Play for Wales issue 22

Issue 22

Play for Wales Play news & briefing from the national organisation for play

Autumn 2007

Playing in the Streets www.playwales.org.uk

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Play for Wales Issue 22 AUTUMN 2007 EDITORIAL

Editorial Contents

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Editorial

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National centre for Playwork in Wales 3 Unclaimed Assets

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Cheaper Insurance

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New Minister for Children

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Bridging the Policy Gap

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Play Inclusive Update

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Safe Routes in communities Schemes 4 New Manual for Streets

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New Treasure in Carmarthen

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OBE for an APC

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Disabled Children Matter

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Cardiff Blues back play out safely

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Where would we be without scuffed knees?

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Home Zones

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Playday

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Going out to play

This year’s Playday campaign focused attention on the lack of opportunity our children have to play in the streets and range within their own neighbourhood. Readers may have listened to BBC Radio Wales interviews or read the early August issue of the Western Mail whose front page called for action so that children can play safely outside their homes.

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Tips for supporting children to play out confidently

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Dan Rees-Jones’s Diary

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Community take the reigns

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New Centre for Playwork Education and Training in Wales

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Welsh Playwork Training

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Play Learn and Grow

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Events and Funding

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Play for Wales is published by Play Wales four times a year.

Contact the Editor at: Play Wales, Baltic House, Mount Stuart Square, Cardiff CF10 5FH Telephone: 029 2048 6050 E-mail: info@playwales.org.uk ISSN: 1755 9235 Registered Charity No. 1068926 The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of Play Wales.

We reserve the right to edit for publication.

We do not endorse any of the products or events advertised in or with this publication.

This publication is printed on paper produced from sustainable forests.

Designed and printed by Carrick Business Services Ltd. Tel: 01443 843 520 E-mail: sales@carrickdesignprint.co.uk

e are delighted that the newly returned Welsh Assembly Government Minister for Children, Education Life Long Learning and Skills, Jane Hutt AM, chose to use Playday to announce the commitment of funding for a National Centre for Playwork Education and Training to be hosted by Play Wales. We would like to welcome her back and to congratulate her on a title that puts children first.

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It is easy to look back with rose tinted nostalgia and to disparage today’s children for spending too much time indoors, inactive, in front of a screen.

Yet the percieved barriers to their playing out seem to grow higher and higher, the marketing of electronic games is more and more seductive and the temptation for us adults to use them and the TV as a childminder is an all too convenient alternative to addressing the real problem, that as a result of the predominance of fast cars on the roads our children do not feel safe. Over the past 50 years the physical environment has changed immeasurably and as a result of the massive increase in numbers and the speed of cars it is far less play friendly.

This Playday campaign is not just a one day play event, but also about working towards a sustained environmental change. In a response to a Joseph Rowntree Foundation survey into what people see as social evils I identified the way we have allowed our enchantment with the car to dominate planning and development to the detriment of children as the worst. The way we (and I include myself) as road transport owners and drivers are given a disproportionate benefit in the planning of the transport system and the design of communities. In my opinion this is the single most influential feature of modern society that has had a profoundly negative impact upon the opportunity for children to play out.

Evidence shows that the only feature of children’s lives that causes them to be less safe than in previous generations is as a result of increased traffic and traffic speed. Furthermore the value placed by us as owners upon our cars and their paintwork ensures we live in an environment where even when stationary cars are afforded more value than children.

As car owners and drivers we all have a responsibility to change our driving habits in areas where children might play. This problem will not go away and we are part of it. We need to examine our own car use and dependency on motor transport. We can ask ourselves what changes can we make in our lives so that children can play out more safely. As a Chinese proverb says, “The journey of a thousand miles starts with a single step.”

Mike Greenaway Director

Visit

www.playwales.org.uk for up to date news and information A heartfelt thank you to everyone who contributed to this magazine – we couldn’t do it without you.

This issue of Play for Wales, as well as previous issues, is available to download from our website news section at www.playwales.org.uk

Play for Wales Issue 22 AUTUMN 2007 NEWS

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National Centre for Playwork Education and Training in Wales The Welsh Assembly Government is funding Play Wales to undertake the development of a National Centre for Playwork Education and Training in Wales.

Over the next three years the Centre will support the playwork sector to deliver quality services to children.

For more on the National Training Centre go to page 14.

Unclaimed Assets Money in dormant bank and building society accounts is to be distributed to good causes through the BIG Lottery Fund. n May 2007 the Economic Secretary to the Treasury, Ed Balls, and the Minister for the Third Sector, Ed Miliband, jointly launched a second consultation document on the development of a UK unclaimed assets scheme.

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Play Wales’ draft response recommended that “these ‘unclaimed asset’ funds offer a unique opportunity of new money for the development and support of play provision for children in their own communities. This would support contextual changes as described in the Play Policy Implementation Plan and strategic focus and capacity building funded by the BIG Lottery Child’s Play Programme”.

