Reflection and evolution

Credit Playboard Northern Ireland (Twitter @Playboard)

I was in Liverpool on Saturday night when I heard the sad news that Bob Hughes, play theorist and activist (to say the least), had left us. Despite knowing that Bob had been ill for some time, I still gasped in shock that the play world had lost another giant. 

Though many of you will be joining the Play England AGM from 2pm to 5pm, where I am sure tributes and kind words will be offered in Bob’s memory, we will be holding our usual 4pm slot for Playwork in Progress and invite you to join us and share your thoughts, experiences and memories of Bob in our usual “around the campfire” style. 

To join us click the link below:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86449694906?pwd=b0FmeDhYYXpQYXY5TlhwcHJhTDJMdz09

Meeting ID:     864 4969 4906  Passcode:     620676 

Keep up-to-date with all things Playwork in Progress by subscribing to the Playwork in Progress mailing list here.

Cofion cynnes / Kind regards,

Siôn Edwards, Cadeirydd | Chair

Play England AGM


Play England AGM, Monday 21st November 2022 at 2pm
All Play England members are cordially invited to the Play England Annual General Meeting via teams.
 
Register for the event here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/play-england-agm-2022-tickets-425597963967
 
This is an opportunity for members to gather and to reflect on our work towards England being a country where everybody can fully enjoy their right to play throughout their childhood and teenage years. We are excited to be joined by Helen Dodd is a Professor of Child Psychology at the University of Exeter. She is an expert in child mental health with a particular interest in the development of childhood anxiety disorders. Helen currently holds a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, which funds a program of work examining the relationship between children’s adventurous play and mental health. Helen regularly writes about children’s play and contributes to public discussions about the role of play in supporting children’s mental health.
 
The AGM will take the form of a webinar and there will be some brief presentations followed by the opportunity for questions. We expect to record the webinar for those who cannot be present on the day. If you would like a proxy vote, please email info@playengland.org.uk
 
Agenda for the AGM: Welcome from Chair of Trustees, Anita Grant Apologies for absence Notification of proxy votes Approval of Minutes of 2021 AGM Matters arising from the Minutes Adoption of Annual Report Adoption of Accounts Appointment of Independent Financial Examiner Election of Trustees Any Other AGM Business Presentation from Helen Dodd Minutes from the 2021 AGM can be downloaded here

If you are not already a member of Play England you can join via our website.
 

New Trustees wanted – Play England

Play England is expanding its Board of Trustees!
We’re seeking people from a broad range of backgrounds with skills in fundraising and marketing in particular, as well as people from related sectors such as child psychology, social work, healthcare, teaching or youth work.
 
Play England is committed to strengthening diversity and inclusion, to better understand and reflect the needs of the communities that we work with.  The recruitment process is open to all, but we are particularly keen to hear from groups are currently underrepresented.
 
Trustees meet every two months either online or in London, and can have reasonable travel expenses reimbursed, if necessary, to enable attendance. Outside of meetings, trustees are expected to engage in other tasks to support the charity, depending on their expertise. This is not likely to take more than an additional two or three days a month.
 
If you have the skills we are seeking, have an interest in children’s play and would like to contribute to our work, please do apply!
 
If you would like to register your interest please email us @ info@playengland.org.uk by 7th October 2022.

The internationality of playwork

PopUpAdventurePlay are organising their annual Campference (online) on 15th Oct from 7am to 11am, co-hosted by the Black River Innovation Campus in Vermont, USA with multi-lingual presentations from Costa Rica, Turkey, Hong Kong and more. There will be a pre-campference get together tomorrow (15th Oct at 7am)

UK Playwork Foundation Open Meeting

Join us this Friday (14th Oct 2022) from 11 to 1 for our next Playwork Open meeting with a focus on summer playschemes. Share your summer highlights or listen to stories from across the UK. Send an email to our chair Sion Edwards to get the zoom link: sion@playworkfoundation.org.uk

See you on Friday !

Play in Hospitals webinars

https://www.starlight.org.uk/play-in-hospital-week-webinars/

Anyone with an interest in Play and Playwork in hospitals might be interested in this series of 4 webinars:

13th Oct 12.30 to 1.30: Working for change in hospitals

18th Oct 2 to 3: Prioritising play after lockdown

26th Oct 12 to 1: Playing with virtual reality

2nd Nov: Play for mental health and resilience

The webinars are being organised by Starlight in partnership with the National Association of Health Play Specialists to celebrate

Playwork Foundation Open Meeting

View this email in your browser
You are invited!
Following on from our last Open Meeting of The Playwork Foundation, back in June, we thought that it would be a good opportunity for us to come together after the summer period. 
 Therefore, we’ve organised the next Open Meeting online for:
Friday 14th October, 10am – 1pm
We’re inviting playworkers from all backgrounds and settings to use the meeting as an opportunity to showcase and share with us their memories, photos, videos and reflections from the summer months. 

Afterwards, we will add contributions to an online repository on The Playwork Foundation’s website. 
 
Details on how to register for the event will be sent out soon. If you’ve got items or proposals you’re ready to share, you can complete this online form or email sion@playworkfoundation.org.uk. You can also discuss your ideas with Penny Wilson at Playwork in Progress, this coming Monday 26th September from 4pm:

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89234759575?pwd=VlRzVHF5UzN3NzViNExNM2xWUkkyQT09

Meeting ID: 892 3475 9575
Passcode: 208616
 Cofion gynnes / Kind regards,

Siôn Edwards
Cadeirydd | Chair
Y Sefydliad Chwarae | The Playwork Foundation
@cymrosion
Rhagenwau | Pronouns: fe, ef, ei | he, him, his 🏳️‍🌈 Copyright © 2022 Siôn Edwards, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Playwork Foundation Open Meeting

Play England – CEO wanted


We hope you have had a playful summer, 

Opportunity for a Chief Executive: It’s all about a child’s right to play Play England’s vision is to for England to be a country where everybody can fully enjoy their right to play throughout their childhood and teenage years as set out in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 31 and our Charter for Children’s Play.
 
We have a unique opportunity for someone to be front and centre of Play England in achieving that vision. It will be the first time we have been structured in this way with a CEO as the only paid position working alongside a group of enthusiastic voluntary Trustees. The expected time commitment will equate to 1 day per week and will attract remuneration of £10,400 pa.
Accountable to the Chair and Trustees, most of the CEO’s time will be managing fundraising and acting as an external figurehead and spokesperson for Play England as well as making sure all our operations are running successfully.
 
The right candidate will be experienced as a CEO or Chair of a national organisation with a good understanding of the play sector in the UK and will likely hold a play qualification. They will have proven experience of fundraising for a national or large charity. Comfortable acting as an external spokesperson, including with national media they will feel right at home influencing large organisations including government.
 
As you would expect they will demonstrate flawless tact and diplomacy as well as superb communication skills.
 
For a detailed job description see here. Applications should be made by sending a cv and covering letter to info@playengland.org.uk by 17.00 on 7 October 2022. Interviews will be held remotely on 18/19 October 2022.


 

Play England AGM, Monday 21st November 2022 at 2pm
All Play England members are cordially invited to the Play England Annual General Meeting via teams.
 
Register for the event here:

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/play-england-agm-2022-tickets-425597963967
 
This is an opportunity for members to gather and to reflect on our work towards England being a country where everybody can fully enjoy their right to play throughout their childhood and teenage years. We are excited to be joined by Helen Dodd is a Professor of Child Psychology at the University of Exeter. She is an expert in child mental health with a particular interest in the development of childhood anxiety disorders. Helen currently holds a UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship, which funds a program of work examining the relationship between children’s adventurous play and mental health. Helen regularly writes about children’s play and contributes to public discussions about the role of play in supporting children’s mental health.
 
The AGM will take the form of a webinar and there will be some brief presentations followed by the opportunity for questions. We expect to record the webinar for those who cannot be present on the day. If you would like a proxy vote, please email info@playengland.org.uk
 
Agenda for the AGM: Welcome from Chair of Trustees, Anita Grant Apologies for absence Notification of proxy votes Approval of Minutes of 2021 AGM Matters arising from the Minutes Adoption of Annual Report Adoption of Accounts Appointment of Independent Financial Examiner Election of Trustees Any Other AGM Business Presentation from Helen Dodd Minutes from the 2021 AGM can be downloaded here

If you are not already a member of Play England you can join via our website.
 
Kind regards

Play England team  

10 reasons to continue providing adventure playgrounds – UPDATED

This article was originally published July 2016 and has been updated to better reflect the UK context.

Felix Rd AP 2
Photo: Felix Road Adventure Playground

Playwork is an essential component of adventure playgrounds, a form of staffed provision renowned the world over as offering children the best opportunities to play within a dedicated, managed setting. Most adventure playgrounds are situated in areas of high density, limited open space, multiple deprivation, or a combination of all three. They offer children who are often otherwise seriously disadvantaged, enriched play opportunities within a safe, stimulating environment and an empowering, supportive community.

On-going austerity, cuts to public services and the generally unprotected nature of play provision is nevertheless leading to the closure of many of Britain’s existing adventure playgrounds. This article sets out some of the reasons why such action is bad policy, bad economics and bad for children and families; why retaining adventure playgrounds is a good use of public resources.

Continue reading “10 reasons to continue providing adventure playgrounds – UPDATED”