Sample from ‘SEAL Assemblies KS1 and KS2’ by Maggie Walker www.futurelinkpublishing.co.uk
Theme 4 Going for goals: Assembly 2
You will need some upbeat music for this such as ‘ You Can Do It If You
Really Want ’ by Jimmy Cliff or anything the children suggest that makes them feel good about themselves. It is a good idea to use the same music for each of the assemblies in the same theme.
Ideas:
‘Girl reading a book’ Renoir, 1875
‘Marilyn’
Andy Warhol, 1964
Ideas:
‘You won’t get where you are going if you only travel on the sunny days.
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Ideas:
A flip chart and pens,
A group of children to do a short rehearsed dance routine (optional).
Theme 4: Assembly 2 – Just keep on dancing

Sample from ‘SEAL Assemblies KS1 and KS2’ by Maggie Walker www.futurelinkpublishing.co.uk
Introduction
Tell the children that this assembly is about going for goals. Goals are something that you really want to achieve or become better at. For instance, the children may have a goal to be better at spelling or football or maths, or they may want to play the guitar or learn how to do tricks on their skateboards.
Ask the children (and adults) to tell you about something they want to achieve.
The secret of achieving your goals is being clear about what you want and then working hard and keeping going, even when it seems tough or boring or just too much. Say that, if you give up, you will never achieve what you want.
When they listen to the story, ask the children to think what Sherona did that helped her to achieve her goal.
Ideas for making the story more interactive
If you have some good dancers ask them to dance every time Sherona dances in the story.
This story lends itself to some really funky background music which you could use every time Sherona dances. Ask the children to clap their hands and click their fingers. At the end all the children could get up and dance before settling down and being quiet for a minute.
Story
More than anything else in the world, Sherona wanted to be a dancer. When she was little she
Theme 4: Assembly 2 – Just keep on dancing

Sample from ‘SEAL Assemblies KS1 and KS2’ by Maggie Walker www.futurelinkpublishing.co.uk danced everywhere, in the yard, in her bedroom, even in the kitchen until
Mum got cross. Grandma loved to watch Sherona dance. ‘You’re the best dancer I’ve ever seen.’ she told her. At school, Sherona danced in the playground. If the teacher wasn’t looking, she even danced in the classroom.
When Sherona was in year three, a professional dancer called Scott came to the school assembly. He said he was going to pick some dancers to perform at the city summer festival, and that children who wanted to be auditioned should come to the hall at lunchtime. Sherona’s heart leapt.
She couldn’t believe it. What if he chose her? She imagined herself in a brilliant costume dancing high on a stage. This was what she had always wanted.
Then Scott said. ‘Auditions are only for children in year five and year six.’
Poor Sherona. She was so disappointed she felt like crying, but she didn’t. ‘Crying will never change a thing’, her mum always said to her,
‘only trying will make things different’.
At lunchtime the teacher let Sherona go to the hall to watch the audition.
Her best friend Natalie said,
‘What’s the point of watching if you can’t join in? Come and play with us in the playground.’ But Sherona shook her head.
‘Even if I can’t audition now’, she said, ‘I will in two years time, and I want to know how to do it’.
‘Suit yourself, then,’ said Natalie, and flounced off.
About twenty children came to the hall. Scott looked them over,
'I’m only going to need eight of you,’ he said, ‘and I’ll choose the eight who concentrate hardest, do what I do, let their bodies feel the music, and don’t give up’. Then he put the music on. It was so loud and the rhythm
Theme 4: Assembly 2 – Just keep on dancing

Sample from ‘SEAL Assemblies KS1 and KS2’ by Maggie Walker www.futurelinkpublishing.co.uk was so powerful that it was all Sherona could do to sit still. She longed to be dancing. But instead she watched Scott as he moved. She thought he was amazing.
He reached high, he crouched low, he moved his whole body, he turned and stepped and jumped. Sherona concentrated with all her might, trying to remember each of the moves he made, trying to feel the music inside her like he said. The twenty children watched Scott too as they danced.
They tried to follow the moves and keep to the rhythm.
After a while, some of them began to pant and look hot, some of them slowed down, but still Scott kept going. At last one of the children flopped down on the floor, then another and another. When at last Scott turned off the music, there were only eight children left dancing.
‘Great’, he said, ‘we’ve got our eight dancers. Each of you must practise every day and I’ll be here each week to teach you until the day of the festival.’ He didn’t see Sherona sitting quietly at the back of the hall.
Sherona kept the routine in her head and as soon as she got home she started practising. Every day she practised until her mum said,
‘Sherona, you can’t dance all the time. You have to do your homework and your reading. It’ll be no good being a dancer if you can’t read’. So
Sherona did her work and read her book and then she practised her routine again.
Sometimes it made her legs ache so that she longed to sit down.
Sometimes she kept getting it wrong and got angry with herself. But she never gave up. She did it so many times that Grandma could almost do it too.
At school, every lunchtime, Sherona went to the hall to watch the children doing the dance. Every week, when Scott came in she sat at the back and watched him too. Natalie got so fed up with having no one to play with
Theme 4: Assembly 2 – Just keep on dancing

