Two School of Play presenters on stage, arms raised, in front of an auditorium of educators on their feet
A Wolf Logic program · Delivered by The School of PlayNext cohort forming now · Intentionally small cohorts

Your school's next game changers are already in your staffroom.

Game Changers: Middle & Emerging Leaders is not four workshop days. It's a 365-day leadership journey for the people who hold your school together. Four summits. One Leadership Pack. A year of belonging. Learn together. Lead together. Grow together.

Register your interest →See the yearDownload the Program Guide (PDF)
4
leadership summits
one per term
365
days of belonging
Leadership Pack + community
3
platforms included
Academy · BetterUs · ClassBreak
Free
Wolf Logic book
yours on Day 1
The middle

The most important leadership role in a school often receives the least support.

Middle leaders are the bridge between vision and action. They lead peers without relying on positional authority, navigate difficult conversations, facilitate meaningful collaboration and play a critical role in shaping the culture of their teams and schools. Yet many step into leadership with little formal development and few opportunities to learn through practical, real-world experience.

Game Changers is a year-long leadership journey built on the Wolf Logic Leadership Framework, designed to develop confident, human-centred leaders who create lasting impact. Drawing on research, real-world experience and programs delivered in more than 600 schools across 25+ countries, participants don't just learn leadership, they live it.

Through four immersive leadership summits, practical implementation challenges and the support of a trusted leadership community, participants gain the tools, confidence and accountability to grow throughout the year. They leave not only with practical strategies they can apply immediately, but with a network of like-minded leaders who continue to challenge, encourage and grow alongside them long after the program concludes.

There are plenty of leadership programs. There are very few leadership communities. Schools aren't buying four workshop days; they're investing in twelve months of belonging.

Leadership can be lonely, especially in the middle. Imagine being the only year-level leader, learning specialist or emerging leader in your school. Now imagine four or five trusted people from different schools who become your leadership pack. People don't improve because they attend training once a term; they improve because they belong to a team between sessions. That's the pillar this whole program stands on.

Simon Perry
Simon Perry
Principal for 17 years · 25+ years in education and leadership
Paul Campbell
Paul Campbell
Former Assistant Principal · Player welfare, Collingwood FC
Dale Sidebottom
Dale Sidebottom
20+ years in education · TEDx speaker across 25 countries
Wolf Logic – Leadership book cover
The book behind the framework, yours free on Day 1.
The year arc

One story, four terms.

Game Changers creates leaders who know themselves, know others, know teams, and know how to create change: a genuine progression, like earning four leadership badges. Each summit answers a bigger question than the last, and every one follows the same philosophy: experience first, reflect second, apply third.

Term 1 · Summit One
Lead Yourself
Badge 1 · Know yourself
Leadership begins before you lead anyone else: identity, values, presence and energy
“Who am I becoming as a leader?”
Term 2 · Summit Two
Lead Relationships
Badge 2 · Know others
Leadership moves at the speed of trust: listening, feedback and the conversations that matter
“How do I lead people?”
Term 3 · Summit Three
Lead Teams
Badge 3 · Know teams
Culture isn’t what leaders say, it’s what teams repeatedly do. Rituals, meetings and momentum
“How do I build great teams?”
Term 4 · Summit Four
Lead Change
Badge 4 · Create change
Leadership isn’t simply what you know. It’s what moves because you chose to act
“How do I create meaningful change?”

Game Changers is built upon the Wolf Logic Leadership Framework, but it isn't structured around five separate modules. Instead, the five principles of Ground Yourself, Spark Curiosity, Build Belonging, Align the Collective and Move What Matters are woven throughout the entire leadership journey. Across the four leadership summits, participants continually revisit each principle, exploring them through different leadership lenses and applying them in new ways as they grow.

Each summit builds on the last, allowing leaders to deepen their understanding, strengthen their leadership practice and confidently apply the Wolf Logic framework in their teams, schools and organisations. The result is a leadership experience that creates lasting growth, meaningful action and real-world impact long after the program concludes.

