Wolverhampton Play Policy

Wolverhampton Play Policy

All our children and young people:

Successful, healthy, safe and contributing to the communities in which they live, work and play.

(Vision: Children and Young People’s Strategic Partnership)

Wolverhampton

Play Policy

Section one: concepts and connections

Aim

1.The overarching aim of this play policy is to ensure that Wolverhampton’s children and young people have easy access to a range of quality play opportunities within a practical walking distance from their homes.

Commitment

2.Wolverhampton City Council will take this play policy into account whenever decision’s need to be made that could or should affect children’s play opportunities. This means, for example, that planning guidance and decisions, renewal and maintenance programmes, transport policy, parks and open space strategies, cultural and community strategies will work to the values, objectives and criteria of this policy.

3.Council will encourage voluntary sector organisations, community groups and other agencies to adopt this play policy. Many valued services are delivered by non-council bodies, for example, out-of-school clubs, nurseries, youth clubs, holiday play schemes, schools, play centres etc.. The widespread adoption of this policy will help ensure the development of a City-wide cohesive approach to children and young people’s play.

4.Council endorses Articles 12 and 31 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child.

'State Parties shall assure the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.' Article 12

‘State Parties recognise the right of the child to rest and leisure, to engage in play and recreational activities appropriate to the age of the child and to participate freely in cultural life and the arts.’ Article 31

Understanding play

5.Play is one essential waychildren and young people come to understandthemselves and the world around them. Play is avital component of a child's life. A child's capacity for positive development will be inhibited or constrained if denied access to a range of stimulating play opportunities. Play is essential for physical, emotional and spiritual growth, for intellectual and educational development.

6.Through play children and young people explore the physical and social environment, ideas and concepts and learn how to deal with situations that trouble or frighten them. Through play they develop self-confidence, a sense of themselves as individuals able to make choices, learn the connection between choice and consequence. In this they learn what cannot be explicitly taught.

7.The best play provision is designed to offer children and young people access to this wide range of experience in settings, which support acceptable level of risk[1].

8.Play is satisfying to the child, creative for the child and freely chosen by the child. Play may involve or may not involve equipment, be boisterous and energetic or quiet and contemplative, be done with other people or on one's own, have an end product or not, be light hearted or very serious.

9.Wolverhampton City Council wants to ensure that play opportunities are created that allow children and young people to explore, manipulate, experience and affect their environment within challenging settings, free from unacceptable levels of risk[2]. Importance must always be given to the child's choice and control over their own experience.

What we mean by 'all' children

10.We believe that all children and young people want and need opportunities to play. Play provision should be welcoming and accessible to every child, irrespective of gender, economic or social circumstances, ethnic or cultural background or origin, or individual abilities.

11.We intend that play provision shall meet the play needs of disabled children and those with special needs within inclusive provision. Some children will require additional support to ensure that they have access to the best possible play opportunities and some children will need and want to have access to specialist as well as inclusive provision.

‘Children and young people with disabilities have an equal if not greater need for opportunities to take risks, since they may be denied the freedom of choice enjoyed by their non-disabled peers.’

Play Safety Forum Position Statement

Age Limits

12This policy does not prescribe age ranges for play provision. This is based on the understanding that children and young people need and like to play, and benefit from doing so.

‘While few teenagers would describe what they do as play, they need the time, space and freedom associated with play for younger age groups…. play [means] what children and young people do when they follow their own ideas, in their own way and for their own reasons’

Getting Serious about play: a review of children’s play[3]

13.Subject to local discretion and conditions, there should be no presumption against children; young people and adults of all ages having access to quality play opportunities.

Values and principles

14.The following values and principles will inform all Wolverhampton City Councils’ decisions about play provision. Children and young people:

• are entitled to respect for their own unique combination of qualities and capabilities
• should have their opinions and reactions taken into account
• are part of, and contribute to, the cultural life of their communities
• have a right to be seen, heard and provided for in shared public space to the same degree as adults
• have a right to play environments that offer challenge, stimulation and delight but are free from unacceptable levels of risk
• have the right to expect consistency and clarity in adult values. Children and young people must see the connection between stated policy and what actually happens. They need to feel part of a community of trust and co- operation.
• children and young people should be able to control their own play activity. development
• in play there need be no task or product, though the child or young person may decide differently from time to time.

