The School of Play Curriculum
Secondary School
Week Seven centres on quick thinking, coordination, and kindness, blending energising movement activities with meaningful reflection. Students engage in fast-paced partner games that sharpen their reflexes, challenge their coordination, and keep them physically active while having fun. These activities encourage students to synchronise actions, respond rapidly to instructions, and stay fully present, all skills that support both physical literacy and cognitive flexibility.
Alongside the action, students deepen their empathy and emotional awareness through gratitude and kindness-based activities. They create personalised gratitude cards to strengthen family connections and take part in a week-long kindness challenge that encourages compassion for themselves, others, and even strangers. These reflective practices nurture emotional well-being, build stronger relationships, and contribute to a positive classroom culture where kindness becomes a shared responsibility. Together, the activities of Week Seven support students in becoming more aware, connected, and kind individuals, both inside and outside the classroom.
Weekly Lessons
Happy Face Mean Face
Happy Face Mean Face is a fast, energetic partner game designed to spark instant laughter, connection, and focus at the start of any session. Players face off in pairs and attempt to match facial expressions, either a happy face or a mean face, while performing coordinated physical actions like jumping, spinning, or even completing a full burpee sequence. The classic version keeps things simple with 180-degree jumps and quick reactions, while the fitness version adds a fun challenge with planks and push-ups before the expression reveal. The combination of movement, anticipation, and surprise keeps the energy high and encourages players to stay focused and think quickly in the moment.
Beyond the physical fun, this game builds social connection and shared enjoyment, making it an ideal icebreaker for groups of any age. Players rotate through partners after each round, which fosters positive peer interaction, teamwork, and plenty of shared laughter. Whether participants are tagging each other after matching expressions or resetting after a mismatch, the atmosphere stays light, playful, and inclusive. Happy Face Mean Face blends coordination, quick thinking, and joy in a simple format that boosts energy, builds rapport, and sets the tone for a positive, engaging session ahead.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Happy Face Mean Face supports students to:
- Promote equal participation, as each round gives both partners the same opportunities to act, respond, and score.
- Foster an inclusive environment, where success is based on fun, synchronisation, and expression rather than athletic ability or confidence.
- Celebrate individuality, encouraging students to express emotions (happy or mean face) in a playful, judgement-free space where all interpretations are valued.
Building Healthy Relationships
Happy Face Mean Face helps students to:
- Strengthen connections, with students working in pairs and rotating partners to build relationships across the group.
- Foster trust and comfort, as students share expressive, often silly moments that break down social barriers.
- Build supportive interactions, through laughter, encouragement, and shared physical challenges that enhance group cohesion.
Developing Communication Skills
Happy Face Mean Face encourages students to:
- Communicate non-verbally, using facial expressions and body language to convey emotion and intention.
- Practise quick interpersonal responses, reacting instantly to what their partner reveals on landing.
- Enhance social communication, engaging in sportsmanship, encouragement, and respectful play throughout energetic rounds.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
Happy Face Mean Face supports students to:
- Build emotional awareness, differentiating between playful expressions of emotion and recognising emotional cues in others.
- Strengthen self-regulation, managing adrenaline, competition, and physical excitement throughout the rounds.
- Develop empathy, by tuning into partners’ expressions, reactions, and emotional cues within each jump.
- Boost positive emotions, as the game creates laughter, joy, and connection, important for emotional well-being.
Challenging Stereotypes
Happy Face Mean Face helps students to:
- Challenge stereotypes about expressing emotions, normalising big, silly, expressive faces for all genders and personality types.
- Break assumptions about who is confident or playful, as the quick, energetic structure encourages everyone to participate openly.
- Promote emotional expression, reinforcing that showing emotion, happy or mean, is safe, acceptable, and fun in a group setting.
Recognising Rights
Happy Face Mean Face empowers students to:
- Experience their right to feel safe and included, engaging in a structured activity where all expressions are accepted without judgment.
- Exercise their right to joy and fun, using movement and play to feel energised and connected.
- Be respected, with the game encouraging kindness, fairness, and positive social behaviour in every round.
- Understand their right to participate fully, with frequent partner rotations ensuring inclusive involvement for all students.
My Family Gratitude Card
My Family Gratitude Card is a meaningful, student-created activity designed to strengthen gratitude awareness and deepen family connection. Students design a personalised gratitude card featuring six thoughtful, reflective questions, one for each number on a six-sided dice. As they create their questions, students are encouraged to think about the people, moments, and memories that matter most to them. This process builds emotional awareness and communication skills while giving students a sense of ownership and pride over a gratitude tool they’ve designed themselves.
