The School of Play Curriculum
Primary School Grade 5 & 6
Key Focus for Year 5–6 Teachers:
At this stage, students are developing greater independence, social awareness, and empathy. The focus is on emotional regulation, respectful peer relationships, managing stress, and understanding diversity and fairness in broader social contexts.
Core Learning Objectives:
- Emotional Literacy
- Recognise and describe a wide range of emotions in themselves and others.
- Explore the link between thoughts, emotions, and behaviours.
- Understand how emotions influence decision-making and the formation of relationships.
- Personal Strengths
- Identify personal strengths and how they help in learning, leadership, and relationships.
- Reflect on how different strengths are valuable in different situations.
- Support peer feedback that highlights strengths and contributions.
- Positive Coping
- Explore a range of positive coping strategies and evaluate their effectiveness.
- Learn to choose appropriate responses to challenging emotions or events.
- Begin setting personal goals and developing resilience.
- Problem-Solving
- Develop a deeper understanding of steps in problem-solving and decision-making.
- Practice assertive communication and empathy when resolving peer conflict.
- Apply strategies to real-world social scenarios.
- Stress Management
- Recognise early signs of stress and how stress affects the body and brain.
- Use strategies like mindfulness, reflection, physical activity, or talking to others.
- Understand that everyone experiences stress differently.
- Gender and Identity
- Explore stereotypes, gender roles, and media messages.
- Learn to respect personal identity and diversity.
- Encourage inclusive thinking and challenge unfair treatment.
- Positive Relationships
- Examine respectful vs. disrespectful behaviours in friendships and groups.
- Discuss power, fairness, inclusion, and loyalty.
- Learn about healthy boundaries and consent in age-appropriate ways.
- Help-Seeking
- Encourage confidence in asking for help and supporting peers to do the same.
- Identify trusted adults and support networks at school and in the community.
- Reduce stigma around seeking support for emotional or social issues.
Tips for Teaching at Years 5 - 6 Level:
- Make connections to the real world: Students thrive when lessons are tied to relatable experiences and current events.
- Use group work and discussion: Encourage dialogue, peer feedback, and collaborative reflection.
- Challenge stereotypes and bias: Use media literacy, real-world examples, and student-led discussions to build critical thinking.
- Practice emotional vocabulary: Model and encourage the use of rich emotional language.
- Foster safe sharing: Build trust in the classroom so students feel safe discussing challenges and asking for help.
Years 5–6 is All About:
- Understanding emotions & their impact
- Using strengths to build resilience
- Practising respect & inclusion
- Resolving conflict with empathy & assertiveness
- Seeking support for yourself & others
Courses
Lead with Respect
Lead with Respect places students in rotating leadership roles where success depends not on being the loudest voice, but on listening, fairness, and inclusion. Through hands-on challenges like guiding a blindfolded teammate, organising a group without speaking, or supporting a team in building together, students experience what respectful leadership looks and feels like in action. Each task highlights the impact a leader’s tone, choices, and calm problem-solving have on group trust and cooperation.
After each challenge, students pause to reflect on what helped their team work well and how different leadership styles affected participation and confidence. By creating a shared visual of what makes a respectful leader, students consolidate their learning and see that leadership isn’t about control, but about helping others succeed. Lead with Respect empowers students to recognise their ability to lead with kindness and integrity in everyday moments, whether or not they hold a formal leadership title.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students identify emotions experienced when leading or being led (e.g., proud, nervous, frustrated, supported).
- They explore how leadership styles can affect the feelings of others, building awareness of tone, facial expression, and communication.
- Students practise naming emotions during reflection discussions, improving emotional vocabulary.
2. Personal Strengths
- The activity highlights leadership strengths such as empathy, encouragement, fairness, humour, calmness, and creativity.
- Students recognise strengths in themselves and peers through the rotation of leaders in each challenge.
- Posters allow students to articulate which strengths make respectful, trustworthy leaders.
3. Positive Coping
- During challenges (e.g., Silent Shape or Tower Building), students practise staying calm when tasks become difficult or communication is limited.
- Leaders model coping strategies such as breathing, pausing, explaining clearly, and staying patient.
- Students learn that mistakes or tension are normal and can be worked through respectfully.
4. Problem-Solving
- Each challenge requires strategic thinking, planning, and cooperative decision-making.
- Leaders must assess the situation, communicate plans, and adapt when things don’t go as expected.
- Reflection encourages students to evaluate what worked, what didn’t, and why, strengthening decision-making and collaborative problem-solving.
5. Stress Management
- Students practise regulating stress during high-pressure teamwork (e.g., guiding a blindfolded peer, coordinating a silent challenge).
- The activity teaches students to stay composed, use supportive language, and avoid reactive behaviours.
- Leaders experience what it feels like to be responsible for a group while managing their own emotions.
