Play for Wales issue 27

Issue 27

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

Winter 2008

Places for Playing www.playwales.org.uk

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Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 EDITORIAL

Contents Editorial News

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Places for Playing Children’s Chosen Play Spaces

Editorial

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heresa Casey is guest editor for this issue of Play for Wales.

Theresa is the President of the International Play Association (promoting the child’s right to play) a Scot, and the author of Inclusive Play and Environments for Outdoor Play.

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Making Good Places for Playing 8-9 Design for Play: a guide to Creating Successful Play Spaces 10-11 Planning and Play

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Play Rangers - making places play friendly

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Training for Workforce Development 14 Continuous Professional Development (CPD)

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CPD in Wales

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Where are You? Playwork Wales’ workforce survey Events and Books

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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 Registered Charity No. 1068926 ISSN: 1755 9243 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 Tel: 01443 843 520 E-mail: sales@carrickdesignprint.co.uk

Ensuring that every child has access to lively, stimulating play environments throughout their childhood is an important way of supporting their wellbeing. It contributes to fulfilling our responsibility to children under Article 31 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, the right to play.

Really good play environments for children are assets to our communities. This issue of Play for Wales explores some of the ways in which we can depart from the traditional, formulaic approach and start to provide or support play environments that truly meet children’s play needs.

Where children play has a very significant influence on the quality of their play experiences. An interesting and challenging play environment can enrich and expand children’s play, generate feelings of well-being and self worth, and promote positive relationships. It extends a wide range of important possibilities to children: to have contact with nature; to test and expand their interests and abilities; to make their own explorations and discoveries; to play without undue adult involvement; to interact, make change and transform their surroundings.

What children want from a play space varies with age, interest and circumstances. However in general children have shown preference for places that offer variety, flexibility, natural elements, risk and challenge.

A boring or neglected play

environment offers children few opportunities for satisfying play and gives children the message that adults don’t value them enough to provide something better – in which case, why should children and young people value and take care of them?

Because poor play environments give children less of a chance to enjoy playing together, their play may be frustrated or destructive. This in turn can generate negative attitudes from adults.

It is generally agreed that children nowadays have more restrictions placed on their opportunities for unsupervised free play out-of-doors than was the case for previous generations. Children are discouraged by others’ fears for their safety, their own concerns over personal safety, the poor state of some playgrounds, the congestion of streets and the dangers of traffic. The recent Barnardos campaign highlighting the ‘demonisation’ of children in the UK (see our news section) shows the lack of tolerance some children now receive when they are outside in their community.

This issue of Play for Wales has a Scottish flavour: contributor Sue Gutteridge worked for many years to transform the play service in Stirling, and Aileen Shackell is a Scottish landscape designer who helped to write Design for Play – a guide to creating successful play spaces, published earlier this year. We often benefit from looking outside our borders to gain inspiration and examples from colleagues in other countries. I look forward to coming to Wales for the IPA World conference in 2011 when we can all share our experience and wisdom in the hope of creating a better world for our children to play in.

Theresa Casey

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 27 Winter 2008 NEWS

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Time for Playday 2009 This issue of Play for Wales looks at good places for playing – but children also need time and freedom to play. So Play Wales suggested to the Playday UK Steering Group that this year’s theme should be about time for playing. We are pleased to report that the other members of the group and the Playday organisers who were consulted also thought that ‘time for play’ gave lots of scope for a memorable campaign.

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t the same time we will be calling for parents, people who work with children, policy makers, planners, teachers, and more - to give time and thought to children's play.

Playday 2009 will be held on Wednesday 5 August with events taking place all around the country throughout the summer. This summer saw more registered Playday events around Wales than ever before (25) and we are

sure there were others that weren’t publicised.

While it is our job to make sure that children have access and time for quality play opportunities every day, joining up to celebrate and campaign together on one day of the year raises the profile of play both within communities and with decision makers. www.playday.org.uk

Scrapstore celebrates 20th birthday Re-create, the scrapstore that services Cardiff and the Vale of Glamorgan, recently celebrated twenty years. irst Minister Rhodri Morgan, who attended the celebrations said:

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‘I am twenty one years old myself in political terms (having served Cardiff West either as MP or AM since 1987) and I am very pleased to support the amazing work done by Recreate here at the Play Resource Centre over the past two decades. I just love coming here, and I wish I could spend

Play Wales website Our website is a useful and up to date information resource for all involved in play and play provision. e have recently added new factsheets and briefings including Top Ten Tips for Fundraising; Play and the Health Agenda; Play, Playwork and Food; and Participation and Playwork (an interview with Roger Hart).

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The Play and Participation page within the play section is a new addition and the Play and Risk page has been updated to include further resources, including A playworker’s guide to risk and links to further information. www.playwales.org.uk

much more time here, of course if I did, my house would soon look like this too with children’s play equipment and DIY materials everywhere you look. An Aladdin’s Cave doesn’t even start to describe it, it’s a wonderful place.’

For more information about scrapstores in your area please visit: www.playwales.org.uk/page.asp?id=78

The Play Resource Triangle Play Wales, in collaboration with the National Playbus Association and the National Association of Toy and Leisure Libraries, has published a briefing that highlights the benefits to children’s play and play provision in Wales of toy and leisure libraries, scrapstores and mobile play provision – the play resource triangle.

