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The International Play Association (IPA) has chosen Glasgow as the location of its 2023 World Congress. The event, which will be held at Glasgow Caledonian University, will attract up to 700 delegates from over 50 countries around the world, worth over £1m to the city’s economy. Former hosts of this prestigious congress include Calgary and Istanbul.

The IPA aims to protect, preserve and promote children’s right to play as a fundamental human right. The meeting will bring delegates from all professions concerned with the wellbeing of children together in Glasgow to exchange ideas and inspire action.

Councillor David McDonald, Chair of Glasgow Life and Depute Leader of Glasgow City Council, said: “May I congratulate the successful bid team in their efforts to attract the International Play Association Word Congress to our city in 2023. IPA’s mission resonates with our vision for the young people of our city; to respect and promote the right of the child to participate fully in cultural and artistic life. The pandemic has been tough for our young people, so we salute the excellent work of IPA Scotland and the wider bid team in involving Glasgow in the inspiring work of the association in promoting the child’s right to play.”

Glasgow has a long-standing commitment to play and launched its own play strategy in 2011. Investing in the opportunity for children to play and develop through that play is crucial in IPA Scotland’s drive to change and improve life for all.

Margaret Westwood, Chair of the International Play Association Scotland commented: “IPA Scotland and our amazing conference partners are honoured and delighted to be bringing the 22nd IPA Triennial World Conference to Glasgow in 2023 where we will be celebrating Play: Rights & Possibilities. The right to play is so important for all children globally, and we will be sharing Scotland’s experience and learning from others from all over the world. IPA Scotland are indebted to Glasgow Convention Bureau for their invaluable support in planning our bid for this conference, which promises to be innovative, green, inclusive and famously friendly!”

The work of the IPA has not stopped during the pandemic, with the Access to Play in Crisis work having world-wide recognition. The 2023 world congress will be an opportunity to reflect on what has been learned and what can still be learned as a result of Covid-19.

Clare Haughey, Scottish Minister for Children and Young People said: “I am pleased that Scotland will be hosting the 2023 IPA conference in Glasgow. We want Scotland to be the best place in the world to grow up and providing play opportunities to all children and families is vital to this. The Scottish Government’s recent £60 million commitment to renew play parks in Scotland is just one example of our support for play, and we look forward to sharing our passion for play with the rest of the world.”

Professor John McKendrick, Professor in Social Justice, Glasgow Caledonian University added: “Glasgow is a city of innovation. It has been a world leader in maritime commerce and engineering. When we think of ‘Clydebuilt’, we think of quality. The new Glasgow City Region Deal is set to fashion a new future for work in the city and surrounding area. But successful cities are more than prosperous economies, they need to meet all the needs of citizens. They need to allow children to flourish through play. As the ‘University for the common good’, Glasgow Caledonian University is proud to host this international conference, bringing together the latest local, national and global thinking on how to facilitate play and enrich the lives of children, families, communities and cities.”

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Sunday 16th May

National Children’s Day UK (NCDUK) is all about the importance of a healthy childhood and how we need to protect the rights and freedoms of children and young people in order to ensure that they can become happy, caring and connected adults. From family videos to school and community events, local authority initiatives, talks, seminars and youth led campaigns, it’s a great opportunity for everyone to raise national awareness about the things they care about – and especially about the impact of COVID on children and young people.

http://www.nationalchildrensdayuk.com

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Playful Pedagogy is a way of integrating children’s play experiences with curricular learning, giving pupils the flexibility to find their own solutions to both new and existing problems. It engages children in personally meaningful activities, learning about themselves and others, and encourages autonomy and their independent motivation-to-learn.

This resource is for Headteachers, teachers and schools who wish to carry forward this vision of best practice and to teach better, develop their professional skills, and enjoy themselves more along the way.

https://www.playscotland.org/resources/20592/

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First Minister Nicola Sturgeon announced,

“We want to help children enjoy these summer holidays a bit more. We also know the clinical risks of Covid, particularly for younger children, appear to be relatively low although we will never be complacent about that. And we know that for as long as there are restrictions on the number of households we can meet, families will find it difficult to balance the social needs for children and adults. Understandably, you all don’t want to see the same people everyday.

Bearing that in mind, I’m announcing today two further changes to our rules to allow for a bit more interaction between young people and these changes will both apply from tomorrow. For children who are 11 years old or under, we’re removing the requirement for you to physically distance with other people when you’re outdoors. That will allow you to play more normally with your friends, which I hope you will enjoy. I’m sure this move will also be appreciated by your parents and carers.

However, other rules will remain the same for the next wee while. You should continue to meet in groups of 8 or less and to meet no more than 2 other households at a time. Adults who are with you should continue to observe physical distancing from each other and physical distancing even for you as children, is still advised indoors.

Our guidance is different for children aged 12-17, we’re not yet relaxing the physical distancing rule for you, and I’m saying more about that shortly. But we know that you don’t want to be limited by who your parents can meet, you want to have your own lives and meet your own friends. So when you meet other people, we are still asking you to do that outdoors, and you should still stick to a limit of 8 people from no more than three households at any one time. However, we will lift the number, the limit on the number of meetings you can have in one day. That means you can meet different groups of friends, at different times of the day, and also importantly it won’t mean you won’t be prevented meeting your friends just because your parents or carers or your brother or sisters happens to be meeting their friends. As I said for now we’re asking older children to still keep 2 metres distant from people in other households, even outdoors. I know that the advice we published today suggests that this is less important for young people, so we do hope that this will change in the weeks to come, but initially and for your safety, we want to act cautiously.

Now these changes are careful but important steps that I hope will make life just a little bit easier and also perhaps a little bit more fun for children and young people. I hope next week to set out more changes, not just for children, but for adults as well, to how households can meet, interact and play, and I also hope to confirm at that stage, that organised outdoor contact sports for children can resume from the 13th of July.

However I hope these changes, do allow you as children and young people a bit more freedom in meeting up with your friends, and I hope they allow you to make a bit more of the summer holidays, even if as will probably be the case in Scotland, it’s raining for much of the time.”

Nicola Sturgeon

First Minister of Scotland

2nd July 2020

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Children and young people are likely to experience high rates of depression and anxiety for many years after the coronavirus lockdown ends, according to new research.

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/health-and-families/lockdown-children-mental-health-depression-anxiety-loneliness-study-university-bath-a9541801.html

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