6. Gender and Identity
- The activity emphasises that anyone can be a leader, regardless of gender, personality, or background.
- By rotating leaders, students experience leadership diversity and challenge stereotypes about who "should" lead.
- The reflection process promotes understanding that respectful leadership values every voice and perspective.
7. Positive Relationships
- The activity strengthens trust between peers through cooperative tasks and clear, supportive communication.
- Students learn that respectful leaders listen, include others, and help people feel safe and valued.
- Teams experience firsthand how positive relationships help them succeed in challenges.
8. Help-Seeking
- Students learn that asking for help, whether you're the leader or a team member, is a sign of strength, not failure.
- Discussions highlight when leaders should seek support, delegate, or check in with teammates.
- Builds understanding that help-seeking is part of respectful teamwork and problem-solving.
Worry Web
Worry Web creates a powerful, visual way for students to understand that everyone experiences worries and that support is always within reach. By sharing a moment of concern and identifying who they would turn to for help, students begin to recognise the many people, peers, teachers, family members, and trusted adults who form their personal support network. As the wool is passed and wrapped, the growing web becomes a clear reminder that no one stands alone when things feel hard.
Through guided reflection, students deepen their understanding of help-seeking as a strength rather than a weakness and explore how they can both give and receive support with empathy and care. Worry Web strengthens emotional awareness, normalises asking for help, and builds a sense of collective responsibility, showing students that a connected community is one of the most powerful tools for wellbeing.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students identify and name emotions connected to worry, stress, or uncertainty.
- They practise describing real scenarios where these feelings arise, building awareness and emotional vocabulary.
- The activity normalises discussing emotions, helping students recognise when feelings signal a need for support.
2. Personal Strengths
- Students identify inner strengths such as bravery, honesty, and vulnerability as they share personal worries with the group.
- They recognise strengths in peers as classmates open up and support one another.
- The activity builds students’ confidence in speaking about challenges and asking for help.
3. Positive Coping
- Students learn positive strategies for coping with worries by identifying safe people in their support network.
- They understand that help-seeking is a healthy and effective response to stress.
- Through shared stories, students hear examples of coping techniques used by others.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students reflect on real-life scenarios and consider:
- Who can I talk to?
- What action might help?
- Which support person is best for this situation?
- The activity encourages students to make thoughtful choices about seeking help and navigating emotional challenges.
5. Stress Management
- Students practise safely sharing feelings in a structured circle, reducing internal pressure and normalising help-seeking.
- The visual web helps them understand that support is available before stress becomes overwhelming.
- The calm, reflective nature of the activity models a healthy way to process strong emotions.
6. Gender and Identity
- Worry Web emphasises that all students, regardless of gender or background, experience worry and deserve support.
- It challenges stereotypes such as “boys should stay tough” or “girls worry more,” reinforcing that everyone has emotions and needs help sometimes.
- The activity validates diverse family structures and cultural differences in support networks.
7. Positive Relationships
- Students strengthen empathy by listening respectfully to each other’s worries.
- They recognise classmates as part of their support network and practise offering reassurance or understanding.
- The shared web visually represents the interconnectedness of the group, boosting a sense of belonging.
8. Help-Seeking
- This activity is particularly strong for help-seeking behaviours, a core element of the RRRR curriculum.
- Students name trusted adults at school and home, broadening their understanding of safe support pathways.
- They practise articulating when they might seek help and from whom.
- The physical web helps students remember: I am not alone. I have many support options.
Stress Toolbox Relay
Stress Toolbox Relay gives students a fun, high-energy way to explore practical strategies for managing stress while working together as a team. As students move through the relay zones, they actively collect physical, mental, and connection-based coping tools, helping them recognise that there are many different ways to calm their bodies, steady their thoughts, and seek support from others. The movement-based format keeps engagement high while reinforcing that wellbeing strategies can be simple, accessible, and personalised.
After the relay, students slow down to reflect, sort, and share the strategies they gathered, building self-awareness about what works best for them and learning new ideas from their peers. Stress Toolbox Relay strengthens resilience, empathy, and collective care by showing students that stress management is not something they have to figure out alone; it's a shared skill that grows stronger when ideas, experiences, and support are openly exchanged.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students learn to recognise feelings of stress, overwhelm, and frustration.
- They build vocabulary to describe emotional experiences and identify early signs of stress.
- By sorting strategies into categories, students deepen their understanding of how different emotions call for different types of responses.
2. Personal Strengths
- Students identify strengths such as resilience, persistence, and self-awareness as they choose strategies that work best for them.
- They recognise strengths in their teammates when listening to why others prefer certain coping tools.
- The activity builds confidence in their ability to manage challenges independently.
3. Positive Coping
- This activity directly targets positive coping, one of the strongest RRRR links for this lesson.
