Play Strategy

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Tameside Children and Young People Strategic Partnership

Play Strategy

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Foreword by Cabinet Deputy

I am delighted to introduce this play strategy which represents our first comprehensive strategy for play in the borough, and shows how good play provision supports the priorities of and for children and young people in Tameside.

Play teaches sharing, respect for others, tolerance, patience and many other important skills and qualities for life. Play also allows children to be children and gives opportunities to do things where there is no pressure to be a small adult.

Play is fundamental to the lives of our children and young people, and this strategy aims to improve access to a range of play opportunities across the borough and further develop our play provision.

Councillor Allison Gwynne
Cabinet Deputy (Children and Young People)

Introduction
Definition of Play
The Case for Play in Tameside
Contribution Play Makes to Wider Agendas
Review of Community Engagement
Local Provision Examined
Our Strategy for the Future
Criteria for Identifying Priorities for Development
Big Lottery Projects
Review of Play Strategy

1. Introduction

Play is of fundamental importance to the health and well-being of the children and young people of Tameside. It has been recognised at a national and local level that play is not only important in its own right, but it also helps to achieve wider objectives such as the five key outcomes under the children's act, namely being healthy, staying safe, enjoyment and achieving, making a positive contribution and achieving economic well-being. Play is important in that it enables children to learn in a way that is appropriate to them, encouraging independence and equipping them to deal with problem-solving skills throughout their lives.

Tameside is developing a cohesive borough-wide approach to play, ensuring that a commitment is given to improving play opportunities by all agencies involved in the provision of children's services. Tameside MBC has developed this strategy following extensive consultation with children, young people, their parents and partner organisations. The strategy establishes the priorities, sets out to improve opportunities and to maximise the benefits of play on children's and young people's lives in Tameside.

The purpose of this strategy is to co-ordinate our approach to play and ensure that play provision contributes to achieving the priority outcomes for children and young people in Tameside whatever their age, disability or ethnicity, and wherever they live in the borough. We want to make the most of the resources available to further develop play opportunities and promote Tameside as a play friendly place.

This Strategy outlines the case for play and articulates the reasons why play is so important to the young people and children of Tameside. It summarises our consultation and identifies how we will move forward in addressing gaps in play opportunities. It also outlines how we will develop, publicise and co-ordinate our play provision to make it fully inclusive and contribute more explicitly to local and national priorities.

2. Definition of Play

Although it's easy to recognise it when we see it, play is harder to define in words. We have chosen to adopt "Best Play's" definition.

"Play is freely chosen, personally directed, intrinsically motivated behaviour that actively engages the child... Play can be fun or serious. Through play children explore social, material and imaginary worlds and their relationship with them, elaborating all the while a flexible range of responses to the challenges they encounter."
From Best Play - what play provision should do for children Children's Play Council (2001)

3. The Case for Play in Tameside

Play provides children and young people with an important opportunity to develop their values, beliefs and traditions and understand how they impact on their environment. Play benefits the child, the parents/carers and also the wider community.

For the child, play provides valuable life skills and is vital to their development. It is integral to learning and keeps children and young people healthy and active. It also promotes independence, resilience, fosters self-confidence, self-esteem and self-awareness. Play stimulates the five key areas of development in a child; social, physical, intellectual, creative and emotional. For parents/carers, play improves family relationships and enables social contact with other families. Play benefits the community by involving children in creative and positive activities, helping reduce anti-social behaviour and reducing the risk of crime. Facilities become a focal point for the community, families are better supported and young people are helped to prepare for adult life.

" Best Play "( 2001) set out 7 key objectives for good play provision which are the benchmark for play in Tameside.

Good play provision:

Extends the choice and control that children have over their play, the freedom they enjoy, and the satisfaction they gain from it
Recognises the child's need to test boundaries, and responds positively to that need
Manages the balance between the need to offer risk and the need to keep children safe from harm
Maximises the range of play opportunities
Fosters independence and healthy self-esteem
Fosters the child's respect for others and offers opportunities for social interaction
Fosters the child's well-being, healthy growth and development, knowledge and understanding, creativity and capacity to learn.

3.1 Profile of Tameside

The Borough of Tameside lies to the East of Greater Manchester, stretching inland from the urban hub of Manchester to the moors of the Peak District. Tameside shares borders with Oldham, Manchester, Stockport and the Derbyshire Borough of High Peak. Tameside is well connected to the region and beyond by the M60 and M67 motorways and quality rail links to Manchester and Yorkshire.

As a local authority Tameside Metropolitan Borough Council came into existence in 1974, and has Ashton-Under-Lyne as its main administrative centre. The Local Strategic Partnership (LSP) is called the Tameside Strategic Partnership (TSP) who produced the first Community Strategy in 2000.

Wards in Tameside

Image of the Ward Boundaries

Age profile of Tameside Residents

Graph showing age profile of Tameside Residents

The number of older people is increasing in Tameside as it is nationally, yet Tameside has a higher proportion of young people than the national average for both genders. In particular, Tameside has a higher proportion of 10-19 year olds.

Graph showing percentage of young and old in each Ward

The percentage of young people in each ward is between 17 and 22 percent, but the proportion of young to old does vary with two wards having a higher proportion of old people compared to young. Seventeen wards out of nineteen have a higher proportion of young people than old, emphasizing the need for strong provision for children and young people.

In Tameside, crime is reducing overall, but reports of youth nuisance are increasing. Prosperity and educational attainment are generally improving, however health is of concern as we suffer high levels of obesity and have a high number of premature deaths through coronary heart disease and lung disease. Figures for childhood obesity levels in Tameside indicate that 15% of reception and year 6 pupils are currently obese in accordance with the UK National BMI percentile classification. This measure showed childhood obesity levels were at 5% nationally in 1990. Tameside has rising obesity levels and it is of paramount importance that future generations in Tameside are healthier than those now to address this issue. The teenage pregnancy rate is high in Tameside. Boys are not achieving as well at school as girls, are more likely to be excluded from school and are less likely to stay on in education beyond 16. All outcomes for children from the most deprived neighbourhoods are poorer than across the borough as a whole.

4. Contribution Play Makes to Wider Agendas

In 2002 a major consultation exercise was undertaken to determine the future priorities for Tameside as a Borough. This consultation resulted in the Community Strategy with six key themes agreed, a review in 2005 re-affirmed Tameside's commitment to these key themes up until 2013. These priorities are cross-cutting and mirror the five outcomes of Every Child Matters :

Supportive Communities
A Safe Environment
A Prosperous Society
A Healthy Population
A Learning Community
An Attractive Borough

Through the Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership, all the groups working with Children and Young People in Tameside come together to deliver on these priorities.

4.1 Every Child Matters

The five outcomes of Every Child Matters - Stay Safe, Be Healthy, Enjoy and Achieve, Make a Positive Contribution and Achieve Economic Well-being are all promoted through Tameside's Play Strategy.

Stay Safe
Children learn about taking risks and keeping themselves safe through playing. Sometimes a fear of breaching Health and Safety requirements prevents adults from allowing children and young people to learn about risks and safety for themselves. The training proposals in this Strategy address this.

Be Healthy
Obesity in children and young people is a growing concern. Research tells us that over the past 30 years children's calorie intake hasn't changed but the amount of exercise they take part in has reduced significantly. Schools in Tameside, through a co-ordinated approach involving the Sports Development Team, the Schools Sports Partnership and the Healthy Schools Team are working to increase the amount of exercise that school children participate in. This Strategy promotes the involvement of small children and their parents in exercise and sport so that all age ranges are supported to become fitter and healthier.

Emotional Well-being
Is also very important to children and young people. More opportunities to build friendships and self esteem through increased and varied play opportunities contribute to well-being and a child's values by learning to share and co-operate.

Enjoy and Achieve
Children learn through play. Developing an interest in the world around them and participating in play activities contributes to children's independence, tenacity, perseverance and capacity for learning. Children and young people achieve more in their formal education if they are supported by their parents/carers. Involving parents and carers in the enjoyment and success of their children in activities like Top Tots lays the foundation for involvement with school by encouraging parents to see the value of structured play activities for the development of their child and giving them the confidence to play with their children.

A variety of play opportunities also enables children and young people to identify their interests and talents and encourages them to use their leisure time constructively. The proposals for developing a wider range of play opportunities in the borough include the development of Family Nature Trails, Wayfaring and Children's Discovery Trails in country parks and play opportunities in museums and art galleries. Some of these play opportunities would be targeted at older children/teenagers.

Make a Positive Contribution
Anti-social behaviour causes huge problems in some areas of the borough and action is being taken to address this with the involvement of the Police and many Council Services. The high profile of anti-social behaviour is suggested by some to have compounded the fear of young people on the street, especially amongst older people.

This Strategy aims to reduce youth nuisance by providing more opportunities for play. It also aims to raise public awareness of the need for children to play.

This Strategy supports the Youth Matters Green Paper and the involvement of young people in developing more things to do and places to go. It also supports the progression of young people into volunteering in their communities.

Achieve Economic Well-being
By working with regeneration staff and local communities the Area Co-ordinators, Play Development Manager and Voluntary Sector Community Networker will be promoting the progression of local parents through volunteering to employment. Play offers many opportunities for this and we already have examples of this happening in Hattersley and Ashton. Having parents working not only increases family income and benefits children immediately but models an economically active life for children and changes their aspirations.

Play also provides children with opportunities to develop skills and talents which will later be used in paid employment and enable them to make choices about careers.

4.2 Local Priorities for Children and Young People in Tameside

Tameside carried out a comprehensive needs assessment in 2004/5 and as a result the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership agreed 11 priorities for children and young people which are still the current priorities of the Children's Plan. The implementation of this play strategy will contribute towards achieving the desired outcomes of the partnership with regards to these priorities and make a difference to children and young people in Tameside.

The priorities are:

Better targeting of services to areas of multiple deprivation
Smoking drugs and alcohol
Mental health
Key stage 4 performance - particularly boys
Staying on rates- particularly boys
Exclusions - particularly boys
Teenage Pregnancy
Under achievement of particular groups
Support to parents
Children with Disabilities

4.3 Links to other Strategies and Plans

The Children's Plan sets out the vision for children and young people in Tameside

The following section is from the Children's Plan:

"The Vision

Tameside's Mission is to promote and achieve better outcomes for all. Our Vision is of a just and harmonious society of which children and young people are valued and respected members; supported and encouraged as they grow up by their parents, friends and family but also by others in the community. Encouraged to aim high but also to learn from mistakes as they grow into and through adolescence they will increasingly be able to participate in decisions that affect their lives and those of others.