The briefing – The play resource triangle: increasing play opportunities creatively can be downloaded at www.playwales.org.uk

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Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 NEWS

Children’s Commissioner

Annual Review In his first Annual Review as the Children’s Commissioner for Wales Keith Towler challenges those responsible for developing and delivering children and young people’s services to focus on closing the gap between the number of good policies and their inconsistent implementation across the country. t the review’s launch the Commissioner said:

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our country’s children and young people.’

‘The fact that this gap is evident across a number of policy and services areas, in different parts of Wales, is a regular feature not only of news coverage but of advice and support cases brought to my attention, underlines the need to recognise the problem and look for ways to address it. Having made the progress we have in Wales, it would be a real pity if we do not have the courage to recognise the problems and take whatever action necessary to close those gaps.

Other key aspects of the Commissioner’s future work will include: monitoring the implementation of the recommendations made by the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child; making learning better – using messages from children and young people to help improve the learning experience; forming stronger links with children and young people’s framework partnerships; continuing to listen and learn, promote good practice and speak up for the children and young people of Wales.

‘We must identify ways for national and local governments and children’s organisations to share information and evidence and work together effectively to improve the lives of

To download the Annual Review 2007-2008 visit www.childcom.org.uk

Monitoring children's rights In October the Committee on the Rights of the Child (the body of independent experts that monitors implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by its State parties) reported on the situation of children in the UK. he committee was concerned at the general climate of intolerance and negative public attitudes towards children, especially adolescents, which appeared to exist in the United Kingdom, including in the media ... A further concern was the restriction imposed on the freedom of movement and peaceful assembly of children by antisocial behaviour orders, as well as by the use of the socalled "mosquito devices".

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The shame of Britain's intolerance of children There is an unjustified and disturbing intolerance of children in the UK according to a shocking poll commissioned by Barnardo's. Research conducted by YouGov shows that the public holds a negative view of all children, despite the vast majority of children making positive contributions to their community.

The findings show: • just under half (49%) of people agree that children are increasingly a danger to each other and adults • 43% agree something has to be done to protect us from children • more than a third (35%) of people agree that nowadays it feels like the streets are “infested” with children The public’s intolerance is also reflected in the British Crime Survey, which indicates that the public felt young people committed up to half of all crime when in actual fact young people are responsible for only 12% of crime (Youthnet and the British Youth Council (2006): Respect? The Voice behind the Hoodies.)

For more information about Barnardo’s campaign please visit www.barnardos.org.uk

Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 NEWS

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The first Welsh national playwork skills conference The Children’s Commissioner for Wales underlined the importance of the playwork sector to children’s rights in Wales by chairing Take the Credit, the first Welsh national playwork skills conference, at the start of December. t the same event, the Deputy Minister for Skills, John Griffiths, officially launched Playwork Wales, the national centre for education and training in playwork.

Wales. The findings of the playwork workforce development research ‘Where are you?’ were presented – please see page 14/15 for more information.

Coming at a time of great change in qualifications and skills development, the aim of Take the Credit was to ensure all delegates have the latest information on future playwork education and training opportunities in

Take the Credit was jointly organised by SkillsActive, the Sector Skills Council for Active Leisure and Learning, and Play Wales, the national organisation for children’s play.

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playwork

www.playworkwales.org.uk

Play Wales membership Why become a member of Play Wales?

Rates:

oin and add your voice - Play Wales is a membership organisation so that we can better represent those who have an interest in children's play and play provision in Wales. We consult with our members to inform our work.

Individual:

£10

Organisation – one full-time member of staff or fewer:

£25

International:

£25

Organisations – more than one full-time member of staff:

£50

Commercial/private:

£75

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The benefits of becoming a member of Play Wales include: free Criminal Records Bureau (CRB) checks for staff working in regulated play provision; reduced rates for conferences and seminars; free postage on publication purchases; ebulletins with funding, consultation, news and jobs news: and access to dedicated web pages.

Local Authority:

£100

For more information and to join visit www.playwales.org.uk or email membership@playwales.org.uk

Fields in Trust guidance Planning and Design for Outdoor Sport and Play (PAD) is a comprehensive guide for anyone involved in providing facilities for outdoor sport and play – both formal and informal – for use by all sections of the community.

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ublished by Fields in Trust (formerly the National Playing Fields Association) the document supersedes all previous editions of ‘The Six Acre Standard’ and continues to uphold the original recommendation that six acres of recreational land is required for every thousand people.

assessments and standards and the sustainability agenda.

It also provides a detailed framework of issues relating to quantity, quality, and accessibility, the importance of local

www.npfa.co.uk

Annual updates and supplements to PAD will be available by subscription to ensure that this handbook is always up to date and keeps pace with current thinking and legislation. A supplement summary of planning guidance in Wales will be available in the spring free of charge.

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Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 DOING IT FOR OURSELVES

PLACES FOR Children’s Chosen Play Places When we think about places for playing we often think of designated play areas in parks and public places. his is space that is designed by adults with children and young people’s needs in mind (sometimes in consultation with children) and yet always with adult imposed restrictions in terms of space, insurance, rules, or budgets.

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Yet if we think about our favourite places to play as children, many of us will remember environments that were wild, disregarded, untouched and unvisited by adults, on the edges of public spaces.

These were places where we could invent or create our own world, where restrictions were nothing to do with adults but more dependent on the our own capabilities and the locality.

