Inspiring Playful wall mural, Old Marston

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What is the Oxfordshire Play Partnership (OPP)?

is the newsletter of the Oxfordshire Play Partnership, a group of organisations whose aim is to increase the

amount of play opportunities for children and young people aged approx 0-19 across Oxfordshire. Opportunities to play freely have decreased greatly in recent years, due to reasons such as

increases in traffic, urbanisation and adults’ safety fears. As play is vital for health and wellbeing, the National Play Strategy was

created in 2008 to reverse this decline, and local Play Partnerships were set up to create Play Strategies for local areas. Oxfordshire’s Play Strategy (and further OPP info) is available on Oxfordshire Play Association’s website www.oxonplay.org.uk) under ‘Resources’.

Who’s in OPP?

OPP has a wide range of members, including development workers and managers, people who work with children and young people, council staff, NHS PCT staff and many more. They meet four times a year, and minutes are always posted on the OPA website (see above). For further information about OPP, contact Sophie

Cresswell, Play Development Officer, Oxfordshire County Council on 01865 256673 or email: sophie.cresswell@oxfordshire.gov.uk,

or Jane Gallagher, Play Development Officer, Oxfordshire Play Association on 01865 779474 or email: jane.gallagher@oxonplay.org.uk.

Inspiring Play Inspiring Play is now produced 4 times a year by Oxfordshire Play Association on behalf of OPP,

with financial assistance from Oxfordshire County Council. If you would like to include an article, photo, play idea, news or any other item, please contact Jane Gallagher, Play Development

Officer, Oxfordshire Play Association on 01865 779474 / Email jane.gallagher@oxonplay.org.uk.

Deadlines: September edition: 7th September December edition: 14th November March edition: 14th February 2011 June edition: 14th May 2011

To celebrate, Oxfordshire is holding 3 free Play Day events. These are:

Tym Soper from Oxfordshire Playbus at a recent OPP visit to Kilkenny

Play Area, Carterton

South Oxon:

Southern Rd Rec.

Ground on

Wed 4th August,

11.00—4.00

Oxford City:

Gloucester Green,

Oxford on

Friday 6th August,

11.00—3.00

Cherwell Area:

People’s Park,

Banbury on

Wed 4th August,

11.00—4.00

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Oxfordshire Play

Association welcomes…

OPA’s new Training Officer, Brid Muldoon.

Look out for a new and exciting programme of play training and qualifications which is

being launched shortly.

You can also pre-register with OPA

for the Take 5 Introduction to Playwork short courses which will be running around Oxfordshire before

the summer holidays. Call 01865 779474 or email:

enquiries@oxonplay.org.uk

Oxfordshire Play Partnership recently ran a successful 'Play Shaper'

seminar, bringing together key people from diverse professional disciplines,

including transport, planners, school governors, police, health, etc. The

seminar was facilitated by Play England and aimed to raise

everyone's awareness about the part play plays in

creating child-friendly public

spaces and p r o m o t i n g

c o m m u n i t y cohesion.

Plans and progress are already being

made to bring play (and children and young people) into the public

‘realm’. For more info, contact Alison Partridge, Strategic Lead for

Participation and Play at Oxfordshire C o u n t y C o u n c i l . E m a i l :

alison.partridge@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/stepintotraining

or call 0845 604 2346 73% of children aged 7-12 would rather play with their parents than watch TV.

Source: Playreport 2010 (commissioned by IKEA). 11,000 people interviewed throughout 25 countries.

See: www.facebook.com/playreport

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Play Inspiration... The Scrapstore in Bristol is running a

project bringing huge ‘pods’ of playful

scrap to school playgrounds. Children are then free to use the play materials

in any way they want, resulting in some

unbelievably child-led play, and an inspiring ten-minute video about the

value of children leading their own play.

You can watch it on their website: www.childrensscrapstore.co.uk/

projects.htm

Review: Review: Review: Review: Spirit of Play ConferenceSpirit of Play ConferenceSpirit of Play ConferenceSpirit of Play Conference

Well, what can we say.... we arrived in plenty of time thanks to Rosemary's driving! We were welcomed on arrival and presented with a bag of goodies, and refreshments of drinks and cakes! The day would be made up of talks from speakers and two workshops. The first talk was from Liz Elsom from OFSTED regarding an update on the EYFS regulations and playwork. It was very thought-provoking. Next up was Alex Mills from KIDS on inclusion, highlighting the importance and our duty to all children of providing inclusive play.

Soon we were off to a workshop, called 'Rockets'. Firstly we made sky lanterns, and then we had fun playing with the tools making and racing our water rocket cars. Getting soaked in the process was half the fun! We both agreed the children at our setting would love to do this activity too – on return we will be gathering all the resources to have a water rocket race!