New Minister for Children Play Wales was thrilled to welcome Jane Hutt as the new Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills.

This isn't the first time Jane Hutt has been responsible for children's play on a national level. In 2002 she oversaw the adoption of our national play policy.

Cheaper Insurance We were very pleased to receive this letter from Play Right, the play association for Swansea and Neath/Port Talbot: Dear Editor As an independent local play organisation we have, like many others, found the cost of insuring our adventure playground to be very expensive. But we want to alert Play for Wales readers to our recent good fortune: by shopping around, we managed to cut our premium for adventure playground insurance by seventy five per cent! Our new insurers charge us a quarter of what the previous ones did.

We are happy to pass on the details to other play providers who can ring us on 01792 794884 or email Helen@playright.org.uk Helen Elton, Director, Play Right

Bridging the Policy Gap

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he Office of the Deputy Prime Minister in cooperation with the City and County of Swansea, is undertaking a peer review of The Children’s Play Strategy for Swansea.

Individuals from government organisations, community groups and those whose lives have been impacted by the Strategy were invited to a two day event in midSeptember. The purpose was to evaluate the success of the policy, and to decide whether lessons can be transferred to other policies targeting social exclusion and poverty in the UK. For further information please contact Karen Grunhut on 01792 637404 or Karen.Grunhut@swansea.gov.uk

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Play for Wales Issue 22 AUTUMN 2007 NEWS

Play Inclusive update Safe Routes in communities Publication on Schemes supporting play The innovative project Play Inclusive, or P.inc for short, moved to Play Scotland in May this year.

Some of you may remember P.inc as a project of The Yard adventure playground in Edinburgh. Play Scotland will develop P.inc as part of a training and support programme.

The latest P.inc resource is also available from Play Scotland. ‘People play together more’ was launched by Kathleen Marshall, Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young People in March. It contains lots of practical advice on facilitating the play of children of all abilities, including: • cheap and interesting play resources • ways of setting up for play indoors and outdoors

The Welsh Assembly Government are inviting Local Authorities to bid for funding for New Safe Routes in Communities Schemes. his has developed out of the Safe Routes to Schools initiative and the main focus of this new programme will continue to be on schools, because in most cases they are located at the heart of communities.

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It will also encourage the development of safe walking and cycling routes which provide links within communities to other key facilities, such as leisure centres and parks.

The deadline for bids is 26th October 2007. For further information please contact the Transport Planning Unit of the Welsh Assembly Government.

• tailoring opportunities to meet individual needs • techniques to support children to play together • tools for consulting children More information is available online, along with the PDF to download of a P.inc research report, which explores the links between friendship, inclusion and play www.playscotland.org (under ‘what we do’ then ‘training’).

Or contact Susan McIntyre, the Development Coordinator at Play Scotland on 0131 440 9070 or susanmcintyre@playscotland.org

New Manual for Streets in England and Wales

Contact details for road safety officers in each local authority can be found at: www.roadsafetywales.co.uk/contacts/

New Treasure in Carmarthen rawn together by a deep concern for the environment, a passion for creativity and play, and a belief that waste could be turned to good use, a handful of people living in and around Drefach Felindre, Carmarthenshire have kept a dream alive since 1993 and turned it into reality.

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Trysordy Treasure House is a new scrapstore opening on the first day of the Autumn half term (Saturday 27 October) and creative recycling courses started in mid-September.

he Department for Transport, and the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) with support from the Commission for Architecture and the Built Environment (CABE) have developed a new publication ‘Manual for Streets’; A guide to the “design, construction, adoption and maintenance of new streets whose aim is to deliver streets, that help strengthen communities, are pleasant and attractive, are cost effective to construct and maintain and are safe” (The Manual for Streets: Evidence and Research – TRL 2007).

Based on the outskirts of Carmarthen the scrapstore has been set up to serve communities in Carmarthenshire, Pembrokeshire and Ceredigion. Trysordy Treasure House offers low cost, clean, safe waste materials donated by industrial manufacturers together with equipment for hire, training and meeting rooms for hire and advice, information and training. It is a not for profit, membership organisation, open to any individual, family or group.

To download a copy of the report www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/manforstreets/

Find out more at www.trysordy.org.uk or telephone 01267 231980

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Play for Wales Issue 22 AUTUMN 2007 NEWS

OBE for an APC (Adventure Playground Champion) Malcolm King who is an elected trustee on Play Wales’ Board has been awarded an OBE for his services to children and young people.

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Cardiff Blues back campaign for children to play out safely

Malcolm, the manager of The Venture Adventure Playground in Wrexham said: "Although I have mixed feelings about the honours system, I was very pleased to be awarded the OBE. I was pretty chuffed for myself but it is also recognition of all the other people who have been involved over the years. The Venture is a unique place and I like to feel I have had a helping hand in lots of different things in Caia Park."

Y Disabled Children Matter Wales Campaign

ou can imagine Jo Jones’ dismay at having to get ‘up close’ to members of the Cardiff Blues Rugby team at a recent photo shoot to promote Vale of Glamorgan’s “Our Streets Too” campaign, but she battled on (as all good play development officers should).

The campaign was run in conjunction with the Vale Council’s arts development, highways and road safety teams to highlight the need for drivers to slow down, particularly over the school holidays as more children play out and about.

Disabled Children Matter is a new Campaign set up in Wales to mirror the Every Disabled Child Matters Campaign in England. It is being run by a steering group of four organisations – Children in Wales, Contact a Family Wales, Learning Disability Wales and MENCAP Cymru.

The Disabled Children Matter Wales Campaign will push for disabled children and their families to have access to: • The right information at the right time • A real choice of quality education • The health services they need to live an ordinary life • Full access to play and leisure activities • A say in planning the services they receive • Full access to community facilities • Enough money to live on You can sign up to the campaign at www.dcmw.org.uk

Blues Forward Mark Lewis said “We are keen to lead by example – its important to drive responsibly and take the necessary care with safety at the forefront. Our Rugby team acknowledges that local streets may be busier than usual with children playing over the holidays”.

The campaign was launched during the run-up to Playday which was marked in the Vale with a special event in Central Park in Barry.

Jo Jones said “Children should benefit from being able to play in streets near their homes all year round – whether this involves bikes, roller skates, designated areas for ball games, hopscotch, skipping or just experiencing a different world away from the television. Whatever their choice, play should aid their personal development, be great fun and ultimately, safe.”

Figures released recently in an ICM survey commissioned by Play England for Playday 2007 showed that both children and adults considered traffic to be the main factor that stops children and young people playing or spending time in the streets or areas near their home.

Vale Council Member for Leisure and Tourism, Councillor Gwyn John said: “Playing in the streets helps children to get more fresh air, freedom, exercise and safety knowledge by learning about the world around them and how to become active young members of the community. The biggest barrier to children playing in their local streets is traffic, but by working together to raise awareness we can all help to improve safety locally.”

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Play for Wales Issue 22 AUTUMN 2007 PLAYING OUT

Where would we be without scuffed knees?

Alex Allen, Sustrans’ DIY Streets Senior Project Officer reports on a new initiative We learn a lot as children – we figure out how the world around us actually works and then we play in it. lay is how young people develop; they learn how to do things the right way, or the wrong way, and how to overcome their fears.

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Scuffing our knees is how we learnt through play when we were young but unfortunately many parents do not feel comfortable letting their children play outside these days. So what positive steps are being made in Wales to encourage more play outdoors?

What is being done to ensure young people stay active, breathe fresh air and have fun outside?

Sustrans, the leading sustainable transport charity, believe that play is vital to children’s happiness and that the environment we live in can really make a difference to parents’ safety concerns and to children’s enjoyment of their neighbourhoods. Sustrans’ most recent project is aiming to encourage more outside play by helping residents in ten UK streets re-design their own roads affordably in order to make them safer and more attractive places to live. One of the ten streets will be in North Grangetown in Cardiff (supported by Cardiff Council) with a second street in South Wales also being considered.

So what is DIY Streets all about? DIY Streets are essentially peoplefriendly streets, aiming to put pedestrians and cyclists on an equal footing with car drivers – innovative design will encourage cars to travel at no more than walking pace.

It will pilot a fresh approach to street redevelopment, with the emphasis on streets as social spaces. Particular inspiration comes from the original Dutch design of home zones, which tackled problems associated with traffic, but these proved expensive in UK pilots.

By working closely with local authorities and applying a community-led design approach, we will help residents to develop low-cost solutions to the traffic issues in their streets, using simple methods and materials. The project is part funded through a grant from the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation, with local funding expected to come from councils, housing associations and regeneration bodies.

Being led by residents is integral to the success of the project because in addition to putting in traffic calming measures and making the streets greener with planting, they also seek to encourage people to interact with one another. Whether this takes the form of throwing a street party, providing outdoor seating for socialising or simply lowering traffic speeds and levels to allow children to once again play in the street, the entire design process is geared towards making the street a valued social space.

Because accurately gauging the residents’ aspirations for their street on a personal level is extremely important, in-depth evaluation will take place before and after the project to find out exactly which design best suits the residents. DIY Streets will also use Commision for Architecture and the Built Environment new Spaceshaper evaluation tool which brings together practitioners and users in a facilitated workshop to discuss how a public space works.

Although making the streets safe and suitable for children’s play is a central aim of DIY Streets, bringing back street play is not as simple as solely providing an environment for play; there is also the need to address the way people currently perceive their streets.

Research shows the majority of parents regard streets as unsafe for children both from traffic and ‘stranger danger’ and therefore keep children indoors.

