PlayToday issue 70 - Play England

Issue 70 Summer 2010 

News 

Coalition task force 

on childhood to 

include play 

New government 

signals era of change 

for play sector 

Play England 

Engaging 

communities: new 

government contract 

Manifesto for 

children’s play 

Features 

Andrew Mackie: 

Putting play into the 

Big Society 

Laura Smith: Locked 

into Play 

Play training 

SkillsActive: 

Playwork vocational 

qualifications are 

changing 

Resources 

What’s new at the 

CPIS? 

Book reviews and 

events 

What are you 

playing at! 

Leanne, Becky 

and Jade tell 

us about Play 

Gloucestershire’s 

play rangers

Wednesday 4 August 

Playday 2010 

The annual celebration of 

children’s right to play 

To find out how you can get involved, visit:

Contents 

News 

4 Coalition task force on 

childhood to include children’s 

play 

5 New government signals era 

of change for play sector 

6 London adventure playground 

destroyed in fire 

BIG’s Healthy Families 

programme awards £9.5 to 

play projects in Wales 

7 IPA world conference 2011 

website goes live 


10 Engaging communities: new 

government contract for Play 

England 

11 Children get just one hour of 

play a day 

12 Play England in the regions 

Features 

14 Andrew Mackie: Putting play 

into the Big Society 

16 Laura Smith: Locked into Play 


18 Playwork vocational 

qualifications are changing 

Ensuring quality 

20 Quality in Play assessor 

training 

Child-friendly communities 

21 Keeping a community safe and 

playful 

Resources and events 

22 Book review: Leadership 

for Quality in Early Years and 

Playwork 

What’s new at the Children’s 

Play Information Service? 

What are you playing at? 

24 Play Gloucestershire’s play 

rangers 

Editorial 

As we approach the end of the Big Lottery Fund Children’s Play 

initiative that sparked such unprecedented growth and change in our 

sector, the climate for sustaining and building upon the huge gains of 

the last four years, on the face of it, could hardly be less favourable. 

Whilst Britain tentatively recovers from the worst recession since 

the war, the public sector is paying a heavy price as the coalition 

government aims to bring down the budget deficit. 

Investment in children’s play has already suffered, with local authority 

playbuilders no longer having their capital funding ring-fenced and losing 

their revenue funding altogether (pathfinders will lose 50 per cent of 

theirs). The longer-term outlook is no less bleak. With the Treasury 

requiring cuts of anything between 25 and 40 per cent from almost 

every government department, the settlements for local authorities 

will be very tough and the prospect for staffed play services and 

maintenance budgets is grim. With more than half its income coming 

from statutory bodies, the voluntary sector is facing no less tough a 

time. Play England’s own government contracts are being drastically 

reduced, with the resulting departure of some excellent colleagues, 

prefacing, no doubt, a much wider cull across the sector. 

Looking for silver linings within such a gloomy outlook may seem like 

clutching at straws, but there is room for some cautious optimism 

beyond the immediate pain of cuts. 

Most immediately, play has been named by the government as one 

of only five priorities thus far identified for a childhood and families 

task force announced in June by Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg. 

This ministerial grouping, chaired by the Prime Minister himself, will 

inform the spending review this autumn; one of the most important 

for many years and likely to shape the policy context across the whole 

public sector for the first term of this government. The Deputy PM’s 

statement posed more questions than it offered clues about a new play 

policy, but the fact that he and the Prime Minister are even asking these 

questions is highly significant and represents a real opportunity to put 

playable neighbourhoods at the heart of the new vision for communities. 

More generally, although the play sector has taken an early hit from the 

deficit reduction programme, we can at least look back on four full years 

of growth and know that many of the recent changes will last and be 

there to build upon when the economy picks up again. 

The play sector is resilient – over the years it has had to be – and 

although these are difficult times, the events of the last few weeks 

show that, far from being an obvious casualty altogether of the ‘smaller 

state’, children’s play could very well be at the heart of a new vision 

for the ‘big society’. Now, more than ever, we must seize this moment. 

Adrian Voce Director, Play England 

play 

today 

Editor Ken Ryan 

Coordinator Susan Pape 

Editorial group 

Adrian Voce, Becky McLauchlan, Steven Chown, 

Amy Little, Annie Hunter-Wade, Richard Newson, 

Anna Kassman-McKerrell (CPIS), 

Uzma Ahmad (SkillsActive), Rachel Scott (KIDS), 

Tim Ferguson (Manchester Young Lives). 

Correspondence 

The Editor, PlayToday, Play England, 

8 Wakley Street, London EC1V 7QE 

Tel: 020 7843 6300 

Email: playtoday@ncb.org.uk 

Advertising and inserts 

Susan Pape Tel: 020 7843 6447 

Printer Rap Spiderweb 

Front cover image: Tree climbing at St Paul’s 

Adventure Playgrond, Bristol. 

The views expressed in PlayToday are not 

necessarily those of the publishers. 

PlayToday is produced by Play England. 

Published for Play England by NCB, 2010. 

Play England is part of NCB and is supported 

by the Big Lottery Fund. 

3

News 

Coalition task force on childhood to include 

children’s play as one of five priorities 

The coalition government’s policy agenda looks set to include play, 

after Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg announced in June that a 

new ministerial Childhood and Families Task Force, chaired by the 

Prime Minister, will look for ‘innovative … new solutions’ to providing 

spaces where children can play. 

Announcing the move in a south 

London Sure Start centre at a 

Barnado’s hosted event, Clegg 

said that the task force will 

help government to identify and 

prioritise the policies which will 

make a big difference to children 

and families. 

Crucially, children’s play will be 

one of the five key priorities for 

the task force to examine. Outlining 

the rationale for this, the Deputy 

Prime Minister said: ‘Every parent 

understands the importance of 

a secure environment for their 

children. Spaces where they can 

play, where they can feel completely 

free, where they can safely push 

at the boundaries, learning and 

experimenting.’ 

Clegg also quoted Playday statistics 

on the decline of street play, 

saying: ‘If you ask adults if they used 

to play near their homes as children, 

71 per cent will tell you they did, 

every single day. That compares to 

just 21 per cent of children now. It’s 

not right, and it has to change.’ 

The task force, to be chaired by 

Five task force priority areas 

David Cameron, will include Liberal 

Democrat children’s minister 

Sarah Teather; work and pensions 

secretary Iain Duncan Smith; public 

health minister Anne Milton, and the 

universities minister David Willetts 

who produced the Conservatives’ 

2008 childhood review More Ball 

Games. The task force aims to 

complete its review by the autumn 

ahead of the next public spending 

review and is expected to report its 

conclusions at the end of the year. 

Welcoming the announcement, 

Play England director Adrian Voce, 

said: ‘It’s hugely encouraging that, 

although the economic conditions 

have changed massively since the 

launch of the last government’s 

Play Strategy, children’s play is 

still evidently at the heart of our 

country’s vision for childhood, 

families and communities. This 

vision is clearly shared across the 

political spectrum, no matter the 

differences in broader policy terms. 

‘We hope that the task force will 

conclude that the importance of 

good, free play areas, playable public 

Image: Nick Clegg at the Crawford 

Children’s Centre in Camberwell 

space and the role of playworkers 

– paid and voluntary – is even 

more pronounced for children and 

communities living through hard 

times. 

‘The Big Society is not a new 

concept to the play movement, 

which began with local people 

organising themselves to respond 

to children’s need for somewhere 

to play together. The need for this 

movement is now greater than ever. 

We are looking forward to working 

with the government to identify ways 

that it can help today’s communities 

to make more and better space for 

their children to play.’ 

4 

Parental leave 

Promotion of flexible 

leave to strike a balance 

between work and home. 

Disabled children 

More support for families 

of disabled children 

through respite care and 

community based support. 

Strengthening families 

Relationship support to help 

prevent family breakdowns 

and more emphasis on 

other support networks: 

grandparents, neighbours, 

friends and charities. 

Playful communities 

Secure environments for 

children that bring people 

together with a focus on 

how local communities can 

be empowered to deliver 

changes in their own 

neighbourhoods. 

Commercialisation of 

childhood 

Tackle irresponsible 

marketing aimed at 

children which can 

introduce stress more 

associated with adulthood. 

Sharing a platform with Sarah Teather at 

NCB’s Summer Reception, NCB chief executive 

Sir Paul Ennals, welcomed the task force, 

saying: ‘I am very pleased that disabled children 

and play are two of the first five themes Nick 

Clegg spoke of; two themes where NCB is 

proud of the leadership role we have played in 

partnership within the sector over many years.’

New government signals era of change for play sector 

As the new coalition government 

sets out its policy priorities, the 

impact of a new era of austerity 

has been immediately felt by the 

play sector. Here is a summary of 

the significant changes to date: 

Department for Education 

The new Department for Education 

(DfE) quickly replaced the 

Department for Children, Schools 

and Families in May. Senior Conservative, 

Michael Gove leads the 

department as education secretary, 

supported by Sarah Teather (Liberal 

Democrat) as children’s minister, 

and Tim Loughton (Conservative) 

as under-secretary of state for 

children and families. 

