PULTEVENT
School disco games: 8 ideas for the hall projector, from the first song to pickup time
Friday, six o'clock, the school hall. The PE mats are stacked in the corner, the climbing frame is folded against the wall, and a borrowed projector is throwing coloured light onto the big screen normally used for assemblies. Year 3 are clumped by the door, too shy to go anywhere near the middle. A PTA dad at a laptop on the stage taps once, and the screen shows "Dance-off. Year 3 versus Year 4. Ten seconds." The clump disappears onto the floor.
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The school disco is a strange event to run. Two hundred children between five and eleven, a hall that echoes, a PTA committee that has sorted the glow sticks and the squash but not really thought about what happens between the songs. Put some structure on the big screen and the evening stops being ninety minutes of running in circles and starts having moments that the children talk about on Monday.
PULTEVENT runs from a laptop on the stage, plugged into the hall projector with an HDMI cable. An adult is always at the controls: a PTA volunteer, a teacher, a parent who has hosted before. Most of the rounds below are screen-only. Where a round is played from a phone, it's one phone per year group held by a grown-up, and that phone needs internet. The children themselves don't need a device of any kind.
8 things to put on the big screen at a school disco
1 The welcome screen
The school name, the date and "Welcome to the Spring Disco" on the screen as the children come in, with fireworks going off over the top every few minutes.
How to run it. Use a photo of the school building or last year's disco as the background. Parents dropping off will take a photo of it.
The hall looks like an event from the first minute, not a PE lesson with the lights down.
2 The DJ deck
The music plays from the same laptop as the games, through the hall speakers. Playlists, crossfades, a stop button for announcements.
How to run it. Build the playlist in advance and have the children vote for three requests on the permission slip.
No switching between a music player and a game window with two hundred children waiting.
3 Year group dance-offs
Two year groups at a time, a countdown on the screen, thirty seconds each. The hall decides the winner by cheering.
How to run it. Start with the older years so the younger ones see how it works, then give Reception and Year 1 their turn with lots of noise.
It pulls the shy groups off the walls and onto the floor.
4 The spot-prize wheel
Names go into the guest wheel before the disco. The wheel spins on the big screen, slows down and lands on a winner.
How to run it. Use first names and class only. Put in every child whose parents said yes on the slip.
Two hundred children watching one wheel is the quietest the hall will be all night.
5 Horse race between years
A 3D horse race on the screen. Each year group's horse is controlled from one phone, held by a teacher or parent, while the whole year screams.
How to run it. Give the phone to the loudest teacher. The race is better with a commentator.
Short, very loud, and the whole year group feels it won or lost together.
6 Karaoke battle for the top year
Year 6 only, as a leavers' privilege: two groups pick a song each and sing on stage with the words on the screen.
How to run it. Songs agreed with the teacher in advance. Words checked. Twice.
The oldest children get a moment of their own, and the little ones watch them like pop stars.
7 The tuck-shop break screen
A break screen with a countdown: "Tuck shop open, back on the floor in 10:00". The music keeps going quietly underneath.
How to run it. Put a countdown to pickup time on the screen for the last fifteen minutes too, so the children know it's coming.
Children cope with the end of the fun much better when they can see it approaching.
8 The year group scoreboard
Points from the dance-offs and the race add up across the evening. The awards ceremony at the end names a winning year group with fanfare.
How to run it. Add special awards: best moves, loudest cheer, best fancy dress. Reception always deserves one.
A clear ending to the disco, just before the parents arrive at the door.
Screen-first
Most games run from the laptop alone. Children dance, cheer and shout. No devices in small hands.
Year groups as teams
The scoreboard counts points by year group, which is how children already think of themselves.
Music and games in one place
A built-in DJ deck on the same laptop, so the music doesn't stop while you switch to a game.
One adult at the controls
A single volunteer can run the whole evening from the stage.
How a school disco runs
Most PTA discos are split by age: an early slot for Reception to Year 2, a later one for Years 3 to 6. Each slot is roughly ninety minutes. Plan four or five screen moments per slot and fill the rest with music. The children came to dance; the games are the punctuation.
For the younger slot, keep games under three minutes and repeat the ones that work. Five-year-olds are happy to watch the same wheel spin four times.
Who holds the laptop
One grown-up. Ideally someone who has done this before and doesn't mind a microphone. They sit on the stage or at a table at the front, run the music and switch to games when the moment is right. Nobody else touches the laptop, least of all the Year 6 who has offered to help.
If your PTA is lucky enough to have a parent who DJs, give them the deck. If not, the playlist and the stop button will get you through.
Phones in a primary school hall
Children at a primary disco won't have phones, and many schools wouldn't want them out if they did. Every game here either runs from the laptop alone or uses a single adult's phone per year group. Those phones need internet, so check the school Wi-Fi reaches the hall, or use mobile data.
Check too that the school network doesn't block the site. The school office will know who to ask.
Kit for the hall
A laptop, the hall projector or a big TV on a stand, an HDMI cable long enough to reach the stage, and the hall speakers or a PA. Tape every cable to the floor. Children at a disco do not look where they're running.
Lower the main lights but keep the fire exits and the toilets lit. The screen does the atmosphere work.
Keeping it gentle
Dance-offs between whole year groups, never individual children singled out on stage unless they've volunteered. The wheel only holds names of children whose families agreed. The karaoke songs are checked in advance.
"Can I do a solo?"
"Ask Mrs Patel first."
Before the committee meeting
Show the PTA a working version rather than a description. The free 3-day demo, no card, is enough to set up the welcome screen, a wheel and one race on a laptop at home. The full version is a one-time licence, no subscription, with pricing at pultevent.ru/en, and it covers the summer fair and the leavers' party as well.
About the author
PULTEVENT was built by Ruslan Barashkin, who has hosted weddings, birthdays and office parties since 2014: over 500 events, best host of Moscow 2024 and of Saint Petersburg 2023 at the TOP 100 Awards. He made it for his own nights first. The rest is at pultevent.ru/en.
How to run games at a school disco
- 1
Agree the running order with the PTA and collect song requests and wheel permissions on the slip.
- 2
Load the playlist into the DJ deck and the names into the wheel.
- 3
Put the school name on the welcome screen and set up the year groups on the scoreboard.
- 4
On the day, connect the laptop to the hall projector and speakers and test the sound.
- 5
Run the music, dropping in dance-offs, the race and spot prizes every fifteen minutes or so.
- 6
Show the tuck-shop break and pickup countdown, then finish with the scoreboard awards.
FAQ
Do the children need phones?
Can one volunteer run it all?
Will it work with our hall projector?
Is it suitable for Reception children?
What music can we use?
Can we use it for other school events?
How much does it cost the PTA?
See also
Run brighter events — with PULTEVENT
All audience interactions, a second screen and timing in one app. Guests join by QR — internet is needed for you and for them.
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