DIY Streets hopes to address these issues by working in partnership with residents to change the way they see their street from cardominated to people-centred and play-friendly. Blurring boundaries, increasing roadside activity or adding an element of uncertainty are all methods which have proven successful and will be trialled in DIY Streets.

The first DIY Street to get underway is Penn Street in Manchester and from day one it has proved to be very much centred on play.

Four children attended the first resident’s meeting held in July to voice their views and express their interest. Seeing what the project could mean for them was obviously important – they were bursting with ideas to share on how to establish people as the priority, and not cars. One idea that received vocal support was turning their entire street into a football pitch!

Work will begin in the North Grangetown area of Cardiff in the next few weeks. www.sustrans.org.uk www.cabe.org.uk

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Home Zones Legislation and Policy in Wales The Transport Act 2000 makes provision for Local Authorities to designate Home Zones and Quiet Lanes in their area Local Authorities can now implement "use orders" which allow roads to be used for "purposes other than passage" allowing local residents to define how they want to use their streets. Similarly the Regulations allow Authorities to introduce "speed orders" to set an advisory (lower) speed – 20mph or less.

Commentary on Legal Framework in England and Wales Clause (1) of Section 268 permits local traffic authorities in England and Wales to designate any street or streets as a Home Zone, without restriction. A home zone can be designated through a Council Resolution (eg via a report to Members or Executive Officers). Designation should be in place before work starts and before signs can be erected. However, this in itself does not change the legal use of the highway within Home Zones. This is accomplished via Clause (2), which enables the Welsh Assembly to bring forward regulations, which authorise local authorities to make “Use Orders” and “Speed Orders” for designated Home Zones. The Use Order, defined in Clause (3), is the most significant new power as it permits activities other than the passage of vehicles to take place legally on streets. The accompanying notes to the Act define these activities as children’s play and other social functions. Clause (4) of Section 268 notes that it is not permissible for anyone to obstruct the street or to deny access to premises, and the movement and access function of the highway must be retained. This means that any use of the street must be reasonable and that there is no priority indicated between pedestrians or vehicles. The intention of the legislative framework is to create streets where drivers no longer have the right to expect people, including children, to relinquish

priority to vehicles. The Institute of Highway Incorporated Engineers (IHIE) Guidelines propose the adoption of a 10mph target design speed within Home Zones, which is consistent with practice elsewhere in Europe.

Further reading Home Zone Design Guidelines The IHIE Guidelines published in June 2002 provide practical advice on good practice to designers and others involved in planning, designing or approving Home Zones in the UK. Please visit www.homezones.org.uk/public/guidan ce/index.cfm Home Zones: Challenging the Future of our Streets This document aims to disseminate good practice in Home Zone design and scheme development, drawing on experience from the Home Zones Challenge. It complements design guidance already published. Please visit www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/homez ones/cfos/

Manual for Streets provides guidance for practitioners involved in the planning, design, provision and approval of new residential streets, and modifications to existing ones. It aims to increase the quality of life through good design which creates more people-orientated streets. www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/sustainable/manfor streets/ Living with risk: promoting better public space design – Commision for Architecture and the Built Environment How is this reaction to health and safety concerns affecting the quality of our streets, parks and squares? Is it creating an environment in which encouraging design innovation and risk-taking is becoming harder? Living with risk explores these questions, canvassing the views of national organisations and examining 10 recent schemes to improve public spaces. www.cabe.org.uk/default.aspx?conten titemid=1932 www.homezones.org.uk

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Wrexham

Playday Around Wales on 1 August a number of Playday celebrations provided a fun time for children as well as highlighting the need for action within communities and from decision makers to support children’s need and wish to play out in a more child friendly environment...

Cardiff In partnership with Playbus, Re-create held its fourth Playday Celebration at Britannia Park in Cardiff Bay round the corner from the Welsh Assembly Senedd building. Over 120 children took part in scrap workshops, cardboard castle building, skipping and skateboarding and the day was a resounding success. There was also a visit from Minister for Children, Jane Hutt, AM, who described things she liked doing when she was a child: “I used to like playing in the streets but of course there were far fewer cars around then. I also loved climbing trees and I have to say I don’t see many children climbing trees these days. The biggest thing I remember is dressing up and making dens both inside and outside the house and of course lots of mud pies”.

Comments written by the children on the day were: •

“It was great, it was all diffrent miterial I liked it.”

• “Its santasic.”

• “It’s really good thers other kind of miterlas its good to reciete it” ( Re-create is a play resource centre that collects materials from business & industry & re-cycles it, all scrap materials on the day were recycled).

Cardiff Play Services also held successful Playday events across Cardiff.