No minister has been officially 

announced as having play in their 

portfolio but there are signs that 

both Tim Loughton and Sarah 

Teather are interested in the play 

agenda. There is still a play team 

within the Wellbeing Department 

at DfE. The website still contains 

the Play Strategy and associated 

guidance, although with the overall 

rider that ‘content may not reflect 

current government policy’. 

£6.2bn savings this financial year 

On 24 May, Chancellor George 

Osborne announced efficiency 

savings totalling £6.2bn across 

government. DfE is expected to 

make savings of £670m. 

Local government was also asked 

to contribute £1.166bn to these 

savings. Government has removed 

the ring fence around £1.7bn of 

capital grants including pathfinder/ 

play builder grants totalling £75m. 

At this stage it is unclear how many 

local authorities will divert their play 

capital money to spend elsewhere. 

Revenue funding to play pathfinders 

has been cut by 50 per 

cent, whilst playbuilder revenue has 

been withdrawn completely. DfE 

expects pathfinders to make the 

staffing of adventure playgrounds 

built through their play capital programme 

a priority for remaining 

funding. 

Other Play Strategy revenue 

streams have been curtailed 

with a reduction of £5m. Savings 

coming from a variety of strands 

include Play England’s support and 

challenge work with play pathfinder 

and playbuilder local authorities. 

Play England will no longer monitor 

the play pathfinder and playbuilder 

progress as its support and 

challenge role comes to an end. 

The emergency budget 

In the June emergency budget, the 

chancellor announced cuts across 

all government departments of 25 

per cent over four years, except 

health and international development 

which are ring fenced. 

The chancellor did recognise 

the ‘particular pressures on 

the education system’. He also 

announced that the comprehensive 

spending review, which sets spending 

plans for the whole of this 

parliament, will be published on 20 

October 2010. 

Vetting and barring scheme 

Registrations to the vetting 

and barring scheme have been 

halted to allow the government 

to ‘remodel the scheme back to 

more proportionate, common 

sense levels’. Although the scheme 

is halted whilst under review, 

new safeguarding regulations 

introduced in October 2009 

continue to apply. 

The Independent Safeguarding 

Authority (ISA) will continue 

to maintain updated lists of 

those barred from working with 

children and vulnerable adults. 

Existing Criminal Records Bureau 

requirements will remain in place. 

Employers are still legally obliged 

to inform the ISA if an individual is 

moved because they have harmed 

or there is a risk of harming a 

member of a vulnerable group. 

Monitoring local authority 

performance 

The government is committed 

to cutting local government 

inspection and has scrapped the 

Comprehensive Area Assessment 

(CAA) which assesses how well local 

public services are performing. 

It was administered by the Audit 

Commission which has written to 

local authorities explaining how it 

will conclude its CAA work. 

The future of National Indicator 

199 ‘children’s levels of satisfaction 

with parks and play areas’ is 

unclear as the collection of data 

for the Tellus survey, which informs 

progress under NI 199, has been 

halted as part of the government’s 

commitment to reduce the burdens 

of data collection on schools and 

local authorities. 

Early years provision and the 

primary curriculum 

Sarah Teather announced a review 

of the Early Years Foundation Stage 

(EYFS) framework, which ministers 

consider as being ‘too rigid and 

leads to a tick-box approach’. The 

review is to be carried out by Dame 

Clare Tickell, chief executive of the 

charity Action for Children who 

has requested a meeting with Play 

England and SkillsActive to discuss 

EYFS issues affecting the sector. 

The EYFS has had a lukewarm 

reception by many play providers 

who consider the framework to be 

at odds with the Playwork Principles. 

Sure Start centres will be scaled 

back taking it ‘back to its original 

purpose of early intervention, to 

increase its focus on the neediest 

families.’ The planned reform of 

the primary curriculum in England, 

based on last year’s review by Sir 

Jim Rose, has been scrapped. 

Consultation on lottery funding 

The Department for Culture 

Media and Sport is carrying out a 

consultation into the proportion of 

money going to each of the lottery 

distributors. Their proposal is to 

reduce the proportion of money 

going to the Big Lottery Fund from 

46 per cent to 40 per cent and 

increase the proportion going to 

arts, heritage and sports from 18 

per cent each to 20 per cent each. 

This would be spread over two years. 

Workforce development 

The Children’s Workforce 

Development Council’s (CWDC) 

budget will be reduced by £15m 

over the next financial year. The 

figure amounts to around 10% 

of the CWDC’s overall budget of 

£149m for 2010-11. It’s not known 

if these cuts will affect the CWDCmanaged 

training initiative enabling 

playworkers to achieve Level 3 NVQ 

in playwork. 

5NEWS

6 

Think tank 

says playwork 

qualification should 

be ‘suspended 

immediately’ 

The Conservative think tank, the 

Centre for Policy Studies, has called 

for the immediate suspension of 

the playwork qualification as it is 

‘of unproven value’. 

In a report published in June 

that recommends cuts to The 

Children’s Plan, the authors Tom 

London adventure 

playground 

destroyed in fire 

A fierce fire destroyed parts 

of the Timbuktu Adventure 

Playground, a voluntary sector 

playground that recently 

received funding from Play 

England’s third sector adventure 

playground funding programme. 

The popular playground 

received £19,000 from the 

funding programme for recent 

refurbishments which were 

destroyed by the fire on 24 May. 

Damage to the playground 

is estimated in the region of 

Image: Fire damage at Timbuktu Adventure Playground 

Burkard and Tom Clelford, identify 

spending commitments from 

the Play Strategy as ‘expensive 

luxuries which should be the 

natural object of interest for the 

National Lottery’. 

They state that central funding 

for the pathfinder and playbuilder 

schemes should be scrapped 

together with the funding for 

4,000 playworkers to complete a 

level three vocational qualification. 

❰ The report: Cutting the 

Children’s Plan is available online 

at: http://www.cps.org.uk ❱ 

£70,000, and a recently built 

climbing wall, climbing frames, 

swings, bikes, benches and most 

regrettable, a massive wooden 

ship, were all reduced to ashes. 

Community supporters and 

neighbours are currently trying to 

collect enough funds to cover the 

costs of the damage and restore 

the playground. Commenting on 

the reaction of the community, 

Darren McLaughlin who works at 

Timbuktu said: ‘The community is 

devastated. People keep offering 

help and one school is planning a 

fundraising event.’ 

Islington Police and London Fire 

Brigade are still investigating the 

cause of the fire. 

BIG’s Healthy 

Families programme 

awards £9.5m to 

play projects in 

Wales 

The Big Lottery Fund (BIG) 

recently announced a £9.5m 

cash boost for 10 play 

projects to create new play 

initiatives and facilities in local 

communities across Wales. 

These grants, from the Child’s 

Play strand of BIG’s £20m Healthy 

Families programme, aim to 

achieve one of the three following 

outcomes: get more children 

accessing play opportunities; 

create a local infrastructure to 

provide and plan for children’s 

play activities; or develop a 

joined-up approach to nutrition, 

physical activity and play. 

Four of this round’s grant 

winners include Cardiff City 

Council’s Cardiff and Vale 

Play Project who received 

£998,177; Rhondda Cynon Taff 

Play Association’s Branching 

out Community Play Project 

was awarded £979,511, and 

Carmarthenshire Association 

of Voluntary Services was 

allocated close to £1m, which 

will be used to provide mobile 

play facilities for 1,000 children 

aged 12 and over. 

The Torfaen Voluntary 

Alliance received funding to 

develop a toolkit to support 

the sustainability of community 

based play projects across 

Torfaen, Newport and 

Monmouthshire. Commenting 

on their award, John Taylor, 

operations manager of the 

Torfaen Voluntary Alliance, said: 

‘We are pleased and proud to 

be the recipient of a grant 

and look forward to improving 

and enhancing play provision… 

This money will make a massive 

difference to our project.’ 

❰ Find out more at: www. 

biglotteryfund.org.uk/wales ❱

Survey finds parents fear child 

abduction over health risks of childhood 

obesity 

A survey by the national charities 

Parentline Plus and Living 

Streets, as part of the national 

Walk to School Week campaign, 

found that a majority of parents 

fear their child being abducted or 

killed in a road accident over the 

more likely threat to their health 

from childhood inactivity leading 

to obesity. 

Results revealed that 30 

per cent of parents feared the 

abduction or murder of their 

child while only five per cent 

expressed concern over their 

child’s poor health later in life due 

to current levels of childhood 

inactivity. These figures greatly 

contrast the statistics that show 

that the actual threat of a child 

being abducted or murdered by 

a stranger is one in one million, 

whereas a child’s risk of severe 

health issues and mortality as a 

result of lack of physical exercise 

is one in three. 

