Author: alipwood

Inspecting your adventure playground

As practitioner-led structure building declines, Rob Wheway of the Children’s Play Advisory Service explains how inspection training is part of a renaisance of this quintessential feature of the traditional adventure playground.

Over the course of its history, adventure play has had a variety of attributes promulgated as its defining practice ethos, with different aspects taking prominence at different times, as fashion – both in playwork and in the wider zeitgeist – fluctuates. First ‘risky play’ takes the limelight, then ‘creative play’, before ‘natural play’ wrestles it away for a while … and so it goes on.

Whichever way the zeitgeist goes, though, it is an abiding characteristic of adventure playgrounds that they are made and built by playworkers. The ethos of adventure play is self-build: playworkers build them, and playworkers are responsible for them.

However, many playworkers are currently employed on adventure playgrounds that have either not been rebuilt for some years, or where contractors have been used in preference to training the workforce in the relevant skills.

Such practitioners, having had no role in the building of their playgrounds, are in a difficult position. This was highlighted of the recent case involving the failure of a piece of ‘self-build’ equipment (which had, in fact, been placed by a contractor) and which had not been adequately inspected.  It was this case which probably propelled the furore with an insurance company a couple of years ago, and led to headlines that adventure play is too dangerous to insure.

Upskilling the workforce

The response to this turn of events could be to further deskill the workforce and deaden the adventure playground with rigidity – no more self-build, no more flexibility, no more children ‘spoiling’ bought equipment with hammers and nails … Or, it could be to develop further methodologies to overcome insurers’ fears and to upskill the workforce’s competence in caring for and developing the play environments they provide.

In pursuance of the latter, the short course ‘Inspecting your Adventure Playground’ has been developed by the Children’s Play Advisory Service, which is recognised as one of the foremost resources for health and safety expertise in both the fixed-equipment and adventure play fields.

This course is designed to provide a framework for playworkers to both perform operational inspections of their playsites, and keep an ongoing paper trail as evidence that due care has been taken to repair and maintain the attendant structures.  This both ensures that the site remains in an acceptable state between annual inspections, and covers the organisation and workforce against claims of negligence in the event of unexpected and unforeseeable catastrophe.

Piloted with playworkers

The course has been piloted with playworkers running adventure playgrounds, mostly to a good reception. Participants have commented, “I thought the information given on this course was relevant in order for playworkers to have a better understanding of how to keep a playground safe” and, “Very informative… all adventure playground staff need this training.”  However, there remains some confusion over operational inspection, dynamic risk assessment and annual, independent inspection.

The course is not a substitute for annual, independent, inspection by a competent and qualified person.  Its methodology works in tandem with independent inspection and is intended to overcome the tendency, which overworked playworkers may have, to put the independent inspection, once completed, aside until the following year, in order to avoid the onerous and laborious tick-box sheets which can become robotic, not really checks at all; or the tendency to do the checks, but not to record them. Neither does its methodology work the same as dynamic risk assessment, which is a process for judging actions in the provision, rather than a system for recording the physical safety of the provision itself.

As there is currently no accrediting body for courses in playwork (which the Playwork Foundation and others are working to remedy) the current ‘Inspecting your Playground’ course does not carry a qualification. It does, however, both equip playworkers with the tools to prove competence should the need arise and, more importantly, mitigate against such eventualities by enabling them to be more fully responsible for their own sites.

Rob Wheway
Children’s Play Advisory Service (CPAS)

For more information contact Rob Wheway, Director of CPAS. on whewayr@gmail.com or 024 7650 3540

Ali Wood of the Playwork Foundation adds…

The Playwork Foundation has heard from a number of playworkers in adventure playgrounds with self-build structures about how best to inspect and maintain these to ensure they remain safe. We, therefore, want to promote the course run by the Children’s Play Advisory Service, ‘Inspecting Adventure Playgrounds’ that enables playworkers to do just that. 

At Meriden AP, for example (where I am a trustee), we are currently having to deal with a personal injury claim regarding a child who came on her first visit and broke her leg at the bottom of a slide constructed from large tunnel piping several years earlier.  Had our staff not done this course with Rob Wheway and Simon Rix, we may well have had difficulty providing the necessary evidence for both the solicitor and the insurance company, to show we were not negligent in both checking and maintaining this slide and all our other structures in a meaningful way. 

We were also able to call on Rob Wheway for the extra information we needed regarding what the law does and doesn’t require of us regarding self-build structures and his help was invaluable. I would really urge AP playworkers to do this course so you really know the ongoing condition of your structures both above and below ground and can be sure they are therefore safe.

Ali Wood

Ali Wood is a playwork trainer and writer who is a trustee both of the Playwork Foundation and Meriden Adventure Playground.

Images: Meriden Adventure Playground

MENTAL HEALTH EMERGENCY FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE: A CALL FOR URGENT MASS ACTION

A message from The All-Party Parliamentary Group on a Fit and Healthy Childhood


Zoom Meeting open to all – Monday 8th February 2021 at 4.30 pm

The APPG is inviting you to an open meeting with the aim of encouraging and co-ordinating sector-wide activity to press for improved mental health support for children and young people.  

It is not the intention of the APPG or of the meeting to define precisely what organisations or individuals might wish to say. Each will have their own perspectives, and variety in approach will be an important factor in distinguishing the campaign from a standardised template letter-writing campaign. 

All you need to do if you would like to attend is to email: phil@royalpa.co.uk

Hopes raised
Even before the pandemic, there was overwhelming evidence of a significant and growing decline in the mental health of our children and young people. Much of this evidence was set out in APPG reports 10, 12 and 14. Some of the evidence available since the pandemic is attached to this email, courtesy of The Children First Alliance.

The APPG is currently preparing a further relevant report scheduled for March publication entitled: ‘The Covid Generation: A Mental Health Pandemic in the Making’.

Government seemed to accept that ‘something must be done’ and on 9th January 2017, former Prime Minister Theresa May announced the publication of a Green Paper: ‘Transforming children and young people’s mental health provision.’

In a press release, heralding the Green Paper and captioned ‘Prime Minister unveils plans to transform mental health support,’ Mrs. May said:

‘What I am announcing are the first steps in our plan to transform the way we deal with mental illness in this country at every stage of a person’s life: not in our hospitals, but in our classrooms, at work and in our communities.
This starts with ensuring that children and young people get the help and support they need and deserve – because we know that mental illness too often starts in childhood and that when left untreated, can blight lives, and become entrenched.’


In July 2018, the Government published its response to the public consultation on the Green Paper with a joint Ministerial foreword by the Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, then as now, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and former Secretary of State for Education, the Rt Hon Damian Hinds MP.

They said:

‘The government is delivering on manifesto commitments, taking focused action to provide the support needed by children and young people…Our aim is for the proposals we set out in our Green Paper in December 2017 to transform support for children and young people’s mental health, linked to and building upon what is already done by schools and colleges. We want to make sure that young people have access to the services they need, whilst teachers and schools – who are often on the front line of recognising and supporting a young person’s mental health problems – have access to the training they need…. we are determined to drive this programme forward as quickly as possible with the ultimate ambition for national rollout.’

Hopes that the Green Paper reforms would not be blown off course under the new Prime Minister were high when in the Queen’s Speech of 19th December 2019 Boris Johnson announced his intention to reform the 1983 Mental Health Act ‘during the course of this Parliament’.

It was therefore reasonable to expect that the first comprehensive mental health legislative reform since 1983 would enshrine the principles and major proposals of the Green Paper.

Hopes dashed
There was concern that the Government-commissioned Wessely Review of the Act was strongly focussed on detention issues nevertheless the sector remained hopeful that the Green Paper reforms would not be lost. However, when the White Paper was published on Wednesday 13th January 2021, it became clear that there was little intention to roll out those Green Paper reforms.

The White Paper was laid before Parliament by the Rt Hon Matt Hancock MP, then as now, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, the same Minister quoted above saying in July 2018 of the Green Paper proposals that he was ‘determined to drive this programme forward as quickly as possible with the ultimate ambition for national roll out’.

Insofar as children and young people feature in this White Paper, it is largely in respect to the law on detention and inpatient care.

Undoubtedly, detention issues required addressing and those proposals have been well received but this impacts only on a minuscule number of people compared to the widespread and growing mental health challenges affecting so many children, young people and adults.

The White Paper as it stands represents a sad scaling down from the Green Paper vision of widespread reform to stem the tide of large-scale and growing mental health deterioration especially amongst children and young people, part of the trajectory, further fuelled by reducing levels of physical activity and health, towards the next generation becoming the least healthy adult population in the UK in living memory.

The narrow perspective of the 2021 Johnson White Paper may be best described as polishing the edges of continuity.

Parliamentary support for the Green Paper approach
It is to be assumed that if the recommendations of the Green Paper are intended to persist at all, this will be via the familiar limited trialling of strategies or in the form of ambitions in the NHS Long Term Plan.