15. Wolverhampton City Councils’ play provision will be based on the principle of empowering the child and increasing their choices.

Play and culture

16.Play is one of the ways children and young people learn how values, beliefs and traditions come to life through their actions and engagements with other people. This type of understanding cannot be taught. It is the difference between being able to quote a moral code, and learning to live by one.

17.Leisure pursuits and play, whether undertaken by adults or children, share the common characteristics of being undertaken voluntarily requiring no necessary outcome. It is central to our understanding of ourselves as individuals and as a society that we value such freely chosen engagements. These engagements are intrinsically worthwhile, and are distinct from those driven by necessity. They enrich and give meaning to our lives.

18.Wolverhampton City Council will ensure that play is properly represented in its cultural strategy.

Play and formal education

19.Council recognises play as equal to formal education in terms of its fundamental role in enabling children and young people to engage positively with the complexities of the world around them.

20.Wolverhampton City Council note that there is evidence to suggest that free play has a direct positive impact on children's ability to meet formal educational goals. For example, a Head teacher who improved free play opportunities during school breaktime reported that

'The children value the freedom of playtime and find that the range for their choice is wider so that they are more ready to accept the work load demanded during the time of their formal education.'

Play at School published by PLAYLINK[4]

21.Council will encourage measures to be taken that will enhance children’s free play opportunities within educational settings during and after school.

Play and health

22.Play is critical to children and young people’s physical and emotional health. There is growing concern about the rise in childhood obesity and related disorders, along with evidence showing a growth in mental illness. The Mental Health Bright Futures report states that opportunities for risk taking in unsupervised play helps children build self-confidence and resilience.

Shared public space

23.The health and vibrancy of our local area depends to a significant degree on people's perception and use of public spaces and thoroughfares. Planning, design and architecture, along with sensitive approaches to overseeing public space, can create the conditions necessary for the development of a sociable borough, one that demonstrates its respect for children and young people and values them as part of a wider community.

24.Wolverhampton City Council wants to ensure that its public spaces - e.g. thoroughfares, shopping areas, housing estates, parks, - are places where individuals and communities can be at ease with each other. It is likely that where parents and carers feel confident about their children’s ability to use shared public space, so too will others.

25.Children are entitled to play safely in a wide range of public spaces, including those in proximity to their homes. Children and young people being seen and heard in public spaces is one of the hallmarks of a vital society.

26.Parents and carers of young children in particular are right to expect that facilities are available that allow them to congregate in comfort whilst they supervise and enjoy their children’s play.

27.It is accepted that perceptions of crime and community safety affect individual and family decisions about whether and where children can go out to play. This is a complex area where, for example, perception of crime levels are often higher than the reality. We will work with others to ensure that perceptions of crime levels more accurately reflect reality.

28.Wolverhampton City Council recognises that global environmental issues such as transport, waste and pollution affect the quality of local environments where children play. In developing play opportunities, Wolverhampton City Council will always aim to minimise the negative environmental impact of its activities and enhance the environmental benefits.

29.We recognise that play environments, whether designated play space or part of the wider public realm, must be properly maintained. Proper maintenance contributes to the sustainability of play environments and forms a necessary part of a positive approach to what CABE Space has described as ‘place making’.

‘CABE Space believes that the use of target hardening as a first response to anti-social behaviour is resulting in the fortification of our urban environment. There is a better solution: invest in place making, improving public spaces, to prevent the onset and escalation of these problems. Evidence from CABE Space’s study shows that well designed, well maintained public spaces can contribute to reducing the incidence of vandalism and anti-social behaviour, and result in long term cost savings.’

CABE Space Policy Note: preventing anti-social behaviour in public spaces[5]

Play, planning and procurement

30.Planning guidelines, Section 106 (planning gain) agreements, and procurement procedures have major, and long term, impact on play provision. It is critical that planning and procurement guidelines and processes support and reinforce the strategic purpose of this play policy.