The results also show that 

half of the parents surveyed 

underestimated how much 

physical exercise is needed for 

a child to maintain a healthy 

lifestyle. The government 

recommends that children 

participate in seven hours 

of physical activity per week; 

however the results reveal that 

only 68 per cent of boys and 76 

per cent of girls actually meet 

this recommendation. 

The survey supports Living 

Streets’ national Walk to School 

Week campaign which encourages 

parents and children to engage in 

physical activity by leaving the car 

at home and walking to school. 

IPA world conference 2011 

website goes live 

The website for the International Play 

Association’s (IPA) triennial world conference, 

taking place next year on 4-7 July 2011 in 

Cardiff, is now online. 

Hosted by Play 

Wales on behalf of 

the IPA, the 50th 

anniversary world 

conference will focus 

on the theme of play 

in the future, and 

explore the ways 

to create a future where playing is valued 

and where every country and neighbourhood 

upholds all children’s right to time, freedom, 

and a safe enough environment for play. 

Wales Cymru 

2011 

The conference will cover the themes related 

to play: individual and social; environment and 

space; and society and culture. 

Taking place over four days, the conference 

offers delegates the opportunity to share 

evidence, experience and examples of good 

practice with colleagues from around the 

world. Registration opens 1 September 2010, 

and the deadline for abstracts and proposals 

is 10 November 2010. 

❰ Visit the website at: www.ipa2011.org ❱ 

Pensioners’ playground opens in 

London’s Hyde Park 

A £50,000 playground for ‘pensioners’ is open in 

Hyde Park through a joint project between the 

Westminster City Council and The Royals Parks. 

The first-ever, public pensioners’ playground in 

London opened to give older park users a chance to 

work out in the middle of Hyde Park. The 125 squaremetre 

playground includes fitness equipment such 

as: a cross-trainer, sit-up bench, body-flexer, free 

runner, flex wheel and exercise bike. 

Drawing from similar ideas in China and Europe, 

The Royal Parks and the council initiated this 

project as a way to encourage people of all ages 

to get outside, socialise, exercise and most 

importantly, have fun. 

www.nottssport.com 

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NOTTS SPORT® & CHILDSPLAY® are registered trademarks. 

7

Prince William 

launches 

campaign to save 

playing fields 

As part of the Queen’s Diamond 

Jubilee celebrations, Prince 

William recently launched a 

campaign to legally protect over 

2,000 public playing fields by 2012. 

Prince William is patron of the 

Queen Elizabeth II Fields Challenge, 

a campaign by Fields in Trust 

(formally the National Playing 

Fields Association), to protect 

public playing fields and outdoor 

play space as a childhood right. 

The campaign aims to permenantly 

protect over 2,000 sites. 

In a video announcement 

launching the campaign, the 

Prince stressed: ‘Being able to 

play outdoors is a basic right of 

childhood. The Queen Elizabeth 

II Fields Challenge will guarantee 

that millions more children are 

able to enjoy that right both now 

and in the future.’ 

This campaign is part of the 

Diamond Jubilee celebrations to 

mark the Queen’s 60th year on 

the throne. Together with Fields 

in Trust, this campaign hopes 

to acquire legal protection for 

existing fields and to create 

new playing fields by persuading 

landowners to allow their land to 

come under a deed of dedication. 

Alison Moore Gwyn, chief 

executive of Fields in Trust 

Children enjoy a kick-about at the launch 

reiterated the charity’s aims 

through the programme: ‘Fields 

in Trust’s core vision is to ensure 

that everyone – whether they 

are young or old, able or disabled 

and no matter where they live – 

has access to outdoor space for 

sport, play and recreation.’ 

❰ Visit the campaign website at: 

www.qe2fields.com ❱ 

8 

KIDS reaches milestone of 

1,000th short break 

KIDS’ Direct Short Breaks service reached 

the milestone of providing 1,000 short breaks 

to disabled children, young people and their 

families after 10 months of the Parliamentary 

launch of the internet-based service. 

KIDS, a national charity providing a range of 

services for disabled children, young people 

and their families across seven English regions, 

initiated the Direct Short Break service in 

February 2009 to provide parents of disabled 

children and young people with short breaks, 

provided by fully trained workers. The service, 

entirely booked online, allows disabled children 

and young people the opportunity to enjoy and 

experience activities of interest with the support 

of a Short Break Worker while their parents can 

confidently take a break. 

The 1,000th short break took place in Blackburn 

in the end of April when a worker accompanied a 

17-year-old girl as she went to get her hair cut. 

❰ Find out more at www.kids.org.uk ❱ 

IKEA launches ‘Playreport’ 

Recognising the importance of play, IKEA 

recently commissioned a play report based 

on research gathered from 8,000 parents and 

3,000 children aged 7-12 years worldwide to 

better understand parents’ and children’s play 

experiences and the role of play in childhood 

development. 

Researchers used social media as a way to 

gather data and found that many parents are 

worried about play when it is not accompanied 

by an educational agenda. Another interesting 

finding is that many parents feel that they have 

lost the ability to play. The report alternatively 

suggests that play is a powerful learning engine 

for children and that children incorporate play 

into every aspect of a family home and into 

everyday activities. 

Fredrik Bengtsson who specialises in the 

children’s line at IKEA stressed: ‘Play isn’t just fun, 

it’s important – helping children develop skills for 

life. So we take the fun of play seriously.’ 

❰ For more information visit the Playreport 

Facebook pages at: www.facebook.com/playreport ❱

Playday 2010: 

Our place 

Better places to live and play 

On 4 August, thousands of children, young people 

and families across the UK will get out and play 

in their local communities as part of this year’s 

Playday 2010 campaign. 

Hundreds of events will take place across the UK 

to mark Playday 2010, giving thousands of children, 

young people and families the opportunity to get 

out and play for the day. As well as a celebration 

of children’s right to play, these events are the 

cornerstone of a wider campaign that focuses on 

current issues affecting children’s play. 

The Playday 2010 Our place campaign aims to 

address the barriers children face playing out in 

their local communities. The campaign seeks to 

challenge negative perceptions of children playing 

outside, and is pushing for a cultural change so that 

more children can get out and play where they live. 

Don’t forget to register! 

Getting involved in Playday 

where you live? 

Free event packs are up for 

grabs for every registered 

Playday event, while stocks 

last! 

By addressing 

opportunities 

for children and 

young people 

to play freely, 

neighbourhoods 

can be 

transformed 

into trusted 

places where everyone feels welcome. For this to 

happen, policy makers both nationally and locally 

need to address the barriers children and families 

now face, such as increased traffic, wider safety 

concerns, intolerance and public spaces designed 

with only adult needs in mind. Play England and 

partners are working to influence policy makers at 

a national level, and the hundreds of individuals and 

groups planning local Playday events are making 

a crucial difference to raise the profile of play in 

their communities. 

You can help put play back where it belongs by 

planning your own Playday celebration - there’s 

still plenty of time to get involved. There’s guidance 

on the Playday website to help you celebrate with 

friends and neighbours and connect with your 

community on Playday and beyond. If you’re unable 

to plan your own event, there are lots of other 

Playday 2009, Bristol 

ways to celebrate. You could: attend a Playday 

event or offer to volunteer at one; promote 

the national campaign using the free resources 

available via the Playday website; or start a local 

campaign to address the barriers to children’s 

play where you live. Where and how you decide 

to celebrate Playday is up to you – what’s really 

important is that children and young people get to 

have fun, and that you help raise awareness about 

children’s right and need to play outdoors. 

For more information about Playday 2010, or to 

search for Playday events near you, visit: 

www.playday.org.uk 

Win a digital camera! 

Enter the Playday 2010 drawing consultation 

- open to anyone under 18. Simply create a 

picture showing ‘What’s it like to play where you 

live?’, and send it to Play England. 

For more information and to download a 

template, visit www.playday.org.uk 

9

Promoting excellent free play opportunities for all children and young people 

Engaging communities: new 

government contract for 


As PlayToday goes to press, Play England is 

finalising the details of a government contract 

to deliver Engaging Communities in Play, a new 

programme aimed at supporting communities to 

manage and sustain local play provision. 

The programme will focus on communities near 

to new play provision, in particular either the new 

adventure playgrounds built by play pathfinder local 

authorities or those around adventure playgrounds 

that secured small grants from Play England last year. 

In addition, there will be a stronger online presence 

and networks to share good practice across England 

in developing and sustaining local play provision, and 

help for those needing additional advice. 

The programme has been designed to use Play 

England’s strengths in advising and supporting 

communities, building networks, offering advice 

and guidance, running workshops and events, 

encouraging the participation of children and young 

people, and offering Play Shaper training. 

Work has already started on this new 

programme with six Play Shaper training sessions 

taking place in July, including two piloting the new 

Placemaking and Play content, which targets 

planners and transport staff. Three Community 

Play Enablers are also working with voluntary 

sector organisations in Wakefield, Leicester 

and Haringey. Play England will continue to work 

with its current partners KIDS, SkillsActive and 

Playwork Partnerships, and will seek to strenghten 

relationships with contacts already established 

through its work to date. 