At Westminster, however, Parliamentarians have continued to press for the adoption of ‘Green Paper-style’ approaches. Some examples:

It was left to the now Backbench Theresa May MP, responding to the Statement of the Secretary of State, to introduce a dissonant note on the White Paper: ‘I fear though, that the legislation might not be on the statute book until 2023. Meanwhile, GPs and hospitals caring for my constituents tell me that there is an increasing problem of mental health and increasing numbers of people with mental health problems, particularly young people,’ https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2021-01-13a.329.0

Robert Halfon (Harlow, Con, Chair of the Education Select Committee) to the Secretary of State for Education the Rt Hon Gavin Williamson MP, 18th January 2021:

‘…While schools are closed and children are remote learning, mental health worries for millions of children have rocketed, as highlighted by the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health and others. Will my right hon friend work with charities such as Place2Be to put mental health counsellors in all schools now, so that children can access support whenever they need it and their attainment levels will not suffer even further?’
 Munira Wilson (Twickenham, Liberal Democrat) writing in ‘Politics Home’

‘The availability and access to counselling in schools would be a lifeline to many young people, allowing them to get the support they need before they reach crisis point…….The Liberal Democrats are calling on the Government to invest in the future by prioritising access to counselling to children and young people who are already dealing with so much…

’ https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/the-pandemic-has-taken-its-toll-on-the-mental-health-of-our-young-people-we-can’t-just-ignore-it?

Baroness Fall (Con): Questions for Written Answer, tabled on 12th January and due for answer by 26th January:

To ask her Majesty’s Government what percentage of referrals of children with mental health issues referred for treatment from (1) GPs and (2) other health professionals, have been treated through child and adolescent mental health services since 23 March 2020; and what was the percentage of such referrals from 23 March 2019 to 22 March 2020.’

Queries and discussion points that stem from the omission of the 2017 Green Paper ethos and content in the January 2021 White Paper might include the following:

  • What help will the new legislation afford a child or young person before they are in crisis? The White Paper leaps straight to emergency inpatient treatment and misses all the steps beforehand that could have prevented the emergency from happening. Also absent is the great swathe of professionals in the community such as play therapists and counsellors prior to detainment in a hospital or secure setting
  • The Green Paper of 2017 commits resources to the recruitment of therapists, supervisors, training teachers in mental health awareness and ‘puts schools and colleges at the heart of (our) efforts to intervene early and prevent problems escalating.’
  • The Green Paper system to facilitate Mental Health Leads in schools with links to parents and carers with promised Mental Health Support Teams to be supervised in cross-departmental spirit by NHS Children and Young People NHS staff is missing
  • The Green Paper focused on the ‘right help in the right setting’ on early intervention and school-based therapy and support. This differs sharply from the White Paper concentration on ‘invasive’ or ‘other medical treatment’ in an inpatient surroundings
  • There is no recognition of the value and existence of the current workforce in schools to include clinically trained therapists and professional counsellors
  • There is no reflection of the plans in the Green Paper for teacher training and support when dealing with emergent mental health problems in schools
  • If there is little support available for children and young people experiencing mental health problems before they enter crisis, what therefore is proposed for ‘afterwards’ when a young mental health inpatient is discharged? Therapists and counsellors are needed in schools as a matter of statute (not option) both for early intervention, prevention and recuperation after a crisis to help a child to regain health and resilience and go on to thrive in school as is their right
  • A gap is perpetuated between the initial worries of a concerned parent, carer or teacher and a full-blown CAMHS referral. What about the crucial ‘in-between’ stage where the services of trained teaching staff, on-site play therapists and counsellors can make the difference and avert a full-scale inpatient stay?

The call for mass urgent action
Without a determined and concerted effort, there is a real risk that the Green Paper proposals will be ‘sometime, never’ and now is the time for action.

The aim of the action is to press for ‘Green Paper’ inclusions into the current White Paper and to build a concerted, determined campaign for the Green Paper proposals to be enacted, either through the White Paper or otherwise.

It is not the intention of the APPG or of the meeting to define precisely what organisations or individuals might wish to say. Each will have their own perspectives, and variety in approach will be an important factor in distinguishing the campaign from a standardised template letter-writing campaign.

It is however important to act swiftly.

Key links
The White Paper is available here
The Green Paper is available here.
APPG reports 10, 12 and 14 available here.

Who to approach
In essence, write to Rt. Hon. Matt Hancock MP (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) at mb-sofs@dhsc.gov.uk and copy in every political contact you have including:

I look forward to seeing you at the meeting.

Kind regards

Phil Royal
Head of Secretariat
https://fhcappg.org.uk
@fhcappg

Mapping adventure playgrounds in the UK

The Playwork Foundation is attempting to compile a current database of adventure playgrounds, knowing that there have sadly been many closures in recent years. We also want to extend the scope of the data to cover the whole of the UK. 

We are asking members and supporters to help us to review the attached spreadsheet – compiled by Mick Conway when he was at Play England, and last updated in 2017.