Time for a lovely lunch, more cakes, and then time to visit the many useful stalls that were in the hall, there was an abundance of leaflets and brochures to take away to read at our leisure.

After lunch there were several talks; an update from Lynette Robertson from Play England on Pathfinder and Playbuilder, an update form Re:Play by CJ regarding the South East Play Association and lastly a lively talk from Debbie Willett from Skills Active Scotland titled Still Playing. All the talks left us feeling uplifted and proud to be advocates for Play. It is good to know that all the talks are going to be available on the Skills Active web site so we can revisit them. What would we do without the internet?

Afterwards we were off to our second workshop. Karen and I went to ‘Get Cooking’, and it was great to see recipes that you don't need an oven to cook but are still fun to make.

Exhaustedly we set off home!

By Kaz Walters & Karen Wenborn, St Nicolas Primary School After School Club, Abingdon

Racing our rocket cars—gosh they could shift!

A fire pit is a great way to introduce fire to children and young people. This one is from Millett's Farm, near Abingdon and costs £49.99, which includes a guard, two grills and grill handle. The legs fold underneath to make the fire pit portable and easy to store away. Fires can provide a social area for chatting, having fun and chilling out. Also good for BBQs with young people—and older people!

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Dovecote Sensory Room, Greater Leys, funded by Aiming High

Increasing Awareness and Promoting Inclusion— Training for Providers

As part of the Aiming High Programme in Oxfordshire County Council, a training programme has been developed to increase awareness about specific impairments and how to support children through play, in a

group or home-based care setting. A wide range of training courses are available and providers can book on to the courses free of charge. For more information, availability and bookings please visit the Aiming High web pages www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/aiminghigh or call us on 01865 456 717.

Specialist Enablers - Support in Accessing a Group Setting

For some children who have impairments, it may be difficult to access group childcare, play or leisure activities without somebody to support them when they first attend. A pool of experienced, trained enablers are now available to support children with impairments when they first go to childcare, play and leisure activities. They will also work with staff at the setting, to help them to support the child and feel confident as the Enabler gradually withdraws, when the child has been successfully included. The Enabler service is for children and young people in Oxfordshire between the ages of 5 and 19 years, who have an impairment or other social need and require support to access inclusive group childcare, play and leisure. The Parasol Project is offering Enabler services in the Oxford City area and The Children’s Society is covering the other parts of Oxfordshire. To apply for the service, you will need to complete a referral form and return it to the appropriate organisation depending on where the activity takes place. Referrals forms and more information can be found on the Aiming High webpages www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/aiminghigh.

• For further information about childcare, play or leisure activities in

Oxfordshire please contact: Oxfordshire Family Information Service on telephone: 08452 26 26 36 or visit www.oxonfis.org.uk.

• To find out more about other projects the Aiming High team are

working on to improve childcare and short break services for families with a disabled child, visit our webpages www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/aiminghigh.

Play activity idea: Melting CandlesPlay activity idea: Melting CandlesPlay activity idea: Melting CandlesPlay activity idea: Melting Candles Recently in our after school club, I impulsively went out and bought

three packs of different coloured candles and a box of matches.

What did we want to do? Play with fire! First we needed to talk,

so we all sat down together inside and talked about what we were

going to be doing, and how we could be safe doing it. This was

important because the children had a wide age range of 4-11.

We then all ventured out to the playground, equipped with bowls of water and extra water to put

used matches in. One by one we lit everyone’s candles and all of the children sat carefully with

their bowls making all sorts of wax creations. Some enjoyed making patterns, whilst others enjoyed

the texture of the cooled wax in the water. Some were fascinated by the long sticks of melted wax

created by holding their candle still for a long time.

This activity was brilliant because it was a perfect opportunity to talk

about how to be safe with fire and why to be safe. The children had a

chance to experiment with the flames, feeling the heat from them and

the effect it had on the wax. All in all the children were thoroughly

entertained for over 40 minutes.

By Jess Jones, Wolvercote After School Club in Oxford

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Putting PLAY first Six after school clubs in Oxfordshire are taking part in an exciting new project called ‘First Claim’.

It’s a fun, practical way of seeing how you can really make your club attractive to children. Ever got frustrated that you can’t just get on and play?

Bogged down in Ofsted paperwork and the EYFS? Want a recognised way of working that puts play first?

Then First Claim might be for you. First Claim is a ‘Quality Assessment’ – a posh word for checklist! – that helps playworkers think

about their environment, interactions and planning, all with the Playwork Principles in mind – the Playwork Principles explain what makes playwork separate from the school day and how different

approaches are needed so children can play freely and have a great time. Best of all they are now recognised by Ofsted too.