Quality play provision and questions of risk

31.Play providers fail in their responsibility if they do not create opportunities that allow children to explore and experience themselves and their world through the medium of play. This is done by offering children opportunities to take acceptable risks (that is, to freely undertake actions and involve themselves in situations that push against the boundaries of their own capacities) in environments that are challenging and stimulating. This processfosters thedevelopment of skills and is broadlyeducativein that it allows children to learn through experience what cannot be taught, what they have to find out for themselves.

‘Children need and want to take risks when they play. Play provision aims to respond to these needs and wishes by offering children and young people stimulating, challenging environments for exploring and developing their abilities. In doing this, play provision aims to manage the level of risk so that children are not exposed to unacceptable risks of life threatening or permanently disabling injury.’

Play Safety Forum Position Statement on Managing Risk in Play Provision[6]

32.Without opportunities to take acceptable levels of risk children's development is inhibited, undermining their capacity to deal with the wider - unsupervised - world.

While the same principles of safety management can be applied both to workplaces generally and play provision, the balance between safety and benefits is likely to be different in the two environments. In play provision exposure to some risk is actually a benefit: it satisfies a basic human need and gives children the chance to learn about the real consequences of risk taking.

Play Safety Forum Position Statement4

33.If play provision fails to offer children varied and interesting experiences, it is reasonable to be concerned that children may seek challenge and stimulation elsewhere, in areas that may contain unacceptable levels of risk. Equally, if children are denied opportunities to assess some risks for themselves in a variety of settings and situations, then it is reasonable to be concerned that they will lack the experience and skills to distinguish between levels of risk in the wider world. Wolverhampton City Council adopts the Play Safety Forum’s Position Statement on Managing Risk in Play Provision

Risk assessment

34.It is a requirement under the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974 (Management of Health & Safety at Work Regulations 1999) that employers undertake regular Risk Assessments. Risk Assessment is based on a holistic approach to assessing risk; that is, it looks at all the elements - and the connections and relationships between them - that comprise the work (i.e. the play provision) environment.

35.Those responsible for the regulation, inspection and implementation of health and safety are required to make judgements appropriate to the particular circumstances of the individual provision and its aims and objectives. What might be appropriate for one provider will not necessarily be appropriate for another. Factors to be considered will include, for example, the ages and capabilities of the children and young people who use the provision, the accident history, and - if applicable - the level of supervision and support that is available. In particular, the three critical factors for risk assessment are:

• the likelihood of injury
• the severity of injury
• the benefits, rewards or outcome of the activity.

36.Risk assessment is a relatively straightforward technique that, when understood, can be a highly functional tool supporting the development of quality play environments. Wolverhampton City Council is committed to ensuring that play providers are given play specific training and support to enable them to conduct risk assessments.

Risk: legal considerations

37.PLAYLINK commissioned Counsel Opinion to confirm whether PLAYLINK’s play policy – informing this, the Wolverhampton City Council Play Policy - combined with the Play Safety Forum’s Managing Risk in Play Provision Statement and proper risk assessment provides:

‘a robust, explicitframework for organisations to demonstrate that they have acted reasonably in offeringchildren acceptable levels of riskin their provision for play, whether in designated play space or shared public space.

38.Counsel concluded that:

‘… it is entirely legitimate for PLAYLINK to emphasise, in its Play Policy, the need to balance against the risk of injury, the benefits to children and young persons of undertaking play activities within an acceptable level of risk. Central, however, to the exercise of the balance is the undertaking of a careful risk assessment. Where there has been a careful risk assessment, resulting in a conclusion that it is permissible for play to involve a risk of injury, by reason of the resultant benefits, I am confident that Courts would be sympathetic to a Defendant, in the event of an accident and subsequent litigation.’[7]

Consultation: with parents, carers and children

39.Children and young people's views shall be sought and taken into account when making decisions about their play opportunities. They are entitled to know the response to the views they have expressed.

40.The process of finding out, and responding to, children’s needs and wishes is more likely to occur where a culture of dialogue and conversation is nurtured. Conversation and dialogue presuppose a multiplicity of voices and the possibility of more than one point of view. A culture of conversation respects not only the child’s voice, but also that of adults. We will work to ensure that a culture of conversation with children and young people is promoted.