Download the spreadsheet here

If you have up-to-date, accurate information on adventure playgrounds in your UK region that differs from the information on the spreadsheet, please contact Ali Wood:  aliwood@blueyonder.co.uk

Image: Meriden Adventure Playground

Questions to a playworker…

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Adele Cleaver trained as a playworker in Birmingham back in 2010. She calls herself “a nomadic Brummie” who after dabbling in playful adventures and community work in Leeds, London and Birmingham and Ghana, Portugal, Brazil, Uganda and Kenya now resides in Bournemouth on the south coast of England with her 4-year-old daughter and husband. 

In November 2019 she started writing her first book which she describes as a part-memoir, part-manifesto on living a life full of play.  She writes “accidentally stumbling into playwork was going to be the best voyage I was ever going to embark on”.  We asked her a few questions about her playwork journey.

How did you become a playworker?

I think I was born a playworker. It just took me a long time to realise my way of being could also be a profession. My home was like a free play environment; a laidback pair of almost hippies for parents with 4 children, over 12-year age gap each with their respective friends over to play, and a multicultural backdrop beyond our doorstep. My mom was a teacher though openly criticised “the system” and longed for the 6 weeks holidays and my dad worked in Social Inclusion for the NHS so I was brought up to live inclusively, be weary of hierarchy and play freely. I went to the University of Leeds to study International Development because when I was 18 I naively thought I could save the world. I moved back to Birmingham and worked at a local youth project as a Youth Worker where I bumped into Laura Watts one of the radical women who founded Dens of Equality. She worked in the building next door,  and took me under her wing because the youth project just wasn’t rebellious enough for me. After a few months of bid-writing and setting up family-led play projects around Birmingham, Laura sent me off to play with Ali Wood and Sue Smith and they turned me into a proper playworker with a capital P and a certificate to prove it.

Are you working on a play project in Bournemouth?

Yes, currently myself; I am my own play priority! The first few years of motherhood and juggling the chaos that a tiny new life brings reminded me that I needed to play more. Playful parents breed playful children so I’ve been prioritising us at home.

But even before motherhood, I took a rest from play when we moved out of London in 2014; not intentionally but because playworker jobs didn’t seem to exist down here. I needed work, couldn’t afford to be fussy so without giving it much thought ditched the play.  I was an Autism Support Worker for a few years before I had my daughter and always tried to work more playfully, but there was no real understanding of play in the organisations I worked for. I felt I had become very institutionalised so I contacted The Prince’s Trust and set up a greetings card business with their support to learn new skills and feed my own creativity.

When I was pregnant we very almost moved to Bristol because I knew we could live more playfully there as a new family but I had fallen in love swimming in sea at the end of our road. So we stayed put and have started rooting here. I often described Dorset as a “play desert”. Apart from Fernheath Play as the little oasis, there isn’t much opportunity for playwork here. After I had my daughter I did Admin at a creative youth project locally in Bournemouth. I could see the glaringly obvious gap in the service provision; these young people weren’t accessing community play as children so they were being referred to us through CAMHS because there are no early intervention projects. I couldn’t handle office work so I left and decided to focus on building up Play here.

So now I am setting up, very slowly, a Community Interest Company called Real Playful. I am running a series of Family Nature Play sessions in collaboration with a local community garden this winter. I am super excited that so many families local to Boscombe are interested; all the workshops were fully booked within days.  Then my next big job is to source playful people and train them up as playworkers so I am currently completing a very tedious application for employability funding. I’m really just relying on my book to become an international bestseller (any agents reading, please call me!!), I’ll be made a millionaire overnight and voila! I can fund all sorts of magical community play projects here, there and everywhere.

Where is your favourite place to play?

Hmmm, it varies. This year I have really genuinely loved being at home, playing in my PJs, all day with my daughter. Lockdown was good for us in that sense because I am a sociable being, and I like to be out and about, but the unstructured, timeless play got priority over my need to be with people. I thoroughly enjoyed being locked away in our own little adventure playground; it was necessary escapism! But if you’d asked me last year I would have said outdoors in the community. Big outdoor community play, mixed ages, multigenerational, loads of loose parts, street closures of festivals of play, neighbours laughing together,  cups of tea being brought out onto the doorstep.  I love the big colourful pop up play sessions I used to create with Parks 4 Play in Birmingham. It was physically demanding work, lugging tonnes of resources around Kings Heath park but it was so magical. That’s the sort of play I want to bring to Boscombe.

Where do you play outdoors?

Well we don’t have much of a garden except a little front hedge area which is big enough for a mud kitchen and my bicycle.  I am not complaining, we live opposite a small charismatic Victorian park and 800m from the beach! 9 miles of glorious sand and a view over to the Purbeck Hills. I’ve always lived in cities and this is the closest I have ever lived to nature; life is good here even though I can only experience vibrant community play in my imagination…. I must remind myself that good things come to those who experience vibrant community play in their imagination!