The four summits

Four questions. One journey.

Simon Perry smiling outside a school building, beside a covered play area
Day 01 · Lead Yourself
Summit 1 · Term 1

Lead Yourself

“Who am I becoming as a leader?”

Great leaders don’t find themselves. They continually build themselves.

Leadership begins before you lead anyone else.

Summit One turns the lens inward. Participants explore who they are, how they show up and the habits, beliefs and behaviours that shape their leadership. Through identity, personal values, self-awareness, emotional intelligence, confidence, mindset, psychological flexibility and energy management, leaders begin building a stronger foundation for everything that follows.

Curiosity becomes a leadership habit — not simply curiosity about ideas, but curiosity about yourself.

What assumptions am I making? How do I react under pressure? Where do I lead naturally? When do I lose myself? What keeps me grounded when leadership becomes difficult?

Participants also explore Behaviour Momentum, learning to notice where positive momentum is already building, where negative momentum may be quietly growing and how small, intentional actions can begin shifting the direction.

Participants will:

  • Develop greater self-awareness around their values, strengths, behaviours and leadership identity.
  • Explore emotional intelligence, mindset, confidence and psychological flexibility.
  • Build curiosity, reflection and intentional learning into their leadership practice.
  • Understand Behaviour Momentum and the impact of small actions repeated over time.
  • Identify habits they can begin developing now to prepare for the leader they want to become.

Leadership starts here: know yourself before asking others to follow you.

Facilitator presenting the science of kindness to a room of leaders
Day 02 · Lead Relationships
Summit 2 · Term 2

Lead Relationships

“How do I lead people?”

Leadership moves at the speed of trust.

Leadership is relational.

Summit Two explores how great leaders build trust, create belonging and develop the relationships that allow people to do their best work.

Participants explore trust, vulnerability, psychological safety, empathy, listening, feedback, praise, coaching and genuine conversations. They learn that leading people well isn’t about having one communication style — it’s about understanding the human in front of you and adapting how you connect, communicate and support them.

Feedback becomes something we actively seek, model and normalise. Participants explore practical frameworks for both giving and receiving feedback, the importance of modelling both and recognising that different people need feedback delivered and received in different ways.

We also explore an often-overlooked leadership question:

What kind of followers are we creating?

Not obedient followers. People who think, contribute, challenge, take ownership and grow.

Through The Art of Noticing, leaders become more intentional about recognising strengths, effort, growth and contribution, learning that what leaders consistently notice, acknowledge and celebrate helps shape the culture around them.

Participants will:

  • Understand how trust, belonging and psychological safety are built through everyday interactions.
  • Develop stronger listening, empathy and genuine coaching conversations.
  • Practise giving, receiving and seeking meaningful feedback.
  • Learn practical feedback frameworks while adapting their approach to different people.
  • Explore how leaders create capable, confident and empowered followers.
  • Use presence and The Art of Noticing to recognise strengths, growth and contribution.

Because before you can build great teams, you need to know your people.

Two leaders in an animated, honest conversation at a workshop
Day 03 · Lead Teams
Summit 3 · Term 3

Lead Teams

“How do I build great teams?”

Culture isn’t what leaders say. It’s what teams repeatedly do.

Now we zoom out.

Summit Three moves from leading individuals to understanding how groups of people become connected, aligned and high-functioning teams.

Participants explore team identity, shared purpose, culture, behaviours, rituals, collaboration, decision-making, healthy challenge, collective ownership and Behaviour Momentum.

We challenge leaders to think differently about the everyday environments they create. How do meetings begin? Where does the energy come from? Who gets a voice? How are decisions made? What behaviours are celebrated? What gets tolerated? And how consistently do the values written on the wall show up in the way people actually work together?

