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If you wanted to describe an outstanding place to play would you think of primary schools? Clearly OFSTED thought so when they mentioned the outstanding quality of play at a South Gloucestershire School and the way it supported learning behaviours as one of the contributions to their ‘outstanding’ judgement. To follow this up the school has just joined the handful of schools in the South West to achieve the highest level possible, Platinum, in the OPAL Awards (Outdoor Play and Learning) for primary schools. In the lower playground we passed the games and dressing up areas. Here there wereBeacon ris child balancing
blankets laid out under sheltered areas with great variety of toys, games, clothes and equipment. Katie explained that they put all of the resources out every day so the choices are the children’s, not the adults. We passed the water play area. There were a few children constructing a long run of pipes and guttering, discussing how to improve the design to lose less water. I expressed surprise that there were not more children involved in the water play. Katie said that because the children knew it was there every day and because there was so much else on offer that there was not a big deal about it. ‘Sometimes its really popular and other days no one uses it – which is fine’.
As we walked past a group of children constructing a den out of blankets and cardboard boxes a girl asked if I had seen the chickens yet. Katie explained we were on the way there. Before we got to the chickens we passed an area of trees festooned with ropes, hammocks, tape and cushions and children. The trees were marked with bands of different coloured tape. I was told that this was colour coding for how high Key Stage 1 and 2 were allowed to climb. Katie said it wasn’t as strictly followed now, but it had been useful as part of the process of introducing tree climbing after many years of prohibition. She explained that part of the journey the school was on was changing the way the team of supervisors saw themselves, the idea of playwork was new to many of them. They had all had an introduction to playwork training and had discussed the idea of balancing risk and benefit. Katie said:
“The supervisors were reassured by the talk about risk, to learn that they will not be sued and that what is happening in playtimes is part of a school plan and guided by a policy which the Local Authority supports.”
Along the hedgerow was an area where the grounds maintenance team dumped all of the clippings and logs, this also had additional tarps, ropes, tyres and scrap and was the messy den area. It reminded me of the kind of play provision I had seen on a visit to schools in Sweden; messy, cheap and based on the values of trust and independence. Finally we arrived at the chickens. Looking after the chickens was, Katie told me, one of the most prized activities and just about the only thing that had to be allocated by an adult, so that the chickens didn’t get totally overwhelmed by the number of carers. Children cleaned out the pens, collected eggs and were allowed to stroke the chickens. Some had ‘recently been lost to foxes but they had been replaced and it all put down to more learning experiences.’ She clarified we were talking about chickens and not children.
The highlight at the end of the tour was the play landscape, sculpted from the sloping hillside and landscaped for play by Green Play Project. It includes teepee frames for den making, a raised house, a large hill with a sand pit at the top, twin tunnels, willow planting, wild-flowers, bamboo jungle, boulders, logs, ropes, netting, net-works of paths, plants and a wooden platform. Children had taken scrap from the large amount available and built their own structures within the teepee frames and were using bits and pieces as props in all kinds of imaginative games which ranged all over the landscape.
When we went inside I got a chance to talk to Chris the Head Teacher in more depth about what the impact had been on the school. He told me:
“Behaviour – no doubt. When I started here every playtime and lunchtime was spent dealing with the behaviour issues of an endless stream of children outside of my door, and now I have my lunch in peace and then walk around the grounds to chat with children who are playing happily. I think we are nearly at stage now where there is enough for everyone to find things that they want to do, but we are not stopping here – we will continue to make it even better.”
I believe that the benefits that Chris has noticed are due to much more profound changes than fuller occupation of the children. I think that the children at Beacon Rise are starting to experience some of the deeper benefits of play, they are increasing their ability to problem solve and negotiate, they are becoming more able to initiate and sustain activity themselves, they are more resilient when things go a bit wrong and able to experiment with and explore the complex relationships between their inner lives, their social world and the physical world. I was delighted to hear that the schools recent OFSTED inspection had drawn a similar conclusion. The inspectors acknowledged that the schools’ excellent play opportunities supported good learning behaviours. Chris pointed out the significance of the change in language around behaviour and play.