Although today the built or industrial/agricultural environment tends to dominate, there are still plenty of these disregarded places and children still use them. Many of us turn a blind eye, but sometimes children’s self-made play spaces are not tolerated by those responsible for the land and the play that goes on within them tends to be perceived as a nuisance and potentially delinquent. Yet before we judge, we need to stop and think: Sometimes child-constructed play places are unsightly, they offend our idea of order or beauty – we often make the excuse that they are unsafe to destroy them. Yet who says that an adult’s idea of beauty or orderliness is any more valid than a child’s? Children are members of our communities too.

Children and young people do not build these places because they want to be a pest; they build them because they have an inborn urge to make their own environment for play. Children all over the world build dens, and have done so probably since children existed on earth.

If we were to reflect on our initial judgement, we might see that far from wilfully destroying the environment, children are constructively adapting it to meet their play needs. At the same time they are being resourceful – often recycling or re-using items that grown-ups have discarded as useless. Great efforts are made to construct, for instance, ramps to cycle over, dens, bridges and tree houses – and not just physical efforts, but mental and emotional ones – planning, co-operation, compromise and initiative too.

Today, children’s lives tend to be more closely timetabled and adult-observed than ever before in history. So ‘secret’ places where they can create their own play environment, away from, or on the edges of, adults’ gaze are of enormous importance and value. Research suggests that boys in particular seek out and benefit from access to space and play that is slightly ‘off the beaten track’.

If the place that children have chosen to play is potentially hazardous, for instance contaminated by dangerous waste, or under a loose cliff, then we need to act and sensitively support them to move somewhere else. Often children will have made their own efforts to clear sites and minimise risks – but there are some hazards that they may not be aware of, and this is where our intervention is needed. We need to use common sense - burrowing in earth or sand for instance, or felling mature trees, is potentially life-threatening, adapting an area by making earth ramps for a self-made bmx trail is unlikely to be.

We spoke to Steve Scott of the Health and Safety Executive in Wales about children and young people’s bike trails, dens and other constructions ‘off the beaten track’. He said: “The HSE is hugely supportive of children playing and recommends a common sense approach. Children making their own bmx trails and bike jumps are usually pretty good at their own risk assessments! Speaking as somebody who has broken a collar bone, I know that there are risks. However, I believe these are substantially outweighed by the benefits.”

The English Forestry Commission manages vast areas of land that is open to the public – it encourages children and young people’s use of the forest and has a set of guidelines to help its officers decide whether to intervene where there are self-built dens, rope swings and other constructions – removal or relocation is a last resort. A link to their document is available below.

In 2004 the Welsh Assembly Government Play Policy Implementation Group recommended that W.A.G. act to protect ‘pockets and areas of open space, wasteland and woodland, particularly in urban areas, where children and young people already play’. We are still awaiting the publication of Planning Technical Advice Note (TAN) 16 where this recommendation may be implemented. Play Wales’s response to the consultation on the TAN highlighted the need for such protection.

In the meantime children and young people’s use of private land (and there are many examples in Wales) can be contentious. The laws of trespass mean that landowners can take action to prevent children’s access. The fear of claims for compensation in the event of an injury means that some landowners who might once have been sympathetic to children’s incursions, are now reluctant to let them happen.

Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 DOING IT FOR OURSELVES

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PLAYING are few and far between, they take time and money to establish; an alternative is to protect and preserve places where children already choose to play independently within our communities and ‘turn a blind eye’ or even support them to do so. (See other article on Play Rangers on page 13).

Children’s participation in communities and in decision-making processes is high up on the agenda not only within children’s services but also within local and national government.

Children ‘doing it for themselves’ by shaping and creating their own environments for play is participation – children acting on their right to play and being the agents that manifest it. The need for adult involvement is only where our advocacy, our position and our expertise can protect children from harm or protect the space and their play.

Children and young people built their own bmx bike track on Council owned wasteland in one British local authority area. At first this was perceived as destructive and the Council took action to bulldoze the tumps and dips that the children had built. With the support of adults who were familiar with political processes and who could advocate for them, the children and young people managed to get their bike track reinstated and it exists to this day.

Play areas are only one aspect of play provision – there is a range of measures we can take (whether we are teachers, parents, playworkers, politicians or planners) that can support children’s play within the community. Sometimes it is not the environment that we need to change – children can change it for themselves – but our response to children playing.

Further information In one example that we know of, an insurance company owns an area of Welsh woodland that was once the gardens of a (now demolished) country house – it is an investment plot. The quality of the play opportunities afforded by unusual overgrown planting and old walkways is fantastic, and local children play there [this is not a new thing – even in the nineteenth century when the country house was a bustling hub of the community, children sneaked in and made dens].

Last year children constructed a couple of rope swings and made shelters on the land – gaining access through a hole in the fence. They were buzzing with excitement at having their own ‘secret’ place that they had made for play – they spent all their available hours there. Their constructions made no discernable difference to the plot and yet within weeks the hole in the fence had been strung with barbed wire to prevent their entrance.

