Back to School Escape Room for Middle / High | First Week Team Building & Values

Start the school year with this high-engagement back to school escape room. The perfect first week activity for building connection, curiosity, and classroom values.

In this time-loop themed back-to-school escape room, students will build teamwork, resilience, and self-awareness as they race to crack four classroom-ready challenges that spark deep thinking — and serious fun.

Your students will love working together to uncover the final, empowering message: “EFFORT OPENS EVERY DOOR”

How You Can Use This Back to School Escape Room:

⭐️ Kick off the school year with connection, curiosity, and collaboration (not eyerolls!!)
⭐️ Create a memorable and exciting first-week experience that’ll get your students pumped for the year ahead
⭐️ Set the tone for a positive, values-driven classroom culture
⭐️ Reinforce the values and behaviours you want to see in your classroom, like teamwork, focus, and growth mindset
⭐️ Use it as a springboard into classroom expectations and norms, with maximum student buy-in!

What’s Included in This Escape Room:

4 engaging, hands-on challenges:

• A values-based maze puzzle
  
• A hidden wordsearch with a 10-letter secret code
  
• A riddle-style codebreaker with a final unlock word
  
• A Pigpen Cipher puzzle with the message: EFFORT OPENS EVERY DOOR
  

A student-facing Mission Log that sets the scene:
"You’re trapped in a first day time loop… and the only way out is to prove you’re ready to lead the year ahead."

• A self-marking Google Form (no teacher marking required!)
• Full teacher setup guide + answer keys
• Printable and editable PDFs — ready to go

Why You’ll Love This Resource:

❤️ All tasks are hands-on, purposeful, and fun — without being fluff
❤️ Each puzzle builds on the exact skills you want to see from day one
❤️ Perfect for Years 5–9 — no pre-teaching required
❤️ Minimal prep: just print, group up, and go!
❤️ Ideal for first week of school, transition days, or a classroom culture reset