Participants explore meetings that matter, shifting from simply gathering people together to intentionally creating collaboration time that generates energy, curiosity, contribution and progress.

Decision-making becomes part of leadership development too. Emerging leaders need opportunities to think, decide, act, learn and take ownership, with leaders creating the conditions that allow that to happen.

Most importantly, leaders develop a deeper understanding of the adults within their organisation. Great schools aren’t only learning organisations for students. They are adult learning organisations too.

Participants will:

  • Explore how team identity, shared purpose and everyday behaviours shape culture.
  • Learn how rituals and Behaviour Momentum can intentionally move a culture forward.
  • Create more purposeful, energising and collaborative meetings.
  • Strengthen decision-making, ownership and trust within teams.
  • Explore healthy challenge and the role different perspectives play in stronger teams.
  • Learn how to bring organisational values off the page and into everyday behaviour.
  • Develop a deeper understanding of how adults learn, grow and contribute within an organisation.

This is where leadership shifts from leading people to moving people together.

Dale on stage in front of a slide reading “your true wealth is the connections and friendships you have”
Day 04 · Lead Change
Summit 4 · Term 4

Lead Change

“How do I create meaningful change?”

Leadership isn’t simply what you know. It’s what moves because you chose to act.

The final summit brings everything together.

Instead of spending the day talking about change, participants explore what it takes to actually create it.

Through influence, innovation, courage, strategic thinking, implementation, momentum and measuring success, leaders consider how they can move something that matters, even when they don’t hold positional authority.

But Summit Four is also a celebration.

Throughout the Game Changers journey, participants have been applying their learning within their own schools through a real-world Game Changer Project. They arrive at the final summit ready to share what they tried, what shifted, what challenged them, what they learned and the impact their leadership created.

The cohort learns from one another’s experiences, celebrates the work and reflects on how they themselves have changed across the year.

Then comes one final question:

What’s the next play?

Participants will:

  • Understand how to influence and create change without relying on positional authority.
  • Explore innovation, courage and strategic thinking in real leadership contexts.
  • Learn how to build momentum around an idea and move it from intention to implementation.
  • Reflect on evidence of impact and what meaningful success looks like.
  • Showcase and celebrate their Game Changer Project and learn from the experiences of others.
  • Reflect on their growth across the four summits and identify where their leadership journey goes next.

They began by asking “Who am I becoming as a leader?”

They finish by asking:

“How have I changed my organisation and what will I move next?”

The 365-day experience

Not four workshops. A leadership movement.

The summits are the spark, but the year is where leaders are made. Between every summit: challenges to run in your school, a pack that keeps you honest, and a journal that turns twelve months of practice into a portfolio of proof.

The Leadership Journal

Not another workbook: something you genuinely keep. Somewhere between a journal, a field guide and a leadership playbook: reflections, challenges and evidence, built across the whole year. By Day Four it’s a portfolio of real leadership growth.

Your Leadership Pack

4–5 trusted leaders from different schools: a pack name, shared commitments, quarterly meetings and a private channel. Leadership can be lonely in the middle. Imagine saying “I’m meeting with my Leadership Pack this afternoon.” That’s belonging.

Four Implementation Challenges

The Noticing Challenge. Trust Builders. The Meeting Redesign. The Game Changer Project. One real challenge between every summit, because leaders don’t improve by attending training, they improve by belonging to a team between sessions.

Four Pack Meetings

A structured virtual meet-up with your Leadership Pack every term: what surprised you, where you showed courage, what stretched you, plus a shared Pack Challenge to take back to your schools.

The Game Changers Community

Access to the wider community and fresh resources between sessions, plus live coaching, the monthly Pack Dispatch, and the measured pre/post growth data your principal will want to see.

The End-of-Year Showcase

The year closes with every leader telling a five-minute honest story of the change they created: what they tried, what worked, what failed, what they learned. Less a graduation, more a celebration of action.

Everything included

This is where a course becomes an ecosystem.