Staffed adventure playgrounds try and compensate for the loss of these kinds of play habitats. They are places where children and young people can create their own play environment – where there are adults employed to support them when they need it, and to protect the space for them. But adventure playgrounds

Forestry Commission guidelines: Rope swings, dens, treehouses and fires - A risk based approach for managers facilitating self-built play structures and activities in woodland settings. www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/fce-rope-swings-dens-fires.pdf Legal opinion on the position of those being sued for negligence where play has resulted in injury: www.playlink.org/articles/?p=8 Find out about the legal situation for children using private land at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trespass and en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freedom_to_roam For a definition of an adventure playground please visit the Play Places section at www.playwales.org.uk Find advice on how to build dirt jumps at: www.wikihow.com/Build-Dirt-Jumps-(BMX/Hard-Tail)

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Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 DIFFERENT PLACES FOR PLAYING

MAKING GOOD PLACES

FOR PLAYING Sue Gutteridge used to be the Play Development Officer for Stirling Council in Scotland. She has gained a UK-wide reputation as a creative, no-nonsense and play-focused champion of good places for children to play. Here she shares some of her thinking: tirling Council has gained a national reputation for its interesting and innovative public play areas. Achieving these play areas has been a long struggle and has entailed challenging and changing the usual way of doing things.

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Every father knows the loathed park and playground in the unmoving air of Sunday morning (every mother knows it Friday evening, Tuesday afternoon – every other time), the slides and see-saws and climbing frames like a pictogram of inanity. The fathers on the edge of benches, or strolling, or bending and peering; this is their watch. They exchange slow nods of resignation and hear the wall of childish sound from which no sense is detachable: its twangs and pops and whipcracks …

Public play areas themselves often seem like neglected children – the underclass of public open space – another illustration of Kenneth Galbraith’s telling aphorism ‘private affluence, public squalor.’

And yet at the same time public play areas have somehow worked their way into our consciousness and into public policy as vehicles for inflated and unrealistic aspirations. We expect them to regenerate poor neighbourhoods, lower crime rates, create a sense of community. This has diverted attention, energy and resources in the direction of these unachievable objectives through focusing on the importance of devising ‘cross cutting’, ‘joined up’ all-encompassing ‘strategies’ and ‘partnerships’ between any service or organisation that has words such as ‘children’, ‘youth’, ‘neighbourhood’ and

Photo copyright Sue Gutteridge

It’s generally agreed that the majority of public play areas in the UK are dire – dull, sterile places that children keep telling us they don’t like playing in (not for very long anyway) and that we adults in endless ‘play memory’ sessions keep reminding ourselves that we didn’t like playing in either. Nor do we much like going to them with our own children. I’m sure Martin Amis’s description of Dogshit Park in his novel The Information resounds with us all:

‘community’ in its title. There is a commitment to ever more complicated and demanding processes of ‘consultation’, ‘involvement’ ‘engagement’, or ‘empowerment’. The result is a diversion from the real and much simpler question: how to make good places for playing and look after them properly.

It is true that for years, parks and public play areas have been starved of money, and this has contributed to their poor state.

The promise of large amounts of cash for playgrounds (in England if not in Scotland or Wales) through the BIG Lottery Fund’s Children’s Play programme and most recently through the Westminster Government’s Children’s Plan, offers a fantastic opportunity to bring about change in England.

However, the likelihood is that this opportunity will be wasted through a failure to ask that real and simpler question.

The Department for Children Schools and Families is investing £235 million in play in England from 2008 – 2011. A substantial proportion of this funding is for ‘exciting new public play areas’ in every local authority in England. The DCSF recognises that just refurbishing what’s already there or creating more of the same isn’t what’s required, and wants things done differently.

To this end, it has published jointly with Play England, and with

Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 DIFFERENT PLACES FOR PLAYING the Department for Culture, Media and Sport guidance for the spending of this money - Design for Play: A guide to creating successful play spaces. This is well written, comprehensively researched and attractively produced, but it is, as the title implies, a design guide. While it’s true that UK play areas have until now been a largely design free zone, this is by no means the only problem. Not only that, the question of design can’t be tackled in isolation as it is connected to the cultural, structural and organisational factors that just as significantly militate for or against us being able to make good places and look after them properly.

So how are Stirling Council’s innovative and engaging play areas achieved? The essential starting point has been conviction - a vision of what we want. Over time, drawing on work done in other countries – particularly Denmark and Germany – and in other settings, such as nurseries, schools and staffed adventure playgrounds, and learning all the time from our own experience as we tried to put our beliefs into practice, this vision became a set of play space principles.

We believed that play areas should: • Be designed with the needs and characteristics of the local community in mind in identifying location and likely range of use and users and have a distinct local character in terms of the particular design, material and features included. For instance, if the playground were in a slate quarrying area, local slate is used in the design.

• Respect and exploit the natural features of the site, such as changes of level, existing trees, or water courses and natural puddles, in recognition that the site and context as a whole is as important as individual play features in creating a successful play space.

• Include play materials and play features that are non–prescriptive and therefore encourage imagination and suggest many different ways of being played on or with – such as planting, fallen trees, logs, boulders, ‘loose’ materials such as sand, water, or pebbles.

• Not rely mainly on manufactured play equipment for the play opportunities offered and ensure that when play equipment is used it’s integrated with and complements other site features.

• Incorporate opportunities for children to encounter or create challenge and risk – essential for healthy child development – in a ‘safe enough’ context.

It proved impossible to put these principles into practice without major structural and organisational changes to the way in which public play areas were managed. These changes, which occurred gradually (or rather by a process of attrition) and for the most part opportunistically, involved changes in the way that play areas were designed and to the procurement process, and changes in the way that play areas were looked after and maintained.