Neath Port Talbot “Play Works..!” hosted three successful events. In Fairyland over 100 people were involved, - residents and their families as well as local councillors. Discussions with the children of Sandfields showed they felt unsafe playing in their own streets due to worries about heavy traffic. So, they decided to address these concerns in the form of a fun day. The children played cricket, bowling with plastic bottles, kerbsie and other street games. In Resolven, children and parents highlighted concerns about the route from the park area to the school field where play sessions are held. So footprints were painted on the pavement to mark a safe path to the play sessions, and the route was walked on Playday. Local residents and children were joined on the walk by the play team, road safety team, staff and children from the local Integrated Children’s Centre and the Mayor and Mayoress. This was followed by a celebration in the school field with a number of games and activities including a waterslide.

To celebrate Playday in Wrexham organisations involved in children’s play from across the Borough came together to reclaim Queen’s Square and Rhosddu Road in the town centre. Playworkers, youth workers, early year’s staff, children and adults all descended on the area and together helped to create one big open access play environment.

Throughout the day children could be found playing in the cardboard box fort; shooting hoops on the basketball court; painting banners; banging nails into wood; mending and riding bikes; chalking on the paving slabs; building dens; kicking a football around; bouncing on space hoppers; playing old style street games and just about anything else you can do in the street with little money and lots of imagination!

Highlights of the day included making fires on the grass in front of the Council offices, community police officers playing and the Lead Member of the Council getting messy with the gloop!

Mike Barclay, the recently appointed Play Development Officer for Wrexham said “Thanks to everyone who supported and got involved in the event. It was great to see such a wide range of ages all having a good time playing in a very public place”.

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Caerphilly

Merthyr Tydfil

Lisa Williams and Nicky Heggarty of Gwent Association of Voluntary Organisations were responsible for a hugely successful Playday event near the Adventure Play site in New Tredegar. They were also visited by Jane Hutt on her tour of Playday events.

They celebrated the day in Merthyr Tydfil with four large community events in Trefechan, Gellideg, Penydarren and Bedlinog organised by Trefechan and Bedlinog Communities First, Gellideg Foundation Group in partnership with Merthyr Tydfil Play Forum. They were all a huge success with parents and residents taking part and playing with their children. Sarah Williams of Merthyr Tydfil Play Forum was delighted with how the day went: “It was a fun day for all and thanks goes out to all involved for their hard work and commitment in promoting play and its importance to all children�.

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Play for Wales Issue 22 AUTUMN 2007 PLAYING OUT

Going out to Play There have been tragic events involving children in the news of late and these stories do little to encourage parents and carers to allow their children the freedom to go out and play unsupervised. lay England’s research in both England and Wales for Playday 2007 highlighted the anxieties felt by adults when talking about children playing out:

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“The three most talked about issues were (perceived risk) of paedophiles, youth violence and traffic. These were all seen as being the biggest problems either preventing (younger) children from playing in the streets (and surrounding areas) or preventing parents from allowing children to play out unsupervised.”

Although all the adult respondents saw play in a positive light they still felt that there were “numerous barriers” preventing children playing out today. This echoes the findings of the Good Childhood enquiry published earlier this year.

In a report published for Playday entitled ‘Word on the Street’ one secondary school aged girl explained how the negative perception of children and young people on the street impacted on her confidence: “... on the news ... they never talk about how good people are. The majority of us our age are good ... everything that gets on the news is about teenagers vandalising and doing loads of bad stuff, so we’ve been labeled, like thugs, and we’re not.”

The perception that children who play out are anti-social and that their parents or carers are neglectful has pervaded both the media and messages from the UK government for a long time.

This influences people within our communities and undermines the confidence of families whose children have a right and a need to play out.

In ‘Word on the Street’ it was apparent that children and young people’s own fears were also a barrier. “All the groups that we spoke to expressed fears about their safety and this was often in relation to fear of crime”. Mencap recently published a report that showed that eighty percent of the children and young people with learning disabilities who were questioned were scared to leave their home for fear of being bullied.”

While many initiatives that aim to promote child safety are wellmeaning and widely accepted as necessary, it is worth asking the question, do the safety messages conveyed to children make them and their carers feel more fearful and less competent and confident? Are we wise to be giving children the impression that if they venture out of their front door they are unsafe and that all strangers are untrustworthy, when in reality the risk of harm is extremely low? We might be better to assume that children should play away from their home environment unsupervised and equip them with the skills and judgment they require to avoid harm.

Many children are seduced into spending much of their free time in front of a screen, and many of us succumb to the temptation of using TV and game screens as “electronic babysitters”; while children are sitting in front of a screen inside their home they are perceived to be safe and we know where they are (a recent report from the National Consumer Council, “Watching, wanting and wellbeing” explores the consequences). A recent product announcement from Fisher Price advertised an exercise bike, SMART CYCLE, for 3 – 7 year olds that can be plugged into the TV so that children can be exercised while playing educational games (price £99.99 – TV not included).

