issue 26

Issue 26
Play for Wales
Play news and briefing from the national organisation for play
Autumn 2008
Play in time
and space
www.playwales.org.uk
2
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
EDITORIAL
Contents
Editorial
News
page
2
3-5
Keeping Secrets – in defence of
children’s privacy
6
In defence of the fence
7
Against the fence
8
Play in hospitals
9
^
Ty Hafan celebrates Playday
9
Playday 2008
10
Rhodri Morgan on Playday
10
Hooray! Playwork: Principles into
Practice (P3) Level 2 is now an
accredited qualification...
11
Assessment is the word this
summer – there’s a lot of it
going on!
11
Take the Credit
11
Foundations of Playwork
– a book review
12
Olympic Reward
12
Skills that work for Wales:
A skills and employment strategy 13
Playworkers Forum
13
Events
14
Farewell to Ben
14
Date set for
IPA Conference 2011
14
Lady Allen of Hurtwood
Memorial Trust 2009 Awards
14
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
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Editorial
he summer might be a time for
rest, relaxation and reflection for
some, but not for the play sector – as
always play providers have been
hard at work making sure children
and young people of Wales have
great places to play. While children
have been on summer holiday,
agencies and organisations have
been working to make sure that time,
space and freedom for all children to
play becomes a matter of entitlement
set down in law.
T
Over the summer we have planned
responses to two crucial consultations
regarding play and play opportunities:
the Welsh Assembly Government’s
Taking Action on Child Poverty
consultation and the Welsh Assembly
Government and BIG Lottery Fund
Dormant Accounts Consultation.
The latter consultation on how money
should be spent is another opportunity
to influence the spending of part of the
estimated £10-12 million available in
Wales. Naturally we think it should be
spent on providing or sustaining quality
play opportunities. We urge readers to
respond to this consultation making the
case for play – we have good evidence
that the number and strength of
responses from the play sector can
make a real difference to how money is
allocated.
We welcome the launch at the national
Eisteddfod of a new report from the
Children’s Commissioner’s Office – A
happy talent: disabled children and
young people’s access to play in Wales
2007 – a review of local authority
strategies and how they provide for play
opportunities for disabled children. The
weather may not have been the best
for playing outdoors but inside the tent
during the discussion and debate, the
commitment from a number of
politicians to bring about change and
to question gaps in services was clear
and heart-warming.
As noted in the findings of A happy
talent, many local authority strategies
are still in draft form. We recognise that
many are working hard to complete
their strategies and we hope that this
review and the potential of a statutory
duty being placed on local authorities
will help provide drive and direction.
Also in order to make the most of the
second round of BIG Lottery Child’s Play
programme funding, play projects
wishing to apply will need to
demonstrate how their work
complements play strategies locally.
Those of us who work on this magazine
were extremely pleased when earlier this
year Play for Wales was mentioned in
the House of Lords by Lord “Battling”
Barry Jones of Flintshire … it’s so good to
know that it is read and found useful, if
only by one happy recipient! We hope
you will find time to complete the
reader evaluation enclosed (or on our
website at www.playwales.org.uk) – if
only to prove to us that there is more
than one reader out there ... but
seriously we do have feedback to
suggest that Play for Wales is widely
read and we want to make sure it is as
good as possible.
And finally, ‘No Ball Games’ signs in
Newport have been replaced with
‘Play More Here’ signs – congratulations
to all those who made this happen.
Wouldn’t it be fantastic to see the same
signs in communities all over Wales?
Mike Greenaway
Director, Play Wales
IPA Conference 2011
he International Play Association
2011 conference will be held in
Cardiff City Hall from Monday 4 July
to Friday 8 July 2011 – so pencil it in
your diaries please everybody!
T
For more details see page 14
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 26 Autumn 2008
NEWS
3
Quality in Play
A Quality Assurance Scheme is being developed for
childcare and play providers in Wales. This long awaited
scheme will enable play providers in out of school
childcare and open access playschemes to demonstrate
the quality of their provision, and raise the standards, so
children and young people in Wales have the best possible
experiences from attending.
C
lybiau Plant Cymru Kids’ Clubs has been awarded
the tender from the Welsh Assembly Government to
write a quality assurance programme for out of school
childcare clubs and open access play provision. The
scheme will be tailored to the needs of children and
young people in Wales and developed in line with the
Play Policy for Wales (2002).
The bilingual scheme will be developed in consultation with
children, parents, play and childcare providers, local and
central government, Care and Social Services Inspectorate
Wales (CSSIW) and other key stakeholders. This will ensure that
Playday
at the
Eisteddfod
As part of national Playday celebrations
on 6 August we showed our short film
Pushing Eddie in the Nettles with Connor
at the national Eisteddfod in Cardiff.
his was followed by a chaired discussion on
children’s access to challenge and adventure in
their play.
T
The discussion was chaired by Marc Phillips, Director of
BBC Children in Need, who was joined on the panel by
Louisa Addiscott, a playwork trainer and assessor, and
Gareth Jones, from
the Children’s
Commissioner’s
Office. Helen Mary
Jones AM also
attended and
participated in the
lively discussion.
it addresses the areas that are vital to recognising the
significance and value of play in children’s lives. Wales Quality
Centre, Play Wales and Creating Media (a design and media
consultant) will all contribute their views in developing the
scheme.
