro Robbie Novak, AKA Kid President
I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of Robbie Novak, but he is one of my heroes. His mission is to change the world, to make it, in his words “more awesome”. In his quest he has met up with Tom Hanks, Beyonce and Barack Obama (among others), looking to get their support and endorsement for making the world a better place.
Robbie Novak is 12, but goes by a different name… He is Kid President
I’m not really a big youtuber, but I subscribe to Kid President. Kid President regularly releases videos of ideas that he has with others (including celebs) as to how we can make a difference. This video is him having been inspired by a trip to the Charles Schulz museum, to visit a tribute to the legacy of the creator of Snoopy…

Slide six -
Kid President - Life is like a Comic - Video

Slide seven -
What have our friends come up with?
(Check out the previously blank pages of the YP)

Slide eight -
So what are you going to fill your boxes with?
Awesome or Awful?
“Things won’t always be awesome, but our response can be”  -  KP

Slide nine -
As a church school you have this motto that keeps cropping up…
“I have come that you may have life, and have it to the full”
Fill your boxes with life. Fill it with the good things. Respond to the awful with         awesomeness.