“In the past they would have talked about quiet, well-behaved compliant children. When the inspector was here we had a child hit in the face with a football and all of the usual bumps scrapes and falling out. They were far more interested in how we foster behaviours which supported good learning – isn’t that what play is all about?”
Links: WEB, like OPAL on Facebook, follow OPAL on Twitter: @stateofplay62
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What is the purpose of education? This is the question posed by the Purpose/Ed campaign who are gathering #500words from different bloggers every working day in May.
I wanted to contribute from Love Outdoor Play because outdoor play has a key role to play in education, not just in the early years, but throughout school. Not just as a small break between classes, but as an integral and often overlooked part of the school day for all children and young people.
Wellesley Primary School
What is the purpose of education? Surely to prepare us for life! I don’t just mean work – though that is important – but for life in all its richness. Life as a child, a young person, an adult. Life as part of a family, and as part of a community.
Yes, schooling should build key skills such as reading, writing and maths. We should know why Mendel bred peas, be able to get by in French, have a passing acquaintance with quadratic equations. But school alone cannot teach us everything we need for work let alone for life.
Based on my experience to date and a fairly erratic reading list*, I’d like to suggest that the real purpose of education, in a nutshell, is to help us:
- To find out who we really are – give us opportunities to develop the character and capabilities we need at the time and throughout our life, to develop the resilience to deal with life’s knockbacks and the patience to strive;
- To learn how to understand other people – to develop friendships, to get along with people, to deal with bullies and arguments, to collaborate and be part of communities; and
- To discover what inspires us – building a thirst for understanding, and giving us the skills to satisfy that thirst.
These are not skills and attributes we can fully develop in a classroom. They are, however, capabilities we develop when playing outside.
When the choirmaster Gareth Malone last year was challenged to increase the literacy skills of a group of lacklustre Yr 5 & 6 boys (in his ‘extraordinary school for boys’), he didn’t sit them down to do intensive reading and phonics. He had them climbing trees and playing outdoors and really engaging with who they were physically until their ideas were brimming over.
Their reading ages jumped dramatically in just a few weeks.
Time to play – before and after school and in the breaks in between – are the ‘liminal spaces’ of schooling. They are neither home nor school, belonging to children, and yet not quite theirs to control. These are the spaces and places where I believe we achieve much of our real education.
They provide the warp to the weft of schooling.
Just listen to what the teachers say in this video from Children’s Scrapstore Playpods:
And yet Professor Peter Blatchford’s research into playtimes and breaks over the last twenty years shows that despite clear evidence of the value of playtimes as part of a child or young person’s learning (and enjoyment of school), they are shrinking fast. Even very young children rarely get the one-and-a–half hour lunch breaks that were common in the 70s and 80s, and secondary pupils have barely any free time between lessons. The situation is often even worse in the United States where it is estimated 50% of children have no recess at all.
Beacon Rise Primary
If we want children and young people to be inspired by their schooling, to really get an education, then take a look at an adventure playground. Think back to the wild play of your own childhood. Be inspired by schools that have taken the leap and put some of that wildness into their playtimes. Schools like Beacon Rise and Wellesley Primary School in South Gloucestershire and Gawthorpe Community Primary School in West Yorkshire, where they are seeing the difference it makes to children’s confidence, creativity and ‘readiness to learn’.
The purpose of education is far more than schooling, it has to meet the needs of the whole child and young person.
And if we agree with that, then schools need to champion freedom to play.
*suggested reading…
In compiling this post I have been influenced by the usual educational theorists such as Piaget and Vygotsky, and more recently by Sir Ken Robinson, and Sue Palmer, as well as the philosophers Locke, Hume and Amiyata Sen.
But for the teachers and educationalists out there can I strongly recommend exploring the world of play theory? I’ll practically guarantee it wasn’t in your teaching qualification, but that you’ll be asking ‘why not??!!’ before you get to the end.
Reports such as Best Play and the research collected in the comprehensive literature review Play for a Change and more recently World Without Play give the evidence base. Play thinkers such as Bob Hughes, Tim Gill, Michael Follett and Wendy Russell (amongst many others) will help you view the world you thought you knew from a completely different angle. Enjoy!
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Leila Berg the children’s author who died recently wrote Look at Kids in 1972, a book full of bitter sweet stories about the pain of growing up and the prejudice and often hostility of adults towards children. How in our everyday actions we ignore or belittle children’s curiosity, their natural awe of the world, their absorption in play. Children chided and scolded, told off for simply being children. Forty years on we are still a deeply conflicted society in our attitudes towards children. For some, children playing out on the street or in their local neighbourhood are seen as part of a healthy, vibrant community. For others the sight or sound of children playing out is considered a nuisance.
On Wednesday the Daily Mail reported on a ‘Concorde pilot who can’t stand the noise of happy children bids to close down local playground that severely disrupts his life’. The case is being brought before the Reading Magistrates Court as a private prosecution under the Environmental Protection Act 1990. The playground opened in May last year attracts hundreds of children and families. Not all the residents are opposed. One said it was a good place to socialise with other parents and it was ‘nice to hear children enjoying themselves’.
The playground includes a sandpit, zip wire and swings but it was the water fountains that provoked squeals of delight to
77 decibels. Less, it was pointed out in the court case, than by the average vacuum cleaner. But this story appears to have less to do with environmental health and more to do with the attitude towards children.
Last year the German government passed legislation that exempts children from their normally strict noise pollution laws to clamp down on similar complaints. The new regulation makes it clear that ‘the level of noise from child care facilities and playgrounds and similar facilities are, as a rule, not damaging to the surrounding environment’.
Germany’s Environment Minister Norbert Rottgen said, ‘We are setting a clear legislative signal for a child friendly society with this law giving privileged status to children’s noise’. The Netherlands passed similar legislation in 2010. Dutch Environment Minister Jacqueline Cramer said, ‘Children should be able to yell and shout when they are outside’.
In 2011 UNICEF reported that British children are likely to be the least happy in the developed world. The report concluded that in other European countries ‘family time is more protected’ and children ‘have greater access to activities’.
Taking children to the park or local playground is one way parents spend more time with their children. In recent years there has been a growing interest in the quality of children’s play spaces. The investment and improvements in design are a direct consequence of the involvement of parents. But the success of the play area at the centre of the recent court case and others depends on the tolerance and acceptance of children by adults in the community.
As Leila Berg’s Look at Kids concludes ‘is it really so much a child needs – the right to have space, time for exploration, so that they can grow and become part of society in a natural way…to live lives that are their own and not someone else’s…the right to have happy parents, whom society accepts and values?’ Over to you.
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Stepping up for Nature!
I just watched this gorgeous film and had to share it.
Last year Play England and many colleagues across the Play sector, including last week’s blogger London Play, helped Tim Gill in pulling together his report Sowing the Seeds. Commissioned by the London Sustainability Development Commission, this focused on the best ways to instill a love of nature into children. His rigorous – and academically verified – report clearly shows that encouraging children to play outside – to climb, jump, roll, dig, build, collect, bury, dream… – is the best possible way to give them that lifelong love so that they too want to ‘step up for nature’. This is echoed in research cited across other campaigns such as the National Trust’s Outdoor Nation and Sustrans’ Free Range Kids.
Adventure Playgrounds like Fort Apache* in Torbay and Glamis in Tower Hamlets, London (to name but two of the 150 or so out there!) are offering these opportunities every day to children and young people. Chances to play outdoors and really get to know nature as a friend.
Many schools too, like Beacon Rise Primary near Bristol that recently got ‘outstanding’ in their Ofsted inspection, have wonderful outdoor environments that foster a love of playing outside. And who knows where the wonder of that will lead them?
In our families too, we often ‘lay down memories‘ with the children we care for simply by letting them play out.
So please do act now, think about how you love outdoor play – love the outdoors – and how you can pass on that love to children and young people you care about, children and young people in your communities, children and young people who are your friends.
For some ideas about how to get involved with Love Outdoor Play please take a look at the Take Action page, and do take a look at the RSPB’s campaign too.
