Peekaplayers were delighted to be awarded a grant as part of Kent County Council’s Reconnect Programme to fund their Play it Out! project. We worked in collaboration with several schools across Kent trying to address some of the gaps in children’s development that were exacerbated by the pandemic.

We worked predominantly with students from Key stage 1 who their school felt would benefit most from the project. Some of the students involved were officially diagnosed SEND and some were undergoing investigation for diagnosis. Some students were just identified as needing to develop their imaginative, social, speech, listening and emotional intelligence skills.

Over several consecutive weeks we visited the students in their setting. We used a combination of games and drama techniques to promote confidence, speech, wider vocabulary, creativity and listening skills.

The feedback was excellent and Andrea received highly commended in the ‘Outstanding individual’ category at Kent County Council’s Reconnect Award Ceremony, at the Ashford International Hotel, Kent.