So How Will We Do It?

We will build on the strengths of all existing provision within and beyond the council including schools, health services, the voluntary and independent sector. Our key objective is to ensure that parents, carers and young people are able to access appropriate services, as they need them. This extra help should be available at as early a stage as possible providing families with opportunities for support.

We will ensure that services are provided locally in settings where children, young people and their families feel comfortable. Some specialist services will be on a borough-wide basis but will be provided in a flexible way. We will take the opportunity to use the best of current practice and develop further provision linking with schools, especially extended schools, children's centres and other community facilities.

We will involve children, young people and families in the continuous development and improvement of services. We will involve staff and schools in the process as we further develop a highly skilled, motivated and committed workforce.

We will develop shared ways of working, which reduce duplication, reduce the amount of assessment and therefore shift the balance to prevention.

We will also further develop family learning initiatives to encourage parents to have fun with their children and help them make progress."

These principles and approach to developing all our services for children and young people apply to the way that we will develop play facilities in Tameside.

As well as the Children's Plan, there are other key Tameside documents which this Play Strategy complements:

Building Schools for the Future - Outline Business Case
The Local Area Agreement - Children and Young People block includes performance indicators on childhood obesity, teenage pregnancy, achievement in school
Draft Sports Strategy
Improving Health through Physical Activity Strategy
Green space Strategy
Future Cultural Strategy

Tameside's Play Strategy is also aligned to the national document Time for Play (department for culture, media and sport).

5. Review of Community Engagement

Tameside's Children and Young Peoples Strategic Partnership is the primary body determining the future direction of play provision in Tameside. The Partnership brings together those parties that are involved in the delivery of services to children and young people and therefore makes it the ideal consultative group for play. The Partnership has a participation strategy which ensures that children and young people's views are fed into the work of the partnership.

In order to establish the needs and wishes of the children and young people of Tameside, a number of approaches have been adopted for consultation. These approaches have mainly included children and young people as this group are the main beneficiaries and participants in play, but also gave adults the opportunity to have their say.

The Tameside Children's Fund Participation Project - This included face to face interviews with children, young people and parents at a series of events across Tameside during the summer holidays of 2006.
Each year a parental demand survey is undertaken by SureStart to establish the needs of parents in respect of childcare provision. The survey in 2006 has been extended to include a number of questions relating young people as well as children to discuss play opportunities for 2 year olds up to 16 year olds. Tameside has high levels of obesity and premature deaths, for this reason an emphasis was placed on gaining parental opinion on physical activities.
Over the past three years a study into play equipment provision in Tameside has been undertaken by the Resources and Sustainable Communities Scrutiny Panel. This study has included research, consultation and an audit of provision, as well as interviews with many professionals involved in play within Tameside.
An online youth survey, involving nearly 2000 children and young people.
A Year 9 participation survey that has been undertaken for the whole northwest region, allowing benchmarking with other authority areas in the region.
A Year 10 survey.

The Council regularly consults representatives of all age groups through the Citizen's Panel, through District Assemblies and other means. Tameside won Beacon Council status for Getting Closer to Communities and takes into account the views of the community in planning all services.

The main findings in relation to Play in Tameside are summarized below:

5.1 General consultation (participation project/youth online survey etc)

When asked what play means to them, children and young people said, being with friends, doing what you want without being told what to do and having fun/enjoying yourself as the top three answers.
When asked for the most popular places for play, the top answers in all areas were home/garden and parks with play equipment. School playing fields and play grounds were often mentioned as good places to go; many children felt that they would be safer if they could play on school premises after school, particularly if they were supervised.
Parents, children and young people would all welcome more supervised play, with the main barriers being cost and availability.
Barriers to unsupervised play are run down parks, unsafe play spaces due to bullying, busy roads and green spaces near home having restrictions on about playing ball games.
Older young people would prefer places where they could hang out with their mates without being moved on - skate parks, cycle tracks or teen shelters.
Disabled young people said that there were too few places where they were able to play alongside their peers. They liked going to parks in the area but said that it was difficult or impossible to use the equipment there.
Consultations with young people have suggested that we provide more facilities and crucially when older people are asked what the Council's main priorities should be, one of the most popular answers is more facilities for young people.

5.2 Parental demand Survey Results

The parental demand survey suggested most awareness of swimming, libraries and parks as leisure activities across all ages.
Young people (12-16yrs) are much more likely to access museums and sports activities than other age groups.
A high percentage of parents (84.3%) stated that structured play is very important
Even more considered physically active play (90.5%) to be very important.
Almost 30% suggested that there are not enough structured play opportunities and physically active play opportunities.
When asked whether parks were suitable and accessible for children and young people, almost half (47.2%) suggested they were not due to cleanliness (36.5%) and safety (31.9%).

5.3 Play Scrutiny Review

The scrutiny review of playgrounds concluded that it is imperative that play areas are safe and of a high quality if they are to be used effectively. This requires sufficient maintenance funding.
It was also recognized that the existing 30 play areas are not sufficient in terms of quantity considering the population of Tameside. Additional funding resulting from the review will enable the number of quality play areas to be increased in the future and to be maintained to a high level. As further capital and revenue funding becomes available, the policy is to increase the number of play areas. This approach is supported by consultation results showing that parents want more play areas of high quality.
The scrutiny review concluded that activities for young people should also be considered whenever play areas are being developed.
The Scrutiny report recommended a number of improvements in respect of the Council's management of playgrounds. As a result a significant increase in investment has taken place by the Council and its partners. This increased level of investment will continue in coming years.

