Halloween 2026: Treasure Hunt in a Haunted House

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On the morning of 28 October, students arrived at school dressed as witches, ghosts, pumpkins, vampires and a few characters that were hard to name. The hall was draped in dark curtains, paper cobwebs hung from the ceiling, and the library had been dressed up as a mystery waiting to be solved. For the next two hours, Harvest Academy became a manor full of surprises.

Halloween is one of the celebrations in our school calendar that students look forward to most. Each year the teachers in charge choose a new theme, and each year the aim is the same: a celebration that is fun, but that also asks students to work together, think on their feet and make sure everyone has a part to play.

The story: a fortune hidden in a mystery manor

This year's theme was Treasure Hunt in a Haunted House. A mysterious old gentleman had quietly disappeared, leaving his fortune hidden somewhere in his manor. Six treasure chests were hidden around the school. Only one held the real treasure; the other five held traps.

Students were divided into six teams, named Pumpkin, Ghost, Vampire, Death, Wizard and Mummies. Each team mixed younger and older students, so the youngest students found themselves planning alongside Year 11s. To find the real chest, teams had to collect clues by winning games, and then decide together which clues to believe.

None of this appeared overnight. In the days before the event, our teachers wrote the storyline and the clues, tried out every game themselves to check that the rules were fair and the timings worked, carved the pumpkins, and transformed the hall, library and classrooms. The backdrop, music and slides were prepared in-house too. It is the kind of work students rarely see, and it is what made the morning feel like a real adventure.

Game 1: the Great Harvest Ritual

The morning began in the dining hall, where each team received a carved pumpkin, paints and markers. Teams had 25 minutes to bring their pumpkin to life, and the results ranged from classic jack-o'-lanterns to swirling patterns and a few faces only their creators could love.

There was one rule, and it mattered more than students realised: keep your pumpkin "loved" for the rest of the morning. A pumpkin left behind, handled roughly or "borrowed" by another team would count against the team at the end, and teachers kept a friendly eye on things.

Three station games, three chances at a clue

After the storyline was revealed on the big screen, teams rotated through three station games, 20 minutes each. Every game was won or lost as a team.

• Speedy Eyes: players lined up with a spoon each and passed an "eyeball" down the line without touching it. The last player then bounced a ping pong ball into one of the cups on the table. Drop the eyeball, step out of position or hit a cup that had already been cleared, and the whole team had to start again while the clock kept running.
• Suck It Up: two players from each team moved marshmallows from a plate into a cup using nothing but a straw and their breath, hands behind their backs. Each round brought a longer straw and a greater distance. Concentration was not helped by teammates shouting advice.
• Tic Tac Boo: noughts and crosses with a twist. Players had to land a water bottle flip before they could place one of their cups on the grid. With only three cups each, a lucky flip was no use without a plan for where to put the cup.

The treasure hunt: which clues can you trust?

Winning a game earned a clue, but not every clue could be trusted. Only the winning clues pointed to the real chest; the rest were vague or misleading. Back in the hall, teams laid out what they had, compared notes and talked it through until they agreed, then sent their chosen members off to find the chest.

The hunt had rules of its own. Each team could hold only one chest at a time, and any chest they decided against had to be put back exactly where and how they had found it. It was a small lesson in honesty and fair play, tested under time pressure.

The final reveal: laughter and prizes

With every team back in the hall, each declared the number of its chest. Before the winner was announced, the teachers moved from team to team to check the pumpkins. Teams who had looked after theirs well were praised, and teams with an unloved pumpkin were "cursed" with silly string and confetti, to a great deal of laughter.

Then the large treasure chest was brought in, and the winning team claimed its treats. Prizes also went to the best male and female costumes, chosen from a field that had clearly taken some planning at home. The morning ended with a whole-school photo under the Halloween 2026 banner.

More than a party

A morning like this gives students a lot to practise without anyone calling it a lesson: listening to each other, deciding as a group, keeping calm when a game has to be restarted, and looking after something the team made together. Mixed-age teams meant older students led and encouraged younger ones, and younger students had a real say in the decisions.

Thank you to every teacher who gave their time and ideas to make the morning possible, and to our students, who threw themselves into every game and costume. We are already wondering what next year's theme will be.

Would you like to see school life at Harvest for yourself? Book a school visit.