Play England is particularly happy that the 

Department for Education has approved the ongoing 

use of the Play Shaper brand, and Play England will 

be offering these successful training programmes 

to local authorities from September onwards. 

❰ For more details please go to: 

www.playengland.org.uk, www.playshaper.org.uk 

and www.playfulcommunities.org.uk ❱ 

10 

Play England proposes 

reorganisation 

In June, Play England announced a proposed 

reorganisation in the light of the imminent 

reduction in the value of its contracts with 

the Department for Education for 2010-11, the 

removal of ‘ring-fenced’ funding for local play 

provision and the changing policy context for the 

play agenda under the coalition government. 

Play England has launched a staff consultation 

on a proposed new, reduced structure. Regional 

offices would close under the proposals, but a 

range of new jobs will have a regional and local 

focus as Play England seeks to build upon the 

experience and networks created over the last 

four years. 

Play England will continue to run a variety of 

events and training programmes through the year 

and is, in particular, looking forward to Playday, 

which takes place on Wednesday, 4 August. The 

staff consultation concludes in early August. 

Neighbourhood police briefing 

Play England has published a 

new briefing looking at the 

role of the police in ensuring 

that children and young people 

playing in their local area feel 

safe and that their families are 

confident they will be safe. 

Supporting children to 

play safely outlines how local 

community police and play providers 

can work together to improve the safety of children 

and young people at play; support local and national 

policies and targets to ensure the well-being of 

children; improve community cohesion and reduce 

youth crime and anti-social behaviour; and improve 

the confidence of communities in the local policing. 

The briefing outlines why play and informal 

recreation is important and includes practical 

advice, guidance and case studies. 

❰ To download a free copy, please visit 

www.playengland.org.uk/resources ❱

Manifesto aims to 

keep play on the 

political agenda 

Three months on from its launch, 

the Play England Manifesto for 

children’s play continues to gain 

support. 

The manifesto sets out three 

simple principles that Play England 

wants all politicians to adopt as 

part of their policies for children 

and young people. The overall aim 

is to ensure that today’s children 

have the same freedom and 

space to play enjoyed by previous 

generations. The principles are: 

1. To make all residential 

neighbourhoods child-friendly 

places where children can play 

outside. 

2. To give all children the time and 

opportunity to play throughout 

childhood. 

3. To give all children somewhere 

to play – in freedom and safety 

– after school and in the 

holidays. 

Children get just one 

hour of play a day 

Figures released in June by 

The British Toy and Hobby 

Association (BTHA) and Play 

England show that parents feel 

their children don’t have enough 

playtime with the average child 

playing for just over one hour (70 

minutes) each day. 

The survey found that a 

quarter of parents feel they had 

a lot more time to play when they 

were a child compared to their 

children. Half of parents feel that 

their children are under more 

pressure today than ever before 

and that school, homework and 

extra lessons are preventing 

them from playing. 

One in ten said they feel 

their children have increasingly 

structured days and one in five 

don’t think their children have 

enough free time to just be 

children. 

As the new government 

decides its policies for 

the future, now is an 

important time to get 

involved. There are 

many ways to show 

your support for the 

manifesto, including: 

• Sign-up as an 

individual or 

organisation to 

support the manifesto 

at the Play England 

website. 

• Contact your local MP and 

councillors, explaining how 

better places to play are not 

just good news for children, 

but benefit parents and the 

wider community too. 

• Spread the word to your 

friends and colleagues 

by using our online email 

campaign. 

❰ To sign-up and more ideas about 

you can get involved, visit: 

www.playengland.org.uk manifesto ❱ 

Almost a third of parents 

(27%) feel like time playing with 

their children is becoming limited 

due to work pressures such as 

overtime and a bid to impress 

employers and over a third (39%) 

would like to have flexible working 

time so they can spend more time 

encouraging their kids to play. 

The research found that one 

in four parents find it difficult to 

think up different ways to support 

their children to play and a third 

(32%) would like a resource to be 

available that gives them ideas to 

encourage more play. 

The BTHA has therefore 

partnered with Play England to 

ask parents to ‘Make A Pledge’ to 

allocate more of their children’s 

time each day to spend playing. 

❰ Parents can make their pledge 

via Facebook at: www.facebook. 

com/maketimetoplay and will be 

able to receive help and ideas of 

what to do with the time they 

pledge. ❱ 

Policy brief 

Academies Bill 

The Academies Bill was introduced 

to Parliament in the House of 

Lords on 26 May and had its 

second reading on 7 June. The 

bill is intended to allow more 

secondary schools to achieve 

academy status and expand the 

academy programme to include 

primary and special schools for 

the first time. Academy status 

gives schools more freedom over 

curriculum, admissions and pay 

whilst giving less accountability 

to local authorities. Land and 

facilities pass into ownership of 

the academy. 

http://services.parliament.uk/ 

bills/2010-11/academieshl.html 

Consultation on the National 

Lottery shares 

The Department for Culture, 

Media and Sport are consulting 

on plans to rebalance the share 

of National Lottery expenditure 

from 54 per cent going to arts, 

sport and heritage in comparison 

to 46 per cent to charitable 

causes, health, education and the 

environment, to a ration of 60/40 

per cent instead. Closing date for 

responses is 21 August 2010. 

www.dcms.gov.uk/ 

consultations/7070.aspx 

Review of the Office of the 

Children’s Commissioner 

The Secretary of State for 

Education, has announced an 

independent review of the Office 

of the Children’s Commissioner 

for England. It will be led by John 

Dunford, General Secretary of 

the Association of School and 

College Leaders, and will look at 

the powers, remit and functions 

of the commissioner, how this 

role relates to other functions 

supported by the government, 

and value for money. The review 

has issued a call for evidence, 

with a deadline of 4 October for 

submissions, and a full report 

expected by the end of November. 

http://preview.tinyurl.com/37do45q 

11


in the regions 

12 

A snapshot of Play England activities across the nine regions in England 

North East: Play-friendly Northumberland National Park 

A play-friendly national park 

for children is set to launch this 

summer through a partnership 

of several organisations in the 

county. 

The Play England North 

East team in conjunction with 

Northumberland National Park, 

the Northumberland County 

Council play team, Northumberland 

children’s centre and Groundwork 

North East are extending 

opportunities and provision for all 

children and young people to play 

throughout the national park and 

around the visitor’s centres. 

The goal for this project is to 

encourage families to see the 

wider countryside and parkland 

as an exciting and stimulating 

space for children and young 

people to play. 

With the help of local 

volunteers, a woodland site in the 

national park close to Hadrian’s 

North West: Welcome to The Witts 

Blackburn with Darwen Borough 

Council are celebrating the 

completion of The Witts, a 

new play pathfinder funded 

adventure playground in Witton 

Country Park. 

After an extensive yearlong 

consultation process with 

children and young people, 

detailed plans were developed 

by a group of 40 children. This 

group worked with the Blackburn 

play rangers, and artist and 

designer, Jim Buchanan during 

the consultation. A 12 week 

workshop programme allowed 

the young people to engage in 

the design and delivery of the 

Wall is being developed into a 

natural play space. Groundwork 

North East and Northumberland 

County Council’s play team will 

deliver play sessions at this 

site which will be informed 

by consultation with children 

and young people in the local 

communities. This will allow the 

local children and young people to 

influence the development of the 

natural play space. 

In addition, the Northumberland 

children’s centre is funding 

‘play bags’ which will be available at 

the national park’s visitor’s centres. 

The ‘play bags’ will be filled 

with playable goodies, determined 

by children through consultation, 

and are intended to enhance 

children and young people’s play 

experience throughout the park. 

For more information about 

Northumberland National Park, 

please visit: www.northumberland 

new playground. They also came 

up with its name ‘The Witts’, a 

play on words derived from the 

park’s history. 

A range of stakeholders 

such as community police and 

representatives from the local 

neighbourhood boards had direct 

input into the programme, via 

the Witton Park Adventure Play 

sub-group. 

Sharon Cornwell, a project 

lead said: ‘As a destination 

park which caters for all 

communities in Blackburn with 

Darwen, this playground is a 

fantastic opportunity for the 

team to deliver adventurous and 

nationalpark.org.uk. 

To find out more contact: 

play-ne@ncb.org.uk 

www.playengland.org.uk/ 

northeast 

Below: Having fun whilst exploring 

Northumberland National Park 

challenging play which all local 

families can enjoy. It’s a tribute to 

partnership working across the 

borough.’ 

The adventure playground 

boasts an eight-metre high 

tower with a tunnel slide 

embedded in the hillside, 

walkways, a zip wire, climbing 

frames, sculptures and sensory 

areas. Senior Play Ranger, 

Christine Preston, said: ‘We 

make use of the wider park area 

for den building and fire play. 

The children really enjoy these 

challenging activities.’ 


northwest

East Midlands: Consulting with 

children in Leicestershire Yorkshire and the Humber: Community spirit – 

Leicestershire County Council, in partnership 

with Children’s Links, have been making huge 

progress in their playbuilder programme by 

working with a dedicated group of children and 

young people from across Leicestershire. 