6. Local Provision Examined

We have been able to establish in this strategy through consultation what the current priorities for play across all ages in Tameside are. In addition it has been necessary to consider current provision and assess areas for development.

Currently we have a considerable amount of organised play activity and provision in the borough but it is not co-ordinated:
- Play activities in libraries, museums and country parks all year round but with extra events and activities in school holidays.
- School holiday activities organised by the Youth Service, Behaviour Education and Support Teams, Children's Fund Projects, Sure Start/Children's Centres, Regeneration teams working in priority areas, The Families First Team and voluntary groups like the Eden Project in Hattersley.
- Out of school clubs and playgroups
- Regular play activities in SureStart Children's Centres and other community facilities.
- Our Kids Eyes group run play and activities for children with disabilities and their families.
- Voluntary and statutory youth services run evening and weekend activities
- Each Town has a strategic playground intended for ages up to 14 and having over 8 items of equipment.
- There are 14 local sites and an additional 9 local plus sites. Local plus sites have play equipment and also a facility for older children such as a multi-use games area.
- 13 Multi Use Games Areas (MUGAs) are provided. In addition there are three full size astro-turfs in Tameside. Where possible MUGAs are placed near to play facilities for younger children to encourage mixed use and to deter older children from occupying playgrounds
- The Junior Play Leader Scheme has been adopted by over half our primary schools. Year 5 and 6 children are trained to be play leaders and they are rotated to lead play for Key Stage 1 children at lunchtimes. 25 children from each school are trained annually and they have a pack of equipment in each school to use. Midday supervisors are trained to supervise the play activities organised by the older children. The Behaviour Support Consultant and the SEALS. materials have informed the training.
- The Fitbods Scheme trains midday supervisors themselves to lead active play. They each have a file with games and ideas in it so that they can encourage children to play games in their breaks and be active. This tends to be aimed at KS2 children.
Recent improvements include:
- A capital investment in the past 2 years of £284,000 resulting in 4 new play areas.
- Investment of £180,000 for the refurbishment of 3 existing play areas.
- A fourfold increase in the annual dedicated maintenance budget for play areas to ensure that we meet local standards.
- 2 skateboard parks developed - one in Hyde and one in Mossley
Our plans for improving local play provision include:
- Further investment of £255,000 over the next 2 years for 2 additional play areas and a scheme to provide many small play areas in one of our more deprived areas.
- 4 new MUGAs being developed next to play areas in Denton, Mossley and Stalybridge. This represents an investment of £145,000.
- The creation of safe spaces for young people. "Ridgehenge" is being established at Ridgehill, Stalybridge. This is an area for young people to hang out at where there are several enormous artificial boulders with hand and foot holds in them. This model of safe spaces for young people is already being considered in 2 other neighbourhoods depending on the success of "Ridgehenge".
- Better co-ordination and publicity through our new integrated children's services
An accessibility audit of all Tameside's traditional play areas has also been undertaken.

This audit has included looking at travel to the playground, parking for parents/carers, paths and routes, along with an audit of the play equipment provided. The audit found that all playgrounds have accessible routes to them with wide paths that avoid steep climbs and steps. At many sites equipment is provided which is suitable for disabled children, however this is not the case for all sites. Consultation has suggested improvements that can be made to the equipment, to the signage and access to sites that will encourage children and parents to use our play sites more frequently and for longer.

7. Our Strategy for the Future

A key aim of this strategy is to raise the profile and importance of play within all service provision both inside and outside the Council. We aim to increase the capacity for play and raise its profile with planners, designers and architects to encourage design for children and young people. A longer-term objective is that this work will influence regeneration and development briefs and strategies to improve spaces for play. The majority of people in Tameside understand the benefits of play, however some negative perceptions do remain, resulting in "No Ball Games" and complaints when children and young people do play.

This strategy tackles these perceptions through marketing the benefits of play to the whole community. In time a cultural shift is required so that more spaces are welcomed as play spaces and more opportunities exist for play. We aim to raise the profile of play in Tameside and start to make a shift in public attitudes towards children and young people who play outside. We will do this by the way that we publicise and promote play activity.
Physical play is an important way of promoting the health and well-being of children in Tameside. At all ages physical activity is important to reduce the incidence of obesity, to improve emotional well-being and self esteem and to learn about risk-taking and the environment. There is also evidence to suggest that girls who are involved in sport and exercise are less likely to become teenage parents. Tameside has a well-developed programme of sports development and exercise in schools and a strong reputation for sport. In primary schools, professional sports coaches through a set curriculum take nearly all PE sessions. In high schools we have four Specialist Sports Colleges, a growing team of specialist community sports coaches and excellent school/club links.

We aim to maintain this work in schools and also develop less formal opportunities for involvement in physical activity out of school. An age group that has less access to physical play is 0-5s. A successful pilot scheme has taken place in one of our SureStart centres. This scheme encourages physically active play for 0 to 5 years olds through engaging parents. The scheme has proved a success not just by increasing physical activity through sessions but also by encouraging parents to play with their children at home through play packs for all participants. This strategy sees expanding this provision as a key aim.
Our strategy is to gradually increase the number of play spaces and playgrounds in Tameside as capital and revenue funding for their maintenance is found. This will be done in partnership with other organisations to maximise opportunities. We will only develop play areas that are safe and regularly inspected as we know from consultation that parents and children will not use them if they are not safe and clean.

