Meet James B Partridge, the man who made school assembly bangers cool

’Give me oil in my lamp keep me burning’… ‘He’s got the whole world in his hands’… ‘This little light of mine, I’m going to let it shine’… ‘One more step along the world I go’… Just a line from one of these songs that soundtracked school assemblies for generations can immediately transport you back to sitting cross-legged on the hard, uncomfortable floor of a primary school hall or classroom.

Tapping into our longing for the good old days is a growing trend. There’s the crazed disco vibes of Bongo’s Bingo which sees a million revellers per year, and Day Fever, a clubbing phenomenon that allows ravers to relive their glory days at daytime clubs. Striking a similar chord is James B Partridge, “the UK’s most beloved bringer of school assembly nostalgia.”

The music teacher’s videos of him playing and singing school assembly ‘bangers’ first went viral in 2021 and since then he’s appeared on The One Show and inspired mass singalongs at Glastonbury 2025. His videos have racked up millions of views online and he’s about to tour the country with The Big Christmas Assembly packing out theatres – some dates already sold out – leading festive singalongs, not unlike school carol concerts.

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“It’s been really lovely to see how organically it’s grown. It’s not been through a reality show or being scouted or anything. I think it’s just testament to people’s enjoyment of singing together,” Partridge says.

Characteristically modest, Partridge is underplaying his own popular touch. It was his slightly crazed but genius idea to recreate the fun of singing in school assemblies for adults. Why does he think it’s worked so well?  “A lot of these songs are very well written and just fun to sing. They remind us of those days where we were with all our friends, singing pretty much every day, which is something that most of us don’t really do any more.”

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In isolated and divided times, the release of coming together to belt out songs that everyone knows is a much-needed tonic. “In the last 15 or 20 years, culture has splintered in so many different ways, and we don’t really have that shared experience like we used to. I don’t necessarily want the show to be purely about nostalgia and for people to think, ‘Oh weren’t things great in the old days and now everything’s rubbish’, but I want to remind people that there are ways that we can be connected.

“It’s almost like these songs are a bit of thread that weaves through society and connects so many people in a way that we don’t even realise.”

With a name like Partridge, doing a Christmas themed show was a must (although with 34 gigs, it’ll last a lot longer than 12 days…)  

“Coming together is what Christmas is all about; just breaking down those boundaries, getting together and having a joyous time. That’s exactly what I want to do with the Christmas shows.

“The whole tradition of Christmas, for me, feels like it’s so based around music. Whether it’s nativity classics, Christmas number ones or carols, some of which are hundreds of years old yet we still sing them to this day, which just goes to show the power of these tunes.”

Expect plenty of all three, with everything from Hark! The Herald Angels Sing and Little Donkey to Fairytale of New York on the hymn sheet. 

Preparing a one-man show with such a broad spectrum of songs might seem daunting, but James B Partridge is no stranger to pressure (he’s sung for Paul McCartney and The Rolling Stones), nor marathon festive performances.

“Every Christmas we would have a very full house. My task after the Christmas lunch was finished was cracking open the song books and just playing the piano for hours and hours while my family would sit around playing games, chatting, sometimes singing along. My grandparents would get up and dance every now and then, which was very nice, although not so good when my nana had too many sherries and started falling over into the Monopoly board!”

Despite his headline tour, he still makes time for his first love: the classroom. “If I have a moment where I’ve just gone on Glastonbury, there’s hundreds of people watching, I’ll get into school the next week, and the pupils will just talk about their random troubles of the day. It definitely keeps me grounded.”

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