There was a noticeable dearth of children and young people playing out in public spaces during the summer break around Cardiff and the reasons for this may not just be the fears outlined above or the lure of electronic games. For many working parents and carers who have the resources to pay for it, childcare is the only option when school is out, and many children take advantage of holiday play schemes and free swimming during school holidays. Yet, when our Information Team visited the Tros Gynnal stand at the National Eisteddfod this summer we noticed an exhibition of drawings that children had made to highlight the rights that were important to them. Of twelve or so pictures, the vast majority related to the right to play out.

If children and young people are not apparent playing out in their neighbourhood it is for a whole range of reasons and there is no simple solution. We cannot criticise parents and carers, or children, for this predicament, we all have a responsibility. The Welsh Assembly Government and other organisatons are promoting playing out as an entitlement and as positive and lifeenhancing for children themselves and for the communities in which they live. We cannot turn the clock back to the 50’s and 60’s when the streets were empty and we could play cricket against a lamp post all evening, but we can question the messages we are given, we can work to shape our communities and stand up for going out to play whenever the opportunity arises.

Further information: Playday research at www.playday.org.uk Good Childhood Enquiry findings at www.childrenssociety.org.uk Mencap ‘Don't Stick It’ campaign at www.dontstickit.org.uk National Comsumer Council www.ncc.org.uk For further reading on the effects of play deprivation go to the play pages at www.playwales.org.uk

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Tips for supporting children to play out confidently Most of us remember the joy and freedom of playing out as children.

The benefits to us were enormous: • we met and had adventures with friends • we knew our own neighbourhood inside and out and travelled around it freely • we got to know the characteristics of local people – who to avoid and who to trust – and they got to know and trust us (or not!)

• we were physically active • we were self-reliant, resourceful and independent.

We all have a responsibility to support and prepare our children to play out confidently in their community: 1. Prepare children to be road safe We can prepare children for walking and cycling independently by telling them and showing them from an early age how they can keep themselves safe on and around roads.

2. Familiarise children with their neighbourhoods We can walk and cycle in the local area and help children to identify safer routes to play spaces and other places they need to access independently in their community.

3. Work with children Once they are competent enough to travel around and play out without us, we can make agreements with children on where and how long they go out and play. It helps both us and them if they can tell the time, know their neighbourhood and know their address and phone number.

4. Keep our worries in perspective We can try and be realistic about our fears for children’s safety. The benefits of playing out far outweigh the risks.

5. Take a community approach We can get to know local people – neighbours and other families – and agree to keep an eye out for children. The more children who play out, the safer our children will be.

6. Change our environment We can join others locally to campaign for changes to our neighbourhood that might make our environment one where children can play out confidently.

7. Look to our driving habits As drivers we can cut our speed and drive as we would like others to drive in residential streets where children play.

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Dan Rees-Jones’s Diary In the last issue of Play for Wales Dan Rees-Jones shared some of the highlights of his tour of play ranger/open access projects in Wales. The results will help inform the ‘Playing on the Range’ training course syllabus (part of a suite of courses aimed at practitioners working with children in parks and outdoor public spaces) and a guide to best practice. Here is a more detailed account of just two of the projects he visited:

GAVO Caerphilly Adventure Play Site ‘A free play space for children and young people to play, engage and experience within their own community.’

Description GAVO Caerphilly Adventure Play Site is a designated staffed play site within a community space in New Tredegar, Caerphilly. Funded through the Welsh Assembly Government Cymorth grant.

Four staff work after school hours and within holiday periods throughout the community using an open space in New Tredegar. Although the space is currently run-down and underused when staff are not present, the aim is to ensure that adventure play is respected and appreciated throughout the community so that it can become sustainable and valued provision.

Highlights Many children, young people and parents have attended and engaged in the projects. Sessions regularly attract between 20 and 30 children all year round. Ages have ranged from 4 to 20 years of age and many have attended even when weather has been extreme. The surrounding community has been really positive and supportive, even when their children come home wet, muddy or bruised!

Strengths • Qualifications, training and experience of the staff team and their enthusiasm, which has been maintained through all the dark, wet and cold evenings.

Drop in and Play Project Wrexham

• Relationships between the staff and the children and young people who attend, are having a profound effect on their trust, respect and behaviour.

Description

• The locality and ‘open access’ nature of the project has meant it has been very successful in bringing together children from a wide range of ages, backgrounds and schools to form new and lasting friendships and developed confidence.

Challenges • Weather is a challenge as the site is exposed to the elements with little or no shelter, as the provision is very new.

• Operating in a public space has presented difficulties – other ‘users’ may leave behind hazardous litter such as glass and dog faeces.

Drop in and Play is an open access play service for children and young people in Brynteg, Wrexham.

The project came about after a local community consultation highlighted the lack of activities for children and young people in the area. After a successful pilot three years ago, Drop in and Play now has core funding from a Welsh Assembly Government Cymorth grant.

Drop in and Play now runs throughout the year and is managed

by Brynteg Playschemes, a local voluntary group that has provided a holiday playscheme for the past twenty years and continues to consult on needs and generate capacity building using local networks and relationships within the community.

