Educational institution initiates Dungeons & Dragons sessions for students

Sheldon School, located in Chippenham, Wiltshire, has commenced Dungeons & Dragons sessions following regular classes. These activities aim to enhance the problem-solving abilities of its students. Ben Davies, a maths teacher at the school, was responsible for initiating these games. He stated, “In the game, you can choose to do anything and that freedom in building self-esteem is fantastic for our pupils.” Dungeons & Dragons, a globally popular game first introduced in 1974, involves participants adopting the identities of various characters within a fantasy board game setting. Currently, year eight students participate in these games each Tuesday after school. Due to their significant popularity, the school is considering expanding the program to accommodate a larger number of students. Rojus, one of the participating pupils, remarked that the games enable him to “be as creative as we want.” He further elaborated, “With Dungeons & Dragons you can do basically whatever you want to do and be whoever you want to be.” Rojus added, “We don’t think that creatively in real life, but Dungeons & Dragons is all about imagination, and it’s great to play with friends.” Mr. Davies, who played the popular board game during his teenage years, expressed a strong desire to introduce it to the current generation of students. He commented, “It boosts confidence and encourages the children to believe in their abilities.” He further explained, “Everyone gets a turn to try out different things, and it builds a lot of different skills like resilience, maths and problem solving.” Mr. Davies also shared details about the program’s evolution, stating, “We began by playing a simple board game at entry level, and I’m now running a longer campaign with one group and one of our year eight pupils is a dungeon master.” He concluded by adding, “Nobody is being themselves, they are playing as their characters, so they aren’t being judged for being themselves and students just enjoy the journey.”