Started in a staff room.
Built for every staff room.
ClassBreak was born from a simple observation. When Dale Sidebottom arrived as a supply teacher in London, he noticed that the first few minutes with a new class were everything. Get the energy right, and the whole lesson would follow.
So Dale started collecting quick, fun games, the kind that would get kids laughing and trust-building in under five minutes. No equipment. No long explanations. Just energy and connection.
He turned those games into an iOS app. Then into hundreds of games. Then into courses, categories, classroom modes, and a community of teachers in 40+ countries.
15 years later, ClassBreak is bigger and better than ever. The same simple idea, fun games that make classrooms come alive, now across 1,000+ games, on every device, for every teacher.
“Teaching should feel like play. So should the tools that help you teach.”
Dale Sidebottom, Founder
Want Dale or Paul at your school or conference? See keynotes, workshops and staff PD days.
Where it all started.
“I wrote all the games and activities and things like that. I just sort of started writing them down, got a big list, and thought it’d be a good resource.”
Dale Sidebottom, Shepparton News
Back in 2012, a Shepparton newspaper ran a story about a local teacher with a simple idea: bring time-tested classroom games into the digital age.
That teacher was Dale. That app was ClassBreak. Over a decade later, what started as a free iTunes download has grown into a platform used by teachers across the globe, same idea, a whole lot bigger.
15 years in headlines.
We don’t just build play.
We run live workshops with thousands of teachers around the world. Same games, same energy, straight from the gym floor.
People who make the planes.
Two directors run The School of Play. Dale started it in a London classroom; Paul joined in 2024 and brings the wellbeing and leadership side. Book either of them to speak.
