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it helpful to reflect on the following four questions: • What role do you envision for the adults working within the play setting? • How frequently do you expect play to occur, and for what duration? • Will the expectations differ for different age groups? • Will play take place indoors, outdoors, or both? Ideally, these ideas need to be discussed and developed collectively as a school team. As with any school-wide decision, this process may involve differing opinions and perspectives. Your role is to unify the vision for play, ensuring that everyone feels valued and respected while also providing the best opportunity for the children. This conversation will not be a quick one; however, having a solid foundation is crucial, as failure to address this comprehensively can hinder the successful implementation of the curriculum. During the initial phase of your discussions, it is also important to consider the broader school community’s understanding of play. What do the governors or trustees know about play? What are the perspectives of your families? How do your children perceive play? By exploring the views of these key stakeholders, you can identify additional training needs as part of your implementation planning. By understanding any reservations or differing views, you will be able to explore why play is still suitable or even uncover why your stated vision may not quite work. Practicalities Once the vision is established, it’s important to consider the systems and policies that will support the development of play-based learning in your setting. There are two key areas that I believe need to be addressed in detail. First, it is crucial to ensure that the introduction of play is inclusive. Identify whether there are young people who may find this approach challenging, and think about how to help them fully access the learning experience. If you plan to conduct play activities outside as part of the curriculum, ensure that all students can participate; if some cannot, consider what accessibility improvements can be made. Additionally, assess whether you have sufficient behaviour management strategies in place to ensure that play can be conducted safely for everyone involved. Secondly, it is essential to evaluate the current assessment expectations Who are you, the fun police? Let me ask you this: if play had absolutely no impact on learning whatsoever, would it still be a good use of a child’s time in school? I think most of us would agree that play is not just about learning. Ultimately, it is about enjoyment. As developmental psychologist, Prof. Alison Gopnik explains in her book The Gardener and the Carpenter , although the evolutionary purpose of play may be to help children’s brains to grow, the reason children play is because it is just so much fun! And fun should matter in school. We currently have a big attendance problem where around 20 per cent of children are persistently absent ( tinyurl.com/ tp-PersistentAbsence ) and Children’s Society data shows pupils aged 10-15 are increasingly unhappy with school ( tinyurl. com/tp-GoodChildhoodReport ). But what if it was more fun? What if children were given more opportunities to do what they are biologically hardwired to do? What if our pupils got to play more while they were in school? I honestly believe it would be the cheapest and most effective solution for getting more children into school every day and, essentially, enjoying it more when they are there. But we are doing the opposite. Primary schools have shortened their playtimes by about 45 minutes a week compared to levels in 1995, according to a UCL study ( tinyurl.com/tp-UCLbreaktimes ) . At the same time, 47 per cent of children are not getting the minimum 60 mins of daily activity recommended by the NHS ( tinyurl.com/tp-60mins ) . We also have the unhappiest 15-year-olds in Europe according to PISA data ( tinyurl.com/ tp-2022PISAcs ). It’s utter madness. But what do we consider play? Well, it typically has certain defining characteristics, three of which are that it is autonomous, fun and intrinsically motivated. It is no surprise, then, that children, and adults, who report higher levels of autonomy, positive emotions and intrinsic motivation tend to have much higher levels of wellbeing, too. Simply put, play is a surefire key to children leading happier lives. So, at the end of the day, we need to be less fixated on the notion that children learn through play, and focus more on the fact that play enables children to be happy, healthy and to flourish. After all, shouldn’t that be the purpose of school? Adrian Bethune is a part-time teacher at Broughton Community Schools, Associate Lecturer at Oxford Brookes University, and founder of teachappy.co.uk 38 | www.teachwire.net “Play is a key to children leading happier lives”