PLAY SUFFICIENCY ASSESSMENT: PUBLIC SUMMARY
April 2013
[Are there sufficient play opportunities for children and young people in
Swansea?].
Over the last few months we have been assessing whether there are sufficient play
and recreational opportunities for children and young people in Swansea. We’ve
being doing this for several reasons. Firstly, we strongly believe that all children and
young people have a right to access high quality play. Secondly, the Welsh
Government has asked all local authorities in Wales to carry out a ‘Play Sufficiency
Assessment’ (PSA) and they have provided us with guidance to enable us to do this
work. Thirdly, we felt it would be good to hear the views of children, parents/carers
and our partners on play provision in Swansea. Afterall, we are keen to increase play
opportunities and address any gaps that there might be, but to do so we need to
hear the views of the community.
This brief summary explains a little more about why we have been doing this work,
some of our findings, what’s being proposed and some further contact points if you
would like to know more.
[Our commitment to play]
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) clearly outlines
every child’s right to play and we are committed to making sure the rights of
Swansea’s children and young people are fully met. We are also convinced that this
is only possible through working closely together with our partners. Our vision is to
provide sufficient play opportunities for all children and young people, raise the
quality of playwork practice and remove unnecessary barriers to play.
[PSA in more detail]
Under the Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010 all local authorities in
Wales are required to carry out a Play Sufficiency Assessment (PSA). A PSA is an
extensive review of local play provision. Our PSA looked, for example, at the how
Swansea’s population of children is made up and the diversity of need. We also
looked at the availability of open play spaces, supervised play provision, the cost of
accessing play, play workforce issues, community engagement in play activities,
the role of schools in promoting play and how play features in the council’s policies
and plans.
[The views of children, young people, families, service providers and the play
workforce]
Of course we felt it very important to hear the views of children and young people,
parents and carers as well as local organisations that provide play opportunities for
children and young people. We also felt it might be more objective if an outside
organisation were to help us to gather these views, so we asked Swansea
University to assist us with the assessment and the consultation exercise. In total,
over a thousand (1,004) children and young people (aged 2 to 17) and 161
parents/carers gave us their views on the sufficiency, quality, quantity, accessibility
and appropriateness of play in their local area and across Swansea more generally.
They also told us about what they think are the barriers to play and what can be
done to increase play opportunities. The children were drawn from every electoral
ward, two pre-school nurseries, 7 primary schools and 6 secondary schools.
Clearly, it is going to take quite some time for us to reflect on everything that we
have seen and heard during the review, but some important messages are already
emerging, for example:
[Key messages and how we are responding]
•
we were pleased to hear that a large proportion (over 80%) of the children
and young people were satisfied with the quality of play available to them. We
were also pleased that over 80% felt that they have sufficient play
opportunities, but we also recognise that we should aim to increase this figure
over time.
•
we were interested to hear children and young people of all ages tell us that
the local park and beach are among their favourite play venues. We are
renewing our commitment to make sure that all of our parks and beaches are
of the highest standard.
•
one of the most frequently cited barriers to accessing play was the weather.
We recognise that children can and do benefit from playing outside in all
weathers, but we will look carefully at the possibility of providing more indoor
and/or weather proof facilities.
•
perhaps one of the clearest messages we have heard from children and
young people is that there is less provision for secondary aged children than
there is for younger children. As many as 1 in 4 secondary aged children who
participated felt that there are insufficient play opportunities. Parents/carers
and our partner organisations expressed very similar views. Clearly, we and
our partner organisations have a lot of work to do to address this and we are
already looking at who is best placed to help us.
•
we heard many suggestions on how to improve play opportunities, for
example: increase the number of facilities, better quality facilities, better
transport, reduced car parking fees at beaches, cleaner facilities, ‘sorting out
the dog mess problem’ and implementing dog free zones in parks. All of the
suggestion that have been made are being considered by the local authority.
•
we can also see from the responses that play provision is seen differently
across Swansea even though the general picture is positive. We are looking
more carefully at this issue and whether there is anything that needs to be
done to make access to play provision more equitable.
•
we also heard a clear call for more readily available information on play
provision in Swansea. We are planning, therefore, to take a fresh look at how
we currently make information available. We are considering creating a user
friendly point of information which can take account of the enquirers specific
requirements, for example, age, location, disability and interest.
•
some parents/carers of children with disabilities perceive that more could be
done to enable their children to access play provision. Some parents felt, for
example, that more training could be given to staff in play settings on how to
communicate effectively with children with disabilities. The City and County of
Swansea have a number of initiatives already in place to promote the
children’s access and participation in play, however, it is recognised that more
could be done in order to inform parents of such initiatives. This is something
that we will be looking to address and we intend to continue with awareness
raising events and the development of a website.
[Examples of good practice]
During the Play Sufficiency Assessment many examples of good practice were
identified. The Children’s Play Team, for example, works in many different settings
across the city and can provide a variety of services. They offer mobile open
access play provision, crèche provision, support for partner organisations and
training. The Play Team also operates Play on Wheels; a mobile single decker bus
offering arts, craft, music, dressing up, sports, swings and a slide!
[Photo….Play Bus and/or Play Team]
The Children’s Play Team and its partners work hard to provide play opportunities for
children with particular needs and play opportunities are tailored for young carers,
children from different cultural backgrounds, (including Gypsy and Traveller
children), children living in rural areas, Welsh speakers and children with disabilities.
For example, in promoting disabled children and young people’s access and
inclusion in play, we carried out a Play & Disability Audit in 2010, have established a
Play Access Group, provided training to all play projects and funded dedicated
provision. Swansea’s Play Network is key to the provision of play opportunities in
Swansea. The Network is made up of local authority staff and third sector
representatives and has five sub-groups; Play Access, Workforce Development, Play
Spaces, Playworker and the BME Forum.
[Concluding comment]
The Play Sufficiency Assessment has highlighted the important contribution that is
being made by families, schools, the local authority and partner organisations to
meet the play needs of local children and young people. The views gathered
through the consultation exercise are encouraging, but indicate that there is still
much work to be done and action plans are already being put in place and will help
inform the local authority’s Single Integrated Plan.
[Contact points]
If you would like to know more about the Play Sufficiency Assessment, or play
provision within Swansea you can contact the Children’s Play Team:
01792 635480
or e-mail: [email protected]
: www.swansea.gov.uk/index.cfm?articleid=2650