The Playwork Foundation is to play a supporting role in the new play conference, Play 2021, being organised by Playful Planet and the University of Birmingham on 7-8 July.
Play 2021, a conference on children, play and space, will be an online event but the organisers are also hopeful that in-person delegates will be allowed by the summer, and space has been booked for it on the university campus. Those registering for the online event now will have the option to upgrade to an actual seat at the conference as and when this is confirmed.
There is a call for papers for the conference, including from playwork practitioners and researchers, with playwork one of the themes of the event. The Playwork Foundation will join the conference committee to help curate this strand.
The event’s first speakers have been confirmed:
Tim Gill, the longstanding campaigner and writer on play and child-friendly environments, and author of the new RIBA publication Urban Playground;
Professor Helen Dodd, from the University of Reading, whose research on play and the pandemic has featured prominently in debates about the government response;
Ash Perrin, founder of the Flying Seagull Seagull project, which takes playfulness to children living in some of the world’s most troubled and deprived communities.
More speakers will be announced soon. Follow the Playful Planet site for regular conference updates.
University of Gloucestershire Oxstalls Campus Oxstalls Lane Gloucester GL2 9HW
The Playwork Foundation is holding a meeting of its members, the first, other than our policy roadshow events, since registering as a charity in 2018.
This meeting will be crucial to the future of the Foundation, and we would love to see you there.
Among items on the agenda will be:
a) A report on our work with Play England to develop a campaign for national government play policy, following the roadshow consultation b) An update and discussion about playwork training and qualifications; c) Future plans and strategy for the Foundation d) Some key playwork projects regarding play and health e) Networking!
The event is free to members with lunch and refreshments provided.
Please bring photos and reports of work, good news, good practice and ideas to share with other members.
Which writers and which fields of study, if any, have most influenced your playwork practice?
Masters student Adrian Voce is researching the academic and other influences on playwork and would like your help (he has promised to share the results with us in a future edition!)
Report of the chair of The Playwork Foundation, Karen Benjamin, to the charity’s first annual general meeting, held on 8th March 2019.
The Playwork Foundation was officially launched on 8th November 2017 at Goldsmiths College, University of London with presentations from Professor Fraser Brown, Penny Wilson, Adrian Voce and Meynell, who also streamed the event live for those who could not attend on the day.
In January 2018 The Playwork Foundation achieved charitable status and in March 2018 members of the Board held a consultation session at the National Playwork Conference to discuss what the sector wanted from The Foundation creating a wealth of material from which we are continuing to work on as part of our business development plan.
These ‘asks’ also helped focus some of the questions for the Roadshows.
In 2018 we collaborated with Play England to co-deliver on 4 Roadshows around the country. These were held in Bristol, at Shiremoor Adventure Playground, in Dudley at Sycamore Adventure and in London – as part of a Policy ask for the sector. There is much work to do on the information collated from these events and there have been further talks with Play England about how to take this forward into policy.
There are different areas and actions for each organisation to take forward, as well as collaboration in meetings with key people and specific campaigns for the playwork sector.
Over the past year we have written letters in support of the playwork sector to Bristol City Council and also given written support to the continuation of playwork qualifications, and members of the Board have also been instrumental in supporting the development of a playwork apprenticeship.
We are working on the development of our policies, currently having a Code of Conduct agreement, and a safeguarding and GDPR policy, but there is more work to do and we are grateful to all those organisations who have shared their policies with us for us to adapt or mirror accordingly.
There are challenges ahead for playwork which include the retention of qualifications, endorsement for training courses and funding for playwork services.
The challenge for The Playwork Foundation is to ensure that we are sustainable, that we can generate enough support from members and that we can secure funding to enable us to deliver on a work programme that will meet our overall aim to represent playwork and playworkers.
I would like to thank the Board of Trustees for their commitment and their contributions, in particular Adrian for his work on the website and to Ali for her work with The Trailblazer group.
Moving forward we need to keep the momentum going and we need a strong and dedicated board of trustees who are prepared to work together to develop a business plan, to secure some project funding, to deliver a regular newsletter to our members and overall keep playwork and playworkers at the forefront of local, regional and national thinking.
Karen Benjamin Chair of the Board of Trustees March 8th 2019
Photo: Karen Benjamin and Ali Wood at the launch of the charity in November 2017.
These awards set out to celebrate all that is good about the playwork sector. We aim to praise the work we do by identifying people and organisations who have made a noticeable contribution and difference to the lives of those they work with.
The 2018 Awards ceremony will take place at the National Playwork Conference in Eastbourne on Tuesday 6th March 2018.
There are six award categories for 2018:
Paul Bonel Memorial Award
Training Award
Playwork in other contexts
Frontline Playwork Award
Development and Support Award
Raising the Profile Award
WHO WOULD YOU LIKE TO NOMINATE?
Full information about how to nominate and links to the nomination form can be found on the Awards website: www.playworkawards.org.uk
Further details of the award criteria and the judging panels will also be on the website
Contact information for the Annual Playwork Awards:
c/Meynell Games: 11 Beachy Head Road, Eastbourne BN20 7QN
The Playwork Foundation 