The School of Play Curriculum
Primary School Grade 5 & 6
Week Twenty brings together rhythm, reflection, teamwork, and growth to help students finish the program with confidence and connection. The session begins with Clapping, One, Two, Three, a fun rhythm challenge that strengthens group coordination, timing, and focus. Students must work together, stay in sync, and support one another as the patterns become more complex, creating a strong sense of collaboration and shared achievement. Physical engagement continues with Build ’Em Up Cards, a high-energy fitness challenge where teams race, exercise, and strategise to collect as many cards as possible. This activity encourages teamwork, endurance, and positive encouragement during physically demanding tasks.
The final part of the lesson focuses on reflection, self-awareness, and emotional growth. Through PEGG Reflection, students revisit their experiences with Play, Exercise, Gratitude, and Giving, gaining valuable insights into their personal development and how these habits can support their well-being beyond the classroom. The session concludes with the Vulnerability Wall of Failures, a powerful activity that invites students to share challenges they’ve faced and the lessons they learned along the way. By embracing vulnerability and reframing failure as growth, students finish the week feeling more resilient, connected, and prepared to approach future challenges with confidence and compassion.
Courses
Clapping, One, Two, Three
Clapping, One, Two, Three is a high-energy rhythm game designed to bring groups together through coordinated movement, focus, and fun. With an instructor acting as the “rhythm master,” participants follow sequences of claps and knee hits linked to the numbers one, two, and three. Once the group masters each individual rhythm, they’re challenged to complete longer and more complex sequences, like “Two, One,” “Three, Two,” and the finale sequence, “Three, One, Two, One.” The game builds momentum, laughter, and concentration as students work together to stay in sync and keep the rhythm flowing.
Perfect for large groups, workshops, or warm-ups, this activity boosts engagement, teamwork, and communication while creating an energising shared experience. There’s no competition, just the collective goal of staying coordinated and completing each rhythm sequence as one connected group. Clapping, One, Two, Three encourages participants to focus, listen, collaborate, and enjoy the challenge, making it an ideal opener for sessions where connection and fun are key.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Encourages awareness of emotions through shared laughter, energy, and group rhythm, helping students recognise and express positive feelings.
- Promotes self-regulation as students manage excitement, focus, and timing while maintaining the rhythm.
- Builds connection and collective joy, enhancing emotional understanding in a shared, playful context.
2. Personal Strengths
- Highlights perseverance and focus as personal strengths needed to stay in rhythm and complete the challenge.
- Encourages confidence by providing opportunities for success through teamwork and synchronisation.
- Helps students recognise qualities like coordination, listening, and patience as valuable personal traits.
3. Positive Coping
- Provides a positive outlet for energy and emotion through movement, music, and rhythm.
- Encourages laughter and fun as a way to relieve stress and build a positive group mood.
- Teaches resilience through repetition, mistakes become part of the process rather than a failure.
4. Problem Solving
- Develops focus and quick thinking as students interpret and respond to rhythm sequences in real time.
- Reinforces the importance of attentive listening and collaboration when solving challenges as a group.
- Promotes adaptability as students adjust to new sequences or increased speed during gameplay.
5. Stress Management
- Combines movement and rhythm to release tension and promote relaxation through fun, shared physical activity.
- Encourages mindfulness and present-moment focus by synchronising actions with sound and rhythm.
- Builds calm confidence through collective achievement and cooperative play.
6. Help-Seeking
- Normalises asking for support and learning from peers to master the rhythm and sequence.
- Encourages cooperation and gentle correction, showing that teamwork helps everyone succeed.
- Reinforces that communication and collaboration are key tools when seeking and offering help.
7. Gender and Identity
- Provides an inclusive, non-competitive environment where all students can participate equally.
- Values individual contribution and collective success, reducing performance pressure and comparison.
- Encourages free self-expression through rhythm, movement, and creativity, affirming personal identity.
8. Positive Gender Relations
- Builds trust and respect as students rely on one another to maintain the group’s timing and flow.
- Reinforces fairness, kindness, and shared success through cooperative participation.
- Fosters equality by creating an environment where every student’s contribution is valued in achieving the collective rhythm.
PEGG REFLECTION
PEGG Reflection is a powerful, structured activity that invites participants to pause, think deeply, and make meaning from their experiences with the Daily PEGG framework, Play, Exercise, Gratitude, and Giving. Through a guided reflection worksheet, students explore what they enjoyed most, the challenges they faced, and the personal growth they experienced across the PEGG activities. This reflective process helps strengthen self-awareness, allowing students to recognise key moments that supported their mental and physical well-being, and identify insights they can carry forward. Whether a student approached the PEGG with excitement or uncertainty, the reflection provides an opportunity to look back, acknowledge progress, and celebrate the impact of intentional well-being practices.