Play for Wales Issue 22 AUTUMN 2007 PLAYING OUT Continued from previous page

Highlights A team of four staff, some drawn from the local community, deliver three sessions a week all year, offering children the opportunity to play in an ‘open access’ yet safe environment.

The regularity and consistency of the provision is one of the key factors in the project’s success. The project attracts up to 50 children and young people to each session depending on the season.

The site offers a small playground with some fixed play equipment, a skate park, a large public playing field and a M.U.G.A (multi use games area) as well as some indoor space, a changing room which is used in wet weather and for storing play equipment.

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• Regular observations and evaluations and ‘on the job’ training.

Challenges • Offering challenging play opportunities where children can have fun and hang out whilst ensuring a safe environment for them to do that.

• Convincing individuals, community members and external organisations of the short and long term value that the project gives to the community.

• Keeping up with administration, paperwork and funding applications!

Strengths • Providing a consistent and reliable service all year to the local community.

• A strong working team of enthusiastic and dedicated playworkers with some staff drawn from the local community.

• A willingness to provide materials and equipment that may not be safe in other settings but which offer challenging play opportunities.

Dan Says: Having the opportunity to visit the projects has been invaluable in helping to inform and develop ideas and content for the training course syllabus as well as a learning support guide that will accompany the course. Thanks again to everyone who shared their experiences and made my visits such a pleasure. The Playing on the Range course is currently in development but shaping up well. It is hoped that a pilot will run later this year with the course rolling out in 2008.

Community take the reigns The Residents Committee of Stratford Green and the Play Development team at the Vale of Glamorgan Council have worked hard to put ‘play’ at the top of their agendas in the community.

Together, they operated a 14-week pilot project with their collective aim of supporting community Play Rangers from April this year. The response to the scheme was phenomenal and at the end of July the community decided to take over the metaphorical ‘reigns’ and to continue running the project themselves.

A special celebration party marked the official handover and plenty of families

came out to enjoy the fun of the early evening. Activities included the long awaited appearance of the Water Slide.

Jo Jones, Play Development Officer, told us, “Play Rangers has been designed for young people aged 5-14 years to access quality play opportunities in their communities.

My sincere thanks go to everyone involved to make this such a rewarding experience in Stratford Green.”

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Play for Wales Issue 22 AUTUMN 2007 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

New Centre for Playwork Education and Training in Wales

Play Policy Implementation and the Playwork Profession The Training Centre will help to build the infrastructure needed to realise recommendations made in the Welsh Assembly Government’s Play in Wales; the Play Policy Implementation Plan (2006). Its work will: • ensure that there are appropriate training opportunities at all levels for playworkers; • engage with the UK Government on the development of the children’s workforce including a qualifications framework and the development of a common core of skills and knowledge; • seek ways of addressing recruitment and staff retention issues (in conjunction with SkillsActive).

On Playday (1 August 2007) Jane Hutt, Minister for Children, Education, Lifelong Learning and Skills, announced funding for Play Wales to undertake the development of a National Centre for Playwork Education and Training in Wales. ver the next three years the Centre will support the playwork sector to deliver quality services to children.

This is a first among the devolved nations and represents the result of years of lobbying from the play sector in Wales.

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Here is an excerpt from a transcript of an audio interview with the Minister on Playday: “It’s really great to be back as Minister and within a few days being able to announce this fantastic new Centre which raises the status of playwork - a Cinderella profession.

“I started off as a playworker and I’ve always felt that playwork hasn’t had the right kind of backing - money, resources and status. Status is important in terms of good quality training, making sure that the Government sees (playwork) as just as important as all the other professions that we esteem.

“So this is really a good day for playwork. Our teams across Wales will have much greater opportunity for accreditation, recognition and to take forward this incredibly important work with children and young people.”

Play Wales is working in partnership with SkillsActive, the Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure and Learning in response to the Sector Skills Agreement and Quality Training, Quality Play, 2006-2011, the UK Strategy for Playwork Education, Training and Qualifications.

Rationale The reason why this Centre is so important to us in Wales is that opportunities for children to play unsupervised are increasingly restricted by the loss of suitable places to play, the impact of traffic, and anxieties about their safety. To compensate for this a range of providers need to work together to ensure high quality play opportunities are available for all children. The role of the playworker has never been more crucial. There is currently a shortfall in the number of qualified and competent playworkers needed to staff integrated services delivering key outcomes that include play.

Objectives The National Centre for Playwork Education and Training will work across Wales in all local authority areas, with statutory, voluntary and private providers to develop quality, accessible education and training for all those with an interest in the provision of children’s play services. The National Centre will also play a key strategic, developmental role in maximising the potential of all partners and in encouraging and supporting innovation and quality.

