If your pupils are unfamiliar with the Superbook TV series you may find it helpful to tell them that the clips they will see in this assembly come from this series of TV programmes in which two children (Chris and Joy) together with their robot friend (Gizmo) go on adventures back in time, where they meet characters from the Bible and explore their stories.

If appropriate you could draw the parallel with the Oxford Reading Tree adventures of Biff, Chip and Kipper, and their magic key.

As Jesus faced the cross he cried out in prayer. An angel came and strengthened him. He was able to keep going. This reflection integrates a PE activity with the assembly. It will need to be adjusted as appropriate to the age of your pupils. It uses an energetic activity which helps the participants to discover the importance of keeping going, even when the task seems hopeless, and hopelessly unfair.

In advance, download the document Keeping Going and select which of the six activities (star jumps, press-ups, sit-ups, squat thrusts, bounces or head balance turns) are appropriate for your pupils and how many you want to use (which determines the number of participants in each team and the length of the activity). Cut out the appropriate cards and put each one in an envelope making a set of envelopes for each team. Now put a sequential number on each envelope within each team, but crucially order them so that, although each team has the same cards, one team has all the cards requiring one activity before the cards requiring five activities (whereas the other has the fives before the ones). Set up an area of the room like a relay beep test, with a start line at which the team members wait and a set of envelopes at the other end – in order.

As appropriate to your pupils select two teams, ensure they understand the actions on the cards, go through a short warm up if required, and set the time goal they must seek to beat as each member, in turn, runs up to the envelopes, opens one and does what it says (eg five star jumps) before running back and tagging the next team member so they can do the same, opening the next envelope etc. (According to the age of your pupils you may need to manage the opening of the envelopes and carrying out of the actions).

If you have got the activities, distance and timing right, the team that begins with the fives will immediately fall behind the one that begins with the ones, and may be tempted to give up, thinking they will never complete all the tasks within the target time. But if they keep going they will find that the task evens out and is achievable after all.

Afterwards, reflect on the exercise and what they may have learned from it, such as:

• Many things in life do not seem fair, others seem to have an unfair advantage, but perhaps there will be some final justice in the end?
• Often we feel like giving up when a task seems unachievable, but if we keep going we might find that we are able to achieve it after all.

As appropriate, apply this to the video of Jesus in Gethsemane. Did he feel like giving up, thinking the task of going to the cross was too great for him? What enabled him to keep going?