The School of Play Curriculum
Secondary School
Week Thirteen brings together gratitude, connection, physical activity, and kindness in a beautifully balanced and energising way. Through activities like Gratitude Counting and Getting Dicey With It, students combine movement with mental focus, squatting, counting, predicting outcomes, and responding quickly, all while reflecting on the positive aspects of their lives. These interactive games strengthen concentration, coordination, and strategic thinking, giving students the chance to work in pairs, build rapport, and stay physically active. The physical challenges are purposeful, helping students maintain focus while strengthening communication and teamwork.
This week also places a strong emphasis on emotional well-being, kindness, and meaningful reflection. Activities such as Get Sticking and Master Chef Group Gratitude help students express appreciation for the important people in their lives, practise empathy, and recognise the impact of small positive actions. By writing heartfelt notes, sharing gratitude reflections, and acknowledging the contributions of others, students deepen their social connections and develop greater emotional awareness. The combination of movement, gratitude, and kindness helps students build strong interpersonal skills, nurture a positive mindset, and cultivate habits that support long-term well-being, both within the classroom and in their daily lives.
Weekly Lessons
Gratitude Counting
Gratitude Counting is a simple yet powerful partner activity that blends physical movement with meaningful reflection. Partners take turns counting aloud while holding a squat position, standing up only when they reach a multiple of three or a number containing the digit three. Each time they stand, they pause to share something connected to the gratitude theme rolled on the dice, whether it’s people they appreciate, memorable moments, skills they value, or acts of kindness they’ve witnessed. This creates a rhythm of movement, mindfulness, and connection that keeps students physically engaged while strengthening their emotional awareness.
The game encourages students to focus, listen, and communicate while building deeper social connections through the use of each other’s names and personal reflections. As the count climbs, so does the challenge, making it a fun and energising way to cultivate gratitude in any classroom or group setting. Gratitude Counting promotes a positive mindset, encourages meaningful conversations, and adds a playful twist that makes reflection active, engaging, and memorable.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Gratitude Counting promotes equality by:
- Ensuring all pairs participate in the same activity, with equal opportunity to contribute reflections and engage physically.
- Making the task accessible to all students regardless of ability, squat holds can be modified, counting can be adjusted, and gratitude themes are universally relatable.
- Highlighting that everyone’s reflections hold value, emphasising that each person’s story, strengths, and lived experiences deserve to be heard.
- Encouraging equal turn-taking throughout the activity, reinforcing fairness and shared responsibility.
Building Healthy Relationships
This activity strengthens healthy relationships by:
- Creating an environment where students share meaningful gratitude reflections, deepening understanding and connection with partners.
- Incorporating name use during gameplay, which strengthens interpersonal bonds and fosters a sense of being seen and acknowledged.
- Promoting mutual encouragement, especially during the squat-hold challenge, reinforcing supportive peer behaviours.
- Using shared experiences and positive discussion to build trust and rapport between partners.
Developing Communication Skills
Students enhance communication by:
- Practising clear verbal counting, helping maintain rhythm and focus during the movement-based challenge.
- Using concise and meaningful language to express gratitude, fostering expressive communication skills.
- Listening attentively to their partner’s gratitude reflections, practising active listening and empathetic responding.
- Building confidence in speaking authentically, even during a fun and physically challenging activity.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
The game builds emotional intelligence through:
- Encouraging students to reflect on the positive people, places, and experiences in their lives, strengthening emotional awareness.
- Teaching students to pause, reflect, and express gratitude even in a physically demanding context, mirroring real-life emotional regulation skills.
- Fostering empathy as students gain insight into what matters most to their peers.
- Helping students recognise how gratitude can shift mood, build resilience, and increase personal wellbeing.
Challenging Stereotypes
Gratitude Counting challenges stereotypes by:
- Reinforcing that emotional expression, including gratitude, is healthy and appropriate for all genders and ages.
- Showing that reflection and physical activity can coexist, breaking stereotypes around who engages in mindfulness or vulnerability-based activities.
- Encouraging students to appreciate diverse life experiences, broadening their worldview and challenging narrow assumptions about others.
- Demonstrating that strength includes vulnerability, appreciation, and connection, not just physical or competitive ability.
Recognising Rights
This activity supports understanding of rights and responsibilities by:
- Reinforcing students’ right to feel safe, valued, and heard in a supportive learning environment.
- Encouraging respectful communication, active listening, and care toward others’ personal reflections.
- Prompting students to take responsibility for their behaviour, participation, and encouragement of their partner.
- Supporting the right to emotional expression and the shared responsibility of maintaining a positive, inclusive space.
Get Sticking
Get Sticking is a heart-warming kindness activity where students write thoughtful messages on sticky notes and leave them in unexpected places to brighten someone’s day. By choosing people who have positively influenced their lives, such as teachers, friends, parents, or others in their community, students practise gratitude and kindness in a simple yet powerful way. The act of crafting personalised messages encourages them to reflect deeply on the positive qualities and contributions of others, helping them recognise how supported, loved, and connected they truly are.
