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SharePlaywork in Schools
This track will take place on Tuesday
What is OPAL doing in schools? - Michael Folett
What if every school provided outstanding play for every child every day? What if schools understood playwork and provided playwork-trained staff? Come and hear
how OPAL is revolutionising play across the UK school system and worldwide in Poland, Spain and Eastern Europe and as far as Malaysia. Hear how about the changes in practice, training and research
OPAL is pioneering is one of the most positive bits of news for the playwork sector in many years.
TIME: 9:30-10:15 LENGTH: 45
minutes
Making the case for Play in Schools - Ana Ardelean and Kate Smith
A session for everyone interested in ensuring children access good quality play where they spend a large proportion of their childhoods - in primary schools!
Whether you are a parent/carer, grandparent, playworker, support worker, school staff member or overall play enthusiast, join the session to uncover some of the most interesting findings from the
first-ever comprehensive review of the academic and literary research evidence supporting the case for better play in primary schools. The review authors will also draw on their own experience of
play development work in schools, while exploring how the instrumental, institutional and intrinsic values of play can be combined for amazing play provision in school, for every child, every day. We
will close the session with the opportunity to reflect on what we can all do, collectively, to improve the current state of school play.
TIME: 10:30-12:00 LENGTH: 1.5
hours
The 30 Minute Design Tool - Michael Follett
Learn the four principles of design for any play landscape. In this fast paced workshop, you will learn the principles and then design an awesome landscape for play. The theory can be applied to any space of any size
TIME: 12:15-13:45 LENGTH: 1.5
hours
Can access to qaulity play exist in schools? - Lizzy Fleming and Llew Jones
Within this session, we will share our experiences of designing and building playable landscapes within schools. What happens when challenging play structures are
introduced to schoolyards, often populated with risk-averse staff? How we have learned to encourage them to take a play-centred approach and the associated challenges and highs of taking
a community on a journey into exploring play. How can play design can also environmentally mitigate the effects of climate change reducing children’s access to play, and how that can be
achieved on a budget without compromising play value.
TIME: 14:15-15:15 LENGTH: 1 hour
Including the Excluded: Playworking in PRU's - Simon Bazley
Simon will share his experiences of working in three different pupil referral units (PRU's) over his playwork career and how this work has informed his planned
work in a fourth and larger PRU. This isn't a sales pitch for my own work, but rather jointly exploring how a playwork approach can be utilised by anyone to support children's wellbeing, whilst
helping struggling education and/or care settings to support theirs too! I'm often asked to help pick up the pieces of settings that are perceived as failing children (and often are). I
thought I'd like to share how I think playworking can indeed help pick up those pieces, but also how we can collectively as a sector help to limit the harm in the first place.
Discussion & questions welcome
TIME: 15:30-17:00 LENGTH: 1.5 hours
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