*For those of you who don’t ‘do’ Facebook this link won’t work, but I’m afraid time- & money-poor playgrounds often only have a Facebook Page – and there are loads of amazing stories of outdoor play there so they are well worth a visit!
London Play’s Taking Nature to the Street project has been working with volunteers at Fairchildes Children’s Centre in Croydon to encourage children to play outdoors. The area has been drastically affected by play funding cuts, so this opportunity has given them a much needed chance to develop a permanent play structure.
Stacey Morris, the head volunteer describes the positive impact of being involved in the Taking Nature to the Streets project:
‘Here at Fairchildes, The children love playing outdoors, so they decided to plant a willow tree tepee to create an enclosed colourful space to hold their storytelling sessions. In Our story telling gardening project is proving to be extremely popular! On 4 April, 77 volunteers of all ages came along to help plant sweet peas and perennial climbers up a willow tepee frame to create the magical storytelling hideaway. Our success in recruiting and retaining the volunteers has been down to the invaluable help of London Play. Together we have worked in an innovative and inclusive way with our volunteers, at all times ensuring child led activity planning.
As you can imagine, we are forever guided by the weather and so work with nature to decide what to plant. The project has given the children a greater understanding of their environment and the ability to plan what to grow accordingly. We are out enjoying the fresh air in all weathers and the children enjoy getting their hands dirty! The younger ones love helping out for short periods of time, but equally love jumping off the mounds of earth and playing with water.
Each season, we plan to create a new hideaway from existing natural materials – several parent volunteers are even
keen to take cuttings to build their own willow tepees at home! The support of the Taking Nature to the Street project has made a real difference to us and the children and families that we work with. The developments here, from the willow tepees to our ‘Jack in the Beanstalk’ colourful play area, will provide a growing and lasting legacy in Croydon.’
To make the story telling sessions as exciting as possible Stacey needs your help. Please can you suggest any stories, themes or games that we can hold in our willow tepee. Please leave any comments in the box below.
London Play’s Taking Nature to the Streets is part of the Free Time Consortium’s Get Involved in Play programme. For more information and to get involved, please contact Catherine Togut, Taking Nature to the Street Project Worker, on 0203 384 8515 or Catherine@londonplay.org.uk or Marlon Gibbins at marlon@londonplay.org.uk.
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Rainy Day Den Making!
This weekend’s weather reminded me of a similar day last year when I was in the park with a large group of friends and neighbours. We’d got together to help out another neighbour who was making a short film and needed lots of ‘extras’ (OK, I live in Hackney!), so we were outside for a good long while. The rain started to come down and the adults started to become fretful, but the trees are pretty big and we all had hot tea, bagels and large umbrellas.
There were about 15 children, and a couple of them got the bright idea of begging even more umbrellas…
I love this ‘rainy day den’ as another example of what kids will do if given freedom to play. No one telling them what to do, no one doing more than reminding the older ones to keep a bit of an eye on the younger ones, and no one shouting ‘health and safety’. It was entirely organised by themselves, great fun, and kept them warm & dry (ish!) for at least the couple of hours of showers.
On Twitter over last few weeks @LoveOutdoorPlay conversations have often majored on the joys of rainy den making. You can see some great examples from Play Gloucestershire here on their blog about a dedicated den making (& marshmallow eating!) day, and the tweet below made many of us smile – and wish we were there!
So how do you think families and communities can help more children play outside more often whatever the weather? And have you any stories to share of your rainy day play here or on Facebook?
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Bounce, Skate, Climb, Play – What kids WANT to do!
Want to see what kids say they want to do? I love this video, hope you all do too!
And if you enjoyed that do pop over to Playing Out and see the lovely work they are doing round Bristol and further afield.
It would be lovely to hear more stories or see more films about how you are helping more children play out more often, whether grass roots projects, with family and friends or from a more global perspective.
For instance I was walking the dog the other day in London Fields, Hackney near where I live and saw the most extraordinary sight – a knitted tree with this intrepid explorer climbing up ever higher!
Matilda up a tree!
