Try to remember: What kind of games did you play and love when you were a child?

Paul’s answer to this question comes quickly: Chasing games, like tag and tip the can. “They were the only games we knew, besides football, of course.” They are also the only games many children play, as Paul found. He is teaching in an Educate Together Primary School and play in yard has been a favourite topic for him since he’s started working as a teacher 9 years ago.

I’ve always tried to find ways to change and challenge the fact that some children find it difficult to organise and manage games, especially at break time in school. In our school we’ve tried different things: games, reward and buddy systems.

 

That all worked well, but we came to a point where we wanted a more consistent approach that could bring it all together, a programme that we could commit to as a school. Now we are praticing Playworks.

Paul attended a Playworks summer course with trainers from the US where the programme for school break time originates. A year later we visited him in his school Castaheany Educate Together, an equality based school in a suburb of Dublin to see how Playworks works.

Playworks is a big part of every day life at the school now. The day we arrived it was raining, and what is every childs nightmare, they had to have their break inside. However, Paul sets up a demonstration for us with his class of 7-8 year olds in the hall to show us what Playworks looks like.

And what it looks like is this: kids playing, running, laughing, cheering, being frusatrated about losing, smiling when succeeding, all that you would expect from watching kids play. They play different games from the Playworks suite of games that would generally be set up in different places around the yard. Every child has the choice to take part in one of them or not. The games they play are called Switch, Four Sqaure, 3-line basketball or Hot Potato and the choice of games that Playworks provides is endless.

Kids at school are out on the yard for 3-4 hours a week and often very little is organised for them. I think there is a huge opportunity here to develop skills, promote health and wellbeing and improve activity levels. That’s not just going to happen for all children of its own accord, some children need support. We have a collective responsibility to make it the best experience possible for as many children in our school but it also needs to be; easy and manageable for staff.

At Castaheany Educate Together they started by agreeing on one mantra: Every child plays every day.

As well as the games, Playworks also provides consistent routines and approaches that everyone knows and follows. For example every time an argument is brewing about who won the last round or whose turn it is, everyone knows the resolution: Rock, Paper, Scissors. There is very little play based conflict in the yard that can’t be solved with a quick game of Ro/ Sham / Bo. We even saw children play it with their whole bodies!

Other approaches to promote a postive atmosphere are the High Five that everyone gives the winner and the loser alike, the short warm up before going to the yard and a cool down with the kids standing in line before going back into class. This helps to prepare the kids for their work back in the classroom.

Children practice chants and cheers too, like a rollercoaster clap or a lightbulb clap, nice simple ways to reward classes and groups for postive interactions and play.

5th and 6th class children in the school can become Playworks coaches and help organise the games. You’ll recognise them from their blue vests. These coaches are trained and mentored, and this forms part of a culture of giving back to the school. Coaches give up one week a month to be a coach at break.

Playworks gives the yard a system and structure. Fun, accessible and enjoyable routines can be very comforting for teachers and children, and this system contributes greatly to that. If you come to the school and look at it from the outside it still looks busy. Kids will be kids. The difference is that everyone knows what to do and everyone is occupied, its busy and thats the way its meant to be. Playworks provides more opportunties for yard to be an inclusive place for all. Children with Special Educational Needs or English as an Additional Language have supports at lunch to play if they choose or need to, so too do children who for social or emotional reasons need actvity at break, before going back to class.

Playworks solves a lot of problems that many schools deal with but it is not a magic cure. According to a NPC survey of primary school children, published in the Irish Times in February this year children had a lot of complaints about break time:

• I have no one to play with.
• There is nothing fun to do in the yard.
• Playground taken over by footballers. Nothing for older girls to do.
• I don’t like going outside for lunch as the bigger kids running around scares me and I and my friends have been knocked over.
• I’m in sixth class and am a girl. I experience a lot of being excluded.

Paul got similar answers from the children when he did a survey in his own school before introducing Playworks, asking them about their perception of break time and what they like or dislike about it. For everything mentioned, Playworks provided a solution. He asked the same question to the teachers and that gave him all the arguments he needed to convince everyone in the school to join the programme.

Everyone wanted the same thing, it just took a little effort and commitment. It only works if everyone in the school commits to it. We promote it together, practice it each day and slowly the behaviours and language of the kids begins to change. You have to put everyone in the Playworks mix right from the start and watch as the Playworks grows and develops, sometimes in ways you hadn’t imagined.

Playworks has been growing now for a year and Paul has joined the ChangeX mentor network to help more schools to implement the programme.

Playgrounds can be a little overwhelming for some. Playworks offers a better experience at break time not just for the children but for teachers too. There is less bullying to deal with, less rule breaking out of bordom and children are going back to class ready to concentrate, with less tales, which is any teachers wish I think. It makes a huge difference for everyone.

New Playworks trainings are coming up regularly. Register your interest to start Playworks now to stay in the loop and save your place.

You can also download the guide to see how you can introduce Playworks to your school, step by step. And if you sign up to get the programme started in your school, Paul might become your mentor.