What's included in the Maha Shivaratri Whole School Assembly PowerPoint resource and why is it useful?

Maha Shivaratri Whole School Assembly PowerPoint is a slideshow that introduces children to the Hindu festival known as the Great Night of Shiva. The content includes 9 slides with teacher notes, covering what Maha Shivaratri is, who Shiva is, the story of Neelkanth, light overcoming darkness, how Maha Shivaratri is celebrated, a moment to reflect and follow-up activities. It links to RE learning about Hinduism.

The Story of Neelkanth

How Shiva drank a dangerous poison so it would not spread, turning his throat blue, and what the story teaches us about courage and protecting others, with questions such as "Why is helping others sometimes a sign of strength?"

Light and Darkness

Why the festival celebrates light being stronger than darkness, and how Hindus mark the night by visiting temples, praying, singing, fasting and staying awake to reflect, asking "What is one way you can show inner strength this week?"

Let's Learn More

Follow-up ideas, including artwork showing light overcoming darkness, designing a symbol of inner strength and comparing Maha Shivaratri with another festival of light.

How do our whole school assemblies work?

Our whole school assemblies are PowerPoint slideshows that follow a similar structure: an introduction, questions to get children thinking, the key points of the topic and reflection time. They're paced to suit a primary school assembly and work best on a whiteboard, projected out to the hall. You can use them:

• as a whole school assembly, from EYFS up to KS2
• as a class assembly
• as a teaching PowerPoint when you want to cover an event or topic in your own classroom

The majority of our assemblies include teacher notes and guidance to support delivery, and because they're pacey, you can adapt them to however long your assembly lasts.

Adapting the Assembly for Your School

Every assembly is editable, so you can add, remove or change slides to suit the needs of your school. We cover religious events, seasonal topics, values such as kindness, friendship and tolerance, science, history, PSHE, music, significant people and sporting events, so you can choose the assemblies that fit your school year.

Supporting Learning at Home

Families can carry the conversation on at home by asking children about their assembly: what they heard, how it made them feel and what they think about it.

You can explore more of our whole school assembly resources here.