Design Checklists - 'Play' Areas in schools

Things to consider:

Informal 'play' areas both internally and externally should be designed in to a new school and can be catered for as part of the informal outdoor and indoor social areas outlined in BB98.

We often associate play with pre-school children, but play has been defined by DCMS as "What children and young people do when they follow their own ideas and interests in their own way and for their own reasons" DCMS 2004 Getting Serious About Play: a review of children's play.

A decline in play has contributed in recent years to an increase in childhood obesity, 'antisocial behaviour' and mental health problems. The 'Planning for Play' document sets out recommended good practice in the preparation, development and implementation of a local play strategy and acknowledges that play provision should cater for 0-18 year olds.

 

 

 

 

For further details about the importance of play visit:

 

Play England www.playengland.org.uk Including their 'Planning for Play' - Guidance on the development and implementation of a local play strategy.:

 

---

---

The Children's Play Council www.ncb.org.uk Including

 

---

For advice on involving young people in the consultation and design process visit: www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/participation/

Make Space are promoting a network of contemporary out of school clubs for 11-16 year olds www.makespace.org.uk . The initiative is based on research of secondary school aged children carried out by MORI and BMRB and published in the Nestle Family Monitor

 

---

Marianne Lownsborough runs a training and assessment centre for Playwork and lives in North Newbald - a rural village in the East Riding with one village shop and a large younger population (over 200 children and young people). Responding to a lack of provision for young people in the area, Marianne is secretary of 'The Church Rooms Young people's project' - set up to deliver play sessions for children and young people (there are 3age groups catering for, 4-7 year olds, 7-11 year olds and 11-18 year olds). The 11-18 year olds meet twice a week on an evening and also during school holidays. The club takes place at the centre of the village in a converted church hall and is run by a committee set up as a registered charity. Parents are charged £5 per month and the company employ 3 members of staff who are trained play workers rather than youth workers. There is a 'chill out' room filled with old sofas and cushions where the young people are free to 'let off steam'. The staff supervise activity in this space to ensure that no injuries are caused, but the young people themselves decide what takes place in this space, this could be anything from role-play to wrestling. Adjacent to this room is a creative space with scrap and arts and craft materials - again the young people decide how this space is used, and decorated the walls with their own signs and murals. A kitchen area is well used by the older group to prepare their own snacks for themselves and to share amongst the group, as well as for science experiments. Lottery funding has recently been obtained to renovate the outdoor space - the finished design will be a combination of the young people's ideas which are the results of visits to other outdoor play areas, book research and browsing the internet. There are some structured workshops which take place on occasions, and attendance at these is voluntary, this included a recent popular visit from a Children's Rights and Participation Officer to address anger management.

Marianne comments "11 - 18 year olds are often our most 'playful' of all groups. This includes physical rough and tumble, exploring issues, dressing up (including and mainly the boys), testing boundaries, creativity, and using objects to represent things, which they then use in their play. It has proved to be a space which allows the young people to sort out their issues, pressures and express all the pent up emotions - very valuable in terms of social development. We have over 30 young people between 11 - 18 who attend regularly, including all those who often struggle or potentially struggle to be accepted behavioural wise. We have very little anti-social behaviour within the village, which is not the case in near-by villages and we believe by having a centre for play for these young people makes a big difference."

For further information about the project in North Newbald contact:

Marianne Lownsborough
The Church Rooms Young People's Project
59 Eastgate North Newbald
YORK
YO43 4SD
maz@playscapetraining.co.uk