What is it that the very best assemblies do at the very start?

Of course there are many answers to that question, but there are two answers that always seem to stand out.

Two issues which, if met, really enhance the chances of the children understanding and remembering the core message within the Assembly.

First there is the issue of how the assembly starts, which determines how much focus the child gives to the proceedings that follow.. And second there is the way the child’s attention is kept which of course determines if the child follows the proceedings all the way through.

Obviously you don’t need me to tell you this, but the problem is that with the pressure to think up a new assembly every day it is occasionally possible to focus primarily on what the assembly is about, rather than how one is gaining and holding attention.

It was in thinking about this issue of not only providing assemblies that deliver an important and interesting message to the children about their lives, but also of producing assemblies that grabbed and held attention, that my colleagues and I began to work on the AssemblyBox.

We wanted to create assemblies that were original, which met the social and emotional needs of the children who attend them, and which grabbed and held the children’s focus from the start to the finish.

In working through this idea we have produced a set of over 350+ assemblies, each of which is instantly available and fully scripted and have a range of supporting materials to really capture attention and boost engagement.