During the Autumn, stakeholders will be invited to participate in
focus groups. Work on developing the scheme is due to be
completed by February 2009.
For more information please contact
Jane Burdett on 029 2074 1000
or janeb@clybiauplantcymru.org
Dormant
accounts
The BIG Lottery Fund and the
Welsh Assembly Government have
launched a consultation on the
expenditure related to dormant
accounts funding in Wales. There is an
estimated £10–£12 million funding available
for Wales – which BIG will be distributing on
behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government.
his consultation is your opportunity to influence how and
where it should be spent.
T
The consultation document outlines the broad priorities
identified by the Welsh Assembly Government for the fund,
(mainly young people and climate change).
We have evidence that responding to consultations can
influence decision-making at government level. We are calling
on all those with an interest in children’s play to respond to this
consultation, making the case for funding play provision in
Wales. The consultation is open to anyone to respond and if
many of us contribute it represents a real and significant
opportunity for us to increase funding.
Closing date for responses: 14 November 2008.
For further information and to respond to the consultation
visit: www.biglotteryfund.org.uk/wales
4
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
NEWS
New play guidance
The Welsh Assembly Government is currently revising Technical Advice Note 16 (TAN 16), that
provides technical guidance supplementing Planning Policy Wales (2002).
AN 16 advises on the role of the planning system in
making provision for sport and recreational facilities, and
open informal spaces, as well as protecting existing
facilities and open spaces to meet the diversity of
recreational needs in urban and rural areas of Wales.
T
The revised TAN will be launched by Jane Davidson, Minister for
Environment, Sustainability and Housing, this month.
Fields in Trust’s (FIT) newly published Planning and Design for
Outdoor Sport and Play replaces and updates the Six Acre
Standard.
Planning and Design for Outdoor Sport and Play continues to
uphold the original FIT recommendation that six acres of
recreational space is required for every thousand people – a
benchmark which has become the accepted industry-wide
standard since its inception in the 1930s. It also provides a
detailed framework of the issues relating to quantity, quality
and accessibility of outdoor facilities for sport and play and
Play for a
Change
Research
The Play for a Change report
illustrates the substantial and
wide-ranging evidence of the
importance of play in the
lives of children.
lay for a Change is a review of
perspectives on play, policy and
practice carried out for Play England
by Stuart Lester and Wendy Russell of
the University of Gloucestershire. The
review complements and updates the
review undertaken for the Children’s
Play Council in 2001.
P
A six page briefing can be
downloaded from the resources
section of the Play England
website – www.playengland.org.uk.
The full report and a sixty page
‘summary’ will be published by the
end of September 2008.
the importance of local assessments and standards.
For more information visit: www.npfa.co.uk
Play England commissioned the Free Play Network to produce
Design for Play: A guide to creating successful play spaces.
The Guide will help those involved in commissioning and
designing places for play put play value at the heart of
provision.
The Guide shows how to design good play spaces, that can
be affordably maintained, and that give children and young
people the freedom to play creatively, yet still experience risk,
challenge and excitement. The Guide sets out a new
approach, tackles some current myths, and aims to challenge
providers to think more laterally and creatively about children
and young people in the public domain.
The guide is available free of charge. Please order and
download from the Play England website:
www.playengland.org.uk
Guide to
managing risk in
play provision
Consultants Bernard Spiegal, David Ball and Tim Gill are
producing a practical implementation guide to risk
management in play space provision. The Guide to
Managing Risk in Play Provision has been agreed with the
Play Safety Forum (this group brings together UK
organisations interested in play safety, including Play Wales)
and will be published in the next few months.
he guide will encourage an
approach to play provision that
does not automatically seek the
‘safe’ route but enables play
providers to develop and manage
challenging and stimulating play
provision. Therefore children will be
able to experience risk and danger
within an informed professional
framework that does not conflict
with providers’ legal and ethical
duty of care.
T
This resource will be a ‘how-to’ guide
to risk management in play space
provision and will include a discussion
of the philosophical implications of
attempting to challenge risk-averse
provision.
The guide will complement the Play
Safety Forum’s position statement for
all those involved in play provision –
Managing Risk in Play Provision which
can be downloaded at
www.playengland.org.uk
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
NEWS
5
Children’s Commissioner’s report
At the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff the Children’s Commissioner’s Office
launched a new report on disabled children, young people and play. The
report: A happy talent: disabled children and young people’s access to
play in Wales 2007 is a review of local authority play strategies.
T
he report is based on twenty
local authorities play
strategies, many of which were
still in draft form. The findings of the report include:
‘Some strategies make statements that all future play
provision should be planned to include the needs of
disabled children from the outset, with no reference to
plans for improving existing provision. It would appear
that making play inclusive of all children is an
afterthought rather than being integral to all policy and
strategy development… Some of the strategies identify
disability as a barrier to accessing play; but,
unfortunately, they do not set out clearly how this barrier
will be overcome.’