Sample from ‘SEAL Assemblies KS1 and KS2’ by Maggie Walker www.futurelinkpublishing.co.uk that she told Sherona that she was going to be best friends with Keisha instead of her.
‘You’re no fun anymore’, she told her. Sherona was upset about Natalie.
She didn’t want to lose her best friend, but she knew that, for her, being a dancer was more important than anything else.
At last the Saturday of the festival arrived. The sun shone on the people strolling around in their bright clothes. The air was full of the smells of candyfloss and delicious spicy food. At two o’clock hundreds of people made their way to the big stage where the dancing was about to begin.
Sherona’s school was on first.
Sherona found a place at the front with Grandma and Mum and waited.
She saw Natalie sitting close by with Keisha but Natalie did not speak to her. She saw Scott and the dancers by the stage in their magnificent costumes, and then she saw there was something wrong. There were only seven dancers. Sherona heard someone say that one of the dancers was ill and couldn’t come. Scott and the dancers looked anxious.
There was a pause for a few minutes when Scott looked as if he didn't know what to do, then, to her amazement, Sherona saw Natalie go right up to Scott, say something to him, and point at her. Next minute, Scott was coming over to her. She couldn’t believe it when he asked her if it was true that she knew all the steps of the dance, but she didn't have a chance to reply because Grandma said, ‘I should think she does. She knows every bit of it. She’s the best dancer I’ve ever seen, even if she is only eight’.
‘OK, Sherona,’ said Scott, ‘I don’t think we can do this without you, so – will you do it?’ Sherona looked up at the stage. It was very high. Then she looked up at Scott, ‘Yes’, she said, ‘I’ll do it’. Scott smiled and led her over to the other dancers.
Theme 4: Assembly 2 – Just keep on dancing

Sample from ‘SEAL Assemblies KS1 and KS2’ by Maggie Walker www.futurelinkpublishing.co.uk
Somebody pulled a costume over Sherona’s head and then pinned it up because it was much too big. The other dancers walked before her up the steps and onto the stage. Sherona thought how big and glamorous they looked while she felt small and terrified. Her legs trembled, her heart was beating so loud that she thought everyone would hear it. From the stage she could see a sea of smiling faces. She could see Mum and Grandma, beaming and waving, she could see Natalie and Keisha with their thumbs up. She could even hear Natalie shouting, ‘You can do it, Sherona’. She remembered that this moment was what she had waited for all her life, and when Scott said ‘Ready?’ she took a deep breath and nodded. He put the music on and
Sherona danced.
If you have a group of dancers ready now is the time to let them do their dance.
Conclusion
Now ask the children what helped Sherona to achieve her goal? Chart what they say. Try to ensure that they include:
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 knowing what she wanted practising over and over again watching Scott and the other children concentrating and remembering listening being brave when she was scared never giving up
Ask them:
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Who do you think encouraged Sherona and how?
At what points do you think Sherona might have felt like giving up?
Why do you think that Mum told Sherona she must do her school work as well as her dancing?
Theme 4: Assembly 2 – Just keep on dancing

Sample from ‘SEAL Assemblies KS1 and KS2’ by Maggie Walker www.futurelinkpublishing.co.uk
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Can you describe Natalie's feelings through the story, including at the end?
Now ask the children to be very quiet and still and think very hard about something they would like to be better at; it could be being a better friend or being kinder or being better at their reading or writing. It could be something they want to achieve more than anything else, like Sherona and her dancing. Now ask them to think of just one thing or two things that might help them to achieve what they want.
Ask them to keep those thoughts in their heads as they leave the assembly and the music plays.
Theme 4: Assembly 2 – Just keep on dancing