Conduct a Friendship Assembly for KS1 and KS2
Putting on a friendship assembly for primary schools is a fantastic leavers' assembly idea and makes for a great all-round performance. However, if you don’t know where to start, don’t worry – at The School Musicals Company, our team’s aim is always not only to make assemblies as engaging as possible but also to make them educational with a range of supporting assembly songs.
Our guide to running a friendship assembly for KS1 and KS2 students can teach children a valuable lesson or two, from how to be a fantastic friend to understanding the importance of empathy and kindness.
How to Run a Friendship Assembly for KS1 and KS2 Students
Here, we’ve put together some ideas for how you should conduct your friendship assembly for primary schools. Take a look and get stuck in!
1. Think of the objectives
When planning your friendship assembly for primary schools, you need to keep a few objectives in mind. Here are some example aims:
- Think about what it means to be a good friend
- Consider how to build strong friendships with others
- Celebrate diversity
- Encourage teamwork and trust
- Enhance communication skills
Once you’ve chosen your main objectives, you can start to work your friendship assembly’s story around them.
2. Ask the children questions
When running a friendship assembly for primary school children, asking open-ended, thoughtful questions that encourage students to engage in reflection, discussion, and empathy is valuable. Here are some questions that could help children facilitate meaningful conversations and messages during the assembly:
- What is friendship?
- What makes someone a good friend?
- What does it mean to be loyal?
- How can you show kindness to others?
- How can you make others feel included?
- What can you do if you spot someone sitting alone?
- Why is it important to understand how someone else might feel?
- Why is it important to share and take turns with friends?
You could ask the children these questions in the friendship assembly and allow the audience to listen to a range of thoughtful responses.
3. Cover key topics
In line with your objectives, consider what key topics you want to cover and get the children to discuss them. For example, your children could discuss the best qualities of a good friend, how to resolve conflicts, and what acts of kindness they can do on a daily basis.
To go a step further, you could incorporate these key topics into short stories that the children could act out. This is a great drama workshop idea for anyone with a class who loves putting on a show.
4. Throw in some songs
It wouldn’t be a friendship assembly without a few light-hearted songs to go with it! Friendship songs provide a fantastic way to engage children and add another layer to the assembly.
For example, our 'You, Me & PSHE' assembly collection offers plenty of brilliant PSHE songs which are both thought-provoking and memorable.
If you want to make the performance truly memorable, you may want to try directing one of our popular musicals for schools; we have plenty of options that incorporate strong friendship elements.
5. Plan some interactive assembly activities
Visual aids: Adding interactive activities is another idea for your friendship assembly for primary school children. For example, you could show a video about friendship and then ask open-ended questions to encourage reflection in your class.
Friendship pledge: You could also have your children participate in creating a friendship pledge, asking them to think of a promise they can make to be better friends. For example, this could be something as simple as “I promise to show more kindness to others by sharing my toys”.
Friendship web: Try the friendship web game. In this engaging activity, each child says something nice about another classmate. At the same time, a piece of string is passed between them to create a web of connections, representing how interconnected friendships can be. This activity is perfect for smaller groups and can help get all students involved!
Read poems: In another scenario, the children could each read a poem or read one big poem together in an effort to tell a friendship story. Not only can this be entertaining and share values of friendship, but it can also improve children’s writing and reading skills!
6. Go out with a bang
You can do several things to close your friendship assembly for KS1 and KS2 students. Still, we certainly recommend trying to reflect on the key messages you wanted to communicate throughout the performance.
Summarise the main points and ask one final question the children and audience can take away with them, such as “What will you do today to be a good friend?”.
Remember to thank the audience for watching!
Examples of Friendship in Our School Musicals
At The School Musicals Company, we have a fantastic selection of musicals that you can choose from to support your friendship learning objectives.
The Wind in the Willows is a well-known story about Mole, Ratty, and Badger’s attempt to help Toad, who finds himself in trouble. The whole musical details a group of close friends supporting one another, which is great for getting KS1 children thinking about how they can lend a helping hand to each other.
The Wizard of Oz is a famous story following a young girl and her dog as they find themselves in a strange new land with the Scarecrow, Tin Woodman and Lion. While the story suggests you should always go after your heart’s desire, it emphasises how having dependable friends to support you can help you overcome obstacles. This makes it a fantastic story idea for a friendship assembly for KS2 students.
Another favourite is The Jungle Book, in which a human child, Mowgli, forges strong bonds with the animals who raise and care for him, such as the wolves, Baloo, and Bagheera. These friendships are integral to Mowgli’s journey in the jungle, especially when they face the threat of a menacing tiger, Shere Khan.
The writers of Pantastic pulled it out of the bag again with A-la-la-la-la-laddin, an exhilarating musical for 9-13-year-olds. The story includes elements of friendship between characters such as Aladdin and the Genie, as well as Kalil, who advises Aladdin to stay true to himself.
Start Planning Your Friendship Assembly for Primary Schools
Now that you have a better idea about how to run a friendship assembly for primary schools, it’s time to turn the spotlight on your students and let them shine! Remember, you can put on a friendship assembly at any time of the year, so you may want to browse other assembly songs to support your performance, such as summer songs, everyday tunes, and leavers' lyrics.
Discover our range of KS1 and KS2 assembly songs, discover our friendship songs download pack, or check out our musicals for primary schools to end the school term on a bang. Any questions? Feel free to contact us today!