The council committed to include children and 

young people in individual project planning, and to 

create a county-wide panel of children to assess 

all individual project bids. The Playbuilder Innovation 

Panel included some children whose behaviour in 

schools had been previously challenging. 

The panel considered what can be achieved in a 

particular space without consulting any existing 

play areas, and brainstormed the types of things 

they’d like to do in a play area. To help prompt 

more ideas, they took ropes, nets and other 

loose parts to a wooded area and created rope 

swings, dens, hammocks and even a device for 

lifting logs. This gave some idea of what can be 

achieved when natural resources such as trees, 

slopes and hills are used in play. 

The children also made a video, and took turns 

interviewing each other about their own ideas 

and feelings about play areas. This footage will be 

made into a DVD to help parish councils become 

more in tune with children’s views. 

Play England Regional Development Officer, 

Catherine Lissaman, said: ‘By putting children 

at the centre of the process, Leicestershire 

County Council is maintaining its commitment to 

quality play areas, and through partnership with 

Children’s Links, they are making real progress to 

ensure that children are listened to and valued 

at every stage of the process.’ 

www.playengland.org.uk/eastmidlands 

Below: Two Playbuilder Innovation Panel members 

In brief 

Bringing people together through play 

Play England and Yorkshire Play are jointly hosting an 

event focusing on community spirit on Wednesday, 29 

September 2010 in Sheffield. 

The event will explore the notion of 

community and the need to create a sense of 

pride, ownership and community spirit within 

neighbourhoods to create safer and more childfriendly 

environments for children to play. 

Through strategic and practical workshops, this 

event will address issues such as community 

safety, engagement, inclusion, creating playful 

environments and sources of funding for small 

community groups. 

This event is closely tied to the theme of 

Playday 2010, Our place, and will be a significant 

follow up event drawing on key themes around play 

and its role in developing strong community spirit. 

www.playengland.org.uk/yorkshirehumber 

South West: Playing with confidence event at the 

Eden Project 

In March, the Cornwall play pathfinder project 

hosted a regional play ranger network meeting at 

the Eden Project. Facilitated by play development 

worker Phil Waters, who leads the Mud Between 

Your Toes project at Eden, the theme for the 

day was ‘playing with confidence.’ Attracting play 

rangers from Teignbridge, Exeter, West and Mid 

Devon, Torbay, Plymouth and Cornwall, the event 

offered play rangers the opportunity to network, 

share ideas and concerns, and play with Eden’s 

new H2O challenge construction kit. The day was 

an overall success and provided the play rangers 

with the opportunity to learn from one another 

and share good practice. 

www.playengland.org.uk/southwest 

West Midlands: Sharing skills in Wolverhampton 

Play England West Midlands recently joined 

forces with Wolverhampton City Council, 

SkillsActive, Play Train and KIDS to deliver a skill 

sharing day designed to support the continuous 

professional development of playworkers. Over 

100 people attended including: playworkers, 

youth workers, sports workers and managers. 

Delegates were able to network, share views 

and develop their skills. In addition, the event 

featured practical workshops which covered 

themes such as fire play, den building, creative 

play and inclusion. The day was hugely successful, 

demonstrating just how effective strong 

partnership working can be. 

www.playengland.org.uk/westmidlands 

13 11

Putting play into the Big Society 

Given the new government’s 

determination to quickly 

reduce the budget deficit, it was 

perhaps inevitable that the play 

sector would have to take its 

share of the pain. 

However, just as the austerity 

of post-war Britain saw the rise 

of the adventure playground 

movement and the recession of 

the early 1980s saw the genesis 

of Playday, we can be certain 

that the play sector will respond 

to planned cuts in public 

spending with its characteristic 

mix of resilience and creativity. 

Moreover, there are signs that 

community based play could 

feature strongly in the coalition 

government’s Big Society vision. 

In June, the deputy prime 

minister Nick Clegg announced 

a ministerial Childhood and 

Families Task Force, to be 

chaired by the Prime Minister. 

The task force, which had 

its first meeting in mid-July, 

will ‘identify specific policy 

proposals that will make the 

biggest difference to children 

and families’ and feed into this 

autumn’s spending review. The 

full scope of the taskforce’s 

remit will emerge as it 

14 

The coalition government’s 

Big Society idea is key 

to its ambitions for 

public services; aiming to 

empower communities to 

find local solutions to local 

problems. Play England’s 

Andrew Mackie considers 

what opportunities and 

challenges this major 

reform programme may 

present to the play sector 

– and how it can respond. 

progresses, but it is clear that 

play is on the agenda. 

In his announcement, Nick 

Clegg highlighted parents’ 

desire for their children to be 

able to play safely within their 

communities, citing Playday 

research findings to illustrate 

how children’s freedom to play 

outside has declined since the 

war. His comment that ‘it’s not 

right, and it has to change’, 

seemed a firm statement of 

intent to find new solutions to a 

problem thoroughly explored in 

the Conservative policy review 

document More Ball Games, 

published in 2008. The inclusion 

on the taskforce of Minister 

of State for Universities and 

Science, David Willets, who led 

the More Ball Games review, 

tends to confirm that, budget 

cuts notwithstanding, children’s 

play is a priority for the 

coalition. 

The coalition’s approach to 

play will of course be different 

to that of the last government. 

Indeed, the Deputy PM explicitly 

rejected a policy which he 

described as ‘handpicking the 

areas where children across the 

country should play’. Overlooking 

that these decisions were 

always for local authorities, not 

Whitehall, it is clear nonetheless 

that the differences between 

this government and the last, 

are more about the role of the 

state than the importance of 

play. Moreover, even without the 

Deputy PM’s announcement, the 

new government’s Big Society 

policy may present some new 

opportunities for the play sector. 

The Big Society 

The coalition argues that the 

aim of the Big Society is to 

achieve ‘a radical change in the 

relationship between citizens 

and the state’. This will involve

shifting power away from 

Whitehall, a reduced role for the 

public sector and an increased 

emphasis on volunteering and 

philanthropy. Instead of using 

central government funding and 

targets to shape public services, 

the coalition intends to give local 

authorities a ‘general power of 

competence’ to make decisions 

about spending and planning. This 

will mean that local politicians will 

take on a bigger role in choosing 

local priorities. 

In addition, the coalition 

envisages major reforms to 

the way that public services 

are delivered. For example, 

local communities will be able 

to bid to take over facilities 

faced with closure and public 

sector employees will be able to 

transform their services into 

cooperatives. Perhaps more 

significantly, local authorities will 

be encouraged to commission 

far more services from 

businesses, the voluntary sector 

and social enterprises with a 

greater emphasis on ‘payment 

by results’. These developments 

will be supported by investments 

from a Big Society Bank. 

The final strand of the 

Big Society emphasises 

volunteering and neighbourhood 

based community action. This 

will include a national voluntary 

community service for 16 year 

olds and a Big Society Day to 

encourage active citizenship. 

The government has said 

that it will cut bureaucracy to 

make it easier for people to 

volunteer and set up community 

groups, train 500 professional 

community organisers to 

identify local community leaders 

and set up a new Communities 

First fund to provide support 

for new community groups in 

deprived areas. 

Opportunities for the sector 

Precisely how the Big Society 

programme will impact on 

frontline play provision 

remains to be seen. Clearly, 

much will depend on how it is 

implemented. However, if power 

is to shift away from Whitehall 

it will be important for the 

play sector to develop strong 

local advocates for play. The 

challenge facing the sector is to 

build on recent developments, 

which have seen play embedded 

in local policy making processes 

through play strategies, play 

champions and profile raising 

events such as Playday, to 

deepen support for play within 

the wider community. 

Given the current funding 

environment, play providers will 

also need to find creative ways 

to generate resources. There 

may be opportunities within the 

new commissioning framework. 

However, this will depend on 

the play sector’s ability to 

demonstrate how play improves 

“ many play associations 

already support the 

development of the sort of 

grassroots neighbourhood 

projects that the coalition 

seeks to encourage 

“ 

outcomes for children, families 

and the wider community. 

Volunteering and philanthropy 

could also take on a greater 

significance, and the play sector 

will be well positioned to take 

advantage of this because 

playwork is likely to prove 

popular with volunteers, donors 

and sponsors. 

In the emerging Big Society 

vision, there could be a key 

role for voluntary managed 

play associations in lobbying 

for resources, shaping 

commissioning and developing 

sector capacity to compete 

for contracts. Far from 

being new terrain, many play 

associations already support 

the development of the sort 

of grassroots neighbourhood 

projects that the coalition 

seeks to encourage. However, 

along with many other sectors, 

the jury is out on whether the 

Big Society will provide the vital 

resources for this ‘second-tier’ 

play infrastructure just as local 

authorities are forced to cut 

back on spending. 

