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Think back to your school days and the mere mention of school assemblies might automatically bring back thoughts of boredom as you tried to stifle a yawn, or willed the minutes to tick by on the school hall clock to end the chanting of hymns.

School assemblies can and should be fun! Not only should an assembly be entertaining for your students, but assemblies also need to be fun for teachers to give.

We have gathered together some fun school assembly ideas to inspire you:

1- Involve other children

One quick way of instantly making school assemblies more interesting is to involve the students themselves - they will know what will most interest their peers, such as the latest trends, fashions and popular culture. Seeing other students involved in the assembly will make kids sit up and listen. If you showcase student talent, this will also serve to inspire other students watching on.

2- Music

There are sure to be talented students within your school who will be eager to perform in the school hall. Students are often forming bands, so if they haven’t, encourage them to do so. They can then perform at a special assembly.

3- Puppet shows

Puppet making is a great way of getting creative in the classroom. You can then use the puppets to perform a show during a school assembly. Use the opportunity to discuss a topic like bullying.

4- Awards

Students love getting rewards in the classroom and they work towards this. To add to the reward, going up in front of the school to collect their prize in an assembly will also add to their sense of achievement. 

5- Trophies

A physical keepsake like a school trophy will always impress and you can turn a school assembly into an awards ceremony. Use a screen for visual imagery displaying a short introduction for each award, a trophy table and some pageantry with a school band or orchestra or appropriate music on the sound system.

6- Badges

School badges will not only offer reward, but if the children continue to wear them, the privilege continues. Children respond well to being given responsibility, so highlight this with a sports team bar badge, or a shield badge design to reward academic achievement.

7- Sports

Sport is a great way of encouraging a healthy lifestyle and teaching your students how to work as a team, teach self-discipline and follow rules. Some possible avenues are sporting heroes, sporting history, world cups and telling true stories of human endurance. 

You could perhaps tie in an Olympic theme with an awards ceremony for your school sports day, with trophies or badges and encouraging all the students to congratulate each other.

8- Animals

A school hall offers a much more exciting space than the confines of a classroom. There are many wildlife experts that you can invite to the school to give demonstrations with their creatures and they will allow the students to get up close to the animals. You can even tie in some school singing on the theme. You don’t have to stick to the same old tunes - how about singing some songs from the Lion King or The Jungle Book?

9- First aid

You may have some students who are already members of St John’s Ambulance who might like to get involved with a demonstration. First aid training will provide essential skills and will hopefully spark up and interest for your pupils to want to learn more outside school.

10- Musical performance

As well as getting the students to play their musical instruments, you could also invite professional musicians to perform for your school. Perhaps a harpist will inspire your students, or a local jazz band will spark interest in taking up an instrument.

11- Magicians and entertaining science experiments

Magicians can cover educational topics without your students even realising they are learning. How about tricks involving gravity?

There are also science groups out there who will entertain the students with fun experiments to grab their attention!

12- Different professions

Nothing will motivate your students more than professions they aspire to work in when they grow up. Having different guests visit the school and speak in an assembly will enliven the subjects that they are studying in the classroom. The guests can span a wide range of professions from a footballer or police officer to a vet or a pilot.

13- Religious holidays

Religious holidays provide a topic for entertainment, alongside education. Learn about Jewish Rosh Hashanah by passing around plates of apple slices to dip in honey. 

Diwali offers the opportunity to decorate the assembly hall with bright colours and LED lights and your students can put on a performance with characters from the Diwali tradition. 

Dressed up characters can be a fun addition to the assembly hall at Christmas or Easter. Along with learning about these different beliefs, cultures and traditions, you can talk about the history behind the celebration. 

14- Earth Day

There are lots of resources online to help you prepare a fun school assembly based around Earth Day. You can focus on recycling, clean water, endangered species, safari, sea-life and marine biology to name a few. 

‘Sounds of the earth’ as a topic can involve musical instruments from around the world.

15- Remembrance Sunday

Events such as Remembrance Sunday can be a great opportunity to teach students about history of our country, as the World Wars will have no doubt impacted students’ own family down the generations. 

Perhaps play a poignant film to visually explain the importance of remembrance, or get your class to put on a themed performance. 

You could sing some old war time songs all together, or have some war poetry readings. This also provides the opportunity for some thought-provoking questions to provoke the students emotions. What would a school day during war time have been like?