This year we have introduced PBL sessions into our programme 3 mornings per week - with great success!

The play based learning sessions have become a much anticipated part of our class programme, with new and exciting experiences set up each week for the students to explore. The experiences have included a mixture of sensory/messy, fine motor, imaginative/role play, gross motor, construction, and technology based provocations. This provides opportunities for students to explore both preferred and new activities. We keep the same activities for the whole week so that students have multiple opportunities to explore and gain confidence. Our motto for the sessions is "student-led but adult-guided" which means that the students are free to choose what they would like to play with and can move about the activities as they please, but that staff are there to model how to play and to extend the students' vocabulary and thinking through deliberate questioning and discussion.

During the year we have noticed a big improvement in the ability of our students to take risks, try new things, share and take turns, be creative and imaginative, and build more language into their play.  Some definite highlights have been the camp site (including 'toasting' marshmallows), the rubber dinghy with life jackets and oars, using the iPads to make movies and take Green Screen photos, and the sensory table is always hugely popular too. Where possible we have tied our activities into our topic, such as insects in Term 2 and transport in Term 3. This gives the students opportunities to practice and explore the concepts they have been learning about in hands-on and engaging ways.

Although the sessions can look busy and messy and chaotic at times, if you take another look you can see some really rich and meaningful learning taking place. We look forward to seeing what the students can learn during next year's PBL sessions!