Once the notes are written, the magic happens in “Sticky Surprise Mode,” where students secretly place their messages for recipients to discover. This playful and meaningful element fosters excitement, empathy, and joy as students imagine the happiness their surprises will create. The activity concludes with a brief reflection, allowing students to appreciate the emotional impact of their kindness, both on others and on themselves. Get Sticking is a beautiful blend of gratitude, connection, and creativity that leaves every environment a little brighter.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Get Sticking promotes equality by:
- Allowing every student to participate in an activity where their voice and kindness hold the same value as everyone else’s.
- Encouraging students to write to a diverse range of people (teacher, parent/guardian, someone outside their immediate friendship group), ensuring recognition extends beyond social circles and discourages “favourites-only” behaviour.
- Reinforcing inclusive thinking by prompting students to notice and appreciate people from different backgrounds, roles, or groups who positively contribute to their world.
- Ensuring that every individual in a classroom or community has the opportunity to receive appreciation, regardless of popularity, status, or peer group.
Building Healthy Relationships
This activity strengthens healthy relationships through:
- Encouraging students to reflect on why certain people make their lives better, reinforcing emotional awareness in relationships.
- Providing an opportunity for students to express gratitude, a cornerstone of strong, healthy relationships.
- Deepening trust between peers, teachers, and families by acknowledging positive traits, behaviours, and contributions.
- Showing students that small, thoughtful gestures can significantly strengthen connection and positive communication.
Developing Communication Skills
Students improve communication skills by:
- Learning to write clear, heartfelt messages that express appreciation in a meaningful and authentic way.
- Practising the skill of giving compliments, an essential component of healthy communication that supports relationship building.
- Engaging in reflective communication through the act of considering how someone has impacted them.
- Discussing their experiences afterwards in a safe environment, refining verbal communication, active listening, and emotional expression.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
The game builds emotional intelligence by:
- Encouraging students to identify emotions associated with gratitude, kindness, and being recognised.
- Helping students consider the emotional world of others, how their note may brighten someone’s day or uplift their mood.
- Supporting self-awareness as they reflect on how engaging in kindness affected their own emotional state.
- Developing empathy by shifting focus toward appreciating others’ actions and qualities.
Challenging Stereotypes
Get Sticking challenges stereotypes by:
- Demonstrating that expressing gratitude and kindness is not a sign of weakness but a powerful interpersonal skill everyone benefits from, regardless of gender, personality type, or cultural background.
- Encouraging both boys and girls to engage in emotional expression, breaking down stereotypes that boys shouldn’t express kindness or vulnerability.
- Highlighting the importance of recognising people who may usually go unnoticed, challenging assumptions and biases about who contributes value in a community.
Recognising Rights
This activity reinforces the understanding of rights and responsibilities by:
- Emphasising everyone’s right to feel appreciated, valued, and recognised.
- Encouraging responsible communication, students learn that their words can have a positive or harmful impact.
- Reinforcing students’ responsibility to contribute to a safe, caring classroom environment through acts of kindness.
- Supporting emotional safety by creating a culture where positive words are normalised and celebrated.
Getting Dicey With It
Getting Dicey With It is an energetic, chance-based fitness game that blends physical activity with strategic prediction. Played in pairs, students guess whether the sum of two dice will be odd or even before rolling. Correct predictions earn points, while incorrect guesses result in fun, movement-based challenges such as squats, jumps, or exercises from an activity list. This simple twist transforms a standard dice roll into an exciting, fast-paced blend of luck, strategy, and fitness that keeps all players engaged from start to finish.
The game also includes a thrilling doubles rule: rolling matching numbers allows a team to complete a short run and steal a point from another pair, introducing teamwork, strategy, and playful competition. With its combination of physical activity, quick thinking, and social interaction, Getting Dicey With It is a versatile and highly engaging warm-up or team-building activity. It encourages students to work together, stay active, and have plenty of laughs as they chase points and try to out-strategise their opponents.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Getting Dicey With It promotes equality by:
- Ensuring all students participate in the same physical and strategic challenges, regardless of fitness level or skill.
- Creating a level playing field where chance, not popularity, athletic ability, or social status, determines outcomes.
- Encouraging every student to contribute equally to predictions, communication, and teamwork.
- Providing all pairs with equal opportunities to score points, recover from setbacks, and stay competitive throughout the game.
Building Healthy Relationships
This activity strengthens healthy relationship skills through:
- Encouraging pairs to support one another during fitness challenges and celebrate correct predictions together.
- Reinforcing trust and cooperation as students discuss strategy and rely on each other’s communication.
- Providing a shared experience that builds bonds, both through success and through completing exercises together after incorrect guesses.
- Teaching students to manage emotions such as frustration, excitement, or disappointment in a respectful and constructive manner.
Developing Communication Skills
Through intentional communication, students practise:
- Verbal reasoning as they discuss odds, evens, probability, and strategy before rolling the dice.
- Clear and positive communication during exercise challenges, such as counting reps for each other or offering encouragement.
- Active listening as they respond to their partner’s ideas and decisions.
- Conflict-free problem-solving when strategising or resolving disagreements about predictions.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
The game builds emotional and social intelligence by:
- Helping students understand their emotional responses to chance-based outcomes and manage them appropriately.
