There has been a lot going on over the past few weeks, what with our winning the Move More Changemaker Award 2026, and our build up to the Inaugural Sheffield Play Conference 2026. Alongside this, a couple of weeks ago we held our bi-monthly Connecting Through Play gathering at Endeavour and we thought it would be great to let our wider network know a bit about the gathering and what we discussed.
During April’s gathering, we heard from Jamie and Rachel at SNIPS – Special Needs Inclusion Play care Service who provide parents and carers a break from their caring responsibilities and work to remove barriers to children being included in mainstream out of school activities, such as play sessions. You can find out more about SNIPS and how to make a referral here.
This was a fabulous meeting. So informative and helpful. We all felt inspired and equipped with fresh ideas that will enable us as a team to move forwards. Great connections once again .Thank you !
We talked about Personal Assistants and their role supporting children with additional needs and their families. Personal Assistants are people employed directly by families who are entitled to short-breaks and respite funding, to support children to access activities and experiences they would otherwise be excluded from while also giving parents/carers a break from each other. Rachel let us know about the Sheffield PA (Personal Assistant) Champion Project, commissioned by Sheffield City Council. The goal of the PA champions is to raise awareness about direct payments within the city, with a particular focus on Personal Assistants. They have also created the Sheffield PA register which provides a simple, safe and free way for families and Personal Assistants to be introduced to each other. You can find the PA register here.
We also discussed a recent study by the University of Sheffield that has mapped out 34,000 playgrounds across England – you can read all about that here.
It was great to see lots of familiar faces as well as some new ones too. It’s so wonderful to see and hear about all the different ways that play is happening across Sheffield.
Our next gathering is on Tuesday 16 June 11.00-13.00 at MASKK (Manor After School Kidz Klub), Temple Park Centre, 197 Harborough Avenue, Sheffield, S2 1QT. More info about this can also be found on our website here.