What's included in The Bristol Bus Boycott Whole School Assembly PowerPoint resource and why is it useful?

The Bristol Bus Boycott Whole School Assembly PowerPoint is a slideshow that tells the story of the 1963 campaign that challenged a racial colour bar on Bristol's buses. The content includes 16 slides, covering life in Bristol in the 1960s, the unfair rule, Guy Bailey, Paul Stephenson, other key figures, what a boycott is, how the boycott began, what happened during the boycott, why it mattered, the wider change it helped bring about, what we can learn and follow-up activities. It links to history learning about significant events in Britain and works well during Black History Month.

An Unfair Rule

How the Bristol Omnibus Company stopped Black people from becoming drivers or conductors, and how Guy Bailey was turned down for a job despite being qualified, with questions such as "How might you feel if you were refused an opportunity because of your skin colour?"

A Peaceful Protest

How Paul Stephenson, Roy Hackett and Prince Brown helped organise the campaign, how people walked and cycled instead of using the buses and how the company ended the colour bar after months of campaigning, asking "Why did this change matter beyond just getting a job?"

A Wider Change

How the boycott was part of a wider movement for racial equality that led to the Race Relations Act in 1965, and what it teaches us about fairness, dignity, respect and inclusion, plus follow-up ideas such as a diary entry from a Bristol resident in 1963.

How do our whole school assemblies work?

Our whole school assemblies are PowerPoint slideshows that follow a similar structure: an introduction, questions to get children thinking, the key points of the topic and reflection time. They're paced to suit a primary school assembly and work best on a whiteboard, projected out to the hall. You can use them:

• as a whole school assembly, from EYFS up to KS2
• as a class assembly
• as a teaching PowerPoint when you want to cover an event or topic in your own classroom

The majority of our assemblies include teacher notes and guidance to support delivery, and because they're pacey, you can adapt them to however long your assembly lasts.

Adapting the Assembly for Your School

Every assembly is editable, so you can add, remove or change slides to suit the needs of your school. We cover religious events, seasonal topics, values such as kindness, friendship and tolerance, science, history, PSHE, music, significant people and sporting events, so you can choose the assemblies that fit your school year.

Supporting Learning at Home

Families can carry the conversation on at home by asking children about their assembly: what they heard, how it made them feel and what they think about it.

You can explore more of our whole school assembly resources here.