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Playground Development

Playground development "Children spend up to a quarter of their school day in the playground. Making best use of play times can help tackle the inactivity, boredom and poor behaviour that can intimidate children and affect lessons. Improving the play time environment can impact significantly on school life."

DfES, Primary Playground Development, 2005

New Opportunities for PE & Sport Programme

In 2001 Kent was notionally allocated £10.5 million to enhance the facilities for PE and sport in the county, through the New Opportunities Fund (the 'Big Lottery Fund' as of June 2004). The eventual Kent portfolio comprised 65 projects.

One of these projects involved a portfolio of 40 primary school playground developments. These included the installation of new fixed equipment, resurfacing of playgrounds, new line markings and other developments. Some schools linked up with the ECB's promotion of cricket playground markings to focus specifically on this sport.

For further details on Kent's PE and Sport portfolio contact Edward Fane on 01622 605341 or edward.fane@kent.gov.uk


Example of a target wall at Canterbury Road School	Example of markings and targets at St Edward's RCP School

Funding for Sport on School Sites

Kent County Council via the Sports Development Unit has allocated Playground Development funding for the next three years from the authority's Performance Reward Grant for achieving public service targets.

The aim of the funding is to encourage more schools to work towards providing two hours of high quality PE and sport a week, to increase participation in sort and physical activity, to provide greater access to a variety of sports, to improve fitness and focus on the importance of a healthy lifestyle, to develop a greater interest amongst young people in sport and to encourage purposeful play at break, lunch times, before and after school.

Edward Fane, Kent County Council Sports Development Unit, PE and Sport Portfolio Manager states that,

"Developing school playgrounds it is about developing healthy lifestyle, giving children opportunities and encouragement in physical activity and sport. Approximately 25% of the school day is spent on the playground. Add to this the use of the playground before school, during the curriculum and after school for clubs and it is clearly apparent that this is a resource worth investing in on school sites. By dramatically enhancing the hard tarmac areas the project will provide a better environment to learn, teach, play and develop."


Staff and pupils from St Paul's CE Junior School receiving a cheque for £5,000 from Cllr John Davies, Local Member for Tunbridge Wells West.	Staff and pupils from Lunsford Primary School receiving a cheque for £5,000 from Kent Sports Development Unit's Edward Fane to go towards enhancing the school's playground facilities.

Playground Improvement Scheme Impact and Monitoring Report - March 2006

Nine schools were supported to develop their playgrounds in 2005-06, each receiving a grant of £5000. This supported a range of measures to improve participation levels, such as improving ther markings and surfacing of playground space, installing new fixed equipment such as target walls and trim trails and purchasing equipment such as bats, balls, rackets, markers and other sporting goods.

An assessment of these projects, and the 40 schools supported through the New Opportunities for PE and Sport programme, was carried out by Kent Sports Development Unit in March 2006. The full report can be downloaded here (pdf). The main findings were that the project had seen:

increased levels of physical activity
increased sporting opportunities offered
encouraged children to organise their own independent activity
improvements in basic movement and sporting skills
enhanced curriculum and out of hours activity

A number of factors were identified that determined the success of individual projects:

Appropriate equipment available to support the new facilities (bats, balls, etc.)
Equipment or developments chosen to expand the quantity and quality of physical activity and sport
Supervision/support available to facilitate usage of facility - raised priority of training or recruiting support staff capable of aiding delivery as well as assuring that sufficient staff, adults other than teachers or young leaders are available

The report also makes a number of overall recommendations:

Schools to recognise the benefits of investing in their own playgrounds
Schools to identify and provide supporting equipment (bats, balls, etc.) required for the playground improvements to be fully used and have the greatest possible impact
Schools to ensure that they have capable support staff to lead and encourage activity, making the most of the improvements
Kent County Council to continue to identify schools most in need of development and to continue to supply the support that these schools need in leading to high impact projects.

The following case studies demonstrate the impact that relatively small levels of investment and improved management of playground usage can have.

National Initiatives

Personal Best Challenge Parks

Developed by the Youth Sport Trust with Coca-Cola Great Britain, and in partnership with the British Olympic Foundation, Personal Best Challenge Parks utilise school breaks and lunchtimes to encourage secondary age students to participate in physical activity.

Focused on the Olympic value of achieving your best, the aim of the Parks is to increase interest and participation in physical activity for all children and not just those who show a natural ability in sport.

Personal Best Challenge Parks transform school playgrounds making them more active, enjoyable, healthy and safe for young people to enjoy before, during and after school. The project also offers training and resources to support students and staff in school.

With ten schools in the initial pilot project, to date the project has transformed eight school playgrounds into Personal Best Challenge Parks in a variety of different social settings with a further two to be selected.

Interim research from the project shows that the initiative is working well. Schools report an increase in physical activity amongst students, as well as the development of leadership skills and improved behaviour.

Zoneparc/Sporting Playgrounds

Children playing in a Zoneparc playground In partnership with Nike and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES), the Youth Sport Trust have developed Zoneparc/Sporting Playgrounds - a playground improvement project that aims to tackle social exclusion and increase the activity levels of young people.

The programme works by introducing innovative break time activities and playground management systems.

The playground is divided into three different zones:

Red Zone: the sports zone
Blue Zone: the multi-activity zone
Yellow Zone: the quiet zone

There is also a heart line, which links the three zones together and can be used for fun health and fitness activities.

As well as offering a range of exciting resources and equipment, Zoneparc/Sporting Playgrounds also provides training for lunchtime supervisors and staff, as well as older school pupils to become playground leaders - known as ‘Zoneparc players'.

The positive effects that are being reported by schools include: