PALS Club - School Holiday Groups

Our second school holiday group was our PALS Club, who greatly exceeded all expectations last week! We have been blown away by the feedback, excitement and enjoyment of each and every one of our PALS club attendees! The response was overwhelming, with non-stop chatter to their families about what they achieved each day, making new friendships and reconnecting with old ones. 

Our PALS spent the week working together, negotiating, problem solving and sharing in both verbal and physical exercises to achieve a united goal. It has been an absolute pleasure to watch our PALS assert themselves, feeling safe enough to have their ideas heard and tried. We also watched some of our leaders within the PALS club take a step back, try their active listening skills and learn to problem solve with their peers. 

The challenges and complexity of the activities at hand truly emerged when the whole group had to work together with very little scaffolding from the Explore and Soar team. It was amazing to watch their ideas come together, all whilst remaining regulated and focused on supporting one another to achieve the end goal. Suggested strategies such as “thought bubble” and “group plan” were used in achieving the established goals. The PALS favourite games this week  included the hoola-hoop challenge, frenzy, air mattress / the bag challenge and of course, the obstacle course challenges. 

An additional highlight for us was hearing about friends reconnecting and having a playdate, following the group activities. 

The PALS club have also been problem solving with us and providing feedback to keep the club ongoing!! We are so excited to see where this adventure will take our PALS and their families, so keep your eyes posted!!