One enrolment develops the leader, equips the leader, and transforms the school for a full year. The workshops are the spark. The Academy embeds it. BetterUs Schools makes it whole-school.

Wolf Logic – Leadership book cover

Wolf Logic – Leadership: your free copy

Every leader receives the book at Summit 1, the take-home manual for the whole year. The five Wolf Logic principles, the pack anchors, every named activity: yours to keep.

The spark

4 immersive Leadership Summits

One full day per term. High-energy, hands-on, zero death-by-PowerPoint: every concept is experienced before it’s explained. Plus your Leadership Journal, the field guide you build all year.

Personal profile

Leadership Profile

Every leader’s mirror: their strengths, their blind spots, and their growth edge for the year, debriefed on Day 1.

Included free

The Academy: certified PD

12 months of our five-module certified pathway, VIT and AITSL aligned. Module 4 mirrors this program’s Wolf Logic leadership framework directly. Normally from $295 per leader.

Whole school

BetterUs Schools: your whole school

A full 12 months of the research-backed wellbeing platform for the leader’s entire school: daily check-ins, wellbeing action tiles, parent reports. The inclusion that changes the conversation.

Bonus inclusion

ClassBreak: a bonus for your classroom

12 months of full access to 1,000+ ready-to-run classroom games and brain breaks, included as a practical bonus for your own classroom.

Outcomes

The Ripple Effect.

For the leader

  • Greater confidence to lead with authenticity, courage and purpose.
  • Practical leadership tools that can be applied immediately in everyday situations.
  • Stronger communication, coaching and difficult conversation skills.
  • Increased self-awareness, emotional intelligence and resilience.
  • A personalised leadership action plan and a real implementation project.
  • A trusted network of like-minded leaders who provide ongoing support, accountability and inspiration.

For their team

  • Stronger trust, collaboration and psychological safety.
  • More effective communication and healthier working relationships.
  • Greater alignment around shared purpose and priorities.
  • Increased engagement, ownership and collective responsibility.
  • A leader who creates belonging, builds capability and brings out the best in others.
  • Positive momentum through practical leadership strategies that strengthen team culture.

For the school

  • More capable, confident and future-ready middle leaders.
  • Greater consistency in leadership practice across the school.
  • Improved staff culture, connection and collaboration.
  • Increased leadership capacity to support sustainable school improvement.
  • Real-world leadership projects that create measurable impact within the school.
  • A stronger leadership pipeline, preparing the next generation of school leaders.
The one thing nobody else can say

We're the only provider whose student leaders and adult leaders speak the same framework, one culture language, from Prep to the staffroom.

Game Changers pairs naturally with Next Gen Leadership and Student Agency, your students are already learning it.

Who you learn from

Three leaders. Not three keynotes.

Every one of them has led people in a school, on a Tuesday, with the term already behind schedule. That is the whole qualification, and it is why the summits feel like leadership rather than being presented at.

Simon Perry, black and white head and shoulders portrait, smiling

Simon Perry

Principal for 17 years · 25+ years in education and leadership

A husband and father of two, Simon has spent more than 25 years in education and leadership, including 17 as a school principal, alongside work as a cluster educator and as an eLearning Coach with the Department of Education. An Apple Distinguished Educator, he has helped lead regional initiatives in leadership and learning. His approach is practical, strengths-based and grounded in real experience: great culture isn’t written on a wall or captured in a strategic plan, it is something you see, hear and feel in the everyday behaviours, conversations and relationships of a team. He now connects leaders across education, business, community and sport, because the challenge of leading people is remarkably similar wherever you stand.