By revisiting their experiences and identifying what they will continue using in their daily lives, students learn how to apply the PEGG lessons beyond the classroom, to family life, friendships, routines, and personal goals. PEGG Reflection encourages both private self-growth and optional group sharing, creating a supportive environment for connection and vulnerability. This activity acts as a meaningful capstone to the Daily PEGG journey, empowering students to understand themselves better while building habits that enhance their well-being long after the activity ends.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Encourages students to identify and articulate their feelings about the Daily PEGG experiences, building emotional vocabulary and self-expression.
- Develops emotional understanding by helping students recognise the impact of play, exercise, gratitude, and giving on their mood and mindset.
- Promotes positive emotional awareness through reflection on joy, challenge, and personal growth.
2. Personal Strengths
- Reinforces recognition of individual strengths and achievements gained through PEGG activities.
- Encourages students to value traits such as resilience, optimism, kindness, and generosity.
- Builds confidence by allowing students to see their progress and contributions to their own and others’ wellbeing.
3. Positive Coping
- Provides a reflective space for students to explore how they managed challenges within the PEGG framework.
- Encourages students to apply strategies from the activities, like gratitude and giving, to manage stress and navigate difficulties.
- Reinforces a positive mindset and adaptive thinking, helping students turn reflection into future action.
4. Problem Solving
- Encourages analytical thinking as students assess what worked, what was challenging, and how they adapted during PEGG activities.
- Promotes forward planning by guiding students to identify ways to apply learnings from PEGG to everyday life.
- Builds reflective decision-making, turning insights into practical life strategies.
5. Stress Management
- Uses reflection as a tool to release emotional tension and recognise the benefits of mindfulness and self-awareness.
- Encourages ongoing personal check-ins as part of maintaining balanced wellbeing.
- Reinforces the connection between physical movement, gratitude, and emotional regulation.
6. Help-Seeking
- Normalises sharing experiences, challenges, and achievements with peers and trusted adults.
- Encourages students to open up about difficulties and celebrate growth in a safe, supportive environment.
- Builds understanding that seeking feedback and support strengthens both self-awareness and community connection.
7. Gender and Identity
- Promotes self-discovery and self-acceptance by inviting students to reflect on their personal journey and what makes them unique.
- Provides a space for all students to celebrate individual growth without comparison or bias.
- Encourages inclusivity and equal recognition of every student’s voice, experience, and reflection.
8. Positive Gender Relations
- Strengthens empathy and respect through shared reflection and listening activities.
- Builds understanding of others’ experiences, promoting compassion and emotional connection across genders.
- Reinforces equality and respect as students share gratitude, giving, and wellbeing insights with their peers.
Build Em Up Cards
Build Em Up Cards is a high-energy, team-based fitness challenge that blends speed, strategy, and teamwork into one exciting game. Teams race to a distant deck of cards, with each draw revealing an exercise that the entire team must complete together. As the game progresses, cards accumulate into an ever-growing list of exercises, pushing students to work hard, stay coordinated, and support one another through increasing physical demands. The thrill of racing back and forth, combined with the unpredictability of each card flip, keeps teams fully engaged from start to finish.
Beyond fitness, the game promotes strong communication and strategic decision-making. Teams must organise roles, maintain motivation, manage fatigue, and work efficiently to collect as many cards as possible before time runs out. With movement, teamwork, and laughter at its core, Build Em Up Cards is a dynamic activity that builds fitness, strengthens group connection, and adds a fun dose of friendly competition. Ending with a playful card-tower challenge adds an extra element of creativity and teamwork, bringing the session to a memorable close.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Builds awareness of motivation and emotional responses to challenge, success, and teamwork.
- Encourages students to recognise feelings such as excitement, frustration, and pride during gameplay.
- Promotes emotional regulation as students manage high energy, competition, and cooperation in an active setting.
2. Personal Strengths
- Highlights perseverance, resilience, and focus as students push through physical and strategic challenges.
- Encourages self-confidence by celebrating individual and team achievements.
- Reinforces the value of effort and contribution over winning, helping students appreciate their unique strengths within a team.
3. Positive Coping
- Provides an outlet for releasing energy and managing emotions through physical activity.
- Encourages laughter, movement, and fun as healthy coping strategies for stress or frustration.
- Teaches students to stay positive, adaptable, and supportive even when tasks become physically demanding.
4. Problem Solving
- Develops critical and strategic thinking as students decide how to maximise card collection and manage time.
