16 July 2010
News about Play England's proposed reorganisation, Playday competition and consultation, Play Shaper 'Placemaking and Play' training and the forthcoming Community Spirit event in Sheffield.
These monthly updates are sent out in the Children's Play Update, an email newsletter from CPIS.
Play England has announced a proposed reorganisation in the light of the imminent reduction in the value of its contracts with the Department for Education (DfE) for 2010-11, the removal of ‘ring-fenced’ funding for local play provision and the changing policy context for the play agenda under the coalition government. Play England is reshaping its work to focus more on supporting local communities to develop and run their own play spaces and services. Play England is in talks with DfE about a new contract to support this work, and is actively exploring several other opportunities to take forward a new strategy when its main Big Lottery Fund grant comes to an end next year.
Find out more about the reorganisation
Disney Interactive Studios has teamed up with Play England and partners to celebrate Playday on 4 August 2010 and the launch of Toy Story 3 The Video Game, by offering communities the chance to host a special Playday event.
On Playday, the national day for play, communities will be joining in the fun at hundreds of events across the UK. For the winner, Disney Interactive Studios will not only fund £2000 towards your own Playday event – but will also help you arrange it. Three runners up will also win £500 towards their own Playday celebrations.
The competition is open to anyone including communities already planning a Playday event. Children aged under 18 need to get permission from a parent or guardian.
To enter, all you have to do is tell us in no more than 500 words why your community deserves a Playday event sponsored by Disney.
Read more about the competition
Figures released by The British Toy and Hobby Association (BTHA) and Play England show that parents feel their children are not getting enough time to play with the average child playing for just over one hour (70 minutes) each day. As part of the BTHA’s summer media campaign, an advert will be broadcast during children’s television programming and a Facebook page is asking parents to ‘Make a pledge’ to dedicate more of their children’s time each day to simply play. BTHA has set a target encouraging the UK to collectively pledge 2 million extra minutes to get out and play over the summer months.
Find out more about the BTHA and Play England research
This year’s Playday drawing consultation has now been launched as part of the Playday 2010 Our place campaign. Play England is asking children and young people, ‘What’s it like to play where you live?’ A colourful consultation template is available to download via the Playday website and all submissions will be entered into a prize draw to win a digital camera.
Find out how to enter the consultation
Play England is piloting a tailored Play Shaper seminar titled Placemaking and Play. The seminar helps senior officers from local authority placemaking departments and their key partners to create child-friendly communities by embedding play into local priorities. The seminars also help placemaking professionals, such as transport planners, highway engineers, landscape architects and regeneration officers integrate play into their day-to-day design and decision making processes.
Find out more about the trainingPlay Fair 2010, the Association of Play Industries (API) annual event where playground suppliers and manufacturers showcase their latest products, took place last month. Play England was pleased to participate in the seminar programme, with its director Adrian Voce speaking at seminars on both days of the event at Stoneleigh Park near Coventry. Play England’s South West team staffed a marquee and responded to numerous questions regarding the future prospects of play provision in light of recent changes to government. The Play Design Network also met, attended by delegates responsible for delivering play in a range of settings, as well as representatives from API’s member companies.
Find out more about Play Fair
The first round of assessments using the new Quality in Play programme and manual were completed in May. For play providers working towards assessment, the next application deadline was 12 July 2010, and a further date will be set for September 2010. Quality in Play is also looking for new mentors and assessors to join the programme. The next round of training sessions will take place in September 2010. More information regarding dates and venues will be soon be available on the website.
Play England’s Playful Communities website is becoming more integral following recent government policy announcements that place more emphasis on the role of community and voluntary organisations in planning and delivering local services. The website is an online toolkit for individuals or local community groups interested in developing play provision in their neighbourhood.
Visit the Playful Communities website
29 September 2010 - Sheffield
Play England and Yorkshire Play are hosting a joint event which will take place on Wednesday 29 September 2010 in Sheffield. The event will focus on the notion of community and the need to create a sense of pride, ownership and community spirit within our neighbourhoods to create safer, more child friendly environments for children to play. Through strategic and practical workshops this event will focus on community safety, engagement, inclusion, creating playful environments and funding advice for community groups.