The School of Play Curriculum
Secondary School
Week Eighteen brings together creativity, empathy, teamwork, and physical fitness through a series of fun, interactive activities. The session begins with Evolution, a playful twist on rock-paper-scissors that gets students laughing, moving, and engaging with classmates as they “evolve” through silly stages. The energy continues with Running Dice, a fast-paced fitness race where students challenge their endurance, support their teammates, and stay motivated through increasing exercise rounds. These activities help build connection, resilience, and a fun team spirit while boosting fitness and coordination.
This week also deepens students’ emotional awareness and strengthens relationships through reflection and kindness. The Compliment Game encourages students to express gratitude and share meaningful affirmations with their peers, creating a warm and supportive classroom atmosphere. The session finishes with the Empathy Walk, where students explore real-life scenarios, practise emotional understanding, and discuss ways to support others through challenges. Together, these activities help students develop empathy, celebrate each other, and continue building a caring and connected community.
Weekly Lessons
Evolution
Evolution is a high-energy, playful twist on rock-paper-scissors where players “evolve” through a series of funny stages, from egg to chicken to monster and finally human. To level up, players must find others at the same stage and win a round of rock-paper-scissors. Along the way, each stage comes with its own hilarious sound or movement, filling the room with laughter, creativity, and joyful chaos.
The game is perfect for building connection, boosting confidence, and getting students moving. As everyone interacts, celebrates wins, and cheers each other on, the atmosphere becomes supportive and vibrant. Evolution is a brilliant icebreaker for any group size and a guaranteed way to create instant engagement, positive energy, and shared fun.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
- Gives every student the same starting point and equal opportunity to progress, regardless of skill level, confidence, or physical ability.
- Ensures all roles (egg, chicken, monster, human) are equally valued and essential to the fun, removing hierarchy or status from the activity.
- Creates an inclusive environment where all students engage in the same challenges and interactions, promoting fairness and shared experiences.
Building Healthy Relationships
- Encourages students to interact with multiple peers through repeated rock-paper-scissors matchups, helping build comfort and rapport.
- Fosters teamwork-like behaviour as players naturally encourage, laugh with, and support others at the same evolutionary stage.
- Promotes positive group energy and bonding through shared humour, playful noises, and collective celebration of progress.
Developing Communication Skills
- Strengthens non-verbal communication as students use gestures, sounds, and movements to represent evolutionary stages.
- Enhances interpersonal communication by prompting students to initiate challenges, negotiate who plays next, and engage respectfully with peers.
- Reinforces active listening as students pay attention to the rules, sounds, and cues from others during gameplay.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
- Helps students navigate emotions like excitement, disappointment, and anticipation in a lighthearted, low-pressure environment.
- Builds empathy as students recognise and celebrate others’ progress while supporting peers who remain at earlier stages.
- Encourages self-awareness through reflection on personal reactions to winning, losing, and evolving throughout the game.
Challenging Stereotypes
- Breaks down social barriers by placing all students, regardless of age, gender, or social group, into silly, playful roles that level the playing field.
- Challenges ideas about who is “good” at games, emphasising fun, playfulness, and creativity over competitiveness or physical dominance.
- Encourages all students, including those who may be shy, to express themselves in imaginative and humorous ways.
Recognising Rights
- Reinforces students’ rights to feel safe, included, and respected when interacting and challenging others.
- Promotes respectful play by emphasising fairness, honesty, and clear boundaries within each rock-paper-scissors challenge.
- Encourages students to take responsibility for contributing positively to the group atmosphere through kindness, encouragement, and playful engagement.
The Compliment Game
The Compliment Game is a heartwarming and uplifting activity designed to strengthen relationships through genuine, personalised affirmations. Using simple prompts, participants share thoughtful compliments about one another, helping everyone feel seen, valued, and appreciated. The game encourages kindness, boosts self-esteem, and creates a warm, positive atmosphere where students can openly celebrate each other’s strengths and qualities.
As participants take turns giving and receiving compliments, the room quickly fills with smiles, connection, and a sense of belonging. The game naturally builds group trust and cohesion, making it perfect for classrooms, leadership groups, or team-building sessions. More than just a confidence booster, The Compliment Game helps develop emotional intelligence and communication skills, while reminding everyone just how powerful a kind word can be.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
- Ensures all students both give and receive compliments, promoting equal recognition and value within the group.
- Creates a safe and inclusive environment where every participant’s positive qualities are acknowledged, regardless of background or social status.
- Encourages fairness by providing structured prompts so all students receive thoughtful, balanced affirmations.
Building Healthy Relationships
- Strengthens trust and connection as students openly appreciate one another’s strengths, behaviours, and contributions.
- Encourages empathy and understanding as students reflect on what they admire in their peers.
- Deepens relationships through meaningful, positive interactions that highlight shared experiences and mutual respect.
Developing Communication Skills
- Builds students’ confidence in expressing positive, specific, and heartfelt messages to others.
- Enhances active listening as students receive compliments and reflect on their peers’ insights.
- Develops emotional literacy by helping students articulate why certain qualities or actions matter.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
- Encourages self-awareness as students recognise how others perceive their strengths and impact.
- Promotes empathy by prompting students to consider how their words can uplift and support their peers.
- Supports emotional regulation as students learn to give and receive affirming feedback with openness and gratitude.
Challenging Stereotypes
- Breaks down social barriers by encouraging students to compliment peers beyond typical friendship groups or stereotypes.