Once the card goes home, it becomes a powerful daily ritual that encourages families to slow down, talk, and appreciate the positives in their lives. Each night, family members roll the dice and answer the corresponding question, creating warm, meaningful conversations that strengthen bonds and boost connection. When students return to school and reflect on the experience, either individually, in class discussions, or through a reflection wall, they gain a deeper understanding of how gratitude can shape relationships and enhance well-being. My Family Gratitude Card blends creativity, emotional learning, and family engagement into one simple but impactful activity that can easily become a cherished household tradition.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
My Family Gratitude Card supports students to:
- Promote equal voice within families, as every family member takes turns rolling the dice and sharing gratitude reflections, ensuring everyone is heard.
- Create an inclusive practice where all contributions, regardless of age, personality, or communication style, are valued equally.
- Recognise diverse perspectives, as students design questions tailored to their family’s unique experiences, encouraging appreciation for different viewpoints.
Building Healthy Relationships
My Family Gratitude Card helps students to:
- Strengthen family bonds, as daily gratitude conversations deepen connection and foster loving, supportive relationships.
- Encourage meaningful dialogue, giving students and their families a structured way to share positive experiences, emotions, and memories.
- Enhance empathy and understanding as family members learn more about each other’s joys, challenges, and personal reflections.
Developing Communication Skills
My Family Gratitude Card encourages students to:
- Practise clear written communication, crafting thoughtful, open-ended questions that spark meaningful conversation.
- Develop verbal communication skills, sharing instructions confidently with their families and participating in gratitude discussions.
- Strengthen active listening, both at home and in class, as they listen to responses and reflect on others’ experiences without judgment.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
My Family Gratitude Card supports students to:
- Build emotional awareness, identifying what they are grateful for and recognising positive emotions in themselves and others.
- Develop reflective thinking, considering how gratitude impacts wellbeing, family dynamics, and daily life.
- Foster empathy, understanding the experiences and feelings family members share during the gratitude conversations.
- Cultivate a habit of mindfulness, pausing each day to acknowledge positive moments, strengths, and relationships.
Challenging Stereotypes
My Family Gratitude Card helps students to:
- Challenge stereotypes around emotional expression, normalising open conversations about gratitude, kindness, and pride across all genders and ages.
- Break assumptions about family communication, demonstrating that meaningful conversations are accessible and valuable for every family structure.
- Promote emotional literacy, reinforcing that expressing appreciation is a strength, not a vulnerability.
Recognising Rights
My Family Gratitude Card empowers students to:
- Recognise their right to feel heard and valued, both in school and within their family environment.
- Experience safe emotional expression, knowing their questions encourage positive, supportive conversations.
- Understand their right to strong, healthy relationships, with gratitude serving as a tool for connection, respect, and care.
- Feel ownership and agency, by creating a personalised gratitude resource that influences their family’s wellbeing and connection.
Head Shoulders Knee Cone
Head Shoulders Knee Cone is a high-energy reaction game that boosts agility, focus, and quick thinking while getting participants moving and laughing together. In pairs, players listen closely to the instructor’s commands, “head,” “shoulders,” “knees”, and must rapidly touch the correct body part with both hands before reacting to the ultimate cue: “cone.” The split-second race to grab the cone creates excitement, friendly competition, and lots of laughter. This game strengthens coordination, enhances reaction time, and encourages students to stay mentally sharp as the pace gradually increases.
The activity also promotes positive social interaction, resilience, and sportsmanship through constant partner changes and fun physical challenges. Players cheer each other on, handle wins and losses with a positive attitude, and build new connections through repeated short rounds. The optional coloured-cone variation adds an extra layer of challenge by combining colour recognition with fast decision-making. Whether used as a warm-up, an energiser, or a team-building activity, Head Shoulders Knee Cone creates an engaging and upbeat atmosphere that gets everyone moving, smiling, and ready for the session ahead.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Head Shoulders Knee Cone supports students to:
- Promote equal participation, as every pair follows the same cues, actions, and point system regardless of ability or confidence.
- Create an inclusive environment, where success depends on quick reactions and engagement rather than strength or athletic skill.
- Ensure fairness, with clear rules and equal opportunities for all students to score points, rotate partners, and participate actively.
Building Healthy Relationships
Head Shoulders Knee Cone helps students to:
- Develop positive peer connections, as players regularly interact with new partners through rotations after each round.
- Foster respectful competition, where students celebrate wins appropriately and demonstrate kindness in losses.
- Strengthen teamwork in pairs, especially as partners build rapport, communicate clearly, and share fun, lighthearted moments.
Developing Communication Skills
Head Shoulders Knee Cone encourages students to:
- Practise active listening, responding instantly to verbal cues from the instructor.
- Engage in clear verbal and non-verbal communication, especially when rotating partners, celebrating wins, or encouraging peers during rounds.