At the launch there was a panel discussion which included
Helen Mary Jones AM, who chairs the Children and Young
People’s Committee, who said:
‘The Children’s and Young People’s Committee are
committed to ensuring that play opportunities improve for all
children and young people. We know there are examples of
good practice in some parts of Wales, but we are keen to
ensure that the gaps between national policy and what
happens at grass roots level are addressed. I am keen to
make sure that local partnerships become more
accountable for how they plan and develop play services for
all children.’
The report, and a child friendly version of the report, can be
downloaded from the Children’s Commissioner’s website:
www.childcomwales.org.uk
Integrated Children’s Centres
evaluation research
T
services for children and their families. BIG has provided
funding for capital projects in all existing ICCs.
As part of the strategy to ensure access to quality
childcare for working parents or for parents wishing to
undertake education or training, all local authorities in
Wales are required to develop at least one ICC to offer
This research will extend over eighteen months, and
evaluate the extent to which the Centres’ aims are being
achieved, the nature of their activities and their impact,
whether and to what extent ICCs are promoting multiagency working, and the effectiveness of management
structures at strategic and operational levels.
he National Foundation for Educational Research
(NFER) has been commissioned by the BIG
Lottery Fund (BIG) to evaluate the work of Integrated
Children’s Centres (ICCs) in Wales.
Review of Childminding
and Daycare Regulations
hildminding and daycare for children aged under
eight are regulated in Wales under the Children Act
1989. Registration and inspection of these settings is
carried out by the Care and Social Services Inspectorate
Wales (CSSIW). In carrying out these functions, CSSIW must
have regard to National Minimum Standards (NMS). There
are six sets of such standards, relating respectively to
childminding, full daycare, crèches, sessional care, out of
school childcare, and open access play.
C
As the framework for regulation has been broadly unchanged
since April 2002, the Welsh Assembly Government is in the
process of letting a contract to carry out a review of the
legislation surrounding the regulation of childminding and
daycare regulation in Wales, including National Minimum
Standards (NMS).
The intention is to facilitate discussion amongst relevant
parties, as to the continued effectiveness of the existing
legislation. The successful contractor will prepare a paper
outlining the results and proposals on possible changes to the
regulatory framework and National Minimum Standards, arising
from the stakeholder consultation. This paper could include
recommendations, ranging from initial intentions for the use of
an Assembly Measure to alter primary legislation, to detailed
and more rapid changes including amendment to existing
regulations and NMS.
6
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
KEEPING SECRETS – IN DEFENCE OF CHILDREN’S PRIVACY
Keeping secrets
– in defence of children’s privacy
A
bright green path runs the length of a
playground’s back wall, draped all over with lowhanging ivy. Dense as the jungle, the path veers
around a tree, under another arch, and then bursts
out suddenly into a broad clearing. Tall trees stand
on three sides and the ground underfoot is stamped
down to bare dirt. Bits of cloth swing from the
branches above, moving slightly in the damp autumn
breeze. In the clearing is a table that was dragged
from the main building, with two chairs tucked
conversationally alongside. One is turned over, as if
a small party was abruptly disbanded.
I returned to this spot at the adventure playground regularly
after my first sighting, making careful charts of changes there
at the close of every day. I was cataloging evidence of a
culture enacted out of sight of adults and out of their control.
Private places offer so much that we
consider essential to play, and to
childhood. In a world of strident
marketing tactics, high pressure
academic regimes, endless testing
both scholastic and social, as well as
‘helicopter parenting’ and CCTV,
genuine privacy is under threat – and
more necessary than ever. A place to
be voluntarily alone allows the
individual child to learn and practice
techniques of solitude and
independence, to explore the potential
of solitude for relaxation,
contemplation, refuge and
experimentation.
Carl Jung spoke of the private place as
a ‘fortress’ for the emerging individual,
as a testing ground for techniques of
selfhood. More recently the notion of
privacy and secrecy has been argued
as ‘closely related to the achievement
of self-identity and self-esteem’ (R.
Bechtel et al, The Handbook of
Environmental Psychology, 2002) and
associated with ‘independence,
personal power and positive
autonomy’ (Manen, Max van and
Levering, Bas. Childhood’s Secrets:
Intimacy, Privacy and the Self
Reconsidered, New York Teachers College Press, 1996). Time
spent with the self in a place of shelter and safety is central to
the individual’s creation of boundaries, and the concurrent
sense of one’s own value that is necessary to maintain them
with others.
A study of dens or camps made on the fringes of play space
demonstrates how the best hiding places are opportunistic,
offering play value in the seeking out and creation of places
of privacy. In sneaking to places ‘beneath and behind’ fixed
equipment of their worlds, children are practicing skills of
subterfuge and secret-keeping as they find, inherit and create
new worlds. Children’s private places of community offer the
opportunity to build and enact culture, to share information
and participate in secret-sharing, illicit consumption,
experimentation with language and social strategies. This is
the development of a world within playspaces, but also apart
from it. Offering children the chance to learn and negotiate
all this for themselves, privacy is also one of the most difficult
play needs to provide, and to advocate.
The playground itself is a physical and social framing of space,
and forms the context for the play within it. Dens and forts are
usually tucked away in sub-locations bounded and screened
off by trees, hedges and fixed play equipment. Ideally they
offer both refuge and vantage point, being able to see
without being seen. Loose parts such as
furniture and fabric are often included.