- Encouraging resilience as students continue playing despite incorrect guesses or tough exercise rounds.
- Promoting empathy as partners support each other through physical challenges.
- Strengthening self-awareness as students notice patterns in their decision-making and reactions throughout the game.
Challenging Stereotypes
Getting Dicey With It challenges stereotypes by:
- Demonstrating that fitness activities can be fun, inclusive, and accessible, not limited to traditionally athletic students.
- Encouraging both boys and girls to engage equally in physical challenge, strategic thinking, and leadership within pairs.
- Showing that being good at maths or strategy is not tied to gender or ability stereotypes.
- Highlighting that success in the game comes from teamwork and communication, not physical dominance or competitiveness.
Recognising Rights
This activity reinforces students’ rights and responsibilities through:
- Emphasising the right to feel safe, supported, and included during physical activities.
- Encouraging respectful interactions and fair play, ensuring that all students feel valued and treated kindly.
- Promoting each student’s responsibility to care for their own well-being (e.g., by communicating discomfort or pacing themselves).
- Reinforcing the importance of respecting others’ boundaries, pace, and physical abilities during exercise.
Master Chef Group Gratitude
Master Chef Group Gratitude is a heart-warming, reflection-based activity inspired by the creativity and collaboration of Master Chef. Instead of cooking ingredients, participants are given ten gratitude “prompts” that encourage them to reflect on the people who have positively impacted their lives. From individuals who supported them during tough times to those who inspire, motivate, or bring joy, students thoughtfully write about the influential people who help shape who they are. This process helps them recognise the powerful role others play in their well-being and growth.
After writing, participants share their reflections with the group, creating a warm and connected atmosphere where gratitude becomes the highlight of the experience. Whether done in small groups or as one large circle, the activity strengthens relationships by fostering kindness, empathy, and appreciation. Master Chef Group Gratitude transforms simple reflection into a meaningful bonding moment, making it an ideal activity for classrooms, teams, or any setting that values emotional connection and positive communication.
Respectful Relationships
Understanding & Promoting Equality
Master Chef Group Gratitude promotes equality by:
- Ensuring every student participates in the same reflective process, regardless of writing ability, confidence level, or social group.
- Creating an inclusive environment where all voices and experiences are valued equally.
- Providing each student with the same prompts gives everyone an equal opportunity to express gratitude and be heard.
- Encouraging a culture where every person’s positive influence is recognised, not just those who are more vocal, popular, or well-known.
- Removing competition and replacing it with shared appreciation, ensuring every student feels important and included.
Building Healthy Relationships
This activity strengthens healthy relationship skills through:
- Encouraging students to openly acknowledge kindness, support, and positive actions from peers, family members, and teachers.
- Reinforcing trust and emotional safety as students share meaningful reflections with their group.
- Providing a structured space where students can express appreciation, deepening connections and strengthening relational bonds.
- Helping students recognise the behaviours that contribute to respectful relationships, such as empathy, gratitude, and kindness.
- Teaching students to celebrate others’ strengths and contributions, rather than focusing solely on their own experiences.
Developing Communication Skills
Through reflective writing and group sharing, students practise:
- Positive communication by expressing genuine appreciation and articulating why someone has made a meaningful impact.
- Active listening as they hear peers share personal stories, experiences, and gratitude reflections.
- Respectful conversation skills as they respond to others’ reflections with kindness, validation, and non-judgment.
- Emotional expression by putting feelings into words in a clear, safe, and honest way.
- Confidence in speaking to a group, particularly when discussing emotional or personal topics.
Enhancing Social & Emotional Intelligence
The activity builds emotional and social intelligence by:
- Encouraging students to recognise and name the emotions connected to gratitude, connection, and appreciation.
- Helping students become aware of the support systems in their lives and how these relationships contribute to their well-being.
- Fostering empathy as students hear and understand the positive impacts others have had on their peers.
- Strengthening self-awareness as students reflect on who influences them, how they feel supported, and what they value in relationships.
- Promoting emotional resilience as students learn to recognise positive experiences, even when life feels challenging.
Challenging Stereotypes
Master Chef Group Gratitude challenges stereotypes by:
- Demonstrating that expressing gratitude is a strength, not a weakness, and is something everyone can do regardless of gender, personality, or background.
- Encouraging boys and girls alike to practise emotional expression openly and confidently.
- Showing that leadership, kindness, and character strengths come from a wide range of people, not those who fit traditional roles or expectations.
- Highlighting diverse forms of support, academic, emotional, social, challenging the stereotype of who “should” be appreciated.
- Normalising emotional literacy for all students, helping break down stereotypes around who is “allowed” to show appreciation.
Recognising Rights
This activity reinforces students’ rights and responsibilities through:
- Promoting the right to feel valued, appreciated, and seen within a classroom or group environment.
- Encouraging respectful communication that honours each student’s voice and emotional experiences.
- Reinforcing the responsibility to contribute to a positive and supportive community through gratitude and kindness.
- Supporting students’ right to express feelings without fear of judgment.
- Encouraging each student to respect the stories, boundaries, and emotional safety of their peers during sharing.
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