As we reach the 30th anniversary of, founder Mick Conway looks back at its development and impact. Thirty years ago we had a problem. Children’s play provision was under threat because of massive central government cuts to local area funding. Three of us called a meeting and nobody came. We went to the pub[…]
Press release New research published by Play England shows that playing out increases children’s physical activity. At a time of continuing concerns about childhood obesity, the research shows how playing out helps children meet daily targets of physical activity. The reports evaluate the three-year Street Play project, funded by the Department of Health, and delivered[…]
Nic Mcewan is lead for the three year project, Play Works, designed to help adventure playgrounds improve how they monitor the impact they have on their communities. Here she describes how the project works. “Still something of a newbie on the play scene, it was only a couple of summers ago that I walked into an[…]
Play England is delighted to announce our new project, #AdventureintoSport which launches on Monday 26 June. At the moment, too many children are leading inactive lives with increasing numbers either overweight or obese. Many are growing up in over-crowded housing without access to quality play and sports opportunities outside school. Adventure into Sport offers[…]
Following calls by Play England for playworkers to lobby qualification awarding bodies to extend registration of Playwork Diplomas CACHE and City & Guilds have reviewed their stance and extended the registration for some of the qualifications for another year. Thank you to all those play workers and play organisations who took the time to write expressing their[…]
Play England’s staff and trustees are deeply saddened by the loss of our friend and colleague Dr Stuart Lester. Stuart was a huge inspiration and support to all of us in the play sector in England and internationally, delivering many workshops, talks and lectures. Play England was honoured to publish his work co-authored with Wendy[…]
Michael Follett set up OPAL – Outdoor Play and Learning – five years ago. Since then, hundreds of schools across the UK, as well as schools in Canada, New Zealand and Australia have completed the OPAL Primary Programme. Here, he explains how he persuades head teachers to invest in play development. “The best way to[…]
Senior Development Officer (Ref: SDO 2017) 28 hours p/w, location to be negotiated £24,737 (incl London weighting, if applicable) Play England is looking for an experienced development officer to deliver the new ‘Adventure into Sport’ project. The post holder will work with a play project in Bradford, Yorkshire and another in Tower Hamlets, London to[…]
Play England is delighted to be launching the latest edition of Quality in Play, a quality assurance system and framework that has been tried and tested in practice by hundreds of play and childcare providers for over 20 years. As one of the original developers of Quality in Play, Mick Conway explains what all the fuss is[…]
Play England would like to thank Meynell Games and all those in the playwork sector who made the National Playwork Conference such an informative, inclusive and welcoming event. We had a great turnout for our AGM on the eve of the conference with guest speaker Mike Greenaway of Play Wales, and our special Conference newsletter[…]