How do we create a system of place
that provides for, even encourages its
own creative subversion? Our
observation of hidden areas, the
‘cleaning up’ loose parts from the site at
the end of the day; these have direct
implications for children’s rights to
privacy on site.
Adult fears relating to sex and violence
say more about our own anxieties than
children’s behaviours. This is for us to
come to terms with, because without
opportunities to learn and practice
techniques of being alone and being
alone with others, how are children to
become adept social agents? How are
they to learn and maintain the
boundaries of their growing selves? How
to trust, how to be trustworthy, how to be
brave in untested company, how to
make and keep friends – this is all
learned between children when we are
not around. The most frightening
situations will generally happen when
adults are not watching, so how much
better it is to provide ‘spots’ of privacy,
opportunistic openings for
experimentation with privacy, within a
structure of sympathetic and responsible
adults. This, and our long-standing commitment to children’s
rights and needs, is why adults in play are ideally located to
advocate also for children’s rights to privacy.
This article was written by Morgan Leichter-Saxby, a US
playworker, researcher and consultant working in the UK.
She works with a variety of groups to promote free and
inclusive play.
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
FENCES AND BUNTING
7
In defence of the fence
Penny Wilson describes and emphasises
the importance of boundaries to
preserve children’s play opportunities in
an urban area.
herever you go in the borough where I work, you see
the legacy left by the blitz. In Shadwell every building
is grey and blocky. Every space available for play has a
sign: ‘No Ball Games’. The homes are not designed with
children in mind. Children are surrounded by lines of
division which make moving around the borough as difficult
as flick-flacking your way through a mesh of laser burglar
alarms. Every space excludes children and what is
important to them – playing.
W
The only spaces where play is permitted are nasty little
primary-coloured play areas with tangles of metal inside. In
most cases, two rows of railings separate the age groups –
older children in one area, younger children in another. To
me, this is a way for play equipment manufacturers to sell
more equipment – and a way to make sure we are keeping
tight control on the children. They are clearly not safe to play
together or as part of the community!
So I walk along Cable Street. It feels like walking along a
gulley with slabs of rockface on either side, and the constant
nagging of the No Ball Games signs. They niggle away at
the subconscious culture of the growing and grown
community: ‘Playing is wrong – disapprove of play,’ “dis” play
whenever you come across it, ‘Play is not cool or
acceptable.’
Then I see it. Another fence, another sign of a land grab, but
here there are giant cut-outs of giant children drawn and
painted by themselves. There are welcome signs that really
mean it – they say, ‘You may play here!’ Written large for all
to see – these signs celebrate children, rather than oppress
or exclude them. And inside this wonderful fence, what
treasures for children are hidden in the larger than life sized
walk-in button box ...?
... a splash of colour, a riot of noise. The skeleton of a weird
funfair or circus, decorated with old road signs and traffic
cones, daubed with clumsy paint in tender, witty, quirky
touches. This play space signifies a zest for life – not an inane
primary coloured ‘Kodak moment’.
‘Roll up children welcome to Glamis Adventure Playground,
the environment that compensates for Shadwell!’
take a real risk and dress up in a shimmering ball gown and
a red fright wig, make small worlds from tiny toys ... perhaps
trying to create a world they understand and desire. The
teenage boys drag the crash-mats to a stage and flump
down on them – giggling and telling soft stories. The girls
enjoy their scarves fluttering behind them as they fly, really fly,
through the sky, weightless, on the swing.
Could this happen if the fence was not here to mark out the
space? If the fence did not echo the message of the zaney
towers – the minarets that call the children to play, shouting
out the message that children are welcomed here and their
playing is the most important work to be done? Would this
space have been used for yet another new housing
development? Probably – every other tiny scrap of land is
bristling with construction.
New building developments are required by law to
accommodate play space for children. Yet we know that the
notion of playable space has been so abused by designers
and architects that the spaces by wheelie bins and between
parked cars are designated children’s space. Talk about
spaces of exclusion!
In Shadwell children live in high-rise blocks but are unable to
get any feeling of height; they will never have climbed a
tree. Here they can scramble up the structures and test their
nerves on the ‘raiders of the lost arc’ (sic) bridge as they look
down on the roofs of the houses around them. They can feel
their own deaths in the pits of their stomachs as they tremble
on the edge of anticipation, swinging, knotted seat in hand,
before they plummet to earth … almost.
At Glamis Adventure playground the fence holds the
environment. It is like a womb, a space for creation, a space
that is different from any other. One of the Glamis children (8)
said ‘out there on the streets I have to be so cool and hard.
But in here I can just relax and be myself and play.’
They can make fires in the tip. They eat the grapes they grow
and have a plot of land to garden if they want. They can
The full version of this article can be downloaded from
our website.
I support this fence as bunting, as celebration – as a triumph
of sanity over commerce.
8
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
FENCES AND BUNTING
Against the fence
Nine year old Maria recounts the
negative impact fencing play areas
has on play opportunities.
y family and me live in Wales and we went to London
for the weekend in May. When my dad and two
brothers went to watch our friend play football, my sister
Caitlin and me asked to go to the park. Regent’s Park was
nearby. I thought it was big and posh and royal with lots of
pretty flowers.
