What's included in The Night Sky Whole School Assembly PowerPoint resource and why is it useful?

The Night Sky Whole School Assembly PowerPoint is a slideshow that explores the Moon, stars, planets and constellations that people have wondered about for thousands of years. The content includes 11 slides with teacher notes, covering what we can see in the night sky, why the night sky changes, stories written in the stars, different cultures and their skies, the night sky in Britain, the night sky today, exploring the night sky yourself, follow-up activities and a final reflection. It links to science learning about Earth and space.

What Can We See?

The changing shape of the Moon, stars, planets that shine steadily and constellations such as Orion and Cygnus, with questions such as "If you looked up tonight, which object would you most hope to see?"

Stories and Stonehenge

The Greek story of Orion, the Chinese story of the Weaver Girl and the Cowherd, and how ancient monuments such as Stonehenge were aligned with the movements of the Sun.

Explore the Night Sky Yourself

How telescopes and spacecraft help scientists today, and simple ways to explore, from spotting the phases of the Moon to using a star map with an adult, ending with "If you could spend one night exploring the sky, what would you hope to see?"

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.