Rising to the challenge 

Although we currently face a 

challenging funding environment, 

the play sector has made 

huge progress in recent years 

securing changes in policy and 

decisions on investment which 

have greatly advanced children’s 

right to play. 

Moreover, play now cuts 

across the political divide. The 

coalition government has taken 

barely six weeks to identify play 

as a key policy issue and its 

vision for a Big Society seems 

to be one in which families are 

actively engaged in securing, 

providing and maintaining the 

spaces and the services where 

children can play. Our task now 

is to help the new government 

to realise this vision. 

Play England has offered to 

provide information, evidence 

and ideas about play provision 

to the childhood and families 

task force. We will also be urging 

ministers to consider the full 

range of policies that impact 

on play such as planning, traffic 

and public health, as well as 

extended services, the use of 

school grounds, the children’s 

workforce and the value of 

playwork. We will also, in the 

wider context, be doing our best 

to ensure that the play sector 

can make a major contribution 

to the Big Society. 

15

Locked into Play 

Drawing attention to the importance of play provision in prisons, NCB’s Laura Smith reports 

on the role of play in prisons and the Locked into Play project. 

For the 60 per cent of female 

prisoners who are mothers 

and the 7 per cent of children 

that will see a parent imprisoned 

during their school years, play in 

prisons is an important way for 

parent and child to bond. 

Children with a parent in 

prison can be at risk of poorer 

outcomes. For example, the Social 

Exclusion Unit reported in 2002 

that children with parents in 

prison are three times more at 

risk of mental health problems 

and more likely to become 

involved in criminal activity: 65 

per cent of boys with a convicted 

parent go on to offend. 

More recently, a Ministry 

of Justice report described 

offenders’ families as ‘amongst 

the most socially excluded groups 

in society.’ 

Family and play matters 

One factor that makes a 

demonstrable difference to the 

well-being of prisoners and their 

families is ensuring that they take 

advantage of the opportunity for 

prison visits. 

Enabling parents to sustain 

and develop positive relationships 

with their children can help them 

to feel empowered and reduce 

feelings of guilt. It can also help 

children cope with the sense of 

loss and separation felt when 

their parents enter custody. In 

particular, prison visit areas can 

provide a safe environment and 

contact space that benefit both 

parents and children, as well as 

giving the children the opportunity 

to meet other children who share 

the experience of having a parent 

in prison. 

Although most prisons offer 

some form of play facility within 

the visiting area, the quality of 

what is available varies between 

establishments. Some facilities 

are unstaffed and unwelcoming, 

only providing a pile of toys in 

a corner of the visiting area. 

16 

‘Family is the strongest bond you have to keep 

you out of prison.’ 

Child playing in a NEPACS-supported prison play area 

The best facilities have wellequipped 

play areas with qualified 

playworkers who supervise 

activities. This allows children 

to come and go freely between 

the main visiting room where 

the prisoners are seated, and 

a stimulating play environment 

which can keep the child’s 

attention engaged and make the 

visit a more positive experience 

for both child and parent. 

A 2004 study, commissioned by 

the Ormiston Children and Family 

Trust, shows that parents and 

children value prisons that are 

easy to get to, that have visitors’ 

centres including play areas and 

crèches, and that have wellresourced, 

accessible play areas 

Providing effective play opportunities for young parents 

in custody and their children is important because: 

• It can make the experience of 

visiting a prison less stressful, 

boring and upsetting for a 

child. 

• Children of prisoners may 

not have much access to play 

opportunities at home and 

within the community. 

• Playing together provides both 

parent and child with essential 

opportunities to bond, 

strengthen their relationship 

and attachment, and foster 

positive emotional well-being. 

• Vulnerable young parents 

may not have had many 

opportunities to play 

when they were children, so 

need tolearn how and why to 

play with theirown children 

– this can add to the eventual 

success of their return to 

their family and community. 

• Being able to interact with 

their child in prison can 

help reduce feelings of guilt 

and loneliness and bolster a 

young parent’s selfesteem. 

• Children have a right to 

play – it is how they learn 

and communicate and 

is fundamental to their day-today 

experience and enjoyment 

of life. 

• Play can strengthen family 

relationships which can help 

reduce re-offending.

Case study: HMP and YOI Low Newton 

Visits at HMP and YOI Low 

Newton women’s prison are 

supported by NEPACS, a regional 

charity in the North East of 

England building bridges between 

prisoners, their families and the 

community, since 1996. 

HMP and YOI Low Newton has 

an ongoing programme of familyfriendly 

visits, including weekly 

child-parent visits, monthly play 

days and quarterly family days. 

Normally the visiting carer leaves 

the children for one-to-one time 

with their parent, except during 

the family visit when the family 

remains together and enjoys fun, 

creative learning activities 

During these visits NEPACS 

staff and volunteers are there 

to support the children and their 

families. The room has lots of 

‘I love making things with 

my mummy, she has lots 

of pictures on her wall 

that I made for her.’ 

different toys, such as football 

tables, slides, trikes and organised 

craft activities that parents and 

children can play together. ‘I love 

making things with my mummy, she 

has lots of pictures on her wall 

that I made for her.’ (Child) 

On the play days and family days, 

a buffet lunch is provided and a 

family photograph is taken. Family 

days have themes such as: circus, 

around the world, Halloween and 

Easter, the day’s activities reflect 

the theme. 

‘These visits help me so much 

because I was frightened that 

my son would forget about me, 

with being away for years, these 

visits give us proper contact 

with each other.’ (Mother) 

in the visit rooms, preferably with 

staff on site. 

Activities and outcomes of 

Locked into Play 

Locked into Play was a project 

based at NCB focusing on the 

need to improve play opportunities 

for young parents in custody, 

between the ages of 15 and 21 

years, and their children. The 

project was funded by the Big 

Lottery Fund’s Playful Ideas programme, 

and ran from May 2008 

to 2010. 

Locked into Play mapped out 

custodial establishments nationwide 

to find out more about 

the role of play in prisons and 

to develop good practice. This 

was accomplished by reviewing 

play provision in four prisons and 

running a series of consultations 

to find out what staff, young 

parents and their children think 

NEPACS supported prison play area 

about play in prisons. 

The children were observed 

playing and asked about what 

they liked best. The staff were 

consulted individually or in groups, 

and the parents met in small 

discussion groups. The parents’ 

feelings were best articulated 

by one young dad: ‘Family is the 

strongest bond you have to 

keep you out of prison. Moving 

you miles away is hard. They 

shouldn’t punish us or the kids 

like that [by refusing child visits] 

- we need help to keep young 

families together.’ (Dad, HMP&YOI 

Gloucester) 

The consultation was a very 

positive experience for many 

young people. One said ‘I’m glad 

you’ve offered me to come … 

I feel good that I’ve took part 

in something that’s going to 

happen… Next time you come in 

and things are different you know 

you were a part of it.’ (Young Mum, 

HMPYOI Styal). 

After the consultations with 

parents, staff and children, 

Locked into Play provided 

feedback for the prisons, which 

have tried to incorporate 

suggestions wherever possible. 

Also as part of Locked into 

Play, Children’s Links and NCB 

have developed an introductory 

training course on play in prison 

settings, which 38 people have 

already attended. 

Through a partnership with 

two charities, Young People in 

Focus and Prisons Video Trust, 

NCB developed an educational 

DVD and accompanying teaching 

materials about play aimed 

towards young parents in prison 

The DVD and the teaching 

materials will be available this 

summer, along with a project 

brief with policy and practice 

recommendations. A project 

evaluation will also be undertaken 

by NCB’s Research, Evidence and 

Evaluation department in July – 

August 2010. 

❰ To read more about the findings 

and recommendations from 

Locked into Play, or download 

resources, please visit: 

www.ncb.org.uk/healthyoutlooks 

To enquire about the training 

course or order copies of 

resources (subject to availability) 

email: lockedintoplay@ncb.org.uk ❱ 

17


18 

Playwork vocational qualifications are changing 

Vocational qualifications are to become more responsive to the demands of employers and learners. 

The changes are designed to make qualifications more relevant to employers’ needs and more 

accessible to a wider range of learners. SkillsActive’s Uzma Anglin reports. 

A new framework 

One of the major innovations in this reform of vocational 

qualifications is the development of the Qualifications 

and Credit Framework (QCF). This is the new framework 

for creating and giving accrediting qualifications in 

England, Wales and Northern Ireland. 

It will give a wider range of learners the 

opportunity to get the qualifications they need, in 

a way that best suits them. These qualifications are 

designed with the help of employers so learners can 

be assured that they’re developing the skills that 

employers are looking for. 

SkillsActive created units jointly with employers, 

awarding organisations and key partners to create 

a Level 2 playwork qualification in three different 

measures: Award, Certificate and Diploma. These 

qualifications are a tiered approach to achieving a 

full qualification and are available from June 2010. 

Level 2 Award in Playwork 

The Level 2 Award represents an induction to work 

in the sector and covers the essential aspects of 

playwork. It involves both knowledge-based learning 

as well as opportunities for practical application, and 

is short enough to be accessible to those working 

for only a few weeks a year in a temporary capacity. 

