There is a quiet truth about schools: the session is largely decided in the first week. By Friday of week one, students have formed their opinion of their new teacher, teachers have formed their opinion of their new class, routines are either established or already slipping, and parents have decided whether the school is organised. Everything after that is maintenance. A school that treats the first week as a warm-up — a few days of loose classes before the "real" work begins — wastes the most powerful week of the year. First week of school activities deserve a plan, and this guide gives you one: orientation games, baseline assessments, and routine building, day by day.
The plan is written for Pakistani private schools and academies, from junior classes to board classes. The activities differ by age, but the principles are the same at every level: belonging before books, diagnosis before teaching, and routines before syllabus.
Why the First Week Decides the Session
The first week works on three levels at once. Psychologically, it is when children decide whether they belong. A child who is welcomed by name, who knows where to sit, who has spoken to a classmate, and who has been told clearly what is expected will settle. A child who is ignored, confused about the routine, and handed a full syllabus on Day One will arrive on Day Two already anxious. The difference shows up in attendance, behaviour, and learning for months.
Pedagogically, the first week is when the teacher learns the class. Without a baseline, a teacher teaches to an imaginary average — too fast for the children who are behind, too slow for the children who are ahead — and discovers the mismatch only after the first test, when weeks have been lost. A short baseline assessment in week one gives the teacher the real picture on day two.
Operationally, the first week is when routines are cheapest to establish. A routine taught in week one — how to enter the classroom, how homework is recorded, how the class lines up, how the teacher signals for attention — becomes automatic by week three. The same routine introduced in week six, after six weeks of chaos, must fight six weeks of habit. Schools that invest in week one buy themselves a calm year.
Day One: Welcome, Not Workload
Day One should be short on syllabus and long on welcome. Start with the principal or head welcoming the school — a brief assembly, a word about the year's priorities, and a clear message that the school is glad to have its students back. Then send students to their classrooms, where the class teacher runs a structured first period: welcome by name (use the seating plan and the class list — learn names from Day One), a tour of the classroom and its routines, the class timetable explained, and a simple getting-to-know activity.
Do not teach a full syllabus lesson on Day One. Do hand out the timetable, the booklist reminder, and any forms that need to go home. Do make sure every child leaves Day One knowing: who their class teacher is, where they sit, what the day's routine looks like, and one thing they are looking forward to. For new admissions, assign a buddy — an existing student who shows them around, sits with them at break, and answers the questions they are too shy to ask a teacher. For junior classes, a short meeting with parents at pick-up time on Day One — even five minutes at the gate — settles more nerves than any number of letters.
For board classes, Day One can be slightly more businesslike — but not much. Class 9 and 10 students also need to know their teacher, their routine, and the year's expectations before they can focus on the syllabus. A 20-minute orientation conversation in a board class is not wasted time; it is the foundation the year's hard work stands on.
Orientation Games: Belonging Before Books
Orientation games are not a waste of teaching time — they are the fastest way to build a class that can learn together. For junior classes (KG to Class 5), use name games, pair interviews ("find someone who…"), and simple team challenges that mix children who do not usually sit together. A "class bingo" card — find someone who likes mangoes, someone who has a younger brother, someone who travelled in the holidays — gets children talking in the first hour. A class agreement activity, where students suggest the rules they want for their classroom and the teacher writes them on a chart, gives children ownership of the behaviour the teacher will expect all year.
For senior classes, games should respect teenagers' dignity. A short pair-share — "tell your partner one thing you want to improve this year" — followed by a class discussion of goals, works better than forced fun. A team quiz about the school, the subjects, and the year ahead builds energy without embarrassment. And a simple, honest conversation — "this year will be hard, here is how we will get through it together" — earns more respect from Class 9 and 10 students than any icebreaker. The goal at every level is the same: by the end of week one, every child should know several classmates' names, feel known by their teacher, and believe the class is a place they belong.