- Highlights diverse strengths, showing that qualities like kindness, humour, creativity, or resilience are valued equally in all students.
- Reinforces that everyone contributes positively in unique ways, challenging narrow ideas about popularity or status.
Recognising Rights
- Reinforces students’ right to feel valued, respected, and acknowledged in their learning environment.
- Encourages responsible communication by modelling positive, respectful language that upholds others’ dignity.
- Promotes each student’s responsibility to contribute to a safe, supportive community through kindness and affirmation.
Running Dice
Running Dice is a fast-paced fitness game that blends running, teamwork, and escalating physical challenges. Players roll a dice to determine which exercise station to sprint to, completing reps that increase each round. The constant movement between the home base and the cones keeps the energy high, while the rising repetition count pushes participants to build endurance, strength, and determination.
Working in pairs or small teams, players motivate and encourage one another as they race against time to complete as many rounds as possible. The shared challenge strengthens collaboration and team spirit, creating an environment of positive support and collective effort. Running Dice is a dynamic and adaptable workout game that transforms fitness into fun, perfect for team-building sessions or energetic warm-ups.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
- Provides equal opportunity for all students to participate, as success depends on effort rather than athletic ability or speed.
- Ensures all players contribute to the team’s progress through shared running and exercise tasks.
- Promotes fairness by giving each student the same structure and role within their team regardless of fitness level or background.
Building Healthy Relationships
- Strengthens relationships through shared physical challenges that require cooperation, encouragement, and mutual support.
- Builds trust as teammates rely on one another to complete rounds, motivate each other, and stay committed when fatigue sets in.
- Creates a sense of belonging as teams celebrate progress and overcome challenges together.
Developing Communication Skills
- Encourages clear and supportive communication as teammates discuss strategies, pace, and how to divide or complete repetitions.
- Develops active listening as students respond to teammates’ needs, energy levels, and suggestions.
- Supports constructive communication by promoting positive reinforcement and shared goal-setting.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
- Builds resilience as students manage physical fatigue, frustration, or unexpected challenges while maintaining a positive attitude.
- Encourages empathy as teammates recognise when others need encouragement or pacing support.
- Strengthens self-awareness as students reflect on their effort, stamina, and role in helping their team succeed.
Challenging Stereotypes
- Breaks down assumptions that fitness-based activities favour only highly athletic students by incorporating teamwork and strategy.
- Demonstrates that leadership in physical activities can come from any student, not just perceived “sporty” individuals.
- Highlights diverse strengths, encouragement, strategy, pacing, and team support, as equally valuable to success.
Recognising Rights
- Reinforces students’ right to feel safe, supported, and included during physical activities.
- Encourages responsible behaviour by having students communicate needs, pace themselves, and respect physical boundaries.
- Promotes fair play and respect for others’ effort, ensuring an environment where everyone feels valued.
Empathy Walk
The Empathy Walk is a powerful, reflective activity designed to help students understand what empathy looks like in real life. Through guided scenario discussions, partners walk together while exploring how it feels to be in someone else’s shoes and how they might respond with kindness, support, and understanding. The activity involves both pre-written scenarios and personal experiences, giving students the chance to reflect deeply, practise active listening, and recognise the importance of compassion in everyday interactions.
As students share their feelings and discuss meaningful ways to show empathy, the space quickly becomes one of trust, vulnerability, and connection. The Empathy Walk strengthens relationships by encouraging honest conversations and helping students develop the emotional skills to support one another. It’s a simple yet incredibly impactful activity that builds a caring classroom culture and equips students with empathy they can apply well beyond the session.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
- Gives every student an equal opportunity to share experiences and listen to their partner’s perspective, reinforcing that all emotions and stories hold equal value.
- Promotes fairness by ensuring each partner has the same amount of time to speak, reflect, and respond with empathy.
- Encourages all students, regardless of confidence level, to participate meaningfully in discussions about feelings, challenges, and human experiences.
Building Healthy Relationships
- Strengthens friendships through vulnerable, honest sharing that deepens trust and emotional connection between peers.
- Encourages supportive behaviour as students practise responding with understanding, compassion, and validation.
- Helps students learn how to navigate challenging emotional situations together, promoting healthier, more caring relationships.
Developing Communication Skills
- Enhances active listening skills as students focus on understanding feelings rather than giving solutions or judgments.
- Builds skills in expressing empathy through thoughtful language, tone, and body language during discussions.
- Encourages open dialogue about emotions, helping students practise respectful, calm, and supportive communication.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
- Increases emotional awareness as students explore their own experiences and relate them to others’ feelings.
- Builds empathy by helping students recognise and understand a wide range of emotions, both their own and their peers’.
- Strengthens self-regulation and perspective-taking as students reflect on how words and actions can affect others.
Challenging Stereotypes
- Challenges misconceptions that discussing emotions is a sign of weakness by normalising vulnerability for all students.
- Encourages both boys and girls to participate equally in emotional conversations, breaking down gendered stereotypes around empathy.
- Shows that empathy is a universal skill, not limited by personality, background, or social confidence.
Recognising Rights
- Reinforces students’ right to feel heard, respected, and emotionally safe within their peer group.
- Promotes responsibility in supporting others respectfully and protecting the emotional safety of partners who choose to share personal stories.
- Highlights the importance of respecting boundaries by allowing students to share only what they feel comfortable disclosing.
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