Oxfordshire County Council’s Childcare Development Officers are supporting 6 clubs in road-testing First Claim. They’re due to finish the project in July, and will feed back to us

what it is like and, more importantly, how it could work for other Oxfordshire clubs. Watch this space for more information on getting the PLAY back into childcare.

The six clubs are: St Francis in Oxford, Dashwood in Banbury, Magpies in Kidlington, Fun Kids in Abingdon, Wolvercote in Oxford and Charlton After School Club near Wantage.

For more information on First Claim contact Claire Taylor on 01865 810517, or email claire.taylor@oxfordshire.gov.uk.

Out of School Club Opportunity - Oxford City

From time to time, the findings of our childcare market assessments and the work of local Childcare Development Officers identify gaps in childcare, which need to be filled in order to meet

families’ needs. This creates opportunities for new or existing childcare providers to start or expand their childcare business.

We have identified a need for a new after school club in Oxford. Further details can be found at www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/childcareopportunities or by calling Masako Sparrowhawk, Childcare Development Officer on 01865 323043

or John Vidovic, Childcare Business Development Officer on 01865 323332. A start-up grant to subsidise costs in the first year is available. The provision is

expected to be self-sustaining after that.

As part of the project, Charlton After School Club received funding for play materials. After reading more about

First Claim they decided on some fire play and den play materials

(see photos).

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Ofsted—New Phone Numbers and Poster

0300 123 1231 is now the main Ofsted Helpline Number (Mon-Fri 8am-8pm). (This replaces the old 0845 640 4040 number.)

0300 123 3153 is the number to call if you have not received your unique SEF password (Ofsted Security Token) and the guidelines on how to

complete the online SEF. Have your Ofsted reference number when you call. 0300 123 4666 is for anyone to make a complaint or report a concern about any service Ofsted inspects or regulates (Monday to Friday, 8am to 6pm) Note: 03 numbers cost the same as standard landline numbers, even from a mobile phone. 60085 is for text messages. Ofsted says: ‘Please note that in instances where we are unable to send a full reply by text message - e.g. if the reply will be very long - we will send a text message offering to telephone you to discuss your query.’ 0700 263 7833 / freepublications@ofsted.gov.uk to order Ofsted publications. However, most Ofsted publications are website-only. The web page for each publication details if a printed version is available. See www.ofsted.gov.uk The Ofsted website also has information for Typetalk / textphone / Minicom users.

The new Helpline means that there is a revised ‘Parents’ poster’ for Ofsted-registered settings. There is a link to this from our Childcare

Development web pages, www.oxfordshire.gov.uk/outofschoolchildcare. Look under Ofsted / Ofsted documents and forms. Alternatively, you

can request one from Ofsted publications on the number above.

Safeguarding Children: Local Authority Designated Officer (LADO) If you are aware of a ‘safeguarding’ allegation against a person who works with children, you must inform the LADO, whose role is to ensure that allegations are progressed in a timely and appropriate way. The role covers all settings where people work with children, e.g. childcare settings, football clubs, leisure centres, churches, children’s centres, schools etc.

The LADO must be informed of all cases where it is alleged that a person who works with children has either: behaved in a way that has harmed a child, or may have harmed a child, or possibly committed a criminal offence against or related to a child, or behaved towards a child or children in a way that indicates s/he is unsuitable to work with children.

If you are an employer, you may be requested to attend a ‘Strategy Discussion’, to provide information and help agree how the Children and Families Assessment Team and the Police will undertake their enquiries. As part of this process, the LADO will liaise with you to ensure that the subject of an allegation is supported appropriately, and to help you decide whether individuals should be suspended from work during the enquiry. The LADOs for Oxfordshire County Council are:

For childcare and other non-school settings: Shaun Hanks, 01865 815232 / shaun.hanks@oxfordshire.gov.uk

For schools: Barry Armstrong, 01865 815956 / barry.armstrong@oxfordshire.gov.uk

Safeguarding Children: Self-Assessment Guide All group settings that are Ofsted-registered should have recently received this new Oxfordshire County

Council document. It is intended to help you check your setting is following best practice in keeping children safe, and complying with government and Ofsted requirements. It was sent out with a letter about CRB

checks from county council staff who may visit your setting.

Please contact your Childcare Development Officer if you have not received these documents.

IP-DIP—Magazine for Professionals in Play

National magazine which

includes UK news, info and essays on play.

www.ip-dip.com

Reproduced by kind permission of Private Eye/R Thompson Reproduced by kind permission of Private Eye/K J Lamb

Reproduced by kind permission of Private Eye Reproduced by kind permission of Private Eye/Russell

The magazine Private Eye often has cartoons which joke about children and young people’s lack of play opportunities in the ‘modern’ world. Private Eye have kindly agreed to let us reproduce four of these play-related cartoons in Inspiring Play.

More info from www.private-eye.co.uk