M
We liked it there. We explored the bushes and flowers, played
leap frog, grabbed blossom and chased the pigeons. Then
we found an exciting play area. It looked good because it
had sand and bark and loads and Ioads of big play areas.
The only problem was the gate was locked. My mum
managed to convince us that maybe there was some work
going on, and it was such a big park, maybe we could find
another play area.
Caitlin and me played leap frog towards London Zoo. We did
find another, even better park, but again it was locked. Mum
looked at the opening hours. It was meant to close at 7.30pm,
but it was still only 6.30pm. There was no sign of work or repairs
in this one either.
I was disappointed, but surprised that I felt like I wanted to
climb the fence to go and play. I started climbing and
stopped and turned around to ask, ‘Mum you will back me up
if I get caught, won’t you?’
‘Yeah, go ahead if you want,’ Mum said, looking around (I think
to make sure no one was watching us).
I don’t think she was worried because the sign said it should be
open. Maybe the caretaker or whoever was looking after it was
on a break. But Caitlin didn’t want to join me because she
thought she would get caught.
After a quick run around, a swing and a few slides, I started to
feel a bit worried because some people were riding past on
their bikes looking at me like they were going to tell someone
– so I climbed back out.
We left the park to start to walk back to the hostel.
‘Is Play Wales gonna sort this?,’ I asked Mum.
‘This is England,’ Mum answered.
‘Well I hope your gonna tell Play England!’
my sister said.
Mum said maybe we would write a letter. In the end it was
pretty cool because I got to have the whole park to myself
and I felt a bit like the queen’s daughter in her garden.
I’m not sure why there is a fence there. It’s like they are trying
to stop something. It’s not like anything is going to happen
–because it was in the middle of the park way away from the
road. I don’t know why there is an opening time on the play
area anyway. It’s not like a café or restaurant. The play area
should close when the whole park closes. They shouldn’t even
have a play area there if they are going to lock it.
Fences and playgrounds in Japan
Our friend, Chris Snell, visited Japan
earlier this year, he tells us about
playground boundaries in Japan.
he first thing that strikes you entering a Japanese
adventure playground is the lack of a big fence. Most
playgrounds are open to the public and many have public
paths crossing them. This immediately gives them a feeling
of being within the community and not, as is often the
case in the UK, a children’s enclave apart from it.
T
Coupled with the welcoming attitude of the playworkers to
adults visiting the site, the playgrounds have many more
parents and other adults on the site than most UK
playgrounds. In contrast to a suspicious ‘stranger danger’
attitude to adults, the Japanese play movement places
importance on engaging adults as a way of embedding
children and play into the community. Indeed playworkers
see working with adults as a major part of their role and
devote as much time to enabling other adults to facilitate
play as they do to working directly with children.
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
FREEDOM, TIME AND SPACE TO PLAY
9
Play in hospitals
Sue Simpson, a Hospital Play Specialist
at University Hospital Wales, explains
how play opportunities are facilitated
in hospitals.
P
lay in hospital is as important to children as play is
anywhere else.
The Hospital Play Specialist (HPS) aims to provide as many play
opportunities as possible bearing in mind the constraints
imposed by hospitalisation. Most hospitals have playrooms on
each ward, many of which are accessible to the children
throughout the day and evening, children who are mobile
can then go to the playroom and choose what they want to
play with.
As HPS’ we realise that play can take place anywhere and
medical issues and equipment should not be a reason not to
play. The HPS has to be adaptable in providing play in hospital
especially in restricted settings, for example the x-ray
department, traction beds and intensive care units. It is
important for us to look past the medical condition and
equipment and see the child – often a very scared and
frightened child – and use play to alleviate the stress caused
for the child, family and staff by a hospital admission.
When a child is restricted to their bed for medical reasons,
their bed space then becomes their play space. The HPS must
then take play opportunities to the child. The bed might be
transformed into a tent, spaceship, painting space, in fact
anything that will encourage the child to play and if only for a
short time feel themselves removed from a clinical
environment.
Play in hospital can have many interruptions thus restricting the
child’s time to play – physio time, ward rounds medication
times, and procedures. The HPS will endeavour to encourage
play whilst incorporating these times. If a patient needs to go
to a different part of the hospital for tests and so forth, the HPS
will try to make sure the child can take something with them to
play with, in case there is a delay. Toys, books and small
equipment can be taken to theatre and many children play
whilst waiting to have an anaesthetic.
Time to play can give child patients a sense of freedom, and
access to free play time is vitally important as patients have
very little control over what happens to them in hospital. The
HPS encourages children and other members of staff to play
whenever the opportunity arises.
Despite the restrictions imposed on time, space and freedom
in a hospital environment, the role of the HPS is to ensure that
play continues during an admission and its value is recognised
as a therapeutic tool.
Play can reduce the fear and anxiety felt when a child is
admitted to hospital, but perhaps the most important thing is
that play in hospital can be fun.