I still really love going back to Brum and playing in my parent’s overgrown garden when I played as a child. I’m a proper city kid through and through, in terms of my exposure to diversity, multiculturalism and the arts, but I played and played and played in that garden and have a lot of happy memories. For as long as I remember my parents have fixed everything, and kept things ‘just in case they will be useful to fix other things….’ so their garden has always been full of loose parts. It is great, but also kind of a strange time-warp-come-parallel-universe to see my daughter explore freely with all the random stuff I did thirty years earlier.

If you could live in any era, when would you choose?

When people could play and cycle out on the roads without it being dangerous. I joined the Playing Out Activator group at the start of the year, just before lockdown and was so excited to hear of all these communities regularly playing out. And then through lockdown I was campaigning for “Quiet Streets” to be our “legacy of lockdown” in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole (BCP Council) but Highways wouldn’t give us permission. It is so frustrating; without much publicity over 30 residents had expressed an interest, around 10 streets had self-organised stewards, signs and safety kits, but the powers-at-be just wouldn’t give the green light. It is so obvious to me that community playfulness is good for everyone; my council don’t use the same glasses  I do.

What is your favourite word?

I am a linguist so I have 3! In English “Chaos”. Quelquefois (French for “sometimes”) and Bochechas (“cheeks” in Portuguese).

What did you want to be when you were growing up?

Ohhh good question! An author, an artist and an architect. I think I’m almost there. I have just finished my first book, just need to get it published to make me a “real author”. Everyone is an artist, and those with confidence capitalise the A to make them official Artists and I build splendid dens so I guess that makes me an Architect. If I could go back to university I would definitely study urban design, architecture or planning; something to build more community play spaces in cities. Maybe I will go back to university…. Who knows?!

Finally, tell us a little bit about your book.

It is a part-memoir, part-manifesto about prioritising playtime for new parents and gifting our children unstructured family time.  I write from my heart about inclusion, playful encounters in playwork settings, my own childhood play, playful parenting in Cuba and Montreal, miscarriage and multiculturalism.

Connect with Adele

therealplayfulmama@gmail.com

Facebook – Real Playful – Pop Up Community Play

Instagram the_real_playful_mama

Twitter @Adeleplayworker

And if you have any connections to the literary world please help her to circulate her proposal!

Meriden in the pandemic

Trustee Ali Wood describes how Meriden Adventure Playground, in Chelmsley Wood in the West Midlands, is managing to continue its vital work through the Covid crisis

Like all other playgrounds, we had to close during the lockdown.  We furloughed most of the staff but kept two on to stay in touch with the community and to help set up a new food bank and make deliveries – along with made-up play packs – to local families.  We opened up again at the beginning of July, having spent weeks working out to how to do this safely without losing the power and fun of playing – we eventually set up an online booking system (which has been a nightmare to administrate) so that we could open to groups of 20 three times a day.  We required adults to socially distance, but not the children and we also encouraged both children and parents to complete a questionnaire about how they had been feeling and playing during the lockdown. 

A SPECTRUM OF EXPERIENCES

These have yielded some really interesting responses showing a whole spectrum of experiences – ranging from those who had a really tough tine and were still very worried right through to those who had loved being off school and having more time to play.  It was interesting to see the correlation that matched up the most anxious children with the most fearful and stressed out parents…  We also noticed initially that most of the children were more reticent than usual and it took a few sessions for them to get back to their gung-ho selves.  

Being an outdoors only site did make things easier and by August we had nearly all the staff back and were up to 40 children a session and we had also formed a partnership with SOLAR – our local Mental Health NHS Foundation Trust – who have been paying for the exclusive use of the site twice a week with groups of children on their caseloads.  It has been wonderful to see these isolated children particularly, forming friendships with others like them and building up confidence and competence and starting to open up and talk. This is a partnership we shall definitely be building on – the psychologists have a passion for free play and we are learning from each other and sharing good practice.  Youth nights also started up halfway through July and moved up to 30 per session and attracting new young people we didn’t know.

A BUSY SUMMER

So it was a very busy summer interspersed with cameos of spraying disinfectant and dishing out hand sanitiser together with constantly explaining the ‘rules’  for limited numbers to parents who kept turning up at the gate. There has been a lot of ‘can we – can’t we?’ reflections along the way but confidence has grown all-round and despite things not being as they were, the magic and power of playing has definitely returned and feels great.  We looked forward to the school term starting so we could build back up our unaccompanied regulars after-school – many of whom had not returned because they would normally have turned up here in the holidays all day and every day which has not been possible due to online booking.  Many of them did return and we soon went back to offering food again as many of them were hungry.  