A crucial first step was the complete separation of the design process from the supply and/or installation of play equipment, including establishing a budget to pay professional design fees. Play equipment manufacturers continually claim that they can design play areas, and in making these claims they will pay lip service to the benefits of a landscape-based rather than equipment-based approach, and to the inclusion of natural and non–standard features (such as boulders, logs, or planting). We made repeated attempts through detailed briefs

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and discussions to get play equipment manufacturers to do this, but without success. There is some wonderful play equipment, but its value is in the context of the site as a whole, and it’s obvious that play equipment manufacturers are not going to design sites that use less rather than more equipment. Nor are they likely to include equipment from manufacturers other than themselves.

However, getting the principles that inform the design and getting the design process right is not in itself enough. In Stirling, as in many places, the care of play areas was fragmented between different teams based in different council services. One team of people inspected and looked after the play equipment, while the ‘grounds maintenance’ (grass cutting, and care of planting) was carried out by another team in another council service as part of their responsibility for green space in general, and litter collection was the responsibility of yet another team and service. Leaving areas of long grass, creating strimmed paths, mowing mounds, encouraging wildflower areas, looking after young trees, pruning willow mazes and so on were all things that the grounds maintenance team couldn’t or wouldn’t do. And yet these things are the lifeblood of the kind of play areas that we wanted to create. They are what provide the change, development and seasonality that make a place dynamic rather than sterile, and capture the continuing engagement of those who use the space. The answer in Stirling was to create a dedicated and multi-skilled Play Areas Team that could undertake the entire care and maintenance of each site, in the process building their local knowledge of each site and their relationship with the surrounding community.

It may be that such play areas require of those that are responsible for their design and management a version of the creativity, sense of purpose, persistence, exercise of judgement and risk taking that we want to encourage in the children that use them. And there is no guide or checklist that can do this for us.

Sue Gutteridge Sue’s work on Stirling’s public play areas is commonly described as ‘groundbreaking’. Over a 20 year period – and continuing – Sue has promoted an innovative approach that sees public play areas as part of a spectrum of provision and opportunities for children, families and communities. The design and re-design of Stirling Council’s new and existing play areas and their continuing ‘developmental maintenance’ is a dynamic process that creates dynamic spaces, involves many people and groups and is light years away from the world of equipment catalogue play areas.

Sue’s work is rooted in experience developed and honed within the public sector, thus demonstrating convincingly that courage, conviction and knowledge are not qualities automatically stifled within the local state. Sue has a wealth of experience of how to make things happen in the real world of local authority regulations and restricted budgets, how to work effectively with communities, and how to involve children meaningfully in the design and construction of play areas.

Sue now works as a Playlink associate. www.playlink.org.uk

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Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 A LANDSCAPE FOR PLAYING

DESIGN FOR PLAY: a guide to creating successful play spaces Aileen Shackell is a Scottish Landscape Architect who contributed to the recently published Design for Play: a guide to creating successful play spaces: So just where do you start?

ow can we provide for inclusive play? Do we need a fence? Can we have sand and water? These were just some of the questions that are regularly asked by those involved in commissioning play areas.

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There are a few relatively simple things to try, to begin the journey towards providing more exciting play spaces, and these are set out below.

Find out how the play space works

Context

Before considering any physical improvement to a site it is essential to understand how the play space really works, both in terms of how the space feels in a general sense, and more specifically, its ‘playability’.

Children's playgrounds in the UK often look remarkably similar, regardless of their location. More often than not, they are characterised by the inclusion of as much fixed equipment as possible, surrounded by rubber ‘safety’ surfacing, within a flat, fenced area. These traditional-style playgrounds generally cater for a narrow range of play experiences and have limited appeal to older children.

‘Natural Play’ Play is best catered for by environments where children and young people have as much flexibility and freedom as possible - in how they play, and what they do when they play.

Many people are now aware that the traditional playground does not provide this freedom and are looking for an alternative model of play provision, hence the growing interest in what is often called ‘Natural Play’ – or taking a ‘landscape-led’ approach. This means creating play spaces which are designed to be places in their own right - not just a collection of equipment inside a fence – and which are laid out to complement, and be complemented by, their setting.

Play spaces that integrate equipment with the surrounding landscape make a far more attractive play environment, but most importantly they offer a far richer blend of play opportunities, and retain children’s interest far longer than the oldstyle model.

First steps Design for Play sets out ten principles for designing successful play spaces. Though a very useful framework for anyone involved in creating a new play area, or refurbishing an existing one, this list may be a little daunting! Play spaces designed

Above: Photo copyright Stirling Council below: Photo copyright Nicola Butler

Landscape designers carry out a detailed survey of a site before developing proposals to change it, which would cover the whole range of physical features of a site. In a play space it’s particularly helpful to do a ‘health-check’ on equipment which may have been there for some time. Tools such as Spaceshaper (available from CABE space) form a helpful framework for looking critically at a site and involving a community group. In terms of establishing the ‘play value’ of the site, the Quality Assessment Tool developed by Play England can provide a useful starting-point, though this should always be accompanied by watching how and where children and young people play within the space. Any new design must incorporate or enhance what they already do.

Once you’ve begun to understand what makes the site ‘tick’, it’s time to consider making changes. These can be carried out individually, or in combination.

Take down the boundary fence

as landscapes are complex creations, and there are many different challenges that can deter new approaches being tried out – anxieties about maintenance; about being more vulnerable to litigation; and pressure from insurers to avoid doing anything different whatsoever!

It’s OK to try out new ideas and it is essential to see this as an ongoing and evolving process.

