Category: News

Paul Hunter, a professor of medicine and expert in infectious diseases based at the University of East Anglia, says it’s important to remember the risk of children contracting the virus is minimal – particularly outdoors where there’s better ventilation, and the virus can be killed by UV light. Read more here:

https://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/is-it-right-to-take-your-kids-to-the-playground-now-lockdown-has-eased_uk_5efdb343c5b6acab284bffe6?guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvLnVrLw&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAEyvi7lN5r4WhhS1Edwh0nJ_NfGpmvbTXCH8_ySvAkp785UzFTGMCSmeza7w2P8Cnk9BK_z06AQt1MSatXIxw0t5OIdQD5ioKIyLABHlyJJGtJntRGBq4kYlHpWkqo_Fo5Xs5E-hYyQxLWHaXS9wymYSr0NqL3hshrQDOvdiuleW&guccounter=2

Share:

Getting children back in school doesn’t have to mean a rush into the classroom and access to outdoor play and learning should be an entitlement, not a privilege, write Marguerite Hunter Blair and Anita Grant, Chief Executive, Play Scotland and Chair of Trustees, Play England.

https://schoolsweek.co.uk/outdoor-play-is-key-to-reopening-and-recovery/

Share:

Play Scotland is delighted to announce the launch of its new project, Playful Schools, in partnership with ScrapAntics, supported by the Wellbeing fund.

Play Scotland, ScrapAntics and Dundee City Council have a proven track record of working together to support play in Dundee. The Playful Schools project will work with local partners including the Children and Families Development and the Community Learning and Development team at Dundee City Council, to deliver weekly loose parts play sessions through the hubs and understand the impact of this form of play on children’s wellbeing. All activities will be adapted to respond to the changing phases of the Covid-19 crisis.

Play Scotland, through the Playful Schools Project will:

i. Work with ScrapAntics to develop and deliver a creative and flexible model of loose parts play taking account of Covid-19 restrictions to provide play sessions in the Dundee Community Support Hubs over the summer. These will:

• Provide an alternative, strengths-based learning environment for children
• Increase physical health through enabling access to outdoor play opportunities
• Encourage children to re-engage with children-led, unstructured learning activities
• Enable children to work through their emotions through physical activity
• Support staff in the hubs by providing alternative resources
• Provide opportunities for socialisation and relaxation

ii. Create a customised resource pack to support children’s mental health and well-being in partnership with Dundee City Council. Drawing on the Play Scotland Home play pack (almost 25,000 packs already delivered in 31 local authorities), we will develop a resource pack to support the health and wellbeing of children, and provide play resources that will engage children and support their transition to school.

iii. Build a new model based on a robust evaluation of Playful Schools to allow the model to be used in settings across Scotland, including the development of a Handbook, Risk Benefit Assessments and case study. The evaluation process will focus on creating a new model that can be implemented across Scotland. We will measure incremental improvements in the support already provided by the Hubs and will develop clear indicators to assess impact of the intervention on the mental health and well-being of children.

Share:

An evidence report on Covid-19 and children’s play shows that the benefits of children playing outside outweigh the risks. The UK Play Safety Forum have been very concerned about the lack of statistical clarity around the impact of the Covid-19 virus on children. It was agreed that it would be very helpful for policy makers to have a document that made clear the true impact of the virus in terms of children’s health in order to help balance the risks of the virus compared to the damage of current policy to their wellbeing and development. In discussion it was felt that the Forum was probably one of the most experienced and qualified bodies to put this together.

David Ball, Professor of Risk Management at Middlesex University, agreed to write a report on this together with the Help of Tim Gill and Andrew Yates, who chairs the British and European Standards Committees for children’s play. The report is also supported by the UK Children’s Play Policy Forum.

Covid19 and Play Report

Share:

Over 3 workshops held in May, 25 young people between the ages of 10 to 16 years had their say on how Covid 19 is affecting their lives and school work, as part of a project supported by the children’s charity A Place in Childhood (APiC).

The teams included children from Aberdeen, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Rural Stirlingshire, with a Rural Falkirk team joining the third workshop. Participants were recruited with help from Leith Community Crops in Pots, the Children’s Parliament, and local primary and secondary schools in Aberdeen and Denny.

Despite very different places and backgrounds, there was strong consensus among the young people regarding the 5 big changes affecting them due to Covid-19, and the associated challenges and remedies. The third workshop focused on those challenges where they believed small improvements could make a big difference. Remote schooling emerged as a top priority for all, and their views and recommendations were published in the Scotland on Sunday 14th June 2020.

https://aplaceinchildhood.org/category/covid-19-project-with-scottish-children-and-young-people/

Share:

The Scottish Government have published new guidance today for Nurseries and other early learning and childcare (ELC) providers to help them plan for reopening when it is safe to do so. The new guidance sets out the core public health measures that will need to be taken to allow safe reopening. The guidance can be found here https://www.gov.scot/publications/coronavirus-covid-19-phase-3-guidance-on-reopening-early-learning-and-childcare-services/.

Share:

As a group of play professionals, researchers and academics leading on issues pertaining to play in the four nations we have agreed it to be important to respond to the terrible death of George Floyd and the profound outpouring of experiences, voices and outrage that have followed.

We are deeply saddened that there has had be another life lost to raise the issue of systemic racism in our countries.

The CPPF aim to build on this opportunity to highlight this issue to review our own work and membership.

We aim to include all children when we seek to look at play policy and are aware that we can always do more. We, like other groups cannot be complacent or accepting of racism in any form.

We are aware of the shortcomings in the paucity of BAME colleagues both in our own group and in senior positions in the play sector more widely. We feel it is important for us to really look at and explore the impact of systemic racism on the children in our countries. We aim that this terrible event will ensure that we keep this issue central to our plans moving forward with the aim to help create a future with a level playing field.

We will ensure that this statement underpins all out future discussions, work, interactions and publications.

Children’s Play Policy Forum, June 2020

Share:

Play Scotland are delighted to launch their Home play pack which will be free to organisations working with children and families in these challenging times.

We know children need play to thrive and make sense of their world, and that play supports their mental and physical health and wellbeing. Play Scotland have created this pack and our #101waystoplay campaign in order to support children and families to stimulate their imagination, creativity and play time. Many ideas can be led and carried out by children themselves, with very little adult support and some are good fun for all the family! Many are suitable for indoors  or confined spaces, and most are low cost or free.

Maree Todd, Minister for Children and Young People said:

“I’m delighted that Play Scotland are responding to the current situation by launching their new Home play pack, as part of their #101waystoplay campaign. Play has never been more important to help children get through these difficult times but given the current pressures on families, it can be a real challenge for all of us to find time to play. The Home play pack has some great tips and ideas for helping families to fit play in their day.”

Share: