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Play for Wales Autumn 2011 RIGHT TO PLAY AWARD
Wales Wins International Award IPA Right to Play Awards were also awarded to the following projects: Hazelwood Park Play Space – WAX Design (South Australia) www.rmpl.com.au/hazelwood-parkplayspace.html Spice – Scottish Play in Creative English (São Paulo, Brasil) http://spicekids.com.br/ The Treehouse Project – Islington Play Association (London, England) www.islingtonplay.org.uk
The First Minister for Wales, Carwyn Jones AM, received the International Play Association (IPA) Right to Play Award when he opened the 18th IPA conference in Cardiff on 4 July 2011. He accepted the Award on behalf of all those people in Wales who are working to make our country a better place for playing children. The Award is made to innovative projects around the world that support children’s right to play - it is made every three years at the world conference. Wales is the first country ever to receive the Right to Play Award.
play friendly place. So the Right to Play Award is also made in recognition of the work of all those across Wales who actively support the need and right of all children and young people to play in their own way.
The Award is being made in recognition of the progress Welsh Government has made in legislating to uphold children’s rights – and particularly their right to play. Wales was the first country in the world to have a national play policy and this has led the way to, or complemented:
Play Wales’ Director Mike Greenaway says, ‘Children face more and more barriers when it comes to finding good places and time for playing and yet they tell us that having time, space and freedom to play with their friends is one of the most important aspects of their lives. The benefits in terms of their wellbeing is enormous, and yet we see fewer and fewer children playing out in our communities.
•B IG Lottery Child’s Play programme funding to set up organisations across Wales to support local initiatives that promote and provide for quality play opportunities for children. For the first time, Wales has a play organisation in every region, from Gwynedd to Gwent. •T he Foundation Phase education strategy for 3 – 7 year olds, whose introduction will be completed across Wales this year, which promotes a play based curriculum for our very young ones. •G roundbreaking legislation that places a duty on local authorities to provide sufficiently for playing children (Children and Families (Wales) Measure 2010). Play Wales submitted the application for the Right to Play Award on behalf of all those people who are working to make Wales a
‘We particularly want to celebrate the effort of local voluntary groups, local authority workers, decision makers and volunteers who campaign for better play areas, who fight to retain play services in the face of cuts, who run play services or after school play clubs, or who simply make sure that they collaborate with children when they plan their service. This award is as much for the Grandma who sticks up for the children and young people playing on the green outside her house, as it is for the politicians who are building a legal framework that we hope will support our children and young people to meet their inbuilt need to play.’
Promotion of Adventure Playground Activities Throughout Japan (Japan) Contact: Noriko Kajiki norikajiki@suma.kobe-wu.ac.jp Make Space for Children: Let’s create a playful world (The Netherlands) Contact: Wilmar Vlaskamp Wimlar@OBB-Ingenieurs.nl Free2Play – Midlothian Association of Play (Midlothian, Scotland) www.map-midlothian.org.uk Advocating for a child’s right to play: from the classroom into the community (New Jersey, USA) Contact: Karen Hutchison – Hutchison@rowan.edu
Wales – A Play Friendly Place on Facebook Play Wales has created a Facebook page for Wales – A Play Friendly Place to help build a network of support for play across Wales. Make sure you’re a fan by ‘liking’ the page. Also use it to post your opinions, photos and local activity, and gain inspiration. Update us with what’s happening locally which is either protecting or prohibiting children and young people’s right to play. Wales – A Play Friendly Place is a Play Wales campaign that communities can use to establish their own local campaigns for children’s play and be part of a national movement at the same time. http://on.fb.me/playfriendlyplace