We are now into the second national lockdown but have managed to stay open.  After many conversations with both the police and with public health officials about the need to continue supporting kids, we have been allowed to open as long as there is a maximum of 15 ‘children or young people most in need’ present.  That left us with a real conundrum – how could we decide who was most needy.  We managed to structure things so that we have at least two sessions five days a week and are working on trying as far as possible to get the same kids at the same sessions so there is less ‘mingling’ (despite the fact that all these are kids are mingling on the streets after school and in the park). Despite the agreement we had forged, the local police force still came to disperse everyone at the first youth session last Thursday, but fortunately they listened and drove off and we are hoping that doesn’t keep happening.

We are also spending time having strategic discussions and planning for the future in response to the pandemic – we are exploring offering alternative education placements and more therapeutic play sessions as a means of reaching those children most in need, whilst earning extra much-needed income.  These are not easy times for playwork!

Ali Wood
Trustee, Meriden Adventure Playground

If anyone would like to buy our 2021 calendar for a fiver plus postage, that would be great as we are having to do this more by post this year!  Email aliwood@meridenadventureplayground.com for one or more copies – all proceeds go towards feeding kids!

Level 2 Apprenticeship in Playwork

by Gill Games
Chair of the Playwork Trailblazer Apprenticeship Group

Over three years ago now, a group of playwork employers began the journey to build a new Trailblazer Apprenticeship for Playworkers.  Probably if those involved had realised the size of the mountain (actually that should be mountains) in front of them, this journey might never have started, as it has been a whole series of challenges.

Our first challenge was the discovery that the Institute of Apprenticeships questioned that Playwork was actually an occupation.  There followed several frustrating months where we were pushed towards Early Years to be a module on their apprenticeship and then over to Youth Work and then back again.  After much production of evidence and many meetings, employers working on those two Apprenticeships stated clearly that Playwork was a different discipline; and finally Playwork was recognised as having occupational status in its own right.

Another important moment followed very quickly when it was realised that the Apprenticeship was required to train Playworkers from every aspect of the Playwork Industry.  The scope of the Apprenticeship was clear; a Playworker who trained while working as a Park Ranger must be able to move to employment in a closed access after school club without any further training. The steering group finally involved employers from every aspect of Playwork creating lengthy but enlightening discussions all helping to create an exciting and broad Apprenticeship relevant for everyone.

Many challenges followed from the changing of the forms to be used; to the terminology; to gaining understanding of what was expected at each stage.  Lots of frustrations, lots of laughing and lots of building of new relationships and often a wider understanding of the amazing industry we all work in.

Information and overview of the Apprenticeship in Playwork

  • The Standard for the Apprenticeship has been designed by employers of playworkers. It gives a clear description of the occupation describing the responsibilities and tasks involved and the skills, knowledge and behaviours that will need to be attained to show competence.  It is totally based on the duties a Level 2 Playworker is required to undertake.
  • It is approved by the Institute of Apprenticeships
  • The Employer is required to release the Apprentice for 20% of their employed time for off-the-job training
  • The Government pay for a substantial amount of the cost of training, up to 95%, but this varies from employer to employer
  • An Apprenticeship in Playwork will take 18 months to complete due to the system of hours worked by an Apprentices
  • A Certificate is issued by the Institute of Apprenticeships after successful completion noting either a Pass or a Distinction

Training

  • A playwork training provider (who must be on the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers) delivers the training
  • The course – entitled Level 2 Playwork Practitioner – attached to the apprenticeship is bespoke to Playwork and to the skills and knowledge the Apprentice will need to attain in the Standard
  • A learner’s handbook has also been designed to support the delivered training.  It has been created specifically for Playworkers and is easily accessible to all learners.  

Assessment

Assessment is at the end of the Apprenticeship – known as the End Point Assessment.

The End Point Assessment has three assessment methods

  • A multiple-choice questionnaire
  • A Professional Discussion based on a portfolio compiled by the apprentice – many of the formatted items for inclusion in this Portfolio will be contained with the Learner’s Handbook for the apprentice to complete
  • An Observation of playwork practice with questions afterwards.

Further Information

The Apprenticeship is overseen by the Institute and part of the responsibilities of the steering group is to give clear instructions as to the background, qualifications and experience in Playwork that a Trainer and Independent Assessor should have in order to play their part in the Apprenticeship.  We have made it clear in all the documentation that only suitably qualified, experienced and occupationally competent Playworkers will be undertaking these roles.

The End Point Assessment is required to be undertaken by an appointed independent organisation employing occupationally competent playwork assessors who must be independent from the Apprentice, Employer and Training Provider.