All equipment within Tameside complies with EN British Standard BS1176 and surfacing to BS1177. This standard will be maintained.

We will also continue to maintain the following local standards:
- A dedicated team on a daily basis inspects strategic Playground sites within Tameside. Non-strategic sites are inspected three times a week. This team corrects any defects and if equipment is not considered safe then it is taken out of use.
- Cleaning of all playgrounds takes place every two days and special cleans are requested if inspection deem this to be necessary.
- All inspections and cleaning of playgrounds is recorded on check sheets.
Tameside aims to develop and improve accessible play provision in the borough. We will strive to remove the barriers to play allowing all children and young people to participate. As opportunities become available we will install at least one piece of equipment at every Council play area that is accessible to physically disabled children.

We will also support the development of one high quality play area that is specifically designed for those severely disabled children and their families who are unlikely to enjoy playing in their local play area because of their special needs. All new play areas will be inclusive.
Co-ordination will be improved as part of our strategy.

The development of our children's arrangements will complement the work of this strand of the Play Strategy. Tameside Services have been clustered into four areas and within each of these four areas a co-ordinator has been appointed. These co-ordinators are charged with working with children, young people, parents/carers and service providers in their area to identify local need and develop a comprehensive picture of services currently available in the area. They will ensure that childcare professionals are working together using common systems and approaches (e.g. common assessment and lead professional arrangements).

A virtual management team is being created within each area. All agencies in the borough have endorsed this approach through the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership and have aligned their services (or are working towards alignment) into the four areas wherever possible.

A new post has been created in the voluntary sector to develop the capacity of the children's voluntary sector and the post-holder will be developing networks of voluntary organisations in each of the four areas and the Area Co-ordinators will be working closely with these networks.

The Area Co-ordinators have a key role in co-ordinating local services for children and young people and play and leisure activities are an important part of the whole picture.

The Service Directory www.tameside-sid.org.uk also supports the work of ensuring accessibility.

As well as expanding current play provision we believe that play provision will grow and develop by making better use of school premises through the extended schools programme and through the sharing of premises and facilities that the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership and Area Co-ordinators will be promoting. The Building Schools for the Future programme (Tameside is in Wave 3) fits in with the timing of this play initiative in that play will have a higher profile and can be considered at the design stage of our new secondary schools.

We will also develop provision through existing facilities like museums, libraries and country parks.

The Area Co-ordination arrangements will also lead to closer links with regeneration activity and with Tameside's Town Managers who work to the District Assemblies. The combined local knowledge of these people, alongside all those working specifically with children and young people will highlight where play provision is accessed and who by and assist better targeting of new provision. It will also identify ways that children and young people who are not using existing provision can be supported or enabled to do so.
We will engage in partnership activity with the community, voluntary and private/not for profit sectors, e.g. Registered Social Landlords, to maximise the amount of safe play provision in the borough.

Meetings in a local neighbourhood have been arranged to develop the idea of training local volunteers to provide supervised play activities in parks and open spaces. This will help reduce the incidents of juvenile nuisance and bullying of younger children in parks that have been highlighted as a problem in the neighbourhood. This will be developed as a pilot project and if successful rolled out in other areas. Where supervised play activities are provided staff and volunteers will be CRB checked.
Alongside the development of "Things to do and Places to go" with the Youth Capital Fund and Youth Opportunities Fund we will promote and develop spaces and activities for young people as a way of providing opportunities for positive activities, volunteering and fun. This will also reduce instances of youth nuisance and anti-social behaviour and improve perceptions of young people in the community.
Another strand of the strategy is publicity. At present each Council Department or voluntary organisation publicises their play programme separately, so it is unlikely that parents, children and young people ever find out about everything that is available. We will publicise the school holiday programmes, for example, in one place. Consultation has told us that young people would like to receive more information on the web. We will investigate ways of developing a young people's website and putting play activities on it, and also look at how we use the Council young people's magazine "Intrigue" to better effect.

It is National Play Day in August. We will regularly celebrate this as a vehicle for raising the profile and publicising all the play activity that is going on and developing in the borough.
Delivering our ambitious plans for Play will require strong and clear leadership. Within the Council and the borough there has not been a lead department/organisation or champion for play, and this has probably contributed to the somewhat fragmented approach to play that has existed until recently. Responsibility for implementing and monitoring this strategy will lie with Services for Children and Young People within the Council, and the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership. The Cabinet Deputy for Children and Young People and chair of the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership, Cllr Allison Gwynne, will be Tameside's champion for Play. A small Play Strategy Group with representatives from relevant services including voluntary sector representatives will continue to meet regularly to assist this process.
Training will be required to support this strategy. As in other related areas there are a number of training programmes in place, but these are targeted at specific groups and not always widely publicised. There are also gaps in training provisions, for example accredited play work courses. We would wish to encourage Level 3 practitioners in Early Years to take the CACHE Level 3 award in Play-work but would prioritise the development of the Take 10 (Play-work Partnerships) or CACHE Level 2 Certificate in Play-work to train up volunteers who may wish to move into employment or people working with children without qualifications. There are a number of staff and volunteers who would benefit from this training and where a workforce with a better grounding in play could greatly enhance the benefits children and young people gain from play thereby improving their future life choices.

