Year 4 Class Assembly: Lessons in Perseverance

During their class assembly this Monday, Year 4 pupils talked about perseverance—that very important character trait that helps us keep trying at something even when things are difficult. 

Showing the importance of not giving up, the pupils acted out a scene using Aesop’s Fable ‘The Tortoise and the Hare’, imagining what would have happened if the Tortoise didn’t even try to race the hare. His only mistake would have been letting his fear prevent him from trying. The children then demonstrated how, in the actual story, the Tortoise slowly and steadily persevered to win the race over the much faster Hare. 

Then the class talked about some real-life examples of perseverance that included Sir Isaac Newton who struggled at school but, propelled by curiosity, kept going, and now will forever be remembered for his work on gravity, motion, colour, light and calculus. Ludwig Van Beethoven became one of the most well-known classical composers despite being told by his music teacher that he was hopeless at composing! And did you know that J.K. Rowling sent her first Harry Potter book to 6 different publishers before it was finally accepted? Now, more than 400 million copies of her books have been sold around the world. Inventor Thomas Edison endured failure after failure before his inventions worked. In the same way, the Wright brothers, whom the pupils have been studying in class, found success in aviation because of their persistence in overcoming failure. 

These inspiring stories of perseverance have helped the Year 4 pupils to think about how they are going to persevere at some of the things they like but find challenging. A very encouraging and helpful message to start the week!  Thank you and well done to Year 4.