- Promotes teamwork in decision-making by encouraging discussion, planning, and shared problem-solving.
- Reinforces the importance of evaluating challenges, adapting tactics, and learning from outcomes.
5. Stress Management
- Combines exercise and teamwork to naturally reduce tension and promote wellbeing.
- Encourages focus on effort, movement, and fun rather than outcome, supporting mindfulness and emotional balance.
- Reinforces that physical activity and positive interaction are effective tools for managing stress.
6. Help-Seeking
- Normalises seeking assistance, encouragement, or feedback from teammates.
- Builds trust and communication within the team as students learn to rely on each other’s support.
- Promotes a safe and inclusive environment where collaboration outweighs competition.
7. Gender and Identity
- Provides an inclusive platform where all students, regardless of gender or ability, can participate equally.
- Encourages each student to contribute their own strengths, speed, endurance, communication, or strategy, to the team’s success.
- Celebrates individuality within collective achievement, helping students recognise the value of diversity.
8. Positive Gender Relations
- Reinforces cooperation, respect, and encouragement among mixed-gender teams.
- Fosters empathy and understanding through shared goals, laughter, and teamwork.
- Models fair play, equality, and mutual support, building positive social interactions across all relationships.
Vulnerability Wall of Failures
Vulnerability Wall of Failures is a powerful reflective activity designed to normalise setbacks and celebrate the courage it takes to try something new. Through storytelling, honesty, and shared experiences, participants explore moments in their lives where things didn’t go to plan, using these experiences as catalysts for growth. By writing short reflections on colourful Post-it notes and placing them on a collective “Wall of Failures,” individuals transform their challenges into symbols of resilience, learning, and bravery. The simple act of sharing openly helps participants recognise that failure is universal and that every misstep offers valuable lessons that shape who we become.
This activity creates a supportive environment where vulnerability is embraced and connection naturally grows. As participants listen to one another’s stories, they realise they’re not alone in their struggles, fostering empathy and strengthening trust within the group. Whether used in families, schools, workplaces, or sports teams, the Wall of Failures helps build a culture where risk-taking is encouraged, reflection is valued, and resilience is celebrated. More than just a game, it’s an invitation to reframe failure, not as something to hide, but as a stepping stone toward confidence, courage, and future success.
Respectful Relationships
1. Emotional Literacy
- Encourages students to identify and articulate emotions connected to failure, such as disappointment, embarrassment, or pride in perseverance.
- Develops emotional awareness by normalising vulnerability and showing that all emotions, positive or negative, are valuable learning tools.
- Builds emotional regulation by guiding students to reframe difficult experiences through reflection and gratitude for growth.
2. Personal Strengths
- Highlights courage, honesty, and resilience as personal strengths demonstrated when sharing stories of failure.
- Encourages self-awareness by recognising that failure often reveals hidden strengths and character traits like determination or creativity.
- Reinforces that success is built on persistence, effort, and learning, fostering a growth mindset.
3. Positive Coping
- Provides a safe space for students to process setbacks constructively through discussion and reflection.
- Models healthy coping strategies such as self-compassion, humour, and open communication when facing challenges.
- Normalises the idea that failure is not final, helping students develop optimism and perseverance.
4. Problem Solving
- Encourages critical reflection on past experiences to identify what went wrong and how improvements can be made in future attempts.
- Promotes analytical thinking as students discuss how they overcame or adapted to challenges.
- Builds resilience through forward-thinking problem-solving, turning setbacks into opportunities for growth.
5. Stress Management
- Uses vulnerability and sharing as a means of emotional release, reducing the stigma around stress or fear of failure.
- Reinforces mindfulness and perspective by helping students recognise the temporary nature of setbacks.
- Promotes empathy and social support as key stress-relief tools, reminding students that they are not alone in their experiences.
6. Help-Seeking
- Normalises sharing personal struggles and mistakes, encouraging students to seek support from peers, teachers, and family members.
- Reinforces that vulnerability is a strength, not a weakness, and can lead to meaningful connection and advice.
- Encourages peer empathy and understanding, strengthening a culture of openness and mutual care.
7. Gender and Identity
- Provides an inclusive, safe environment where all students, regardless of gender or background, can share their experiences equally.
- Breaks down stereotypes by showing that courage, vulnerability, and resilience are universal human qualities.
- Encourages students to appreciate individuality and self-growth without comparison to others.
8. Positive Gender Relations
- Builds empathy and understanding among students as they listen to one another’s stories of challenge and perseverance.
- Fosters respect, compassion, and inclusivity through active listening and shared vulnerability.
- Reinforces the importance of supportive relationships built on trust, equality, and shared emotional honesty.
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