We are almost at the end of our journey now.  Things have been delayed due to the Covid19 pandemic as in all other areas of our lives, but the Standard is now working its way through the various stages of approval at the Institute and if all goes to plan the Apprenticeship should be ready to go during the early part of next year.  We look forward to seeing it roll out and supporting our sector to grow.

Gill James
Chair, Playwork Trailblazer Apprenticeship Group 

Playwork in the North East steps up to the Covid challenge

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Jackie Boldon, a new trustee of the Playwork Foundation, describes some of the different ways that organisations in the North East have responded to children’s need and right to play in Newcastle and North Tyneside:

Elswick Lamp Post Play Project

Playworkers from Play in Newcastle ran multiple projects across Newcastle in different school and community venues this summer, funded by the Department of Education’s Fit and Fed initiative through Street Games. In Elswick, the Play in Newcastle playworkers ran an estate based “Lamp Post Play Project”, with games, creative activities, dance and challenges over 7 Wednesdays of the summer holidays. On week one, the playworkers were shocked by the huge amounts of litter and fly-tipping which was seen as a barrier to children’s outdoor play. With a bit of pressure, the Council carried out a “clean up”, which was greatly appreciated by all residents and enabled children living on the estate to play safely outdoors every day. All the children who engaged with the Lamp Post Play project received a backpack with activity cards and play resources to provide them with new play ideas over the summer. (These can be found here)

The children had great fun and parents and grandparents were very appreciative of the Lamp Post Play Project.  The playworkers have been asked to set up a year-round kids club. The project was supported by Hawthorn School, West End Schools Trust, Sussed and Able and the West End Children’s Community.

YMCA Lamp Post Play Project

A second Lamp Post Play Project was run by the YMCA in North Tyneside. With BBC Children in Need funding, children who would have attended a school-based after school and holiday club were offered creative play activities on their doorstep. Children were desperate for someone new to talk to and to support their play and parents were very grateful for the respite. The scheme ran for 4 weeks.

As soon as World War Two broke out,  YMCAs developed mobile canteens to bring refreshments to the troops. In the same spirit, YMCA North Tyneside is now doing its bit to help bring a little joy to children’s lives during the Covid 19 crisis. During the lockdown, many children have been confined to their homes and denied access to their friends. Even now, it is still difficult for many organisations to open their doors to children to enable them to meet and play.  So, in order to combat this, YMCA North Tyneside, funded by Children in Need and inspired by Jackie Bolden has decided to take their play provision to the children’s door steps.   Adhering to social distancing requirements, YMCAs play workers, armed with their box of tricks,  present themselves at door steps.  They then engage children in a range of fun and creative activities. After an hour or so, they then move on to another door step and so on. 

‘The response  has been fantastic. The children have loved the activities on their doorsteps and it has been heartening to hear them talk about their lock down experiences. Equally, parents have welcomed the play workers presence and have urged them to return’

— Don Irving, Youth and Play Manager YMCA North Tyneside.

‘The doorstep sessions that the YMCA have been running are  amazing. The children always look forward to Carlie and Demi from the YMCA arriving.  My children are so proud of the various things they make and cant wait to the next time the workers come back.  (Mr Roy Oliver…parent)

A comment from one of the children from another family referring to the YMCA workers: –

‘We have interesting chats and they listen to my feelings. They make us laugh and cheer us up…its great

(Sophie aged 10)

Another parent;-  Leigh Johnson says ‘ My children really looked forward to the YMCA workers coming to see the girls. They sit at the bottom of the front garden and take part in the activities. As well as the company, they chat about the lockdown period and what it has meant to them’ 

Benwell Playful Lives Project – Newcastle

Children in the Benwell area of Newcastle have been supported by a team of playworkers from the regional charity – Children North East to play outside their own homes over the summer, in family bubbles for 45 minute long free play session. Some children benefitted from as many as 6 sessions over 4 weeks of the school holidays. The children and parents had great fun inventing imaginary games and engaging in all types of play. This pilot project was supported by the Extended Schools Officer from Bridgewater School who coordinated the referral process and was funded  through Street Games by the Department of Education. Jackie Boldon from Sussed and Able provided playwork training and advice. See the full story here

The Power of Playful Lives

Three-year-old Lyla is waiting in anticipation for our Playful Lives project workers, Lorna and Paula and student social worker, Lauren, to turn up.

It’s an overcast day but this hasn’t dampened anyone’s enthusiasm. As soon as the team walk through the garden gate, Lyla and her two brothers, Joseph, six and Thomas, five, run up to them shouting suggestions of what to play first. 

The boys can’t wait to play tag whilst Lyla, full of bounce, heads for the trampoline with Lauren, It’s a welcome break for their mam, Lisa, who admits she finds keeping three children under six entertained 24/7 a bit of a stretch.