Her mum (who emailed me this picture) was passionate about the importance to her and her children of getting outside and playing, and Matilda wanted to climb this oh-so-huggable tree, so up she went. With maybe just a little help!
Happy Friday Love Outdoor Play friends, I hope you have a brilliant outdoor play weekend!
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How can we increase freedom to play?
Only one in three children are allowed out to the shops or to walk to school alone, according to a Newsround survey of over 1000 six to twelve year olds out a couple of weeks ago. One in four never go out without an adult.
Michael Murpurgo, the children’s author, is filmed on the Newsround site talking about many of the key issues – traffic, families moving round so they don’t know their neighbourhoods so well, and people just not having as much time for children as they used to.
Will Self was on Any Questions on Saturday 14th April saying – in answer to the last question – the same thing: children should be playing out.
Tim Gill did a lovely piece a few weeks ago about The outdoor child: doomed to extinction? looking at all the reasons, and another more recently summarising the evidence for why children don’t play out. These seem to boil down to:
- attitudes of adults (family members, teachers, police, etc) have changed;
- the inside world is more attractive; and
- there are many more barriers in and around where we live, most notably traffic
Since then I’ve made a point of, every evening, just counting how many kids i see out without parents as I cycle the three miles home. Try it, it really opens your eyes.
For me the wildy differing amounts of freedom to play children have are summed up by reading through the quotes from the 11 year olds – children at the top of primary school or just starting at secondary school – posted on the Newsround site:
“My mum gives me the right amount of freedom. I’m
allowed to go to the shops on my own, but I have to take my phone with me. I walk to school alone too, it make me feel grown up that my mum trusts me.”
Zack, 11, Derbyshire, England
“I don’t think kids have enough freedom because parents are scared that something bad will happen to their kids but they underestimate the amount we know about safety.”
Katy, 11, Wetherby, England
“I walk to school by myself, but I have to phone my mum when I get there.”
Zizi, 11, London, England
“I have so much freedom. I’m only 11 and I’m allowed four miles away on my own. I love having so much freedom!”
Katherine, 11, Preston, England
Source: http://popieces.blogspot.co.uk/2009/02/martha-cooper-x-obey-street-play.html
“I have a reasonable amount of freedom. The only reason my parents don’t let me out is for my own good.”
Emily, 11, England
“I’m allowed to go places like the cinema on my own if my parents drop me off. But they won’t let me go to the park with my friends which is soooo annoying.”
Aj, 11, London, England
“I don’t think kids are given enough freedom but in some ways you can see where grown-ups are coming from. They’re only trying to keep us safe. But on the other hand we will get used to being kept inside the ‘safety bubble’ they are creating.”
Amy, 11, Shrewsbury, England
“I have no freedom. I go to school with my parents and I’m not allowed to go to the shops alone. But times have changed. There are more criminals now who kidnap and things, it’s for our own good.”
Hubbab, 11, London, England
“I’m allowed to go into town but I have boundaries. I have a set part of town I can go to but have to take my phone and be back for a certain time. I think I have enough freedom, however, I have only had this freedom very recently.”
Katie, 11, Worcestershire, England
“Well, my parents let me out but not too far. To be honest I don’t REALLY like going out by myself so I choose not to.”
Izzy, 11, London, England
“I’m the only person in my class who isn’t allowed to walk to school. I don’t live near anyone I know so I get bored and watch television all day.”
Daisy, 11, Lancashire, England
ref: Newsround 40th Anniversary survey http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsround/17602643
Did you know that April 24th 2012 is the 80th anniversary of the Kinder Scout trespass? That was the spark that marked the turning point of the adult ‘right to roam’ movement. What will it take to ensure children and young people can once again have their right to roam?
I know I and many others are enjoying the Nature DeficitDisorder v Free Range Childhood v playborhood v rewilding children debate around the right metaphors to build the campaigns around. I’m also enjoying finding all the parent, grandparent, playworker and school blogs that support this issue – please do keep sharing them.
So next steps to take action – what at the local and national levels can we DO that will make real, tangible differences to children’s freedom? What should our MPs and councillors be asking for?
