To ask if non-British schools have assemblies?

At Primary school there were daily all school assemblies. Once a week one class would be responsible for putting on the assembly. Teachers ran the others. They had singing assemblies once a week which they loved. Basically they all spent 20 minutes singing fun and uplifting songs together (not dull hymns).

It created a lovely sense of community and belonging.

At Secondary there are way too many children to fit in the hall. They do tutor time in their classes each morning which is like a mini assembly really. School notices, set subjects discussed, group reading of a class book etc. Once a week there's a year group assembly in the hall and for special occasions. All school assemblies are done occasionally by Zoom in the classrooms.

I think it still creates a sense of being part of a group and a calm start to the day before lessons start.

I’m in Ireland and my primary school children would have monthly whole school assemblies and then school assemblies when a special visitor comes to the school or something like that. It’s always an enjoyable morning for them. My secondary school child has regular whole year assemblies.

I was born in late 1950's so am nearly 70.

Went to school in England, probably the "roughest" school in my city. Throughout my schooldays we had the classic daily assembly at the start of the day with the address by the Headmaster, announcements, prayer and a hymn.

No humiliation of pupils though nor a school song, but we did have 4 houses even tough I don't recall any inter-house competitions.

I rather liked the daily assembly - I thought it encouraged a sense of unity, discipline, focus.

@scalt I think there is a massive difference between the (so called) compulsory "act of worship" assemblies that some schools still do (many modern schools find ways around it) and an assembly that is giving out some kind of information.
If you look at it from an adult point of view an assembly that's for giving out information is essentially like a staff meeting at work - telling/reminding you when something is happening, letting you know of a new policy (or rule as it would be at a school) etc.
An assembly that's a "special" one like police coming in to give a talk about crime safety is like having a training day at work.
I think it's the "act of worship" assemblies that lots of people think is a waste of time.

South Africa …we definitely have assemblies.

But then we were a colony… So it figures.

I do think the collective singing in assembly is a positive, and I feel sad that my children don't get to do that (they do do singing in music lessons but its not the same) but otherwise I mostly remember assembly being boring and preachy and probably was a waste of time. Plus in primary school it was often my dad coming in to do assembly and that was embarrassing!

As a foreigner, I think it's a really weird idea. My kids aren't yet in school though so I'll understand it better when they are.
We would have assemblies once in a while, but only for big events so max once a year.

My husband's description of his childhood assemblies doesn't help: "you all stand in a room listening to the headteacher telling everyone off for something you didn't do, then you watch the same kids getting awards for random things, and then everyone has to sing songs about Jesus they don't understand since no one is religious". 😅

If they do, they’ve missed the fact that it’s set in 1991-1997. 🤭

We’re weekly. East Asia. And we celebrate secular Christmas but not Easter.

@Hiptothisjive obviously my knowledge of American schools is only from films etc but it did seem to me that having an assembly (whether in a gymnasium or auditorium) was fairly normal just like you describe.
I was surprised when someone else on this thread said they didn't happen in the USA.

We have assembly for Reception-Yr2 and then Yrs3-6. Impossible to fit everyone in the hall.

Yeah in Canada no uniforms for us either (except catholic high schools) and everyone walks to school no matter how far (unless a school bus is needed) and we had extreme weather. We do have assemblies through.

No we called it an assembly and the auditorium also sometimes was the gymnasium. We had pep rallies, school assemblies and they were often. The difference is that we would all sit on bleachers (tiered pull out bench seating) It isn’t a British thing at all.

Homeroom is like form class where we got school announcements over the loud speaker. They are two different things and we had both.

Every morning you went to homeroom for announcements before classes and there was then school wide assemblies sometimes before football games, or occasions (back to school) etc.

Also we did not have golden time

I don’t think there is assemblies in Spain

I can believe this. When I mentioned that my teachers wore academic gowns to lessons (late 60s), students would always say "It's like Harry Potter!". Also sixth formers being able to give out lines.

I'm on a roll now. Until there was a change of HT, it was quite usual for a prefect to sub for an absent teacher.

New Zealand here - had assembly every Friday when I was in primary school 80's/90's, can't really remember what we did during them (apart from singing) but I don't remember anything bad about them.

My boys also had assembly every week at primary school, I used to go sometimes and they would have announcements, certificates, cultural performances, singing, etc. No humiliations! High school - I think my oldest sons school just had year group assembly as it is a big school. My youngest son's high school only has occasional assemblies and they are more special event stuff - ie Christmas, etc.

It's a very long time since I was in high school, but we had them when I was (in NZ). However they were held outside. I don't remember them in primary school, but of course that was even longer ago.

https://www.reddit.com/r/harrypotter/comments/r3mp5o/nonuk_fans_what_sounded_magical_in_the_books_but/
The opposite happened, people thought a lot of the genuine UK school culture was magic/invented

Please, for the love of God, no one looks at Harry Potter for an insight into modern British education

Netherlands; no real assemblies except for maybe a short speech from the head teacher on the main playground on a holiday/festival day to basically say "we're all going tohave a good time! (e.g. opening of the national children's book week, Mardi Gras celebration with dress up, Sint Nicolaas visit on 5 december), no school uniforms in primary or secondary, no certificates, no "houses" or "points".

Went to a British school abroad, had them throughout primary and secondary. We did not, however, have weekly (or even monthly) awards/certificates like kids nowadays seem to have.
My friends in non-Brit school didn’t, though on occasions they’d all gather to hear speeches etc.