This award should be considered an induction to 

the role of the playworker. In order to ensure that 

learning does not need to be repeated, the Level 2 

Award is nested within the Certificate in Playwork. 

Level 2 Certificate in Playwork 

The certificate covers the rest of the core of the 

playwork standards and an element of practice. It 

equips learners with the knowledge and understanding 

they need to successfully gain employment in the 

sector. To gain the Level 2 Certificate in Playwork, 

learners will cover the Award plus the additional 

Certificate units at the same level. 

Level 2 Diploma in Playwork 

On successful completion, the learner can 

undertake the Diploma in Playwork (NVQ) which is 

the full playwork qualification at Level 2. Seeing 

as the Diploma in Playwork contains substantial 

assessment of practice (in 

the same way as an NVQ), 

this qualification enables the 

learner to demonstrate their 

competence as a playworker. 

Should a playworker be 

experienced and have a sound 

knowledge base, they can 

undertake the Diploma as a 

full qualification, not necessarily being required 

to attend taught sessions but they will still need 

to prove their knowledge and skills through 

assessment. 

Consistency in qualifications 

One of the benefits of these new qualifications 

is that the learning outcomes and criteria for 

assessment will be the same, regardless of the 

awarding organisation or training provider delivering 

them. This will make it easier for employers to 

understand what their staff learned when they say 

they have a Level 2 Diploma in Playwork (NVQ). 

SkillsActive is currently developing the units for 

the playwork Award, Certificate and Diploma at Level 

3 and Level 4. The units will be ready for awarding 

organisations by June 2010 for Level 3, and by August 

2010 for Level 4. We are hoping that once these 

are received by awarding organisations they can 

be promptly developed into qualifications for the 

playwork sector and made available later this year. 

❰ For more information about the Qualifications 

and Credit Framework, please visit: 

www.qcda.gov.uk/qualifications/60.aspx ❱ 

This page has been compiled by Uzma Anglin. 

Email uzma.anglin@skillsactive.com 

Tel 020 7632 2024

cross-generational leisure, sport and play areas 

tel 0115 982 39805 

email info@proludic.co.uk 

web www.proludic.com 

discover Ludic’ Area from 

API Directory 2010_quarter page:Layout 1 12/04/2010 16:13 Page 1 

udicQuarterAd.indd 1 12/02/2010 10:28:36 API Members can Fulfil your 

play space dreams... 

Our members: 

• Provide inspiring designs 

We have worked with children 

for over five decades. Everything 

we do is based on specialist 

research and knowledge of 

children, of play, of inclusion 

and risk. Use our knowledge to 

design your play areas. 

• Understand play and risk 

• Promote good practice 

• Listen to their customers 

• Have a wealth of experience 

• Dare to be different! 

Directory of Members 2010/11 

Promoting Innovative play 

space design 

Free Directory apply online www.api-play.org or 

telephone 024 7641 4999 ext 208 

19

Ensuring quality 

for staffed provision 

Quality in Play is a quality assurance scheme for school-age play and childcare provision. 

Delivered by Play England as a national programme, it sets standards that play providers should 

meet. The core values are that the play environment, organisational framework and the wider 

context are all in support of children’s play. 

Assessor training, the 

programme and practice 

Trained assessors support the Quality in Play 

system by working on a consultancy basis 

with Play England to evaluate applications for 

accreditation. Assessors review portfolios 

of evidence, observe play settings and speak 

with staff, children and families, before writing 

reports on their findings. 

All assessors are first trained as mentors 

before they are invited to attend the one-day 

assessor training. They shadow an active assessor 

and write a mock report before going out on their 

own. Play England also provides assessors with 

regular feedback and training to help continue 

their development. 

Assessors come from varied backgrounds in 

the play and childcare sectors, working for play 

associations and local councils or independently. 

Many assessors like the flexibility of the work, 

which can easily fit around regular employment, 

and also allows them to look outside of their 

day to day activities. It also allows them the 

opportunity to meet fellow colleagues who work 

in different circumstances or different types of 

settings. Max Mueller, a longstanding assessor 

described this perk of the role, saying: ‘It gives 

you a better picture of what play is like across 

the country; it broadens your horizons in terms of 

what’s going on in the sector.’ 

Annie Hunter-Wade, Quality in Play’s project 

coordinator recently spoke with Max and another 

established assessor, Jo Barker, about the best 

and most challenging parts of their role with 

Quality in Play. 

Max has been an assessor for several years, 

alongside his fulltime work for Islington Play 

Association in London. For him, the highs and lows 

of assessment go hand-in-hand. What he most 

likes about assessing is meeting other ‘quirky 

playworkers,’ and seeing their enthusiasm and 

commitment for children’s play. The downside 

of this fellow-feeling is that it can be hard to 

give bad news if sites are not meeting all the 

requirements of the programme. However, groups 

have usually selfassessed 

and are 

well prepared for 

the assessor’s 

visit. The system 

also has steps 

in place to 

allow providers 

the chance to 

provide further 

information before 

the final decision. 

Most 

importantly, 

assessors realise 

the value of using 

a quality assurance 

scheme that focuses on play value and self 

assessment. In Max’s words: ‘People discover its 

usefulness along the way. Time to reflect allows 

them time to value [the process] and the value 

of the work they do.’ Jo also echoed this feeling, 

adding: ‘Groups realise that a lot of what they are 

already doing is brilliant work – which sometimes 

gets lost. It also helps groups to identify areas 

they need to work on, which in turn makes for 

better provision for children and young people.’ 

❰ New training sessions are planned for 

September 2010. If you are interested in 

becoming a Quality in Play assessor or mentor, 

or would like more information about the 

programme, please contact the staff team using 

the details below. ❱ 

The Quality in Play Team is based 

at Play England’s main office 

Quality in Play 

8 Wakley Street, 

London EC1V 7QE 

Tel 020 7833 6838 

Email qip@ncb.org.uk 

www.playengland.org.uk/quality 

20

Child-friendly 

communities 

Keeping a community safe and playful 

The police have an important role in creating 

child-friendly communities. After all, children’s 

concerns about safety can make them fearful 

about playing outdoors, and also lead to parents 

restricting their movements or preventing them 

from leaving home by themselves. 

A recent consultation with children and their 

families about this issue found that safety was a 

key factor affecting children’s enjoyment of their 

play. Most wanted safer play areas and roads, and 

many expressed concerns about intimidation by 

older children. Crucially, children suggested that 

having more police patrols in the areas where they 

play would make them feel at less risk from harm. 

But apart from providing ‘bobbies on the 

beat’ how else can neighbourhood police teams 

contribute to improving the play offer available to 

local children? 

Police officers’ intimate knowledge of an area 

can provide useful information for those planning 

or developing local play services. Many police forces 

around the country are taking steps to prevent 

anti-social behaviour by targeting services for 

children and young people to local ‘hot-spots’. 

Officers in Leicestershire are using what is 

believed to be the first police BMX bike in the UK, 

to help break down barriers when meeting with 

young people on the streets. PCSO Vince Preston, 

from Oadby and Wigston local policing unit, 

believes the BMX bikes are a great way to get to 

know young people: ‘At that age, they feel it is not 

cool to talk to the police but we have turned that 

around – as a BMX will always have a cool image.’ 

Similarly, in Cornwall the neighbourhood police 

team have targeted resources at a unique 

service for young people living in Camborne. 

TR14ers (named after the town’s post code) is a 

community dance team for 11-18 year olds. The 

project aims to help children and young people 

make a positive contribution to their area through 

dance, while discouraging anti-social or offending 

behaviour. 

In fact, community police officers often have 

valuable insights into the design, placement and 

management of play spaces and playable public 

space; all of which can contribute to improving 

children’s ability to play. This information should be 

fed back through participating in local networks 

such as neighbourhood panels, and a police 

representative should, ideally, also be part of any 

local play partnership. 

But police themselves also need to be aware 

of what ‘play’ means and measure the benefits of 

play against the limited risks. For example, a tyre 

hanging from tree should not be removed unless 

it is particularly hazardous rather than routinely 

cutting it down. 

Similarly, police need to be aware that children 

playing and socialising in public can be wrongly 

interpreted as trouble-making and anti-social 

behaviour. In one example, children using chalk 

to mark hopscotch tiles on a pavement were 

reported to the police for vandalism. 

As the Association of Chief Police Officers 

state in a recent letter to their members, 

community police officers should be ‘actively 

encouraging children and young people to play in 

public areas, safely’. Let’s hope that forces around 

the country can rise to the challenge. 

❰ A new Play England briefing Supporting children 

to play safely, which looks at how community police 

and play providers can work together, is available 

online, at: www.playengland.org.uk/resources ❱ 

21

Resources and events 

Book review 

Leadership for Quality in Early 

Years and Playwork 

Debbie Garvey and 

Andrea Lancaster 

NCB 2009 

ISBN: 9781905818501 

This is a thoughtprovoking 

resource 

that allows 

practitioners to 

reflect on and 

develop their 

leadership style in 

order to improve 

conditions for 

staff and children. 