- Students explore a variety of healthy stress-management strategies:
- Physical: stretching, breathing, movement
- Mental: reframing thoughts, positive self-talk, visualising success
- Connection-based: seeking support, talking to someone, helping others
- They create a personalised toolkit they can use during real-life stressful moments.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students make decisions about which strategies to select and how to apply them in real situations.
- Teams work together to think critically about:
- Which strategy fits a particular stressor?
- Why might this work better than another option?
- They practise explaining their reasoning clearly to others.
5. Stress Management
- This activity explicitly teaches that managing stress requires multiple tools, not just one solution.
- Students recognise that physical, mental, and relational strategies all play a role in emotional regulation.
- By discussing scenarios and sharing personal experiences, they learn when to use which tool.
6. Gender and Identity
- Students learn that everyone experiences stress, regardless of gender, background, or personality.
- The activity challenges stereotypes such as “boys shouldn’t show stress” or “girls are more emotional,” reinforcing that seeking help and managing feelings are universal skills.
- Strategies included reflect diverse ways of coping, allowing students to honour what works for their unique identity.
7. Positive Relationships
- Through team discussions, students practise listening, encouraging, and learning from one another.
- They recognise that coping isn’t only an individual skill; connection with peers and trusted adults is part of managing stress in healthy ways.
- The activity strengthens the classroom culture by normalising conversations about emotional challenges.
8. Help-Seeking
- Students identify connection-based coping tools, talking to someone, asking for help, checking in with a friend.
- They learn that help-seeking is a strength and that strategies involving others can be just as important as self-management.
- The teamwork aspect reinforces that peers can be a supportive resource during difficult moments.
Build Your Own Board Game: Relationships Edition
Build Your Own Board Game: Relationships Edition invites students to become designers, collaborators, and critical thinkers as they transform important relationship concepts into playable, engaging games. By working in teams to create rules, scenarios, and pathways, students actively apply their understanding of respect, consent, communication, emotional safety, and help-seeking in a creative, hands-on way. The process encourages cooperation, shared decision-making, and thoughtful discussion about how everyday choices influence healthy relationships.
As students test, play, and reflect on each other’s games, learning deepens through shared play and meaningful conversation. Build Your Own Board Game: Relationships Edition shows students that games are powerful tools for storytelling and learning, helping them explore complex social ideas with curiosity, empathy, and fun while strengthening teamwork, creativity, and respectful relationship skills.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Students identify and discuss feelings through scenario cards, character reactions, and game consequences.
- They practise explaining emotions linked to dilemmas (e.g. exclusion, confusion, peer pressure, misunderstanding).
- Designing the emotional interactions in the game helps students deepen their awareness of how feelings influence behaviour.
2. Personal Strengths
- Students recognise their strengths (creativity, communication, leadership, listening) within the group project.
- Group collaboration encourages students to notice and value each other’s contributions.
- Games that reward empathy, kindness, or problem-solving reinforce these strengths as desirable and useful in relationships.
3. Positive Coping
- Students embed coping tools into game scenarios (e.g. “Use positive self-talk to move forward,” “Take a calming breath before you answer”).
- Players experience consequences of both helpful and unhelpful responses through gameplay.
- The design process encourages students to think critically about healthy ways to deal with conflict, stress, or misunderstandings.
4. Problem-Solving
- Students examine dilemmas around friendships, communication, online behaviour, or consent and map out possible responses.
- They practise structured decision-making when designing scenario cards: What are respectful options? What could cause harm?
- When playing each other’s games, students encounter new dilemmas and apply solution-focused thinking.
5. Stress Management
- Students explore emotional safety and develop game mechanics that require calm decision-making rather than reactive responses.
- Games often encourage players to pause, think, breathe, or choose a supportive strategy, modelling real-life stress-reduction tools.
- Through teamwork, students also manage the natural stresses of collaboration (compromise, deadlines, disagreements).
6. Gender & Identity
- Students are encouraged to challenge gender roles and stereotypes through characters, stories, and outcomes in their games.
- Scenario development allows students to explore identity, fairness, and equality in creative, non-threatening ways.
- Conversations surface naturally about power imbalances, respect, and how identity influences relationships.
7. Positive Relationships
- The entire task is grounded in teamwork, students practise:
- sharing responsibilities
- negotiating ideas
- listening to peers
- valuing different perspectives
- Games designed around trust, kindness, help-seeking, and fairness reinforce what healthy relationships look like.
8. Help-Seeking
- Games include pathways where players seek assistance from friends, adults, or support options, normalising this behaviour.
- Students explore when help-seeking is necessary and what it looks/sounds like (e.g. respectful language, assertive communication).
- When reflecting, students identify real-life trusted adults and peers who match their game’s support systems.
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