Quality in Play is a quality assurance scheme for out-of-school play and childcare provision.

"Our funders are more impressed with what we do; we can explain our achievements and make them more aware of what we offer and why we do it."

"It lifted the profile of play, city-wide. It changed parental expectations of play, children's expectations of play, and the staff team's expectation of play."

QiP aims to raise the standards of staffed play provision across the country.  It was developed by playwork practitioners and based on well-established good practice. Many play providers already use Quality in Play to demonstrate the quality of their service to parents, their communities and funders - the full list of accredited play providers is available here.

 

A Journey, not a destination: Evaluating the Impact of Quality in Play

Play England commissioned Ludemos Associates - Perry Else, Julia Sexton and Eddie Nuttall - to assess the impact of Quality in Play for providers using the programme and their findings are now available.  Click on the link at the bottom of this page to download your copy.

 

Quality in Play manuals

The Quality in Play manual, now in its fourth edition, has been designed to guide you through the quality assurance process, supporting play providers in documenting their journey through 11 quality areas.

To order a manual, please contact the Quality in Play team.

Play England members receive up to 12 per cent off the cost of Quality in Play -find out more about joining.

Download Quality in Play flyer (343KB PDF).

Download Quality in Play costs list (131KB PDF).

 

Quality in Play Training

Play England offers regular training for those interesting in working with the Quality in Play programme - further details are available here, and upcoming dates and booking information are available in the events section.

 

Applying for assessment

Once play providers have worked through the Quality in Play manual and compiled required evidence, the next step is to apply for assessment and accreditation. The process is outlined in the document below, and the support materials that came with your manual should also help you to prepare your application pack.  If you did not receive the materials or lost the USB drive, please contact us.  Copies of the key forms are also available to download below.

The upcoming deadlines for applications for assessment are:

- Friday 2^nd March 2012
- Friday 15^th June 2012
- Friday 7^th September 2012

The independent accreditation panel will meet on:

Friday 18^th May 2012
Friday 17th August 2012
Friday 16^th November 2012 

In the meantime if you consider you have enough evidence to gain accreditation please send the first two pages of the application form as an expression of interest, please send this to the address below without payment. We will contact you with details of the confirmed dates for the independent accreditation panel and make arrangements for assessment. We will request the full application form and pre-assessment checklist to be completed before any payment is made.

Download the  assessment and accreditation process (97KB PDF).

Dowload the  assessment application form (80KB Word).

Download the  assessment contract (44KB Word).

Download the  pre-assessment checklist (133KB PDF).