The Customer
Situated within the town of Crewe, Springfield School is an award-winning SEN specialist school that provides an outstanding level of care and education for its students. Whether it's helping non-verbal children learn to communicate or teaching older students how to shop, this school has garnered a fantastic reputation amongst the local community and parents.
As time has progressed, Springfield school have expanded their services to provide SEN education to other locations, with their most recent expansion being in Wilmslow. Lisa Hodgkison, Executive Headteacher, and her brilliant team of staff are constantly striving to deliver the best quality of care and support that they can, with Ofsted even noting that "staff quickly foster effective and supportive relationships" with pupils.
With the school being situated only 20 minutes away from Pentagon Play, we saw an opportunity to develop a Pentagon Partnership with Springfield and support them with their mission to provide an outstanding level of care for SEN children of all types.
Building a Pentagon Partnership
As Pentagon Play were researching into the school, they quickly realised that a member of their team had a family connection to the school. Ben Eden, Pentagon's SEO & Content Specialist, told our team how his wife, Amelia Eden, worked at the school and how the school does an exceptional job at educating special needs children.
Maddy McGuire, a member of our Online Shop team, quickly reached out to Amelia and explained how Pentagon Play heard about the amazing things the school do with SEN children and wondered if the school would be interested in establishing a partnership with Pentagon Play to try out some of our latest SEN play equipment at their Crewe setting.
Amelia put Maddy in touch with Lisa, who was delighted that she had been approached by Pentagon Play with the offer of some free products and a case study. As the relationship grew, both parties agreed on a date for 5 products to be delivered and installed by our fantastic products team.
Gusts and Grit: Installing Pentagon's SEN Kit
Ellen Jameson (Senior Product Designer), Jonny Arditti (Head of Products) and Adrian Cook (Aftercare & Inspections Site Manager) were given the task to install 4 Sensory Spinners and deliver a Sensory Seating Circle directly to Springfield School.
On the day of the installation, the British weather decided to showcase the determination and grit our team has for delivering a fantastic customer experience by increasing the wind speed to 80mph! As the wind blew harshly, the team of three worked tirelessly to make sure that the installation went smoothly. From talking to Lisa and understanding her vision to teaching the maintenance staff how to maintain the equipment, our team made sure to leave no stone unturned.
The school was hugely impressed by the professionalism and friendliness demonstrated by Ellen, Jonny and Ade, providing some lovely feedback about their fab experience to Maddy. They were so impressed in fact that Lisa felt more confident in her choice of partnering with Pentagon Play and helping our company develop the next generation of SEN play equipment.
Sensory Spinners
Designed to help children with self-regulation and to stimulate children's senses, Pentagon Sensory Spinners are sure to make an instant impact in SEN schools. Each one of our four spinners will help children engage a different sense and improve different abilities as they find themselves naturally entranced by the wonders presented by it!
A unique selling point about our Sensory Spinners is how they can be easily self-installed. Due to this, schools like Springfield don't have to wait weeks for a free installation team and pay extra fees for labour. Instead, the school can find the spot that they want the equipment placed, read our easy-to-follow instructions and start installing.
Another key factor that makes our Sensory Spinners such a fantastic product is the durability and long life span offered by them. Constructed from high-pressure treated 'play grade' timber, each spinner is able to withstand poor weather conditions and heavy usage for plenty of years to come. We're so sure about the quality that each of our sensory spinners offers a variety of material guarantees of up to 10 years!
Touch Sensory Spinner
Featuring three unique sections of different materials (artificial grass, an unbreakable mirror and a smooth whiteboard), the Touch Sensory Spinner provides children with special educational needs a great way to stim and self-regulate themselves.
As the child engages with each section, they'll find themselves experiencing a calming and relaxing effect as their mind drifts off to focusing on the sense of touch. Why not take it an extra step and attach strings to the wheel to create a visually-appealing sensory experience.
Drawing Sensory Spinner
Provide a fantastic sensory experience for your visual and creative learners by adding the Drawing Sensory Spinner to your play area. Featuring an ABET Double-sided Chalkboard, watch as children spin the wheel around and create masterful pieces of art with ease.