One of the courses that would be developed, as a priority would be the HSE accredited risk assessment course which covers risk assessment in the outdoor environment. Having more people go through this training would increase confidence and the subsequent volume of outdoor play activities available for children in all settings.

8. Criteria for Identifying Priorities for Development

As opportunities arise we wish to make the most of them, but we will not do this in a way which is incompatible with the aims of this strategy.

The following criteria will apply to investment opportunities of over £10,000. It will not necessarily apply to small schemes, although we would expect them to comply with the general principles involved, because we wouldn't wish to prevent creative use of small pots of money, particularly by the voluntary sector. We will encourage schemes in a way which ensures a balance between play opportunities for children and young people of all ages. This will be reviewed regularly by the Play Strategy Group who will have an overview of all schemes being developed in Tameside, and ensure that the following criteria are used.

Our criteria for new schemes/projects are:

Complies with the definition of good play (see section 2)
Complies with any local and national standards
Supports priorities for children in Tameside
There is evidence of support from children, young people and parents for the scheme
Is inclusive and genuinely accessible
Will improve outcomes for children and young people
Is based on need (specifically for play opportunities)
Makes links with existing projects

9. Big Lottery Projects

The Big Lottery presents an opportunity to support our strategy for play and give an impetus to the further development of play in Tameside. In conjunction with the Big Lottery funding for play we will undertake three projects that address the key issues identified within this strategy.

These areas are:-

Improving Access to Play for disabled children and young people.
Improving the health and physical activity of children through play.
Increasing the capacity for play, through many projects that increase the opportunities to play at the best value cost.

A brief description of the 3 projects follows. Further information is on the bid forms to the Big Lottery.

9.1 Big Lottery Project 1 - Increasing the capacity for play

We aim to use Big Lottery funding to create a legacy of greater play activity in the borough that is sustainable.

a) Better Co-ordination

A key part of the strategy is to build on what we have but co-ordinate it more effectively. The new lead arrangements for the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership will be greatly enhanced by the appointment of a Play Development Manager. They would be managed within the Strategy and Commissioning section of Tameside Council's Services for Children and Young People.

Tameside has a Play Manager who is responsible for Council Play Areas but we plan to develop the capacity for play by appointing an additional person to work closely with the Area Co-ordinators, the Children's Voluntary Sector Community Networker, the Partnership Development Manager in the School Sports Partnership and the Play Manager. As well as having a co-ordination and publicity role the Play Development Manager will develop play training and awareness and bring in additional funding for play.

b) Training and Awareness Raising

The Play Development Manager would have a role to play in publicising existing training, the leading of basic play training and in working with local training providers to develop accredited play work courses.

The staff who would be offered a basic short course in play would be:-

Midday supervisors in schools, especially secondary schools
Patrollers
Volunteers in child care settings
Museum and library staff

A professional development and training programme is also sent out each term to all pre-school child care providers, out of school childcare activities and schools. This would be further developed to widen the circulation and include more play courses at all levels. The Play Development Manager would have an overview of all this training and development activity.

c) Resource Procurement

The Play Development Manager would have an important role in securing funding for play in Tameside. This would be by bringing in new external funding, by making better use of existing funding streams like the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund or mainstream funding to increase play provision, and by encouraging and developing links with local businesses. ASDA and LEGO have already provided play facilities in the borough and we believe that there is scope to build on this and work with a range of businesses to get direct financial sponsorship, equipment and/or volunteers.

The aim would be to make the Play Development Manager sustainable beyond the life of the Big Lottery Fund Project by drawing in enough funding from the sources referred to above to maintain the post. There is a considerable amount of play activity in the borough and funding opportunities, but although there is a lot more that a dedicated play development manager could do to increase the profile of play, mainstream new activity and develop training we believe that there will still be a need for a dedicated person at the end of the three years.

d) Publicity

We aim to increase the capacity for play by raising the profile of play in the borough by publicity as well as through training. The Play Development Manager would have a lead role in ensuring consistent and regular publicity for all play activities whoever is leading them.

The Play Development Manager would also have a lead role in raising the profile of play, improving public awareness of the importance of play. They will work with District Assemblies and community groups in agreeing sites for the marking of games on pavements and other small but lasting investments in play. Other attitudinal changes would be achieved through positive publicity stories about children and their activities.

e) Expanding Provision

As mentioned above the theme of increasing capacity will involve the expansion of play provision in the borough in a way which is long-term, sustainable and visible. We plan to make a relatively small pot of money go a long way and improve play opportunities across the whole of Tameside.

The plans include:-

Developing wayfaring trials, children's discovery trails and family nature trails in our country parks.
Improving and expanding play areas in museums and running term time activities for pre-schoolers.
Organising activities to engage teenagers at the museum and art galleries.
Purchasing equipment so that there can be self-led play at the Portland Basin Museum e.g. baskets and pretend money for the grocer's shop, Victorian games in the school yard, old fashioned dressing up etc.
Laying markings on pavements and in open spaces for children to play on e.g. hopscotch, dartboards, draught boards, alphabet jumps, numbered centipedes etc. These are inexpensive and maintenance free and would be placed in many locations across the borough. This will help promote play for children and young people.