The objectives of the Centre are to: • Improve the availability, accessibility and quality of playwork education and training in Wales • Improve the quality of playwork and thus the experiences of children attending play facilities • Address knowledge and skills shortages and increase the number of qualified playworkers • Improve the status and recognition of playwork as a career • Provide a channel for playworkers in Wales to contribute to national developments in playwork education and training • Conduct research to support workforce development • Develop quality training materials • Provide careers and training information for prospective and existing playworkers • Address the needs of rural learners through networking, information sharing and coordination • Support the development of Welsh language playwork education and training • Work in partnership with SkillsActive to deliver key objectives in the Sector Skills Agreement • Work with funders through the Sector Skills Agreement to support the funding of playwork qualifications and continuous professional development We are currently recruiting a Centre Manager and hope to publish news of further developments in the next issue of Play for Wales.

To find out more about this project please contact the Workforce Development Team at our national office (029 2048 6050).

Play for Wales Issue 22 AUTUMN 2007 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

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Welsh Playwork

Training We are pleased to announce that the first Welsh language pilot of the Play Wales Playwork: Principles into Practice training will be held in the near future and will involve learners from Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taff.

The trainers will be Louise Addiscott, Play Training Development Officer for Rhondda Cynon Taff Play Association, and John Thomas, Manager of Interplay in Swansea. We’re looking forward to hearing how it goes. If you are interested in P3 training in Welsh please get in touch with us – mel@playwales.org.uk

Play Learn and Grow n 29 August 2007 at the Rhydyfelin Integrated Children’s Centre in Pontypridd Jane Hutt launched a campaign to increase recruitment in the childcare, chldren and early years sector and help workers in this field to gain higher skills and qualifcations.

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The Minister said: “There has never been a better time to consider a career working with children in Wales. More than 26,000 people in Wales are already enjoying rewarding careers helping children to play, learn and grow and there are more opportunities than ever before to train and gain professional qualifications. We want families to feel confident that, whatever the setting, their children are being cared for by skilled, professional staff who are helping to give them the best possible start to life.”

The campaign is supported by a media campaign which includes a series of television advertisements – one of which was filmed in a Welsh park on a cold September morning.

More information please visit: www.playlearngrowwales.gov.uk

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Play for Wales Issue 22 SUMMER 2007 FUNDING AND EVENTS

Events

Funding

9 October 2007

• BBC Children in Need

National Toy and Leisure Libraries Conference The London Resource Centre www.natll.org.uk

Groups working with vulnerable and disadvantaged children have until the end of November to apply for the next round of grants from BBC Children in Need. www.bbc.co.uk/pudsey/about_us/grants.shtml.

16 – 17 October 2007

• The Hilton Foundation

PlayEd – Play and Human Development Meeting

Focusing on children and young people, the foundation supports activities in education and health to relieve suffering and equip individuals. www.hilton-foundation.org.uk

Wolverhampton Two days of presentations, seminars, and round table discussions, covering current developments in practical and theoretical playwork. www.wolverhampton.gov.uk/leisure_culture/parks_recreation/pl aygrounds/play_ed07

18 October 2007 Out2Play – SkillsActive Annual Playwork Conference Lords Cricket Ground Speakers include Tim Gill; Children’s use of the outdoor space, Michael Follett; New ways of working with children in external environments and Robin Sutcliffe; Raising the risk: who’s responsibility? www.skiilsactive.com

16 November 2007 Free Range Childhood – the first UK Play Ranger Conference Riviera International Conference Centre, Torquay, Devon This one day event is the first national conference to celebrate and explore the benefits, role and potential of play ranger projects in supporting children’s free play outdoors www.playwork.co.uk

8 – 11 January 2008 Play in a Changing World: 17th IPA World Conference Hong Kong www.ipaworld.org

• The Morgan Foundation The Morgan Foundation specialises in funding organisations helping children and their families and will consider any work which has a positive effect on their welfare and quality of life, or which expands the opportunities and life choices for young people in the area they cover. www.morganfoundation.co.uk/

• Wooden Spoon Applications are invited for projects which will benefit children and young people. Projects must normally be of a capital nature, with a reasonably long-term prospective lifetime. www.woodenspoon.com/182_100.php

• O2 Community Award Programme O2 have committed £1m towards a nationwide community improvement programme. The programme has four categories: improving the place communities’ share; helping bring people together; tackling issues and restoring pride and improving the natural environments of communities. www.itsyourcommunity.co.uk or phone 0800 90 20 250.

• The Royal Bank of Scotland Supergrounds is a £6 million community investment programme, funded by RBS group and delivered through Learning through Landscapes, helping primary schools improve their school grounds.

To be in with a chance of winning a Supergrounds Award, schools must be nominated by an RBS group employee. www.rbssupergrounds.com

New Team Member Welcome to our new Finance Assistant Agii Hennessy who started work with us during the summer. Agii was born in Mongolia and has a ‘nearly’ grown up daughter. We would like to congratulate her on passing her Association of Accounting Technicians final exams in August, and we hope she enjoys working with us at Play Wales.