Let’s get playful! Embedding play in the curriculum
16 October 2026: 9 am – 3 pm online
with Nick Sheffield, Chris Barson, Carol Allen, Bex Watton and Matt Laurie.
A practical one-day conference exploring how play can sit at the heart of the curriculum for learners with severe, complex or neurodiverse learning needs.
Play is not a break from learning. It is often where learning begins.
For many learners, play is where we see curiosity, communication, regulation, movement, attention, choice, problem-solving, imagination, anticipation, humour and connection. It is where learners show us what matters to them, what they notice, what they return to, what they avoid, what they enjoy and how they make sense of the world.
We will focus on how play can be embedded across the curriculum, not as an add-on or reward, but as a purposeful, practical and meaningful way to support teaching and learning.
Throughout the day, our presenters will explore different forms of play: relational play, sensory play, musical play, linguistic play, environmental play and curriculum-led play. The focus will be on real classrooms, real learners and realistic approaches that staff can use straight away.
Delegates will leave with practical ideas for lesson planning, classroom routines, communication, curriculum engagement, sensory environments, group activities, transitions and learner-led approaches.
‘Playful Intent’ with Nick Sheffield
For a truly child-centred curriculum, we must start with pure intrinsic engagement. The only way to discover this is through play. Nick looks at how play can drive and develop sequenced learning and structured lessons through pupil voice and storytelling.
‘Playing without toys’ with Chris Barson
Ever feel like the expensive sensory toys you buy just end up sitting in the corner, or that traditional play feels like a struggle? You’re not alone. For young autistic children, the most powerful tool for connection, communication, and joy isn’t a toy at all – it’s you.
‘Playscapes – how and why you should make your SEN classroom a play-rich environment’ with Bex Watton
Play is innate in all of us – it just looks different from one individual to the next. Your children and young people with SEN and ASC can and do play; as practitioners, it is our job to understand what that looks like for every child in your classroom.
‘Linguistic Play’ with Carol Allen
How do we play with language? Much of the language teaching, particularly for those with barriers to learning, is highly structured and sequential. However, the beauty of language is its vibrancy; its musicality; its emotional subtext; and the way we can adapt, extend, and ‘play’ with what we ‘say’.
‘Musical Play’ with Matt Laurie
Matt explores how musical play can be embedded in the curriculum to support communication, attention, interaction, and engagement throughout the school day. This practical session will show how individual and group music-making can become part of everyday learning.
9 am Admissions and a virtual tea or coffee to start the day!
9.05 am Welcome, introductions and a warm-up activity.
9.15 am Session 1: ‘Playful Intent’ with Nick Sheffield
For a truly child-centred curriculum, we must start with pure intrinsic engagement. The only way to discover this is through play. Nick looks at how play can drive and develop sequenced learning and structured lessons through pupil voice and storytelling.
Nick will provide concrete examples and planning templates to build curricula and medium-term plans that expand and unravel learning through a low-stakes, high-reward approach, highlighting the pupil’s individuality and the teacher’s creativity and innovation. Nick’s key aim is to reduce meaningless planning and create real-life working documents that evolve with the pupils’ interests, mood-boarding individuals through story scenes, mathematical concepts, and more.
How to create a coherent and cohesive lesson plan based on pupil voice and storytelling
Using individualised mood boards for pupils
Using mood boards as a basis for an 18-lesson plan – including what to expect and when to expect it
Knowing when it’s going wrong – and what to do about it!
Reducing workload and increasing engagement in the teaching, learning, and assessment cycle
10.15 am Session 2: ‘Playing without toys’ with Chris Barson
Ever feel like the expensive sensory toys you buy just end up sitting in the corner, or that traditional play feels like a struggle? You’re not alone. For young autistic children, the most powerful tool for connection, communication, and joy isn’t a toy at all – it’s you.
This practical, heart-centred presentation is designed specifically for parents, teachers, and teaching assistants looking for meaningful ways to engage. We will briefly explore the simple science behind relational play and approaches that use a child’s own natural interests, curiosity, movements, sounds, and expressions as the starting point for communication.
Transform everyday routines into playful, shared moments.
Read and respond to subtle, non-verbal cues.
Build trust and back-and-forth engagement without the pressure of “rules” or structured toys.
11.00 am Coffee
11.30 am Session 3: ‘Linguistic Play’ with Carol Allen
How do we play with language? Much of the language teaching, particularly for those with barriers to learning, is highly structured and sequential. However, the beauty of language is its vibrancy; its musicality; its emotional subtext; and the way we can adapt, extend, and ‘play’ with what we ‘say’.
This session will start by playing with vocalisations as we move towards actual words and engaging ways to combine language and sound for effect.
This lively session will offer plenty of ideas you can take away and try with your students, no matter their linguistic level.
12.15 pm Lunch
1.00 pm Session 4: ‘Musical Play’ with Matt Laurie
Matt explores how musical play can be embedded in the curriculum to support communication, attention, interaction, and engagement throughout the school day.
This practical session will show how individual and group music-making can become part of everyday learning. Matt will share five interactive songs that can be used within classroom routines, topic work, sensory sessions, transitions and small-group activities.
Music enables the creation of higher-quality interactions with learners: noticing their responses, building anticipation, allowing time for choice and turn-taking, and developing shared attention.
Matt will introduce the thinking behind the songs as well as the practical ways to use them. With video backing tracks provided, delegates will not need previous musical experience to take the ideas straight into the classroom.
All delegates will receive a PDF containing the songs, backing-track guidance and key principles to support continued use in practice.
1.45 pm Session 5: ‘Playscapes – how and why you should make your SEN classroom a play-rich environment’ with Bex Watton
Play is innate in all of us – it just looks different from one individual to the next. Your children and young people with SEN and ASC can and do play; as practitioners, it is our job to understand what that looks like for every child in your classroom. That thing you’ve heard about play being paramount to learning? That applies to neurodiverse learners too; it might mean we must adapt our way of thinking/planning/teaching to create effective playscapes. I hope this session can help! In it, we’ll look at research and evidence on the importance of play, explore some of its functions, and consider how this can help us create neuro-affirming play invitations in our classroom! We will discuss planning for playful learning, using intrinsic motivation to enhance skill and knowledge acquisition, and how play can support the development of language and communication skills for those with different language acquisition styles, without therapist input.
2.30 pm Break out Room Activity: reflecting on the key messages from the day and how these can be implemented in your setting
2.50 pm Q & A
3 pm Thank you and close of the day
Click on the names below to read more about our conference presenters!
Bex Watton
This conference will be appropriate for classroom practitioners from special schools and colleges, mainstream settings with specialist SEN provision and early years settings, working with pupils with severe complex or neurodiverse learning needs.
The recording of this event will be in your account at online.hirstwood.com. You will access this using the email address on the booking form and your password (instructions for creating your password are in the joining information).
Here you will find:
a digital recording of the event
a transcript of the Zoom chat
These will be available for 10 days after the event.
Early Bird Tickets cost £275 plus VAT per delegate and are available until 31.8.26
You can select multiple places on the booking form.
You can pay by credit card for this booking or request an invoice on the booking form.
Early Bird Tickets cost £275 plus VAT per delegate (to 31.8.26)