Project Outcomes

More children and young people accessing play provision in parks, museums, country parks and in school holiday schemes at schools and other sites.
More staff and volunteers trained in play or aspects of play.
Play has a higher profile across all sectors.
More resources for play facilities brought into the borough.
Better publicity and co-ordination of play activities
Less reports of youth nuisance.

Monitoring and Evaluation

This will be monitored through

Recording the number of children and young people using play facilities in settings where there are staff.
Monitoring the take-up of training courses.
Consultation with children and young people
Reviewing the publicity materials used regularly
Measuring public perception through the Citizen's Panel
The team who inspect play areas will have a record of the number of such facilities. Their workload should increase as the number of play areas increases.

The Play Development manager will provide regular reports on this strand of the strategy to the Play Strategy Group.

9.2 Big Lottery Project 2 - Early Years Play Pathway

Evidence suggests that if young children are physically active pre-school age, then it is likely that they will be more active in later years. Consultation has also suggested that parents feel there is a need for more physically active and more structured play. This project would enable the successful pilot programme of TopTots at SureStart to be extended across the borough.

Project Description

The project will involve the recruitment and deployment of a Play Development Coordinator and a Play Development Worker who will be appropriately qualified. These personnel will introduce and embed an Early Years Play Pathway (EYPP) across all Tameside communities over a 3 year period working in partnership with Sure Start/Children's Centres.

The Play Development Coordinator and the Play Development Worker will: -

Use established products to deliver parent and child sessions
Target and engage volunteers to support the sessions
Provide training and resources to teachers, early years practitioners, child minders, volunteers, parents and carers including Top Tots, Top Start and Community Sports Leaders Award training with an emphasis on early years
Build in sustainable structures
Undertake a consultancy role to ensure established sessions develop effectively and are quality assured

The project will benefit all Tameside communities and will be rolled out across the 4 children's service areas using a lead children's centre in each area as a hub site.

Brief project outline

The project will consist of a range of structured play activities targeting children aged from 0 to 5 years with key outcomes around social, emotional and motor skill development
The project involves direct delivery of sessions in children's centres, nurseries and schools
Parents and carers will be encouraged to get involved with their children and have access to training and resources to recreate the activities and develop them further in the home setting
Each area will nominate a children's centre to host specialist play equipment to deliver sessions and training and will act as a hub site for provision and area coordination.
Following training, staff and volunteers will receive direct support over an agreed time period at other relevant sites
The project will be marketed through Sure Start publications and parent/carers will also be attracted to the project by direct mailing via the Sure Start data base. The voluntary sector community networker will also be able to assist with the marketing of the scheme. Specific marketing will be directed to children from disadvantaged communities and backgrounds. Bespoke sessions will be delivered with associated support for children with disabilities.

Roll out of the project

The roll out of the project in each area will be based on the following model: -

Venues identified in each area i.e. children's centres, schools and nurseries
Programme of sessions delivered at each venue twice per week per activity (see below) over a 6 week period
Capacity of 20-25 children per session dependent on venue
Key staff/volunteers from all venues invited to attend training at hub site
Key staff/volunteers receive loan of a Top Start equipment bag and a number of Top Tots equipment bags to loan to carers/parents following the successful completion of training
Key staff/volunteers to sustain sessions after initial 6 week period
Play Development Coordinator and Worker agree programme of follow up support with key staff/volunteers and undertake monitoring and evaluation

The sessions delivered will be specific to 4 age groups and will be known as

Explorers (0-12months)

These sessions are for babies who are not yet mobile and babies who move by slithering, shuffling, rolling and crawling.
The sessions are free play, encouraging parent participation.
Sessions promote parent/carer and baby bonding whilst also encouraging the child's independence.
Young babies make strong and purposeful movements. Babies of this age group tend to focus on what they want.
The sessions promote experimenting and exploring which help to develop babies' independence.
By using their developing physical skills babies are making social contact.
Encouraging children's love of physical activity needs to be encouraged at an early age if we are to motivate and educate them to develop a health and active lifestyle in the future.
This session enables carers/parents and babies to bond and for carers/parents to meet others while baby is exploring.

Wrigglers (12-24 months)

Toddlers move in a range of ways such as walking, climbing and tumbling. Children are naturally active and get involved in physical play on a daily basis.
The TOP Tots scheme is delivered throughout the sessions.
These sessions are for toddlers who are independently mobile. It is important to encourage generic physical movements that stimulate body awareness.
The sessions are free play, allowing children to make choices. Parent/carer participation is encouraged.
As toddlers become more mobile they connect with toys, objects and a wider group of people.
It is important to gain physical skills as it has a major impact on a child's ability to learn, such as, dressing themselves, drawing and writing.
This age group enjoys experimenting and exploring, boundaries are tested and challenge is encouraged.
This session allows children to move around freely and gain independence. It is also an excellent opportunity for carers/parents and children to play together.

