Effort and Ability - Primary Assembly!

This fun and original assembly aims to help children understand the relationship between effort and ability, and why effort is essential for success, through:

• Understanding what ability means and recognising that everyone has different natural strengths;
• Exploring why effort and practice are needed to improve, even when we have natural talent;
• Learning about the idea of a growth mindset, and how our brains grow when we try, practise, and learn from mistakes;
• Reflecting on real-life examples of successful people who achieved great things through persistence and effort.

This assembly is tried and tested, and has always been really well received in the past. The slides are visually engaging and well-presented, and the subject matter is tailored to the interests and needs of young people.

The assembly contains key research-backed ideas about effort and ability, examples of successful people who are known to have worked hard to reach the top, and analogies and games to help children to see that our skills are not fixed. It also includes a fun interactive beanbag game, in which children see the power of practice and ‘keeping on trying.’

There is enough material to lead a 35-40 minute assembly here. It is suitable for children across the primary phase.

The slides are comprehensive and relatively self-explanatory, but I’ve included guidance notes to assist the speaker. Hope that you find this useful!