I am pulling together the Play England response to the National Trust’s Outdoor Nation consultation, and will be taking a steer from our members of course, and also from the debates and discussions here on Love Outdoor Play website, Facebook and Twitter.
So let me know what you think we should be saying – what should we be calling for above all else? What change in policy will do more than any other to increase children’s freedom to play?
What changes need to happen that will show that here in the UK we proudly stand up and say we all 
?
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Play in a box…what would you choose?
As one of 17 members in the new Free Time Consortium, London Play is mobilising an army of volunteers to increase children’s opportunities for natural play across London.
As part of this Taking Nature to the Streets project, we are developing a new idea called ‘Play in a Box’. The concept is to have a box filled with a fantastic array of simple items to inspire imaginative, outdoor play. The box needs to be small enough to be easily carried around by someone involved in supporting play activities such as street parties, Playday events or simply playing out.
We have a few ideas about what to put in our play box, but need your help to make it really exciting and innovative. So… if you were on a desert island, and our play box washed up on the shore, what would you want to find inside?
To get you started, here’s what the London Play team came up with:
- Marbles
- Bat and ball
- Old sheets
- Bucket and spade
- Butterfly net
We’re looking forward to hearing all your wonderful ideas – please use the comment box below to tell us about them!
Inspiring Volunteering in Southwark
Guest post – Ashley Rogers, Senior Development Officer, Play England.
Back in 2011, I worked with Southwark Council to help them develop their policies, strategy and practice around volunteering on their 15 Adventure Playgrounds (with a specific focus on the four run by the Voluntary and Community Sector). The cuts were hitting home across the UK and the adventure playgrounds were starting to look at how they could offer mutually beneficial volunteer opportunities as a route to improved sustainability.
Our plan was to meet with Council departments such as HR, Marketing and Communications, and Apprenticeships and Training to develop their strategy and practice around volunteering, ensure there were easy routes for potential volunteers (via website and telephone enquiry), and develop an ‘Incentives List’ for volunteers, based on number of volunteering hours completed. Volunteer Centre Southwark was also engaged to support the developing project, and to help advertise volunteering opportunities in play across the Borough. The centre also supported new opportunities for corporate volunteering days at the playgrounds.
The work with Southwark was not only strategic, but also about generating volunteers at ground-
level. After discussion with the adventure playgrounds and Council Play Officer we settled on the idea of running ‘Volunteer Recruitment Playdays’ across the five playgrounds during half term. Each playground was given a small budget to create promotional materials, advertise their event and arrange entertainment and activities. They used the Playday branding and advertised through means such as the Council website, banners outside the playgrounds, local leaflet drops and word of mouth.
Some used these promotional opportunities to advertise that they were looking for volunteers; 
others simply promoted the event as a free Playday for the whole family, and then talked to parents about volunteering as they watched their kids play – both techniques proved successful. Some of the playgrounds also chose to use the events as a fundraising opportunity, organising cake sales and barbeques to generate funds to cover the cost of the activities.
As well as generating volunteers, these five fantastic Playdays provided over 600 kids with exciting play opportunities and 240 parents with the chance to play with their kids, engage with the playgrounds and find out about becoming a volunteer. A total of 21 young people and adults signed up to volunteer in the playgrounds in future, many more asked to be contacted about future volunteering opportunities, and others said they would talk to friends and family members who they thought would be interested. On one site a group of parents even showed interest in developing a ‘Friends of’ group, and another in volunteering to run the playground to keep it open!
After over a decade of working in the sector, I never fail to be amazed by the commitment and drive that children’s play can inspire in colleagues, families and whole communities. That’s why I’m calling on everyone to Love Outdoor Play in whatever way they can to make sure more children where they live can play out more often. If you have any questions about anything included in this blog please contact me at arogers@ncb.org.uk and I will be happy to help.
Playday is the national day for play, a celebration of children’s right to play and a campaign that highlights the importance of play in children’s lives. Playday 2012 will be on Wednesday 1 August – find out how you can join in the fun at www.playday.org.uk.