There is no golden rule that says you have to enclose a play space with a fence. Fencing is often installed to keep dogs out but also to keep children in. Sometimes there is also internal fencing to segregate age groups. All very understandable - but they are yet another way for adults to control how children use outdoor space and they limit children’s play opportunities.

The benefits: Removing the fence around a small play space will make the space

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Photo copyright Stirling Council

Cats are even less likely to foul in sand, especially where the edges of the sand can be kept clear of shrubby vegetation in which they shelter when ‘hunting’ or just watching the world go by. Foxes were not problem on any of the sandy sites examined for the Design Guide case studies.

Add some planting Few play spaces include planting – other than closely-mown grass. Planting is often seen as being either too fragile to include in a play space, or not even something which can be part of the play experience. feel much more appealing. Removing the fence may also help integrate the play space with its surroundings. It might also help it to be used more flexibly; without fencing a well-designed play space can be a pleasant social space for all age groups, whereas if it’s fenced, people may think twice about entering it.

A fence is needed where there is potential danger, for instance, against a busy road consider a different means of enclosure, such as a hedge, or a change of level, or even a low dry-stone wall.

Bear in mind: If dogs are a concern, then accompany fence removal with an awareness-raising campaign with local dog-owners (enlist the local dog-warden).

One well-publicised conviction for dogfouling is usually highly effective.

Many play spaces are aimed at specific age groups and removing fencing means that this becomes pointless. Signage is often erected to keep out teens, who will happily colonise spaces aimed at very young children when they do not have their own provision. It is better to include this age group positively than to discriminate against them.

whose effectiveness is now questioned, which usually has little or no play value in itself, but which has become extremely popular due to its apparent ease of maintenance and the possibility of including bright colours or patterns, features which seduce many clients (and parents / carers). However the use of loose-fill surfacing, such as sand, grit, or play bark, is far more ‘playable’ and more widespread than many believe.

The benefits: Loose-fill surfacing doubles happily as an impact absorbent surface within Critical Fall Zones, and as a play feature in its own right, helping to provide creative play, something which generally occupies children for longer than fixed equipment. Natural loose-fill surfaces such as sand and play bark also help a play space blend into the surrounding landscape far more effectively than rubber surfacing.

Introduce loose-fill surfacing

Bear in mind: Maintenance of loose-fill surface is more complex than for bound surfaces - but in a play space which seeks to prioritise children’s play needs over ease of maintenance – surely this should not be a problem? On more challenging sites rigorous daily inspections will probably be necessary to check for potentially harmful items.

Large sums of money are spent on rubber ‘safety’ surfacing, a product

With regard to animal fouling - dogs rarely foul in sand, they much prefer short grass.

Conclusion

Aileen Shackell

So these are just a few simple ways of getting started in taking a ‘landscape-led’ approach to designing play spaces. For more ideas, have a look at Design for Play.

is a landscape architect with over 15 years experience of designing public open space. She runs her own practice, specialising in play, public open space, and historic landscapes. Email her at aileen@asa-landscape.com for more information.

And perhaps, before long, play spaces in the UK will be as play-friendly as the ones on the continent. It’s up to all of us to make this happen – it won’t be easy, but let’s try, for the sake of children everywhere.

Design for Play: A guide to creating successful play spaces, by Aileen Shackell,

The benefits: Plants are perhaps the easiest way of adding a sensory dimension to a play space – the texture of leaves and stems and the scent of flowers appeal to children’s sense of touch and smell, and even their sense of hearing; the sound of wind rustling through leaves is highly evocative. For children with sensory impairments these sensations can transform the way they experience the play space.

Planting is also an excellent way to keep a play space interesting all year round. Play spaces which always look exactly the same quickly become boring, whereas planted play spaces which reflect the changing seasons seem different throughout the year.

Above all, planting - when carefully designed - becomes a great play element in its own right. Just leaving areas of long grass or planting large blocks of sturdy informal shrubbery allow for denmaking, as well as games of hide-andseek – or just a different sort of place to sit and chat.

Bear in mind: don’t be precious about the planting: it’s there to be played with and in!

Choose robust species which will stand up to wear and tear, and if you’re planting trees, then think about planting ‘feathered’ trees which are less likely to be vandalised.

Nicola Butler, Phil Doyle and David Ball, published by Play England, DCSF and DCMS, is available free from DCSF Publications, tel: 0845 60 222 60; fax: 0845 60 333 60; textphone: 0845 60 555 60.

Please quote ref: 00631-2008DOM-EN. It is also available to download from the Play England website.

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Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 PLANNING AND PLAY

Planning and Play A recent study in the Lancet undertaken by researchers in two Scottish universities concluded that ‘living near parks, woodland or other open spaces helped reduce health inequalities’. The study recommended that Councils introduce more greenery to improve wellbeing. he 2008 Children and Young People’s Well-being Monitor for Wales (published in late November by the Welsh Assembly Government) provides an analysis of wellbeing in relation to the Welsh Assembly Government’s seven core aims for children and young people. The monitor references the research by Funky Dragon with 7 to 10 year olds which also highlighted the value of play to children in Wales particularly outdoor play. The availability of outdoor spaces (both in and outside of school) was seen as particularly important.

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Outdoor space is clearly important, as play providers we need to be aware of initiatives that might support us in meeting the play needs of children and young people. Here are some of them:

Local Development Plans The planning system in Wales changed in October 2006 and a new type of plan has been introduced. The new style Local Development Plan, or ‘LDP’ offers local communities genuine opportunities to get involved in planning for the future of their areas.