Anyone engaged with early years 

can benefit from this book, from 

early years professionals to 

those working towards an NVQ in 

childcare. This book is especially 

useful to those who are working 

to or aspiring to be room leaders 

or supervisors, as it makes 

the reader reflect on the role 

leadership style has in working 

with early years. 

The organisation of the book’s 

chapters offers detailed insight 

into the different forms of 

leadership, such as the leader 

as a learner, enabler, mentor or 

champion. Having never realised 

how many diverse leadership 

styles exist, the book proved to 

be very interesting and really 

makes the reader reflect and 

acknowledge their own style of 

leadership as well as the styles of 

fellow colleagues. 

Included in each chapter is a 

reflection activity and case study 

to help the reader focus on their 

own learning style and ways of 

helping others who work in early 

years settings deal with the 

daily management of working in 

a team. In addition, the authors 

include a literature review as 

well as academic research to 

explain how different techniques 

can be used for developing selfawareness. 

Leadership for Quality in 

Early Years and Playwork is a 

valuable tool in helping those 

who are leading an organisation 

to realise that the journey is 

not a solitary one, but in fact 

many have experienced similar 

challenges and obstacles. 

The final thought of the book 

acknowledges that while times 

may be difficult, chaotic or easy 

and light, a good leader will always 

be able to recognise and deal with 

challenges and ultimately improve 

the outcomes for children and 

their families. 

Reviewed by Sue Palmer, 

Principal, Farley Outdoor 

Nursery School 

What’s new at the Children’s Play Information Service? 

Compiled by Anna Kassman-McKerrell. 

Abstracts of new arrivals are available for reference at the CPIS. These publications are not for sale 

from CPIS. Photocopies of journal articles may be provided at a cost of £4 per article, subject to copyright 

restrictions. Please contact CPIS for further information. 

Out of school care 

Wish you were here: practical 

guide to setting up holiday 

childcare 

4Children 

London: 4Children, 2010. 

Guidance for schools on 

developing high quality, inclusive 

childcare and activities for 

school-age children during school 

holidays. Covers all aspects of 

the process, case studies and 

frequently asked questions. 

www.4children.org.uk 

Play – general 

Better outcomes through play: 

embedding the Play Strategy 

locally 

22 

Department for Children, Schools 

and Families 

London: DCSF, 2010. 

A scrapbook of case studies 

of play provision funded by the 

government’s Play Strategy. 

Play and disability 

The health benefits of play and 

physical activity for disabled 

children and young people 

KIDS 

London: KIDS, 2010. 

Commissioned by the National 

Institute for Clinical Excellence, 

this briefing examines the health 

benefits of play, the national 

policy context, and the barriers 

disabled and young children can 

face in accessing play and leisure 

opportunities. 

www.kids.org.uk 

Sensory play resource book: 

making a short break a positive 

experience 

W Usher 

London: KIDS, 2010. 

Focusing on the five senses, 

this resource book provides 

a range of activities and 

resources on sensory play. The 

book contains imaginative ideas 

to help playworkers and other 

staff to create stimulating play 

opportunities.

Play in schools 

School recess and group 

classroom behaviour 

R M Barros, E J Silver and E K 

Stein 

Article in Pediatrics, vol.123, no.2 

(Feb), 2009, pp431-436. 

Reports on a study that examined 

the amount of recess (playtime) 

that children aged 8 to 9 years 

receive in the United States, 

and compared the classroom 

behaviour of children having 

playtime daily with that of children 

not having playtime every day. 

http://pediatrics.aappublications. 

org/cgi/content/full/123/2/431 

Play provision 

People make play: the impact of 

staffed play provision on children, 

families and communities 

Beunderman, J 

London: NCB for Play England, 

2010. 

Focusing on staffed play provision 

for children aged 8 to 13 years, 

this report written by Demos for 

Play England provides a range of 

qualitative perspectives on the 

role and potential impact of good 

quality, staffed and local play 

provision in the lives of children 

and young people, their parents 

and the wider community. 


resources/people-make-play.pdf 

Playwork 

Research into the development of 

graduate leaders in the playwork 

workforce 

SkillsActive 

London: Children’s Workforce 

Development Council, 2010. 

Commissioned by the Children’s 

Workforce Development Council 

(CWDC), this report examines 

how graduates can be deployed 

within the playwork workforce, 

and identifies the barriers to 

achieving a graduate playwork 

workforce. 

www.skillsactive.com 

Children’s places of secrecy and 

play: a playworker’s guide to dens 

and forts 

M Leichter-Saxby 

London: Islington Play Association, 

2009. 

This guide stems from a research 

project on den-building culture 

at one adventure playground. 

Drawing on information from 

psychology, anthropology and 

other academic disciplines, this 

guide explores how children’s play 

building can create a full and rich 

site culture. 

www.islingtonplay.org.uk 

Events 

Playday 2010: Our Place 

4 August 2010, nationwide 

The Playday 2010 campaign is 

Our place which aims to put 

children at the heart of our 

communities, and asks everyone, 

young and old, to help create 

better places for all of us to live 

and play. 

www.playday.org.uk 

Spirit of Play London 

Friday 3 September 2010 

SkillsActive Playwork will be 

hosting a playwork conference in 

London in September at a venue 

to be confirmed. 

www.skillsactive.com/playwork. 

The Everydayness of Play: 

Beauty of Play Conference 2010 

10-12 September 2010, Stone, 

Staffordshire 

The annual ‘conference under 

canvas’ organised by Ludemos 

will feature a mix of workshops 

and outdoor activities. 

www.ludemos.co.uk 

The Children’s Play Infromation 

Service (CPIS) is the national library 

and information service on children’s 

play. CPIS has a large reference 

collection of materials on children’s 

play, and provides a number of 

services, including an enquiry service. 

CPIS is part of NCB Library and 

Information Service, and is funded 

Public space 

Urban green nation: building the 

evidence base 

London: CABE, 2010. 

Reports on the first two pieces of 

research commissioned by CABE 

Space to assess the state of 

England’s urban green space and 

its impact on people’s health and 

well-being. 

www.cabe.org.uk/files/urbangreen-nation.pdf 

Making Space 2010: 

International Conference 

7-8 October 2010, Edinburgh 

An international award 

and conference promoting 

innovation, creativity and 

sustainability in design for 

children and young people 

aged 0-18. 

www.childreninscotland.org. 

uk/html/makingspace.htm 

Playing into the Future 

– surviving and thriving: 

the 50th anniversary 

world conference of the 

International Play Association 

4 – 7 July 2011, Cardiff 

Call for abstracts on the 

following themes: play – 

individual and social; play – 

environment and space; and 

play – society and culture. 

Deadline for abstract 

submission 10 November 2010. 

www.ipaworld.org 

www.playwales.org.uk 

by the Department for Culture, 

Media and Sport and the Big Lottery 

Fund through Play England. 

CPIS is open for enquiries and 

visitors, Monday to Friday from 

10.00am to 5.00pm. Visits are by 

appointment only. 

Children’s Play Information Service 

NCB, 8 Wakley Street, 

London EC1V 7QE 

Tel: 020 7843 6303/6026 

Email: cpis@ncb.org.uk 

Web: www.ncb.org.uk/cpis 

23

What are you playing at! 

Play Gloucestershire’s play rangers work in urban parks and rural green 

space providing free, outdoor active play, sports and arts activities to 

school-aged children across the county. Since April 2008, 21,507 play visits 

have been recorded at 52 different sites across Gloucestershire. 

What they’re saying: 

Leanne: age 13 

The play rangers are 

really good. I come all 

the time and I love the 

fact that there is loads 

of things to do. 

Becky: age 10 

It’s fantastic. I get to 

meet new friends and 

be free of my parents 

and play with my fun 

chums! 

Jade: age 9 

I love the play rangers, 

I get to do lots of 

different and exciting 

things. 

About Play Gloucestershire 

Established in 2007, Play Gloucestershire’s 

play rangers have been providing free, 

exciting play experiences to Gloucestershire’s 

children and young people in both urban and 

rural communities. 

Play Gloucestershire’s play rangers are 

qualified playworkers who take their skills 

and equipment directly to children, delivering 

active outdoor play in both urban and rural 

communities. With an open access policy, all 

of Play Gloucestershire’s services are free, 

no registration is required and children can 

come and go as they please. 

Activities are targeted towards children 

aged between 7 and 14 years. The Play 

Gloucestershire staff and volunteers combine 

play delivery with strategic play development, 

and their team of young play activists help to 

spread the ‘get out and play’ message in their 

local communities. 

Play rangers offer a range of activities 

including active play, den building, fire play, 

arts and crafts, informal sports and games. 

For more information, please contact Pip 

Levett, Director of play at 

pip@playgloucestershire.org.uk or telephone 

07799 125308. 

24

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