“Playful Lives has been great because the children have had no interaction with anyone other than me,” says Lisa, who is a teaching assistant at a local school.

I love them and they love me but they must be sick of me by now! Just the fact that there’s three extra pairs of hands here today – even for just half an hour to an hour – it’s brilliant.

The family has been shielding since March and the start of the Coronavirus lockdown due to Joseph’s asthma. “We’ve actually only been out three times since the 17 March,” Lisa says.

The last time the Playful Lives team was here, they used old cardboard boxes to make a pirate ship with the children. This session has a loose theme of ‘physical play’ so it’s running round the garden playing tag and hide and seek.

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Playful Lives is a new Children North East project and part of Newcastle City Council’s Best Summer Ever, a holiday activity scheme aimed at supporting the city’s five to 18-year-olds during the school holidays. 
Our charity is working closely with the West End Schools Trust, a charitable educational trust formed by eight primary schools, and other partners to create a multi-agency Children’s Community in this part of the city. There’ll also be an ongoing research element to the work overseen by Newcastle University. Schools like Bridgewater Primary have recommended families who feel they could benefit from the Playful Lives project to engage with our team.

Andrew and Shirley’s family have also enjoyed the project. They have two daughters, Maddison, who’s nine and Tamzin, ten. “This has kept the kids really entertained and they look forward to them coming,” Shirley says.

On the day we visit, it’s tanking down with rain so Andrew has put up a big family tent on ground next to their house. Tamzin, who is being assessed for an attention deficit disorder, loves messy play so Lorna suggests making ‘mud paint’ and Tamzin gets set digging a hole. “We like to demonstrate that it doesn’t have to cost lots of money to keep children occupied and engaged,” Lorna explains.

Whilst Maddison experiments with coloured painting inside the tent, Tamzin makes mud handprints before persuading mam to have her hands and face painted – with mud! 

Andrew stands by enjoying the spectacle. “I was into everything like this when I was young – mud fights and making dens with cut grass. The street was full of kids. I don’t think kids get the chance to use their imagination so much any more because they’re so used to the electronic age. So things like Playful Lives is great with people like yourselves coming out and showing that they can get involved.”

Playful Lives worker, Paula, who, along with other Playful Lives staff, benefited from training with a freelance playwork specialist, Jackie Boldon, says the project has been a big hit with families this summer. 

Playful Lives has given children the opportunity to engage in different activities together as a family whilst having fun in a safe environment. The interaction with different people – our team members – has had a positive effect on helping the children with their transition back to school and it has decreased isolation for the families by giving them something to look forward to outside of the family home.

Jackie Boldon

* For more information about Playful Lives please contact the team by email: lorna.nicoll@children-ne.org.uk

Researching playful streets during the Covid-19 lockdown

Wendy Russell and Alison Stenning are today launching a survey to explore experiences of playfulness on streets during the Covid-19 lockdown in the UK.

If you have something to say about play, or playful acts, on your street and in your neighbourhood, please have a look here: 

https://newcastle.onlinesurveys.ac.uk/playful-streets-covid…

Please do fill this survey in and please do share! Thank you!

Image: Alison Stenning (pre-lockdown)

COVID-19 AND CHILDREN’S PLAY: THE RISKS AND BENEFITS

The Play Safety Forum and the UK’s four national play bodies have jointly published a report by risk and play specialists Professor David Ball, Tim Gill, and Andy Yates, about Covid-19 and children’s play.

After surveying the current evidence, the report concludes that current UK policy ‘is much more harmful to children than beneficial’ and ‘should be urgently reviewed, because:

  • the benefits to children of playing outside bring a host of social, emotional, and physical rewards. These have long been undervalued and at this time appear to have been completely ignored. Consequently, children are suffering harm;
  • the evidence is that the risks posed by COVID-19 to children playing in outdoor spaces is very low;
  • proportionate decisionmaking requires that trade-offs between the risks and benefits of safety interventions are part of the decision process’.

A full copy of report can be downloaded here

Birmingham adventure playgrounds featured in oral history project

General Public’s Oral Histories has launched part one of it’s Let Us Play project, an investigation of the ‘state of play’ today. Initially this involves the collation of an archive of material to capture the Birmingham adventure playground movement of the 1960-1980’s (funded by The National Lottery Heritage Fund).

This will be followed by a wider ‘live period’ of events and exhibitions in 2021/22. This has been initiated through an Arts Council R&D grant. This has seen the development of a new piece of moving image work, a Sparkbrook adventure playground digital trail/app, mapping of play in the city from the 1960’s through to the present day, collaborations with academics at UoB and developing a series of creative play weeks/exhibitions in close proximity to the old playground sites.

Photo: Meriden Adventure Playground

Visit the Let Us Play project here

Let Us Play