  • 17 years as a school principal
  • 25+ years in education
  • Apple Distinguished Educator
  • eLearning Coach, Dept of Education
  • Cluster educator and system leader
Paul Campbell, head and shoulders, smiling against a plain light wall

Paul Campbell

Director, The School of Play · Director, The Better Us Project

Paul is a Director of The School of Play and of The Better Us Project, the digital ecosystem behind it. Before that came more than twenty years in education, from the classroom into Assistant Principal roles built around wellbeing and positive education, so he has sat in the leadership meetings where play gets defended or quietly cut, and he knows what it takes to win them. Outside schools he has worked in player welfare with professional athletes and clubs, most recently at the Collingwood Football Club, where the questions are the ones a staffroom asks: how do you keep people connected, regulated and performing under pressure?

  • Assistant Principal background
  • Positive education specialist
  • Player welfare, Collingwood FC
  • 20+ years in education
Dale Sidebottom speaking with a microphone in a school hall, wearing a white PLAY t-shirt

Dale Sidebottom

Founding Director, The School of Play · Director, The Better Us Project

Dale has spent twenty years using play to build connected classrooms, staffrooms and schools, first as a teacher who won the first five minutes of every lesson with a game, then as the founder of ClassBreak, the equipment-free game library now used by schools across Australia, the UK and the US. He is the Founding Director of The School of Play and, with Paul, a Director of The Better Us Project, the digital ecosystem that carries the work into schools, families and workplaces every day. A TEDx speaker, the author of All Work No Play and the host of Energetic Radio, he has taken the power of play into more than 600 schools and 25 countries, and into rooms of two hundred educators who came to sit and ended up on their feet.

  • 20+ years in education
  • TEDx speaker
  • Programs in 25+ countries
  • Author, All Work No Play
  • Founder of ClassBreak
A room of educators on their feet, arms raised, mid-game
A participant laughing during a workshop activity
School leaders at tables during a full-day workshop
Four leaders arm in arm, smiling after a session
A leader listening intently among workshop participants
A school leadership team together after a workshop

Live from our leadership events and principal workshops across Australia.

Investment

Priced for a year. Built for a career.

This is a year-long investment in the people who run your school every day, not a single day of PD. It includes four full-day workshops, twelve months of coaching and community, the Wolf Logic book, and full access to the Academy, BetterUs Schools and ClassBreak platforms.

Individual
$1,499
per leader · per year · +GST
  • 4 immersive Leadership Summits
  • Wolf Logic book, free copy
  • Leadership Profile + debrief
  • Your Leadership Pack + 4 pack meetings
  • Academy · BetterUs Schools · ClassBreak
  • Community Hub access
The anchor offer
School Pack
$5,099
4 leaders · ~$1,275 each · +GST
  • Everything in Individual, ×4
  • Middle leadership works in teams
  • A shared language back at school
  • One BetterUs Schools licence covers you all
Whole Leadership Team
From $18,999
up to 20 leaders · on-site · +GST
  • One school or network, closed cohort
  • Delivered at your place, on your dates
  • Alignment happens in the room
  • Pathway to the Executive Workshop
The Bundle
Partnership rate
Game Changers + Student Agency
  • One framework, whole school
  • Students and staff, same language
  • From Prep to the staffroom
  • Talk to us about scope

Running it in-house? Custom pricing is available for closed cohorts, school networks and non-standard team sizes, tell us your numbers and we'll build the option that fits.

Talk to us →
The heartbeat of Game Changers
Leadership isn't measured by what you know. It's measured by what changes because you chose to act.

Game Changers transforms leadership development from learning about leadership into becoming the kind of leader who creates meaningful change, with a pack beside you and a year of proof behind you.

The one-pager

Take it to your leadership team.

Everything that matters on two pages: the year at a glance, the four summits, what happens between them and what it costs. Built to be printed, forwarded or dropped into a leadership meeting agenda.

2 pages · PDF · free to share

Front page of the Game Changers program flyer
Questions

Asked by every principal. Answered.

01Four days out of school is a lot. How do we justify it?

