Download PDF - Fair Play For Children

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The Government will work with a number of interested local authorities to sign up to a healthy
community challenge fund. This will test and validate holistic approaches to promoting physical
activity. Towns and cities that sign up – badged ‘healthy towns’ – will be expected to invest
in infrastructure improvements to encourage physically active lifestyles and to implement the
lessons of a variety of programmes.
Through the national healthy schools programme, schools will be able to use children and
young people’s access to active play within the school as part of their evidence for meeting
the physical activity criteria. Active play could also be promoted as an essential part of healthy
schools’ breakfast clubs and other outside the curriculum time activities. Healthy schools would
also link to wider communities where appropriate to encourage play for their pupils.
Local authorities have an important contribution to make in their ‘place shaping’ role, as
planning authorities and through working in local partnerships with other agencies. Through
local area agreements, they can set specific objectives for their communities. Moreover,
specifically addressing diet and activity, including active play during early years will impact upon
measurement of height and weight at reception year, thus influencing the delivery of LAAs
which incorporate national indicators on obesity.
Upcoming NICE guidance on physical activity, play and sport for pre-school and school aged
children (to be published in January 09) will make a valuable contribution to the supporting
the evidence base around play. Recommendations will be made for children and young people
up to the age of 18 years, with a specific focus on those aged seven years and under and 11 to
18 year-old girls.
Transport and play
Improving skills and behaviour
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A significant part of improving road safety is about improving people’s skills and behaviour
when out using the roads. This includes the behaviour of children themselves, their parents and
carers and all vehicle drivers and riders. We want to help all road users – children and adults
– to have the skills they need to use the roads safely. This includes road safety education and
training for children, driver training and testing and publicity aimed at all road users.
The Department for Transport is now working with educational consultants to look at the
best way to provide a comprehensive set of road safety educational resources for all age
groups. This will include an audit of existing materials produced by local authorities, devolved
administrations and commercial suppliers, the production of new materials (if necessary) to
provide a unified set of materials that is suitable for all age groups, and a marketing strategy to
encourage teachers and schools (primary and secondary) to make use of these materials
Between 2002 and 2007, DfT supported a wide scale pilot of the Kerbcraft child pedestrian
training scheme. This teaches children aged 5–7 the key skills they will need to cross roads
safely, through practical kerbside training in the real road environment. It has been thoroughly
64 Fair Play: A consultation on the play strategy