News

Below are vital snippets from around our sector - information as and when we get it - check here first! If you have some news which you feel would be helpful to colleagues then please do contact us.

Easter Playscheme Ideas Pack

Need some great practical ideas for your setting over Easter? Or even at this price to stash away for a rainy day! There's a great saving on our special resource pack of £27 for four publications.

For just £35 you get; Another Pocketful of Games, Global Glue, Activities on a Plate and The Story Pack. Full details here.

The Big Buskers Guide to Leadership

Read an extract from the latest edition to the ever popular Buskers Guide series - The Big Buskers Guide to Leadership. Free download but please contact us first to request the password.

Common Threads 15th Birthday Survey

Thanks to the huge response, we're still crunching the numbers, but we thought you might like to know how your comments are helping us to shape the future - to read the full article download the latest Playwords.

Playwork and the EYFS

The Early Years Foundation Stage is now a statutory requirement for all schools and Early Years providers working with children from birth to the end of the academic year in which a child has their fifth birthday. But of course this will only have an effect in playwork settings where children could be four or five years' old.

For all the latest news see our special EYFS section.

Developing an adventure playground

This Play England briefing paper aims to describe what is meant by adventure playgrounds funded through the government's Play Strategy funding programmes. Paper can be downloaded here: www.playengland.org.uk/resources.

Promote the benefits of outdoor play

The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has launched a new online resource for local authorities which contains communications guidance and practical support to help effectively promote outdoor play opportunities: www.dcsf.gov.uk.

Twitter!

For 15 years now Shelly has been 'twittering' around the office and so frankly the rest of us are indebted to those nice people at Twitter for creating something that means she can think random thoughts out loud without disturbing the rest of us...! Shelly 'tweets' about her research work, Common Threads happenings and wider issues on working in children's play, so if you'd like to keep up to date in this way please visit: www.twitter.com/shelnews.

Save the Children donation

Following a great year of sales of Global Glue, our popular book on how to set up and run a Global Village with loads of international craft activity ideas, Common Threads has just donated £1,462.26 to Save the Children. All the profits have been donated to Save the Children since Global Glue was first published and this year's donation makes the grand total £3,457.24 to date. For more information on Global Glue click here.

ICCP website

The International Council for Children's Play (ICCP) have recently launched a new website. Full details of the 2010 conference can be found here and also academic papers, summaries and photos from the past three conferences. More information is being added all the time: www.iccp-play.org.

A Press Release is available to download covering both the above: International playwork resources launched.

Children's Play: New Goals for the Future

The International Council for Children's Play (ICCP) has announced details for the 25th ICCP World Play Conference. The venue will be the Gulbenkian Foundation in Lisbon, Portugal on the 17, 18 and 19 June 2010. Full details can be downloaded here or follow either of the links below.

W: www.commonthreads.org.uk/events
W: www.iccp-play.org

What is Playwork?

CPIS has published a factsheet, What is Playwork? written by Dr Fraser Brown of Leeds Metropolitan University. The factsheet presents an overview of the discussions, debates and theories of playwork, the type of play opportunities that playworkers should provide, and the different views of the benefits of play for children.

W: http://partner.ncb.org.uk/

Managing Risk in Play Provision:
Implementation Guide

DCSF has published 'Managing Risk in Play Provision: Implementation Guide' written by David Ball, Tim Gill and Bernard Spiegal for Play England. The guide is primarily aimed at those involved in unsupervised provision, though the general approach and much of the detail is also relevant to staffed provision. It is also relevant to those involved in managing other spaces where children play. At the heart of the guide is the move from risk assessment to risk-benefit assessment: for the first time in national guidance, providers are encouraged to show how their judgements about risk and safety take into account the benefits to children. The guide has been endorsed by the Health and Safety Executive and all the members of the Play Safety Forum. Order (for free) or download it from here: