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Free Play Network News is edited by Nicola Butler, Free Play Network Manager. We welcome contributions and comments from readers, so if you would like to suggest issues to cover or have comments on the articles included please let us know by emailing info@playlink.org.uk.
In the last edition of Free Play Network News, we asked Network members for their views on siting manufactured fixed equipment in adventure playgrounds. We received the following response from Robin Sutcliffe of Sutcliffe Play.
From: Robin Sutcliffe, Sutcliffe Play
"One of the great strengths of Adventure playgrounds is the opportunity for playworkers to stimulate children within a play environment, particularly where this can be combined with an indoor facility. The advantage of good unsupervised play facilities is that they are available to children for 24 hours a day, where entry and exit are more casual. As a manufacturer of play equipment and someone who is interested in the development of play opportunities for children the challenge of combining the two strengths is quite compelling. Partly because I believe that it would really add to the offering that we make for children, but also because the products that we can offer would be considerably enhanced.
"While the products that we have are unlikely to involve children in the creativity of self design and build, I do believe that in many cases they have more residual play value than many of the structures in conventional Adventure playgrounds. Sadly the divisions that have existed in the past have rarely given us the opportunity to develop this potential to the full. This is why I am watching with interest the work we are doing with a new Adventure playground in Portsmouth, which includes fire, sand and water, as well as large structures and a play building. I would be very interested in other such examples and any critique, argument for and against this approach.
"With the approach of NOF funding an opportunity exists for us to really develop the ideas that have been inhibited by lack of funding over the past twenty years and it is our responsibility to react to this positively."
Free Play Network News would be pleased to hear from Network members on the use of fixed play equipment in Adventure Playgrounds. Is it a cost effective way of augmenting the provision, a safe alternative to self build, or a perilous slide from the flexibility and creativity of a playground's own design and build structures? If you have a view, please email: info@playlink.org.uk.
In the last edition of Free Play Network News, we asked readers for their experiences of using fire with children. Below, Doug Cole describes the benefits of allowing children to experience fire.
From: Doug Cole, Play Officer, Cardiff City Council
Double yellows or double oranges - that's what they are called in our house, or to be more precise in our garden.
I am of course referring to those small sticks that are burnt at the end and glow yellow or orange thus becoming the perfect tool for writing in the air; usually it's my son's name although I am noticing some words that are a little more adventurous than his name. I'll leave you to imagine what words a nine year old likes to see written in the air.
Apparently he tells me there is a particular skill to getting a stick to become a double yellow or a double orange, the double incidentally refers to the way that the stick resumes its original orange or yellow tip after the air writing. Also according to him and his mate it's a skill that grown ups really can't master properly.
I have been thinking about alleged inability of mine and have come to the conclusion that they are right, not particularly about their assumption that I am unable to make the stick glow; I have ruined many a good barbeque in my attempts to use fire.
I can't engage with the feelings of wonderment and fascination that is obviously going on in their minds, because I'm not nine any more. I can remember however that feeling of wonder and perhaps more importantly I can rejoice when I observe them engaging with that fascination and wonder.
I can remember lying on my back down by the river watching the sparks from a fire disappear into the night sky.
I remember sitting on a log by a fire on a winter night with red cheeks, almost burning feet and legs and a really cold bum and back and then that lovely feeling of warming your bum when you turn around.
I have been thinking for some time that enabling children to experience the wonder and fascination of fire is something that appears to be on the decrease in play projects generally. I know that there are projects that do use fire regularly and more power to their elbow, but as a generalisation I would suggest not enough do.
Let's be very clear I am not advocating here having a raging inferno every night on every play project. As an example I bought a reasonably small fire basket for £40 which I use in the garden and something similar could be used by any project with a tiny bit of outside space.
What I am advocating is that play projects should find some way of enabling children to experience fire, to have that experience of warm face cold bum, to watch someone on the other side of the fire go wobbly in the heat haze, to watch sparks disappear into the night sky, to watch as the last marshmallow dribbles off the end of the stick into the fire.
I can already hear the chorus of "but it's not safe", "kids should not play with fire", "what about the risk assessment".
What I am about to suggest here is quite radical and it is called common sense, a small group of kids adequately supervised with a small fire in something like a fire basket with a bucket of water or a hose or a fire extinguisher close by can be a fantastic experience for staff and children alike. Make sure the fire is totally extinguished and cold before you leave it.
You may well find that in time you may want to go on to bigger things but that is not always necessary.
I honestly believe that it is incumbent on all play staff to enable children to experience as wider range of opportunities and activities as possible and warm face cold bum should be one of those experiences.
Free Play Network News has heard reports of local Fire Services blocking play activities involving fire. We would like to hear from anybody who has encountered opposition from their local Fire Service to allowing children to experience fire? What were their concerns? How was the issue resolved? Do you have any advice for others who might experience similar problems?
Getting Serious About Play: A review of children's play was published by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) on 21 January 2004. The report, commissioned by the Government and chaired by the former Health Secretary Frank Dobson, makes a series of recommendations to Government on how £200 million from the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) should be allocated to play facilities around the country.
Dobson's report is based on evidence collated by Tim Gill, Director of the Children's Play Council, who led the review while on secondment to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
The report recommends that NOF funding should be focused on areas with the poorest access to good quality play opportunities, with a major emphasis on ensuring that disabled children and young people can enjoy facilities alongside their non-disabled peers. Its conclusions are firmly based on values, principles and approaches developed recently by the play sector, as set out in documents such as Best Play.
The report states that local authorities should designate a 'play champion' to ensure that their area makes the best use of the funding. It also advises local authorities and other partnerships to involve children and local communities in decisions about play provision.
In addition to setting out a framework for the NOF programme, the report calls for more longer-term funding if children's play provision is to be planned effectively and maintained in a sustainable way.
The report also calls on the NOF, the Government and local authorities to ensure that the creation and maintenance of high quality play facilities are given a much higher priority with national and local decision makers.
The report is available from the DCMS website (http://www.culture.gov.uk) along
with a 'child-friendly' version:
http://www.culture.gov.uk/global/publications/
archive_2004/children_play_review_report.htm
PLAYLINK has asked Ofsted to investigate a couple of registration problems raised by members. One is the new requirement that the registered provider, rather than the inspector, takes responsibility for checking the suitability of the site manager. In the case of multiple service providers such as local authorities, obtaining the necessary checks for registration simply duplicates their own recruitment practice. This seems unnecessarily wasteful.
The other problem relates to mobile provision where it seems that every site visited by the mobile crèche or playbus must be separately inspected and registered. We think it should be sufficient to inspect and register the mobile provider and leave it to their own good practice to ensure the sites they visit are suitable.
We will post Ofsted's responses to these points on the Practice page of the Free Play Network website at: http://www.freeplaynetwork.org.uk.
Ofsted is currently conducting a consultation on the Future of
Inspection - its proposal for new "light touch" inspections. Though
they will apply primarily to schools, there are implications for
childcare providers as Ofsted wants to work towards uniformity in
its approach to inspection. This stage of the consultation is about
the principles. There will be further consultation on detailed
implementation in May. To read the Ofsted documents and take part
in this consultation, go to:
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/publications/index.cfm?
fuseaction=pubs.summary&id=3566. The deadline for comments
is 8 April 2004.
Anne Weinstock of the Department for Education and Skills has written to Children Fund Programme Managers and Chairs of Boards promising revision of the allocations for 2004-5 (to be announced shortly), following identification of some new resources, and restoring some flexibility on underspends. Full text of the letter is available at http://www.freeplaynetwork.org.uk/new/awletter.htm.
The National Association of Councils for Voluntary Service is conducting a survey on the impact of the Children's Fund cuts on a range of service to children and young people. The deadline for comments is 1 March 2004. Copies of the questionnaire are available from info@playlink.org.uk.
The cost of a Criminal Records Bureau check will rise a further £4 to £28, with £33 for an enhanced check, with effect from 1 April . The increase is only partly to fund free checks in respect of voluntary workers, currently 17% of the total carried out. Obtaining checks will continue to get more expensive as the Government's intention to make the Bureau's operation self-financing is carried through. Any Free Play Network member who believes this is likely to damage their service should contact Chris Snell (info@playlink.org.uk). If there is a significant problem we would be happy to raise it with Hazel Blears, the Home Office Minister responsible.
Jess Fuller, a Masters student at Anault University, Germany, is writing a final thesis project on the landscaping of playgrounds, specifically the sensory effect of landscape elements on the neurological development of children. Jess would be pleased to hear from any Free Play Network members who have experience or knowledge of how a child's development is influenced by the materials of its surroundings, concentrating on materials used in playgrounds. (ie planting, ground surfacing, equipment material : such as asphalt, wood-chip, sand, geo-textile safety flooring, stainless-steel, wood, stone, gravel, water, mud etc.) If you can suggest sources for simular research and/or information on this subject, particularly in terms of reactions to the different materials (i.e do the synthetic materials of safety surfaces create a static energy ?) please contact jessm_fuller@yahoo.de.
© 2004 PLAYLINK.