Author: Siôn

“Democracy is made in the playgrounds” – just one of the many quotable moments from a Westminster Hall debate last week. Brought to our attention by Jackie Boldon at Playwork in Progress, this was part of an hour-long debate secured by Tom Hayes, Labour MP for Bournemouth East, in partnership with Play England.

With Play England CEO, Eugene Minogue, in attendance, Tom expanded his opening statements with two key asks:

• A new national Play Strategy for England; and
• Play sufficiency legislation.

The Play England website details further success as a result of the debate in the securing of a meeting with the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Local Growth and Building Safety), Alex Norris MP.

I look forward to meeting with the Minister to build on today’s debate and take forward the bold policy changes needed to give children their childhood back – Eugene Minogue, Play England, CEO

This is the latest in a long-standing campaign by Play England aimed at the new Labour Government in Westminster. In July last year, they published an open letter outlining the first steps of change that prioritised the importance of play, to which they received a response (albeit a little lacklustre) in September 2024 from the Ministry of Housing Communities & Local Government in England:

Play England is calling on supporters to help keep up the momentum by contacting their local Members of Parliament at Westminster. While play sufficiency legislation already exists in Wales and Scotland, supporters in these countries can still encourage their Westminster MPs to advocate for play and inspire their colleagues in England to take action.

Read the full debate on Hansard (official publisher of parliamentary transcripts).

To find out who you can contact, visit WriteToThem and enter your postcode.

I find that people fall into one of two camps: Those who know and care about NOS and those who are blissfully (and contently) unaware of them! If you are in the first camp, then we have some exciting news for you (if you’re in the second camp… sorry!).

Play Wales has recently published a second information sheet about the review of the National Occupational Standards (NOS) for playwork which has been taking place over the summer and anticipated to run into 2025:

The update outlines the work that has taken place this summer as well as what is expected to happen next as the review progresses. One of the headlines is the establishment of a Writing Group who will:

• review current playwork NOS;
• develop a Functional Map for playwork NOS;
• develop a suite of NOS for playwork;
• consult with the Playwork NOS Advisory Group; and
• ensure the new playwork NOS the requirements set by the UK Standards and Framework Panel, the UK NOS Consortium and the Playwork NOS Scoping Review (2023).

Recruitment to the Playwork NOS Advisory Group is ongoing, with expertise in the areas of higher education, qualifications and awarding bodies, further education delivery, open-access playwork and/or out-of-school childcare being sought. Interested parties are invited to email a CV and covering letter to nosreview@play.wales.

If you’re not able to volunteer for the Advisory Group, you will have the opportunity to feedback on the NOS during a wider public consultation expected to take place in the summer of 2025.

The Playwork Foundation are proud to be a part of the UK NOS Consortium alongside Play England, Play Scotland, Play Wales and Playboard Northern Ireland, and excited to support the progression of the review into 2025.

You can find more information in the first information sheet issued in June this year:

With tornadoes in England, floods across the island, and a yellow weather warning for the weekend, it’s definitely autumn. And, for those of us working outside, as we embrace the rain and the colder temperatures, we’re also reminded of another annual consideration: the increased risk of slips and falls on wet wooden surfaces!

Inevitably, this sparks a round of discussions and ideas that present both positives and negatives.

Do some of these mitigations actually create more risks? And, what impact do they have on the lifespan of the wood itself?

That latter question may be of little significance at your setting. Replacing the decking of a summer house might only cost a hundred pounds or so. However, when you expand that to the scale of wooden walkways on an adventure playground, you’re suddenly considering thousands rather than hundreds.

When I received an email on this very topic earlier this week from Paula Blake, Operations Manager at The AAA Zone, I thought it would be a good idea to share some of my response more publicly. That’s not to say I have the answer, but more so that I know there will be people out there in the same situation who very well might have the answer! It is also likely that one solution

So here are my Top 5 considerations:

1. Jetwash – this will remove surface algae (the thing that makes it most slippery), however, as well as the potential costs to hire a jetwasher if you don’t have one, jetwashing will consume both time and water. Volunteers might help reduce the time costs, but if you’ve just come off the end of a summer filled with water fights, the water bill might not handle another hit.

2. Score the wooden surface – if you’ve got someone with a chainsaw or other apt contraption, you could try criss-cross scoring the wood surface. Like the patterns on trainers, this can reduce the slipperiness, but it almost certainly reduces to the lifespan of the wood by inviting water to pool and enabling freeze-thaw expansion in the winter. There is also a marginal increase in the risk of grazes from falls onto the surface.

Important additional advice from Simon Rix (Trustee of The Playwork Foundation):

“Do not advise people to score decks with a chainsaw please. Apart from the difficulty of getting a positive result against the damage caused by such a brutal tool, using the tip of the blade is where you get kickbacks, the most common cause of chainsaw injuries.

Instead, use the cutting depth adjustment on your circular saw to set a depth of 5mm or so and run that across in your desired pattern. Much safer.