All 25 local planning authorities in Wales, are in the process of moving over to the new-style plan.

Guidance for the development of the plan indicates that community involvement is at the heart of the new planning system. The way that Local Development Plans need to be prepared reflects this, meaning new and exciting opportunities for communities to help shape the future of their area.

LDPs will contain policies and proposals to steer future development and use of land in the plan area. Some will have an impact on the development and implementation of Play Strategies and the development of play provision.

To find out more please visit http://new.wales.gov.uk/topics/planning/devplan/?lang=en

Local Authority Partnership Agreements (LAPA) The Sports Council for Wales is in the process of developing Local Authority Partnership Agreements (LAPA). The main purpose of the LAPA is to create an over arching agreement with local authority partners, that coordinates the diverse range of programmes currently being delivered by Local Authorities, and in so doing, raise the profile of sport and physical activity.

The LAPA will consist of five key themes: • Active Young People • Active Communities (Active Adults) • Successful Sport and Sporting Nation (Performance) • Developing People • Developing Places

‘The importance of this process is in ensuring that physical activity becomes more fully integrated into local authority key strategies, particularly Children and Young People’s plans and Health Social Care and Wellbeing strategies.’

Heledd Bebb, Policy Officer, Welsh Local Government Association The LAPA is a whole Authority approach and there will be a potential role for play providers.

Playing Fields Measure I

The next step will be the setting up of a committee to discuss the measure in the next few months.

The playing fields measure has been re-drafted to take into account the responses received to the initial consultation.

The link to the information on the re-drafted proposed measure, the consultation responses and where to find out about next steps can be found here: www.assemblywales.org/bus-home/bus-legislation/bus-legmeasures/bus-legislation-meas-pf.htm

n July 2008, following consultation, Dai Lloyd, AM, introduced a measure of the National Assembly for Wales to make provision in relation to community involvement in decisions by local authorities in Wales whether to dispose of playing fields.

Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 MAKING SPACES PLAY-FRIENDLY

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Play Rangers - making places play friendly A common public perception is that children can’t play out any more ...

Some communities have lost their history of children and young people playing outside in public places, and the fewer children playing out, the less children will play out.

ome children and families need to feel confident that there are places within their community that are good for playing before they will venture outside and do it.

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Although play areas give a signal that children and young people can use this place to play, there are sometimes factors that deter them – the lack of other children, litter, dog mess, the fear of unfriendly or predatory adults or older teenagers. Plenty of other environments within our communities could be good for play but are neglected by children because they don’t have the confidence to play there.

Play rangers are ‘detatched’ playworkers – trained and qualified professionals working in public outdoor places within communities, encouraging and supporting children to play freely all year round. The presence of a play ranger gives children and families confidence that they can play out. Children are close to home and can dip in and out as they wish.

Play rangers are part-time protectors of children’s places to play – their presence reduces children’s fear of bullying, gives permission for children to play and sends a message to the local community that all children have every right to play outside. A temporary play ranger project working over a fixed period might encourage children to re-colonise areas within their community – build their sense of their own competence and their conviction that they have a right to be there, so that when the project withdraws, children still feel confident that this is their space for playing and continue to use it.

Play rangers also have a vital role to play in making places play friendly – it might be part of their role to ensure that the place is free of dog mess and other hazards, or to report damage or faults within play areas so that children can continue to play there with confidence. As playworkers they

work to support all children and young people in the creation of a place where they can play. They might bring with them tools or other items that will enhance children’s play experience – for instance where children are making dens, a play ranger might source and provide a load of boxes, ropes or sheets so that children can make use of them. They might give a sense of permission within the space so that children feel free to make themselves wet or muddy. They might keep an eye on and guide children who are making their own fires to ensure that no great harm or damage is done.

Most children need little support to be able to make the most of their environment and the free time they have for playing, while some children find some environments and situations disabling. Playworkers operate in such a way as to include all children – and play rangers might actively make contact with disabled children and their families to make sure that they are supported to play out too. This is an active approach that helps ensure that disabled children – for whom there are even greater fears of bullying and qualms about their vulnerability – are able to play out with friends.

Play ranger projects are part of a range of play provision that children may need or choose to access as part of their community. Play rangers can provide a flexible and responsive service and support other aspects of play provision as part of a holistic community approach. Play rangers can encourage and support all children in making use of existing outdoor play facilities. Play rangers are one potential solution to making our communities more play friendly.

There are a number of play ranger projects in Wales, to find out more please see issues 21 and 22 of this magazine, or for more general information please visit: www.playrangers.net

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Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

Training for Workforce Development playwork

The Welsh Assembly Government’s Play Policy Implementation Plan (2006), the Children and Young Peoples Workforce Strategy for Wales and local authority Children and Young People’s Single Plans all put a focus on building a qualified and competent professional workforce that meets the needs of children and young people.

Continuous Professional Development (CPD) he CPD of practitioners beyond their induction and initial training is an area of crucial importance for organisations and their staff, and for children, young people and their families.

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Playwork employers who are committed to funding and supporting CPD gain enormous benefits: • Engaged, enthusiastic and motivated playworkers • Playworkers who embrace learning so as to improve their performance

CPD is a shared responsibility: • Playworkers are required by the Playwork Principles to have a sound, up to date knowledge of the play process. Playworkers take responsibility for their learning to develop their skills and knowledge • employers need to actively provide appropriate regular learning opportunities • practitioners working independently or outside an organisation are also responsible for their own learning and CPD.

