Who doesn’t love a fun-filled, heart-bursting, action-packed and, at times, wonderfully cheesy musical? From dancing in the aisles to singing along to catchy songs at the top of your voice, we defy anyone to sit through an entire musical straight laced and straight faced. It’s the ultimate pick-me-up – quite frankly, it should be renamed ‘Happy Hour’ - and even more so if it’s performed by happy, enthusiastic children excited to put on a show for their parents, grandparents and extended family. But how do you choose the best musical for your school? Check out our top ten Best And...

As the famous Andy Williams Christmas song goes, “it’s the most wonderful time of the year...” – go on, we dare you to name a person who doesn’t agree! But for teachers like you, the big festive cherry on top is knowing that you have produced a top-notch nativity for everyone to enjoy before the end of (a very long...) term. As Christmas edges closer, we know the pressure is on you to find the perfect nativity for your class or school. But never fear, The School Musicals Company is here! 

For many primary school children, Christmas is the most exciting and magical time of year. From counting down the days on their advent calendars, to praying every single night for the gift of a white Christmas (*crosses fingers for 2021*), it’s a time for joy and education in equal measure. So how do you get the right balance for your Christmas assembly? Read on and we’ll tell you. Whether you want to put a spin on a whole primary school nativity or sing some truly brilliant festive songs, here are some unforgettable Christmas assembly ideas for primary school.

As the end of the school year approaches, it’s time to start thinking about Year Six leavers ideas. Year Six children building towards the final phase of their primary education will experience a whole range of emotions when they move from one chapter of their life to another.

We are delighted to announce that our musical "Bamboozled - An Extraordinary Musical Adventure" has been shortlisted at the Music & Drama Education Awards within the category "Excellence In Musical Theatre". The project, written and published in partnership with Edinburgh Zoo and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, is an uplifting tale of friendship and survival, and carries a vital message to young performers about conservation and looking after our natural environment. 

Drama is a wonderful addition to the home-learning cannon. It’s an exciting, dynamic, creative and meaningful pursuit that most children will love the chance to do in their home. And it doesn’t need a cast of 30 to make it work. It can be done in pairs with a sibling or parent, or even as an individual. On top of that, it requires very little teacher involvement, it can provide a break from looking at a screen or working at a table, it needn’t require any particular resources and it may be just what the children need when stuck at...

This Christmas will see many schools and nurseries filming a nativity rather than performing it to a live audience. For a lot of them, it may well be the first time that they have filmed a production. For everyone, it will be the first time that the filmed version needs to fill the metaphorical boots of the live version. And this being the case, the process of filming it perhaps needs a little more consideration and planning than it might otherwise: how to ensure everyone can be seen and heard, when to zoom in and when not to, when to...

Within primary schools, the nativity is at once the backbone and the heart of the school year, so embedded within the cultural calendar and so intrinsic to the structure of the autumn term, that schools must and will do everything to ensure it takes place. But it will need to adapt.

Ah, the modern-day harvest festival: giant packets of dried pasta, tins of baked beans, soups, cereal boxes, biscuits, even long-lasting milk. It’s a far cry from all the fresh fruit and vegetables of yesteryear, when tables bowed under the weight of potatoes and pumpkins, apples and onions, misshapen carrots and amusingly shaped turnips.

As if schools being closed and communities being in lockdown wasn’t enough, the idea of finally returning to school but not being allowed to sing would have been heart-breaking to many children and teachers across the country. So, with the updated publication of the government’s “Guidance for full opening: schools” (see link below), many will be breathing a sigh of relief that music and singing can return to their rightful place at the heart of the school community.

Just two years after launching The School Musicals Company, we are understandably delighted to have won the “Outstanding Musical Theatre/Drama Resource” award at this year’s Music Teacher “Awards For Excellence”. We have received wonderful feedback from the hundreds of schools and youth theatres about our shows and publications, “brilliant” comments from Teaching Drama Magazine and to now receive accreditation from industry professionals is the icing on the cake.

We’ve all had it. That sinking feeling as the summer holidays draw to a close and the thought of going back to school edges its way into your mind, taking up more space each day until the morning finally comes and you traipse off, wondering where the time has gone and willing half term to arrive quickly. And that’s just the teachers.

Teachers are constantly on the look out for new approaches to engage children with their learning, to put across information in an original way or to tackle challenging topics. We all know that pupils learn well when they are enjoying what they are doing, when they are stimulated and active, when they can get out from behind their desks! Used well, drama, singing and music have the potential to revolutionise learning, not to mention adding interest and (potentially) respite for the busy, multi-tasking teacher.

Schools really are astonishing places, and teachers, teaching assistants and school leaders really are the most remarkable of people. These plate-spinning professionals multitask every moment of the day out of sheer necessity, serving as educators, performers, researchers, mentors, counsellors, administrators, writers, artists, designers, at times even as police officers. The days are frenetic and relentless; time is not their own, it belongs to the children, their parents, their colleagues. And yet, somehow, some of these people manage – and are willing - to introduce a whole new level of busyness into their lives when they agree to take on the...

This is my first published nativity for two years and one I’ve been trying to write for some time. It captures the magic of the nativity story nicely, has a wonderful array of characters in an ever-growing caravan of followers. I also think that the songs are some of my very best which hopefully the children and the audience will love. Listen to song clips, read the synopsis and peruse script samples from Follow The Star.

When you decide to stage a school musical, the entire enterprise can generate so much interest and enthusiasm from pupils that it would feel rather a missed opportunity not to harness this energy for other areas of learning. Subjects such as English, History, Art, Music, Drama and PSHE all lend themselves to such an approach, but with a bit of inventiveness, even Science, Mathematics and Geography lessons offer relevant learning opportunities and oodles of fun.