Four days that strengthen the leadership capacity of the people who influence your school every single day is an investment that extends far beyond the participants in the room. As leaders grow in confidence, trust, communication and their ability to build positive cultures, those skills ripple through their teams, classrooms and year levels. The impact isn’t confined to four workshop days, it is reflected in every meeting they facilitate, every conversation they lead, every staff member they support and every student experience they help shape. Combined with access to the Academy, BetterUs Schools and ClassBreak platforms, leaders are equipped with practical tools and resources they can continue to use, share and embed across the school, multiplying the impact long after the program concludes.

02Who exactly should attend?

Middle leaders, leading teachers, learning specialists, assistant and deputy principals, heads of department or faculty, year-level coordinators, wellbeing leaders, aspirant leaders and aspirant principals, primary and secondary, government, Catholic and independent schools.

03Is this actually serious professional development?

Yes. The experiential format is the method, not the point: every concept is experienced before it’s explained, then applied to the real problems of middle leadership, the hard conversation, the flat meeting, the change that must land. Middle leaders are disproportionately responsible for driving culture day to day, and this program treats that responsibility as a serious leadership discipline, not a soft skill. Behind it sit two La Trobe University studies (one published, one in peer review), and programs delivered in 600+ schools across 25+ countries. Every participant also receives 12 months of The Academy, our certified PD pathway (VIT and AITSL aligned).

04Can we run it in-house, just for our school or network?

Yes. Many schools choose to run Game Changers exclusively for their own leadership team or as a network of schools. A dedicated cohort allows leaders to learn together, develop a shared language and immediately apply new thinking within their own context. We can tailor the program to suit your leadership structure, cohort size and preferred delivery model. Let us know your requirements below, and we’ll provide a customised proposal and pricing.

05What happens between the summit days?

This is where Game Changers is different. Between every summit: a real Implementation Challenge to run in your school (the Noticing Challenge, Trust Builders, the Meeting Redesign, and finally your own Game Changer Project), a virtual Leadership Pack meeting with your 4–5 cross-school leaders, your Leadership Journal to capture the evidence, the monthly Pack Dispatch, live coaching, and the digital platforms: the Academy, BetterUs Schools and ClassBreak. Leaders don’t improve by attending training once a term; they improve by belonging to a team between sessions.

06What evidence will we have at the end?

A pre/mid/post leadership pulse survey plus the wellbeing and connection measures La Trobe validated, each leader’s Leadership Journal built across the whole year, and the Game Changer Project they design, lead and present at the end-of-year Showcase. Real artefacts, real data, not a certificate of attendance.

07When does the next cohort start, and is there a cap on numbers?

The next cohort is forming now. There is no fixed calendar: the four days are set with each cohort, so they sit around your school’s terms rather than across them. Tell us your region, or your school if you are running it in-house, and we’ll set dates with you. Whilst we don’t have a fixed cap on participant numbers, we are mindful and intentional with ensuring each cohort size is not too large. As a rule of thumb we always aim to provide an experience that actually works, and limiting cohort sizes does come into play. Under 50 to 60, no problems. Over 70 to 80, no thanks.

Take the first step

Bring Game Changers to your leaders.

Register your interest and we'll send cohort dates, the full program guide and a straight answer to any question, within one business day. The next cohort is forming now, and we keep every cohort at a size that genuinely works.

1 business day reply, no pressure, no spam
Cohort dates + full program guide included
Custom in-house options for schools & networks
Backed by La Trobe University research
Who should you nominate?
  • Leads people without a formal title, or is about to
  • Runs meetings, mentors colleagues, or holds a team together day to day
  • You'd back for a leadership role within the next 2 to 3 years
  • Is ready for something harder than a seminar

Ticking two or more is a strong sign. Not sure? Tell us about them in the form and we'll help you decide.

Prefer a PDF? Download the Program Guide to forward internally →

Register your interest

No commitment: we'll send cohort dates, the program guide and answer anything. Reply within one business day.

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Game Changers
$1,499 / leader · full year
Register interest