- Strengthen social communication, learning how to interact positively in competitive and fast-paced settings.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
Head Shoulders Knee Cone supports students to:
- Develop emotional regulation, managing excitement, competitiveness, and disappointment in quick succession during multiple rounds.
- Build resilience, bouncing back quickly if they miss the cone or lose a round and re-engaging enthusiastically.
- Boost group energy and mood, as laughter, movement, and positive interactions create a high-energy, emotionally uplifting environment.
- Increase self-awareness, recognising how they respond under pressure and adjusting their focus and reactions accordingly.
Challenging Stereotypes
Head Shoulders Knee Cone helps students to:
- Challenge assumptions about agility or reaction time, reinforcing that improvement comes from practice, focus, and engagement, not physical stereotypes.
- Break gender expectations, demonstrating that fun, fast-paced movement games are for everyone.
- Promote participation from all personality types, including quieter students who benefit from the clear structure and quick, playful nature of the game.
Recognising Rights
Head Shoulders Knee Cone empowers students to:
- Experience their right to participate fully, with accessible actions and simple rules that support inclusion for all.
- Feel safe and supported, knowing the focus is on fun, fairness, and respectful play.
- Understand their right to positive social interactions, as the game is designed to build bonds, connection, and mutual enjoyment.
- Recognise their right to express themselves, whether through friendly competition, encouragement, or celebration.
Three Acts of Kindness for the win
Three Acts of Kindness for the WIN is a powerful well-being activity that encourages students to intentionally practise kindness toward themselves, someone they know, a stranger, and a mystery classmate. Students begin by planning three meaningful acts of kindness, one focused on self-care, one for a friend or family member, and one for a stranger, allowing them to explore different ways kindness can be expressed. They then create a fourth kindness challenge that is randomly assigned to another student in the class, adding surprise, creativity, and a sense of collective responsibility to the experience. Throughout the week, students complete their acts and begin noticing how even small gestures can uplift others and create positive change.
The activity promotes empathy, generosity, and emotional awareness while building a culture of kindness across the classroom or school community. As students carry out and reflect on their acts, they develop deeper insight into how kindness impacts their mood, relationships, and sense of purpose. Sharing these reflections at the end of the week helps strengthen class connection and highlights the ripple effect that kindness can have on individuals and communities. Three Acts of Kindness for the WIN is a simple yet transformative practice that boosts mental well-being, nurtures self-care habits, and inspires students to become everyday changemakers.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Three Acts of Kindness for the Win supports students to:
- Promote equality through kindness, encouraging students to treat themselves, peers, and strangers with equal care and compassion.
- Recognise the shared humanity of all people, challenging students to see everyone, known or unknown, as deserving of kindness and respect.
- Value each student’s contribution, as all acts of kindness, big or small, are celebrated equally.
Building Healthy Relationships
Three Acts of Kindness for the Win helps students to:
- Strengthen relationships with peers and family members, as they intentionally perform thoughtful acts for people they know and care about.
- Develop trust and connection, through completing a kindness challenge created by a classmate and reflecting on the experience.
- Build a positive class culture, as each student contributes to a collective atmosphere of generosity and appreciation.
Developing Communication Skills
Three Acts of Kindness for the Win encourages students to:
- Communicate meaningfully, whether through verbal acts of kindness, supportive messages, or thoughtful gestures.
- Express gratitude, acknowledging how others’ actions make them feel and practising positive interpersonal communication.
- Reflect and share, discussing or journalling the emotional impact of their actions on themselves and others.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
Three Acts of Kindness for the Win supports students to:
- Develop empathy, by intentionally considering the needs, feelings, and perspectives of others before choosing acts of kindness.
- Build emotional awareness, recognising how giving kindness influences their mood, wellbeing, and sense of connection.
- Practise self-care, acknowledging that kindness begins with how they treat themselves and making intentional choices to support their own wellbeing.
- Strengthen reflection skills, as they thoughtfully evaluate the outcomes and emotional impact of their kindness across the week.
Challenging Stereotypes
Three Acts of Kindness for the Win helps students to:
- Challenge stereotypes about who ‘deserves’ kindness, reinforcing that kindness is universal, not dependent on popularity, status, or group identity.
- Break down barriers between peers, as randomised kindness challenges foster relationships beyond typical friendship groups.
- Promote the idea that strength includes compassion, challenging norms that frame kindness or vulnerability as weakness.
Recognising Rights
Three Acts of Kindness for the Win empowers students to:
- Recognise their right to be treated with kindness and dignity, beginning with the act of being kind to themselves.
- Understand their right to contribute positively to their community, feeling valued as active agents in creating supportive environments.
- Feel safe expressing kindness, as the activity normalises and celebrates caring actions.
- Experience belonging, knowing every student plays a role in shaping a culture of respect, kindness, and mutual support.
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