Why Play Matters in East Lothian Jane Crawford Senior Play Development Officer

About Play Scotland Play Scotland is a children’s charity formed in 1998 to promote The Child’s Right to Play and funded by The Scottish Government. © Play Scotland

Aims of Play Scotland Creating a Policy framework for Play Providing support and resources to the Play Sector Promoting a Playwork Profession Develop and dessimate information and research on the benefits of play and child-friendly communities © Play Scotland

Policy Framework for Play in Scotland Equally Well (June 2008 and review, 2010) Achieving our Potential (Nov 2008) Early Years Framework (Dec 2008) Child Poverty Strategy (2011) © Play Scotland

Play Scotland promotes child-friendly communities Provide support to Local Authorities to embed Play in Single Outcome Agreements and integrated planning Providing support to membership and the play sector Identifying where play happens in Scotland and audit of training needs ( Glasgow, Shetland, West Lothian, East Ayrshire) Play Manifesto 2011 © Play Scotland

Getting it Right for Play Developing a Toolkit for Local Authorities and Community Groups ‘Power of Play’ - literature review and policy context Play Indicators to measure sufficiency and quality of play provision Opportunity to pilot toolkit in summer Slide 9 That leads on to the next objective of conducting an audit and needs analysis. The full extent of this is being consulted on just now but it will definitely include provision which does not need to register. You’ll certainly hear more about this over the next few months.   A major product of this project will be a Toolkit for Play. This will be a resource to allow local authorities and play services themselves to evaluate the quality of Play. We’re enlisting the help of a cross section of experts to advise and shape this work, which is being lead by Issy Cole Hamilton. There will be events around the country in 2011, to get local input, so look out for these. And lastly, but a huge task, I will be offering Play Scotland’s support to CPPs to help them in planning local actions for their Early Years Framework action plans. We have already mapped Play to the 15 National Outcomes and this guidance will be strengthened for use directly by local authorities. Possible actions may be the creation of a Play Strategy, and we’ve worked with a number of authorities to help them produce one, currently Angus. Another outcome may be the creation of more Play Forums/ Associations or networks. The name doesn’t matter so long as there is a structure to support and recognise the variety of local Play providers. © Play Scotland

Early Years Framework Outcomes SHORT TERM PRIORITIES £4M investment from Scottish Government focusing on free play for 5 -13yrs. Creating a robust infrastructure across Scotland for the play sector. Support to strengthen and support play services in areas of greatest need. © Play Scotland

Regional Infrastructure Midlothian Association of Play (MAP) East Ayrshire Community Play Forum Aberdeen Play Forum Newly created by Go Play funding DG Play (Dumfries and Galloway) North Lanarkshire Play Association Play Borders

What a Play Forum could do Influence the attitude of children, parents and the community by promoting the Child’s Right to Play, Article 31 UNCRC Provide support and cohesion to the delivery of Play by all sectors Assist community groups to access external funding and resources Develop sustainable Play opportunities and fill gaps in provision

More that a Play Forum could do Creating child friendly communities through a multi agency strategic approach to Play • Provide training and resources for groups/individuals/volunteers involved in Play Attend national Play events to ensure the Local Authority Play Forum is kept up to date with national initiatives.

Local challenges Delivery of Play priority in Early Years Framework. Who?? How?? Cost effective delivery of services – Out of School Care, Active schools, Community playschemes ! Quality of Play through a trained workforce Keeping at the forefront of new developments and initiatives

Government priorities A Change fund for early intervention – Children and Family Centres Additional funding for parenting, PLAY, childcare, child and maternal health family support National Parenting Strategy – agencies working together to develop parenting skills “Play, Talk, Read” and “Take Life On”

Future opportunities Support from Play Scotland via Play Forum Network for Scotland. (13 local authorities) Role of East Lothian Out of School Care Network (ELOSCN) Play Forum providing authority wide support to all play providers Exploring capacity of Midlothian Association of Play Strategic direction for early years, play and childcare © Play Scotland

Improving children’s quality of life through PLAY

“when one examines the benefits of play holistically, it seems that we have been granted a magical gift, and people are now taking notice” Danielle Marshall, Health Policy Forum “Let’s share the magical gift!” © Play Scotland