Also, remember that scoring in the direction of travel will not be effective, score across the direction of travel“

3. Anti-slip strips, coatings or chicken wire – the strips and chicken wire are probably the most effect in terms of reducing the slipperiness of a surface, but the increased damage to the skin when falling onto them, in my opinion, matches the risks posed by slipping in the first place, so they cancel each other out.

4. Sprays – anti-fungal and biocidal sprays, often marketed as general outdoor patio cleaners, can kill off the algae that tends to cause most of the problem. However, depending on the brand and your supplier, these can be costly and may also have a negative impact on the environment, so make sure you check the labels and instructions.

5. Sand or grit – The best middle ground I have found, is to sprinkle sand on the walkways as often as possible. It can itself present a slip hazard, but a lesser one than the untreated wet surface. The sand itself absorbs some of the moisture, whilst the friction underfoot also works to remove the algae slowly – this less aggressive approach also lessens the impact on the longevity of the wood. That being said, I’ve used this on sites where there has been an abundance of sand, so there was no additional cost.

During Playwork in Progress last week, regular Suzanne Axelsson shared a common and easy Swedish hack to keeping your wooden surfaces algae-free: soap! She was even kind enough to share these two articles on the topic after the session which give a comprehensive understanding of why you should use soap (and not “power” cleaners):

• https://www.grumme.se/tips-och-rad/sapa-trallen-med-grumme-sapa/
• https://vasterbottenssapa.se/blogs/stadguiden/hur-sapar-man-tratrall

Both articles are in Swedish, but browsers (such as Chrome) should offer to automatically translate.

What are your handy hints or tips for this issue? Are there any other seasonal headaches that we can help solve? Please get in touch and let us know. If you would like to send your suggestions to Paula directly, you can email paula@theaaazone.com.

Siôn is the current Chair of The Playwork Foundation. His views are his own and not necessarily those of The Playwork Foundation. Any advice give is personal and should not be taken or relied upon as professional guidance.

Whenever I heard the term “think-tank”, I can’t help but think of the episode of Star Trek: Voyager (yes, I’m a bit of a Trekkie 🖖🏽) where Jason Alexander (of Seinfeld fame) plays the leader of a group of intelligent aliens which Capt. Janeway dubs “The Think Tank”. In true sci-fi drama style, this seemingly altruistic group turn out to be a nefarious force that are playing two parties against each other to get what they want.

Why am I telling you this?

Some time ago, a new piece of work emerged called the ‘Raising the Nation Play Commission‘ presenting itself as “An enquiry into why play is so critical to children’s wellbeing and how a national play strategy can be established”.

The commission is being led by Paul Lindley OBE, who describes himself on his website as a “passionate believer that we can create a society richer in opportunity, ideas and compassion” citing his entrepreneurship, books and campaigning as contributions to achieve this goal. 

Paul is leading this piece of work in partnership with the Centre for Young lives – “independent think tank and delivery unit dedicated exclusively to improving the lives of children, young people, and families in the UK”. The Centre in turn is hosted by Oasis – (not the boy band) who describe themselves as a “movement” whose work extends across the UK and “spans from youth work to housing, and education to reforming youth justice”.

All sounds good, right?

If I was an investigative journalist, this would be the point where I drop the big expose on how these organisations are gathering for unscrupulous purposes. But, I’m not. I’m a playworker.

So what’s the big deal?

Well, hopefully there isn’t one. I see no cause for concern in the roll call of Commissioners. But there is an opportunity. The Play Commission is currently calling for evidence on six key areas:

• Learning through play
• Places to play
• The right to play
• Time to play
• Digital play
• Parents and play

So, what’s that got to do with us?

Taking a look at the “Commissioners” there are a few familiar names: Anne Longfield CBE (former Children’s Commissioner for England), Eugene Minogue (CEO, Play England), Professor Helen Dodd, & Ingrid Skeels (Playing Out) to name a few. All great advocates for children’s rights, including the right to play.

This is welcome news, and I trust their contributions and guidance to the commission will ensure that playwork is not overlooked. But we should not place all our assumptions on their shoulders.

As playworkers, the hint is in the name of our profession as to why this commission is of great interest and importance to us and the children and communities we serve. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said of the recognition of playworkers as the only profession whose primary agenda is to extend and facilitate children’s play by those who have an interest in play from other perspectives (e.g. health, education etc). Therefore, it is up to us to make sure that playwork as an approach, and playworkers as experts on the coalface of working with children at play, are adequately featured in the commissions findings.

The deadline for submissions is 30th September, so get your skates on! Submissions should be in a word document format and should set out evidence and recommendations. You can then email this to info@centreforyounglives.org.uk with the subject title “Call for Evidence – Play Commission submission”.

If you would like support to contribute to the commission, or you have a great idea or example of how you’ve contributed to the commission, please let us know so that we can help or share!