I have been leading collective worship in schools for over 20 years, and have a considerable stack of stored ideas. I am sharing them here gradually, so that anyone who wants them can steal them. I stole most of them in the first place, I am sure, and what goes around comes around!
They are fairly rough - definitely half-baked in some cases - but they have actually all been delivered. However, as you are all brilliant people I am confident you will be able to finish baking them yourselves so they fit your context.
I don't go in for gimmicks, puppets, or rely on data-projected clips (many schools don't have the facilities to show them, and if the technology doesn't work on the day, you are well and truly stuffed!), or plays that require half the school to rehearse for weeks beforehand. Props are kept to a minimum - firstly, I don't drive, so what I can't carry, I can't use, and secondly, they often distract more than they help, especially with small children. You are the prop, as you tell the story, acting out, involving etc.
I have tried to put sensible words in the title of each post, so that you can search by story name, or by theme. The school I most often lead collective worship in plans its assemblies according to the SEAL themes - Social and Emotional Aspects of Learning.
BIBLE STORY SUGGESTIONS You can find a spreadsheet listing themes and Bible stories we use at my local school - not fully worked out assemblies - here.
Useful resources
The Barnabus Schools/Childrens Bible is a very good retelling of a wide range of Bible stories, including some of the gory ones which are often edited out of childrens' Bibles! It's a good resource to help you think about how you will tell a story, and useful in school for teachers who may not know the stories of the Bible all that well. There is quite a bit of information in the back about various Biblical topics too.
The Lion First Bible is good too, suitable for younger children than than the Barnabus Bible above. It doesn't have as many stories, but those it has are well told and well illustrated. It would make a good Baptism present.
The Book of Books, by Trevor Dennis, is an excellent retelling of a selection of Bible stories. He is a very knowledgeable and articulate Biblical scholar and this shines through his versions of the story, which bring out in subtle but clear ways not only the stories, but the points that their original authors wanted to communicate. I highly recommend this for older children and for adults. The stories are very readable, but they also form a good starting point for your own telling of a story.
The Stapleford Centre have quite a lot of new resources available for download - things with titles like "40 Creative ideas for teaching RE" and "40 creative ideas for Reflective Spaces". There are some free samples on offer - for unlimited access there is a one-off subscription of £40. From what I have seen these are useful resources, so well worth a look.
I'm the parish priest of St Peter and St Paul, Seal. I've been in post here since 2006, having previous served in various parishes in Gosport and as a Deanery Schools worker.
I am married to Philip, a bassoon-playing retired physics teacher, and I have two grown-up children from my first marriage.