Keep games short and purposeful — 15 to 20 minutes within a period, not a whole day of activities. The class still needs to start learning in week one; the games are the lubricant, not the lesson.
Baseline Assessments: Know Where They Start
A baseline assessment is a short, low-pressure check of what students already know — not a test with marks that count. Run it in the first two or three days, in the core subjects: English, Urdu, and Maths, plus science for older classes. Keep it short — 20 to 30 minutes per subject — and frame it to students honestly: "This is not a test. It tells me what you already know so I can teach you properly." No marks in the register, no report to parents, no ranking. The moment a baseline feels like an exam, children stop showing what they know and start showing their anxiety.
What to assess: the prerequisite skills for the year's work, not last year's full syllabus. A Class 6 maths baseline should check tables, place value, and basic operations — the foundations the new syllabus builds on. A Class 9 English baseline should check reading comprehension and sentence writing. Use the results to group the class for the first month: who needs revision of basics, who is ready to move ahead, who needs individual attention. Share the picture with the coordinator and, where a child shows a significant gap, start the support conversation early — a child identified in week one can be helped all year; a child identified in the first-term exam has already lost a term.
For schools that want a simple system, a one-page baseline summary per class — topic, percentage of the class secure, names of children needing support — filed with the coordinator, is enough. The point is not paperwork; it is that the teacher starts week two knowing the class.
The First-Week Rule
Routine Building: The Habits That Run the Year
Routines are the invisible machinery of a classroom. Teach them explicitly in week one, and practise them until they are automatic. The essential routines: entering the classroom (greet, sit, take out materials), starting a lesson (teacher's signal for attention, the class settles, the date and topic on the board), asking for help (hand up, wait, or a help card on the desk), submitting homework (where, when, and in what form), moving between activities (how the class transitions from group work to individual work), and ending the day (tidy desks, pack bags, the class dismissed in order). Each routine should be demonstrated, practised, and praised when done well — in week one, praise the routine as much as the work. Post the classroom rules chart on Day One and refer to it every time a routine is practised.
Two routines deserve special attention. The first is the homework routine: how homework is recorded (a diary, a notebook, or the school app), where it is submitted, and what happens if it is missed. A homework routine established in week one prevents the daily "I forgot" negotiations that eat teaching time all year. The second is the behaviour routine: the class agreement made on Day One, the warnings and consequences, and — most importantly — the positive recognition. A class that hears its good behaviour noticed in week one will behave well in week ten.
By Friday of week one, the routines should be running with minimal prompting. If a routine is still not working, the teacher should re-teach it in week two rather than complain about it — routines are taught, not caught. A class with strong routines is a class where the teacher spends the year teaching instead of managing.
Parent Touchpoints in Week One
The first week is also the school's first chance to show parents that the session is organised. Send a welcome message on Day One — a short WhatsApp or app message: "Welcome to the new session. Your child's class teacher is [name], and the first week is settling-in week. The class timetable is attached." Send the class timetable and the first month's key dates before the end of week one. And make one proactive, positive contact per child during the first two weeks: a short message noting something good — "Ayesha settled in well and helped a new student today." Parents who hear something positive in week one will respond constructively when the school raises a concern in week six.
For new families, add a check-in call in the first week: "How is your child settling? Any questions?" It takes two minutes, and it converts an anxious new parent into a loyal one. For more on keeping parents connected all year, see our guide to building a parent communication system and the first-day tips for teachers that set the tone for the whole session.
The first week is the cheapest week of the year to get right, and the most expensive to get wrong. Plan it, staff it, and treat it as the foundation it is. The session that starts well tends to stay well.
AI Help: Muse AI
Muse AI is Meta's personal AI assistant, available in the Muse app. It can help you plan a day-by-day first-week schedule for your class — orientation games, baseline assessments, and routine-building — matched to your students' age group.
Join Muse with invite code LTGSWD — in the Muse app, go to Settings > Redeem token and enter the code.
Disclosure: LTGSWD is the author's Muse invite code.