Assembly resources

Why Joining In Matters: Clubs, Enrichment and Finding Your Place

A 10-12 minute Head of Year assembly on clubs, enrichment and finding your place at school, with a free PowerPoint and script for Year 7-9.

Year group: Year 7, Year 8 or Year 9 Best delivered: September, January, after options, or whenever a year group feels flat or disconnected Duration: 10-12 minutes Tone: Warm, practical, aspirational and non-preachy What you need A warm, practical assembly for Year 7-9 students on clubs, enrichment and finding their place at school.

It takes the pressure off "joining in" and makes the first step feel doable.

Slides (11 in the deck): - Slide 1: Title slide.

Generic club chip row for schools to replace with their own offer. - Slide 2: The hook - "School gets easier when you have more than lessons in your week." - Slide 3: The evidence behind clubs, enrichment and belonging. - Slide 4: What joining in is not, and what is actually being asked. - Slide 5: Four students you might be - quiet, anxious, "clubs are not for me", still finding your thing. - Slide 6: What joining in actually builds - confidence, friendship and identity. - Slide 7: The three-week rule. - Slide 8: Video moment.

Student voice on taking the first step. - Slide 9: If you have real reasons you cannot. - Slide 10: What you can do this week. - Slide 11: Closing - "You do not have to do everything.

You just have to do one thing." Video moment (Slide 8 - 60 to 90 seconds): Pick one and vet before showing: - Your own school's enrichment film if you have one. - Youth Sport Trust short clips on belonging through sport. - BBC Bitesize student-voice clips on hobbies and clubs. - Place2Be short films on belonging and connection.

If you cannot get a video cleared in time, slide 8 can hold as a deliberate pause.

Read out one of the lines from slide 5 aloud - "most people are still finding their thing" - and let it sit for ten seconds before moving on.

Images, logos and visual style: - The title slide includes a row of generic club chips: Sport, Drama, Music, Debate, Art, STEM and Charity.

Schools should replace these with their own actual clubs and societies. - No third-party logos are on the deck deliberately.

They date quickly and complicate licensing. - If your school has a recognisable enrichment brand or programme name, drop the school logo or programme name into the title slide where the chip row sits.

Script notes Opening (Slide 1 - 30 seconds) Hold the title slide.

The club chip row does part of the work for you because the room sees the variety on display. "Today I want to talk about something that is not on your timetable but might end up being one of the most important things you do at school." The hook (Slide 2 - 1.5 minutes) Read it slowly.

The hook is to gently challenge the idea that school is just lessons. "There is something nobody really tells you when you start secondary school.

And I will say it openly today, because most of you are already feeling it without knowing what to call it." "School gets easier when you have more than lessons in your week." [Pause.] "More people who know you.

More routine.

More reasons to come in on the days when coming in is hard.

That is what we are talking about today." "Not because we want you to be busier.