Play is so important to childhood development – did you know that The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child even states that every child has the right to play? We recognise how important play is in our learners’ lives and so we have carefully designed each area of the playground to encourage play-based learning and help support the development of several key life skills. 

Children benefit most when they are in charge of their play. When they choose what to play, who to play with, and how to organise their play, they have more fun. Children also develop and learn in all sorts of ways while playing. Here are just a handful of ways in which our own learners will learn through play in our new playground:

• Climbing promotes balance and coordination.
• Interaction with friends develops social skills.
• Exploring encourages problem-solving and inquisitiveness.
• Running and playing helps us stay fit.

In The Sanctuary, our curriculum is play-based and supported by Forest School, where learners lead their own learning in a safe outdoor space. Our new playground is an exciting extension of our play-based, therapeutic curriculum, and we are looking forward to seeing the fun and learning that will take place as the year progresses.

Every day we are grateful for everything we have at The Sanctuary – it’s not every day you come across a provision with a farm, private Forest School and a playground like this.

Here we have our Chair of Governors, Peter Carter cutting the ribbon and allowing some learners to test out the new play equipment for the first time. Thank you to Peter for attending and helping us make this day so special.

A huge thank you to those who put this amazing area together! - ESPPlay.co.uk