Wanderers (2-3 ½ years)

These sessions are children who can independently walk run, jump, climb, balance and are designed to develop these skills even further.
The TOP Tots and TOP Start schemes are used throughout the sessions.
The sessions are free play, but are based around activity stations. Parent participation is encouraged.
As children become more mobile their boundaries widen. This age group are able to move around with confidence.
They show increasing control in using equipment for climbing, scrambling, sliding and swinging. It is at this age, children gradually gain control of their whole bodies.
As they become more mobile they express themselves through physical actions and sounds. They become more skilful in using language and other forms of communication such as, dance and music.
This age group have increasing control over an object by touching, pushing, patting, throwing, catching and kicking.
This is an excellent session for children to experienced sustained physical activity.

Higher Wanderers (3 ½ -5 years)

The TOP Start scheme is used throughout the sessions.
These sessions are for Foundation Stage children.
The sessions focus on structural play and free play, introducing some structure within the sessions enables children to become familiar with simple rules and group play/work. Therefore enabling the child's pathway into nurseries and schools to be smooth. Part of the session requires parent /carer participation.
Children take pleasure in experimenting and initiating new combinations of movements; they demonstrate a sense of pride in their own achievement.
Group work enables the child to have a sense of belonging and promotes social and emotional development.
The sessions are designed to further develop the child's body awareness, control, ball skills, coordination and problem solving skills.

Project Outcomes

Children participating in the project will develop or have increased:

Social and emotional development
Physical skills predominantly fundamental movement skills
Active lifestyles and reduced likelihood of obesity

The specific elements of the EYPP meet the wider outcomes of the Birth to Three Matters framework and the Stepping Stones framework. This framework is being used to develop the monitoring tool which specifies measurable outcomes for each level (Wrigglers, Wanderers and Higher Wanderers).

Monitoring and Evaluation:

Evaluation sheets completed by deliverers to evaluate children's progress periodically against set criteria
Questionnaires completed by parent / carers to measure child development and play levels completed at the first and the last structured session
Attendance registers and participant data base

9.3 Big Lottery Project 3 - Improving Accessibility to Play

It is crucial that we ensure provision is made for all children to play and an important part of this is ensuring that playgrounds are fully accessible and benefit all children. Through the Big Lottery funding, an opportunity exists to remove some of the barriers that prevent disabled children taking part in play, whether this be access to playgrounds or a lack of suitable equipment. Our aim of having suitable equipment at all sites could be achieved in one year with the support of Big Lottery Funding. We will be promoting inclusivity in all activities and settings and by all providers of play facilities. This project is simply to ensure that all disabled children in the borough can use play areas.

Project Description

This project will include the following:-

Installation of equipment that is suitable for physically disabled children at every play area. At strategic sites this will generally be a roundabout and at smaller local sites, swings will be adapted for use by all children.
Signage of sites will be improved to welcome parents to play areas, providing contact numbers for resolving any issues whether they be defective equipment or dealing with antisocial behaviour.
Seating at sites is important to encourage parents and carers to spend time at play areas. This will be provided in the form of picnic tables at all our sites.
To encourage children to go to the play areas, we will install permanent markings in the form of footprints leading to each of the play areas.

The above measures will ensure that moderately disabled children can partake in play alongside their peers, however, more severely disabled children would not be able to use this equipment and it is our desire through this strategy to include all children in play. Specialist equipment is available for children with severe disabilities, however this equipment is not suitable for general use in playgrounds. It is Tameside's strategy to have inclusive playgrounds wherever possible. In this instance it is thought that it would be more effective to have specialist equipment installed at Jubilee Gardens, our centre for disabled children in Droylsden. This play area would have a roundabout and swing as well as many tactile interactive boards. The play area would be available to children and parents outside of the centre opening hours through the use of a Radar key. The keys will be supplied to parents of children and will ensure full accessibility in the use of the facility.

Proposed Project Outcomes

The outcomes of this project would be an increase in play activity by children with disabilities. The inclusive nature of this scheme would encourage better understanding between children. Parents and carers of children with disabilities should be more satisfied with play spaces.

Many of the project elements encourage all children to partake in play through marked pathways, signage and seating. This should result in increased usage and satisfaction for all children and their families.

Monitoring and Evaluation

This will be carried out by using questionnaires, and consulting further with children, young people and parents, with some consultation targeted at disabled children and their families. An audit of play provision with regards to inclusivity will also be carried out regularly as play provision increases

10. Review of Play Strategy

This Play Strategy runs from 2007 until 2010. It will be reviewed annually by the Children and Young People Strategic Partnership and will be cross referenced in the Children's Plan. The annual review of the strategy will include the involvement of children and young people and this will be organised through the children's participation network.

The Play Strategy Group will meet initially every month to kick start the Big Lottery Projects, (e.g. make appointments to the posts that are being created), finish setting up the monitoring systems and devise publicity. Once the projects are established the group will meet quarterly at minimum and will review all projects quarterly. There are a large number of partners involved in the provision of play in all its forms and this group is likely to need input from partners at different times who are not permanent members of the group.

All aspects of the strategy will be kept under constant review by the play strategy group. The Play Development Manager will be based in the Strategy and Commissioning Team of Services for Children at Tameside Council. They will be working closely with the Area Co-ordinators and others who are also managed within that section and this will enable them to achieve link the elements of the Play Strategy into other initiatives like Children's Centres, Extended Schools, Regeneration and Youth Activities. The Early Years Pathway outlined in project 2 is based around children's centres in the 4 areas so will also be developed alongside this team. This will assist the Play Development Manager in reporting progress on all projects and other strands of the strategy to the Play Strategy Group.

Page last updated: 14 February 2011