Find out more in the Play Places sections at
www.playwales.org.uk
Ty^ Hafan celebrates Playday
y^ Hafan, the children’s hospice in South Wales, has
always provided play and leisure opportunities so the
children who stay there can experience fun and
enjoyment. To celebrate Playday they held a week of
special activities, which involved the children, siblings
and the care staff.
T
The hospice, which provides respite and palliative, terminal
care for children with life-limiting diseases and their families,
celebrated this year’s Playday theme of risky play by providing
the children with the opportunity to handle reptiles, learn circus
skills and stage their own mini Olympics. They also had the
chance to chisel wood with a local scout group, and a multisensory room was set up with fibre optics, bubble tubes and
lots of different textured objects and food for the children to
play with. The snow machine was a firm favourite with
the children (like Samuel, pictured) as it gave them an
opportunity to experience some of the sensations that
we take for granted.
^Hafan is one of the first children’s hospices in the UK
Ty
to establish its own toy and leisure library. It was opened
a year ago and includes specialist equipment to stimulate
and encourage children to express themselves through play.
For more information please contact Helen Gillingham, the
Outreach Play Practitioner on 029 2053 2200
or hgillingham@tyhafan.org
10
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
FREEDOM, TIME AND SPACE TO PLAY
Playday 2008
layday took place on Wednesday 6 August this
year. Thousands of children and young people
across Wales took part in the celebrations and
went out and played at locally organised events.
P
This year’s Playday theme was centred on risky play and how
children need and want challenge, excitement and
uncertainty in play. Some playschemes incorporated this into
their activities, in Tredegar Park for example; children were
climbing trees, playing in the sand, planting seeds and using
tools to saw wood. At a majority of events, children were also
given the opportunity to play with water, and to do scrap and
junk modelling, digging in the mud, den building and doing
some sensory activities too.
Overall the day was a great
success, with many tired,
but happy children by
four o clock in the
afternoon. Festivities continued into the evening at the Oval
Basin in Cardiff Bay where children were provided with
climbing frames, skateboard ramps, drumming, percussion
and costume workshops and wall graffiti by
Cardiff Council Children’s Play services.
Research released for Playday 2008 which shows children are
facing serious restrictions to their opportunities for adventurous
play can be accessed at
www.playday.org.uk/playday_campaigns/2008
_give_us_a_go/2008_research.aspx
Rhodri Morgan on Playday
On Playday, thirteen year old Joe
interviewed First Minister Rhodri Morgan
in Llanishen Park, Cardiff.
oe: This year’s Playday theme is ‘don’t wrap us in
bubble wrap’. What do you think of the theme?
J
Rhodri: I think it’s a fair point. There’s a tremendous
difference now in how careful parents are about kids, there’s
no chance of just disappearing out of the house in the
morning, after breakfast, and coming back in the evening,
as we used to do when we were children.
Joe: Did you know more children my age were treated
for repetitive strain injury than broken arms in the
past year?
Rhodri: That’s weird isn’t it. There’s play equipment around
now that would have been inconceivable when I was your
age, about fifty five to sixty years ago. Personal computers,
joysticks, playstations and all that was just unimaginable to
us. So, obviously we used to be out and about exploring and
climbing trees and yes, occassionally having accidents.
On the other hand, we learnt a lot more about how to
appreciate risk. Because we were out so much adventurous
play was not something you had to organise, it would just be
automatic.
Joe: When I was in primary school the teachers and
dinner ladies didn’t let us do lots of stuff at playtime.
They always said it was too dangerous and ‘health and
safety’ said we couldn’t do it. What can the
government do to change this and make play more
enjoyable and fun?
Rhodri: Even in my day I can remember there used to be a
game we played in the playground which was then banned
on the grounds because it was too dangerous, and I’m
talking before the 1950s. That’s a long time ago. This is a
game called ‘strong horses, weak donkeys’ in which the kids
used to line up in a group with the younger kids at the front
and us all running along in a line then we used to leap with
the smaller kids at the front to see if you could collapse the
whole thing. That was risky so that was banned.
Above: Rhodri and Joe under the umbrella
Even in those days there was a health and safety issue about
play and some games got banned because they were
dangerous for kids’ backs. But in general people didn’t worry
so much about health and safety and as a result you learnt
to appreciate risk in your own way and therefore it was you
the child making the decision not the adults making the
decisions for you.
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
11
HOORAY!
Playwork: Principles into
Practice (P3) Level 2 is now
an accredited qualification
This means that by October over 400 learners
in Wales will have completed the course and
become qualified Level 2 playworkers.
he training is available in Welsh or English. If you want to know
more about P3 training please visit the training section of our website
or contact Mel Welch on 029 2048 6050 or mel@playwales.org.uk
T
Assessment is the word this summer
– there’s a lot of it going on!
Learners who completed Playwork:
Principles into Practice (P3) last year are
being assessed. Learners completing P3
this year are being assessed.
nd there’s a team of would-be P3 assessors also being
assessed whilst assessing P3 learners. So someone near
you is probably undergoing assessment!
A
Now P3 has become a qualification, those wishing to gain it
have to not just participate in the course, but also complete
a number of reflective accounts, answer questions and be
observed by one of our growing assessor team. It’s not too
hard or too scary, but it does have to be done properly – we
have verifiers checking this is the case.