Children will be mesmerised as they see their piece of art spin around and take new shapes due to lighting and angles. Alongside this, children will actively be building their muscular strength as they spin the wheel around.
Sound Sensory Spinner
Help your children with emotional regulation and processing by providing a unique piece of sensory playground equipment for your children, the Sound Sensory Spinner. As children spin the spinner, they'll find themselves engrossed by the sound and sight of hundreds of multi-coloured plastic balls rattling around inside.
Children with special educational needs will often find themselves stimming to the unique sound generated by this structure, as the beads provide a unique sound depending on the way it is spun. Build subject-specific vocabulary around the spinner and watch as your children become more engaged with your lessons.
Light Sensory Spinner
Made up of brightly coloured translucent panels, the Light Sensory Spinner is a great piece of sensory play equipment for your children. As the wheel is spinning, your children will watch the magic happen as the panels blend together, revealing new and unique colours for your children.
Attach coloured string to the spinner to add another level of visual appeal and offer your children a safe space for quiet time and emotional regulation. Or, why not incorporate this piece of play equipment into your next lesson by showcasing the primary colours and how mixing them can lead to new colours.
Sensory Seating Circle
Offering 7 movable sensory seats, the Sensory Seating Circle is a revolutionary piece of freestanding play equipment that encourages group conversations and the development of social and communication skills!
As children lay their eyes on this seating solution, they'll find themselves being naturally drawn towards the brightly coloured translucent back panels and the artificial grass topped seats, creating an almost perfect sensory play area.
Configure the seats however you see fit due to the freestanding nature of the Sensory Seating Circle. Whether you create a circle to promote open communication or a line for independent work, the circle is sure to help your children have a positive experience with learning outdoors
Constructed from the highest-quality materials on the market, the Sensory Seating Circle has been built to withstand heavy usage and dreadful weather conditions for years to come! To showcase our confidence with this product, three unique material guarantees arrive with the product, guaranteeing usage for up to 15 years!
Ready for the Camera!
After a couple of weeks had passed, Maddy reached out to Lisa and asked if Pentagon could send a small team to the school to capture content for our website and emails regarding the SEN play equipment that was installed at Springfield. After receiving the greenlight, a date was popped into the calendar for Pentagon's visit to Springfield Crewe.
After the initial visit was rained off (typical British weather!), another date was quickly booked in. Throughout the whole experience, Springfield were always accommodating and open to helping our company gather the materials they needed. From the Online Shop team to the Products team, everyone involved with the project loved working closely with this school.
On the day of the new visit, Maddy and Sarah Roberts (Pentagon's Social Media Specialist) headed straight for the school. As they arrived, they were greeted by the amazing administrative team and Lisa. Heading towards the playground, Lisa told our team how pleased she was to be working with Pentagon Play and how she was excited to see what this Pentagon Partnership had in store!
Reaching the playground, Maddy and Sarah had the opportunity to speak with a variety of staff members. Through these conversations, we discovered how the Sensory Spinners had become a huge attraction for a lot of children. From helping children with self-regulation to even encouraging a non-verbal child to say the word "spin", we were amazed to hear the amazing effect our play equipment was having.
Speaking about the Sensory Seating Circle, our team discovered how the freestanding nature of the equipment allowed teachers to create engaging classroom environments in the outdoors. Whether the children were stimming by rubbing their hands against the soft Artificial Grass or entranced with the coloured plastic sheets, teachers loved how the product helped children feel comfortable and engaged in new environments.
Springfield School and Pentagon Play: A Partnership for SEN Play
After a successful visit, Ellen Jameson reached out the Lisa and asked if Springfield would be happy to help with our SEN research project and test a variety of new and exciting products. Over the moon with the proposal, Lisa quickly accepted and cemented Springfields place in the Pentagon Play family.
Pentagon Partners help our company understand more about their specialisation and play a huge role in shaping the future of our product lines. Research like this is invaluable for our products team as it enables us to stay ahead in the industry and carry on creating industry-leading playground equipment.
We're so happy to have Springfield School as a Pentagon Partner and we're excited to see what innovative and creative SEN playground equipment we can come up with.
