Play England, a SAPCA affiliate member and one of the association’s industry partners, has published its new 10-year strategy.
With a vision to “make play normal again” and to ensure every child has both a right and access to free play, the document was launched at an event at the Houses of Parliament on 13 May. The strategy’s main aims are to help create a society in which all children have the freedom to play and where play is an “accepted and visible part of everyday life”.
Titled “It All Starts With Play”, it highlights how supervised activities and screen-time have taken over from unsupervised, “free” activities in which children can explore, discover and be physically active without being guided or limited. This has been caused by the loss of playgrounds and areas in which children can safely play – with any play time often limited to school hours.
According to the data in the strategy, a child’s opportunity to play freely and safely can also depend entirely on where they live, with urban areas in particularly providing limited opportunities to them.
“When children are denied time, space, opportunity and freedom to play, the consequences ripple through every aspect of their lives – across the systems that surround them and across wider society,” Play England states in the strategy.
“Play deprivation is not just about missing out on fun, it means missing out on friendships, independence, physical activity, expression and the challenges that help children build confidence and resilience.”
In the strategy, Play England lays out plans to combat “play deprivation” and to restore a play-based childhood for all children in England by 2035.
It aims to do this through four interconnected priorities, which are:
• Spaces
Creating play-friendly environments wherever children are – at home, school, on the street, in the parks or in digital spaces.
• Skills
Recognising and supporting people who enable play opportunities – with playworkers at its core and a wider ecosystem of play enablers.
• Systems
Building a resilient play sector and rebuilding the infrastructure for play through national policy, legislation, research and funding.
• Society
Re-norming play as an essential, accepted part of childhood – shifting culture from risk-aversion and control to trust, freedom and joy.
Eugene Minogue, Executive Director of Play England, said: “Our aim is to make play a normal and visible part of everyday life again. We want a shift to a culture where play is recognised, accepted and protected at school, in our streets, in our communities.
“We believe play deprivation is having a negative impact on both the education and development of children today – and we’re committed to helping to realise a child’s right to play.
“Our intention is to combine our expertise and networks to embed the principle of ‘play sufficiency’ during the school day. Together, we will champion the value of play in supporting children’s physical, social and cognitive development – and support schools create and harness more unstructured, active, and playful moments every day.
“This is not just about building new playgrounds. It’s about embedding play in how we build communities – so children don’t just have homes, they have a childhood.
“We don’t need to fix children, we need to fix the system. And it all starts with play.”
To read the full strategy, click here.