Apart from the fact that it is a qualification requirement,
assessment is really necessary for playwork. We take
assessment very seriously because we need to know that P3
training works. We want to see qualified playworkers who can
prove they have grasped the basics of the Playwork
Principles, so that ultimately we can ensure that those
working with children out of school will uphold children’s right
to play in the ways they want and need.
Take the credit
2 December 2008 –
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
ake the Credit: the first national playwork skills
conference in Wales is a conference organised by
Playwork Wales working in partnership with SkillsActive.
T
The Deputy Minister for Skills John Griffiths will be officially
launching Playwork Wales – the National Centre for
Playwork Education and Training. The findings of the Where
are you? Ble wyt ti? playwork research survey will be
presented and there will be a variety of workshops to
choose from.
This exciting conference is for playwork development
officers, executive officers, training providers, further
education and higher education staff, playwork and
childcare employers, careers information services, playwork
managers and workforce development officers.
For further information or to book your place please visit
the events section of our website or contact Kate on
029 2048 6050 or mail@playwales.org.uk
12
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
Foundations of Playwork
– a book review
Playworkers today work across very varied
environments and must navigate a
complicated path that involves balancing
theory with practice and personal
reflection with public advocacy.
Other notable
contributors include Perry
Else, Wendy Russell,
Stuart Lester, Tim Gill,
Mick Conway, Annie
Davy, Adrian Voce and
Fraser Brown.
Fraser Brown is Reader in Playwork at Leeds Metropolitan
University and is perhaps best known as an author including his
recent publication The Venture: A case study of an adventure
playground published by Play Wales, and for his work with
abandoned children in Romania. Chris Taylor is a lecturer,
trainer and consultant and significantly for this book, the author
of the learning outcomes for the Foundation Degree.
There are too many
excellent chapters to
name individually but for
this reader some of the
most thought provoking
included Brown’s own
critique of the Playwork
Principles; Penny Wilson
on inclusion; Maureen Palmer on health and safety;
Mike Wragg on guerilla playwork; and Adrian Voce on
promoting effective play strategies. Although tantalisingly
short, each, like a good film trailer, is guaranteed to make you
sit up, pay attention and start thinking.
As its title suggests Foundations of Playwork is framed by the
curriculum of the Playwork Sector Endorsed Foundation
Degree. Its 56 short chapters from 49 different contributors are
loosely organised to cover everything from the child at play
and the playwork approach to the wider context including
legislation, management and research.
Given the nature of such a wide-ranging book it is inevitable
that several times you are left wanting more – chapters rarely
exceed four pages so a particularly useful addition is the
annotated bibliography of selected playwork texts by
Anna Kassman-McKerrell. This is certain to be invaluable for
anyone looking to broaden and further his or her studies.
Individual chapters use a range of methods including case
studies, reflections and critiques and consider playwork in
environments from parks to prisons. One refreshing aspect of
Foundations of Playwork is that it considers playwork in all four
home nations as well as offering insights into playwork in
Romania and the US.
It is to the editors’ credit that Foundations of Playwork
succeeds in appealing to a wide audience thanks to its
accessible style and sheer variety of contributions. This variety
is well suited to playwork where, as the authors note, a holistic
view of the child is important.
he sheer variety and scope of what playworkers do has
seldom been adequately represented in one place but
this new publication Foundations of Playwork edited by
Brown and Taylor aims to help change all that.
T
The contributors, like the materials, represent a diverse range
of interests and positions and include many of the leading
theorists, practitioners, trainers, advocates and policy makers in
the field.
The highlight of the book is surely the central chapter by Brian
Sutton Smith, arguably the world’s leading play theorist.
Drawing together various threads, including his seminal work
The Ambiguity of Play, it offers an exciting glimpse into the
future of playwork theory.
Although generally neutral in tone many contributors speak
with impressive honesty and conviction about their thoughts,
feelings and experiences. Chapters are clearly structured and
comprehensively referenced.
Foundations of Playwork provides a wide-ranging and up to
date overview of the playwork sector that convincingly reflects
current playwork practice. It succeeds in bringing together
many different strands of play and playwork in one volume
and will surely be a significant contribution to the literature for
many years to come.
Olympic Reward
ollowing the Olympics in Beijing gold medal winning cyclist Nicole
Cooke returned home to the Vale of Glamorgan to a fantastic
welcome. The local play rangers (along with their self build water
slide) were part of the celebrations.
F
As seen in the photo Nicole was presented with a special medal made
of self hardening clay, pasta and peas. We’re sure she will treasure her
latest medal!
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT
13
Skills that work for Wales:
A skills and employment strategy
The Deputy Minister for Skills recently
unveiled a new strategy which outlines how
Wales will increase skill levels in the future.
‘Skills That Work for Wales’ is the proposed
new five-year strategy and action plan,
which will replace the current Skills and
Employment Action Plan.
he strategy and action plan include new approaches to
funding, a more demand-responsive skills and business
support service, integrated skills and employment services
delivered through partnership between the Assembly
Government and Department of Work and Pensions and the
transformation of the learning network.
T
Within the Strategy, key announcements include the creation
of the Wales Employment and Skills Board to provide robust,
credible advice to Welsh Ministers on all issues related to skills,
employment and business support.
