15 Most Popular Assembly Songs
Many schools incorporate singing and music into their assemblies, but why? Well, singing songs in school assemblies can build a sense of community and belonging among students and teachers alike, while boosting self-esteem and offering a creative means of self-expression.
Music in a school assembly is like a social glue that sticks us all together and helps us feel good, releasing ‘happy hormones’ and even helping us understand difficult topics. There are many benefits of singing songs at school, especially as a group.
But how do you choose an assembly song when they’re all so good? In this blog, we’ve listed our 15 most popular school assembly songs of all time to inspire you to jump in and explore our collection for yourself!
Most Popular Assembly Songs
1. Thank You For A Million Brilliant Things
What better way to start the school day than by practising some group gratitude? Thank You For A Million Brilliant Things, written by Matthew Crossey and Tom Kirkham, encourages KS1 students to recognise everything they have to be thankful for. Part of our Every Day Assembly pack, this uplifting assembly song guides children in celebrating their daily blessings, big and small, from the food they have to eat to the friends they get to meet!
2. Spread A Little Bit Of Sunshine
Joyful and upbeat, Spread A Little Bit Of Sunshine is a perfect assembly song for primary schools. Belting out lyrics like “To see a friend beside us can make us feel like new” will have your students beaming and cheerful for the rest of the day! That’s why we’ve included this tune in Songs To Start The Day, one of our most optimistic song packs, and why Spread A Little Bit Of Sunshine is one of our most popular school assembly songs.
3. Proud Of Our School
Proud Of Our School is one of our favourite assembly songs and a hit with KS2 teachers up and down the country! Community is a huge part of feeling like we belong, and singing this song is a wonderful way to start talking about how we can show up and try our best at school every day. It’s such a motivational song for students that we also suggest singing Proud Of Our School in the spring, when the world is waking up and starting fresh.
4. The Best That I Can Be
Few everyday school assembly songs are more optimistic and motivational than The Best That I Can Be, which empowers students to bring their A-game, use their natural instincts to help others and be a true friend at school. The strong beat and country-style guitar make this primary school assembly song super catchy, with an easy-to-find rhythm that will have your students tapping their feet and happily singing along in no time.
5. Big Blue Tractor
While Big Blue Tractor is perfect as a harvest song, there’s no reason why you can’t belt out this earworm at all times of the year! Written by the talented Niki Davies, this is a great assembly song for teaching children about the journey their food makes from fields to plates. Reflecting on the way dedicated farmers grow and harvest all sorts of vegetables will help students understand why we give thanks for the delicious food we eat every day.
6. Pull On Your Wellington Boots
An ode to getting outside, whatever the weather, Pull On Your Wellington Boots is a uniquely energetic piece of school assembly music. This song would make a fantastic addition to an autumn assembly or, given how important it is to stay active throughout the wet and windy British year, a PSHE assembly on how fresh air and exercise can help us live healthily.
7. My Voice
Singing is a beautiful way for children to express themselves, and My Voice by Jane Carr is the perfect song to accompany a school assembly on how and why we use creative outlets to process emotions, send messages and show others who we are. Primary school students will love the simple chorus, which invites everyone to use their unique voice to speak their truth and feel the joy of singing songs as a group.
8. Why We Need A Friend
Friendship is such an important part of life, especially at school, that we have a whole song pack dedicated to it! Why We Need A Friend by Matthew Crossey and Tom Kirkham is a special song about supporting each other through good times, bad times and all the times in between. Sing this popular assembly song with your KS1 students to open their eyes to the power of friendship and teach them how to be good schoolmates to one another.
9. If We Work Together
As much as we try to shelter them from the divided nature of the wider world, children can pick up on negative feelings and even find themselves caught up in conflicts at home or at school. Our Songs for Peace, including the hit If We Work Together, teach younger students about the importance of unity and kindness in trying times. It’s truly heartwarming to know that this is one of our most popular assembly songs for primary schools.
10. Kindness Makes The World Go Round
Kindness Makes The World Go Round isn’t just a call to show goodwill, but also reminds us that our world couldn’t exist without kindness. As life goes on, day after day, we can feel happy and safe knowing that there’s always someone out there ready to show us kindness and offer us a chance to be kind in return. This is a quietly hopeful, everyday assembly song that offers an important lesson to KS2 students of all ages.
11. Cool To Be Kind
Cool To Be Kind may feature in our back-to-school collection, but it carries such a lovely message that it would equally serve as a leavers’ assembly song. After all, there’s no expiration date on kindness! Inspire your students to change the world in their own way with a smile and an act of kindness each day; no need to think up an elaborate plan or try anything too difficult.
12. When You Open A Book
Matthew Crossey and Tom Kirkham’s When You Open A Book is a love letter to reading and all the fantastic stories that children have enjoyed throughout the ages. Slower paced so that students can catch all the fun references - “wizards or wardrobes, a yellow brick road, a cat in a hat or a rat and a toad” - this school assembly song is a great pick for World Book Day or any assembly celebrating literature!
13. Growing Pains
Growing up can be a tough topic to tackle with KS1 students, not least because there’s a lot of ground to cover, from physical changes to forming new ideas of ourselves and our identities. By charting the life of a little acorn as it slowly becomes a great big tree, Growing Pains teaches children that, while we’re all wonderfully different, growing up is a universal experience. Why not try singing this in your next PSHE assembly about coming of age?
14. Start The Day In A Brilliant Way
Another gently optimistic number, Start The Day In A Brilliant Way, invites students to show kindness and look for joy all around them, from the moment they open their eyes in the morning! Our days are often as good as we make them, and it’s lovely to learn that we’re all capable of steering ourselves in the right direction. Singing this song as a group is sure to get everyone buzzing for the day ahead and maybe even the rest of the school year!
15. Journey To Christmas
The lead-up to Christmas is arguably the most magical time of year! If you fancy adding some festive cheer to your school assembly music, look no further than Journey To Christmas, which perfectly captures the excitement of our first-ever Christmas Carol Pack. Whether you’re planning a low-key celebration or whetting your students’ appetite for a nativity or school musical later in the term, Journey To Christmas is always a winner.
The School Musicals Company Has Something For Everyone
There you have it, our 15 most popular school assembly songs! Teachers tell us they return to these tunes time and time again, whether for good vibes (Spread A Little Bit Of Sunshine), a seasonal singalong (Big Blue Tractor), or a specific topic (Growing Pains).
However, we have an enormous range of downloadable packs and songbooks to browse for all sorts of students and assemblies. Please check out our collection of KS1 and KS2 assembly songs, or contact us today to learn more about our school assembly music!