• A skilled and knowledgeable professional workforce

Nurturing a workforce by budgeting for and giving time for CPD can aid staff retention, it also gives professional credibility and can improve the quality of the service being provided.

The new SkillsActive Active Passport scheme is an on-line tool that will help playworkers and employers keep a record of training and CPD. To find out more please visit www.playworkactivepassport.com

CPD in Wales Nicole Webber has delivered Playwork: Principles into Practice (P3) as CPD training in Llanharan. She says: I think the P3 training in Llanharan has been amazing, the learners have really taken on board the concepts and ideas of the P3 course, they have shown great enthusiasm and a willingness to learn. When carrying out play sessions they have seen the difference the course has made and the great impact this has had on the quality of play. They see that children can risk assess for themselves and now feel confident to stand back and allow play to happen.

Three learners who work in a local school have put their learning into practice in a school environment and changed the direction of play for local children: We don't have to speak to the ‘naughty’ children, we don't seem to have to say their name all the time and constantly go on at them, they are enjoying playing and amusing themselves, and appear content - their behaviour has really changed.

Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT

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Where are you?

Playwork Wales’ workforce survey Over the summer of 2008 Melyn Consulting undertook a survey to find out where people working in play in Wales are working and what levels of training they have. Of 453 respondents, 41% told us they hold a recognised playwork qualification.

Playwork Qualifications held by people involved in play (n=453) Those working in play development and play training were most likely to hold a qualification while those who worked in other roles but who use play as part of their work were least likely to be playwork qualified. The most common qualification held was the NVQ Level 3 Playwork (10% of respondents

Take-up of issue based training (% of all respondents) The graph to the right details the response when respondents were asked what CPD training they had undertaken. Given that there are regulatory requirements, it is not surprising that the most common CPD training was first aid, followed by child protection and food hygiene.).

First Aid Child Protection Inclusion Food Hygiene Mud & Sparks / Elemental Play Self Build

Playwork Wales will use this evidence to lobby for greater funds to be allocated to upskill the playwork workforce and other professions that support children’s play.

Drug & Alcohol Awareness Conflict Resolution Management Skills Assertiveness / Communication

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Play for Wales Issue 27 Winter 2008 EVENTS AND BOOKS

Oops! Sorry Trystan!

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Events 22 January 2009

hose of you who are bilingual may have noticed a mistake in our last issue.

Come Out to Play! Making the most of play in school grounds Birmingham

www.ltl.org.uk

20 February 2009 Risk it! Changing public play places Stirling

www.playlink.org

3 – 4 March 2009

On Playday we asked two young reporters to ask the First Minister Rhodri Morgan some questions about play, and we published their interviews – one in English (Joe) and one in Welsh (Trystan).

Unfortunately Joe’s photo appeared with Trystan’s interview. So here is Trystan with Rhodri, and you might have noticed that he is on our front page too!

7th Birmingham Playwork Conference Eastbourne

info@meynellgames.org

28 – 30 April 2009 26 – 28 May 2009 9 – 11 June 2009

New books in our library The Play Wales Library is based in our National Office in Cardiff Bay, with a smaller collection of resources in our North Wales Office in Prestatyn. Here is a selection of books that we have recently added to our collection:

Places for Play Study Tours

Play for a Change

Stirling

Stuart Lester and Wendy Russell

www.playlink.org

6 – 7 May 2009 The Spirit of Adventure Play Holiday Inn, Cardiff

www.playwales.org.uk

IPA 2011 T

he venue and date for the International Play Association conference are set. We have even booked student halls well in advance so that there is a reasonably priced source of accommodation. Welsh Assembly Government has offered some financial support.

Our next tasks are: • Setting up a Planning Advisory Group • Setting up a Programme Advisory Group • Starting to raise funds (not easy these days) so that we can keep down costs to delegates In future we will be encouraging play providers to showcase the service they provide, either as a venue for delegates to visit as part of a tour or from the conference venue, or by giving a short presentation about their work. Watch out for an invitation to take part – we will be looking for quality and innovation in projects all over Wales.

Keep up with what’s being planned in the Events pages at www.playwales.org.uk they will get busier and busier as we steam towards 2011.

IPA members will be given priority booking as well as a discount on conference places. Find out more about IPA – promoting the child’s right to play – at www.ipaworld.org

Play England has published a comprehensive review of the evidence underpinning current thinking on play. It provides a detailed analysis of research and literature published since 2001 that underpins contemporary understandings of the importance of play and how this relates to social policy and practice.

Play for a Change, is published in three formats: a 270-page full research report, a 60-page summary, and a 4-page introductory briefing paper. All are available to download for free or to buy from www.playengland.org.uk

How to Live Dangerously: why we should all stop worrying and start living Warwick Cairns This is an amusing and accessible read that presents useful statistics as memorable stories. The catchy title is ironic - the whole argument is that we never have lived really dangerously. What is different now from previous times is the ubiquity of global media and the impact it has upon our perception of the frequency of accidents and abductions, as opposed to the reality of what will actually kill most of us.

It will provide a useful context for anyone who finds themselves arguing for children's play . . . and no one would complain if they found it in a Christmas stocking. MG

American Journal of Play (volume 1 number 2, Fall 2008) This quarterly journal has a variety of articles and book reviews. This issue features articles such as ‘Gun Play’; ‘Cats and Portals: Video Games, Learning and Play’; and ‘The Nature of Play: An Overview’.