The Welsh Assembly Government states that the long term skills
challenge will only be met if young people are offered better
opportunities than previous generations to ensure that children
get a good start in life. As a result, the Assembly Government
will ensure the best possible start for young people through the
introduction of the Foundation Phase. They will also revise the
school curriculum and the skills framework for 3-19 year olds;
offer a range of applied learning routes for 14-19 year olds
within the Welsh Baccalaureate; create options that match the
learning styles and interests of students and ensure that
students make informed choices around vocational learning.
In an attempt to address the skills and productivity agenda
across Wales the Assembly Government will expand the
workforce development programme and discretionary
funding, especially for leadership and management
development, and will introduce a new Sector Priorities Fund to
ensure that funding for skills meets the needs of key sectors.
Richard Tobutt, SkillsActive Programme Manager for Wales
Playworkers Forum
Scott Rowley, Play Development Officer in
Flintshire, shares his experiences of the
Playworkers Forum in mid-Wales.
ith the development of our first adventure playground in
Flintshire, the playworker ‘get together’ seemed the
perfect opportunity to gain further knowledge. The location
set the tone for the next couple of days – middle of nowhere,
back to basics with the luxury of toilet and shower facilities
(which was more than what we originally anticipated!)
W
The first workshop that I attended was Assessing Quality, which
looked at our own childhood experience in play environments,
then compared it with what we currently offer to children in the
same area. Not only did this make me question certain
elements that could be lacking in our current provision, but
also look at ways in which we could enhance it in order to
afford the most varied play experience possible.
After a good lunch, I attended the Playing with the Elements
workshop, which gave delegates the opportunity to get stuck
in and to gain new skills. By the end of this session, rafts were
made and raced down the river, an ‘A frame’ and zip wire
were built and a fire started.
The laid back nature of this residential gave delegates the
opportunity to exchange ideas and experiences and was
enhanced by the ‘hands on’ approach to the workshops.
Bands, barbeque and a bonfire – need anymore be said!
On the second day I chose the Structure Building workshop,
which gave delegates a free rein to plan and build a
structure. As my post is heavily office based, this gave me
excellent hands-on experience and especially with our
adventure playground being in it’s early stages, it gave me an
insight into the different types of tools and approaches that
can be used.
This forum is a must for anyone involved in adventure play.
Through the practical emphasis of the event, it enables you to
critically assess your current play provision, gain new skills that
you wouldn’t normally, as well as sharing good practice with
other playworkers across Wales.
14
Play for Wales Issue 26 Autumn 2008
EVENTS AND FUNDING
Events
23 October 2008
Quality Assurance Scheme for Out of
School childcare and Open Access
Play in Wales: All Wales Focus Group
The Metropole Hotel, Llandrindod Wells
www.clybiauplantcymru.org
Standards and Guidance on Actions
within the Play Policy Implementation
Plan
7 October, Llandrindod Wells
8 October, Abergele
14 October, Cardiff
15 October, Carmarthen
Play2@yorkconsulting.co.uk
2 December 2008
Take the Credit –
Playwork Wales and SkillsActive
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff
www.playwales.org.uk
Date set for
IPA Conference 2011
E
arlier this year we announced that we will be
hosting the 2011 International Play Association
(IPA) world conference on it’s 50th anniversary. After
spending weeks looking for the perfect venue that
can accommodate such a large-scale event we have
finally chosen Cardiff City Hall and we will have
exclusive use of the building for the whole week.
The conference will be held Monday 4 – Friday 8 July 2011.
At the moment we are still in the early stages of planning, but
we already have a bank of ideas that will hopefully make this
one of the most memorable conferences that the IPA has
ever held.
If you are interested in the conference please contact
Gill Evans on 029 2048 6050 or info@playwales.org.uk.
*For those who are avid social networkers, we have recently
set up a group on facebook with regular news updates and
informal discussions about the conference.
If you would like to join, please visit
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=25996491058.
Farewell
to Ben
B
en Tawil, one of our
North Wales Play
Development Officers, has
moved on. Fortunately he
hasn’t strayed too far as he
has taken the post of
Programme Leader on the
Play and Playwork degree
^
at Glyndw
r University.
Does my bum
look big in this?
For the past two and a half
years Ben has been
instrumental in several
projects for Play Wales
including the Adventure
Playground Forum – only Ben
could muster up enough
charm to get level-headed
people to ‘crash’ in a field in
the freezing cold (and enjoy
it AND go back for more!). He has provided invaluable
support to playwork in North Wales and has been a vital
contributor to Play Wales’ Playwork: Principles into Practice
(P3) training. The list goes on!
It goes without saying that we’ll all miss him enormously
and wish him all the best in his new job.
Lady Allen
of Hurtwood
Memorial Trust
2009 Awards
pplications are invited for the 2009
Lady Allen Awards made to candidates
working with children, to travel and broaden
their professional experience and apply it to
their work. The grants given annually are
normally up to £1000.
A
Closing date for applications: 15 January 2009
For further information, forms and guidelines
please visit www.ladyallentrust.org, or write to
Caroline Richards, 89, Thurleigh Road, London SW12 8TY.